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General Zelda Too Focused on Being a Legend?

We all have our gripes when it comes to Zelda and its unique way of crafting narratives and plots and overarching links and through lines rather than being concise like most other franchises.

Zelda is a legend, when the series ends it'll still be a collection of legends, stories that kind of but dont really but sometimes could and maybe do link together with some deep or very little thought bringing them together....

Nintendo have the time and resources to change this, but they don't... and one of the reasons i think this is is that they are running with the 'legend' aspect, in my mind Nintendo has no intention of filling in the gaps or answering questions despite games like SS that were marketed as doing so.

How about you guys though; do you think Nintendo are running with the 'legend' aspect rather than turning the franchise or at least part of it into a concise series?
Do you think its a flaw for the series to be so vague and 'legend'-y?
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
The "legend" aspect doesn't exist. The fans made it up. It's something fans made up because they just can't accept the fact than Nintendo doesn't, shouldn't, and never will care THAT much about the story. The only reason there's any story at all is because it's become a standard. That, and only that is why we have evolved past the original four titles in terms of story.
 

Ventus

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Yes, the legend aspect is a definite drawback to the series. Although people to not subscribe to it in conscious decision, they still believe that the legend aspect means that certain things cannot be changed, which is detrimental to the series. No growth is allowed. :(
The "legend" aspect doesn't exist. The fans made it up. It's something fans made up because they just can't accept the fact than Nintendo doesn't, shouldn't, and never will care THAT much about the story. The only reason there's any story at all is because it's become a standard. That, and only that is why we have evolved past the original four titles in terms of story.

No, the "legend" aspect very much exists. It's right there in the title, and right there in the way Nintendo treats the story. The games purposefully do not connect BECAUSE the "backstory" to the games - talk of Ancient Heroes and such - are meant to not be the *correct* happenings.
 

ihateghirahim

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I think we need to create a concise story. I would love the "Legend" if it was more of a concise story. If I at least had a single storyline that allowed each game to build on the other, I would love it as a story, and not just a series of games that I theorize about.
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
No, the "legend" aspect very much exists. It's right there in the title, and right there in the way Nintendo treats the story. The games purposefully do not connect BECAUSE the "backstory" to the games - talk of Ancient Heroes and such - are meant to not be the *correct* happenings.

It's just a title that fans have warped into something else. Even legends connect more than this. The reason they don't is because Nintendo doesn't care. Story is their lowest priority and they've admit it.
 
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I think they may be heading in that direction, with revealing the official timeline in everything. It appears to be a step toward connecting the games more, and also Nintendo said they were rethinking some staple concepts of the series, and, although they didn't mention continuity specifically, but they may just be looking at that as well. As for the idea of Legend of Zelda being "a series of legends," I think that was the original main idea, and I don't really mind that, but I too would prefer to start seeing some connections and series of games, maybe a trilogy of games or something.
 

Castle

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Well, idk how much Nintendo uses the "legend" as an excuse not to write a coherent story arc. Story just isn't a top priority when it comes to the series, or rather other aspects take priority. I don't mind it. I can take it either way. There are some times a game developer will make a bad call that people are fair to criticize, but Nintendo's lack of focus on story is their call. Just a preference even if it's one we may not share.

Even still, plenty of legends are far more coherent than the Zelda series. Heck, all of Greek and Norse mythology fits together so coherently they can feel indistinguishable from history at times.
 
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I've never felt that the series' coherency has hurt it. It's there all right, but it doesn't do THAT much to affect each game's individual story. When I heard SS was going to be about Hyrule's origins, I thought it would explain a ton of the series' mythology, you know, contain vital "Zelda theory"/timeline info, etc. But it really didn't emphasize being the origin story at all, it didn't even feel like an origin story. It stood on its own, and so does ever other game IMO.
So for the most part I enjoy the legacy aspect, it creates those little coincidences that we always appreciate, and its fun theorizing about the timeline and stuff...what other gaming series has such a timeline?
And we've seen with the games MM and LA that Nintendo can always stray off of the main Hyrule canon. Doing so is simple in a fantasy world XD
 

Justac00lguy

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Well Nintendo were going with this idea for many years, it allowed for flexibility, unlimited potential and fresh new ideas and settings. It seemed like the perfect formula and since nearly every aspect such as gameplay, music Etc. were all amazing the franchise grew real fast. Over time as we know the series has reached that "Legendary" status and some of us fans actually consider the series to be mlre than a game.

In a sense a lot of fans have really wanted to see the connection between games a bigger focus on the story, a lot of the fans including me just want more from the game itself. Nintendo have obviously realised that Zelda has grown into something much more than a game and we have seen many fans speculate over the timeline and many other factors. So I would say that in recent years Nintendo have really focused on not just developing more of an in game plot but actually making connection between games. This was definitely evident in games like Twilight Princess where the story was actually one of the main strong points. Then you have a game like Skyward Sword which definitely intended to answer a lot of questions and it was the origin story after all. Well of course there is also the HH, which actually revealed the official timeline as well as a lot of other key information.

I think Nintendo have actually realised that Zelda isn't all about the actual game but how that effects the other games, or how that fits in and so on. Of course gameplay and all the other componants are key but I think Nintendo is taking a step in the right direction by creating more of a connection between the Legends.
 

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