Daily Debate: What is the Best Overworld For 3D Console Zelda Games?

Throughout some the of best 3D titles of The Legend of Zelda series, we’ve seen some pretty iconic places: mystical forests, frozen peaks, and mysterious temples. But what I’d like to discuss today is the area that binds them all together in a single world. Today, we are going to take a look back at the overworld zones, their best features, and what we’d enjoy seeing most in future titles.

The most memorable form of overworld in Zelda is the field system. While a field or pasture fits in well with the theme of a game like Zelda, the use of fields makes for some of the best exploration in a game. You can roam around endlessly, observing all the details put in, or head straight to your destination; walk steadily on foot, or dash on your steed; fight off enemies in your way, or go around. In the end, more often that not, a path will be laid out for you, yet the way you follow through is always up to you, as the field offers more freedom than almost any of the other aspects of the games it’s in.

In early 3D titles, such as Ocarina of Time & Majora’s Mask, once we first step foot into the fields we have complete control to go to almost any spot in its boundaries. Both games had the iconic locations primarily linked through the field, just as well as in almost any other game with the field system, and the first time we explore a new location we usually enter from its connections to the fields.

However, in a newer Zelda game with the field overworld, Twilight Princess, the classic system is redone in an unusual, but refreshing manner. Unlike other games, Twilight Princess‘ fields are only shown to us piece by piece, each separated from one another by natural boundaries. This is used as a tool for the game’s linearity, as we cannot venture to the other parts of the field without gaining access to their passages. That means as we continually progress throughout the story, more and more of the world will come into view. This opens up new passages and unique fields to explore later on, rather than all at once, like in previous games.

Another type of overworld seen before we adventured into Twilight Princess was the Great Sea. In a timeline in which Hyrule has been flooded by oceans and only small islands remain, we travel across the Great Sea after gaining access to a vessel; an important factor, as we cannot simply travel across the seas on our own accord. The Great Sea offers more freedom in some ways, but lessens it in others. With only a large body of water in our way, so long as we have a boat, we can travel across it in any direction we please, approaching islands at any angle, and ignoring places we wish to skip.

As we must remain in our vessel during our voyages, we are unable to use most of our skills and inventory while journeying its overworld. So far only The Wind Waker and its sequel, Phantom Hourglass, have shown to use this style of overworld. While it’s truly an interesting factor to see in a Zelda game, it’s unclear if we will see it again any time soon.

The newest form of overworld to 3D Zelda are the skies from Skyward Sword. Although we’ve only seen the use of this overworld once, it was one of the most intriguing aspects of the game. In it we flew through the sky on our Loftwing, exploring the mysterious floating islands and following the pillars of light to the surface of the world. One of the best parts of exploration through the sky overworld was the addition of a z-axis, allowing us to rise up and descend within a certain boundary, setting it distinctly apart from other 3D Zelda titles. It’s doubtful that the sky will ever appear as an overworld again, but it would likely make a welcome and exciting return in any new game to the Zelda series.

What are your opinions about the best overworlds for Zelda? Is there a favorite system you’d like to see return? Maybe a new one you’d like them to try out? Leave your opinions in the comments below!