Zelda Producer Aims to Stop "Hand-Holding" in A Link Between Worlds

[MysticSlayer]

Well, the good news is it doesn't sound like they're going for absolute ambiguity, not even bothering to explain what you should do in the first place. My issue with moving away from hand holding is that, at times, players don't receive enough information to make an informed decision. Hand-holding always takes away from the game because there is a lot of fun in figuring things out for yourself, but at the same time, it is only fun if we have the resources to figure it out on our own. For instance, if we go to Gamefaqs and, after reading the tip, think to ourselves, "Oh, how could I be so dumb. It was so obvious," then we know that the game gave us the necessary resources, but if we go, "How was I supposed to know that," then the game likely took the opposite extreme to hand-holding, which is arguably even less enjoyable to deal with than hand-holding.

Still, it sounds like Nintendo understands the difference between the two and is trying to give the player adequate resources but isn't treating them like an idiot either. Now, the question remains: Can they also give us the same level of respect in the writing, because sometimes Zelda games treat us like a bunch of easily-distracted children who have to be reminded of everything 10 times by the end of the game, treating each new reminder as if it is the first time we've heard it.

 

[PunkRex]

Part of the magic of Zelda is exploring, something I remembered while playing Wind Waker HD, you can miss so much shizz in that game if you don't put the time in. Sometimes i'd get frustrated that I couldn't figure out what to do so I would sit there and listen to the music for abit, never took me to long to figure it out.

What i'm saying is that I don't believe flow is all that important if they can nail the atmosphere. It's why I love Pikmin and Bioshock so much, it's fun to get lost in those games.

 

[NoeL]

*- Looking back, there is one possible exception; you are never told where to find the Zora's Flippers required for the Swamp Palace (Dungeon 5). You must simply explore until you find the huge river in the north east corner of the Light World.

Yes there is. There's a dude (I think he might be in the Dark World equivalent of the witches hut) that you pay for information and he tells you about a treasure that lets you swim like a zora or something like that... or maybe I'm mistaken he doesn't actually tell you where to find it. But at least his house is nearby (if I'm remembering correctly).

 

[loa]

So basically, back to majoras mask.
I agree though, finding something is much more fun than being lead to something.
That's why secrets are still around.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

THANK you!

I'm a longtime Zelda fan and the hand-holding in Skyward Sword drove me nuts!

In terms of setting/story, SS was probably my favorite Zelda game; in terms of gameplay, the hand-holding and limited exploration nearly made it my least favorite (it probably would be my absolute least gameplay-wise if I'd never played Four Swords Adventures).

 

[ThunderCavalier]

I feel that one of these days I should get around to playing a Zelda game...

 

[captainballsack]

For the sake of this discussion, Egoraptor has a very informative video on difference between "hand-holding" and "conveyance."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpigqfcvlM

I can assure you that Nintendo are entirely capable of good conveyance, so we don't need to worry about a lack of hand holding being detrimental to the quality of the game (the contrary, actually).

 

[Scarim Coral]

Clearly Eiji haven't seen GameFAQ or game guide relates sites.

In saying so however it was kind of fun getting stuck in Link to the Past since it didn't took ages being stuck (well maybe except that reuniting that guy who can forge your Mastersword to be more powerful side quest).

 

[Andaxay]

I got horrendously stuck on Oracle of Seasons back when I was a kid. It was that tree stump puzzle in the ruins (I forget the name but I'm fairly certain it was the sixth dungeon), where you had to change the seasons in a certain order when you walked from screen to screen. It was brain-meltingly frustrating. But ohhhhh, the satisfaction when I eventually got past it. I miss that from Zelda so I'm glad it's coming back.

 

[themilo504]

I dislike getting stuck in video games so I?m against this chance, but as long as the things I?m supposed to do aren?t as unintuitive as the first Zelda and certain parts of ocarina and link to the past 1 then I guess I can live with it.

 

[Lightknight]

That certainly wasn't half the fun of Zelda (I know it's a phrase). If it was enjoyable to some to figure things out, that would have been but a small element of enjoyment of the accomplishment.

I wonder how this will play out. On the one hand, I did personally enjoy that occasionally (and then it suddenly got frustrating). On the other, getting lost in today's games where quest pathing is clearly possible and even common would just be an absent feature. It should be option. Perhaps even turned off by default if this is what they want to do.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

I like how in ALttP you can pay the fortune teller or whatever he/she is and get few tips of what and/or where to do/look.
You get help only if you intentionally go and ask for help.

People can't ***** about hand holding and they can't ***** about being stuck without a clue.

Anyways, I hated how in SS the camera would solve the puzzles every time you enter a room. It would literally go from A to Z, step by step showing what you need to hit/press/move/kill and then show you the way to the door/chest that would be unlocked.
I like SS, I love the motion controls but this shit is not acceptable. I'm not a moron, have faith in the player and give him help only and only if he truly needs it and asks for it.
Why would Fi tell me every single step what to do? Why did they even include the option to ask her for tips if she's going to give them without being asked?

Hey, listen!
Let her at the start of the game say something along the line "If you don't know where to go, I could try to help so make sure to ask" and that's it.
Explain to the player how to get tips, but don't force those tips onto him.
Zelda is my favorite franchise. I love pretty much every Zelda game ever made (no, CDi never happened, I don't want to hear about that, lalalalalalalala!!!!!), but the handholding in SS was ridiculous and not just from Fi but the camera, the cut scenes and even the level design was made so that it would lead even a brain dead zombie to the solution.

I honestly hope they will succeed in stoping the hand holding without leaving the player completely in the dark. Give me just barely enough information to make an educated guess. I'm not afraid of failing or coming to the wrong conclusions, as long as it's my mistake. So just barely enough information and make the tips optional.

Oh, before I forget, I want the Hero Mode to be unlocked right from the start.

 

[gargantual]

Valve was pretty good at laying subtle hints in Half-life and portal. The set pieces informed you well where you didn't want to walk,where you wanted to go, and helped established enemies patterns or vulnerabilities that you could use in tight spots or puzzles.

and without post Halo-world level game map compasses in old school FPS's. What did you do before? You went where ever more enemies were. on a cerebral level, you were looking for more action after you friggin cleared out everyone else, and logically, wherever more enemies gathered they had to be guarding something important right? Like the exit or the key TO the exit. Or the key TO the key to the exit etc....

 

[Cecilthedarkknight_234]

For some reason I was thinking that Link and Zelda where going to stop holding hands.