I propose a drastic change in Link's character.

Originally Posted by Otuz

Link has always been an avatar for the player and it has worked well in Zelda's.

No, it hasn't. If they had bothered to at least give us conversation choices in order to be able to reflect our personality through Link, THEN the avatar argument would be valid. But as it is, Link is just an annoying and bland protagonist.

Edit:

Originally Posted by DarkLinkMaster9

THIS IS SAID BY ALETHIO:

- OoT is the most overrated Zelda game. A good game but way overpraised

3.****atchia bread off!!! OoT is my favourite game in history on any platform or console or anything. IT IS THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU CAN SUCK MY FAT ONE MATE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!

Truth can be hard to accept, huh?

And btw, grow the **** up.

Alot of the suggestions that have been suggested here are very good, but I would like to make a point.

Link is, like many other Links before him, is the bearer of the Triforce of Courage. For all we know, that does make him a demi-god. I subscribe to that theory, yes I do.

That said, I do like the idea of Link becoming visibly hurt, damaged and exausted as he loses hearts, his actions being just a tad slower. I also like him growing up as he goes through dungeons becoming visibly taller as he goes.

But the stamina bar does not do it for me, as does the need to learn the flips! I would think that maybe the Triforce of Courage, once it bonds to a person (Link) it passes on the knowledge of all the previous Links (that's just a theory, but it's a good one imo).

But I do like him becoming more exausted, but the stamina bar just wouldn't fit Link, I don't think. My answer? Let the hearts be his stamina bar! And give his armor upgrades so it has it's own 'shield bar' I think.

Concerned about hearts instantly repairing the damage? Take the hearts out entirely. The game needs to be harder anyway. There does need to be a shop where they repair links clothes/armor. And in order to heal up, Link goes to a fairy fountain, or a shop to buy a potion.

I might have more later, but I would like feedback on my current suggestions.

I like the clothes idea.:/

I like the naked Link idea, too.

I would like to see some minor cuts and bruises from battle, as well, though--nothing over the top or hard core--just something where you barely notice it, then go, "oh, hey! That's cool..."

I would also go further to say that a neat addition would be the ability to aquire new wardrobe items? What you choose to wear might affect how certain people treat you, and could even be implemented into a side quest or two (i.e. you must aquire a certain set of clothes to gain access to a certain place, like the Sims/Urbz/whatever the heck they were called, only less blegh), or stealth, a la MGS camo gear.

Also, I really liked the things people were suggesting in regards to the strengthening of his personality.

I pretty much agree. I know some people said that if he was more realistic, then he would bleed, die, faint, etc. But small changes, loss of balance after climbing, slightly more struggle in doing certain things, etc. I can see really having a pretty big impact. Think of Mario, purely fantasy. Mario basically does anything and everything (almost) flawlessly because thats the reality he exists within, a very simple one. I would consider Zelda to be more realistic fantasy. While I don't expect to see moblins running around the real world, the reality that Link resides in is slightly more limited by possibility. The reason I bring this up is that, these small changes in Mario games would be irrelevant, but in a Zelda game, making Link seem more human would bring his world one step closer to ours, heightening the immersion, while still being fantastical enough to be fun. All of this is IMO, of course.

Did you ever play GTA: San Andreas? It's one of my favourite games. It's also really unrealistic. If you jump out of a plane mid-flight, with no parachute, you'll survive if you're at full health. The driving physics as well as your character's controls are arcade like. But that didn't matter. The game was fun. Realistic physics and controls would not have fitted well with the mission where you stole a jetpack from a secret army base.

Then GTA IV came along. Sure, it was realistic, but is was BORING (IMO). I know that in real life I can't do a handbrake turn at 200mph, but I want to do it in a video game. That's why I play video games, to do things I can't do in real life. It even felt like a chore to turn around while running in that game.

I like some of the ideas, like Link getting progressively weaker as you lose health (it would give us a reason to avoid getting hurt and charging towards enemies brandishing the master sword ) but adding too much realism will just end up annoying and distracting the player in the end. Imagine if link would trip and fall of a cliff every time you walked over a tree root.

What you've suggested would be taking the realism to far.

There's a difference between 'realism' and 'completely realistic'. We want to avoid the completely realistic approach.

Never played GTA,(or anything M rated for that matter) But I'm sure that there is always a healthy medium for realistic games and unrealistic games; I don't know about you, but the getting weaker with less hearts sounds cool to me, You would have to resort to things that require less maneuverability and combat strength such as your bow. I once suggested that you eat food in to gain health and stamina in Zelda, It would add a whole new reason to fish and maybe you could even do some bow hunting.

Don't get me wrong, I understand where your coming from with liking videogames because they are not too realistic, I feel the same way about videogames. Let me give you an example:

Remember the sly cooper games?(WIN!) Effortlessly landing on a spyre, Running or sliding on a rail with the greatest of ease, invisibility, All very fun, not realistic but still very fun! What wasn't fun was not being seen by a guard because you weren't in reach of his flashlight which he was using in near broad daylight etc.

If the game can become realistic in the sense that it feels like your in a real sense making world but are doing impossible things and going on fantastic adventures then it has almost reached perfection, but to each his own.

just my 2 cents.

Originally Posted by Brother_Wolf

I once suggested that you eat food in to gain health and stamina in Zelda, It would add a whole new reason to fish and maybe you could even do some bow hunting.

That's a good idea.

In most Zeldas, if you are running low on hearts or arrows, you can just cut the grass or smash a pot and find whatever you need conveniently stashed away. I feel letting the player carry more arrows, but making them buy them or take them from archers would be a good approach; it would give a reason to save rupees, and also would make sense if you could take arrows from a fallen archer.

Speaking of which, certain enemies should drop certain items. Wind Waker implemented this; peahats and kargarocs would drop golden feathers and bokoblins would drop joy pendants, but most of these items were useless. I think the next zelda should make more use of scavenging items from enemies.

I like your idea about hunting and fishing, though. It would give the player an actual reason to fish, but the hunting would be harder to implement. Mabye certain enemies, such as crabs, could drop meat, a la Oblivion.

Hmmmm...I like the thought of enemies dropping items. I do like that. And I do think it needs to be implimented further, but how does that influence Link's character? I think that maybe he could show some shock at some of the things that pop out of their corpses.

I like all the stuff Link does when you leave him alone for a while in OoT; tapping his feet, yawning, looking around, waving his sword, panting when hearts are low, reacting to the heat in the Fire Temple and the cold in the Ice Cavern, that kind of details are really nice. Leave him alone when he's on Epona and he'll pat the horse, I love that, it's so sweet. But as far as I know he doesn't do that in TP, I've waited and all he does is look around. I like Epona, I want Link to pat her. She carries you around, show some apperciation. So anyway, things like this should definitely be in future games too. Small details that make him so much more than a blank half-person.

One thing that annoys me is climbing. The way Link climbs vines and such in TP is maybe more realistic than in OoT, but it's also annoyingly slow. My sister's biggest complaint about the game is Link's climbing speed (she is very impatient.) So that's one example of realism affecting the fun of playing.

I always laugh at Link's magical wolf ability of walking on a rope. And standing still on a rope. And walking backwards on a rope. And even flipping to turn the other way on a rope. That's pretty super balance! He doesn't have to fall off the rope to be realistic, that would just be annoying, but they could make it look a even little harder. Magic wolf...

I like many things said on this thread, and dislike some. Stamina meter, no, that would get annoying, though the idea of Link getting weaker when hearts are low could work. Torn clothes, no, but maybe smudges or something... Naked Link, yes! \o/ More conversation choices, yes, some more personality would be nice. Learning more skills throughout the game, like the Hidden Skills in TP, yes, that was fun. Secret dungeons, definitely yes, more exploration is always good. Visible reactions on Link's face, yes, TWW and TP were pretty good at this. And so on and so forth, like I could remember everything you've said.

Link doesn't have a character. You are Link, that's where the immersion comes from.

...*facepalm* Just because he's a Silent Protagonist doesn't mean that he doesn't have personality.

He doesn't. You are Link, that's the idea.

Alex is right, Link is kept silent and with as little personality as possible because the player is supposed to be Link.

But I'm not Link. The kinda stuff that he does suggests entirely different pathos than what I do. And I doubt you have the same mind-works as Link does, friend.

Originally Posted by Fulcon

But I'm not Link. The kinda stuff that he does suggests entirely different pathos than what I do. And I doubt you have the same mind-works as Link does, friend.

He is named LINK for a reason. He is the LINK to the player and the world of Hyrule. Link is pretty much a blank slate for you to put yourself onto. Having him react to things in the cutscenes is needed unless you want him to be completely boring.

But the fact that he reacts differently than I do says that he has a different personality than I do. See, if they wanted me to be Link, they'd have it in first-person, where I can't see the reaction.

Incidentally, Zelda is third-person, Link reacts to things differently than I do, Link is his own person.

What's this "Link's character" you're talking about?
I don't remember there ever being one.
Link knows everything, wait what? I don't remember ever hearing information I didn't previously know of from link.

Ummm...what are you talking about?

humans and hylians are not the same hylians must have a special ability!
which we don't know??