I believe that the magic of Zelda does not involve photo-realistic graphics (TP is an exception, though its graphics do not make the game magical, but other factors do, which will be mentioned later), blood and gore, mindless grinding, kill counts, or being on multiple platforms.

The magic of Zelda involves going on an adventure with a solid storyline with a cast of memorable characters and solving a myriad of difficult puzzles.

It is sad that many gamers did not grow up during the NES or even the SNES era and appreciate the games of yore. It just depends on when the person grew up.

The main difference between an action-adventure game and a Western RPG is that an action-adventure game de-emphasizes statistics and grinding in favour of a coherent storyline with some open-endedness while playing a memorable character (with a default name) and puzzles, while a Western RPG emphasizes statistics and grinding in lieu of puzzles and sacrifice a coherent storyline in favour of open-endedness (and playing as a generic character). In fact, an action-adventure game is closer to that of an Eastern RPG (which usually has a set of memorable playable characters and a strong emphasis on a coherent storyline) than an action-adventure game is to a Western RPG.

Thus, the magic of Zelda is the story and the gameplay.