Gossip Stone: Should There Be More Story Content Between Dungeons?

When playing a Zelda game, they (typically) consist with the same formula- some story and/or side-quests, and then the dungeon. However, others have pointed out an excellent question. Would it be preferred that we have more story content in between dungeons? Or maybe, more quests leading up to a dungeon? Anything to fill in the time, so to speak. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see a small change in the formula like that? One Zelda game (I can think of) has done something similar. Let’s take a look at that. An example will be shown beyond this point, so if you’d like to read into this, hit the jump to check it out!

You’ll find that -like stated above- the formula typically repeats itself. And personally, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s what makes the game, a Zelda Game. But the question here is; would you or would you not prefer more content in-between dungeons? Such as more story, more quests, or just more content to lead up to the dungeon. An example I’d like to give is the quest for Nayru’s Pearl in Wind Waker.

The quest for Nayru’s Pearl differed from the method of obtaining the other pearls. To gain the other pearls, you had to complete the dungeon in which it lied. But in this case, the quest for Nayru’s Pearl had nothing to do with a dungeon. In fact, the entire game world changed for this brief amount of time, just for this quest. It starts off with The King of Red Lions telling you to speak to Jabun at Greatfish Isle. Once you reach there, you’ll find that the entire island is torn to shreds with various pieces of the island either on its side in the water, or completely demolished- no thanks to Ganondorf. That’s where this quest begins. At the same point, Quill (The Rito Postman you meet a few times throughout the story) tells Link and The King of Red Lions that Jabun has fled to Outset Island, and that Tetra and her crew of pirates of caught wind of it. It’s heard that they’ve anchored at Windfall Island in order to obtain bombs- and truth be told, they did.

Once Link arrives, he finds that no one is on the ship. Nico states that anyone entering the ship must have a password; and as Link doesn’t know of any password currently, he sets off elsewhere. He sneaks into the bomb shop (through the back), in which the ship is anchored near. He finds Tetra and her pirates inside. Inside here, Link learns the password for getting into the pirate ship, and then swiftly makes his way back to the pirate’s ship. Once he’s given the correct password, he’s let inside of the pirates’ ship, only to be greeted by Nico. Nico challenges Link to another platform mini-game. Once completed, Link is awarded with Bombs. By obtaining these, you may now go to Outset Island to see Jabun.

At the back of Outset Island, Link must use his newly obtained bombs to destroy the rock slab blocking the entrance to Jabun’s cavern. And once you’re inside, Link obtains Nayru’s Pearl- after The King of Red Lions persuades Jabun to give it to them. After all this, it’s back to the main story line, and shortly after, the Tower of the Gods.

This specific piece in the story is a perfect example. Even if it’s not exactly the same, would you like to see more of this in future Zelda titles? Even though it wasn’t a dungeon, it was a pretty long quest in order to obtain this pearl. That in itself can prove to be an exciting quest. You gotta love the Great Sea theme during all this, as well. Very… dark sounding.

So, what do you think? Would you like to see more content like the quest for Nayru’s Pearl in future Zelda games? Or would you prefer the formula stay the same? Sound off in the comments!