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[Data West]

I will also say. Playing Ni No Kuni? It's given me a good idea of what I would like a new Zelda to look like. Not necessarily character models, but the environmental art and specifically how much detail they put in their world.

But Zelda would need more open dungeons, of course.

 

[RagnarokX]

To be honest I'd take a really good, semi-open overworld that still has enough of a clear direction on where to go over pushing the limits of what can be done with items in dungeons. However, I noted before they can make sure you can't even get to the dungeon entrance without using the items necessary in it, which is what Zelda traditionally did to force a certain order before deciding to erect plot gates. And more of the items could be gotten outside of dungeons too, thus making it more a matter of what you tackled in the open-ish world up to that point.

Plus the fan base IS all over the place, there'll be those who value really good dungeon design above all else, those who want badass combat, those who want a rich world to explore... It's why it's impossible to please everyone now, best they can do is take turns unless they happen to find a good balance.

Of course they could do that, and that'd be fine. I'm not against having an interconnected world with gear gating. I'm specifically against the idea of not blocking off dungeons in any way, plot or gear gated. Making them doable in any order.

When Twilight Princess came out, the biggest complaints were that the overworld was empty and items were hardly used outside of their dungeons. Skyward Sword addressed both complaints by blending the boundary between overworld and dungeon and making use of a variety of items in every dungeon, but complaints about the game are counter to what people wanted when they complained about TP. People want both spread-out item usage and non-linearity, which are at odds with each other.

 

[Screamapillar]

isn't this what they said about skyward sword? lol

Aonuma said they tried in Skyward Sword but they didn't have time to change certain things, such as linear-dungeon completion and isolated single-player.

 

[duckroll]

You can't be serious. It's 2013.

What does the year have anything to do with it?

 

[gamergirly]

Aonuma said they tried in Skyward Sword but they didn't have time to change certain things, such as linear-dungeon completion and isolated single-player.

It's very obvious at this point that Skyward Sword was limited....

 

[Ziek]

Shadow of the Colossus had exposition given by the god(s) between every colossus and at the end. There was nobody else to talk to so of course there was little dialog. Mario has no plot importance. Ico just had Yorda untranslated. You could understand all the other characters who talked, and there was a replay mode that translated Yorda's speech.

Untranslated or no dialog wouldn't work very well in a game like Zelda since it's more rpg-like in nature and its worlds tend to be more lived-in. It'd be pretty hard to do character-driven branching or side quests without text. They should keep the text less verbose, though.

My thoughts exactly. Before I wrote my previous post, I considered including Mario, but the plot bares no significance; therefore, expression plays little role.

 

[Sissel]

Cool, guess I'll be buying my WiiU in 2015 for $200

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

These are the two main things I still liked about Zelda

Then again, I haven't been able to stay focused on one since LTTP long enough to finish any of them, so what do I know really.

 

[Falcs]

Portal, GTA3, Pokemon 1st gen, BioShock, Breath of Fire, Half life, Chrono Trigger, Mario, Zelda .... all awesome games

So my guess would be ... yes, lots of people like

Yeah but those games don't have the main character waving his/her arms around pretending to be talking, but not actually talking, like Link does in Skyward Sword.
Fine, I might be in the minority here, but surely I'm not the only one here who feels this way?

 

[ReyVGM]

Here's another thought: what if the interior of a dungeon changes depending on your progress in the game? The item which you get in a given dungeon, and the visual theme and enemies you face in that dungeon are always the same, but the layout and puzzles are altered depending on how many other dungeons you have beaten at this point and what items you have available.

Absolutely not, they already did something very similar to this in Phantom Hourglass and that's pretty much the worse part of the game.

 

[mantidor]

We only need Midna's or Fi's gibberish, voice acting would be terrible, and a little pet peeve but npcs would have to stop using your name because of it.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Where did likely release 2015 come from?

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

There's a lot to be said about the Zelda "formula", but ultimately I just want a game that's balanced, tightly knit, well paced, and imbues the player with an ever growing sense of freedom in a world that progressively opens up with each new ability. Enough with the overbearing hand holding and tedious world transversal. Based on how the series has progressed I'm worried that nonlinear, which should be a great thing, is somehow going to translate somehow into a bunch of unecessary back and forth through big generalized environments.

 

[Branduil]

I think if Zelda has voice acting, it should be like Ico and Shadow of the Colossus and be made-up "Hylian." Also, Link shouldn't speak.

 

[apana]

Obligatory:

Just turn this into a game already. This isn't rocket science Nintendo.

 

[Eusis]

Of course they could do that, and that'd be fine. I'm not against having an interconnected world with gear gating. I'm specifically against the idea of not blocking off dungeons in any way, plot or gear gated. Making them doable in any order.

When Twilight Princess came out, the biggest complaints were that the overworld was empty and items were hardly used outside of their dungeons. Skyward Sword addressed both complaints by blending the boundary between overworld and dungeon and making use of a variety of items in every dungeon, but complaints about the game are counter to what people wanted when they complained about TP. People want both spread-out item usage and non-linearity, which are at odds with each other.

Ah, right, I actually do agree that just fully opening it would be bad. At best, if you focus on several tightly designed dungeons then maybe two of them can be accessible based on the same minimum gear set, but otherwise it should be about what you have on hand. Which is part of the fun over something like Skyrim, I'm slowly peeling away more of the world.

Anyways, I do think the complaints with TP were born partially from the fact that game really may be the most linear Zelda made, but doesn't do anything to take advantage of that. Maybe they changed it later in development and gave everything a strict order, but it seemed pointless to be so rigidly guided yet keep throwing each new item aside after barely using it. But yes, Skyward Sword fixed that part at least, and it is one of the bigger things the game got right (biggest might be bringing lots of color back).

 

[CorvoSol]

Obligatory:

Just turn this into a game already. This isn't rocket science Nintendo.

The more these pictures get posted, the less I like them. It's such a trite, go-to response in these threads for someone to say "Nintendo make these old pictures a game!" and it completely ignores the MULTIPLE times Nintendo's done things like that.

Like the first one? Tower of the Gods ring a bell? Hyrule Castle being visible from ANYWHERE IN HYRULE in Twilight Princess? And you cannot be serious when you think making a giant door is the answer, and there have been plenty of big caves full of goddamn bats for Link to explore in the past 25 years.

It's such a cliche, no-thought-involved response.

 

[Brqan]

I just want nintendo to do their own thing and not let the fans bog it down.

 

[Medalion]

Playing alone being rethought made me nervous

Moar coop Zeruda

 

[Deadly Joker]

I want to play Zelda by myself.

What's wrong with that?

 

[OniShiro]

Now that Vigil is dead, they should hire them and collaborate with them to make the new Zelda, Darksiders was an awesome zeldish game.

 

[Data West]

Not that Vigil is dead, they should hire them and collaborate with them to make the new Zelda, Darksiders was an awesome zeldish game.

Retro already hired some Darksiders people

 

[Medalion]

Play as Link with motion plus
Play as Navi or whatever guide on gamepad ala Rayman Legends
It could happen

 

[OniShiro]

Retro already hired some Darksiders people

Glad to hear it, those people deserve good jobs.

 

[totowhoa]

We only need Midna's or Fi's gibberish, voice acting would be terrible, and a little pet peeve but npcs would have to stop using your name because of it.

Have you not played any games with voice acting that include customized player names? I've played a number of them. SMT and Persona comes to mind immediately... a more recent example that I was just playing the other day would be Nintendo Land. The user name is just placed in such a way that it does not need to be spoken aloud for the sentence to make sense.

Example:

"How are you doing, Mantidor?" is what the text would read, but the name would be left out when spoken so that you'd only hear "How are you doing?"

Since the spoken dialogue is obviously directed at the player it doesn't really feel odd to me.

 

[apana]

The more these pictures get posted, the less I like them. It's such a trite, go-to response in these threads for someone to say "Nintendo make these old pictures a game!" and it completely ignores the MULTIPLE times Nintendo's done things like that.

Like the first one? Tower of the Gods ring a bell? Hyrule Castle being visible from ANYWHERE IN HYRULE in Twilight Princess? And you cannot be serious when you think making a giant door is the answer, and there have been plenty of big caves full of goddamn bats for Link to explore in the past 25 years.

It's such a cliche, no-thought-involved response.

There is a lot of thought involved, it is just easier to go with pictures than to repeat all the talking points. We want an expansive and epic Zelda game and Nintendo seems to be focusing on smaller ideas and looking in every nook and cranny for something innovative. Sometimes it is best to go to the simplest solutions. Yes some of the elements of the various pictures have found themselves in Zelda games but it's not about the images themselves or the environments that they attempt to portray, it is about scope and vision.

 

[CorvoSol]

There is a lot of thought involved, it is just easier to go with pictures than to repeat all the talking points. We want an expansive and epic Zelda game and Nintendo seems to be focusing on smaller ideas and looking in every nook and cranny for something innovative. Sometimes it is best to go to the simplest solutions. Yes some of the elements of the various pictures have found themselves in Zelda games but it's not about the images themselves or the environments that they attempt to portray, it is about scope and vision.

The first and third picture's "scope and vision" are Twilight Princess. A huge-ass field for you to walk through fighting monsters, finding treasure, etc. till you reach Hyrule Castle. Yeah, Twilight Princess' big-ass world turned out to be fairly empty, but you know what game sought to rectify that? Skyward Sword, by making the whole lower-world full of puzzles for Link to solve as he fought enemies and nabbed treasures.

Sure, neither have reached ALttP's glory, but it's obvious from both that they're aiming to do this same "scope and vision" that these recycled pictures, or the ever recurrent Terada pictures are meant to convey.

And for all that people love to bring up Shadow of the Colossus, its world map was also as empty as it was expansive. Plenty of pretty things to see, but not a whole lot to do unless you wanted to chase lizards and shoot fruit.

 

[soulassssns]

I want the open ended lost feeling of this:

Mixed with this:

Poster of the month goes to......

Lol, so agree with you.

 

[watershed]

Didn't Nintendo say something very similar to this before Skyward Sword's unveiling? I remember talk of mixing up the structure and gameplay. I guess it ended up true in a way but still felt repetitive and a bit stale.

 

[Eusis]

Didn't Nintendo say something very similar to this before Skyward Sword's unveiling? I remember talk of mixing up the structure and gameplay. I guess it ended up true in a way but still felt repetitive and a bit stale.

They didn't single out completing dungeons in order, just that they'd "change the structure", in this case I think it's more that you had the sky acting as a hub of sorts, and the surface areas sort of like stages that lead to the dungeons.

 

[Goody]

Really see what, if anything, comes out of this philosophy. I would love to be a fly in a wall where the powers that be take a look at Zelda and decide what it's most basic elements are.

What would a Zelda game look like if it were made up of only what was absolutely essential to still being recognized as a Zelda game?

 

[Zekes!]

An idea I've had for a long time is the idea of having multiple ways to complete a dungeon/progress through the game depending on what items/weapons you have and what order you get them.

I'm not sure how well it'd work in practice though.

 

[Phatmac]

I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[RagnarokX]

Didn't Nintendo say something very similar to this before Skyward Sword's unveiling? I remember talk of mixing up the structure and gameplay. I guess it ended up true in a way but still felt repetitive and a bit stale.

They said they would blur the line between overworld and dungeon; they did that.

They also reduced the amount of Zelda tropes in the dungeons; There was like only 1 block pushing puzzle, most of the dungeons puzzles involved using the motion + sword movements, the full gambit of items you had on you and special gimmicks like that ball in the Earth Temple and the timeshift stones.

 

[CorvoSol]

They didn't single out completing dungeons in order, just that they'd "change the structure", in this case I think it's more that you had the sky acting as a hub of sorts, and the surface areas sort of like stages that lead to the dungeons.

Which was sort of nice. I liked a more puzzle oriented map. It reminded me of ALttP's overworld. If Skyward Sword had fully integrated the world map into something I could walk from place to place to without going back up to Skyworld, it'd've rocked.

Honestly, if Skyloft had been the only place in the sky and the rest had been put as parts of the lowerworld, many of my complaints concerning Skyward Sword would evaporate.

 

[IrrelevantNotch]

It'll be the same shit we've been getting for the past 15 years. Boring hub that connects to a bunch of boring areas.

Also, spiders will be involved.

 

[Medalion]

It'll be the same shit we've been getting for the past 15 years. Boring hub that connects to a bunch of boring areas.

Also, spiders will be involved.

It wouldn't be Zelda without boring stuff?

 

[apana]

They said they would blur the line between overworld and dungeon; they did that.

They also reduced the amount of Zelda tropes in the dungeons; There was like only 1 block pushing puzzle, most of the dungeons puzzles involved using the motion + sword movements, the full gambit of items you had on you and special gimmicks like that ball in the Earth Temple and the timeshift stones.

I thought Skyward Sword was an excellent game but the promise wasn't completely fulfilled for me. Skyward Sword felt very restricted to me in a lot of ways. Dungeons kind of took over the overworld instead of dungeons and overworld melding together.

Really see what, if anything, comes out of this philosophy. I would love to be a fly in a wall where the powers that be take a look at Zelda and decide what it's most basic elements are.

What would a Zelda game look like if it were made up of only what was absolutely essential to still being recognized as a Zelda game?

So would I. However I am not sure philosophy is the biggest issue. A lot of the trouble comes from the fact that is very difficult to implement the many interesting ideas that they come up with.

 

[KiN0]

am I the only one that mid game just decided to screw the mission and explore the sky?

There really isn't a lot to find in the sky aside from the goddess chests. It also doesn't help that a lot of those chests were filled with needless materials and rupees.

 

[RaidenZR]

There really isn't a lot to find in the sky aside from the goddess chests. It also doesn't help that a lot of those chests were filled with needless materials and rupees.

That was a HUGE letdown. Also, no night-time flying really killed the desire to explore it, too.

 

[Freshmaker]

I thought Skyward Sword was an excellent game but the promise wasn't completely fulfilled for me. Skyward Sword felt very restricted to me in a lot of ways. Dungeons kind of took over the overworld instead of dungeons and overworld melding together.




So would I. However I am not sure philosophy is the biggest issue. A lot of the trouble comes from the fact that is very difficult to implement the many interesting ideas that they come up with.

0) 10 hour intro
1) Hub World
2) Dungeons
3) Fetch quests

 

[Night_Trekker]

I'm cautiously optimistic. Cautiously.

I fully expect to see most of the series conventions right where I assume they'll be, but I'd like to be wrong. For the record, I love Skyward Sword, warts and all, but it didn't go far enough.

And for the love of god, please do something as brilliant with the story as Majora's Mask did.

Why not? You like being a character who can't speak and has to nod and shake his head in response to everything? And who tries to communicate by waving his arms around but without making a sound, and then SOMEHOW, whoever he's trying to communicate understands him??
I mean look at this!! - http://youtu.be/EVeCS8XE4yE?t=4m38s
It's ridicules!! A silent Link worked fine in the past, but now that they're trying to make him communicate, then he needs to TALK!!

You just don't get it. Please, seriously, go play something else.

 

[watershed]

I hope Nintendo enshrines "minimal handholding" as a new convention for all future Zelda games to follow. Skyward Sword was crazy in that regard and it takes away from the sense of adventure to always be told what to do next.

 

[BowieZ]

I look forward to seeing some of these suggestions in action, considering Nintendo has obviously been reading GAF lately.

Meanwhile, I want there to be 10+ "towns" to explore across a huge map - a new land that is different from Hyrule. Each town could have dungeon-like and side-quest like activities to complete, and most of them host a difficult-to-access dungeon, requiring keys or knowledge from the town or adjacent towns.

You can venture off in any direction at the beginning of the game (you're not forced to learn anything or equip yourself in your home town), and complete the town areas in any order.

But some of them will require some things from other towns/dungeons, and the final dungeon area will require things from each dungeon to fully complete, although you can attempt to play the final dungeon to begin with if you like (you won't pass, but there's no arbitrary restriction to enter it). The final dungeon isn't the end though, it simply unlocks a pathway to a very final otherworldly location.

 

[Bjoern the Smexy]

I kinda hope they add voice acting, but not using any known language, instead making up their own "Hylian" language. That'd be pretty sweet.

Also Link should stay silent.

 

[watershed]

I wonder what this means for the zelda 3ds game which should be released well before the Wii U game.

 

[remz]

I'd like to play a Souls styled Zelda game.

 

[Roo]

Why not? You like being a character who can't speak and has to nod and shake his head in response to everything? And who tries to communicate by waving his arms around but without making a sound, and then SOMEHOW, whoever he's trying to communicate understands him??
I mean look at this!! - http://youtu.be/EVeCS8XE4yE?t=4m38s
It's ridicules!! A silent Link worked fine in the past, but now that they're trying to make him communicate, then he needs to TALK!!

No just no
You just don't know what you are asking for
They made Samus talk.. look how that turned out
The same could happen to Link
NO!!

 

[RagnarokX]

I look forward to seeing some of these suggestions in action, considering Nintendo has obviously been reading GAF lately.

Suggestion from a previous thread:

"Just get rid of the puzzles please. Or make a puzzle zelda spinoff for puzzle fans and a action/rpg zelda for older Zelda fans."

I hope they don't read GAF too much

 

[Acerac]

I would love to be excited for this game.

Here's hoping for an open world experience.

I really can not understand the GAF hate for Twilight Princess. Outside the atrocious intro village x fishing sequence, I thought the game was overall excellent. The over world may have been flat, but there were tons of dungeons, and not just regular dungeons, but many a top the pinnacle of 3D level design.

Between that and the beetle hunts I got sick of the game really early in. It's like the designers were purposely keeping the fun part of the game locked away.