A fan of Malstrom's and his gf think so, and Malstrom agrees!

http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/email-my-girlfriend-gave-up-on-zelda/

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one one who confuses Skyrim with Skyward.

Anywho, I think Skyrim is more of aBioshock breed than Zelda.

But Elder Scrolls games focus a lot on free roaming, that not many other games, even huge ones, often do.

Edit. and about the two names, me too!   

In fairness, I meant in gameplay, not open world. More specifically, bioshock 2 gameplay (dual wielding plasmids and guns).

A monkey could figure out that Elder Scrolls is more free roaming than bioshock.

I doubt many Zelda fans will agree but I have always thought that Zelda would benefit from a more open world design and more freedom.

Agree

Agreed, but I would love Zelda to get some inspiration out of D. Souls instead.

Oh, that. I consider free roaming a part of gameplay too, although a different part of it, and not just a level design choice, as it influences a lot the way you play the game. Anyway I agree that dual wielding can be a big fun bonus for action RPGs and adventures (although those that like to have to plan the toughest battles in advance may not like it, but a tough game at its highest difficulty settings may still force the players to plan them even if dual wielding, powerful weapons, armour and items, and a well grinded character help them).

Seriously speaking, yes, Skyrim actually offers ONE (or maybe a few, but still a small part, very far from all) of the things old Zelda fans would like. In that same letter, that gf asked her bf to satisfy her Zelda craves with OLD Zelda games.

I think a story on the lines of FF6 or the PSX Final Fantasy games is what I want in a Zelda game. I find the idea of big open worlds to be a huge turnoff in all games except Minecraft.