Zelda Dungeon Talks: Which Aspect Of The Series Is Becoming the Most Stale?
Posted on December 16 2015 by Josh Tasaico
Hey everybody and welcome to this week’s Zelda Dungeon Talks! The Zelda series is one of the longest gaming series out there, going strong since the Nintendo Entertainment System. Nintendo continuously gives us quality Zelda games, and while not every Zelda game is outstanding, they are still good enough for us to enjoy and feel like we have gotten what we got what we payed for. However, one thing that some fans have become aware of is how the series is slowly getting stale. Not the whole thing, but certain aspects of it. Is it the Triforce? The Master Sword? Link himself? Or are these too iconic to become stale?
In this week’s edition of Zelda Dungeon Talks, various staff members will share with us their opinion on the topic. As always feel free to leave a response in the comments, and make sure to send an email over to zeldadungeontalks@gmail.com to get the topic for next week as well as a chance to have a your response featured in next week’s ZD Talks.
Jon Lett – View Profile
Definitely Link himself. As I have said before, Link lacking character development is a sad sight to behold this far into the series. I know Link is supposed to be an “avatar for the player” or whatever, but I can very easily be immersed in a game where the character has a personality beyond grunts and facial expression, considering I am controlling said character. Also, if he was more characterized, the plot would likely be more focussed on him, and by default, me, the player. The events would be directly happening around, and to, the player, so to speak. Link has made many relationships over the years, but I think it is well past time for him to start making those relationships a little more 2-sided. Start saying something meaningful, hero boy.
Thomas Jacobs – View Profile
Gameplay structure. Thus far the games are either the “X dungeons, Master Sword, Y dungeons, final dungeon” structure or the “completely linear” structure. Even the nonlinear A Link Between Worlds falls into the former category. I would like to see a Zelda game that does this structure differently. How to do this is going to be difficult though. Making the game completely non-linear with all the dungeons available from the start (like the original game) is an option, but this comes at the cost of what is possible for the story. Having a smaller number of dungeons that the player can do in any order, with the occasional story-mandated mission could work, but it might make the game feel drawn out way too much. Finding the right balance would be quite the task, and I’m curious to see what Nintendo will do in Zelda Wii U.
Alexis Anderson – View Profile
The plot presentation. At this point it’s obvious that the plot of these games is very important to me, and I do like the way the plot has progressed and deepened along with the adventure in recent titles like Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword (as opposed to presenting one large problem at the start of the game and sending Link off to fix it with no new story elements introduced along the way, as in older games). But I can’t stand the long winded cutscenes that I’ve got to a-button mash through. I’m a pretty strong reader, the text can’t move fast enough to make these interactions go smoothly. Revealing the story through conversation is fine, but I think it’s time the games added some voice over. If I could watch the scenes unfold like I’m watching an animation or movie scene, it would be much more enjoyable and immersive as well. People don’t want to <em>read</em> anymore, Nintendo, we want instant gratification!
James Djinn – View Profile
The story, as in the lack of one for the majority of the time as well as a lack of any real story development. Zelda games still seem to be stuck in the early 90’s in how most games have such a barebones, nothing too detailed, game story. They are always so simplistic and rarely have anything more than just simple motivation to go to the next dungeon or unlock the next puzzle. Half the time I feel like I am playing a port of a NES/SNES era game. In an era where other series such as numerous Final Fantasies, Assassin’s Creed, Halo, or Mass Effect have huge rich stories that really draw the player into the environment and make them interested in the narrative as much as they are completing the game. Plus it can lead to so much extra side material like book series tie ins, comic series, animated features etc.
Alasyn Eletha – View Profile
The reincarnation cycle. It’s always the princess, the hero, and the manifestation of the demon king. Don’t get me wrong, I really like having the entire trio in the game. Games that have Link and either Zelda or Ganon(dorf) but not the other, or even just Link by himself, aren’t among my favorite Zelda titles. Aside from Majora’s Mask, but we all know that doesn’t count. What I mean is that I’m tired of seeing Hyrule and Zelda threatened by Ganon(dorf) and then Link has to come to the rescue. I’ve seen some pretty great plot ideas from many Zelda fans like, what if Ganondorf doesn’t start out as a bad guy? What if the three of them started off as chummies and then everything goes to hell? Sure, it’s a longshot, but something completely different than what we’re used to seeing in a Zelda game could completely throw Zelda fans for a loop. And, who knows? Maybe we’d like it.
