Patient Gamers

I absolutely loved A Link Between Worlds and Twilight Princess. I felt ALBW was a bit on the easier side for Zelda games but had enough challenge to remain fun and interesting. Secrets weren't too hard to find, but instead required just enough effort to make them satisfying to obtain.

Twilight Princess is really incredible and I recommend getting back around to it. The dungeons are highly creative, the art is top notch, and the story is excellent. I played through it for the first time only a couple years ago. I think it has aged quite well.

I would recommend using a guide for MM, unless that goes against your ideals or something. I tried playing it over and over for years, no, decades, and it wasn’t until I used a guide that I actually enjoyed it. Maybe that makes it a bad game, but the story is incredible and makes it well worth the struggle IMO. Also, Nerrel’s texture pack is quite good, the only texture pack that I used and liked, aside from HUD packs.

Also, don’t forget about Skyward Sword. It was my least favourite of the series (I found it too cheesy) but lots of people swear by it, and it gives a lot of context to the history of Hyrule. I’d recommend emulating the switch version if you can. The game gets less cheesy as you progress, looking back some of the levels I quite enjoyed, especially Lanyaru.

I've tried playing various Zelda games over the years but I've just never got into any of them. I've just started WWHD and it seems to suffer from the classic Zelda problem of having one very specific solution to a puzzle blocking off all progress, and not telling you at all where that puzzle/solution is if you haven't already identified it! Also it tempted me with an open ocean of sailing and gave me some side-quest maps to follow, then when I tried to follow them it immediately turned me around and said "you can't go this way yet"!