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Sorry Nintendo, we've decided that Link is officially a girl

lacinius

Member
nJ6S3kA.png
 

Mupod

Member
oh god this endless circular argument that erupts in every single one of these threads

I even started posting a real response before I remembered what a goddamn headache this turns into every time.
 
I don't understand why people are confused about this. Link is a girl. Link has always been a girl.

I wish people would stop trying to censor Miyamoto and Aonuma's artistic creative freedom vision in which Link is and has always been a girl. :(

Apparently censorship is still alive and well in 2015. "Link isn't a girl!"

Disgusting.
 

Nickle

Cool Facts: Game of War has been a hit since July 2013
We need a game where Link deals with cyber-bullying in a current day Hyrule.
 
I'll respond I guess. I have a hard time getting my attitude across apparently on GAF, so I'm going to do my last disclaimer as me wanting to see what a female MC for LoZ would look like, but thinking that the response to these Links being male is out of place.


Now sure, females in games as MCs or the option to play a female is great and showing a more homogenized place in gaming. But when you say: these games are you referring to LoZ?

Yes.

This is false though, Link, like many current characters from that time frame, have evolved into being a fully fledged character. As the games progressed, we got to see more "lore" connecting Link to being an actual character, shoddily last-second made timelines to show that he is an actual character that has many timelines, and more. Official manuals and more now better represent this a time has gone forward. With our latest 3D Zelda we got to see how Link as an actual character would look, and how that him having a personality was something that was apparent and one of the only redeeming factors, imo, of SS.

Everything I've seen with people saying that Link somehow has deep characterization begins and ends with. "He's lazy at the start, but becomes a hero at the end." "He was sad when that sad thing happened" By all means it seems that Link's personality changes with every Zelda game by a bit. Wind Waker Link was different from Skyward Sword Link, so....

But, that's not how many users, not even specifically you, on here are stating their opinion. I hate to make it a semantics game on "should" but:
"Link should be anything the player wants"
"Nintendo should make LoZ a character creator."

Problem being, this is actively speaking and implies that the opposite shouldn't be done ie:

"Link shouldn't be what the creator wants"
"Nintendo shouldn't make Link as a defined character."

How much power do you think I have? Who gives a shit if I say Link should be a girl? It won't matter unless someone at Nintendo listens. Until then, I'm not really censoring art, or destroying the developer's wishes or intentions. What I say means nothing. What I want means nothing. When I say "should" I of course means that's what I would love for them to do, but it's an impossible dream because I know in the end they probably won't. It's the same way for any wishlist a fan will make for a game. They want the game to be different from how the developer designed it. I will argue till the end of my days that Link isn't a very well defined character. They add little things with them reacting to things, or the little cartoon romance they had with Zelda in Skyward Sword, but that's really temporary. That can and will change with the new games they release.

For instance, I think it would be really cool to play as a FeMC, but more specifically Zelda as she has more potential here. I really would love one, but I'm not going to post that the developer is wrong for not making Link a female, as some have, and I'm not going to blame how the dev worded a very controversial subject in a way where it didn't blow up in his face. A FeMC is inevitable imo, with a female version of Link even being a bonus for the 3DS version of HW. Wanting a character to change is also great. But no developer is in the wrong for wanting Link to be a boy in their game.

What a developer wants in the end is what's going to happen. Because, again, they hold all the power.
 

Neiteio

Member
Meh, this thread has become a serious discussion and gone to shit.

To shiiiiiiiiiiiit!

*walks away and throws a cigarette behind him, blowing up the thread*

*coughs uncontrollably because he doesn't actually smoke*
 

213372bu

Banned
Alright. Just wanted to know.


Everything I've seen with people saying that Link somehow has deep characterization begins and ends with. "He's lazy at the start, but becomes a hero at the end." "He was sad when that sad thing happened" By all means it seems that Link's personality changes with every Zelda game by a bit. Wind Waker Link was different from Skyward Sword Link, so....
Eh, it's different than that. Link sometimes never actually even evolves as a character in some games. This holds true for most of the past Zelda games and even some of the newer ones. After a certain point, it's honestly really indistinguishable, Link became an actual character. It was around this time that Link was put into positions that showed his personality. So I have to disagree there.

> WW/LoZ DS game duology gave Link traits first that made him more than just a projection of the play character. He visibily started showing emotion to certain scenes, and was given personality quirks.

> SS/Twiglight Princess also showed this progression coming off in a more general way. Link felt emotions, did things that the player might not have wanted Link to do, and started acting as an actual character rather than an adventurer with Link as a projection.

This is also the time in which HH came out and there was a clear effort in making the "lore" of LoZ a thing, making Link more specifically the Hero of Time. This no longer made the player the one projecting onto an avatar but a hero, Link going through it.

Of course, this doesn't discount that Zelda or FeMC Link, but it does shown that Link is a character and is no longer just meant to be an avatar as he was in OG Zelda.


How much power do you think I have? Who gives a shit if I say Link should be a girl?
Woah, shit dude. We're just discussing something on a message board, and I'm being pretty calm about it.

It won't matter unless someone at Nintendo listens. Until then, I'm not really censoring art, or destroying the developer's wishes or intentions.
I, for one, am not convincing you of that. The only thing I've said is that I think it's unfair that the allegations of Link being a boy as "sexist" or something that
"should" change has no real basis or precedent for this claim to be made. It's totally fine to want a Female Link. I want a female Link.

When I say "should" I of course means that's what I would love for them to do, but it's an impossible dream because I know in the end they probably won't.
Again, I know what you meant and that's why I was speaking more generally to other users who believed that it would be Nintendo's right to make Link a progressive character as he is apparently just a blank slate fully interchangeable MC who can even not wear a green tunic and just be a C-a-C. Also a female version of link has been made in the past and will finally be playable in HW. I honestly think it's a matter of time before we get a playable FeMC.


I will argue till the end of my days that Link isn't a very well defined character.
But again, there is a very clear decade long effort to make him one.
 
I can't do the quote thing again, I don't know how people can do that. So consider me 90 years old and unable to understand how internet forums work.

Woah, shit dude. We're just discussing something on a message board, and I'm being pretty calm about it.

I didn't type that with any like ill intent or anything. It's just that I've probably replied to 80 things about the developers vision and how I want to limit their freedom of expression and take away all their power and such.
 

213372bu

Banned
I didn't type that with any like ill intent or anything. It's just that I've probably replied to 80 things about the developers vision and how I want to limit their freedom of expression and take away all their power and such.

Eh, it's best to ignore them, to be honest.

A lot of this has to deal with so many people being attached to certain points in people's arguments that it never gets into an actual discussion that doesn't just devolve into a pure semantics game or miscommunication.
--
We all know that people who like LoZ at the end of the day will go out and buy a LoZ title that has a girl as the main character.
 

Surface of Me

I'm not an NPC. And neither are we.
It wouldn't have to be this way Nintendo, if only you had given your best female protagonist the attention she deserved.
 

Tanoooki

Member
Honestly, Zelda should just have a character creator at this point so players can create a main character with the visual appearance, sexual identity, and level of physical ability to match the experience they identify with. Hyrule Historia has canonized a bizarre timeline so it's not like there's some meticulously crafted universe in place.

Why does sexual identity matter in a game where you don't have any romantic relationships?
 
Why does sexual identity matter in a game where you don't have any romantic relationships?

girls wanna go out and have adventures in hyrule as themselves.

we're talking gender identity, i think you got that confused with sexual orientation.

though keep the romance from skyward sword and have link and princess zelda still hook up and it'd be the best game ever. so sure, can add that to the list.
 
I didn't know you could just decide that.

Neither did I.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm certain Link is canonically a male. I mean, the developer's response to different genders (or is it sexes?) for the main characters isn't exactly a good one, but if the story says he's male, I don't know what to say.

Obviously, there's nothing wrong with wanting to play as a female swords...person. The Scythian from Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery is female, gender isn't exactly a major role in the game and it's obviously inspired by Legend of Zelda. Making Link a female wouldn't be that much of a stretch.

The Scythian

The Triforce Trigon

At the same time, if the devs want to make the creative choice to have Link as a male, I don't see a problem with that.
 

Dremorak

Banned
Said it in the other thread, I'll say it here too:

Its a multiplayer "Redux" of link between worlds

Why would they create extra art for a second playable charater?
( and no, the different links arent different characters, its the same character with the hue shifted on the tunic)
 

213372bu

Banned
Said it in the other thread, I'll say it here too:

Its a multiplayer "Redux" of link between worlds

Why would they create extra art for a second playable charater?
( and no, the different links arent different characters, its the same character with the hue shifted on the tunic)

I might be mis-remembering things from E3 but I believe everyone in the town wants to be a hero like Link, and the three heroes for multiplayer are just some adventurers who want to be just like Link.

That's their justification for them just being different shades of the same model.

Honestly, aside from the "sacred lore", they're just reusing assets and using weird explanations for it as they did in Four Swords.
 
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