Only one can exist!
@djlink so this is really hard for me... because I feel like if I am judging it just on the games themselves I have a clear answer...
However many of the games served as inspiration for games that came later that I would absolutely NOT want to cease to exist >.>
@Nifflas @djlink CT is a banger, for sure.
As for story in Zelda, to me that the problem is that they're non-committal about what they do have. They never want Link to be a character so when they try to make the story ABOUT Link, it's awful. OoT suffers TREMENDOUSLY from this, BotW would be an immediately way better game if they just remove Link from every cutscene and dialogue mention. It's really frustrating [+1]
@Nifflas To me it just SUCKS in BotW when you have, ostensibly the best Zelda there, pouring her heart out, going through this whole story of expectations and responsibility...
But then Link is in the cutscene as well and the entirety of his character is
"My sword is so cool.... woosh! Check out my cool sword!.... yeah!... I'm cool sword guy"
The whiplash is brutal
@Nifflas You CAN keep both, you just need to boot Link out of the story. This, to me, is why Majora's worked so well. You're allowed to engage in all of the different stories BECAUSE you're an external observer.
It's kind of the same problem in Breath of Fire 4, a game that will never leave my mind. I'll be rolling in my grave forever mad about it, lol