Topic: What path do you want to the next console Zelda to go down?

Hey ya'll!

I haven't been here in at least a year or two. I hope all are well. I started this thread when I started realizing it has been a couple years since the last console Zelda, and with a 5 year average development cycle, they must be nearing the halfway point in development .

Surprising gly, there does not seem to be even a bit of news or even rumors on the next title, so Big N must be doing a good job keeping the lid tight on the project.

Anyways, to the question:

Breath of the Wild is odd for me
It gave me everything I thought I wanted. I actually really enjoy playing it. But, I get this odd feeling right beside the joy, as well. A sinking feeling that tells me if they continue down the path of using BOTW as a template as teydid for years with OOT that I will lose interest in the series. Maybe entirely. But at least, for sure, it'll knock Zelda out of the #1 spot
Now, why is that? How is it possible when the game gave me everything I wanted in it? Im not quite sure. I just feel like Breath was a game I needed... But, it's a game I needed only once. There is only so much they can include in these games without making the development cycle unbareably longer. They're packed as it is. All they can essentially do is rearrange things

Breath of the wild, in reality, just spaced everything out. It was Zelda with more running. I know that's technically "exploration" but my hopes are for the next Zelda to be just a bit more streamlined. Maybe a cross between botw and skyward sword. Or even a botw/skyward sword mashup.

Im not quite sure. And im sure Nintendo will find a way to make me happy, as always. Im just wondering if anyone else has similar thoughts s or if you guys are all aboard the "make every game bigger and more spread out" train?

I meant botw/skyward or ww/skyward.

Exactly this.

Back to the old formula please, Nintendo.

I must be one of the few people in the world who didn't enjoy BotW.

Nintendo has been able to make so many things work with LOZ that I don’t think they can mess up anything at this point. As long as the experience is single-player, Triforce Heroes sucked.

I think they should use BotW as a template for one, maybe two more games.
The next game should be similar, but have you play a role in rebuilding civilisation. Maybe have Hyrule Castle Town expand in certain ways depending what you do throughout the world.
If they must make another, give it an ocean to explore, including diving into the depths to find treasure and undersea cities and whatnot.
After that, they need to do something completely different. No more than two sequels building on BotW.

I love the idea of building castle town. If anyone is familiar with the Suikoden series, each entry has an abandoned castle that you find and have the option to grow and expand through mini games, finding optional party members, completing quests, etc. It is truly one of the best things about the Suikoden series, which is one of my favorites. Using this mechanic to build a whole town in Zelda,and not just a castle, would be incredible.

I also wouldn't be opposed to more RPG elements like building a party. I mean, heck, if you're going to give me this giant world to explore, give me more incentive to do so by collecting awesome characters.

This could be done in a variety of ways and I'd find it acceptable. You could play as the other party members, they could be controlled by a second player, they could only be used in a new game + second playthrough, or they could be a computer controlled sidekick. Im open to anything, but I would love having optional characters around the world join Links quest. It is more rewarding that the current "fix their problem and get one line of dialogue anytime you revisit them" system.

I imagine many will say that I am changing the basis of Zelda with these ideas, and my response would be, yes, Nintendo has bee trying to toy with the basis of Zelda for a few games now. Why not try everything?

A completely technological future.

Robots and Space Ships.

How the various peoples adapt to the technology.

North.
Then West.
Then South.
Then West.

Remake link to the past or Links Awakening in the BOTW engine. Similar dungeons/locations just converted to 3d and with same artstyle.

I want a prequel to BotW set before the calamity.

Same world but a lot of changes and new towns and locations. And lots more story.

I am strongly in favor of the Majora's Mask-like pseudo-sequel idea that everyone ever has had.

I've never liked the Zelda formula, but BOTW changed things up. Personaly, I just can't find the right control scheme

I just want Nintendo to keep doing their thing. If they surprise us all well and good, if not that’s also great. They always seem to nail console Zelda games whatever they come up with. They seem to know what I want better than I do sometimes lol

I really like Nintendo's realization of an open world game in general. I think where they dropped the ball is that they took the familiar Zelda experience and stretched it over an open-ended framework, but the pieces don't always line up correctly. The next game needs to ramp up the non-linearity and give the player more to do than simply pursing the next main narrative way-point marker. If we could take the best bits of Breath of the Wild and merge them with the best bits of Skyrim then you would have the perfect game.

So I am guessing that you don't agree that BOTW's progression style severely limited the game's narrative? It's near impossible to tell an excellent story when you just scatter pieces of it for the planet er to find whenever they want.

Now I hat I think about it, it might do the game good to alternate:

A section where you explor like BOTW and find dungeons and story pieces. Then a streamlined story section like SS. Then back to the BOTW exploration section. Then back to a streamlined story section.

This would allow both camps to be happy. They could tell a strong story and includ lots of exploration. It could be 50 - 100 gameplay hours broken into 5 hour sections.l

Is anyone else for this idea

I forgot to mention, if it seems like an idea that just wouldn't work, think back to a Link to the past!

The beginning gave you a story to follow. Then it switched to a 3 dungeon section. Where you could explore and complete in whatever order you wanted.

Once you completed the 3 dungeons, the game switched back to a more sreamlined and story driven approach. Im simply saying g to revisit and expand upon the formula.

It's not even really a pseudo-sequel though is it. It feels like just a completely new game. Reusing assets is fine if you do it well.

I'm playing FF13-2 at the moment. That clearly reuses a lot of FF13 assets but it's incredibly well done so it does just feel like a new game.

I don't know if I necessarily just want another BotW, as I want the sequel to have its own identity. With that said, I do want Nintendo to continue embracing their new and radically open-ended approach to open-world game design. It's incredibly satisfying to experience.