- a lot
of focus was put on sound effects in order to immerse players in the world
of Hyrule - the development team worked with Sound Racer, a studio specialized in sound effects - this studio also worked on Xenoblade Chronicles X - they recorded more than 10 000 different sounds for the game - the team used a school
bag to simulate the sound
of rubbing leather - for the sound
of «normal» footsteps, they
mixed various kinds
of sands - for the sounds
of equipment, they had to search for various materials and find ways to use them - they used an actual block
of ice to recreate the sound
of footsteps on ice - with the ice block, it always ended up melting, or getting cracks when the staff had to walk on it - Link's footsteps were made by a woman -
depending on Link's actions and the equipment he's using / wearing, the recorded sounds were separated out individually - the volume is changed as needed to make a particular sound stand out - check out sound effect samples here
As far as the song selection goes, the set list, excluding any
of the DLC, might be a
mixed bag depending on what you're looking to get out
of the selection.