Hub World in Skyward Sword?

[Link-182]

Hmm, I kinda have a weird feeling about how its gonna be laid out. Because they said the world will be very easy to follow so you wouldn't get lost to make it more accessible, so I think Skyloft will have lots of stuff to do, but it'll kinda act like a Hub World, like a giant starship mario with tons of characters and sidequests. And when you jump off into the sky, you pick where you want to fall, its kinda like you pick the levels, like in Mario Galaxy 2. Fall to death mountain, or the forest.
I don't like the idea and I hope I'm wrong, but i feel it'll be like that.

What do you guys think?

 

[Ember Incubus]

I've never heard the word Hub used like that. Do you mean the eneral flow of the game and how it will work, like a SMS game? If so, I highly doubt it. But, they did say it would be different so that is still a possibility. They already took one page from mario. (The Eye door being Mr. Eye.) But I'm not sure if theyed add a basic mechanic that makes mario, mario and implement it into a zelda game.

 

[Linebeck1000]

This is actually exactly what I was thinking. In fact, at this point I think I'd be willing to bet that this is what they'll do... I really hope not though. Makes me think of FSA, there are different "levels" and you can't seamlessly traverse the overworld. Another thing that seems similar to me is that the area we saw at E3 seemed like a weird dungeon-overworld combo like they had in FSA. Those are the things people dislike most about FSA, so I really hope this isn't what will happen in SS. Some people will probably say that that area was just a demo area, but there's that intervew with Aonuma saying that everything shown in the demo will most likely be in the game... Now I'm worried.

But seriously Nintendo, you took out a proper hub world in the 3D Mario games, one of the best things about them IMO, and now you put one in Zelda where it doesn't belong? Seems like they're really mixed up.

 

[Link-182]

Yeah, I really really hope I'm wrong, but I just have a feeling they are gonna do that. Oh well, if the areas are really really well done, we can "pretend" that the level picking is like a warp system, or the transitions in the bubble maps they already have. Its unfortunate, but as long as the areas are really well done I can live with it.

 

[MOTLEYlink]

My thoughts exactly, I really hope they do NOT do this.

 

[Ember Incubus]

They will not do it. So stop being paranoid. =S

 

[Mixtoplix]

possibly they will do that! but I do not care its a Zelda Game!!!!

 

[Xinnamin]

I don't doubt the idea of Skyloft being a hub world, but I do doubt that there will be "levels" to travel to. Most of the Zelda titles have areas that can only be accessed after certain parts of the game are completed, and since SS seems to take place early in the timeline there's the possibility that Hyrule isn't united yet. I've toyed with the idea of Hyrule being disjointed, for lack of a better word, on ground level so that it's impossible to reach certain areas. Perhaps then Skyloft would act like a hub world in that different areas of Hyrule can be accessed through certain areas in Skyloft, but only after completing certain challenges. I was first toying with this idea in regards to a potential "central dungeon" system that I won't go into details here, but anyways, I honestly would not be surprised to see Skyloft act as a hub. There's a lot of potential there in my opinion.

 

[Linebeck1000]

Well maybe "levels" was the wrong word. I don't think it will be 30 shallow levels that you'll never need to return to like in FSA, but maybe more like 7 fleshed out ones for each theme (forest, mountain, desert, etc.). You pretty much hit the nail on the head with what I was thinking, I just didn't phrase it right.

Still, I don't like the idea of Hyrule being disjointed if all of the "levels" are as small as the area we saw in the demo. Though, if it is true that there are only "levels" for each theme like I'm thinking, then I highly doubt that the demo area we saw was all of the forest themed one. I don't think Nintendo would make it so small and all a dungeon-overworld combo like that. Nintendo made the overworld in MM small, but there was an up-side of sidequests, plenty of NPCs etc. These can't be applied if it's all a dungeon... can it? Well... now that I think about it, maybe they can and Nintendo just took the NPCs out for the sake of the demo... And then again, there's always the chance that the demo world was just that--a demo.

But I realize I'm just rambling on now. There is barely any information to go on yet and I'm just getting myself worked up for no reason. Either way, I have no doubt in my mind that I will enjoy SS.

 

[Link-182]

I kind of had another idea... well, its the same, but a little different. Perhaps, since Hyrule is run by evil, maybe the "overworld" is Skyloft, and Hyrule is the dungeons, so you go to the forest to destroy the evil thats there, and do that with the other places, and when all of the evil is gone from hyrule, skyloft can once again reattach to hyrule.

So basically, Skyloft is the hub world / overworld with characters and towns and stuff,
and Hyrule is the levels / dungeons.

 

[bradley]

I don't think they would do that in another console Zelda title. The standard Zelda overworld works much better. That's why the Four Swords games (with the exception of The Minish Cap) weren't as good as the rest.

 

[Raven]

ok well hears an idea, traveling back and forth between skyloft and hyrule could act like the warping system in OoT and while it does send you to different areas of hyrule some or most of the areas we will visit are connected but can only be warped to from skyloft once the evil has been removed from that area. Kind of like the Twilight and how it acted as a barrier to each new province. So you can travel around Hyrule on foot but you can also warp to a few of the places you have been to. Once everything opens up you will be able to "descend," down to hyrule just about anywhere (well at least in all the main areas... it would be hilarious to descend down into Castle Town and see all the surprised faces!). The idea of a hub could work out really well in a Zelda game as long as Hyrule doesn't suffer as a result and they make it all chopped up into separate areas and such. I remember them saying that there would be changes to the formula but they wouldn't be durastic changes. This makes me hopeful that areas will not be like levels and Hyrule will have a full blown overworld, and that traveling between Hyrule a possible hub will become an enjoyable part of the game. love warping.

 

[Link-182]

I really don't want them to do it, but I think they will, of course they will hide it a lot better than four swords adventures where you just pick your linear level to go through. It'll not be like that, unless it is just the dungeons. Lets just say I'm wrong. But then what else could they do the make the areas easier to follow, so you don't get lost and more accessible?

EDIT: That'd be a good idea Raven, so its easy to understand where you are and how to get there through "warping" but you could travel on foot as well. I hope they do it like that.

 

[Jupiter]

This is a very good idea, very smart of you to think of it.

I think that is exactly what they are headed towards. It would allow for easy access to different areas, if you wanted that, and for big epic adventures in the overworld.