How to fix: The Legend of Zelda

Although i think Zelda is vastly overrated, i still believe there is potential in this series.

1. Include a tragic love story between Zelda and Link.

I'm not sure how far the romance between these 2 characters have gone, but i still believe boundaries need to be pushed to developed this romance and turn zelda and link into a fully fledged couple.

2. Include tear jerking events to pull you in.

There is a reason why movies like the titanic, phantom of the opera, Casablanca, west side story are considered the best movies of all time. They include scenes which will make you cry and will draw you into the story, not only that, but you will be thinking about these movies for weeks, months and years to come.

3. Get rid of the 2D aspect and make Zelda fully 3D

This isn't 1993 anymore, although nintendo still believes so.

4. Character development

This is pretty much self explanatory

5. Add some musical scenes into it

Music is an art, a form of expression and it can really immerse you into a scene that simple words couldn't ever do, so some showtunes or songs inspired from Aladdin couldn't possibly hurt, in fact. It would make things so much better.

So in short, the zelda series does have potential and if you can improve upon the mediocre story and add some emotion and some love and tragedy, you could have something great.

FIN.

Isnt this more of a blog material?

what is there to exactly discuss about in here?

I have seen worse threads on here..

So instead of trying to improve the types of threads in SW you try to join the bad ones? :o

at least add some sort of a question to encourage having a discussion in here ;)

will try to help you out with this.. What Zelda needs imo is a good love story ( as you suggested above ) as well some pretty good graphics to attract people to it especially gamers outside of Japan ( like that demo they showed few years ago at E3 ).

Please don't make it open world, I have yet to see a game with open world that has a well done story and I don't want Zelda to take the risk. Use fake "open" world, huge areas with lots of collectible and rewards of exploration but still have some guidance.

If I wanted to watch Final Fantasy, I'd go watch Final Fantasy.

Make it hardcore in the vein of Dark Souls so that the combat difficulty would be massively cranked up and if you died, you'd have to track back to your gear to reclaim it but once you died, it'd be lost forever. Simple as that.

This.

I don't think people are coming to Zelda for the story....

Well your options aren't any good, all it seems like you want is a cheesy JRPG.

How about something more meaningful than a sob story, like some actual voice acting for everyone but the main characters, or tweak the combat to add a bit of depth and challenge, without a stupid gimmick like Skyward Sword, or improve on the open nature of a Link Between Worlds, or stop adding goddamn padding to a game that's already 20-30 hours long without it.

Zelda needs to become more realistic if its to succeed, nintendo forgets that the fans that grew up playing zelda back in the day are now grown adults and not the kids they once were and as adults dont want to play child like games featuring fairies and young children etc etc.

Im not saying it should contain blood guts and gore no but a more realistic representation and story for adults would help the franchise hugely.

I don't really know if there is anything to really fix with Zelda TBH. I thought Skyward Sword was good and some of the bigger issues and compaints with that game were addressed with A Link Between Worlds. If the next Zelda game on Wii U follows ALBW's model and improves upon it/addsto it, with some nice HD visuals, I could see the next main game being really f*cking good.

needless to say the OP's suggestions aren't really what Zelda needs.

Expand on the open-ness of LBW without that trade off in discovery and satisfaction it had, make the combat mean something instead of having it be a vistigial appendage on the puzzle gameplay, something like dark souls, but not as ridiculous.

And for gods sake, it's 2014. Link stays silent, but do some level of voice acting for the rest of the characters, let us hear background chatter in a village. Take this kind of "dropped in this world now go figure shit out" to the next level.

They should make it like the show

I think you only watch final fantasy for lightning

More challenging and satisfying puzzles wouldn't hurt. At the least they could finally stop doing the "one item dungeon" design.

Well, she is the best character.

After A Link Between Worlds I would say that Zelda is fine, they just need to increase the challenge and improve the combat system.

And no, I would rather not see voice acting in Zelda, especially english voice acting, I might be fine with non-english voice overs though. I am playing through Divinity: Original Sin right now, and I am loving the lack of voice overs in it :D

If Sean Malstrom was reading that, he'd say "Fire Aonuma" as his reason. :P

Legend of Zelda the anime much? -__- And music scenes? I can't tell if you're serious or not.

A Link Between Worlds

Gamespot's Game of the Year 2013.

Zelda needs fixing?

If this isn't a blog then I don't know what is.

I think they should take the framework they laid with Skyward Sword and just expand upon that. It would be pretty cool to see multiple towns with unique shops and mini-games. I would prefer exploration-based fetch quests to be removed entirely. Maybe remove the Hyrule Field/Skyloft hub world that is always empty and mostly pointless entirely and just seam the areas with dungeons together sort of like Metroid Prime does it.

Don't fix it. No franchise needs to live forever, and certainly not this one. Remember the good entries, but let it die with what dignity it still has.

Doesn't need fixing, but I'll chime in on the discussion.

1. Include a tragic love story between Zelda and Link.

When one says a love story it's easy to groan and scoff at it. If it's too heavy-handed it appears cheesy and ruins the raw beauty of what it could have been, so I believe it's a fine line to walk. What would the purpose be of Zelda and Link being in love? What are the stakes that make it engaging? Most importantly, would this be the same story if the love story wasn't in it? Don't just shoehorn this in, something like this must be an integral part of the game from the beginning.

2. Include tear jerking events to pull you in.

Same as the first point. What would the purpose of these moments be? With that, you have to make sure the theme of the game is reflected throughout. Is this a tragic tale? If so, those tear-jerking events would be the loss of NPCs, maybe even Link failing in his quest (like I theorized Twilight Princess would end, allowing Zelda to call upon the Sages to flood Hyrule, linking it to The Wind Waker). Or maybe the next Zelda is a story of hope, and those tear-jerking moments are when Link is so close to failure but then met by all of the friends he has made throughout his journey. This has happened before (Twilight Princess) but could be done with more gravity.

I'm just reiterating that these things should not be put in for the sake of having these moments. They need to be natural, a part of the journey from the first step taken.

3. Get rid of the 2D aspect and make Zelda fully 3D

2D worked very well for A Link Between Worlds, and I could see it continuing to work in future games. Look at Braid; that had a great love story to it and didn't need 3D. Finesse, a knowledge of how to properly tell the story, etc.

Now if you're just saying it's your personal preference, well... I prefer 3D Zelda games too. 2D and 3D both feel very different, and I prefer the scope that 3D Zelda games have. But it's not a reason to just stop with the 2D titles; if they did that, we wouldn't have gotten A Link Between Worlds. Not close to the best Zelda game but a very good game.

4. Character development

Strong characters can go a long way to having fond memories of the journey you took. The Lord of the Rings would not have been the journey it was without all of Frodo's friends and enemies that he encountered. And while some may argue The Legend of Zelda doesn't need this and that it thrives in its simplicity, I'd disagree. Twilight Princess's moment when people come to your aid at the end, Groose's development in Skyward Sword, who Shiek was in Ocarina of Time, and Hilda's story in A Link Between Worlds all added to the story greatly. The series would benefit from enhancing in this respect.

5. Add some musical scenes into it

Confused by what you mean here. Do you really mean musical numbers, like them singing?

Okay, I'll say that I firmly believe you posted this thread on System Wars because it would cause a stir, which can be funny. But I just gotta say I don't even think there's an argument here. Musical numbers should not be in this series. This coming from someone with a strong theatre background who has performed in his fair share of great and terrible musicals. :P

Mix ALBW and WW and bam, there you go.

Btw give me my fraking MM HD you pieces of crap.

I'm still betting that Majora's Mask will have a 3DS remake announced with an October/November release date.

I hope it happens too; as I've never played the game and I've been waiting for a 3DS remake to finally do so.

I have zero faith in Nintendo atm, all they care about it seems is pushing out the Mario games.

It needs fixing?

Tearjerking scenes in Zelda? TC, do you like to touch yourself?

Nothing you mentioned effects gameplay. How about we ya know...improve the gameplay?

Fucking A Sweenix...

Ruining my morning coffee... AGAIN.

Nobody wants Final Hylian XIII-3-section-B

Anyways..

I would like to see a more open world and a more darker story line and characters.

Zelda doesn't need fixing. Go play A Link Between Worlds. The game is almost perfect.

Set it outside of Hyrule.

yea, they're all yours

It doesn't need fixing. It just needs to make more changes. ALBW is a fair start at that.

so you want an open world Pandora's Tower?

This.

Twilight Princess?

more violence

more sex

Didn't the latest iteration just pull GOTY?

Perhaps some noob tubes? Howsabout a dog?

ehh, maybe.

my biggest turn off with zelda is that i would still have to read everything

Take a link between worlds and translate it into full 3d.

Boom, problem solved

I got a lot of ideas, but then again so does everyone else.

No matter what people will bitch, but I do think the majority DO want a strong open world with less linearity.

ah yes i was including the n00b tubes under 'more sex'.

Zelda doesn't need to be fixed. It has a proven formula. As long as Nintendo has creative level designers, the series will always be great.

Although, yes, I'd kind of like to see some kind of romance in the game between Link and Zelda. If done right, it could make it another "mature" Zelda, like Majora's Mask and TP.

A love story between Link and Zelda is stupid as hell. IMO that would even potentially ruin the entire series. That would be like if Link decided to marry Princess Ruto at the end of Ocarina of Time. Them being childhood friends is the closest they should get.