LogFAQs > #971189066

in terms of game play systems we knew more going into BotW than any past 3D zelda, with OoT a close second.

Because these two games were the largest single shift in the overall gameplay of the franchise, with OoT as the first 3D we saw a LOT of articles about core gameplay mechanics before release (but nearly every article and screenshot depicted beta environments that were not in the final release, we saw virtually nothing of Hyrule itself or what sort of environments we'd be exploring).

BotW similarly got a lot of extra pre-release attention because it represents the largest deviation from the expected formula, even moreso than OoT(which while a huge shift in core gameplay, still maintained the same basic formula established in 2D zelda games). Love or hate the changes, that level of experimentation with the franchise was a big deal and the level of transparency with a transition that huge was necessary. We still saw very very little of the world itself, mostly just the great plateau and a couple of shrines.

So like, we basically got ONE game in the franchise over 30 years that pulled out all the stops and showed us tons of new gameplay systems and multiple envrionments and puzzles that were going to be in the final game and suddenly all yall capital G Gamers with zero attention span or memory think that's just the norm. It isn't. Nintendo has always been notoriously tight lipped pretty much right up until the game is at your door.