Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

that's never gonna happen, barring maybe some old Metroid staff working on the project

...or at least, the lack of traditional, talky, cinematic narrative is not happening

Would be fantastic, but a challenge most developers big and small shy away from 99% of the time...

I can't see Zelda U being like the NES game in the "here's your sword, have fun" sort of thing. I can see it more-so being like something like Red Dead Redemption in the sense that there is a story, the game opens up with the story, but you can do most of it at your own pace. If you want to go exploring, play mini-games, upgrade your weapons and do side-quests all day, you can do that. You can do the next story objective when you're ready. That sort of thing.

But you already do that.

Maybe since Hyrule Warriors released today Nintendo will slowly start to announce more Zelda U news? Hopefully...

I meant more fleshed out and opened up. In Zelda, eventually you hit a wall and run out of things to do. You have to progress the story to continue adventuring. When you play Red Dead Redemption, you can go on and on and on if you want. A lot of the console Zelda games push you towards the story objectives, whereas in RDR (sorry about bringing it up so much) after you finish an objective it'll be like "okay, I'll see you later. Come find me when you're ready".

Sooooo A Link Between Worlds.

Close enough.

I can't see them feeding us any more info until the new year. They want to hype Smash Bros. U as much as they can. After Smash comes out, we'll probably get a little more on Zelda and Starfox.

I'll be surprised if we see anything before E3.

You know as much as it kills me maybe it would be best if they did announce nothing for this one until E3, that would generate massive hype. Like could you imagine how excited and curious people would be if we know next to nothing about except for it being open world, and then BAM they hit us with an epic trailer that shows every body more.

Yeah, I doubt we'll get much info for next year's games

At the same time, Nintendo does not want to take away hype for this holiday's offerings. I'd expect a Nintendo Direct (if there's one) in late November or December

The fact I was mentioning the first Legend of Zelda is because it's probably the one Zelda that does the best job at feeling open world - and to me it's because the player can discover and enter two thirds of the dungeons in any order without being pushed by story or scripted events. I mean, people usually find the sixth dungeon way before they have found the second - now, even the manual tells you not to enter a dungeon that is beyond your level, but the fact that at least you can discover it on your own through exploration and hint-solving alone feels very "open world".
I really liked A Link Between Worlds and I don't think I could come back to the structure dungeon → scripted event → dungeon → scripted event in a pre-set order. I am fine with the renting system but if I could change something, I would remove the obvious sign outside the gate that tells you what item you're going to need inside the dungeon. I understand you need to know otherwise you would go crazy, so I'd put a non item specific cave inside every dungeon that you have to explore and there you would find hints in the form of, say, painting on the walls or NPC that'll talk to you, on which item to use in that specific labyrinth so you can go rent it.

I actually prefer a more linear experience with items. I think dungeons' puzzles can get creative with a combination of different items. However, to make it more open, the player could use the option of having no hints at all to where they go next.

I think we either get item linearity + hints or non item linearity + no hints.

Item linearity means dungeon in a pre-set order. If you don't give the player hints as to where the next dungeon is, in an open world structure, it would lead the players to a painful shuffle from dungeon to dungeon trying to find if the item they just got works for this or that dungeon. I mean, you probably could do it in a small compact environment, but in an open world it's going to be a miserable experience I think.

One way to fuse both options (non-linearity + multiple items combination) would be to put the renting shop inside a room in the dungeon (a-la Zelda 1) and limit your space for items (ie: three items at the time, without counting regular items such as bombs) - this way they can have puzzles that use a mix of items (plus your special ability, whatever it will be this entry) but you still have to reason out which combination of items to bring. Having the renting shop inside the dungeon means you don't have to enter and exit continuously if you get the wrong items.

The renting system was cool the one time, but I would prefer to not see it in this game.

agreed. Honestly, I prefer Skyward Sword's system, where you can buy everything (including item upgrades) EXCEPT most of the major items.

I agree with both. I was okay with renting the items, but not something I'd want to see return. I was somewhat annoyed by the fact that you lose the items you don't own if you die.

What do you guys think about the recent move towards having save points (ie. Skyward Sword and Link Between Worlds)? Do you prefer that over the "save whenever you want" option, or do you find it somewhat cumbersome?

Theres a chance the game will have places you can save at, but I hope they make it so you can save anywhere and load back up at that exact spot

I see why many people wouldn't want the renting system back on the new Zelda - it is very unattractive , I understand. But on the other hand, since it's going to be an open world game, I would rather not have a scripted sequence of item→ dungeon. I mean, it's open world - I can't think of anything better than exploring and discovering on your own without being pushed in a particular place by the scripted events. Geez, when it was released I thought A Link Between Worlds was damn good, but the more time passes, the more I think it was bloody awesome. I don't want to go back.

What I want is more then 1 main town/city. I would like to see a few more people to talk to and do quests for. I would like dozens if not 100's of people in a few towns along with some smaller villages as well.