Demise_
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- Joined
- Oct 30, 2012
In SS, the game started with Link having 6 heart containers instead of the usual 3. This has never really happened before (except in spin-offs and such); but do you think it should be done again?
My personal opinion is definitely yes. The only con that I see is that something which has been a tradition in throughout the whole series will be removed, without being an actual innovation; but should we really stick to tradition instead of improving the games?
My main argument is about the scaling of the challenge in the games. Let's take OOT for example. As you started playing it for the first time, you had only 3 hearts, nearly 0 skill, maybe even were unused to 3D gaming in general (though not necessarily) etc. So enemies had to deal small damage to let you survive during the first dungeon; as a result, they all dealt 1/2 heart of damage.
The problem is that immediately after the first dungeon, you gain access to most of the overworld, with only 1 extra heart and very little extra skill. So all the enemies found in the overworld also deal 1/2 heart of damage. So throughout the game, nearly all enemies damage you only by 1/2 heart, and even enemies found later on (e.g. torch slugs) still stick to this "standard" amount.
Towards the end of the game, you will have at least 11 heart containers; plus, even a first-time inexperienced player can be expected to come across some heart pieces (even if by accident), so we can assume that you will have about 14 heart container. This allows you to take 28 half-heart hits - nearly 5 times more than at the beginning; add to this the fact that you're probably much more skilled, and the game turns out to be about 7-8 times easier than at the beginning.
But does the game raise the challenge 7-8 times? Probably not. Sure, Stalfos deal 1 or even 2 hearts of damage, Redeads are annoying and Blue Tektites have 2x as much health as the red ones; but Stalfos aren't very frequent, and become a breeze towards the end of the game, Redeads are easy to avoid/stun, and BTs still deal 1/2 heart of damage and aren't close to anything like a threat, however small. (And since I know people are gonna ask, there are only 3 Iron Knuckles in the game before you get double defense and they become nothing more than slow Stalfos.)
My point is that in OOT, I can't help coming near to Game Over several times in the Great Deku Tree, and maybe dying once or twice (especially on MQ), but never die again throughout the game.
Now for SS. It's 6-heart system really fixes that. The "standard" damage throughout the game is one whole heart; this means that while the beginning isn't harder than OOT's one, the end, when you have about 17 or so heart containers, isn't 8 times easier; and each heart container doesn't give you 2 extra hits, but only one. At the same time, SS scales its combat accordingly; at first, you only encounter Red Bokoblins, but towards the middle-end, Blue Bokoblins and Moblins are the norm. All this combines to make the game challenging and fun throughout, and you become encourages skill improvement to increase your chances of survival.
So, what do you think? Should future games continue what SS started, or try to improve the 3-heart system?
My personal opinion is definitely yes. The only con that I see is that something which has been a tradition in throughout the whole series will be removed, without being an actual innovation; but should we really stick to tradition instead of improving the games?
My main argument is about the scaling of the challenge in the games. Let's take OOT for example. As you started playing it for the first time, you had only 3 hearts, nearly 0 skill, maybe even were unused to 3D gaming in general (though not necessarily) etc. So enemies had to deal small damage to let you survive during the first dungeon; as a result, they all dealt 1/2 heart of damage.
The problem is that immediately after the first dungeon, you gain access to most of the overworld, with only 1 extra heart and very little extra skill. So all the enemies found in the overworld also deal 1/2 heart of damage. So throughout the game, nearly all enemies damage you only by 1/2 heart, and even enemies found later on (e.g. torch slugs) still stick to this "standard" amount.
Towards the end of the game, you will have at least 11 heart containers; plus, even a first-time inexperienced player can be expected to come across some heart pieces (even if by accident), so we can assume that you will have about 14 heart container. This allows you to take 28 half-heart hits - nearly 5 times more than at the beginning; add to this the fact that you're probably much more skilled, and the game turns out to be about 7-8 times easier than at the beginning.
But does the game raise the challenge 7-8 times? Probably not. Sure, Stalfos deal 1 or even 2 hearts of damage, Redeads are annoying and Blue Tektites have 2x as much health as the red ones; but Stalfos aren't very frequent, and become a breeze towards the end of the game, Redeads are easy to avoid/stun, and BTs still deal 1/2 heart of damage and aren't close to anything like a threat, however small. (And since I know people are gonna ask, there are only 3 Iron Knuckles in the game before you get double defense and they become nothing more than slow Stalfos.)
My point is that in OOT, I can't help coming near to Game Over several times in the Great Deku Tree, and maybe dying once or twice (especially on MQ), but never die again throughout the game.
Now for SS. It's 6-heart system really fixes that. The "standard" damage throughout the game is one whole heart; this means that while the beginning isn't harder than OOT's one, the end, when you have about 17 or so heart containers, isn't 8 times easier; and each heart container doesn't give you 2 extra hits, but only one. At the same time, SS scales its combat accordingly; at first, you only encounter Red Bokoblins, but towards the middle-end, Blue Bokoblins and Moblins are the norm. All this combines to make the game challenging and fun throughout, and you become encourages skill improvement to increase your chances of survival.
So, what do you think? Should future games continue what SS started, or try to improve the 3-heart system?
