Los,
The fish reeling was homage to Zelda: Ocarina of Time, where there was a fishing mini-game.
As far as the controls go, one has to get used to them. I'm sure that you went through the same thing when you switched over from the original PS1 controller to the PS2 analogue controller.
For a week I played both the Game Cube and Wii versions of Z:TP. One of the things the Wii version tells you is that to pull out the sword you jiggle the nunchuck, the smaller unit with the analogue stick. That drove me nuts because I would always end put putting the sword away when in battle. Then I found out that all I had to do was swish the remote. Problem solved. I just press "A" to put it away. There are some things the GC controller does better, there are some things the Wii controller does better. (It's like some people dislike the small speaker in the remote. I turned up the volume and when Minda giggles, it really immerses me in the game, it immediately calls my attention to her in the game.)
Even though I have begged my brother to try Z:OOT and Z:TP, he just hates reading RPG title boxes. He's strictly a FPS fan. So he went with the XB360. Oh, he's keeping his two PS2s, though, and his GC, N64, DC, SNES,..
So, don't worry about it. Me, I still can't use both analogue sticks on the PS2 at the same time. I'll eventually get it. I'm used to using my mouse in a FPS. Inverting the pointer causes the left-right to be inverted, too. That's the problem. When I push up on the stick, I want to go down, like in a flying game. When I pull back, towards me, on the stick, I want the camera to look up, like in a flying game, just as if it is the eyes in my head. I tilt my head back to look up, I tilt my head forward to look down. But that's not the way the PS2 controller is set up.
As far as Zelda:TP goes, it is very cinematic. So, you'll get to the stone bridge, knock the enemy over the bridge. And a "Lone Ranger" cut scene kicks in, where Epona throws her legs up in the air, (in slow motion,) the music blares, and she then trots down the road. It's a Kodak moment, the stuff wallpapers are made of.
As far as the game hurting your eyes, it makes you wonder how you ever played any game before the PS3, doesn't it? You'd probably think it a waste of time of inserting a PS One game into the PS3 tray. You look at a PS2 game playing and you think, "Wow, that's crap." Well, guess what? As much as you love the graphics on that PS3, 6 years from now, when the PS4 or PS5 comes along, you're going to think that the PS3 is crap. When the N64 came out we all ogled the marvellous graphics. We look at the same game today and say it is smudged and blurry, has bland textures, doesn't have any sparkling effects, etc. It's the same things you'll say in the future. When VHS came out we thought it was the shit. Then DVD came out and saw that VHS was crap. Now Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are coming out and we're saying that we can never go back to regular DVDs. We went from b&w to color, drom analogue to digital, from 480i to 480p to 720p to 18080i to 1080p. Who's to say that 2 years from now when we have the laser panels that we'll look back at LCD panels and say that they are crap?
Progress is good.
Having played the original Turok on the N64, and hating each and every subsequent release, I look forward to the next release of Turok on the XB360 and PS3. If there's some wimp shouting "I am Turok" it'll immediately be returned.
Make no mistake about it, people will probably fondly remember Z:TP in the years to come. I'm playing the game now and know for a fact that it is aready a classic.
