Since I'm playing Twilight Princess now and loving the hell out of it, I think I'll talk about some things that irritated me about it's (IMO) inferior predecessor, Wind Waker:
"I can't explain now!"When a character is deliberately keeping me in the dark or taking the piss out of me (like Midna), it's fine. That adds a bit of personality to a game. When a character says the above line (like King of Red Lions for the first half of the game), it's just irritating. If you run me in circles all around the world, you can find a minute or two to tell me why I should be doing all this crap. I understand that they're trying to increase urgency by making it seem like there's no time to spare, but there's
Acceptable Breaks from Reality. Legend of Zelda always manages to deliver exposition really well (I still get chills from the Goddess cutscenes in OoT), so it's baffling that they had such slipshod narration for most of Wind Waker.
Artificially inflating a world by putting everything really far apartThe 3D Legend of Zelda games have a reputation for doing this, and (rightfully so) get criticism for it. But for some reason, everybody I ask absolutely loves sailing in Wind Waker. At least in other 3D Zeldas, you get to have some part in the journey from A to B across Hyrule Field. In Wind Waker, there are moments when I have literally put down the controller, gotten something to eat, sat down, and not been at my destination yet. I'm not joking or being hyperbolic, I have literally made a sandwich in the time it takes to sail from one island to another.
And another thing about this, is that it doesn't make the world feel large; it makes it feel empty. In Half-Life 2, the car level does take a while, sure, but you're constantly being shot at and having to stop and explore. There's bridges, cliffs, isolated houses, and varied terrain. That felt more like an actual highway than any racing game I've played, games with the sole purpose of simulating roads.
Not to mention gripes that are specific to Wind Waker. Any time you want to change direction, you have to pull out the wand, play the song, pick a direction, turn the boat, and finally get going. I have never felt less inclined to adventure in a Zelda game.