4. Innovation
I think this one rustles my jimmies the most, since Zelda used to be the big innovation game series. Think about Ocarina of Time, that game changed pretty much everything for gaming. They introduced this amazing hub world that felt so free, yet you didnt feel overwhelmed you just wanted to explore it. Majoras Mask made some NPCs run on a schedule in real time, and had NPC interaction weaved with quests. Think of the original games even, exploring this open(ish) world back in the day then you were happy if there was something other than a jump button. It gets so annoying to hear fans defend the stagnation of Zelda by saying Well its Legend of Zelda, what do you expect? If they change it, it wont be Zelda anymore. screw that, there are fans who think Zelda should have never become 3D. Imagine that, no OoT, no MM, and no Wind Waker, just because Steve Dave doesn't like the way the polygons looked. I know Zelda can change, and I believe that it can one day be even better than Western RPGs it often unfairly compared too. I say unfair because it isn't a damn RPG, I loved Skyrim but I won't tell you a million reasons why it was better than an adventure game. Back to the point, it just needs to reinvent the fantasy adventure genre and make it feel fresh and new again. Yeah some fanboys panties will twist, but in the end if its an awesome game then we will all be happy.