Hello there. Some of you may have heard this discussion before in a forum or among friends. I am one of those people on the side of Zelda isn't like COD. It's unique enough between games and changes art style and perspective (top-down, full 3D behind the shoulder, etc) and what not to be more than just a formulaic thing. It could do with more experimentation and a deeper exploration of certain themes, but it's not as though it's bad enough at this that the next game in the series is an automatic travesty.
I'm not here to prove that or explain that though. I want all of you to give your interpretation on the debate. If you think insults toward COD as too formulaic to the point of being a stale, milked franchise are too far and just a bad excuse from whiny haters then ok, fine. Compare Zelda to something you do think is more like that then.
I think Mario is more like COD than Zelda in this respect, but I was never as big of a fan of Mario as I am of Zelda. To be fair, Mario doesn't approach COD formula enough either, but it does so more than Zelda if you ask me.
EDIT: Here's a clarification on why I didn't choose Mario then via explanation to someone else:
If you don't want to see slightly unrelated fanboy rant skip this and just discuss the topic *I couldn't help myself*
Heck, looking at what I know of Arkham Origins Zelda definitely does more to keep the franchise from going stale than plenty of other big franchises rather than just the easy, overused COD argument. Arkham Origins looked like a rehash Arkham City to me (though I haven't played it yet to be fair). Arkham City opened up into a sandbox, added twice the moves, new game mechanics and gadgets, fixed combat issues, had better boss fights, and included side missions. Arkham Origins adds reverse countering, gimmicks, looks like it takes place in the future for the sake of keeping gameplay fun up without having to come up with clever ways to make it obvious it's a prequel while still just as fun (suit looks more advanced, GUI looks more futuristic, things look sleeker especially environments, etc.).
EDIT: Title changed from "Explain how Zelda is or isn't like COD". Also, here are a couple points made for the "Zelda is not COD" side of the debate:
1) http://retrowaretv.com/every-zelda-game-is-not-just-a-rehashed-ocarina-of-time/
This one is a little weak, but it gets the point across.
2) http://hope4media.blogspot.com/2011/12/zelda-franchise-without-rehashes-part-1.html
This was removed unfortunately since I first saw it a year or two ago and going through Google cache and other methods to see the older, not-removed and/or screenshotted and/or saved version did not work. I'll leave it here anyway in case anyone can manage to figure that out.
If this is the blog I'm thinking of then this is the best case I've seen made on how Zelda isn't really like COD in the rehashing department.
I'm not here to prove that or explain that though. I want all of you to give your interpretation on the debate. If you think insults toward COD as too formulaic to the point of being a stale, milked franchise are too far and just a bad excuse from whiny haters then ok, fine. Compare Zelda to something you do think is more like that then.
I think Mario is more like COD than Zelda in this respect, but I was never as big of a fan of Mario as I am of Zelda. To be fair, Mario doesn't approach COD formula enough either, but it does so more than Zelda if you ask me.
EDIT: Here's a clarification on why I didn't choose Mario then via explanation to someone else:
END EDITjamail77 said:[snip]CaptainMarvelous said:Summation: By definition, a series will be this. CoD does it terribly. Zelda doesn't do it as bad.(along with Metroid and Kirby, this is easily the worst choice of a Nintendo IP for this, Mario or Pokemon would have been better cases)
yes all series have some repetition, but like you say a balance is necessary. Making essentially the same game does not make a fun series. It's lazy and it's a waste of money even more so if they literally used the same exact engine, assets, and code for a majority of it. [snip]
I didn't make the case of Mario or Pokemon because Zelda is the common "like COD" argument on the Internet among a certain sect of gamers (I think they're mostly [diehard] defenders of COD). This is because while Zelda isn't quite as popular or anything it's well known for the nostalgia factor and has a solid fanbase, similar to COD, and one could argue Mario and Pokemon don't have these factors, at least not in the same way if they do have them to the same extent (which it seems they do).
If you don't want to see slightly unrelated fanboy rant skip this and just discuss the topic *I couldn't help myself*
Heck, looking at what I know of Arkham Origins Zelda definitely does more to keep the franchise from going stale than plenty of other big franchises rather than just the easy, overused COD argument. Arkham Origins looked like a rehash Arkham City to me (though I haven't played it yet to be fair). Arkham City opened up into a sandbox, added twice the moves, new game mechanics and gadgets, fixed combat issues, had better boss fights, and included side missions. Arkham Origins adds reverse countering, gimmicks, looks like it takes place in the future for the sake of keeping gameplay fun up without having to come up with clever ways to make it obvious it's a prequel while still just as fun (suit looks more advanced, GUI looks more futuristic, things look sleeker especially environments, etc.).
EDIT: Title changed from "Explain how Zelda is or isn't like COD". Also, here are a couple points made for the "Zelda is not COD" side of the debate:
1) http://retrowaretv.com/every-zelda-game-is-not-just-a-rehashed-ocarina-of-time/
This one is a little weak, but it gets the point across.
2) http://hope4media.blogspot.com/2011/12/zelda-franchise-without-rehashes-part-1.html
This was removed unfortunately since I first saw it a year or two ago and going through Google cache and other methods to see the older, not-removed and/or screenshotted and/or saved version did not work. I'll leave it here anyway in case anyone can manage to figure that out.
If this is the blog I'm thinking of then this is the best case I've seen made on how Zelda isn't really like COD in the rehashing department.