Well seasoned and well aged

[Koh]

I don't think it's a case of bad game design, moreso than it is you having to GET TO KNOW YOUR ENEMY. In real life, you aren't going to know everything about the enemy as soon as you fight; you have to see HOW they fight to formulate a battle strategy. Games hold hands FAR too much these days, and it's actually quite sad. People were able to clear A Link to the Past without needing the game to tell them exactly where to go or how to hurt a boss; why does every other game need such? Figure it out for yourself.

[Masamune]

People were able to clear A Link to the Past without needing the game to tell them exactly where to go or how to hurt a boss

Young me, my mom, and my aunt certainly couldn't beat Link's Awakening back in the day!

friggin' monkey stupid bananas

[NICKtendo DS]

9 of 10 bosses I managed to figure out without any obvious hint.

That stone head with the different sets of hands is the worst offender. 4 forms where you have to figure out what to do. I figured the first 3 out, but the last one was just too much. It's not intuitive if you have to touch a boss when gaming history has taught you it's a no-no. That obstacle aside, he punches with one fist, of which you discover it doesn't hurt if it stopped. I tried everything on that fist. I needed the internet to tell me that I have to grab and pull the other fist. Thank God for internet. And let's not forget that it takes 3 other tedious forms to get there.

[E-Man]

By the way, fellas, I was wondering if anyone ever tried to do a little bit of sequence breaking in either of the games. Since Seasons was less story based than Ages, I had a much easier time. Anyway, this is how I did it.

After completing the Subrosian Dance once, I kept playing it until I got the flute that summoned Dimitri. You might be thinking that after I get the Power Bracelet, I can go into Spool Swamp to get him, right? Well... Without Ricky's help, I can't. The Kangaroo only appears after you complete the Snake's Remains. Of course, after I do get Dimitri and the Roc's Feather, that's when the real fun begins!

I went over to the Subrosia portal that leads you near the Great Furnace (it's in Eyeglass Lake). To get to it without Flippers, you need to throw Dimitri over the holes that block it (it's tricky, but it can be done) and ride him across the lake. Then, get the Bomb Flower as normal and you'll get the power of autumn before spring. Then, you can enter the Unicorn's Cave early, but you won't be able to do much without the Flippers...

You might think that you could ride Dimitri up the waterfall in Sunken City to get the Flippers from the Master Diver would work, but the only thing you will get early is the certificate needed to get the Flippers. The Master Diver himself will not be there until you clear Poison Moth's Lair. Afterwards, you can get the Flippers and head back to the Unicorn's Cave to finish the dungeon.

Of course, if you want the Iron Shield, you still need to get to where you need to go to get the power of spring in Subrosia. That means you'll have to get your feather stolen and reclaim it from the Strange Brothers in their stealth minigame before you get one of the two ores needed to create a stronger shield.

The only big sequence breaks in the game are getting autumn long before you get spring and completing the Unicorn's Cave before the Dancing Dragon's Dungeon. As for the rest of the game, you can't get the Square Jewel to access the Ancient Ruins without showing the old man in the tree that you do have the five essences he's looking for (no skipping the Dancing Dragon's Dungeon), the Pirate Captain will only mock you if you didn't see the inside of some ruins (or, in his case, complete them fully), and you can't throw a bomb in the pool of magma to set off a volcanic eruption without the Subrosian throwing things into the pool for some reason (I tired).

There isn't as much sequence breaking you could do in this game compared to earlier Zelda titles, but at least it's slightly better than Ages.