Traditional Walking or Epona?

[Link19x]

Personally, I prefer walking, because then that would bring back that "adventure" feel that I would get in the older games.

 

[butterbiscuit]

It sort of depends on the game. If it's Twilight Princess, the map is huge, so I like to ride Epona. If it's Majora's Mask, I just use the Bunny Hood. If it's Ocarina of Time, I suppose it depends where you're going... I've usually utilized Epona for convenience, and not for any kind of "feel".

 

[Djinn]

I think it would largely depend on the size of the overworld map. A gigantic Hyrule Field like the one seen in TP would take far too long to trek across without some type of quick travel. Warp points and teleportation spells are useful when they appear but they can only take Link to specific locations. And for sidequests or discovering a heart piece you would have to warp to a location then trek on foot throughout the region. Epona speeds this along by providing a faster means of travel within the field. While also adding a special form of fighting enemies by fighting on horseback, which makes for a much more epic and heroic style of combat. Riding a horse with sword drawn creates a more visual appeal for Link as the great hero of Hyrule

Epona is mostly for convenience so the player does not have to constantly press the tumble button in hopes of getting somewhere just a little faster. However making that convenient for of speedy travel into a horse adds to story by creating another companion character for Link instead of just adding another item for Link to use whenever needed. So far the inclusion of Epona adds a faster method of travel, an alternative method of combat in the overworld, and a companion character for fans to genuinely care about. The bunny hood or pegasus boots were simply items that only increased Link's running speed. To some Epona was only a utility, but to others Epona did create a heroic image and feel in the game.

I would rather Epona be present in any future sequel. Just as Link, Zelda, Malon, Ganon, and Tingle, are sure to appear in any Zelda title regardless of setting or time period then I do not see why Epona should be left out.

 

[MidnaOfTheTwili]

I love Epona, I hope she's in the game, even if the map is small.

 

[Aurelia]

Well, it depend's. In Ocarina of Time I prefered walking and warping it was so much easier with the warping than using a horse to get to a simple place.
Majora's Mask, Epona is pretty helpful.But once I got the Bunny Hood, ****, I didn't care much for Epona. Same with the warping as well.
Twilight Princess, very useful. I loved Epona in Twilight Princess, you could use your sword and more sub-weapon's while running on her. But, when you could turn into Wolf Link whenever you can please, Epona was kind of "Eh, Whatever" phase.

Foot walking is fun, Epona makes you go faster, but other than that, not much of a useful character. :<

 

[Random Person]

Walking does not fit the "hero" image of Link as much as riding on a horse does in my opinion. So if I get the chance, I'm gonna ride Epona just to make Link look good. Not to mention, Walking is very tedious is games with bigger overworlds. It is very annoying to have to walk across Hyrule field in OoT whereas in MM, walking is no problem (though I still prefer Epona.)

 

[Pseudocide]

hmmm. it seems like link would probably do a lot of walking with there idea of "Open Dungeons" or one could just ride up to the boss and kill it on horseback without doing puzzly stuff...

 

[Blazestarre]

I enjoy Epona. She does make traveling quicker and like Djinn said, she's another character. In TP, she was integrated with the story, which meant that she added a bit more than just transportation.

There are a lot of opportunities, too, by having her in the game. TP added fighting on horseback, but Nintendo could add another level of gameplay. In OoT, she was used for a couple of minigames; I wouldn't mind seeing that again. She could possibly be used for a dungeon (though that may or may not be annoying. It would have to be done well). Puzzles that had to be solved on horseback? Might be interesting.

 

[Y2K3]

I've always liked Epona. If she, or some other horse, happened to appear in the game, it would like it to be more like in OoT than TP in the sense that you have to accomplish a side-quest to get her. In TP you just got so far into the game you you got her automatically. I think this would add some more of a challenge to the game, as well as adding another side-quest to the game.

 

[MikauIncarnate]

I love Epona. She's one of my favorite zelda characters, and I would hate to see a (3D) game without her. I guess I want her to be majorly integrated into the plot, but I also don't want her to be necessary. I basically want optional plot points: things that are plot based, but the plot isn't affected if you do or don't do them.

 

[disturbed42]

Rolling around Hyrule Field as a kid in OoT was extremely annoying. Epona is good for transportation, and in TP's case, a well-developed character. Although this whole "more condensed field" thing has me confused. I know Nintendo isn't going to make Skyward Swords field large and empty like TP's, but are they going to make it larger and jam-packed full of awesome things or will it be smaller and jam-packed full of awesome things?
If it ends up being larger, then I'd like to see Epona.

 

[OcarinaSword]

I would rather ride epona beacuse on skywards sword i think it is suposed to be longer then all the games on the legend of zelda , So if i walked it would just be slower if i rode epona the quests would be quicker, but im still not sure because its not out yet so i dont think i would no which is better.

 

[dur.i.am]

For me, my preference is entirely dependant on the over world.

In Majora's Mask, the overworld was never overly big, so I didn't really see the point in Epona because I'm probably able to run to where I want to be in the same amount of time it has taken for me to play Epona's Song, ride over to the area I want to be and then get off and go to exactly where I wanted to go. She was even more useless in the game considering a) you could get the Bunny Hood, and b) Epona can't even run in most areas due to the terrain.

Twilight Princess on the other hand, had an amazingly big overworld, and thus it would have been really boring and time consuming to run around the entire place (although being Wolf Link made it much more durable to do). So I was glad that I was able to use Epona on that game and, as I said before, had the ability to change between Wolf Link and normal Link when I had reached a certain point in the game (considering before that point you didn't really have to run all over the place, it didn't really matter that much).

Preferably, the overworld in Skyward Sword will be around the same size as the overworld in Twilight Princess, or just a little bit smaller. Therefore I am hoping that we will be able to use Epona (or at least some other form of faster transport).

 

[AllieHaxorNova]

hmmmmm me i'd perfur to walk because if your like me and like making yor own stuff up with the game it makes it more fun and yet have Epona would also be fun because Link should have a travel buddy so in theend i honestly dont knowwhat is better

 

[Caeda]

Epona. For me, it feels much more like an epc quest on the back of a horse.