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Would you like to see the dark side of Hyrule?

Alita the Pun

Dmitri
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So I was thinking that even in the darkest places in Hyrule, the atmosphere seems to be optimistic and almost unbelievably perfect. But I’ve been thinking a lot about Castle town and how most medieval castle towns were likely dirty, cramped, and filled with crime. As you got closer to the palace, the accommodations became nicer and the economy was better because that’s where the money was.

All this to say, I think it would be interesting to see a less Nintendo-perfect-cheerful world and see a more realistic representation of how the villages would be. Not just castle town but all the villages.

Would you like to see a more realistic medieval town model, a more cheerful and optimistic vibe, or are you happy as it is?
 

Dio

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Yes I want a more realistic model. The open sewers, chamber pots being emptied into the streets. That is the kind of Zelda I want to play.
 
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Would you like to see a more realistic medieval town model, a more cheerful and optimistic vibe, or are you happy as it is?
No I would not. Why? Because the whole IP is based on Japanese history. Nothing at all like the European medieval towns of history. Something like a Chinese or Japanese pesant village with a much nicer residence next to it for the town or provence ruler. I forget what they are called but I am sure one of you will know.

The ancient chinese and japanese were not filthy disgusting pigs like the medieval europeans were. However they were even more voilent and they totally revolved their town around being prepared for battle. Sure agriculture, culture and the other finer things totally existed there too but they were all secondary to defending your town.
 

Turo602

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I don't think realistic medieval is exactly what I think about when I imagine "dark side of Hyrule" but I would definitely love to see creepier and more horror themed settings in Zelda games .
 

Lozjam

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No I would not. Why? Because the whole IP is based on Japanese history. Nothing at all like the European medieval towns of history. Something like a Chinese or Japanese pesant village with a much nicer residence next to it for the town or provence ruler. I forget what they are called but I am sure one of you will know.

The ancient chinese and japanese were not filthy disgusting pigs like the medieval europeans were. However they were even more voilent and they totally revolved their town around being prepared for battle. Sure agriculture, culture and the other finer things totally existed there too but they were all secondary to defending your town.
You are absolutely wrong. Zelda was based on Western Style adventure stories.
Last year was the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. (laughs) To jump right in, why did you decide to make The Legend of Zelda, which came out 30 years ago for the Family Computer Disk System? (1)

1. Family Computer Disk System: A peripheral product for the Famicom system released in February 1986. The floppy disks used with the system had greater memory than ROM cartridges, allowing players to save game data.

Miyamoto: The Indiana Jones (2) movies were out around that time.

2. Indiana Jones: A series of adventure movies produced by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The first movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, was released in 1981.

Adventure films were popular in the Eighties.

Miyamoto: Right, I wanted to bring that sense of adventure to a video game. And people playing computer RPGs back then were bragging about how strong their swordsmen had become and were calling each other at night to exchange information. When I noticed that, I thought it was an interesting milieu.

Since it was so absorbing, you wanted to make something similar yourself.

Miyamoto: Yes. So with a world of swords and sorcery as my theme, I decided to make an adventure game based on treasure-hunting, and that was the beginning of The Legend of Zelda.
Hell, the name Zelda actually came from Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of a very famous American author.
 
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You are absolutely wrong. Zelda was based on Western Style adventure stories.
Shigeru Miyamoto: Books, movies and our own lives. Legend of Zelda was based on my childhood.
http://www.nintendoforums.com/artic...azine-interviews-shigeru-miyamoto-about-zelda

That's what Zelda was based on from the mouth of Miyamoto himself. His childhood is that of one living in Japan back then. Of cause Japan by then had many western influences coming in but at it's heart it's still Japan. Actually the story of Miyamoto going into a cave while travelling somewhere as a child greatly influenced the early Zelda games as well.

Hell, the name Zelda actually came from Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of a very famous American author.
That's what I have read but I need to find an official quote from Nintendo on this though.
 

Alita the Pun

Dmitri
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I’ve definitely seen a lot more Japanese influences in Zelda recently. Especially with botw’s art style being introduced. I mean in botw the great deku tree is a cherry blossom tree. Majora’s mask has heavy Japanese influences as well with the masks, and a lot of the characters. But let’s look back at Z1. The stylization they used on the knights and others was tied heavily to a very western idea of knights and crusaders. Just look at Hyrule castle to see that western influence.

While Zelda has begun to morph into a eastern/Japanese medieval fantasy, I believe that it takes its roots in western, “knights and dragons” ideaology.

Also @the8thark iirc I believe it mentions the origin of zelda’s name in either the prologue or epilogue of the Hyrule Historia.
 

Castle

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I don't want to see a depiction of Hyrule not unlike the world of the Witcher. Dark Fantasy can die in a fire. I am so bloody sick and tired of seeing it in every modern popular fantasy fiction like it's a cancer. We really are a cynical and jaded society when our go-to genre for escapism is as dark and edgy as we all think we are. :dry:

No, but seeing Hyrule in a decayed state isn't bad. More like it was in Twilight Princess you know? Where the outlying lands had this run down decayed primitive or ruined look but Castle Town was all brilliant and pristine. Unlike the BotW look where the whole land was just empty barren and devoid of so much as anything worth looking at.

I also approve of the Ocarina of Time approach of depicting Hyrule as all clean and whimsical on the surface but with dark sinister freaky and outright horrific secrets buried just beneath the facade.

Hyrule doesn't need to carry on with this dark fantasy depiction of our own history's usual racism, sexism, riots, uncleanliness and other social issues. The Witcher, Game of Thrones, etc are really over the top with all that. Even when Twilight Princess took the gritty approach it mostly just acted all weird at times... and even then not all that much weirder than any other Zelda game. TP was just painted with darker colors.

Nor does the Zelda series need to be historically accurate. It doesn't need to depict medieval castles as the dank, filthy cesspools they were. I'm all for a grittier Zelda, but we don't need to turn Zelda into Game of Thrones.
 
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