My idea for a new Zelda game, LoZ:Machinations of Darkness

(This will be continuously updated as I figure out a way to articulate all my ideas, take suggestions from the community and fix any problems I find).

I intend this to be a sequel to TP, mostly because the mood and art style fit more with its "mature" themes. This does not mean I'm gonna have Link selling crack on castle town's street corners and killing hookers, but it will touch on more psychological themes with heavy doses of existentialist philosophy.

I intend this story to take place a few years after TP, and in the interim, Hyrule has been invaded and occupied by a nation from across the sea known only as the "Empire of Steel". Telma's forces, along with a secret cadre of soldiers hand picked by the Princess (which include Link) have been fighting a guerilla war against the Imperial armies, managing only to keep the Ordon province relatively out of their control, using the forest as a buffer, and Ordon village is once again the starting point of this adventure. The game itself begins with bad news- the Emperor of Steel has mysteriously been assassinated, his death pinned on the freedom fighters, and the ambitious, and rather psychotic, Prince of Steel intends to marry Zelda in order to "create a gesture of goodwill and create a stronger peace", as well as make himself the new emperor.

What everyone doesn't know, is that the Prince is being manipulated by, yup, a disguised Ganon(dorf). Strangely enough, the Twili have turned a deaf ear to the cries of Hyrule since the invasion and occupation, and in a last ditch effort, Link decides to journey out to the desert to investigate... only to find a gigantic zeppelin land in front of him. This is the first dungeon- the first three dungeons take place in the familiar Hyrule from TP but are gigantic, Imperial flying fortresses that have landed in the desert, Snowpeak and Castle Town, with the prince residing in the last of the three. Imperial military technology is years ahead of Hyrule, with most of the monsters being genetically enhanced steam-powered cyborgs with motorized weaponry (chainsaws and the like) or firearms. Prevalent throughout the fortresses is an inverted, silver triforce like symbol. Each Imperial triforce piece is a mockery of the Hyrulian one. Domination replaces power, manipulation replaces wisdom, and tenacity replaces courage. The first fortress is that of domination, the second tenacity and the third manipulation.

After the third fortress is completed, Link must face the prince at his wedding ceremony, who reveals that he was supposedly chosen by his "god" (singular and masculine) to be the bearer of deceit, and so destined to marry the bearer of wisdom. Before they face off, who else but Ganon(dorf) reveals himself, and obsconds with the princess. Link, defending his nation, and the Prince, tentatively named Max, in his lust for power, chase Ganon into the twilight realm, where it is revealed that the Empire has not just occupied, but enslaved most of its denizens. It is here where we begin the second portion of the game, and gain access to our second playable character, Maximilian. (continued when I'm done eating dinner).

Prince Maximilian uses a stylized kusarigama as his main weapon, chosen so because of the wii's nunchuk controller. Instead of just a weight, there is a grappling hook at the end of the chain, which can be used to pull enemies towards him, grab objects from afar and swing objects around, this is done with the nunchuk. Attacking is done with the remote and uses a scythe. Defending is done by bringing the nunchuk next to the remote while Z-targeted, wrapping the chain around the monster's appendage. Striking with the wiimote while the monster is grappled will execute a finishing blow, pulling back on the nunchuk will either disarm the opponent if he's holding a weapon or throw the enemy behind him if it is an arm or something.

An interesting mechanic for the two is weapon swapping, with each individual bestowing different effects on the weapon. Link has extensive combat training and is comparitively stronger than Max, whereas Max has engineering expertise and is a combat strategist, able to command some enemies loyal to him. For example, take the hookshot. Link uses it to simply pull himself from point A to B, whereas Max will use it as a power source for some machines, by sticking its exposed gears into certain places and using it in conjuncture with the riding disc. Max has no idea how to use Din's Fire, whereas Link has no idea how to use "magnetic gloves", thus rendering some items useless in the others' hands. Generally, magical items will not work in Max's hands and highly advanced mechanical ones will not work in Link's.

Back to the plot. The twilight realm acts similarly to the temple of the ocean kind as a kind of dungeon that must be revisited multiple times throughout the course of the game, though Max uses it initially to facilitate transport between Hyrule and his Empire, though Link is furious and is much more worried about Midna and her citizens. The 2nd half of the game takes place in the Empire with detours to both the twilight realm and Hyrule. The Empire (or the part that's playable) is, however, one giant city and IS an overworld. Like the fortresses sticking out like a sore thumb in Hyrule, the three dungeons here are ancient ruins, forbidden to the general populace, and taken over by Ganon(dorf)'s forces, who it turns out has been protraying the PM of the Empire and used the citizens' dislike about his marriage to Zelda to brand Max as a traitor. The enemies are now much more twisted, no longer just scientific, but a blending of dark magic and the aforementioned cybernetics. Five more dungeons are in this gigantic city, most of them extending into underground caverns (and one of them intertwined with the civilian subway system). They do this to recover the relics of a long dead hero the he Imperial people, enough to use a mixture of "Frankensteinan" science and necromantic magics to revive, for he was the last known individual to hold the Triforce of Tenacity. Battling through these ruins, more and more of the plight of the twilight world, and the Empire, is revealed, with the story spilled by the revived hero. Ganon(dorf) apparently has always been in the empire as the leader of the state religion, akin to a pope, though he began acting erratically and informed the king of Hyrule, and convinced him to invade. He then fell ill and died, and the Prince was pressured into marrying Zelda, only then being informed of the incentive for joining the two triforces. Finally, it turns out that, under the tutelage of Ganon, the Twilight Realm has become a slave realm for the Empire of Steel, and Midna "done away with". Ganon had some how got his hands on the Triforce of domination and created a split image of himself, allowing him to be in both Hyrule and the Empire during the events of TP. Gannondorf's body, destroyed during TP, is revived in the twilight realm using Midna's corpse, who joins with the Empire version of Gannondorf for the final battle.

A discussion about Zelda storylines would best belong here.

http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/rules.php

*closed*