Ariel
Think for yourself.
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2010
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
Ok, there seems to be a bit of polarization when it comes to overworld size preferences. Some people love the large, expansive overworld of Twilight Princess, and others disliked it, instead wanting a more dense, smaller world with more to do in it. Should Skyward Sword go for the Twilight Princess option, or something along the lines of Ocarina Of Time? Please discuss your opinions with relevant arguments.
Personally, nothing felt more breath-taking in all of Zelda gaming, then stepping into the expansive Hyrule Field after completing the Forest Temple in Twilight Princess. After being confined to a relatively linear environment of Ordon, and Faron Woods, the vast openess that greeted my completion of the first dungeon was overwhelming. This, I believe, is why I would prefer a giant open world in contrast to a smaller, more dense world.
To me, Ocarina Of Time's main hub, Hyrule Field felt lacking. Hyrule Field was relatively small, exemplified by the fact that some guy in a bunny hood could literally run around what was essentially 50% of the known world. To me, there's something claustrophobic about that. You could explore the entire field, albeit slowly, on foot in about 30 minutes. This to me is underwhelming. But where Ocarina Of Time did get it right, in my opinion, is the richness of different smaller locations surrounding Hyrule Field. Ocarina of Time had an interconnected-ness unparalelled in any Zelda game, almost all the different locales were connected to each other by at least one secret passage, or unconventional path. For example, I at one point playing Ocarina of Time, needed to get to Zora's Domain from Death Mountain. Instead of taking the more conventional, linear path of out to Hyrule Field and then a hike up Zora River, I instead opted to enter Goron City, take the path to the Lost Woods, from there enter the small lake into Zora's River, and from there to Zora's Domain. The inventiveness, and variety of that path made the world seem much more alive than ever before. The small little out-crops of the different villages inhabited by their respective races no longer felt like branched microcosms stemming from Hyrule Field, but instead felt like a breathing, complex, innovatively connected world. This, I believe, is a major plus for a Zelda game. This allows a large area, to become easily traversed and explored despite its size. This is the option I would take, given a larger Zelda overworld, and larger Hyrule Field, not the small, enclosed Hyrule Field of Ocarina of Time.
Now, an issue often brought up about Twilight Princess and its Hyrule Field is that it often felt empty with nothing to do, like a sandbox with no sand. The sheer scale of the Field was immense, littered sparingly with an occasional cave and secret location reachable by vine and clawshot. Even Eiji Aonouma himself remarked that he regretfully made the world of Hyrule too big, over-drawing the world scale to a point of intimidation. However, to me, we need a bit (or a lot) of openess, especially with the use of Epona, to just run around carelessly in any direction and experiment with whatever we had; the Bow and Arrow, a Clawshot, or the Spinner even perhaps. There needs to be some room for Link to breathe, and a bit of distance between the different locations of the world. I remember I was in Eldin Province's Hyrule Field and I was amazed that I was able to shoot a Kargorok with my bow and arrow from way on the other side of the field. This leads into my next point, draw-distance. I think I can be quite safe in saying that a large draw distance is always preferred in a Zelda game, preferable propably even in almost the entire medium of games. Borrowing from an artcile I read about Twilight Princess, it's one of the only games where you can spot an enemy from a few miles away and still have the ability to shoot it between the eyes. To me, the ability to do that is pure satisfaction, definitely a plus for a precision-heavy Wii Zelda.
What I've concluded in my mind is that we need variety. We need a bustling, populated location that brims with life and activity in for the story and the atmosphere. We also need a large, expansive overworld for pure scope and experimentation. And with each, we need a degree of connectivity, Hyrule should not be made up of smaller themed worlds, there should be some overlap between them. I predict that console Zelda games are going to get bigger, and more ambitious in the future, so I hope they refine their ideas for the world of Hyrule and add some variety between games.
Have I convinced you? Or are you just itching to tell me off? What sort of world do you think Skyward Sword should employ?
Please discuss.
Personally, nothing felt more breath-taking in all of Zelda gaming, then stepping into the expansive Hyrule Field after completing the Forest Temple in Twilight Princess. After being confined to a relatively linear environment of Ordon, and Faron Woods, the vast openess that greeted my completion of the first dungeon was overwhelming. This, I believe, is why I would prefer a giant open world in contrast to a smaller, more dense world.
To me, Ocarina Of Time's main hub, Hyrule Field felt lacking. Hyrule Field was relatively small, exemplified by the fact that some guy in a bunny hood could literally run around what was essentially 50% of the known world. To me, there's something claustrophobic about that. You could explore the entire field, albeit slowly, on foot in about 30 minutes. This to me is underwhelming. But where Ocarina Of Time did get it right, in my opinion, is the richness of different smaller locations surrounding Hyrule Field. Ocarina of Time had an interconnected-ness unparalelled in any Zelda game, almost all the different locales were connected to each other by at least one secret passage, or unconventional path. For example, I at one point playing Ocarina of Time, needed to get to Zora's Domain from Death Mountain. Instead of taking the more conventional, linear path of out to Hyrule Field and then a hike up Zora River, I instead opted to enter Goron City, take the path to the Lost Woods, from there enter the small lake into Zora's River, and from there to Zora's Domain. The inventiveness, and variety of that path made the world seem much more alive than ever before. The small little out-crops of the different villages inhabited by their respective races no longer felt like branched microcosms stemming from Hyrule Field, but instead felt like a breathing, complex, innovatively connected world. This, I believe, is a major plus for a Zelda game. This allows a large area, to become easily traversed and explored despite its size. This is the option I would take, given a larger Zelda overworld, and larger Hyrule Field, not the small, enclosed Hyrule Field of Ocarina of Time.
Now, an issue often brought up about Twilight Princess and its Hyrule Field is that it often felt empty with nothing to do, like a sandbox with no sand. The sheer scale of the Field was immense, littered sparingly with an occasional cave and secret location reachable by vine and clawshot. Even Eiji Aonouma himself remarked that he regretfully made the world of Hyrule too big, over-drawing the world scale to a point of intimidation. However, to me, we need a bit (or a lot) of openess, especially with the use of Epona, to just run around carelessly in any direction and experiment with whatever we had; the Bow and Arrow, a Clawshot, or the Spinner even perhaps. There needs to be some room for Link to breathe, and a bit of distance between the different locations of the world. I remember I was in Eldin Province's Hyrule Field and I was amazed that I was able to shoot a Kargorok with my bow and arrow from way on the other side of the field. This leads into my next point, draw-distance. I think I can be quite safe in saying that a large draw distance is always preferred in a Zelda game, preferable propably even in almost the entire medium of games. Borrowing from an artcile I read about Twilight Princess, it's one of the only games where you can spot an enemy from a few miles away and still have the ability to shoot it between the eyes. To me, the ability to do that is pure satisfaction, definitely a plus for a precision-heavy Wii Zelda.
What I've concluded in my mind is that we need variety. We need a bustling, populated location that brims with life and activity in for the story and the atmosphere. We also need a large, expansive overworld for pure scope and experimentation. And with each, we need a degree of connectivity, Hyrule should not be made up of smaller themed worlds, there should be some overlap between them. I predict that console Zelda games are going to get bigger, and more ambitious in the future, so I hope they refine their ideas for the world of Hyrule and add some variety between games.
Have I convinced you? Or are you just itching to tell me off? What sort of world do you think Skyward Sword should employ?
Please discuss.
