The Legend of Zelda
Nintendo's flagship fantasy action-adventure series created by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka in 1985, the Zelda series is the source of many revolutionary gameplay conventions, and continues to be one of the most popular and critically acclaimed video game franchises of all time.
Next Zelda
Yeah, that's pretty much all we know of it. The same image shown during the Iwata Q&A session...
Sketchy details like pointing out the lack of sword in the image, Link may be the most grown up yet.
It may or may not use motion plus, that actually depends on how well the accessory sells for now...
And that they strive to attract both veterans and newcomers to the franchise. That's about it, I think...
Nice picture. It strikes me as TP all over again though, because the ghostly chick reminds me Midna for some reason. I dunno about the rest of the Zelda community, but I don't want another TP. I want something new and different and I'm not talking about Links ChooChoo Adventure here. I'm just tired of the same old recycled formula we have had since A Link to The Past back in the early 90's. Get the red, green, and blue gems to get the Master Sword and make something terrible happen and then get the next round of collectables to fight Gannon and save the kingdom. It's gotten old...
I, for one, just don't want a future Zelda. I know a lot of people think that it would be a fresh take on the franchise right now, but I'd have to disagree. So many games right now are sci-fi oriented, and I have little doubt that Zelda would get lost in the flood. Sure, it would still have the name recognition, but it'd end up looking like Phantasy Star or the recent Final Fantasies. And if they went with a more action-oriented edge, then what's the chances it'll end up as some psuedo-marine's in space "epic?"
All he said was they're hard at work. I think for a Zelda this is the most important step really, deciding exactly what it's going to be. They certainly have the skill to make the actual content afterwards, it's the concept that needs to be absolutely spot on. Anyway, not showing it doesn't mean all they have is this picture. It's simply all they have to actually show. Hell, he's not even sure if they'll use motion plus or not so what would they do, show some gameplay and then it ends up being completely different based on that? He said they'll show it next year, I think that means they certainly have a lot of it done already, they wouldn't show a very early version (no, that tech demo was just that, a tech demo, it was never going to be Wind Waker). I also don't see how people can say "omg it's just Twilight Princess 2" from a single image. That's completely ridiculous. It's Link and someone else and that's all there is to it. No story references, no gameplay hints other than the lack of a sword, nothing at all.
Short? It took me about 20 hours to complete it. A pretty good feat for such an easy title where I didn't even die or retry any section more than once... I didn't speedrun it or something but I didn't sit around doing side activities like collecting bugs and such either. It was long.
Motion controls are how you interface with the game. It's still sword fighting for example, whether you do that with actual sword fighting mechanics or with old school button taps doesn't change it and doesn't make one or the other feel tacked on if it's developer properly. Deciding to use or not use it based on motion plus sales doesn't mean they would take a week to adjust it to either scheme. I certainly hope they'll use it heavily, if only for the added immersion alone, though I'm certain it's also much more fun based on articles like this.
Heh, I doubt he'll be packing heat, it could be any number of new concepts. Some have speculated Link now only has "courage" and "wisdom" and "power" are represented by the girl who is able to transform into various weapons and tools. That would be a pretty cool concept. Swing around like a sword and that's what you get. Aim at a distant enemy and fire, and you get the equivalent of the bow. Lock on different targets and you get the boomerang. Etc. Without her, he's useless, with her, he's basically all the triforce elements in one. It's just a theory mind you, I still think it's ridiculous to be "certain" she's the master sword. But that same concept could apply in a different manner, even if she's not the cause.
Heck, maybe we'll have a master mace/ballonchain/whip/whatever this time and that's why it's not in the picture. Not to show the lack of a melee weapon, but to show the lack of an actual sword, being replaced with something that is still a secret. I believe that at one point he had said that Wii Sports Resort activities like the sword fighting and the archery are a good example of how motion plus could work in Zelda so he's clearly fond of the added fun factor with manually swinging a melee weapon around...
I'd be all for that, a little change up in the main weapon. Although, I'd certainly like to see some variation in the secondary weapons as well. The use of the female companion as a weapon/tool could be particularly interesting as well. Following that logic, she could potentially infuse some magic attacks into the series which have been absent since OoT, right? I could be off in memory, but what used magic in Majora's Mask and Wind Waker weren't exactly "magical attacks" were they (transformed abilities aside as the magic meter always seemed a way of limiting their use rather than making them seem magic). Of course this is pretty much semantics, I guess. Oh well.
To me, the colors look like Ocarina of Time's, so using the TP Link gives me hope that the next game has just a bit more color. Also, I'm intrigued about the girl being his sword not just from a story but gameplay standpoint. She might not be just the manifestation of the sword, maybe she could also become any other of Link's weapons. Kind of a stretch, yeah, but atleast it would again make sense as to how Link carries so damn much stuff on him (like how Midna turned his stuff into twilight matter when he wasn't using them).
" The chick is the master sword. "
So awesome! I really didn't expect any Zelda news at E3. Even one picture is a massive surprise for me.
It's not the Master Sword. It's a statue - one that I'm betting might yield the location of Princess Zelda, the Triforce, the Ocarina of Time, the Master Sword, any combination of the aforementioned, or all of the above.
Also, if I had to compare the girl to any character, I would say she looks more like Saria than anyone else. The statue is too short to actually represent Zelda, but the height fits for a Kokiri....
...or a child. Maybe all of Nintendo's pandering to little girls has actually been a PR build up to handle the clusterfuck of criticism ensuing their subtle allusions to pedophilia in the upcoming game. Or not.
I'd be fine with it if they kept the same style of gameplay as TP and the other games, but damn it, it would blow my mind if they just make a story that really mattered to all games before and after in the franchise.
" I'd be fine with it if they kept the same style of gameplay as TP and the other games, but damn it, it would blow my mind if they just make a story that really mattered to all games before and after in the franchise. "
All you will get is a headache if you try to approach the franchise as a chronological detailing of Link's travels. The basis of Link's journeys is time; regardless of whether any individual game involves time travel/manipulation, in multiple iterations he has bent time. When time is manipulated, multiple time lines branch outward based on what happened/would have happened/won't happen anymore/will now happen:
So the only basic connection you can really make is:
Ocarina of Time - Wind Waker - Phantom Hourglass. And that's not taking into account that his actions in Majora's Mask may have interrupted the course of history between those three games. All we really know is that at the end of OoT, Link left Hyrule. Wind Waker begins with an introduction explaining that when Link left Hyrule, he never came back. Only one time line will have history progress from Ocarina of Time to the Wind Waker, and this may not include history post-Majora's Mask and other iterations that have had Link bend time -- these consequently creating extending branches that do not necessarily lead to all of the subsequent games in the franchise.
If Miyamoto feels like explaining how Link's history progresses, he would probably have to break the "fourth wall of gaming" to do so. This is the case because all of those different Legend of Zelda games are not all in the same history.
" Nice picture. It strikes me as TP all over again though, because the ghostly chick reminds me Midna for some reason. I dunno about the rest of the Zelda community, but I don't want another TP. I want something new and different and I'm not talking about Links ChooChoo Adventure here. I'm just tired of the same old recycled formula we have had since A Link to The Past back in the early 90's. Get the red, green, and blue gems to get the Master Sword and make something terrible happen and then get the next round of collectables to fight Gannon and save the kingdom. It's gotten old... "
"Master Sword gem tends to be yellow."
The Master Sword's gem in Wind Waker was blue to symbolize it had not reached it's full power, so maybe this girl might be the case. But either way, the gem is still the same diamond shape.
"@Al3xand3r said:The Master Sword's gem in Wind Waker was blue to symbolize it had not reached it's full power, so maybe this girl might be the case. But either way, the gem is still the same diamond shape. ""Master Sword gem tends to be yellow."
I cant really get excited about this yet, I havent even got to play Twilight Princess. Maybe once im done with that game ill be interested in this game, but until they release details theres no way to care. And even then those details have to come down to "The next Legend of Zelda will be diffrent from previous versions of the game".
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