Games That Beat The Legend of Zelda

I'm not much of a gamer, so I can't really compare Zelda to all these modern franchises on the HD consoles. I did play Dark Souls though, and I think the game did some things better than modern 3D Zelda titles.

In Dark Souls, I really like the gameplay, which often results in intense battles. The inclusion of a jumping / rolling button is very similar to Link's classical rolling, granted, but is implemented way better in actual combat. In order to escape from enemy blows you really need to learn every attack pattern of many enemies in order to develop the right timing to jump or roll out of the way. Although Skyward Sword did concentrate on enemie's attack patterns, I don't think it was that well thought-out as in Dark Souls.

Also, Dark Souls attempt at a seemingly non-linear overworld structure is very praiseworthy, especially if you consider the amount of thoughts they put into the design of each areas, what with all the shortcuts and hidden pathways etc. It's a design which fully encourages exploration of every corner in every area. But what made me really love the game is the unbelievably mysterious atmosphere. Be it unconventionally soft-spoken sentences in a kind of Middle Age accent or the Miyamoto-esque lack of actual cutscenes which - I absolutely love it - enables different ways of story-telling. Even the beautifully-arranged orchestrated soundtrack adds to the very singular experience.

Weapon-crafting in Dark Souls is of course much better than Skyward Sword's sorry excuse of an upgrade system. In Dark Souls there are many many ways in which you can reinforce your weapon of choice. But in order to add specific attributes like fire or lightning, you have to find certain blacksmiths first, which are distributed all over the overworld. So this whole aspect is another factor that encourages exploration.

Don't get me wrong, I love Zelda, and I am starting to love Dark Souls now, too. Both games are great in their own right. Of the things you can actually compare between these two games, like the overworld, battle system, exploration, atmosphere etc., I just find myself liking the way that Dark Souls handles these things a tad bit better than Zelda. And although I am looking forward to both successor games, I kind of want to play Demon's Souls 2 / Dark Souls 2 / Hell's Souls more badly atm.

Grim Fandango
Monkey Island 1-3
Fallout 1-2
Civilization 1-5
The Witcher 1-2
Deus Ex series
Balder's Gate 1-2
Neverwinter Nights 1-2
Planescape Torment
Icewind Dale 1-2
Master of Orion 1-2
Rollercoaster Tycoon 1-2
The Binding of Isaac
Super Meat Boy
Elder Scrolls Series
Timesplitters 2
Dragon Age Origins
Psychonauts
GTA III
GTA Vice City
GTA San Andreas
Bully
Red Dead Redemption
Mafia 1-2
Saints Row 1-3
Max Payne 1-2

Just off the top of my head, that's not even getting into Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony games. That's mostly just PC.

I haven't played much in the way of games that compete with Zelda in the gameplay department (i.e. that are like Zelda). Okami is a good example of one, though, and I think I'd rather play it than most Zeldas. Of course, part of the reason why is because I love the atmosphere and narrative a heck of a lot more than those of any Zelda game. It also can more comfortably incorporate anime-esque elements better than Zelda, and I enjoyed that aspect of it. Having played both it and Twilight Princess, I chose Okami as the superior game. TP might be superior in some ways, but they're not enough. Even the fact that Okami's "dungeons" are crap compared to those of most Zelda games doesn't change my preference. Every part of the game is just so damn fun to play, whereas I can't even get close to saying that about TP. (I'm comparing these two games specifically because they were out at around the same time and were always compared to each other at the time.)

As far as games I'd rather play are concerned, where those games are not like Zelda, I'd say my top picks are anything from the Elder Scrolls series, assuming I can get past the incredible difficulty of the intro dungeons of Arena (TES I) and Daggerfall (TES II). Actually I guess I have to qualify this by saying that I'd rather play any TES game over most Zeldas, but there's a time and place for each of the two gameplay styles, and I've found myself bored with each at different times. Right now I'm hungering more for TES-style RPG gameplay, so I might feel differently about what I've said here later.

The Dead Space and The Witcher series are also favorites of mine. In fact, I'm uploading gameplay videos of of DS to YouTube, and I'll be doing the same for its sequel and for at least the first The Witcher game. Love 'em.

Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Ico, FFXI, Shadow of the Colossus

However, I say Zelda still wins as best overall franchise. The games have the most solid and consistent quality between each other in comparison to other franchises. There are some other franchises that rival in overall quality but the number of installments to them is dwarfed by Zelda.

Originally Posted by Moosetracks

There are some other franchises that rival in overall quality but the number of installments to them is dwarfed by Zelda.

Numbers don't really mean anything, but I do agree that Zelda is one of the best.

Well, considering how the new Zeldas are beginning to look, well, dated, I would have to say, well, I like too many games (better or worse than The Legend of Zelda) that it would take me a LONG time to list all of them (and I would probably miss someones).

But if you need and immediate response, well:

Platform exclusives:
Nintendo: Super Mario
PlatStation: Uncharted (I haven't looked so far here, through)
Personal Computer: Age of Empires
Xbox: Halo

PS: the previous is a list of my favorite (1 of many) exclusive games of all platforms, not each platform's games that beat The Legend of Zelda.

Originally Posted by Swift_Knight

Numbers don't really mean anything, but I do agree that Zelda is one of the best.

Well, look at it this way. You have 3 games in one franchise that provide the same "quality enjoyment-per-hour" as the Zelda franchise, but Zelda has more hours of this, so more overall quality enjoyment. That's the way I look at it. I suppose some games have like over 300 hours of content, though.

Originally Posted by Kyrie

I'm not much of a gamer, so I can't really compare Zelda to all these modern franchises on the HD consoles. I did play Dark Souls though, and I think the game did some things better than modern 3D Zelda titles.

Dark Souls is pretty much a modern take on the original Zelda with several modifications.

Originally Posted by Solid Knight

Dark Souls is pretty much a modern take on the original Zelda with several modifications.

Now that you mention it, Dark Souls really does have quite a lot similarities to the original Legend of Zelda! It kind of encorporates everything that modern 3D Zeldas didn't take over from the original. It can be seen as a dark pendant of some sort. It would be interesting to know if the The Legend of Zelda was an actual source of inspiration for the developers or if it's just coincidence more or less.

What little I have played of Okami makes it a worthy opponent for Zelda.
Also, 3D Game Dot Heroes is a pretty interesting twist on 2D Zeldas.
I'm sure Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are atleast worthy of mention as well.

This ofc being if you are seeking adventure-games similar to Zelda.

Originally Posted by Kyrie

Now that you mention it, Dark Souls really does have quite a lot similarities to the original Legend of Zelda! It kind of encorporates everything that modern 3D Zeldas didn't take over from the original. It can be seen as a dark pendant of some sort. It would be interesting to know if the The Legend of Zelda was an actual source of inspiration for the developers or if it's just coincidence more or less.

Darks Souls was derived from Demon's Souls which was derived from King's Field. I don't know what the source of inspiration for King's Field was.

A lot of Mario Games aren't that great. Mario 3, Galaxy 1 & 2 and Sunshine... that is it.

Super Mario 64 wasn't "that great"? Come on now, that was the best!

(I totally understand this is opinion based and I'm sorry if I have somehow offended anyone by going against their own beliefs of what makes a game awesome).

No, just kidding. SM64 is one of the best games ever. You suck.

(You don't really suck, I'm sorry).

Metroid. Definitely Metroid. It beats Zelda in style, music, atmosphere, and gameplay, plus it gets your clever brain juices flowing rather than your puzzle-solving part of the brain flowing. Zelda may beat Metroid storyline-wise, but I'd say that Metroid beats Zelda by a longshot. It really sucks too, because Metroid's now a dying series because Zelda's taking up most of its glory. I mean, the 25th anniversary celebration for Zelda completely swallowed up Metroid's 25th anniversary celebration. Completely.

Anyways, I hope more people realize how much competition Metroid holds against Zelda in the future because it doesn't deserve to die.

Originally Posted by PK Rockin

Metroid. Definitely Metroid. It beats Zelda in style, music, atmosphere, and gameplay, plus it gets your clever brain juices flowing rather than your puzzle-solving part of the brain flowing. Zelda may beat Metroid storyline-wise, but I'd say that Metroid beats Zelda by a longshot. It really sucks too, because Metroid's now a dying series because Zelda's taking up most of its glory. I mean, the 25th anniversary celebration for Zelda completely swallowed up Metroid's 25th anniversary celebration. Completely.

Anyways, I hope more people realize how much competition Metroid holds against Zelda in the future because it doesn't deserve to die.

This so much!
No anniversary celebration is messed up!
Metroid didn't get as many handheld releases as LOZ. Nintendo's handhelds were more important to me than their consoles so I didn't get into Metroid as much as I did Zelda as a child.
I have been waiting for Metroid V for a long time and I hope they never forget about Metroid.

As a whole, I don't think there is any franchise that's better than Zelda, but the first two Banjo Kazooie games are my all-time favorite games. Other than that, I don't think there are more games I prefer over my favorite Zelda. Perhaps Paper Mario TTYD, Super Mario World or Super Mario Galaxy 2.

The Zelda series are one of the best series of all time. I don't think anyone can beat them. But I really liked FFX. It had a good story and a good twist and the music was great. Well at least to me. And Dark Cloud 2 was fun for me. Idk why but I just think that game was really fun. Also, the Kingdom Hearts series were really fun for me. I beat them both a few times. Also, I really like the Elders Scroll series. They are really fun games to play.

Ah yes, Dark Cloud 2. What a fun game (the only problem was that it required slightly too much grinding (given its nature as an action RPG) and there are not enough puzzles aside from the Georama (the Georama is one of my favourite parts of the game)). It is said to be the PS2's Zelda, even despite the fact that it was released one month earlier than TWW in North America. I sometimes have dreams of Maximillian and Monica teaming up with Link and Zelda in anime-style cel-shading (hint: I might write a story in the writing forum in this website about this hypothetical crossover called "The Triforce Atlamillia"). Sadly, there will be no Dark Cloud 3 in the near future.

Dark Cloud 2 is the only game (aside from the Kirby games or the Russian MMO called Allods Online) that can come close to Zelda for me and Zelda is hard to beat for me.

for me, zelda is the best series in gaming. but sonic and darksiders come close.

Dark Souls. The game basically feels like what Zelda should have been. It's becoming more and more apparent that the Zelda forumla is aging fast - I first noticed when TP was released. When you play Dark Souls you feel like the developers at From Software came together and said "what would Zelda be like if the gameplay had evolved instead of staying the same?"

Throw in a Metroid-like world that has secret passages and hidden rooms all over and you've got a damn good game.