Zelda Universe Forums - Future Zelda http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/ en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:51:21 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/images/zutemple/misc/rss.jpg Zelda Universe Forums - Future Zelda http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/ Zelda MMORPG http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102780-zelda-mmorpg-new-post.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:42:01 GMT ***Disclaimer*** Before going into a tirade, of hate. This is not my idea. Ok so i got into a very, long arguement with a close friend the other day, because of the possibility of a Zelda MMO. So what would your opinions be, on a Legend of Zelda Massively Multiplayer Online Rolde Playing...
***Disclaimer***
Before going into a tirade, of hate. This is not my idea.


Ok so i got into a very, long arguement with a close friend the other day, because of the possibility of a Zelda MMO.

So what would your opinions be, on a Legend of Zelda Massively Multiplayer Online Rolde Playing Game (MMORPG)?

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These are my opinions.

Personally i believe that the MMORPG genre, has destroyed the Warcraft series. I think Blizzard entertainment didn't realise just how huge this game was to become, and how many people they would need to satisfy.

Because of this the game is a victim of its own success. And the lore has been flushed down the toilet. Blizzard has been forced to recycle villains and plot events multiple times to satisfy the 11 million players of its game.

And i believe that if Zelda were to go down a similar path, it would walk a very, very fine edge of failure or success. With Success being, that it maintains it's epic and fantastic story, is entertaining to play and is all round AWESOME.

Failure being that they ruin the zelda storyline.

I am against such an idea.

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Here's a list of pro's and con's i think apply to this topic.

Pro's
  • You could have endless hours of zelda fun, forever.
  • You could be what ever race you want, Hylian, Zora, Gerudo, kokiri/skull kids whatever!
  • Timelines, plot events, and other mysteries could be revealed to us.
  • The story can be expanded and explored in great depth.
  • Link does not necessarily need to be involved. Or given a character. However now ones character truly would be a 'link' to the game.
Con's
  • Possible destruction of the lore D:
  • I wouldn't have a life
  • Play style would be completley different from current games. (i.e. Implementation of a leveling system seems almost necessary)
  • There would be an influx of noobs who all play as zoras (no offense to the zora lovers, but seriously. It would boom.)

---

So thats my spiel on the idea. But feel free to post all opinions on the MMO genre, and what it's effects would be if implemented into the zelda series. ]]> Future Zelda AzraelBlack http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102780-zelda-mmorpg.html Aonuma speaks on ST and Zelda Wii http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102771-aonuma-speaks-on-st-and-zelda-wii-new-post.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:32:54 GMT http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=105165 Eiji Aonuma confirmed himself as the producer of Zelda Wii, so there is a new director after all. :mastahsword: http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=105165
Eiji Aonuma confirmed himself as the producer of Zelda Wii, so there is a new director after all. :mastahsword: ]]> Future Zelda OSM http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102771-aonuma-speaks-on-st-and-zelda-wii.html New Spirit Tracks art! Epic boss, weapons, four swords? and more! http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102732-new-spirit-tracks-art-epic-boss-weapons-four-swords-and-more-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:29:44 GMT http://www.gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=105023#comment-section Image: http://gonintendo.com/wp-content/photos/a1_1_2_3.jpg Image: http://gonintendo.com/wp-content/photos/a2_1_2_3_4.jpg Image: http://gonintendo.com/wp-content/photos/a3_1_2.jpg Image:... http://www.gonintendo.com/viewstory....omment-section










]]> Future Zelda Kankki1 http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102732-new-spirit-tracks-art-epic-boss-weapons-four-swords-and-more.html Zelda for Wii has a new director http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102708-zelda-for-wii-has-a-new-director-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:58:24 GMT Sorry for the flood of new news. Eiji Aonuma is killing me with new info every few hours. Recently he was talking about ST having wifi. When he's not busy the director to ST helps him fight against the DIRECTOR to the new Wii Zelda over ST's wifi battles. Eiji brags about beating the new director for once. Source.


But more importantly. Eiji Aonuma's Mr. Producer now. Who the heck is the big ole' main director to this new Zelda game? :waggle: I'm not so knowledgable about the dev team and I'm not sure if anyone here is...but a new director means a lot doesn't it? Miyamoto is probably just the supervisor now. But as far as I know producers just make sure everything is working out right while the director is the one with the creativity...correct me if I'm wrong.


Discuss. Oh, and ST being online is confirmed. =D ]]> Future Zelda Zeldablue777 http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102708-zelda-for-wii-has-a-new-director.html Happy 3rd Anniversary http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102690-happy-3rd-anniversary-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:53:15 GMT Just as I promised! *Radio Silence* Every few years, there is this longest time between Zelda releases where nobody knows anything about the next elusive Zelda game. Going as far back as the Internet infancy-years for A Link to the Past, people were in the dark regarding Zelda 64 (OoT)... Just as I promised!

Radio Silence

Every few years, there is this longest time between Zelda releases where nobody knows anything about the next elusive Zelda game.

Going as far back as the Internet infancy-years for A Link to the Past, people were in the dark regarding Zelda 64 (OoT) for many years. In fact, Nintendo only broke their largest known spell of Zelda information hiatus at Spaceworld of December 1995. For those not keeping count, that's 4 years and a month of complete information blackout from the day that LTTP was released to the day OoT was announced.

But those were weird times in gaming, where terms like 'mainstream' and 'games' were hardly ever used in the same sentence; where annualised sequels were a thing of the future as opposed to the present; and where 3D was the exception rather then the rule.

And as impressive as the 4 year silence between LTTP and OoT was, did EAD really spend all that time developing OoT prior to its Spaceworld unveiling in 95 or not? Well, Nintendo's various EAD division amongst themselves were responsible for 12 (many of them major) releases between LTTP and OoT. A piece of fact which would strongly hint that OoT was not a unitary and continuous development effort but rather a fragmented and protracted one. But as if that weren't enough, the transition from 2d to 3d for a free roaming adventure would've been a massive trial and error time sink for the team, since the newly added dimension would've posed significant challenges to both the technical and design departments. A challenge which in hindsight was so great that countless other devs could not as elegantly conquer until several product releases and years after Ocarina's release; an assertion which is backed by the critical consensus of the game.

Contemporary Era

Excluding pre-OoT development, exactly how long have Zelda fans been kept in the dark for the average 3D releases? Well in the 8 years following OoT and up to November 2006 for TP's release and spanning 4 games, we've been kept in the dark for a grand total of 3 and a half years. In other words, on average, a new console Zelda game is announced just over a year (1.2 years) after the release of the previous one. Within this fickle and disposable games industry, that's generally considered a pretty long time for fans to be kept completely in the dark on. And to put that length of time into perspective, Final Fantasy VII's entire main body of development lasted only around 4 months more (at 1.5 years between late 1995 and early 1997).

But in addition to that 1.2 year average waiting time for the next mainline Zelda to be announced, Zelda fans usually have another, on average, 23 months waiting to do before the game launches (the period between game announcement to release day). That is actually quite extraordinary if you consider that Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 took less time to develop then that.

Facts are nice but where does this leave the Zelda Wii in November 2009? For those not bothering with the math, Nintendo have shockingly kept the lid on Zelda Wii for over twice as long (3 years to the day today) as the 2nd longest contemporary period of secrecy - the honours to which had previously belonged to Twilight Princess for being completely unannounced for 1 year and 5 months since the release of Wind Waker. In other words, as mentioned above, the average waiting time for a console Zelda unveiling is 1.2 years; the Twilight Princess waiting time was nearly 1.5 years; and Zelda Wii's waiting time has now surpassed 3 years and counting.

Industry Insanity

So why would Nintendo keep the lid on their star game for so long?

Many developers have done a disservice to their products by mismanaging fan expectations and keeping hype unchecked for extended periods. For example, in the recently released Operation Flashpoint 2's case, the devs went so far as to even exaggerate the hype by making unfounded claims about what the finished product would be like. And then there is Nintendo's very own Shigeru Miyamoto, who himself is guilty of this error when he tried to keep Mario's water Jet-Pack - F.L.U.D.D. - such a tight secret for the longest time because, to paraphrase him: "It's a big innovation and I don't want give anything away to anyone". The result of his secrecy was that the fanbase were left to speculate on the revolutionary 2nd coming of gaming, pretty much. And we all know what a gimmick that turned out being.

And it's not just Codemasters and Nintendo who are guilty here but most other devs and publishers as well. For instance, remember when Peter Molyneux was playing up "that" special feature in Fable 2? In an interview with Eurogamer.net for the run up to the game's launch, he said, and this is a direct quote now: "It's a very, very big thing". And of coarse we now know that what he was referring to back then was about the dog in Fable 2. I still don't get which part of "very, very big" the, for the most part, bug ridden dog actually ended up being.

And the above famous examples are but only 2 of many cases of such gross expectation mismanagement practised by game designers and developers throughout our games industry.

In essence, if Zelda Wii, as an SD product, is to succeed against today's increasingly multimedia centric culture which demands Hi-Def visuals and Hollywood level production values for every AAA game; then Nintendo - due to Wii's lack of headline grabbing hardware grunt - has a very small margin of error to work with in order to succeed both commercially and critically. To truly succeed, Nintendo needs to tick all the right boxes with prefect execution and precision. And to do that, they need to start hitting the right notes with both the fans and the media right from the beginning. And one important thing to get right from the beginning is to get the level of pre-release hype to match the actual quality of the product. The higher the quality of their product, the more leeway they have to play up hype without risking disappointment.

Fan Insanity

Compounding the bizarre attitudes of the industry professionals is the attitudes of the fans themselves.

"The fans are to blame for Zelda:WhatHaveYou turning out bad". Anyone who's seen this type of fallacious piece of immature logic bandied around on these forums, raise your hand. That's a lot of hands!

Or how about the "No matter what the devs do, fans will always complain" argument? And although that's an admittedly comforting argument - to which I've reverted to in the past (in a different context and scenario, mind) - that's still wholly pedantic and unconstructive point to make. Not to mention that it's also an obvious statistical inevitability that should get anyone using it to receive the "No ***** Sherlock" award of the day. The thing is, if the devs themselves use that argument then they can somehow be justified due to the pressure laden, stress ridden nature of creating games and are therefore trying to take solace any way that they can.

Unfortunately the blame game is rife amongst the Zelda fanbase and by extension, gamers in general, to this day. For instances, in the case of Zelda games, where as some 'fans' blame the kids for wanting Wind Waker's toon/joyful look, others blame pseudo-grown-up's for wanting Twilight Princess's more realistic/serious/mature look. It beggars belief that more often then not, you'll find fans flaming and blaming each other for what most of the time amounts to nothing more then little to no substance and poorly expressed personal feelings in cutthroat poorly comprehended debates.

And where as Miyamoto and Molyneux learnt from their past mistakes and have since progressively honed their technique of better managing public and media expectations, the collective fanbase on the other hand is still as unpredictable and difficult to deal with as ever. And that basically makes the delicate balancing act of Zelda Wii that much more difficult to pull off right.

And Who Says Long Dev Time is Good Anyway?

So, a long dev time and expectation management are potential precursors to a fresh, innovation rich, industry defining product, but... unfortunately, that's not quite always the case. Case in point being "Too Human" from Silicon Knights. An ambitious 4 disc product which was nearly completed on the Playstation 1 before going through at least 2 hardware transitions and finally ending up as a high profile, 2nd party, game on the Xbox 360. Nearly 15 years from concept to release, the critical reception to the game upon release was mediocre while the size of the fan base never reached a favourable level compared to its development ambition. Although admittedly it did have a fragmented non-continues development from 1994 - 2008.

And then there is the infamous and comically tragic case of George Boussard's privately funded pet project, Duke Nukem Forever. A game that, unlike Too Human, never even made it to release and was, after continuous and unitary development, cancelled 12 years from the day it was originally announced (April 1997 - May 2009 RIP).

But Nintendo has something that companies who have a tendency to be stuck into development limbo could only dream of of having; a high profile, probably low turnover, quality workforce with reputation and a proven track record that goes along with it. Qualities that both Valve Software and Blizzard Entertainment (Now part of Activision) will not doubt attest to; as both companies are routinely known to adopt an extreme form of "when it's done" policy and have yet to fail with a single product.

But there is no doubt that cash was an important detractor in some of the development limbo instances in the past.

Nintendo's Unmistakable Dominance

And it just so turn out that there is neither talent nor cash shortages at Nintendo.

I'll spare everyone from the boring numbers but Nintendo is the most successful software company inside of the games industry in the world. They are responsible for a multitude of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful pieces of software within the history of this industry... that's a general consensus and an assertion based on fact. Nintendo generates more revenue from gaming then any other company globally in the games industry. They are currently beating their competition globally and on all three fronts - console, handheld and software. Nintendo is a multinational corporation that exists in all 3 major gaming regions around the globe. And although they generates less revenue then Sony, Nintendo are still more profitable then all arms of Sony combined.

They are number 1 at the moment, bar none. Even businessweek.com can agree with that notion, what with their annually published list dubbed as "The Worlds Best Companies". In the 2009 edition of that list, Nintendo beat the heavyweights from the IT Industry (Google and Apple), they beat the heavyweights from the heavy construction and building industry, and they beat the heavyweights from countless other industries such as oil & gas giants, telecommunications corporations, banking cartels and companies from a myriad of other industries to claim the number one spot. And although the term "world's best company" is a subjective one, it's important to remember that BusinessWeek still used numbers and balance sheets as part of the criteria for establishing who qualifies to enter their list and who doesn't.

Trouble in Uncle Scroodge's Paradise

Yet, despite their unchallanged and incontrovertible dominance within today's broader gaming landscape; the same cannot be said for one other very important metric. Mind-share.

Now this is a subject that has garnered plenty of controversy in all corners of the industry. And where as most Nintendo loyalist are adamant that Nintendo is in great shape when it comes to games, in contrast however, the rest of industry maintains a much more lukewarm attitude with the general consensus being that if you want the best graphics, the highest production values, the largest budgets, the deepest stories, the most complex gameplay, and the most mature themes, then you look to anywhere but Nintendo.

And despite what corporate spin they put on the situation, there is no denying that, unlike its two main competitors, gaming is Nintendo's lifeline and bread and butter business. There is no denying that Nintendo must clearly be upset that the best and highest profile non-party games cannot be played on their home platform. Much to that effect, NOA's president Reggie Fils-Aime was recently quoted by Kotaku as saying that he was "extremely disappointed" that mega budget games like Modern Warefare 2 and Assassins Creed 2 are simply not an option for Nintendo gamers.

So although they dominate by numbers, the unfortunate truth for Nintendo is that their success came at the price of steadily accumulated built-up of resentment and neglect by the most dedicated gamers who've been around in the games industry the longest, and who buy the most games and play the longest hours. And in an industry as reliant on word of mouth as this, if the situation is not diffused, then it's a shell waiting to explode.

U Turn - Down But Not Out

Gaming is Nintendo's native homeland and therefore they cannot afford to ignore any part of it, much less the most dedicated section. The masses are fickle as they come and go based on, sometimes unpredictable, trends. Which is why it is foolish of people to think that Nintendo is stupid enough to put all their eggs in the "mass market" basket.

Despite the sound logic behind why Nintendo wouldn't ever completely abandon the enthusiast gamers; there are many who have completely written them off already. Crucially, it is with this lack of foresight where this editorial changes gears an enters into its final stretch.

Let's ignore the fact that Ocarina of Time is the most revered game in this industry's history and let's ignore the fact that Super Mario Galaxy could arguably be one of the, if not the, highest quality game of this generation on by far the weakest machine.

But can we ignore the fact that Shigeru Miyamoto is for good measure considered the granddaddy of gaming with numerous life time achievement awards, including being knighted by the French ministry of culture; earning the top spot in Time Magazine's 2008 list of "100 Most Influential People of the Year"; and most recently being crowned by industry veterans as the "Ultimate Development Hero" in a poll which was conducted by Develop Magazine.

Can we ignore that the next Zelda, in all likely-hood, has already been in development for at least 3 years without any sign of a release yet on the horizon?

Can we ignore the fact that the core Nintendo staff have been doing this longer then anybody still around in gaming?

Can we ignore the fact that Nintendo, as a hardware manufacturer, has a bigger vested interest in maintaining or even improving the exceptional legacy of their most loved IP? Are we forgetting about the economies of scale that Nintendo is enjoying during this game's production then any other company?

Are we going to ignore the fact that Nintendo in their own words are "extremely disappointed" to be marginalised by the likes of John Carmack, Gabe Newell and other mega devs for not supporting their platform with high production efforts? And are we supposed to expect the richest most successful gaming company to just sit on it's laurels and continue making only Wii Fit and Party games?

Its true that it took movies and cinema around 53 years to produce Citizen Kane, but at the age of 37, I feel that it's time for the games industry to finally take that defining leap forward with a historically defining product, in the process ushering itself in a new era of supremacy amongst all other forms of entertainment, much to Roger Ebert's dismay.

Although this defining product may come from any software company or publisher and on any platform; from where I'm standing, all signs point to Zelda being the next big leap, a displacement, and a catalyst in the evolution of the games industry.

Happy 3rd Birthday Legend of Zelda Wii/HD. ]]> Future Zelda Segnit http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102690-happy-3rd-anniversary.html 2 Minutes of new Spirit Tracks footage! http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102689-2-minutes-of-new-spirit-tracks-footage-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:33:04 GMT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxceR...layer_embedded

Train Tracks over water? I like. ]]> Future Zelda Kankki1 http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102689-2-minutes-of-new-spirit-tracks-footage.html <![CDATA[Aonuma: Field > Dungeon > Field GONE in ZWii!]]> http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102688-aonuma-field-dungeon-field-gone-in-zwii-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:14:14 GMT http://www.gonintendo.com/viewstory....omment-section

Quote:
"We're taking advantage of MotionPlus. It's become very natural – the movement of your arms is precisely reflected in the gameplay. Thanks to the technological advancements, we hope the gameplay can be more accessible to people." - Eijii Aonuma

Mr. Aonuma also once again discussed the idea of playing around with the typical Zelda formula of dungeon/field/dungeon/field...

"We're making efforts regarding the total flow of the Zelda game. So far, the basic flow of the Zelda games is you're exploring a field, you go to a dungeon, you conquer it and return to the field. We're looking at altering that traditional flow. That's all I can share, and I can't say more until E3 next year."
]]> Future Zelda Kankki1 http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102688-aonuma-field-dungeon-field-gone-in-zwii.html Aonuma says some ZWii artwork speculation was right http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102685-aonuma-says-some-zwii-artwork-speculation-was-right-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:50:48 GMT
Quote:
Zelda mastermind Eiji Aonuma has told ONM that some of the speculation surrounding the Zelda Wii artwork released at E3 was right - but wouldn't confirm anything more. Speaking in an ONM-exclusive interview, Aonuma confirmed that someone out there in internet land has already worked out what the deal is with the character standing in front of Link in the E3 artwork - but wasn't allowed to say any more.

"You will have to wait until next year when we can elaborate on this and many other things," said Aonuma. "But what I can tell you is that yes I have read some of the speculation, and some of it is right! That is all I can say at the moment."
Source. ]]> Future Zelda Tess http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102685-aonuma-says-some-zwii-artwork-speculation-was-right.html <![CDATA[Zelda Wii at e3 2010, promises "big changes" Motion+ confirmed]]> http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102630-zelda-wii-at-e3-2010-promises-big-changes-motion-confirmed-new-post.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:26:41 GMT
Quote:
Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma has told ONM to expect surprises at next year's E3 as Nintendo prepares to reveal an overhaul of the critically-acclaimed series.

When asked how different the new Zelda title will be when it arrives on Wii next year, Aonuma replied: "It is something we used to talk about with Mr Miyamoto, and he and I agree that if we are following the same structure again and again, we might not be able to give long time Zelda fans a fresh surprise."

"So we have been trying something new in terms of the structure of the Wii version of the new Zelda game this time. I am really hopeful that people will be surprised with the changes we have implemented for this Wii version."

Aonuma also confirmed that alongside full MotionPlus support, we'll be able to see more of what his team have been working on at next year's E3. "I hope that we can show you something at the E3 show next year and it is something we are hopeful will be surprising," he added.

The full, in-depth interview with Eiji Aonuma will be published in Official Nintendo Magazine issue 51, out December 18th. Issue 50, which contains the world's first Zelda: Spirit Tracks review, an exclusive Shigeru Miyamoto interview and much more, goes on sale from Friday 20th November. You can buy Official Nintendo Magazine online right here and get it delivered to your door, or even subscribe if the mood takes you. You get a copy of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games if you fancy it.

So we're guaranteed surprises from the next Zelda game on Wii but what do you think they will be? Tell us in the comments thread!
From here

mock if old ]]> Future Zelda Hazzle http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102630-zelda-wii-at-e3-2010-promises-big-changes-motion-confirmed.html Aonuma says ZWii unveils at E3 (ONM) http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102629-aonuma-says-zwii-unveils-at-e3-onm-new-post.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:24:08 GMT From an interview in Official Nintendo Magazine.

Here's the link.

Quote:
When asked how different the new Zelda title will be when it arrives on Wii next year, Aonuma replied: "It is something we used to talk about with Mr Miyamoto, and he and I agree that if we are following the same structure again and again, we might not be able to give long time Zelda fans a fresh surprise."

"So we have been trying something new in terms of the structure of the Wii version of the new Zelda game this time. I am really hopeful that people will be surprised with the changes we have implemented for this Wii version."

Advertisement:

Aonuma also confirmed that alongside full MotionPlus support, we'll be able to see more of what his team have been working on at next year's E3. "I hope that we can show you something at the E3 show next year and it is something we are hopeful will be surprising," he added.
I notice that it says "arrives on Wii next year", but I have no reason to believe this regards the actual release date. To make this sort of tacit, implicative confirmation of a 2010 seems weird. I think it is a case of poor proofreading and thinking on ONM's part.

EDIT: Yo, Mods. I noticed this thread was just made redundant by another thread started after this one. Please lock this thread. ]]> Future Zelda Kastanj http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102629-aonuma-says-zwii-unveils-at-e3-onm.html <![CDATA["Fluff"]]> http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102625-fluff-new-post.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:07:45 GMT
Quote:
I think it is the bull**** factor. In a game like Twilight Princess, there were FIVE pieces of hearts and Link had to rescue a cat and all. All this is “fluff” and I don’t consider it content to the game at all. Such design choices would not have worked whether the game was 3d or 2d. Can you imagine a 2d Zelda game playing as Twilight Princess’s first half did? Can you imagine running around with 2d Link to rescue a “cat” and to do “errands”? How boring! People who prefer the earlier Zeldas do so, I perceive, because of the lack of bull****.

I think that is why we like the more classic games. The games don’t bull**** around. Arcade centric games couldn’t, of course.

I don’t think Nintendo sees this yet. Miyamoto, when doing his sales round for NSMB Wii, would say that 2d games are good because they can be more “accessible”. The ‘old school’ gamers revolt at modern gaming not because of the complexity but because of the bull****. There is no need for long winded introductions, for “cinematic stories” in the game, and so on. Modern games feel very diluted. Playing a modern game is watching a Blu-Ray movie while twiddling your thumbs.

This is why Wii Sports hit it big time. While Wii Sports was certainly accessible, the game didn’t have any bull**** in it. Wii Sports was designed to make it as easy as possible to get people into the game as if they were swinging a bat.

With Zelda Wii, I expect the game to be the standard Zelda Formula with motion plus controls. Nintendo believes the motion plus controls are what will make the game more accessible, that and the Super Guide function. But I already know the controls are only a minor roadblock on the accessibility. The big problem with Zelda is the Zelda Formula and all its baggage. The Zelda Formula will start with young Link being village boy, go through his childhood, have “characters” with the other villagers, have a “rising incident” as the village is threatened by something, have young Link be the wandering innocent abroad, and it goes through all the familiar patterns. None of that, of course, has anything to do with the game itself. When you look at the first Zeldas, the games that turned non-gamers into gamers, it had none of that BS. It very quickly gave you a sword and sent you on your way. Within minutes, you were slashing enemies. It did not require soap operas to get there.

...

Old schoolers like the old games not because they are old. They like them because they don’t have the modern BS. When you play Gradius, you do not know who the pilot of the Vic-Viper is, what his love life is about, what his family is about, or even what he looks like. You don’t care.
I agree with him. I believe that this is what makes OoT better than TP. The lack of all this "fluff".

TP was, without a doubt, the most polished Zelda to date. But TP seems like it is made of that polish, the "fluff". Heck, until you got to Hyrule Field (or even the Forest Temple), the entire game was made of "fluff".

ZWii will end up with a similar fate to TP (good reviews because it's Zelda, but bashed by much of the fanbase) unless it gets rid of all this "fluff".

What are your opinions on this? How do you think ZWii would end up if Nintendo followed Malstrom's advice? ]]> Future Zelda Double A http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102625-fluff.html DLC in Zelda http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102604-dlc-in-zelda-new-post.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:32:32 GMT I know it's kind of late to suggest this with ST around the corner, but for a future Zelda game (possibly Zelda wii) would you enjoy it if there was a DLC feature in the game?

Eg:

-New Side quests
-Maybe new songs you can play with your instrument (if there is an instrument)
- new items
-New locations

so would you like it?
and if so, which DLC feature do you think would go well with the game? ]]> Future Zelda Exziron http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102604-dlc-in-zelda.html Zelda...deeply influenced by itself? http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102603-zelda-deeply-influenced-by-itself-new-post.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:25:39 GMT I'm sure many have noticed that Zelda gets a lot of it's ideas from past Zeldas. But even when looking at Zelda themes, you can see some serious influence.

In the original FS there was an item called the Minish cap and it shrunk Link so that he could go through holes. A few years later, we got Minish Cap with the main theme being the ability shrink. Go back even more. Ocarina of Time had this really fun part-time job sidequest where you had to sell masks to make NPCs happy. Only 2 years later we got Majora's Mask with it's main theme being masks. And even before that the flute/ocarina had been in every Zelda game. However in OoT the ocarina became a huge theme, and everything revolved around it...

It just seems like Nintendo takes a small idea or item from one Zelda and turns it into something huge and unique in the next.

After TP was released Eiji Aonuma had some long interviews about how the game was made. He put an odd emphasis on Link's ability to use his raw strength to overpower things. He could sumo wrestle, he could take down goats and gorons, and he even pried open doors on his own. I don't really see why that was so big, but to Eiji it was huuuge. source.

Lets go back to E3 2009. Miyamoto wouldn't stop talking about how Link doesn't have a sword. It's obviously confirmed that Link WILL have a sword so why the heck does it matter that he doesn't have a sword in the picture? Well, yeah the girl...but let's not go into that. Let's talk about Z-Wii's new theme. Could Eiji' emphasis on non-swordfighting combat in TP be foreshadowing to something bigger in the next game?

Basically I think Link will once again have a new form. Where he doesn't focus on swordplay when he no longer has a sword. Being unarmed no longer means being "teh suck" If this girl is indeed the MS then chances are she's not going to be a sword all the time. If she can't control her form then this can easily cause Link to rely on other things. But once again...this isn't about the girl.

tl;dr. Main question: Do you think past Zeldas are hinting directly at Z-Wii? ]]> Future Zelda Zeldablue777 http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102603-zelda-deeply-influenced-by-itself.html Give me flips. http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102601-give-me-flips-new-post.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:01:36 GMT MM had some cool features, but the coolest feature was definately the little flippy-floops that Link and Zora Link performed when jumping off of ledges. I want these suckers to come back.

It's not really a big deal, all it is is just a little aesthetic tweak. It wouldn't drastically change a future game, just make Link appear a bit more nimble.

So anyway, sing your praises of the flips here. ]]> Future Zelda Catch http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102601-give-me-flips.html First Review of Spirit Tracks http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102587-first-review-of-spirit-tracks-new-post.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:19:38 GMT Doesn't say much... In fact, it doesn't really say much of anything... But it does confirm that it's received a 91% in Nintendo Magazine

Source: http://www.nintendoeverything.com/?p=27913 ]]> Future Zelda Fuss-Budget http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102587-first-review-of-spirit-tracks.html What races do you want in ST? http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102580-what-races-do-you-want-in-st-new-post.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:51:21 GMT *EDIT: what races do you want in Spirit Tracks* (I feel stupid :tilt:) ---Quote--- Any returning races? Any new ones? Yes, there are returning races, as well as some new ones. Again, no spoilers here! ---End Quote--- Okay there are one returning race confirmed, Hylians, and one new race... EDIT: what races do you want in Spirit Tracks (I feel stupid :tilt:)

Quote:
Any returning races? Any new ones?
Yes, there are returning races, as well as some new ones. Again, no spoilers here!
Okay there are one returning race confirmed, Hylians, and one new race confirmed, the Lokomo. So besides those, what returning races you would want from previous zelda games? Any ideas for new ones?

Personally I would like a return of Gorons, Anouki, Tokay and Rito

And for a new one, how about flying-cat-humanoid-things so the Rito have rivals or something (-_-;;hopefully your ideas are better) ]]> Future Zelda Labrynian Rebel http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102580-what-races-do-you-want-in-st.html ST: Only 5 dungeons? http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102568-st-only-5-dungeons-new-post.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:29:58 GMT
Quote:
Source: Nintendo Magazine website

How many dungeons are there?
Five, plus a few 'mini dungeons'.
I don't know about you, but that seems like too few for a worthy Zelda title (I was always dissatisfied with the 4 dungeons in MM, despite liking the game overall). They better have hours upon hours of content inbetween to compensate for the infrequent dungeons. Does anyone feel that we need more challenges in a handheld title to make the game last longer and more rewarding in the end? :mastahsword:

Is the handheld Zelda franchise being dumbed down? Am I just off on this? Your thoughts? :arch: ]]> Future Zelda jacemathem http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102568-st-only-5-dungeons.html Are you worried that the train will end up being a bad idea? http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102563-are-you-worried-that-the-train-will-end-up-being-a-bad-idea-new-post.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:54:45 GMT Assuming something we don't know about does not come out of the blue to piss us off, I'm really hoping the train doesn't take away from the exploration of Hyrule. That would be a HUGE downfall of this game if we can't explore Hyrule freely. It already looks like that will happen, at least to an extent, but hopefully it's not what I think it is.

It's funny. The premiere feature of this game is the train. But that's the part I'm least excited about. No, overreactors, I'm not saying "OMFG! Spirit Tracks is going to be horrible and ruin Zelda forever! Everybody panic!!!" I just have a feeling that will end up being my gripe with ST. If you read my posts, you'll know that I'm more than open to something new. But why something that can take away from what made the original Zelda so great? Exploration was the first building block of the Zelda franchise growing into one of the most beloved video game franchises of all time. Why take that away from us?

Again, don't look too far into this post. I know I might sound overdramatic and I'm making it sound like I think ST will be a ruined Zelda experience. I don't. I still think it will be an entertaining game to play and am intrigued in seeing how Nintendo has learned from their last DS experiment, Phantom Hourglass. I'm just questioning their thinking when they came up with this train idea. What made them think this would be a good idea?

Yes, I know what a certain someone *cough cough* will say, "Don't judge the game and call it a failure before you even play it, you Nazi!" I don't know for sure if the tarin is going to turn out to be a good idea or not. I could be pleasantly surprised and enjoy the experience. But for now, I'm just not so sure about this. I feel like it's going to be just a random gimmick meant to give us something "different" to do. And I'm even more worried that the whole thing will take away from the exploration, a quarterstone element of the franchise. Let's hope not.

OKay, so I've given my thoughts on the train, probably babbled on too much about it (I apologioze for that), but now I want to know your thoughts.

Is the train a good idea? ]]> Future Zelda MYK1217 http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102563-are-you-worried-that-the-train-will-end-up-being-a-bad-idea.html <![CDATA[Face it. You're not going to like Spirit Tracks.]]> http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102541-face-it-youre-not-going-to-like-spirit-tracks-new-post.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:27:17 GMT It will disappoint you. You might like it for a bit when you first get it, but then you'll go on Zelda Universe or maybe another gaming website, and you'll see a bunch of people whining and you'll feel as though you have to join in. As you scroll through pages and pages of whining and trolling, you'll begin to view the game's minor flaws as disasters on a massive scale. You'll begin to hate the stuff that you used to like about the game, and you'll forget why you liked it in the first place. Eventually, you'll come to view the game as a "massive disappointment" and a "disgrace to the series".

Prove me wrong.

--- ]]> Future Zelda Meeps http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102541-face-it-youre-not-going-to-like-spirit-tracks.html YES VOICE ACTING?! http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102535-yes-voice-acting-new-post.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:22:43 GMT i read the opening post on the other Thread and im glad that LINK wont be talking but seeing how in TP Minda and the MaloMart people could talk (well in midnas case it was more like "Meh nit Keh eh!" and other giberish) what i assume is hylian then do you think that maybe we might get NPCs to start talking by Zeldawii? And if yes do you think it'll work out fine? ]]> Future Zelda Half-Baked Prophet http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/future-zelda/102535-yes-voice-acting.html