Features You'd Like To See In the Next Zelda

[Nester the Lark]

Now that I've played through Breath of the Wild a couple of times, I've been thinking about what kinds of things I'd like to see in the next Zelda game. Not necessarily from a "game design" standpoint (like complaining about weapon durability), but more general ideas. Especially in the context of the open-world ("open-air?") format.

Here are some things I've thought about:

- Swimming underwater

It's not that I necessarily miss this from previous games, but I think it would add a lot to the exploratory element of the game, so it seems like a logical next step. Plus, underwater or submerged sections in games are often very unsettling and mysterious to me, so I think it would be interesting to be able to explore underwater caves or ancient ruins.

I suppose there would then have to be a mechanic to allow Link to breath underwater, or at least hold his breath for a long time, but I guess it wouldn't have to be too unlike the stamina meter and climbing. Or maybe just wearing Zora armor.

- Proper themed dungeons

Playing through Breath of the Wild a second time, and even finishing the DLC, it became more apparent to me that the shrines were the weak link. Finding them on the overworld is a ton of fun, but actually going through them was more tedious and annoying to me. The divine beasts were OK, but I really miss the grand, themed dungeons from Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. They don't have to be linear and puzzle-oriented like in those games, but they could still be done in an open world style. Imagine a forest dungeon done in the style of Hyrule Castle.

And yes, I realize that this combined with swimming underwater would open the door for a water dungeon, but the Ancient Cistern from Skyward Sword proves that water dungeons don't have to be awful.

Also, I'm not suggesting doing away with shrines completely, but I'd like to see a better balance between them and more proper dungeons.

- Having a pet

Wolf Link may only be an amiibo bonus, and not even done that well, but there's definitely a good idea in there somewhere. I'd love it if Link could have a pet that he could train and build up over the course the game. Maybe even find and tame them similar to horses. The pet could then be used for exploration and combat, somewhat like Wolf Link, but hopefully smarter and with more control options. (Wolf Link tends to get himself into trouble easily, even with a full 20 hearts, and it's hard to stop him.)

I guess what I'm saying is, I love the idea of Wolf Link, but he could be done a lot better. I'd like to see it done as a proper game mechanic.

So, how about you guys? Do you have any ideas for what you'd like to see in the next "open-air" Zelda game?

[Shrikeswind]

I would like to see a couple features from previous Zelda games return. Transformation masks like in Majora's Mask would be great, as would a return to OoT-styled music abilities which - unless I'm mistaken - have not seen use in a console Zelda game since Wind Waker. Also, Ocarina of Time's use of time should return - events in one era affecting the environment of the other. Lastly, I'd like to see a game with Majora's Mask levels of side-quests return - another Bomber's Notebook, basically.

Also, I'd like to see a multiplayer function. I know it's technically been done with the Four Swords series, but I mean in a different sense. Not just "Now there's 3-4 Links running around and you can do synergized attacks" or whatever, but like having even one other character whose abilities are different from yours - think like the Medli/Makar sections in Wind Waker, but instead of dividing your attention, you have someone else who plays as them.

[nocturnal YL]

I didn't post anything here because I'm travelling in Japan. More on that in a few days after I return.

I started playing Breath of the Wild for a while (32 shrines, almost 3 Divine Beasts because I didn't beat the bosses in 2 of them), and as someone who has never touched 3D Zelda (besides giving up on OoT halfway through and finishing a Zelda clone, Star Fox Adventure, without liking it), I'd say…

Removal of weapon durability

This is coming from an RPG fan. I like weapons. I want to keep them. It's OK in other games with weapon durability — I just don't use them, put them somewhere I don't touch, and call it a day. But Zelda BotW doesn't have this luxury; weapon space is limited. You get 19 you can carry, and 3 more at home, and that's it.

Do away with the Link × Zelda pairing

There are two kinds of Link: those that aren't paired in the story proper, and those that do and with Zelda. Most Zeldas don't feel like a good pair with Link, and there are a few other non-Zelda characters that do. Maybe Zelda in Skyward Sword does? At any rate, Zelda in BotW doesn't feel like someone I want to see with Link.

Voice acting

A lot of other, earlier games have full voice acting. "This is a Nintendo game" is no excuse, when fellow Nintendo title Star Fox 64 had full voice acting 20 years ago. Zelda BotW, being the one game Nintendo spent the most effort ever on, has no excuse to include voice acting only during cutscenes.

Generally make the game less creepy

Creepiness is one of the reasons I don't like 3D Zelda (the other being I get disoriented in 3D space easily). Instead of announcing the respawning of enemies with a creepy red light and reversed music (more bark than bite, but still), can't the game just do that silently? Leave an area, and enemies come back; it's a general mechanic to be expected in video games anyway.

Make more 2D Zelda games

Not really a feature request per se, but every time hardware changes, I get worried about certain types of games not surviving. Would the 3DS end the Mario & Luigi series? (No.) Would CAMELOT's lack of development power, the poor reception of Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash and the Switch (an HD system) being the sole next system mean they finally couldn't carry on? (No.) And here's one for Zelda: with Nintendo's apparent "big game" way of thinking lately, will full-fledged, retail 2D Zelda finally become a thing in the past? I certainly hope not.

[Nester the Lark]

Jan 29, 2018 8:30:54 GMT -5 nocturnal YL said:

Removal of weapon durability

This is coming from an RPG fan. I like weapons. I want to keep them. It's OK in other games with weapon durability — I just don't use them, put them somewhere I don't touch, and call it a day. But Zelda BotW doesn't have this luxury; weapon space is limited. You get 19 you can carry, and 3 more at home, and that's it.

I didn't want to make an issue out of this, but I agree. (Although, perhaps it's a little ironic to hear this from a Fire Emblem fan. )

I understand why they added the breakable weapons - to increase the moment-to-moment gameplay experience - but I do find it to be more of an annoyance than a motivation, and it adversely affected the way I played.

I wish the weapons worked more like the armor where you have a set of different weapon (and shield) types (one-handed swords, two-handed swords, spears, rods, bows, etc.), each of a different "element" (non-magical, fire, ice, lightning, etc.), and you upgrade them with the crafting system.

I will point out, however, that you can expand your inventory slots. But then, that just makes the breakable weapons even more pointless.

[nocturnal YL]

I'm not exactly a fan of weapon durability in Fire Emblem, either. It doesn't play much of a role as part of the resource management (basic weapons don't run out often), and it often ends up making fans avoid using advanced weapons altogether. I think FE Fates handled weapons better.

You can expand inventory capacity in BotW, but even the maximum capacity is not enough for anything meaningful. I at least want to keep the Champions' weapons untouched (that's 3 melee weapons and a bow), and even for weapons I'll eventually use (elemental swords, magic rods), I want to have more copies. Unlike Fire Emblem where you have a 100-item convoy (or 128, 200, 400 or infinity depending on the game) and low-level weapons don't break after every five battles, in Zelda BotW it takes more concious effort to keep weapons you don't want to use while maintaining enough "free" spaces.

Or I should have never opened the chests containing the champion weapons. Breaking them and asking for replacements isn't acceptable to me.

[Bruzer]

Jan 29, 2018 8:30:54 GMT -5 nocturnal YL said:

Make more 2D Zelda games

Not really a feature request per se, but every time hardware changes, I get worried about certain types of games not surviving. Would the 3DS end the Mario & Luigi series? (No.) Would CAMELOT's lack of development power, the poor reception of Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash and the Switch (an HD system) being the sole next system mean they finally couldn't carry on? (No.) And here's one for Zelda: with Nintendo's apparent "big game" way of thinking lately, will full-fledged, retail 2D Zelda finally become a thing in the past? I certainly hope not.

I doubt this will happen. 2D games are a permanent tentpole of the games industry. The Switch is getting games of pretty much all sizes, so I'm optimistic.

As for new features:

• In addition to more voice-acting, I'd like to spend more time with the more fleshed-out characters than the time BotW gave us.
• Breakable weapons need to go, and perhaps Nintendo could even throw in more unique weapons.
• That house you can buy was a huge disappointment and I'd like to see them add one that's more customizable. Maybe throw in unique treasures you can collect, which you can put in the house?

[Nester the Lark]

Apr 19, 2018 3:00:49 GMT -5 Bruzer said:

• That house you can buy was a huge disappointment and I'd like to see them add one that's more customizable. Maybe throw in unique treasures you can collect, which you can put in the house?

That's a great idea!

Actually...

SPOILER: Click to show

...you can hang up the picture you get after finishing the Champions' Ballad DLC.

I was always disappointed I couldn't board a horse there and use it like a stable. I mean, it has a place for a horse and everything!

[Boo Destroyer]

That house should have also had a journal to keep track of totals of everything you've done in the game so far.

Total number of weapons/bows/shields picked up
Total number of weapons/bows/shields broken
Total enemies defeated so far
Total meals cooked
Total materials gathered
Total amount of Champion powers used
Total Blood Moons so far
Total Hinoxes/Taluses/Moldugas defeated

And so on and so forth.

[Da Robot]

Less massive empty overworld and instead a small denser world with more towns.
Minigames in said towns.
Better water traversal (or a water animal mount).
Fix the durability issue of weapons, like allow you to spend money to make them nearly unbreakable.
Hidden dungeons around the world instead of small shrines.

BoTW was a good shake up of the Zelda formula, it just needs more gameplay refinement and more Zelda elements to return.

[Shadrio]

I don't know if any of these things are actually addressed in game, as I've been trying to do a blind run through of the game and maybe didn't notice a tutorial somewhere, but...

- To add to the whole "Get rid of breakable weapons", if they do keep them for some ungodly reason, then at least tell me how many uses I've got left. There have been many times I want to pick up a new weapon and I have duplicates, some of which have been used, but I don't know which one to get rid of.

- When scrolling through weapons, have duplicates scroll downwards, to avoid cluttering.

- Give us a Magic Meter that can recharge like Stamina, but slower. It could also be used to patch things up, like Arrows that consume magic instead of arrows when you've run out of the standard arrows, but cannot be used if magic is too low (similar to Metroid Prime 2's Elemental Beam Weapons being usable even after losing ammo by charging the shot)

- Give me a cookbook that registers every combo I've made and their ingredients, with optional ingredients showing the added benefits to the main recipe.

- Move intricate main quests, the Master Sword quest was especially lackluster. How does it get repaired during the 100 years Link spent in hibernation?

I won't lie, and maybe people wouldn't like this because it would go against the status quo, but I was kind of hoping to get an all new Master... Weapon. Say the thing is still damaged and it breaks when you try to pull it from its stone. Boom, you could have a quest in which you get to reforge it and maybe even infuse it with Shiekah technology.

Imagine being able to choose a new weapon type for the titular weapon when reforging, like a Master Spear or Master Boomerang or what have you. Heck, have it being interchangeable in a menu works well, too. Basically, they gave us Link using other weapons, but since the Master Sword never breaks and doesn't have much else going for it (double damage in Calamity Ganon territories? meh), you mostly end up using it whenever it's not on cooldown. Also, 10 minute cooldown? Ick

- Expand on the towns. I understand that Calamity Ganon left Hyrule in ruin, but each town feels like one of those tiny, auxiliary towns you see in most games. Maybe some infighting between rival towns or towns with lore that's hidden away. Also, don't have main towns become just a teleport point and a few minor quests after beating their respective main quest, surely the king of the Zoras has more things he'd need taken care off now that the main threat has been dealt with. Something like a quest to

SPOILER: Click to show

lay his daughter's spirit to rest with a proper burial in a Zora Royal Catacombs.

- Give me cave systems, dungeons and more than just what I can see on the surface. Shrines were a cool idea, but I needed more.

- Make armor stand out more than just "let's you go to different places" or "the standard armor, but resists X element more". Most armor has the same amount of defenses as you upgrade them, making the choice between one or the other mostly inconsequential. Maybe have different armor sets have new attacking patterns or abilities, like increasing attack when health is critical for the Barbarian Set or a short range teleport for the Stealth Set. Basically, change up the play style, not just traversal of the overworld.

- Make the combat more deep. We got something with different weapon types (Two handed weapons hit more but trade it for defense and spears are weaker but are fast and have a lot of range) but they ultimately end up being "hit until enemy falls over". Take a cue from Monster Hunter or Dark Souls and make weapons have different properties upon hitting, like breaking armor, Blunt damage vs Piercing damage, or berserker modes that you can activate after successful usage of the weapon.

While I have been enjoying BotW very, very much the past month, I feel like what they've got with BotW is the template for a truly astounding game. If they can pull off a "Majora's Mask" type deal, in which they take the elements of BotW and build upon it a new entry into the series, then I feel like that game could be contender for Best Game of all time.

I give Breath of the Wild a 7.8/10, too much overworld.

[Shrikeswind]

Something I've been thinking about lately: The second best-selling Zelda title was Ocarina of Time (the original being the best-seller,) and it's been a record-holder for praise levied on it. When people have historically argued which Zelda title is best, it's generally been OoT or MM (I don't know where BotW ranks currently). Yet recently, it seems like Nintendo's been trying to ignore that success - Skyward Sword is this effort to do something completely different, then Breath of the Wild is trying to be the original while capitalizing on the recent survival game trend. It seems like Nintendo basically sat down and said "Ocarina of Time is perfect and we are never going to improve on it, so let's try doing something different." Except...Ocarina of Time isn't perfect.

SHOCK! HORROR! Hear me out. There's a lot of improvements that could be made to OoT to make it a better game. If I was going to pick a 3D Zelda with the best overworld, I'd say Twilight Princess. Termina is easier to explore by far than OoT's Hyrule because it's small, so all the landmarks are quite visible. In Twilight Princess, Hyrule is much bigger, but it's broken down into smaller chunks, with the landmarks in each chunk being very easy to see. Further, Twilight Princess gives you more things to be curious about than Ocarina of Time, so when you have the tools to explore, you will know exactly what you want to check out. You might notice the Spinner tracks in that one passageway and wonder what's going on with it, or the owl statues near very obvious yet unreachable secrets. I'd say that this is how a Zelda title needs to do the overworld.

Another thing that Twilight Princess did well was unobtrusive help. You could check with Midna whenever you needed a reminder of what you're supposed to do, while not being annoyed about it. Ocarina of Time actually had two sources of help like this, Navi and Saria, but Navi was annoying because she was constantly reminding you what needed to be done while also blocking your first person control, and Saria demanded a) you go back to before she was a Sage, b) you play her song, and c) go through the "Do you want to talk to Saria?" crap to get there. Tatl was too difficult to notice and didn't really give you enough help. With Midna, however, she has a dedicated button and she doesn't complain if you decide you want to do something else. Hell, she even takes Navi's "Fly off to where you can summon the Scarecrow" thing and makes it easier by replacing the Scarecrow while she's at it.

And then, of course, is the water. I actually don't mind the Water Temple - it's not half as bad as everyone makes it out to be, anyways. The Forest and Fire Temples are much more confusing. But OoT's water mechanics are, let's be real, utter garbage. The Zora's Tunic in Twilight Princess was a slight improvement, but the game which had the best water mechanics was Majora's Mask, specifically when you were wearing the Zora Mask. That's how a Zora Tunic should work - your swimming goes from "Paddle, dive, sink" to "Fly underwater."

Unrelatedly, I'm also not fond of this recent idea that Nintendo's come up with that you should be able to complete the game in whatever order you want, and so they're trying to come up with all these ways to avoid railroading you. Admittedly, this is a good thing - Skyward Sword suffered because that's exactly what it was doing at all times - but Nintendo's been going about it all wrong. I don't need to rent items or be able to skip items or whatever in order to not be railroaded. What OoT does well is that it puts you in the dungeon, gives you the item, then lets you decide what you want to do with it. My answer in my most recent playthrough was to run off and do other things (Darunia probably hates me now).

Basically, I would like to see a Zelda game that actually does follow the old formula, while improving on OoT's weaknesses. I do imagine it'd feel a bit like Twilight Princess, I know, but that's not a bad thing. And please Nintendo, let me see the NPC's from Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask again. Remakes don't count here, I want to see Malon or Kafei or Guru-Guru in a new title.