I guarantee that I, and most other people who fawn over the two newest Zeldas aren't doing so because of manufactured hype.

That is a strong claim. Especially when Nintendo marketed to us as a child.

We might just be accepting it because we have nostalgia for the characters.

I remember people saying TP was the greatest game of all time. That aged poorly too.

The strong claim is that I, and most people, actually enjoy what we say we enjoy? That is dangerous levels of cynicism.

Yes. You might be enjoying it due to deep seated nostalgia developed from Nintendo marketing to us as children.

I don't know why I play every Zelda game. I feel the compulsion to do so.

I didn't even like BOTW but I felt the need to beat it.

Look at people's obsession with Disney, the grown adults who go to disney like its their job have some sort of mental illness, why is it so hard to think that Nintendo didn't do something similar? They both market primarily to children, who have no concept of corporate mascots.

Speak for yourself then. I liked BotW so much that the first time I beat it (going to Hyrule Castle after only doing 2 Divine Beasts because I wanted to see how good the equipment there was that the side characters were talking about), I immediately replayed the Ganon fight and went back to playing the rest of the game for its own sake. At this point I have over 600 hours in it, and still haven't even done all the side quests since I have so much fun just exploring Hyrule and finding different ways to kills mobs.

TotK jacks up the gameplay creativity to an entirely new level, and has the strong driving story that alot of people complained was missing from BotW. There's also a TON more to explore, which I won't elaborate on to avoid spoilers.

The only 3D Zelda I played before BotW was OoT. I'm enjoying the games on their own terms.

If nostalgia is as powerful as you say, why are new sonic games so unpopular? Also, I loved BOTW, but I never played any Zelda games as a kid.