Topic: Zelda: A change of setting?

It seems to me that Nintendo loves to hint at what Zelda could be if taken into the future. The ranching done in Twilight Princess, the steam trains in Spirit Tracks, and even robots in Skyward Sword! This made me ask myself: "What if Zelda were to change time periods?" So far the Zelda franchise has been based mostly in late medieval Hyrule, but fast forward 400 years and it's island nations. Rewind and it's a city in the sky and the untamed wilds. So what would Zelda look like if it were to move through time for the setting of it's next game?

Prehistoric:
Imagine Link and Dinosaurs. Imagine Groose discovering fire, or a world ruled by Demise. Taking Zelda back could be quite interesting as moving it forward if done right. Also, Epona as a Yoshi...

Bronze Age:
Link in the age of gladiators and spartans, this is another example of Link going backwards. This would be pre-Hylian Shield and the Master Sword would be special simply because it's made of out something stronger than copper. The gods would also take a more prominent role here as well, leading into possible crossovers with Kid Icarus.

Renaissance:
This is going forward only a little bit. Hyrule has already been shown to have discovered gunpowder, so rifles and cannons are the next logical step. Ganon laying siege with goblins, swords and trebuchets it one thing, but attacking with musketmen and cannons is far more effective and terrifying. Perhaps the people of Hyrule are demanding democracy and criticising the monarchical rule of the hylian royal family. Maybe they'll have something akin to the french revolution where people join forces with Ganon in the name of taking revenge on the rich. Perhaps Hyrule is expanding and native races are getting displaced as Hylians move in akin to American colonists vs Native Americans. Perfect time for an old west spin on Kakariko Village and Gerudo Valley.

Industrial:
Swords are becoming really antique at this point, and people will give awkward looks to Link just for using anything other than a gun. More people than ever are moving to the City of Castleton in hopes of abandoning farm life. Factories are spewing black smoke into the air and children are working as hard as adults as machine parts become smaller and smaller. The Goron cave system has turned into a full-blown coal and iron mine. Lake Hylia has turned into a dump after being fished into oblivion, forcing the Zora to relocate. The logging industry has practically mowed down the local forests, causing the Deku Tree to become very afraid of being turned into firewood or furniture. Good opportunities abound for steampunk.

Modern:
Link wears a hoodie. He lives in an inner-city apartment. Epona is a motorcycle. The fire temple is a steel mill. The forest temple is a garden. The Water Temple an aquarium. Gorons, Zoras, Deku Scrubs, Gerudos, and even Bokoblins have fully integrated into a unified society, though racism abounds and they don't necessarily like each-other based on history. As Ganon's army invades, it will demolish office buildings, bring tanks to suburbia, and no military can stop him without the holy power of the blade of evil's bane. The Hylian government considers using atomic weapons of mass destruction on their own land just to kill him once and for all.

Future:
Personal aircraft, self-driving cars, virtual reality, cyborgs and androids. This is the era of man vs machine, where the line between the two is blurred. Crossovers with Metroid are now possible.

Think it's unrealistic? Should Zelda stay in the same time period? What about a mix by allowing free time-travel? What do you think?

I've never really thought about that before. Some of these sound interesting; the modern one in particular.

It sounds fine except for the modern one..

I don't think any incarnations of Link or Zelda appeared before Skyward Sword, so by canon I don't see how it could happen, but it would be funny to see Link riding a Yoshi.
A game set in the Renaissance could be interesting, not really a fan of the other ones though.

The Legend of Zelda renaissance is a bad idea. Having a futuristic Link blurring the lines between Hyrule and a binary domain would be stupid too. If Nintendo ever gets tired of making The Legend of Zelda, they simply need to make a different game.

while your at it lets put pokemon in a pre historic world with pokemon all like dinosaur
wait there already one well damn >:[

Doesn't Pokemon already have dinosaurs anyway? There really isn't much of a point.

@Neoproteus i was being sarcastic >:3

I don't really think Zelda is set in any era and it's certainly not in any timeline that we'd recognise. So this whole thread kinda misses the point I think.

I think YOU are kind of missing the point.

Nah, I don't think they should take any of those settings in to consideration to be honest. I'd rather have it all fantasy based, with a potential era we haven't experienced at all.

Don't like the idea, it sounds like downgrading the fantasy.

Remember what the change of setting did to Final Fantasy?_shudder

I consider windwaker enough of a change of setting to never need one again. ._.
But termina was also a very pleasant setting, so as long as the change isn't too far out, go for it. :3

While I don't dismiss your ideas entirely, I think the whole appeal of the Zelda games is the vast, fictional universe that has been seen created from scratch. It's like a whole other matured period and dimensions on its own, sort of like how the Harry Potter universe _(bang) replicated the style of such a story perfectly without being too dependent on true-life settings.

I think Zelda without Hyrule might very well be Mario without the Mushroom Kingdom, and we all know how that'd end. For the next Wii U Zelda game, I'd rather see a huge expansion of the Hyrule universe for gamers and a possibly more in-depth or completely different angle (a pre-evolution or an apocalypse, maybe?) - but just keep it the same Hyrule for me, please.

This is all assuming that our imaginary wolrd of Hyrule has evolved or is supposed to be just like the real world.

Considering we have seen elements of every single of these periods you mentioned in previous games (with the most modern things appearing in the older games in the timeline [with cyborgs being even older than Skyward Sword] and the most primitive settings being placed in the future [Zelda 1]), I don't think Nintendo will make a game that takes place in an specific real world-based point in time.

Lots of the appeal of the franchise is the setting itself. Changing it seems as unnecessary as changing it to an FPS.

Link's Crossbow Adventure?

He's done the training, now he's ready for an adventure!

I don't think a change in setting would help the series all that much. I think people would rather it just be different in the whole temple-overworld-temple-overworld apporoach, at least the people that are tired of that (I'm clearly not). The setting was never really something people disliked.

I'm not saying the setting is bad, but Nintendo is known to experiment with it. In particular I can see a Renaissance Hyrule happening. It's still the same Hyrule, just in a different time period. As for taking it out of Hyrule entirely, well there's the Oracle games, Majora's Mask, Link's Awakening, Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks, which would indicate Zelda is as attracted to Hyrule as it is repelled by it. I seriously wouldn't be surprised if the next Zelda game was somewhere else entirely.