History GuideDangIt / TheLegendOfZelda

* The game's WideOpenSandbox nature trips up ''Zelda'' fans who realize that they can go ''anywhere'' they want once they leave the Great Plateau -- only to go west instead of east and run into a lot of Guardians, [[BossInMookClothing Lynels]], and harsh weather conditions. The game does suggest that you go east to Kakariko Village, but ''Zelda'' fans are expecting it to {{railroad|ing}} you.
* Several places have lanterns that you can light with a blue flame. ''Zelda'' veterans were convinced that you would get something for lighting them all at the same time, but you don't. Many people only found this out by looking it up ("where is the last lantern?" was one of the most-searched phrases when the game came out).

* Quests themselves give barely any hints if at all. Tracking does not exist. If a quest giver asks for a certain item, it's fastest to just look it up.

* The cooking system is unexplained outside of a brief introduction and does not track recipes at all, requiring either an external device or pen and paper. Fortunately it's completely optional.
* To get to Goron City without being set on fire, you have to either catch Fireproof Lizards and cook them into Fireproof Elixirs, or talk to Gaile at Foothill Stable, who will sell these elixirs to you. Unless you happen to catch some fireproof lizards in the area or talk to everyone at the stables, there isn't much to point you towards this, and this was the place many players had difficulty figuring out how to approach on their own.

* There are 900 Korok seeds, and many of them found only by lifting random rocks, jumping in random circles of lilypads, and jumping into random clumps of leaves. The game itself is bigger than any other ''Zelda'' game, so good luck searching even if you know what to do when you get there. And you only need half of them to fully max out your inventory; the other half seems to be a way to [[TrollingCreator annoy completionists]].

* Heart pieces are more often than not in places where you either don't need to go, have already been to, or just simply in random areas you wouldn't even think to look. Only a precious few can be found with a little exploration; without a guide, you're looking at spending ungodly amounts of time searching every corner of the game for these things.

* Some doors only open if you throw a pot at them. Aside from this not being very intuitive in the first place, this logic doesn't work in any other ''Zelda'' game, leading veteran players to assume they missed a switch or something. The Switch remake adds a pot symbol to doors of these type to make the solution more obvious.

* In the Champion's Ballad, there is a trial in which you are told to shoot four targets at the Flight Range. What it does not tell you is that you have to shoot them all without once exiting the slow motion of firing arrows in midair.

* When you are tasked with restoring the power to repel evil to the Master Sword, it is clear that you must go to the Earth and Wind Temples, which are marked on the map. However, the Earth Temple is blocked by a giant boulder, and the Wind Temple is blocked by a statue blowing a gust of wind. Even if, after getting the Ballad of Gales, you stumble upon Mother and Child Isle and get the Fire and Ice Arrows, you'd basically have to explore the whole sea to find the volcano and ice island that you must use those arrows on to get the Power Bracelets and Iron Boots, respectively the means by which you must enter the Earth and Wind Temples.

* Like in most Zelda games, you can give people items by assigning the item to a button, and then pressing the button while standing in front of someone. You can alternatively give items to people by assigning the item to a button, and then pressing the button while talking to them, which the game does tell you. What the game ''doesn't'' tell you is that you can only do the latter with ''consumable'' items specifically. Other Zelda games have you do the former specifically, even with consumables, so this difference [[DamnYouMuscleMemory can throw players off]].

* Unlike in other Zelda titles, giving consumable items (such as potions) to someone requires you to assign the item to a button, and then pressing the button while talking to them. Other 3D Zelda games will have you press the button while standing in front of someone to give it to them, so this difference can throw players off.

* Certain masks are obtained by going to a completely random spot at an arbitrarily fixed time, or by using an item or mask in a completely irrelevant location.
** Getting the two Pieces of Heart from Granny is a particularly frustrating challenge. First, you have to have the All-Night Mask, which only appears in the Curiosity Shop on the third night of the game if you rescued the Old Lady from Sakon on the first night--and to make matters worse, the Shop only opens at 10:00 PM, or the tail end of the three-day cycle. Then you have to listen to Granny's stories at the Stock Pot Inn while wearing the All-Night Mask, which otherwise has no use in the game. At the end of each tale, she'll ask you a question about the story you chose to hear, and if you pick the right answer, she'll give you the Heart Piece. The first one makes sense... but in an incredible bit of counter-intuitiveness, you have to answer ''wrong'' to get the prize for the second story. And there's no indication that Granny even has two Pieces of Heart to begin with!
** In the 3DS remake, the Twinmold fight can be an exercise in frustration if you don't know how its second phase is programmed. The red worm must be punched a certain number of times for it to be stunned, however the counter is reset when it burrows, meaning all those hits must connect within a single cycle of its attacks. When Twinmold falls to the ground, it's left vulnerable, yet normal attacks are useless against it. To inflict damage, you have to grab the monster's tail, which is done by pressing the '''A''' button while NOT L-targetting. Additionally, rotating the circle pad while Link spins Twinmold deals extra damage, which is ''never'' hinted in-game.