Opinion: Zelda’s Formula Doesn’t Need to Change

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With WiiU coming this year and the 3DS killing the marketplace, there’s bound to be talk of Zelda. So what’s been going on? Well, we had the excellent remake of Ocarina of Time for the 3DS, talks of a NEW Zelda for 3DS and all kinds of rumors of a Majora’s Mask remake. This is all well and good because what really makes news is the Zelda HD Experience from 2011’s E3 presentation and 2012’s CES. What a sight. If you haven’t seen it, you simply must take a peek.

This brings up an interesting topic for lifelong fans. We debate it; argue it and we all stick to our opinions on how we feel about this specific subject. Does the franchise need to reinvent itself or stick with a tried and true formula? Clearly this is going to be my opinion, so let’s argue later.

For many of us, The Legend of Zelda is what we grew up with, each release better than the next, each dungeon bigger and better. But each release has the same common ingredients, quick tutorial, then jump into the world to save it, because something pretty creepy is going to happen. Then it happens, traversing the over-world, collecting items that boost your ability to stay alive for longer periods of time. Then there are the dungeons. Room to room, collect the treasure that the dungeon holds, find the Big Key and kill the boss. All in all, genius.

Yes, it’s a tried and true formula. So is Mario. The point is, don’t take away what made the series brilliant. Mario grabs a handful of stars, dumps Bowser in a river of lava and saves Peach. Redundant? Maybe… but these titles sell millions. Super Mario Galaxy just passes the 5 million mark in the US. That’s pretty good for a plot line that hasn’t changed in 26 years.

There’s no doubt in my mind that people want a change. The question I want to ask you is: what should it be? Is it in the weapons? The way dungeons are explored? How would you change The Legend of Zelda? Let’s gather some input from both sides of the coin. This is going to be a fun topic to debate and write about. I’m looking forward to hearing all the brilliant ideas the readers of this site come back with.

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N8sylvia

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  • KingKrokorok

    Well, I personally would like to see more characters be made playable at some point. I think a Paper Mario style interlude after each dungeon where you get to play as Zelda would bee cool. Also, it would be great if there was a dungeon which you played through as two different characters simultaneously going along two different paths, and you were able to switch from one character to the other at will (Like Sakon's Hideout but on a much larger scale).

    I would also like to see one of the quest items not actually being obtained at the end of a dungeon, but in order to get to where it lies, you have to pass through a dungeon on the way e.g. the chief of a city holds a quest item, but the path to the city was blocked off by a landslide so Link has to travel through Dodongo's Tunnel instead. Once Link finds the chief he willingly gives the quest item to him.

    As for the actual formula itself. I think that the games shouldn't always follow such a similar pattern. I would like to see different Links with different backgrounds, not just the same old small-village-boy, and Zelda playing a more important role in the games (maybe even the villain?) would be nice, considering she is in the title of all of them. Oh yeah, more magic spells, hand to hand combat, and a much wider array of customisable and upgradable weapons, armour and potions would be a nice change too.

    • Guest

      Did you see what happened when they tried that with the cdis? I honestly do not want something like that to happen again.

      • Guest2

        Did you ever read the post?

  • noah

    There are a few minor things I would like to see changed but nothing revolutionary. Keep the premise and just adjust things here and there,

  • What I would like to see is an over the top zelda game. Huge world, filled with towns and people, extreme hd graphics, more charcters, long playing time with the game really never ending, and a more in depth storyline that explains more. That being said, the old formula has always worked and i really enjoyed the medival feeling of a link to the past. If anything i think they should revert to the basic ideas of the older games.

  • ZeldaForever2000

    I say maybe a good idea of a Wii U Zelda game will be a more darker and mature title like TP, but instead of trying too hard to be dark, just simply let things flow like in MM, also maybe having an apocalyptic setting, in the time before the Great Flood of Wind Waker, also being a difficult game, with bosses dealing at least 3 points of damage, also lots of customization and upgrading, also having a very close Link and Zelda, also in-depth character development, like in MM and SS, also lots of sidequests, and a part in which Link (gulp) dies and you have to make a part similar to the part in Super Paper Mario in which you're dead and have to revive, also having time travel similar to Chrono Trigger, and at the end Link and Zelda realize that there's no choice other than flooding the land, tell me what you think about this.

    • noahglaser

      I agree with you 100% I would love to see the time before the great flood. Thats a great idea

    • Guest

      I was just thinking the same thing about Link dying. Though I think it should be at the end of the game. You get to the final boss and end up sacrificing yourself to defeat him. No one would see it coming and I would love to see it happen. I might cry if they actually do it, though.

  • I think zelda is pretty fine the way it is. The only issue I’ve had is the constant story changes! I have yet to see a game follow another! Except when MM has the brief reference to when link saves hyrule in OOT and leaves. I rly wanted to know if link found midna again! It looked like they were going to have the next one find another way into twilight! But thts just my opinion.

  • how

    Id love to see some game play before i make my assumptions but from whats released so far i looks like all you do is control a camera with the WiiU controller id love for Nintendo to keep the game the same with a few minor changes such as weps. and enemies but i really wanna see them make the best zelda game yet.

  • René

    What I think whenever I play a new Zelda is that, although the same formula has been used umpteen times, it feels like something new. Again, the core of the game is essentially the same but we always see new weapons, new ways of interaction, puzzles, characters, story, etc. My point is that if the machinery is working properly, why should you try to fix it? Nintendo knows how strong and valuable this franchise is and I assure you they will think twice before making any major changes; I mean, Wind Waker was a risk, but in that case only the graphics were changed, keeping the essence of the game practically intact. Of course I would love to see an even more spectacular Zelda on WiiU, but I would be really disappointed if they made serious changes to it.

  • What I would like to see is the ability to choose which area you go to first and have a flexible storyline to fit your choices of which dungeon follows another. If that confuses you then let me explain it differently. You could go to a dungeon in Lanayru before you go to Faron or Eldin. And then the storyline fits each seperate choice of where to go. The dungeons could also be flexible to fit your choices. Probably the only concrete thing would be needing to complete three dungeons before you can obtain the Master Sword. Not to mention finishing all the dungeons before you can face the final boss. That would be an awesome Zelda game.

    • Guest

      This would result in dungeons that focus very heavily on one item, instead of having the end-game dungeons where you have to use your whole arsenal to get through. That being said, this could work for the first three dungeons, but then they would have to change the scaling difficulty based on your decision, and IMO it is better to keep the dungeons at one difficulty.

  • Guest

    Well, as we can all see there is a fairy in the picture above of a possible next game for the WiiU, perhaps this is a sequel of sorts to MM as (spoiler alert) link is returned to his original time and is given the ocarina as a parting gift of sorts from zelda and he heads into the lost woods to find navi again, well what if they made a zelda game in which link finds navi and they begin in a game as featured above. Any thoughts?

    • ZeldaFan1

      wouldnt that changethe the whole timeline though? that would mess up MM completely in my opinion

      • Sam Hellmer

        Maybe this can be after Majora's Mask and he finds Navi after he beats Majora.

  • john

    I am going to pursonaly start a website/petition for the return of the twilight princess. I would love to see link and midna back together again in another game.