General Zelda Survivalism and Customization

[HyruleHistory10]

So I recently picked up some new titles for my 3DS (Resident Evil Revelations and Fire Emblem Awakening) and playing through these games I got to thinking about something that I think would benefit the Zelda series.

The first would be survivability. It is something that is kind of already present in the Zelda series by managing your resources RER does a good job doing this. I also think that Zelda could learn from this is two ways. 1) Make your resources more useful. By this I mean let them be able to dispatch a wider variety of enemies making for more challenging situations. 2) Make them more valuable. By this I mean that they are harder to come by. I think that you should be able to buy them in the towns but unless you get them in a treasure chest you will more likely not find them. This leads me back to point one where more enemies can be dispatched in more ways to allow for room to modify your battle tactic accordingly. It also bring me to another point being the Map. The map has (as of late) been more interactive starting with PH where you can draw on it to now being in the 3DS hardware that you can write notes for any 3DS game at anytime using the in game screens. I think with this they should allow you to REFUSE to loot a treasure chest. In example I find a treasure chest open it and find arrows. I SHOULD be able to put them back and mark on my map where they are so I can come back later when I need them.

The Second thing Zelda could use is customization. I have heard this term used before but I think I have figured a way to incorporate it and make everyone happy. FEA has a skill system that you learn skills from classes and can keep them on your character to increase their fighting in many ways. You can also change classes to get new skills keeping your old ones as well. BUT there is a 5 skill only cap where you can only have 5 equipped. I think Zelda should learn from this but in this way. What if the 'skills' in questions were like swordsmen scrolls or hidden skills. You could customize Link by having Helmsplitter and mortal draw on him along with other skills that other NPCs (or potentially enemies) could teach you. SO that opens up for more skills like say firing 2 arrows at once or breathing underwater. I think Manually equipping skills such as this would make it more enjoyable plus it should have a cap like only 5 or 6 equipped at a time. This way you have to budget which skills to use at what point. This also opens up the opportunity for secret areas and bosses for certain amazing skills.

I also think the boss could be modified so that they are not restricted to their rooms. However I do not think that all the bosses should be like this. Important one (like Ghirahim) should be able to move around the dungeon making for a larger more epic fight while other bosses (like Barinade) are fine in their rooms.

These are some things that I think Zelda could really use to enhance its longevity. What do you think?

 

[Ventus]

I totally agree with everything you listed. However this would mean that actions like opening doors would have to stop being scripted events and would occur in real-time; i.e enemies continue to attack you despite having hit A to open a door.

I also love customization so I don't care how they do it, but hidden skills MUST return. That kind of stuff makes for a) flashier gameplay b) pseudo-tense moments due to camera panning (i.e stimulation) and c) more ways to dispatch foes. But don't stop at Link. Give enemies their own skills, skills that develop over time (so at the beginning of the game you're just fighting generic armored foes, but close to late game you see Darknuts performing shield bashes, and even "mortal" draws themselves).

Skills need balance ya dig.

 

[Keese Keese]

Everything listed here would be great, and yes, please more hidden skills! It would be great to find them hidden around the land and learn from different people. Perhaps for some, if you help them in some way, they would offer to teach you some swordsmanship. Also, for each skill, you would have to practice a few times to build up percision and strength.
The boss fights around the dungeon sound exciting too.
I'd also like to see boss fights out of dungeons as well, like secret areas or a part of the storyline. Ever played Okami? They did a nice job with mixing that up

 

[DarkLink17]

All of those things could possibly take the Zelda franchise to the next level. I would especially like the option to leave an item(s) inside of a chest for later use, kinda like what they did in TP for Rupee chests, but for all consumables. Another cool thing is being able to manually equip skills, but to be able to program the button combo as well (not sure about that with all of the fancy motion-controls these days though).

Some of the RPG elements of Zelda 2 are another gameplay aspect I'd like to see revived. This includes a fresh new batch of magic spells, and maybe new ways to upgrade the magic meter and/or heart containers. Remember how you got EXP for defeating enemies? Well, I'm thinking some other system (points, souls, etc.) in which you can use these credits to boost the magic meter or another way to get more life.

 

[ihateghirahim]

Maybe. I love FEA, but I can't help but feel like all that stat-building would ruin the adventure and exploration of Zelda by slowing down the pacing and action. That stuff works in Fire Emblem because it is a strategy game that makes you do math, plot out complex maneuvers, and fight long and difficult bosses like Priam. Its a different style, and I think it should remain segregated from the action of Zelda. I don't really think it would be wise to fill Zelda with stats. I enjoy some super powerful sword that you can get from a sidequest, but stats and skill-building seem like a no-no.

As for the survivability, I guess it would work. I aint plat RER, but I've got some of the older games. They really challenge you to think before you act, and the games are made simply more difficult. I enjoy this, and I hope it is used more in future installments.

 

[Salem]

So I recently picked up some new titles for my 3DS (Resident Evil Revelations and Fire Emblem Awakening) and playing through these games I got to thinking about something that I think would benefit the Zelda series.

The first would be survivability. It is something that is kind of already present in the Zelda series by managing your resources RER does a good job doing this. I also think that Zelda could learn from this is two ways. 1) Make your resources more useful. By this I mean let them be able to dispatch a wider variety of enemies making for more challenging situations. 2) Make them more valuable. By this I mean that they are harder to come by. I think that you should be able to buy them in the towns but unless you get them in a treasure chest you will more likely not find them. This leads me back to point one where more enemies can be dispatched in more ways to allow for room to modify your battle tactic accordingly. It also bring me to another point being the Map. The map has (as of late) been more interactive starting with PH where you can draw on it to now being in the 3DS hardware that you can write notes for any 3DS game at anytime using the in game screens. I think with this they should allow you to REFUSE to loot a treasure chest. In example I find a treasure chest open it and find arrows. I SHOULD be able to put them back and mark on my map where they are so I can come back later when I need them.

The Second thing Zelda could use is customization. I have heard this term used before but I think I have figured a way to incorporate it and make everyone happy. FEA has a skill system that you learn skills from classes and can keep them on your character to increase their fighting in many ways. You can also change classes to get new skills keeping your old ones as well. BUT there is a 5 skill only cap where you can only have 5 equipped. I think Zelda should learn from this but in this way. What if the 'skills' in questions were like swordsmen scrolls or hidden skills. You could customize Link by having Helmsplitter and mortal draw on him along with other skills that other NPCs (or potentially enemies) could teach you. SO that opens up for more skills like say firing 2 arrows at once or breathing underwater. I think Manually equipping skills such as this would make it more enjoyable plus it should have a cap like only 5 or 6 equipped at a time. This way you have to budget which skills to use at what point. This also opens up the opportunity for secret areas and bosses for certain amazing skills.

I also think the boss could be modified so that they are not restricted to their rooms. However I do not think that all the bosses should be like this. Important one (like Ghirahim) should be able to move around the dungeon making for a larger more epic fight while other bosses (like Barinade) are fine in their rooms.

These are some things that I think Zelda could really use to enhance its longevity. What do you think?

These are the points that I agree with. Limiting resources, making them more valuable, this sort of harkens back to the original Loz. Also Liked keeping stuff back in their chests in TP, but they didm;t get marked, thats the only annoying thing about them.

The rest I don't know, I didn't use hidden skills too much in TP, I didn't think they were implemented properly. I don't know how they could fix them.

 

[HyruleHistory10]

Maybe. I love FEA, but I can't help but feel like all that stat-building would ruin the adventure and exploration of Zelda by slowing down the pacing and action. That stuff works in Fire Emblem because it is a strategy game that makes you do math, plot out complex maneuvers, and fight long and difficult bosses like Priam. Its a different style, and I think it should remain segregated from the action of Zelda. I don't really think it would be wise to fill Zelda with stats. I enjoy some super powerful sword that you can get from a sidequest, but stats and skill-building seem like a no-no.

As for the survivability, I guess it would work. I aint plat RER, but I've got some of the older games. They really challenge you to think before you act, and the games are made simply more difficult. I enjoy this, and I hope it is used more in future installments.

I can see what you are saying about the skills/ customization possible hindering the combat. However there is probably a way to rectify the issue like making skills easier to get but limit the uses to once per 5 sec. or something like WOW or having the access like the spells were acquired in AOL and not grind leveling etc. (though I would rather not have lvls back AOL was enough for me though I love RPGs). But I definitely seeing what you are saying.

 

[ihateghirahim]

I don't know. The five-second rule sounds a little contrived and complicated. It just sounds hard and non-Zelda.

 

[Mercedes]

I don't think Zelda should try these unless it's going to try to be a totally different game. In the current formula it's been having for absolutely years now, I don't really think sticking these in are really filling any needed gap and a bit un-needed.

A game just getting a tonne of features, on paper, looks good. More to do for the player, adds more things into the game, it's every designer's dream. In reality, it just leads to convolution, a difficulty in balance of each element, and a difficulty in refining and polishing each individual element. Zelda, on it's own, without these additions, has a lot of things already. There's many items and more. Minor survival features and customisation would just look like tack-ons, and so they'd have to fully explore these 2 features to really bring them out and I just don't see that working in how Zelda is right now. There'd just be too much stuff. I don't think Nintendo could really do it.

That's often been issues brought up about Zelda. Features, items, and more that don't get fully explored. Get used once and then just ditched. I don't think slapping on more, quite expansive, mechanics would help at all. I think they'd have to completely re-boot the current formula of Zelda is they wanted to do this.

 

[Randomlink7]

I like the idea's you came up with. They would make a new Zelda game unique and fresh. Those are really some great ideas, especially the customization. There needs to be some of that in the series, along with the RPG elements with the resource management.

 

[HyruleHistory10]

I don't think Zelda should try these unless it's going to try to be a totally different game. In the current formula it's been having for absolutely years now, I don't really think sticking these in are really filling any needed gap and a bit un-needed.

A game just getting a tonne of features, on paper, looks good. More to do for the player, adds more things into the game, it's every designer's dream. In reality, it just leads to convolution, a difficulty in balance of each element, and a difficulty in refining and polishing each individual element. Zelda, on it's own, without these additions, has a lot of things already. There's many items and more. Minor survival features and customisation would just look like tack-ons, and so they'd have to fully explore these 2 features to really bring them out and I just don't see that working in how Zelda is right now. There'd just be too much stuff. I don't think Nintendo could really do it.

That's often been issues brought up about Zelda. Features, items, and more that don't get fully explored. Get used once and then just ditched. I don't think slapping on more, quite expansive, mechanics would help at all. I think they'd have to completely re-boot the current formula of Zelda is they wanted to do this.

I can see where you are going with this and I can agree with you in the regard. Finding new ways to use items more efficiently and fully establishing the features that are brought forth in the game are important to capitalize on.