[erimir]

Well, I happen to quite enjoy the formula, and many of the reviews say that the changes to the formula are significant enough to matter.

But a thought occurred to me, that it could address part of that problem in the same way that Metroid Prime 3 did - you don't have to acquire the morph ball, for example.

They could have a game where Link starts with a couple of the Zelda standbys (maybe not in his very starting inventory, but basically available at the start). I'm thinking about how in A Link to the Past, you got the boomerang about 5 minutes into the game, and after the introductory Hyrule Castle section, bombs were available at the shop (and the Ice Wand was available before the first dungeon, if you know where to find it). Or in Link's Awakening, bombs were also available as soon as you got your sword.

Of course, the boomerang in the 3D Zeldas is a bit better than in the other games, so maybe you shouldn't start with it (at least not if it has abilities like the Gust Boomerang or the multi-targeting boomerang in Wind Waker, altho getting a boomerang upgrade later wouldn't be a bad idea)... but certainly, starting with the ability to carry bombs and a bow could be interesting, in that it would allow other items to be acquired in the first dungeons, and make the puzzles more complicated from the start. If they really wanted to mix it up, you could start out with Link as an archer, and not get a sword immediately.