Any fan of the Legend of Zelda series knows that character dialogue is always very limited. Talking to a character will generally result in the same responses over and over again. Not only this, but characters in Zelda games will often speak to you and open their hearts to you with no prior relationship of any kind.
Ever since the original Legend of Zelda game, character dialogue has been very limited.Though it has evolved over time to be a little more involved, characters in Zelda games continue to be very devoid of much to say.
In general, characters will only have one to three options of dialogue. The first time Link speaks to a character they will normally have a bit more to say and will sometimes ask for help of some sort. But as soon as their task has been completed or they have spoken they will never have anything more to contribute. If you
choose to try to speak to a character again they will repeat the same dialogue over and over again no matter how many times you try to speak to them.
If The Legend of Zelda series is to evolve and become more interactive, then characters will need to have deeper dialogue options. There are already so many games out there that present the gamer with anywhere from three to five basic dialogue paths which leads to other topics of conversation. In other words, give gamers the choice to select an array of topics to discuss with the people Link meets during his quest.
For example, when Link talks to a Hyrulian Knight he should have several dialogue options to pursue. Perhaps, this would look similar to the following:
- What are you guarding?
Can you tell me where I can get supplies?
What is the current situation in Hyrule like?
The possibilities are endless. Imagine the dialogue options that could result from this. Every single person in the game has their own unique backstory; their own tale to tell, and their own share of information. Nintendo could use this to enable a richer side plot to the game. It could also be used to tell some history of Hyrule and its towns. Many other games already have such a feature and it allows for a greater gaming experience.
This feature would also allow for more interactivity and other gameplay elements. Zelda games are well known for their often pointless and trivial tasks which are given to the player. For example, Link will take a break from saving Hyrule so he can find cuccos that have escaped. This just makes no sense. Why would somebody ask the first kid they see to help them catch chickens that have escaped. Rather, Nintendo should again take advantage of the conversation options menu to lead up to such an event. If Link asks how things are, that person could say “oh well my chickens have escaped and I need help getting them back into their pen.” Then
there should be another set of options that would lead the conversation further to the point where Link will eventually agree to help or say maybe later.
Something as simple as this would make gameplay and interactivity much richer. It would allow for multiple conversation paths for each and every character in the game and prevent the game from getting stale so quickly. I know that on my second or even third time through any Zelda game that I stop talking to people since I know that they will just repeat the same thing again and again. If dialogue options were be implemented, the game would certainly be more interesting.
*Note I am aware there there are a couple of instances, in Zelda games, where gamers can choose their response. However the response given never has any real impact on the events or words spoken.
If you liked this article, please discuss it here on our Legend of Zelda Forums
