A few days ago, I got this in the mail:
I have sat down and played it three times so far, and I'm on Dungeon 3 in the Dark World (Dungeon 6 really). Why am I doing this? I mean of course I have played through A Link to the Past a few times before. But the times I played through before were not spent examining the level designs. I have found it advantageous to play it in Japanese because I can spend my time investigating and examining the entire game. Also, you will quickly note that the game is hardly unplayable (the game does an excellent job of presenting the narrative with the smallest amount of text feasible).
My goal was already to create an overworld, and although I feel like I understand the structure of Zelda and the approach of the designers toward gameplay, let's face it. When I play this game, I quickly realize that no one on Graal has presented this skill in any way. I have decided that it will be more necessary to investigate, inspect, examine, and then attempt to emulate this style than I had even previously expected. I urge all level designers to go check it out for themselves.
Once I play through this game and begin creating my overworld, I will likely use this thread to update progress.