Mixed feeling so far. I've only been playing for 2 days, so not very far into it. We'll see.
I'm not a fan of western RPGs and so am not very fond of the franchise's movement in that direction with many of the gameplay mechanics. On the other hand, they're actually rather tame in comparison to say, Elder Scrolls or Dragon Age.
I can do without the cooking system; would much rather get hearts directly from the field rather than having to go though an intermediate step (don't really have much use for the one time boosting effects of elixirs either). I find that having to go to a specific place to exchange spirit orbs for heart containers and extra stamina to be unnecessarily tedious.
Oh, and **** you Nintendo for resurrecting weapon durability from the ash heap of failed game play ideas. And it's ridiculous how fast they break too. Enemies are usually easy enough to avoid, and weapons are everywhere, but still. Just give me my basic level 1 sword and be done with it.
That all being said, I do like the increased emphasis on solving puzzles, and so far they have been pretty fun and not too drawn out. The voice work is actually pretty good and fits in quite nicely with the experience, contrary to how I feared.
There's enough good to outweigh the bad, and lots of potential. For now I'll press on and hope things get better.