Should Zelda take a step back Graphic-wise?

It seems like today some games are going back to the older NES art style and it's working. Like newer Megaman titles, among a few others. I was played OoT 3D today and was wondering, would Zelda benefit from that approach? Or maybe them go back to the old OoT style. Hey, I say it'd be worth a shot. It may have been the art style that people loved so much about OoT and MM as well as the game.

Making NES/ SNES games aren't particularly labor intensive so I'd like for Nintendo to try going back to the style for downloadable games, while pushing forward with new more graphically impressive Zeldas on the WiiU.

Whoa whoa whoa. I LOVE the graphics. If anything they need to get better. SS's cell shade graphics+ realistic graphics were terrible. they need to never do that again. My favorite game (graphics) was TP. I LOVED those graphics. it made the game seem more real thereby giving the game a greater sense of urgency. For me anyway.
But something cool would be like maybe a Paper Zelda. that would be interesting.

Not saying I want them to, but it might be interesting. I wanted to see what others thought. ^_^ A paper zelda would be interesting, but hard to make work in my opinion.

Originally Posted by TomPJaks

If anything they need to get better. SS's cell shade graphics+ realistic graphics were terrible.

You mean you didn't like SS graphics????? They were amazing!!! One of the best graphics I've ever seen.

Originally Posted by ZoraMikau

It may have been the art style that people loved so much about OoT and MM as well as the game.

Nope. It wasn't.

If people got into Zelda games for the art style, the Wind Waker would have been the best seller until Skyward Sword. Just sayin'.

I think Zelda should go more like those two games. Stylism is what I like in my games. It lasts longer. The Wind Waker looks fresh and new still. Twilight Princess doesn't.

Originally Posted by America

Nope. It wasn't.

If people got into Zelda games for the art style, the Wind Waker would have been the best seller until Skyward Sword. Just sayin'.

I think Zelda should go more like those two games. Stylism is what I like in my games. It lasts longer. The Wind Waker looks fresh and new still. Twilight Princess doesn't.

Well I also think it did have something to do with it back then. As OoT was among the first games to use the newer, 3D-esq graphics. And I can agree with you there. I enjoyed those graphics. I liked the original, really light Skyward Sword graphics a lot, but because of complaints, Nintendo toned it down...

Originally Posted by TomPJaks

SS's cell shade graphics+ realistic graphics were terrible. they need to never do that again. My favorite game (graphics) was TP. I LOVED those graphics. it made the game seem more real thereby giving the game a greater sense of urgency.

Please don't think I am lecturing you or anything, but I feel the need to point something out. You say that Skyward Sword had terrible graphics with combination of cell-shaded and realism. However, that was the game artstyle, not graphics. As you can probably guess, the artsyle is exactly the 'look' of a game (cartoony, realistic, paper, ect.). While Twilight Princess had a realistic artstyle on the most part (bearing anime-like character faces), the graphics were flawed in parts. Graphics can refer to blockiness, textures, pixels, details, ect. Skyward Sword on the most part had wonderful graphics for its artsyle, but I do recall some flaws in certain early cutscenes.

A perfect example of how good the graphics of a game are is handheld cell-shaded Zelda vs. The Wind Waker. They have the same cartoony artsyle, but it is much cleaner, smother and more detailed on console. On handheld, however, the characters are slightly blocky and pixels distortions can occasionally be witnessed. It it differs a lot from the smoothness and roundness of the console version.

It would be awesome if nintendo could make a zelda game look like the NES type of graphics but somehow but a twist or somehow put it into the gameplay.

As amazed as I was by TP's graphics at the time, I agree with a previous post that when looked at properly it was a little... Unfinished. When SS came along, I was taken back.

I loved WW, something new, fresh and exciting. SS was a mixture of the two and that really got my pulses races. I'd like future Zelda titles to be like SS, but slightly more realistic.

Maybe I'm just picky. I don't know.

Originally Posted by Pietro

Making NES/ SNES games aren't particularly labor intensive so I'd like for Nintendo to try going back to the style for downloadable games, while pushing forward with new more graphically impressive Zeldas on the WiiU.

The danger with this is, the more Zelda games are made, the less time will be spent on developing the plot. I think it's a case of quality over quantity.

Personally I loved Twilight Princess's graphics and was not a fan of Skyward Sword's at all. I don't know what people mean when they say the Wii strugged with the graphics, I never found that while playing it through for the first time or any time since.

Originally Posted by Basch fon Ronsenburg

You mean you didn't like SS graphics????? They were amazing!!! One of the best graphics I've ever seen.

Meeeeeeh. I guess I just don't like Cell Shade.
I'm obsessed with detail. Cell Shading just doesn't have enough detail for me. It doesn't seem REAL enough for me.
And the reason SS's art style wasn't for me was mainly because of the color scheme. to pastel-ly.
But lets face it, We aren't going to not enjoy the next Zelda game because of how it looks. All Zelda games are perfect. Good grap- ART STYLE () or not.

Originally Posted by TomPJaks

Whoa whoa whoa. I LOVE the graphics. If anything they need to get better. SS's cell shade graphics+ realistic graphics were terrible. they need to never do that again. My favorite game (graphics) was TP. I LOVED those graphics. it made the game seem more real thereby giving the game a greater sense of urgency. For me anyway.
But something cool would be like maybe a Paper Zelda. that would be interesting.

TPs graphics werent even remotely realistic. No human has ever looked like that, and if the real world looks like that to you you have cataracts!

Am I the only one to vote for Yes?
Anyway, the reason I voted for it is because I'd like to see them use the artstyle in Majoras'Mask (anime'ish) as I thought they looked nice.

Originally Posted by kymeric

TPs graphics werent even remotely realistic. No human has ever looked like that, and if the real world looks like that to you you have cataracts!

I do have some bad eyesight!
But by realistic I meant compared to the other Zelda games. It's more detailed and I like that.

I want a Zelda game that looks realistic, a realistic artstyle and as much color as the real world has. Not cel-shaded or cartoonish (like WW), not blocky and anime-ish (like SS) and not to dark (like TP).
Besides, with the capacity of the upcoming Wii U it shouldn't be hard to do.

Moved to Future Zelda as this discusses the possibility of future games retaining a retro look.

Obviously, there should never be a reduction in the technological aspects of the graphics, but in terms of style, it is something to consider. The Ocarina of Time art-style is just about perfect in my opinion. It is generic but versatile enough to convey a wide range of moods, atmospheres and environments. Its conservative nature also appeals to a wider range of people as it does not offend the sensibilities of any particular type of gamer. The two most prominent dimensions people use to evaluate the art-style of a Zelda game are light vs. dark and east vs. west. Ocarina of Time falls right in the middle on both of these dimensions, and thus enjoys broad support.

I really enjoyed the WW artstyle. It's personally my favorite. But I also loved TP...
What Nintendo should do is improve the graphics with every game (without leaving the plot apart) but make different artstyles for every game, like they did until now. If all Zelda games looked like TP (darker, more "realistic"...), a huge part of Zelda fans wouldn't enjoy the series, as well as if all the games looked like Wind Waker...
I agree with Bill, OoT is probably the best combination in artstyle.

Not entirely sure I understand. Are you saying you want to got back to the N64 quality graphics or do you want to use the OOT art style as depicted in 3D? I'm against the former but would support the latter.