The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
My thirteen year old sister absolutely loved Skyward Sword.
I don't think Zelda needs "saving"
I don't think Zelda needs "saving"
My thirteen year old sister absolutely loved Skyward Sword.
I don't think Zelda needs "saving"
I dont want a dark and gritty zelda. I want it to be for everyone like bilbo or a miyasaki movie.
But he is absolutely spot on about most items being simple keys and the crappy overworlds.
Exploration was always the main draw of zelda growing up. Post oot this aspect have been on a continuous decline.
ofcourse its dark at time. Like all great sagas.
Have you like...seen a miyasaki movie? Shit is dark and gritty in its own way.
Not unlike Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, both of which happily danced back and forth between bright, cheery fantasy and nightmare fuel.
Not unlike Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, both of which happily danced back and forth between bright, cheery fantasy and the stuff of nightmares.
Making it not for everyone...and awesome.
So he thinks OoT is "fundamentally broken." To me, that's extremely good game design, so if he calls that broken, bring on the breakage, I guess.
What really irks me is that he thinks "locks and keys" are bad. Sure, they can feel a little too artificial if they stick out like a sore thumb and the game obsesses over point them out to you, but nearly all games are based on locks and keys of various sizes and shapes. Assessing a challenge or obstacle, figuring out how best to get past it, then taking action is one of the fundamental reasons I enjoy games in general. Should I be so totally immersed that I'm not even problem-solving any more?
I don't think Zelda needs "saving"
I don't think Zelda needs"saving"
It just feels so artificial and not incorporated enough game-wide. I would love if the hookshot worked on any plant or wood substance and not just vines...then play with all the implications of Link being super mobile. With the whip in SS, you could get certain items from mobs for upgrading..but rarely used. I wish the items introduced were much more "weighty". The scarab is an example of an item done well...I used that shit constantly.
Narrow the items down to
-Bombs
-Scarab
-Bow and Arrows (and introduce it quickly!)
-Dual claw shot (it can take the place of the need of a whip)
Design the whole world around these items.
Why are there so many complaints about the initial thrill and then disappointment of Ocarinas Hyrule field or Wind Wakers ocean? Even the Lanayru desert in Skyward Sword offers a similar unfulfilled promise. The promise being: a world, vast, spread out before you, ripe for exploration, free. But when was the last time Zelda truly offered this? When the game plopped you in an open field and said: here is a world have at it.
I could dig it. Skyward Sword already went a long way toward cleaning up the way items were used, so what you're describing is the next logical step.
I have one reservation, though: Give me the Deku Leaf or something functionally similar to it. Hell, let me use it with the dual claw shots to zip around like I'm playing Just Cause 2.
I agree Zelda needs some huge changes to it's core structure - it really, really needs to get that element of exploration back
Gaming communities need to stop giving attention to this kimd of garbage. Maybe people then will write actual analysis' on games. This is the sad work of an old nerd without any self awareness.
Gaming communities need to stop giving attention to this kimd of garbage. Maybe people then will write actual analysis' on games. This is the sad work of an old nerd without any self awareness.
I wonder if half these kinds of posts even read the article...
Yet belief in Zelda is not based simply in childish attachment or blind need. There is really some magic there; Zelda has not survived so long by chance. The pleasures it first offered those that come with being an explorer, a pathfinder and labyrinth conqueror, a fighter and survivor, a finder of secrets remain completely viable in modern games. Theyre just not present in modern Zeldas. Instead, we are given an unconvincing world, unfocused gameplay, unsatisfying difficulty, and an unnecessary story.
Joking aside I agree with his overall points. Zelda has become a theme park game with no soul or sense of adventure. I got more out of SotCs over world than I did of any 3D Zelda game.
I think ultimately, he wants Link's Adventure II, electric boogaloo. That's what Dark Souls is for. I share a similar yearning for a much more open, dynamic, meaningful overworld. The first Zelda has that "feel" as primitive as it was.
dark souls and demon's souls are great templates for a more mature zelda oriented game.
I never understood why there wasn't a separate team making a more grown up version of zelda to satisfy that audience.
maybe we're not on the same page when discussing what "mature" and "grown up" means then
If I'm going to fight a huge powerful boss, as an adult, I don't want it to give me a goofy smile when I hit it until it's dazed with stars hovering around it's head. And I don't want a fairy jumping out telling me where the weak spot is and what to do.
I want bosses that strike fear into the player, doesn't hold your hand, and doesn't have cute sense of humor when you are trying to stab it until it dies
blood and gore are optional
right, but maybe if nintendo is trying to gain a "new" older audience with the wii-u, they'll branch out and create a grown up zelda-esc game IN ADDITION to the regular kiddie zeldas we already have
Zelda should look at Dark Souls for inspiration, but people obsessing over "kiddy" or "adult" images are missing the point. Dark Souls is more fun, for it is more challenging and complex.
It just feels so artificial and not incorporated enough game-wide. I would love if the hookshot worked on any plant or wood substance and not just vines...then play with all the implications of Link being super mobile. With the whip in SS, you could get certain items from mobs for upgrading..but rarely used. I wish the items introduced were much more "weighty". The scarab is an example of an item done well...I used that shit constantly.
Narrow the items down to
-Bombs
-Scarab
-Bow and Arrows (and introduce it quickly!)
-Dual claw shot (it can take the place of the need of a whip)
Design the whole world around these items.
Even the first Zelda doesn't have as much exploration as some like to claim. You can only complete the first three dungeons in any order, the other 6 all need items from previous dungeons to finish,or "unlock"(hah) them.
TheCongressman1 said:Also, I think you guys are missing the point of the 'Lock and Key' thing. There is nothing wrong with needing items to access an area, but when the item is reduced to being only that, it takes away from the point of an item. It becomes completely arbitrary. They might as well take out the clawshot and give link a giant key that lets him get into a new area. Leave some freedom to the player. Let them figure out how they want to open the 'lock' with their 'key'.
Even the first Zelda doesn't have as much exploration as some like to claim. You can only complete the first three dungeons in any order, the other 6 all need items from previous dungeons to finish,or "unlock"(hah) them.
Come to think about it, I played a lot of Zelda classic games, which are fan games made on an improved Zelda 1 engine. The quests which are rated the highest all don't allow you to visit any dungeons in order. There is quite a lot of text in most of them and it's clearly stated where you have to go next. On the other hand, the difficulty often reaches Zelda 1 and even surpasses it (Hero Of Dreams,it's surely three times harder) and they love it to put bigger caves and mini-dungeons under stuff like single bushes or trees. I guess a mix of modern zelda elements and classic difficulty / harder to find secrets is the real thing.
You know, I was thinking today, Zelda needs to be darker.
And I don't mean grittier, or more 'adult' - I'm talking dark, as in, eery, morbid, disturbing...
Think back to Majora's Mask, and the starting sequence of the game.
You're immediately hit in the face with a large dose of creepy, and it's great. behind all the bright colours and oddities in that game, there lied some really disturbing undertones and moments.
Zelda 1 offers this freedom.
The whole game is dark and disturbing. Link ist literally performing euthanasia in it, among other things you see.
I also want the series to go such a route again since then, but when people want the series to be more ,,mature'' they usually talk about generic WRPG artstyle and whatnot, which would be simply unsuitable for the series.