Zelda's difficulty

Originally Posted by Hot Dog

I really didn't think that the Great Bay temple was all that hard. Stone Tower is easily the most challenging temple in Majora's Mask.

I thought Great Bay was hard, especially if you were looking for all the stray fairies. But yeah I agree, I think Stone Tower was probably the hardest 3d Zelda level we've ever seen.

The Snowpeak level (I might be confusing the name with TP), was also pretty challenging, but nowhere near the later levels.

The swamp was much harder than the typical first level... but it was still the first level, so it was about medium.

TP's puzzles and fighting were a step up from OoT, especially the puzzles. The fighting was harder than OoT but disturbingly easy compared to the difficulty of the puzzles of TP. OoT has been out for a while now, and there is no gigantic change from TP to OoT in the way the games work, so they needed to make the puzzles literally harder.

The best option is, of course, make the puzzles qualitatively different than the last zelda game so EVERYONE is starting on an equal footing (relatively speaking). Like the jump from ALttP to OoT, your beating ALttP didn't help you much at all in OoT because the puzzles now were made incorporating the 3d perspective.

If the next zelda game ditches Z targeting and fully uses the wii mote, then we will finally have another big jump in gameplay... something that didn't happen since OoT.

I want another Zelda game like Zelda II: Adventure of Link. That game was hard and it's the only very challenging one in the series. Well, the first LoZ is no pushover either. The other Zelda games are piss easy.

Originally Posted by theGoronclub

i have noticed that all of the recent zelda games have had a pretty easy difficulty level making the games lesser of a challange so i was wondering if you guys thought it would be a good idea to have a difficulty selection

I think it would be great to bring back challenging puzzles. TRUE Zelda fans will agree!

I want the next zelda game to have alot of hard challenges. And something different like they did when they had horseback fighting in the fields. They even had horse back fighting bosses. But it could have been a little harder. Now I would just like to say that MM had some of the toughest challenges like the great bay temple and the stone tower temple. It literally took me hours to complete those. I really liked that difficult because it was a step up from Majora's Mask.

I think great bay and stone tower temples are the only zelda dungeons I've ever needed a guide to beat... And that means they're pretty hard since I never had any problems with water temple in OoT, and apparently it's the hardest thing ever.

For combat, a 3D Zelda will never be difficult. The 3D movement and space coupled with Z-Targeting makes it so that the games are inherently easy. Nintendo has made it so you can constantly position yourself best in front of the enemy and respond to their moves accordingly. The only way combat could be harder is if Nintendo artificially made it harder by simply beefing up the enemies' health and other stats. And that is just bad game design. It would be a terrible idea.

As for puzzles, yeah I guess they could be harder but then the games would lose their accessibility. For those who know anything about game design, then you know that's a very, VERY bad thing.

Well, I like the counter attacks that all the sword fighters in Majora's Mask had. It was something that I always fell for. Right after you attack a Garo (Gerudo, Gomess, Dinofos etc) they would instantly hit you back with a devastating attack.

I think they should bring that back because it feels like after Link hits a monster they just resume defensive phase instead of taking advantage of Link being wide open. =\

Originally Posted by Zeldablue777

a devastating attack.

That's kind of exaggerating don't you think?

Also the problem with your idea is that players would adapt too quickly and then Zelda fanboys who are never satisfied (see: the backlash against Twilight Princess) would whine about that. Because if it's not one thing then it's something else (see: the backlash against Spirit Tracks.)

Originally Posted by JSnake

That's kind of exaggerating don't you think?

Also the problem with your idea is that players would adapt too quickly and then Zelda fanboys who are never satisfied (see: the backlash against Twilight Princess) would whine about that. Because if it's not one thing then it's something else (see: the backlash against Spirit Tracks.)

Gah, you have NO clue how many times I've been owned by that same freakin' attack that Gomess used to pull. xD

I did learn his pattern, but that was always the way older Zelda's had their difficulty, it would be really really hard until you read their patterns and then it was easier. Having an enemy block and then counter is way better then having them eat Link's blows.

They can implement 3 difficulty settings in a strategically done manner.

1. Normal mode. You guessed it; it plays with a very fair amount of foes and certain puzzles are picked out that are not terribly hard on the noggin.

2. Hard mode. Like Normal mode, but just with more foes and the more challenging puzzles have to be done, which you'd see in normal mode, but to your conveniency, some were already done for you.

3. Very hard mode. The A.I. is at its highest and requires thoughtful strategy in taking down even the smallest of enemies. Faster, stronger, and meaner enemies will need more than a few sword swipes to be taken down. All puzzles must be completed.

Pros and cons are obvious here, so maybe prior to starting a file, the player can instead select whether or not to have some of the more mind-boggling puzzles already done, or to have none of them done for you in order to have the full experience.

Though entertaining and awesome, Zelda games are pretty easy and could use a bit more difficulty >.> I think the only part in any Zelda game where I've actually struggled to survive was in the Four Sword temple in ALTTP (GBA version, obviously). The last of the four Links was one tough son of a female dog. Everything else has been a piece of cake in Zelda games.