I think that Nintendo should let us "do it ourselves" but not to the degree of the original Zelda. the player should be given some sense of direction. I think ALttP and OoT had it right. the player is given their general goal that they have to fulfill and their destination pointed out and then they are let loose.

I think, in fact, that the progress of the game should be entirely left up to the player. Face it, aside from MM and a few other games, the story isn't really that exciting. There should be a story, but it shouldn't restrict the player. No Zelda aside from the original has truly done that, and it could be very interesting to see a Zelda built around the concepts of exploration and making your own quest.

yea, i totally agree, OoT and MM had it perfect, but WW, at times, when i didnt want to move on in the story, but just explore, it didnt let yuo, the boat would turn around and basically tell you no, after the fire temple or dragon roost island i want to explore, but it wouldnt let me go anywhere else besides the forest haven, TP did that too, you cant explore all of hyrule until you get to that part in the game, another thing i didnt like about TP is that there were like 4 different hyrule fields, in OoT they had one big one, which is what ide like to see again.

i don't see how they don't. its like with metroid, you can't get to some areas without a certain item. except in Zelda, its usually more with the plot or some thing like that. Zelda NES was WAY too open ended. in TP you could bullshit around areas before going to a story segment. did you find worms in hyrule field? go fish in ordon. you sound a golden bug? go cash it it. TP was a bit more restrictive but it had a deep narrative (IMO) to make up for it. OOT was good because it was like Metroid. some dungeons needed other dungeon items before you could visit, so it totally open, but it wasn't entirely linear. each area had a cool plot section too.
if they make it open ended like that i'm all for it, but if its like TP than i wouldn't mind either

@Irishfire
the OOT Hyrule field was the size of TP Lake Hylia >_> "one big one". sure. it's an preference thing i know, but i wanted to correct that

It'd be interesting to see them design dungeons and bosses with multiple strategies, so they could be completed in different orders. I think it'd be easier to pull off in a Metroid game than a Zelda, but think of a later game dungeon that had major secret passages that could be unlocked with early game items, just with much increased difficulty, or a boss with different weak points for different items instead of just the one found in that dungeon. What if you could get all the way to Ganon at the very beginning of the game, but just couldn't stand a chance in the fight until you've gotten everything? Sequence breaking should be encouraged (sequence construction would be more like it).