What Makes The "Perfect" Zelda Game?

[Rohan]

In a nutshell, what key elements do you believe need to be incorporated into one game in order for it to be the best Zelda experience of all time?

I would choose:
- Slight variations in game paths and endings so that the experience is fresh for multiple playthroughs
- Skyward Sword-level difficultly (or more challenging)
- A lively hub-town similar to that of Majora's Mask

Discuss!

 

[Link's Shadow48]

New towns, New enemies, Maybe more than one final boss? Ganon and Vaati once more? ohh and maybe a new Shadow temple??

 

[Big Octo]

It goes without saying that a perfect Zelda game is entirely out of opinion, but I'm still more than happy to share my thoughts.

An element I want and have wanted for a great deal of time is a very expansive overworld. There are many reasons for this, first being more room for side quests and less linearity. A large world to play through may warrant more towns full of countless opportunities, characters, and some main story involvement. With more area to work with, there's now room for creative side quests, such as optional dungeons, something that I should really be mentioning on its own. Increasing the world's boundaries is sure to bring many possibilities.

Something that I would be pleased to see that hasn't been introduced to the series is optional difficulty. This way, the challenge of the game can be catered to multiple audiences, new or old, casual or hardcore. Increased difficulty would more than likely mean enemies would dish out more damage and have advanced AI. Along with this, tutorials could use some revamping as well. Personally, the best way to do it is by using the same compromise: optionality. Again, this would do nothing but help cater to different consumers.

I can't get away without at least mentioning the story. I haven't completely devised a full-length plot, but I would like to see Ganon(dorf) along with large-scale battles between the forces of Good and Evil. Also, I'd hope that the story would answer some questions left hanging in SS.

Last to mention, gameplay. First I'd like to touch on the combat. It's always good to see Link take on hordes of enemies, and improve his skills by fighting more often. This can spawn an experience system, as seen in Adventure of Link. I acknowledge that fans didn't receive this well, and if you really don't want to see it, than I'd be A-okay without it. I'd hope to have puzzle-packed dungeons, with waves of enemies and satisfying bosses that have some sort of comabt-oriented puzzles involved, and not just hacking and slashing. as well. As for control method, I'd prefer classic controls, but (you're gonna see a trend here!) the best idea would be to leave it optional.

Tying all these together would bring a commendable game to me, and hopefully others as well.

 

[A Link In Time]

If you truly want to know what makes a perfect Zelda game, then you first need to acquaint yourself with the elements that traditionally characterize an installment in the franchise. For me those are an open and branching nonlinear overworld, numerous towns filled with friendly NPCs, an instrument that is in some way tied in with the story, and a more traditional control setup.

The original NES Legend of Zelda was remarkable for thrusting the player straight into the action with no guidance. The overworld was divided into areas of grassland, desert, and tundra. The franchise evolved this idea in latter Zelda games with Majora's Mask being a themed reversal of the usual Zelda sights. One overworld that particularly strikes me, however, is that in the Minish Cap and Nintendo should model its future efforts off that title. There was so much to do including collect Kin Stones, Tiger Scrolls, and Wind Crest. Its biggest perk, however, was displayed with the shrinking mechanic. Nothing could be taken at first glance; there was a deeper significance to everything. That same innovation needs to be replete in the next game.

As Big Octo maintained, optional difficulty is also something I would like to see. Nintendo's overarching company philosophy has been to appeal to the broadest island possible and that can be achieved by catering to everyone regardless of whether they chose a more casual or core gaming style. Perhaps the developers could incorporate something along the lines of Kid Icarus: Uprising's intensity scale, allowing each player to find a precise difficulty that suits him or her.

Story is an element that has constantly evolved and expanded since the dawn of the 3D era. Something that needs to be established is a strong appeal to pathos like in Majora's Mask or Skyward Sword when larger or more personal stakes are at loss, respectively. Moreover, the various Zelda realms are secured with familiar political machines and the full scale of a military invasion by one of these bodies could at least be demonstrated with a narrative revolving around the Sealing War.

Skyward Sword did a superb job of balancing puzzles and combat and this is the gameplay mix I would love to see in future Zelda games. Unlike other contemporary installment, the title also had hte player using all of its items in creative ways throughout. This element needs to return. As for the control setup, I'd prefer classic controls but options to appease players of all walks should be included. Nintendo already seems to be doing this with Pikmin 3 and it's only logical that such a development will find itself in the Zelda franchise sometime in the near future.

These are my own personal beliefs of course but by following such a schematic, Nintendo can once again progress the series into the future, one step at a time.

 

[r2d93]

Hmmm... To me, a prefect Zelda game needs
-a decently big overworld
-exploration
-lots of sidequests
-not too difficult but not too easy
-a lively hub like a castle town or clock town
-a great fitting soundtrack
-dungeons that are entertaining
-boss battles that are entertaining but also challenging
-mini games and/or something to waste time if you choose you want to go goof off
-an epic villain

 

[Justac00lguy]

What Would Make the Perfect Zelda Game?

I know Zelda games are perfect as it is but i want to know about peoples thoughts on what would make the Ultimate Legend of Zelda Game!

In my opinion a Zelda game isn't a Zelda game without the story and am not gonna ramble on about idea's for a story but for me what makes a great story in Zelda is the way it builds up throughout the game. An example would be Skyward Sword as i thought the build up here was great and they didn't rush into the story, another thing what makes a Zelda story great are twists within the game like for example Twilight Princess had many with the main one being near the end when you face Zant. My last point on a good story is that it has to be important in the history of Zelda an example again would be Skyward Sword with the forging of the Master Sword etc.

We all know that music is a key concept in Zelda games and i think that a perfect Zelda game should have a range of different music in the game as well as catchy themes like the Lost Woods theme or the Link to the Past theme, they also need to do a range of happy to scary music themes in the game.

Controls is a big issue lately what with motion control and the DS games being slightly controversial and i think that if the perfect Zelda game was to be on the Wii U it should use classic style controls but they can use the Wii U game pad to aim and do other certain features, plus the Wii U gamepad should be used for the subscreen, HUD, map etc.

Character's/Villain's are an important aspect in any Zelda game and i think games like Majoras Mask and Wind Waker captured the personality of the characters perfectly, you actually felt for the characters and they were very memorable, each character needs to be original and express emotions and actually connects with the story and interact with the world rather than being lifeless. Villains are very important to a Zelda game and i think that Zelda game should gradually build the Villain up and make them seem very powerful like what Twilight Princess did with Zant except don't fall at the last hurdle. I also think the Villain should show up a lot more and be involved in a lot of cut scenes etc. they should also make Link or the player have hatred towards the main Villain.

Graphics has always been a big topic in Zelda and with Skyward Sword proving that we don't need a realistic Zelda game to make it an epic game it just goes to show that Zelda may not nee HD graphics but i would certainly welcome it. For one its been a few years since Twilight Princess and i think everyone love the realistic graphics there and i would love if the Wii U took advantage of the new HD capability but for me it also needs a twist to make it feel like a Zelda game and i think detail is key especially in dungeons.

The overworld in Zelda games may not seem important but for me i think it's key and this is what made Majoras Mask so good. First of all i think the next game should take place in Hyrule but expand further into provinces we have never seen before, i think the standard provinces in Zelda are the like of the forest, the mountain(volcano), the lake, the desert and to certain extent snowy mountains. In majoras mask the Forest area was a swamp, the mountain area was in contrast an icy area, the lake area was instead a bay with a beach and the Desert area was a canyon. I think the perfect Zelda game would have the standard areas but also it should have new and unique areas such as maybe a Jungle area, Canyon Area, Underground area etc. there are many more ideas as well for me the overworld should be big but not empty like Twilight Princess there should be many areas were small towns and provinces are to make it not feel empty. The overworld should also have a large central hub like Clock Town in Majoras Mask, this is somewhere were you can play minigames, do numerous side quests buy numerous items and it should also be very expansive so you can explore new areas, Zelda should take notes from other games such as Super Mario 64 on the Central Area.

Dungeons are always big concept for me and am not going to ramble on about what i want i am going to keep it simple, Dungeons should have a great design, amazing detail, they should be unique and not repeat the same formula, they should also take a while to do like the stone tower temple, dungeons should also be very challenging and actuall really test the player and not just be throwing enemies all around the dungeon they should be strategically placed and the Boss Battle needs to be challenging and epic. Another key thing in Dungeons is the music and puzzles, the musci should fit the theme and the puzzles should actually make the player think.

I realize this is a long post and am sorry for that and i could have put much more and if you have read it or parts of this post then thanks and please leave your thoughts below!