Bomber's Notebook

I'd be up for the Bomber's Notebook making a return to Zelda.

To work with a Future Zelda, which probably won't feature the Time Limit thing that Majora's Mask had, the new Notebook would simply be a Date Calendar for Link.

You'd talk to a person, and find out what they want, and then they'd schedule a time for it. You come at that time, and do the "quest."

If you don't show up, then they get angry at you and you lose a "friendship hearts" or something like that.

You could gain friendship hearts back by buying them items they, or performing another task for them, sort of like a dating sim.

If their friendship points are low, then they probably won't give you a quest. If it's at a proper level, then they will give you a quest.

Doing the quest would give you more friendship points with them, but doing the quest better would give you more points with that character. The more points you have, the more quests you could unlock from that character.

Let me make an example of this system:

Maron: 6/7Hearts
A nice ranch girl who seems interesting in you. She resides at Lon Lon Ranch. Characters like her would be pretty familiar if you played past games.
Likes: Hylian Blue Flowers (recover 1 lost heart)
Quest 1: Help Milk Cows (requires 0 hearts)
-Meet Maron at 12:00 PM and help her milk some cows
(+2 hearts, +3 if done in 30 1 minute)
--Got a Bottle for helping with this task the first time
--Got a Lon Lon Milk for helping after
Quest 2: Protect Wagon (requires 3 hearts)
-Meet Maron at 7:00 PM and protect her Wagon from marauders
(+3 hearts, +5 if no damage done to wagon)
--Got a Romani's Mask for helping the first time
--Got a Hug for helping after
Quest 3: Find Missing Cows (requires 6 hearts)
-Go around Hyrule and find missing cows for her
(+1 heart per Cow)

From this stat page, we can see that Link has 7 hearts worth of trust with her. He might have done something to offend Maron, maybe made a date to protect her Wagon and flaked out. He can make this up by buying her some flowers. He definitely helped Milk Cows really well and unlocked the Protect Wagon task. After that, he definitely protected the Wagon, but he didn't protect the wagon perfectly since the heart level is at 7. Afterward, he probably found one Cow for Maron.

I realize that this current system I just came up with is a bit confusing.

BUT ANYWAY, the point is, would you like a Bomber's Notebook and quest system to reappear in Zelda?

I'd like to see a return as well.
However somthing such as meeting someone at a specific time was only relevant in MM, since if you missed them the first time you could just go back in time to try again. How would that translate to a new title?

Detailed character descriptions and connections to each other is a very good idea if there is a large amount of side quests or just a complicated main quest.

That's why I came up with the system of hearts.

If you miss the date, you might get another chance, but the friendship meter decreases.

You can heal the friendship by completing a lower quest or by buying them a gift or something.

I think the bombers notebook should have become a staple in all console Zeldas after its introduction in MM. Except, no 3 day cyle of course. This will make helping everyone a lot easier (I think most people had to use a guide to complete it - like me?). Except dont call it Bomber's notebook give it a new name.

Yeah, I like this idea, but once again, if it's too much like the original Bomber's Notebook, people will complain about how its too much like the original Bomber's Notebook. And I probably would too, to be honest.

But anyway, I REALLY like this idea, but I'd like to add one thing: Maybe with the more trust you gain from a character, the more benefits you gain as a player?For instance, if you gain the highest possible trust from Malon, she will give you her most cherished horse, which you couldn't have bought from her.

Or maybe if you gain the highest possible trust from the Zora queen, she'll grant you complete access to an area that would never have been accessible without it.

Interesting thought.

They could still have a MM style 7 day cycle or something, only the cycle would relevant to the notebook - not the game's actual story.

Originally Posted by Ganon the King

I think the bombers notebook should have become a staple in all console Zeldas after its introduction in MM. Except, no 3 day cyle of course. This will make helping everyone a lot easier (I think most people had to use a guide to complete it - like me?). Except dont call it Bomber's notebook give it a new name.

In actuality, this is only a way to facilitate sidequests.

So, a TON OF sidequests would have to be staples in Zelda before a Journal like this could be implemented.

Originally Posted by Marshmallow Moo

Yeah, I like this idea, but once again, if it's too much like the original Bomber's Notebook, people will complain about how its too much like the original Bomber's Notebook. And I probably would too, to be honest.

Not quite, let's say each person takes up two pages, one page for a profile of them, and the next page being the sidequests.

Plus my friendship meter thing makes it different enough from the Bomber's Notebook, and it would give Zelda more of a dating sim feel (lol).

But anyway, I REALLY like this idea, but I'd like to add one thing: Maybe with the more trust you gain from a character, the more benefits you gain as a player?For instance, if you gain the highest possible trust from Malon, she will give you her most cherished horse, which you couldn't have bought from her.

Or maybe if you gain the highest possible trust from the Zora queen, she'll grant you complete access to an area that would never have been accessible without it.

Interesting thought.

Oh, of course. Let's say each person had a task that you could only do for them if they are at their highest trust. Then, yeah, there should be some kind of huge reward (I'm thinking that the highest trust rating for anyone should be 20 heh)

Originally Posted by Senap

They could still have a MM style 7 day cycle or something, only the cycle would relevant to the notebook - not the game's actual story.

I was thinking that the characters could have a weekly schedule or something, but my idea wouldn't base it on a 7-day cycle; like, each quest could be taken up any time you wanted and you could make the date with the character.

It would be more free-standing.

I would like to see the return of the Bomber's Notebook...but I wouldn't like the 'Friendship Hearts' idea. It reminds me way too much of a Harvest Moon game for some reason...mostly because of the gift-giving part. I think it should probably stay the same as it was in MM, because I was perfectly content with that Notebook. Although some may complain that it would be exactly the same, some will also complain how much it changed. You really can't please everybody with these kinds of things.

Originally Posted by Chari

I would like to see the return of the Bomber's Notebook...but I wouldn't like the 'Friendship Hearts' idea. It reminds me way too much of a Harvest Moon game for some reason...mostly because of the gift-giving part. I think it should probably stay the same as it was in MM, because I was perfectly content with that Notebook. Although some may complain that it would be exactly the same, some will also complain how much it changed. You really can't please everybody with these kinds of things.

The only reason why the Bomber's Notebook and sidequest thing worked so well in Majora's Mask is because of the 3-day cycle.

My idea with the Friendship Hearts is a way to alleviate the probability that a future Zelda will not utilize the 3-day cycle mechanic again.

So, you may be "perfectly content" with the Bomber's Notebook, but you'd also have to be perfectly content with the 3-day time cycle, and if the games after Majora's Mask have proved anything, Nintendo is not going to create a game similar to that for a long time.

The hearts idea IS ripped from Harvest Moon, but that's only because Harvest Moon does it so well.

So please, can you come up with a better way to implement a sidequest/system to track sidequests similar to the schedule system of the Notebook?

I like this idea, but obviously it would be more difficult to implement than the original Notebook without a closed, looping schedule. The features you've suggested would actually provide some depth without feeling too ripped off from MM's sidequest structure.

Lots of games have "friendship" systems, Harvest Moon being a prime example, so I think it would be pretty easy to adapt such a system for Zelda.

You know, why not have a three day cycle in the new game? The world doesn't have to end at the end of the third day... the cycle just starts over. Like a week structure. Say, for example, a farmer character. It would be somewhat unrealistic, but on day one, he is tilling and planting his fields, on day two he is harvesting, and on day three he can be found in town selling the products. Also, have people actually have in-game schedules. School kids will go to school at a cir ten time, then get out at a cir ten time and play till bed time. The one day a week they have off and go do something fun. And it's not like at sunset there is a screen transition and everyone randomly appears inside their house; they go home at a time, spend some time with their family, then lock their doors and go to bed.

If it had a 7 day cycle instead of a 3 day one I'd like that Kink KK.
having people have lives makes saving them that much more of a big deal.

Originally Posted by TheBattler

That's why I came up with the system of hearts.

If you miss the date, you might get another chance, but the friendship meter decreases.

You can heal the friendship by completing a lower quest or by buying them a gift or something.

Yes, for those of you asking, this is my first post in the Zelda Section for quite some time.

The Above sounds like real life.

Originally Posted by Artemicion

I like this idea, but obviously it would be more difficult to implement than the original Notebook without a closed, looping schedule. The features you've suggested would actually provide some depth without feeling too ripped off from MM's sidequest structure.

Lots of games have "friendship" systems, Harvest Moon being a prime example, so I think it would be pretty easy to adapt such a system for Zelda.

I dont like the MM 3 day cycle, but you could make it take about a week, because that way people aren't all like, okay we can goof around all day, the world will never be destroyed. It will add a little urgency to the game, maybe?

Also, with this idea of this bomber's notebook, there is a possibility to Expand Zelda with some mini games, such as a) Tilling a field b) Milking cows c) Defending a wagon from Marauders, lets just hope it doesn't turn out too much like fable

I think he was saying it would be like a normal Zelda game with no time limit. But the games people etc would repeat every week. So a farmer would relive the same week over and over again. But allowing them to have lives in the game and such.

I dont think Wii has the hardware to make npcs do something different everyday but a one week cycle seems believable.

The reason why I don't want it to be in a closed loop is because I want the quests and stuff to be completely optional, thus you and the character set the date yourselves (either that day, or the next day), and you do them at your liesure. If you miss the day of the quest, then you have to wait for the next day in the cycle.

They might have a single day schedule, and the game pretends that they do other stuff on other days (like "Maron" going into Hyrule Castletown on her wagon). That's what I'm aiming for.