Zelda Producer Looking to Move Past Tradition

[KoudelkaMorgan]

Your level was reset to 1 if you died in the Japanese version of Zelda 2?! Really? The real Dark Souls began there lol.

I would have never been able to finish that game then.

My favorite Zeldas were Z1, Zelda 2, Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, and Majora's Mask. Those are the ones I consider real Zelda Games. The rest are okay, sometimes really good, but ultimately their flaws are overwhelming enough to make me not want to replay them often or at all.

Breaking with tradition is something I certainly embrace with the series. I've seen some seriously awesome quests and ideas via Zelda Classic that fans have made. Version 2.5 is pretty sweet, but even going as far back as 10 years ago they were doing things that were more exiting and original than Nintendo has been doing lately.

ALBW is easily the most excited I've been about a Zelda game in many years. I don't really recall much of Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks was pretty boring, and Minish Cap was short and easy. Getting all the figures was what made up the bulk of my playtime.

I liked the art style of Wind Waker, but sailing was not even 10% as cool as I thought it would be at the time. The Oracle games I really need to replay, because all I remember is liking Seasons, and hating Ages. That and hating the dancing minigames. The rings were a mixed bag imo. Some were useful, most were not, and some were really OP.

Twilight Princess, I liked Midna, and the Arbiter's Grounds. That's about it.

Skyward Sword, I liked the story quite a bit. Demise was pretty cool. The Cistern was awesome, and I liked all the bosses. Also one of my favorite Zeldas (person). Groose was probably the best new character they have had in a long time. Certainly better than Tingle. I just wasn't a fan of the motion controls. So much so that even though I otherwise really liked the game, I just don't feel like playing it again anytime soon.

As for Ocarina. It blew my mind coming from Link's Awakening obviously. At the time I enjoyed it, particularly the Spirit Temple, but it just has too many parts that I do NOT enjoy (Water Temple for starters) that it takes a serious commitment to get back to the parts I DO like for me to want to play it anymore. Plus Majora's Mask was so much better for me, I'd rather just play that.

The prospect of picking out an item from the shop, and then going out into the world looking for places to use it/the dungeon it might be required to finish excites me.

No longer am I going to find a hole in the ground with a bow, and know with pretty much 100% certainty that anything weird looking in there will need to be hit with an arrow and the boss will probably be Gohma.

 

[Brian Tams]

Hey, it worked with Majora's Mask and Link's Awakening, so why wouldn't it work for future installments?

Anyways, as long as they don't turn it into Call of Duty: Zelda edition, then I'm fine.

 

[Hero of Lime]

I've always felt that Zelda games keep going back in forth between traditional and experimental games. I know to most people Zelda has been the same game since A Link to the Past, but I would disagree. I just want the fundamentals still there, which A Link Between Worlds seems to keep, yet always having new mechanics and for lack of a better word, gimmicks.

I've seem Majora's Mask touted as completely different from most Zelda games, it stands out no doubt, but it still felt like a Zelda game. I always look forward to new Zelda games and how they shake up the formula, but the most important things that separates the series from the competition are the fundamentals it keeps. I just want it to feel like Zelda, and looking at A Link Between Worlds footage, the feel is still there no matter how experimental the game is supposed to be.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

YES!

If I had to describe my ultimate Zelda game, it would be Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess mixed in with the deepness of Majoras Mask with a little of Elder Scrolls' massive openess also mixed in.

 

[thiosk]

The screenshot looks like "Animal Crossing: A Link to the Past"

 

[Weaver]

Zelda confirmed for gritty, 3rd person shooter reboot.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Sweet. Maybe we'll get another awesome experiment like Majora's Mask. MAN I love that game. XD

 

[Denamic]

Last Zelda game I was actually excited about was Twilight Princess. I love the game, but I realized it's really not much different from previous games. And games following it has similarly been very samey, some of which only really exploring new grounds in how annoying one can make a companion. I never thought I'd say this, but I just don't really care about the series any more.

Captcha: pound cake
I'D LIKE SOME POUND CAKE!

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

That's all very well and good, but I think some things need to remain consistent otherwise you might as well be creating a new IP.

That was my thought. When he started talking about how he wanted to make the kind of changes where it wouldn't even matter if Link or Zelda were even in the game, I was thinking "so you're making a new IP and shoehorning the Zelda name in, then?" Hopefully it won't be that bad, but that's always the fear when you see studios talking about "shaking up" a franchise, in any medium[footnote]Coughstartrek09coughBSG04cough[/footnote].

 

[Terramax]

Can we just say "About time" here?

I'd rather say 'well, why not just make a whole new IP, mMm?'

 

[Roxas1359]

Sweet. Maybe we'll get another awesome experiment like Majora's Mask. MAN I love that game. XD

Any chance of there ever being a Majoras Mask-like game from Zelda is a win in my book. I wanna play it again so badly, but I don't have the time. T^T

snip

Sadly you are completely correct about that story, although I must ask did you expect rational thought from a popular fanbase. Some Zelda fans are scary obsessed, close to the Sonic Fandom level, or do I need to remind you of the Twilight Princess thing. XD

Also, I feel that this picture is relevant.

Spoiler

 

[Zeriah]

Not sure how I feel about this. While I do think changes to the Zelda are long overdue, the reason I am so excited about this game was revel in my nostalgia of A Link to the Past. I kind of want this game to be as much like ALthP as possible. I think it might have been a better decision to save the new formula for a non sequel.

 

[Nazulu]

*Ahem*

The Story of Eiji Aonuma, and the Unpleasable Gaming Community

Snipped for length

The moral of the story. He should've known you can't please everyone, and it's obvious that when you make one sequel different from the others that the change won't be for everyone, so he should've of made what he felt was right and not follow directions from 'ONE' of the disinterested groups.

Are you fucking kidding me? He actually made the changes to appease certain fans? If that really did upset him because couldn't please everyone (which is a mistake in itself) then he should be happy he's made at least one Zelda everyone can enjoy since there is a big spectrum of them now.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

That's all very well and good, but I think some things need to remain consistent otherwise you might as well be creating a new IP.

That was my thought. When he started talking about how he wanted to make the kind of changes where it wouldn't even matter if Link or Zelda were even in the game, I was thinking "so you're making a new IP and shoehorning the Zelda name in, then?" Hopefully it won't be that bad, but that's always the fear when you see studios talking about "shaking up" a franchise, in any medium[footnote]Coughstartrek09coughBSG04cough[/footnote].

Yes, I'm thinking there has to be at least 3 things that need to be involved for it to be a Zelda game a) Link and Zelda (or, at the very least, Link) b) Sword and Shield c) Overworld and dungeons. Without those you might as well call it the Adventures of Captain Killsalot and release it as a new IP.

It's sad that I've come to dread the latest instalments of a franchise instead of getting excited about them and mostly for this reason.

 

[r0seyp0m]

I'm all for change but is removing Link and Zelda really a good idea? It would just be kind of a spinoff instead of a Zelda game.

 

[littlewisp]

I wouldn't mind a game that took a broader (or narrower?) take on hyrule. Call it -- Legend of Hyrule, I dunno. A story set in the world, with the legend(s) of zelda (and link!) a living, breathing part, but a focus on other heroes, in other ways. Like in Ocarina I was always curious about the trials the sages went through. Or Shiek, or. . .gee, anything. You can have a grand adventure without needing to save the world. And I always want a deeper world/region story, too.

Plus link's costume needs some major overhauling/update. Soooo stuck in the 80s. And green? I'm so over the green.

Really though, I've no problem trying something new. Even if it flops, I'd rather try something new than feel like it's gotten stuck somewhere and is all sad. (I always enjoy something about zelda games though, so I'm pretty easy to please I guess)

 

[Fox12]

It'd be great if we got a new Zelda game where we actually play as Zelda. I understand two exist, but c'mon... give Zelda an adventure that's every bit as epic as recent Zelda games. If Nintendo wants to move past the tradition without a huge culture shock to their fans, this would be a good way to start the transition.

This would be really interesting. They wouldn't even have to get rid of Link, he could be present in the background like Sheik was in OoT. What was Zelda doing during those intervening years? Training in combat? Constantly running from Ganondorf, going place to place, waiting for the day she would be old enough to fight back? There are a lot of interesting implications.

I would love to see a Zelda game that took a completely new spin on the classic formula, instead of a Zelda game that threw out the formula entirely. There's a lot of room to explore if they choose to get creative enough. Oracle of Time, Oracle of Seasons, and most importantly Majoras Mask showed us that.

On the one hand, Zelda could use more refreshing changes. Skyward Sword took some great steps forward in my opinion with a improved Wii controls, tactical mechanics on the shield, and so on.

On the other hand, Other M was trying to do away with some of the tradition of its predecessors, too, and look how that worked out.

So I guess my stance is "fine, provided you make sure that it's not TOO far from what most folks recognize as a "Zelda" game.

It helps if you don't hand your best IP's over to a company primarily known for jiggle physics and softcore pornography. Metroid Prime was also experimental, and it's considered one of the best Metroid games of all time, and one of the best Game Cube games.

 

[Lyvric]

Oh, how about this. If you want to do something different. If you're tired of tradition, and want something that doesn't look/feel like Zelda, but has a similar-ish concept how about just making a whole new game line?

Seriously, just scrap the Zelda altogether for now and start something brand spanking new.

The lady bit has been done as well, like Metroid and Princess Peach.

How about just not making a Zelda game?

Seriously, how many repetitious/rebooted/re-continued/traditional-ish games do we need? If you love Zelda, awesome, but let's start a whole new line-up that's searching for it's own start to tradition. Come on Nintendo, boot up some new nostalgia for later down the line.