General Zelda How Much Technology Can Zelda Have and Still Be Zelda?

[Dragoncat]

Zelda has always been a mainly medieval type of thing, but sometimes Nintendo puts technology in it that didn't exist in real world medieval times. The trains in Spirit Tracks are a good, well known example, but there's phones in Link's Awakening, and Skyward Sword has machines that run on electricity, even if they are from a long time ago and don't work in the present. The beamos enemy appears frequently, and it shoots lasers.

Of course it's fantasy, so it can have stuff like that and have swords too and nobody complains as far as I know. But what would be the point that it's no longer Zelda to you? How advanced can the technology get before it becomes something completely different? Would you be okay with guns, cell phones, TVs etc? Do you have a certain piece of modern tech that you never want to see in Zelda, or are you open to whatever Nintendo can come up with?

I might be okay with simple, early age of firearms guns. I don't want big laser blasters and spaceships though. If you want that, play Metroid or Halo. Other than that I don't have much of an opinion.

 

[Mercedes]

Luckily Zelda is not only a medieval-based game, it's fantasy game. So it can have whatever it wants, really, and justify it either with magic or just not bothering and letting players cope with how out-of-place it might feel. So I don't think there'd ever be a point of it not feeling like Zelda with the newer technology items unless they actually jumped into the future and Zelda become a Cyberpunk game or something. Anything futuristic can just be re-made using magic as an excuse anyway too; instead of an AK-47, a staff that fires stuff very quickly and needs reloading. Gameplay wise they're the same, yet it fits in the world. So I think Nintendo will be fine.

 

[Sir Quaffler]

Unless the series straight-up jumps the shark and becomes a space-traveling futuristic setting or jumps right to the modern era with Link in da hood trying to earn street cred in New Castle City, I'm fine with any advances in technology.

Zelda employs a unique anachronistic stew as far as technology goes: we've got medieval swords, shields, bows & arrows, and the like, but right alongside that we've got electrical lighting as seen in several side games, advanced contraptions in the dungeons that I doubt run on medieval technology, hookshots, cameras, lasers, telephones, an entire Industrial-Era waterworks dungeon, a video remote that Tingle the weirdo uses to contact you, several mechanical enemies and bosses, the list goes on. There's also a whole slew of other cultures the series borrows from, including the Middle East, ancient China, tribal Africa, South American, Australian (with the boomerang), Japanese, Native American, the Wild West, etc. It's not strictly a medieval series, that's just where it draws the largest amount of inspiration from.

And even taking that out of the equation, The Legend of Zelda was originally going to be a time-hopping adventure connecting the past to the future, at least if certain sketches of A Link to the Past are to be believed.

So Link was supposed to be the link between the distant past and the distant future, but that idea got dropped for whatever reason (hopefully it'll be picked up on again, as in travel to the distant future for advanced technology instead of to the distant past like it's always done).

 

[Farore's Chosen]

Hmm. I dunno. As long as its fun I and stays true to the Zelda feel I'd be ok with pushing it a little further:rupees:.

 

[Dragoncat]

Hmm. I dunno. As long as its fun I and stays true to the Zelda feel I'd be ok with pushing it a little further:rupees:.

Youve won a million internets for using the smiley I made xD

 

[JuicieJ]

Zelda's constantly shifted from being a pure Medieval franchise and more of a conglomeration of different time periods for a long-*** time now -- pretty much ever since Link's Awakening. This seems to have culminated with Skyward Sword, what with the modern-day school setting in Skyloft and the advanced technology of the Lanayru Province, and it worked surprisingly well. Despite these things, however, Link's main arsenal was still a sword and shield, and he still wore his iconic tunic, so there were still Medieval themes to be had. So long as Zelda doesn't outright abandon these kinds of things, there'll be nothing worth worrying about.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

Weren't there alien abductions in Majora's Mask? Somebody told me that once but I wasn't sure if they were yankin my chain

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

i think robot pirates is where i draw the line at this

Weren't there alien abductions in Majora's Mask? Somebody told me that once but I wasn't sure if they were yankin my chain

yeah,there was a sidequest that involved an alien invasion

 

[Shadow Blade]

I wouldn't mind seeing a sci-fi fantasy leap in the Zelda franchise, I think if it were done right it would be awesome, that said it would be risky as the Zelda fan base can be sensitive to changes in the Zelda formula and a big change such as going from medieval to sci-fi would potentially generate a huge amount of hate and or frustration, it would be safer to stay on or below the middle ground technology wise, but its a possibility.

 

[JuicieJ]

i think robot pirates is where i draw the line at this

Watchu talkin'bout, Scervo's one of the best things in video games ever.

How is this thing not totally awesome??

 

[Salem]

i think robot pirates is where i draw the line at this

You mean robot-SKELETON-Pirate, get it right!

Seriously though, it was odd, but I'm pretty sure we saw robots before in the Zelda series, right?

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

You mean robot-SKELETON-Pirate, get it right!

Seriously though, it was odd, but I'm pretty sure we saw robots before in the Zelda series, right?

Not really, SS was the first game with robots.

Anyway I think anything more extreme than what the series already has in terms of technology will be a bit to far. I think as long as the series doesn't hop the bus to Starwars land than its all good.

 

[Isaac]

I think that a steam punk Zelda would be the best thing ever. And that's saying something, it's really hard to be better than hot pockets.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

i think robot pirates is where i draw the line at this



yeah,there was a sidequest that involved an alien invasion

ha ha omgs that must be pretty funny

and evil robot pirate boss was kinda cool

Not really, SS was the first game with robots.

Anyway I think anything more extreme than what the series already has in terms of technology will be a bit to far. I think as long as the series doesn't hop the bus to Starwars land than its all good.

the master saber! the glowstick of evil's bane!

 

[Dragoncat]

LMAO glowstick.