[lloeki]

> Setting foot on Hyrule Field in OoT after crawling out of the cave of 90's 2D games was momentous for me as well

Interestingly enough the experience was the complete opposite to me at this very point, it was immediately obvious I just exited the "tutorial" to set foot on a fake open world rigged with artificial gates. I suppose Baldur's Gate† (the first one and its later expansion, not the second one which I didn't enjoy nearly as much) and games like Fallout or The Elder Scrolls series spoiled me, and all I could see in OoT was, although hidden with great care, an expansion of the DooM key system under an uninspiring story.

† Yes it was out one month later but I didn't got a hand on a N64 til a friend had one a couple months later. Oh, and how much I hated that controller.

[PurpleBoxDragon]

>I suppose Baldur's Gate† (the first one and its later expansion, not the second one which I didn't enjoy nearly as much) and games like Fallout or The Elder Scrolls series spoiled me

I think this is really what happens. With more experience you are better able to deconstruct the building blocks in light of past experiences. Instead of a well crafted fire dungeon, someone can see the building blocks that could easily enough be repainted with poison theme or lightning theme. Much like when one reads enough fiction they notice the tropes the author is using as soon as the author introduces them, to the point that people begin to even joke about things like death flags being raised.