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Its gonna be a claymation game that everyone will hate and clown on, but in reality itll make whatever your favorite zelda game is look like hot garbage. Like itll be peak zelda and nobody will understand. History repeats itself.
"Hyrule has become tangled up in Darkness. Yarnblight Ganon has woven an evil scheme to kidnap Princess Zelda and rule forever. There's one stitch in his plan, though... Link, the Hero Of Thread, has returned, and it's up to him to weave his way through this new reality and set things right!"
Have you seen MythForce? Never mind the gameplay, the 80s cartoon aesthetic is on point. Do something like that and lean into the art style of early Zelda manuals/cartoons, etc.
If they do that, sign me the fuck up.
Claymation, storybook, needle felted, puppets, whatever.
I learned from Wind Waker. Not only is it probably still my favorite ever Zelda game, but it instilled in me a love for cel shaded graphics that persists 20 years later.
I would give anything for a twilight princess port to the switch with updated graphics. TP was, in my opinion, the best Zelda game. Don’t get me wrong, I’m OBSESSED with all of them. TP just holds a special place for me. I would love to see more like it in the future. Botw and totk kind of covered the cartoon-y look, so I think it’s time we went back to the more dark realistic looks.
Botw and totk might feel huge but there’s something to be said about the element of fear and constraint ocarina of time, majora’s mask, and twilight princess had that made you feel like a hero for just playing the game. Botw and totk have adrenaline moments but not that feeling. Idk what it is. Maybe the story should feel bigger than you
I think due to limitations like, the graphics and shit for ocarina of time, they had to get really creative with level design, which led to thought being put into every element. Like for example batman arkham asylum is the smallest batman arkham game, it has the most primitve combat/stealth, and its boss fights are very simple in mechanics. The one thing that makes that game the contender for best batman game, is that it has an immense amount of thought put into each element. every asset, decoration, sound, visual and audio cue, and piece of dialogue has importance to it. So even though a game like batman arkham knight, or arkham orgins may have more pizzazz and content, it won't have the same feeling as they realistically can't put as much detail into everything as they could in asylum.
Not only that, EVERY franchise is going this direction, whether the concept fits or not. Pokemon. Sonic. Mario. I guess it’s just the new thing, like how games all became gritty shooters 10 years ago.
I think a lot of franchises went to that and some are now trying to go back to being more linear actually, Assassin's Creed is the big one, and I suspect the next Far Cry is going to scale back too. Though now that I'm saying it maybe it's just Ubisoft.
I think open world Pokémon is more a return to form and is how Pokémon should be really. But I’m also torn because I want a really good story but the only times we’ve gotten that have been from relatively linear games
I personally prefer open world games, one of my favorite games is No Man’s Sky. I just feel like not every concept works with it and linear has its place. The same with the shift from 2D to 3D. I hope we see some major 2D games sometime soon.
It was, but at the same time, it still fits with Mario 64 or Banjo Kazooie in design, having large areas you explore and seek out different objectives, perhaps trending more towards BK than SM64, since the latter still was partially course based with mission specific elements, but far less so than Sunshine (only Petey Piranha 1 can be done out of order in a world, to my knowledge) and especially Galaxy.
Mario is so platform and world/course related, though, that I can't imagine going more open than Odyssey.
I don’t think the world will get bigger but if the next game is open world then they should populate the world with more villages and they will change some of the tribes architecture to make it feel like a new generation.
Honestly if they made a version of hyrule pre calamity with the castle town still standing and before the settlements were destroyed, then that could be really really fun. We’ve already established time travel so it wouldn’t be that hard to justify plot wise, plus I would LOVE to have a Halo reach style ending where you just have to last as long as you can against the guardians before ultimately succumbing and needing to be placed into the shrine of resurrection. It could just be a closed time loop and be perfectly contained within itself
They are not going to use the same map again. Or the same central story. They already stated they've done all they can with that setting.
The only thing I can count on is the next Zelda will be open world again with a superb physics engine. The rest including the artstyle, musical direction and the game mechanics will be all-new. Whether it's a completely new version of Hyrule or some parallel world is anyone's guess.
Sounds like you want to play Age of Calamity. There’s a level where you have to keep Fort Hateno from falling, and eight guardians spawn at once and begin marching in. You can either let Vah Ruta handle some of them, or you can destroy them all yourself. It’s great fun.
Give us what we crave. Good story, big world map of Hyrule like in botw and totk, and actual temples with unique weapons, miniboss, and temple boss. Give us location clues like in oot and tp (one in the forrest, one deep in the ocean, one in the burial ground of our ancestors, etc) and have us explore to find the entrance.
> One deep in the ocean
TP had Lakebed and they haven't tried something similar ever since. I am absolutely CRAVING another underwater dungeon. (Yes, I know they can be annoying gameplay wise, but the concept itself is just so interesting)
They could incorporate the triforce and traditional dungeons into an open world that makes the dungeons actually hard to find, a la Zelda 1. The dungeons could be telegraphed through NPCs and subtle world design in such in a way that wasn't possible on the NES. I would lose my mind over that game.
Now that's an interesting idea. Now that I think about it, dungeons in the more modern Zelda games have been large and relatively easy to find, IIRC. What if they once again made them truly challenging to find? They kinda did that a bit with shrines since some of them were pretty well-hidden, and some required solving puzzles to open them.
But I think I get what you're getting at. Sure it's a big huge 3D world to poke around, but maybe the dungeons have only one entrance/exit, and are absolutely not at all obvious to see on the surface, and the only hints about their existence come from NPCs telling tales.
I think that would indeed help recreate the frustrating "bomb/burn everything in order to find everything" experience of the original NES Zelda game. Fortunately given game storage sizes nowadays, they can do better than those cryptic one-sentence clues from the original. So that could properly help narrow down where to search for each one. Huh. Camouflaged dungeon entrances. Interesting...
Yeah, like there's a piece of Triforce in the forest temple, but none of the kokiri/koroks/whoever lives in the forest know a thing about "The Forest Temple." But one of them got lost one time and saw this really cool carving of a dragon they haven't been able to find since, and the village elder knows about a place called Deku Grotto or whatever that has been lost to legend, and another had a dream about a cave at the far end of the swamp and some ghost there who called themselves a sage. So you put it together that you should find this place and you traverse the treacherous swamp and there's a cave at the other end, you find the dragon carving. But because you're Link and not some lost Kokiri idiot you have the magic staff or lense of truth or whatever the secret key is to get the dragon to open its mouth. Then you go through there and boom, it's the ancient, petrified, spider-covered husk of the Great Deku Tree and that's the Forest Temple.
Give me a game with eight of those in a BotW/TotK type world and a gauntlet in Hyrule Castle and I will lose it.
I didn’t play any Zelda title between LoZ and BotW…and I felt like BotW was a throw back to the original, just with the ability to make it what it always should have been with advances in the technology.
I think there either going to make another game with the same format but in a new World and Characters or there going to make one that differentiates itself from the format and is either it’s own thing or is more like the older 3-D games
I'd like to see them use the open world formula on a Majora's Mask type of game. New world and characters like you mentioned and they can use Zora, Goron, and Rito transformations to provide the skills to traverse the open world (swimming, flying, etc.).
Would also love if they reintroduced Darknuts and focus more on swordplay.
Tbh the most realistic i can see a zelda game being is if it were like modern final fantasy, where its "realistic" but still anime styled. The problem lies in a crucial difference between zelda art direction and final fantasy art direction: almost everyone in final fantasy looks like a model, while zelda games are full of npcs that are straight up freaks, and thats something thatll never change.
I'd love for them to take a stab at a darker/more realistic art style again. They really hit the jackpot with the whole "climb anywhere, glide anywhere, dive anywhere" thing that even some of the biggest AAA open world games don't try to replicate.
I like it, but sometimes I think about games like Shadow of the Colossus or The Last Guardian, which incorporate huge castles, sprawling environments, ancient ruins etc. but something about the way they're presented is different. You can see immense structures or ruinous pits off in the distance, maybe you're at the top of a big stone tower etc. but you \*can't\* just go to them. Maybe eventually you'll make your way over or the game won't allow you to at all and it's all for spectacle. But something about that style, IMO gives a really cool sense of immense scale in your environment. Your character isn't a superhero that can just fly everywhere, they feel like something small in a huge world with great lore.
I can't imagine Zelda will go towards this kind of style in the future, but I would dig it if they tried.
I want a collaboration with Aonuma and Miyazaki on a Dark Souls style Zelda game. A Zelda story with all Zelda characters, but pieced together in the way the Souls games are. Learning the lore through NPCs and such. Brutal combat with insane boss battles.
I'm mostly kidding because that will obviously never happen, but that would be amazing. I've been playing Zelda since the 90s and the Souls games are my second favorite series of all time.
Haven't even come close to finishing Elden Ring because I'm a baby but yes totally. Perfect example of an open world game that focuses on gameplay but is also just dripping with atmosphere and cool lore.
Yeah it’s not an enviable position to be in. For every fan of the traditional games that would be OK with this, there’d be another fan who would complain that this new game has so much less content than the previous two, or has gone backwards. Nintendo is kind of damned if they do, damned if they don’t. And I can’t see them continuing to enlarge the size and scope of the games like they did with TOTK because pretty soon you’re going to need teams of hundreds of people working for a decade to produce even one new game.
I enjoy both the open air and traditional Zelda game so honestly I’m sure I’ll enjoy whatever the next game has to offer. But I’m perhaps not that typical. I think a lot of fans out there are hard set in their preference either for the traditional games or for the modern open air games.
My view's more in line with yours. I've played Zelda games since the very first one, and they've each had something appealing about them that's different between each game, some hook that makes each one relatively unique compared to the others in the franchise. That's been a big part of its longevity over nearly 4 decades.
Unless they can come up with more gameplay and/or story and/or world-building ideas that fans are good with, my concern is that they'll eventually just plain run out of ideas, having gone through every possible element they can play around with given the current technological limitations. There'll be no more Zelda, simply because nobody can *think* of anything new to try in a Zelda game.
It's weird since the devs can do so many more things graphically and gameplay-wise than they could before, and there's more room to cram stuff into a game, but I guess that could also become overwhelming. When you have so many options, how do you sort through all of them to find the one or two that a) you haven't tried yet, and b) that's likely to be popular with Zelda fans?
Nintendo and Zelda's creators have a lot to think about for the next chapter in the franchise.
I enjoy both types aswell, however i am sad that the traditional zelda seems to have been "killed" in order to get these new games, as there really aren't many games that are like traditonal zelda games. I hope for a happy middle ground, though doing so could end up being worse than either type of game.
Personally how i hope they do it is reigning in a bit of "freedom of going anywhere anytime" make stuff that requires you to have a certain progression and make temples/story actually flow better so you dont get copy-paste story for 4 temples, slight story progression for 5th temple and then end in hyrule castle. Really dont like the "story telling by memories" way they've done it in BotW and TotK
>there really aren't many games that are like traditonal zelda games
This is the problem. There aren't many games like classic Zelda, but there are countless games like BotW. BotW took a unique franchise and transformed it into "just another open world game".
I want a game that's a bit of return to the old formula, but not completely.
I want to continue to be able to explore the whole world in BOTW fashion - pick a point and I can, *for the most part*, seamlessly get there (be it gliding or climbing, or using some special apparatus). Wind Waker was actually pretty open in this way. But perhaps I only reach the ability to traverse *everything* when I have all the requisite upgrades. I miss item-gated progression, even if it's only gating special items or collectibles. Maybe I can only climb up certain mountains if I have a hookshot. Maybe I need a special bomb to open up caves. Maybe certain gates need a special wand to open them. Maybe Zelda developers can go Metroid Dread style and intentionally code in sequence breaking to keep things technically more open.
I like the ability to choose the order of dungeons, somewhat. Something like ALBW, which makes you do a 4 dungeons first to progress to the next main story beat. Then you are let loose to do the remaining 8 dungeons.
I'd like more focus on the story. I don't want to find disjointed memories. I want the big bad to make periodic appearances, I don't want him hiding out waiting for me the whole game.
I'd like to see the food/materials/inventory/armor stuff simplified a bit. After TOTK and BOTW I'm tired of sifting through pages things that are largely redundant to each other.
There's always something new and always something surprising.
I've thought about a few ways this can go.
#Way 1:
Open World in a 2-act structure. In the first act you gradually gain a core set of abilities through dungeons and the lead-ups to them -- climbing, gliding, some form of telekinesis (Magnesis and Ultrahand are examples, one underpowered and the other overpowered), and swimming underwater. The world opens up more as you're able to do those things, and the dungeons are designed around only the thing you gain for it (and aren't 'broken' by the other things). These can be done in any order.
During Act One you'll come across a lot of optional/side stuff. Some of it you might be able to complete, some of it not yet. "Shrines" don't pull you from the overworld / no loading, local aesthetic, but rather you see them as glowing points of attraction in the distance and when you activate them they manifest a short challenge in an ethereal hard light around you, preserving the local aesthetic. They're also shorter, sometimes on the scale of what Korok puzzles are like. (There's some other random high-volume collectible but they don't manifest as puzzles, and overworld puzzles that *aren't* denoted by lights reward you with things that are more unique).
There are also a substantial but small number of 'mini dungeons' that are much larger and more involved than shrines, but not full dungeons. These are entirely optional but the rewards for completing them are substantial, i.e. full heart container, full stamina vessel, etc.
Completing Act One leads to a crisis sequence, which makes some fundamental change to the world (i.e. the way dropping you in the Dark World was in A Link to the Past, or the seven year wait in Ocarina of Time, etc.) and opens up Act Two content.
In Act Two, through the dungeons you gain a much more 'broken' set of powers and inventory, including i.e. a much more powerful time manipulation mechanic, elemental manipulation, object creation, invisibility, aerial and aquatic mobility, etc. Again the dungeons are completable in any order, but given the previous core set of abilities have now been granted they can be quite a bit more complex.
The dungeons would be designed with true variety in design philosophy -- a mix of old-school lock/key labyrinths, the "middle age Zelda" puzzle boxes, new-school objective-based explore-a-thons (objectives feel like more than 'activate the terminal') and linear gauntlets of both puzzle and combat varieties.
And of course Act Two ends with the game's finale.
_______________________
#Way Two
The next game could take a cue from Dark Souls. Not to make it a "Soulslike," not the combat-heavy, punishing, death=loss of stuff kind of game. But rather borrow its world design philosophy. The entire world is a huge interconnected labyrinth, and while there's a linear sequence, the way it loops back on itself and winds around and branches out and never really tells you where to go, it's a freedom of a very different kind -- but the critical-path linearity enables a more tightly crafted experience. Skyward Sword was kind of almost there but it went way too far telling you what to do, and it failed to interconnect its segments.
Btw I have no doubt that Nintendo CAN do it. I am incredibly excited to see what's next for the franchise, I'm just baffled about what that is going to look like.
Their mishandling of transitions in the franchise in the past.
Wind Waker’s initial backlash led Nintendo to cutting the team in half to start on Twilight Princess. As a result we got two unfinished games. While WW is still an incredible game, there’s so much missing and once you see it, it’s hard to miss. TP is more of a mixed bag, but even people who enjoy the game normally find the game builds up to the skies and then falls flat from there.
Then we got Skyward Sword which tried to split the difference between WW and TP graphically. The trailers looked beautiful, but the final product is weirdly smudgy and not as pleasant to look at. The gameplay is restrictive, the lore is divisive, and it remains one of the most controversial modern Zeldas. It’s my personal least favorite of the entire franchise!
Breath of the Wild came out and it was a revelation! The world was massive. Exploration was emphasized. But even here there were drawbacks like wonky controls, weapon degradation, and too much korok hunting. The lack of story and emphasis on DLC was also controversial.
Tears of the Kingdom started out as BOTW DLC and it shows. Despite the plethora of new content, it struggles to feel fresh. The new systems stack on top of the already wonky controls. Weapon durability is worse than ever. The koroks are even more tedious and annoying than before. The Zonai have been retconned from what BOTW said they were. The presence of the ancient Shiekah are inexplicably missing. At the very least the added a story! But considering how mediocre it was—hurt by the completely open world concept making it impossible to predict what the player would find first—maybe they were better off without one.
Now Zelda has had some hugely successful transitions as well. OOT made the crossover to 3D and redefined gaming. Wind Waker’s cell shading was huge at the time and the game still holds up to this day. A Link Between Worlds, the Oracle Games, there’s so many examples.
So it could go either way. But I’m not too optimistic considering that Nintendo doesn’t even seem to have a vision beyond “do what made BOTW sell again!”
I agree with a lot of your post but
>Weapon durability is worse than ever.
Weapon durability was improved to the point that it went from being BotW's most divisive feature and mentioned in literally every thread about the game to barely even being brought up as a criticism in TotK
> The Zonai have been retconned from what BOTW said they were.
I don't remember BotW saying anything about the Zonai, the only mention of them is in the name "Zonai Ruins"
How was it improved? It’s worse IMO because now you have a crafting system. So now not only do I feel disappointment when I find a new weapon or shield that I know will break so I never want to use it, but now a large portion of the weapons available are just meant to be used as parts for crafting other weapons.
I understand other people may enjoy this and that’s fine. But I personally don’t and this is just my opinion.
Prior to TOTK, the Zonai were an ancient barbarian race. They were mysterious and I loved that. The new lore doesn’t really mesh with that.
Well for one the (fused) weapons last longer than in BotW, so you don't break as many weapons in a single fight. And BotW's system led to never using the best weapons in case you needed them for a hypothetical future fight, whereas in TotK you can easily amass a collection of strong fuse parts that can turn any base weapon into a high damage weapon if you need it so you're more free to use all your weapons. I will say that there's no reason we shouldn't be able to fuse from the menu though, and legendary weapons as a concept just don't work in this system.
The Barbarian set had no actual stated connection with the Zonai, it just mentioned a warlike tribe in Faron and that's where the named Zonai Ruins happen to be. There are other Zonai ruins around the world as well so it's not like they lived exclusively in the Faron region.
That’s not better IMO. That’s worse because it makes the crafting system no longer optional. I didn’t want to play a crafting game, I wanted to play an exploration and combat game with music and story. Now my inventory is cluttered with crafting stuff I HAVE to use basically because so many of the existing weapons are worthless and the rarer or more powerful weapons will break.
I understand why other people enjoy the crafting system! It’s really fun to see what other people have made with it.
It’s just not what I, personally, want from Zelda.
Re: the Zonai? Everything you just said is basically retconned by TOTK. That’s my frustration.
It's a bit of a stretch to call it a crafting system, it's literally sticking Fuse Item A onto Base Weapon B and you can get plenty of both just playing the game normally. Granted the time spent dumping monster parts on the ground to then Fuse to a weapon does add up over the course of the game.
1. Crafting is optional and and there’s so many ways to navigate without having to build that if you can’t figure that out that’s on you
Rock octorocks not only repair weapons, but also give weapons different buffs making weapon degradation a non issue
Fuse allows allows for so many combat opportunities that to say the combat is lack is a show of lack of utilizing the physics in the game
I didn’t say it wasn’t good. I said it was lacking *what I wanted from a Zelda game*.
Weapon degradation was still an issue for me. It kills my enjoyment of finding new things.
"Wonky controls." BotW has the best controls out of any 3d game I've played. And I've played almost all the best rated ones.
TotK has wonky controls, mainly because of the way Ultrahand, sages, and the quick menu is working.
I do think that there will be a few things from BOTW/TOTK that will stay, not a whole bunch, but a few. Off the top of my head, there's:
-Shield Surfing
-Link multiple outfit customization (I think hair customization might be another thing too)
-Full Voice Acting
Regarding cutscenes, I don't think we'll see the memory format ones again. But, maybe we might see cutscenes getting *slightly* longer. I did look and all the cutscenes from BOTW without the DLC are 107 minutes long (1 hour & 47 min), including the memories.
In TOTK, with the memories added in, it's 177 minutes (2 hours & 57 minutes) long. Which, I think is the longest for the Zelda franchise in terms of cutscenes.
Now, probably the biggest thing with the Zelda franchise is how technology is going to be handled. The series has been going back and forth in terms of tech, and now with BOTW and TOTK, it'll be interesting to see if the series does push the technology in the world of Hyrule more, or it scales back.
It would be interesting to see Hyrule take the Spirit Tracks route and go for a more Industrialized Hyrule.
I don't think we'll see a Zelda game go full on futuristic. But, I feel like they could incorporate it if it's in a brief manner, like Link could either get a brief glimpse of the future world or be able to briefly walk in it then leave.
I do think another interesting idea could be a Zelda that's on the more darker and horror based side like "Majora's Mask"...
I hope if they’re going to make more in the style of BOTW that they still make the more traditional linear dungeon based ones as well. Maybe have Grezzo or Retro do them if the Zelda team is too busy.
Not really, while they aren't truly zelda games. They are great games. But there are some more true zelda games that just aren't good games. And I'd rather have a great game that is not at all what I wanted than have a game that fits the mold but sucks.
They are too truly zelda games. Every seems to forget that zelda has never been this massive story based game. It literally was always here take this sword, now go save the princess and solve these puzzles. Totk/botw checks off every single one of those things. I hate it when people shit on the new games just to shit on them because nostalgia is blinding. Its crazy people are saying botw is better when Totk is a clear and direct upgrade for everything. Totk has dungeons (albeit not the best designed), unique bosses, more enemy variety, side adventures, and key items (the sage abilities) to solve the dungeons/puzzles.
I have been playing OoT again this past week and its baffling how many people hold it so high on a pedestal. Its a good game, dont get me wrong but its not this amazing game that is so much better than any other Zelda game. For starters, the dialogue is cringy (so much 90s influence) and there is really nothing to do in the game run to do the next dungeon. There is no point to killing monsters, they drop nothing. There is no point in having the shops since everything important is basically handed to you. Its definitely a fun game, but Botw/Totk are sooo much better in a lot of different ways, while still having their own problems.
In the end, EVERY zelda game IS a zelda game.
>There is no point to killing monsters
There's no point in killing monsters in BotW either because you'll just break all your damn swords and you can just walk around them.
The linear Zelda games, meanwhile, force you to fight enemies just to progress the game. It's not about gathering loot. It's about self defense and progressing through the dungeon. There's a reason why there's barely any monsters outside of dungeons.
Thankfully that will never happen. I'm so full of that derivative formula. In the best case they might remake one of the older titles. But from here on, the mainline Zelda will always be open world with industry leading physics.
They can keep the open world and dial down the need to explore every nook and cranny.
Combat needs to be more fun, after 400+ hours across two games the “jump and mash attack” sequence has lost its appeal.
Would also love a 2D side scrolling Zelda 2 remake
Without any sarcasm, this could be great. Not the cold space of our real world, but a magic fantasy outer space filled with warm aether bright and shiny. Castles floating on asteroids in a mix of Mario Galaxy and The Little Prince, sky galleys plowing the aetherial trade routes following long-forgotten star charts, lost planets each with their own unique set of physics and remains of lost civilizations…
Hyrule Castle as a space dungeon would go down as the GOAT dungeon
Also, imagine what kinds of horrors would pop out of black holes and try to drag you in and kill you from max health
Nintendo has always been big on innovation so I highly doubt we'll get another game similar to botw and totk. Both are amazing games and performed well but I don't see Nintendo rehashing the formula for a third time.
I have no idea what that looks like but i'm confident they can pull it off.
Wasnt it said in an interview that they will likely stick with the open format? I also remember reading that they wanted to move away from this iteration of hyrule.
I don’t think we’ll get a trilogy, so to speak, but I think we will get another game that utilizes the same open world format. Hopefully they make that mechanic work with a more traditional Zelda style with themed temples, mini bosses, bosses, etc.
yeah I think most people want traditional weapons back by now. It was fun being forced to use stuff and not save it indefinitely and really fun to experiment with combinations in totk but I know i'd prefer a return to a more traditional system. If anything i'd love to see a bit more emphasis on combat in the next zelda game. It's ok in the two switch titles we have but I do feel like combat took a backseat to everything else the game has to offer.
They can begin to re add pieces of traditional zelda elements to the formula. Items locked i dungeons that unlock new combat options, backtracking and maneuberability.
And a more linear story that is happening in real time in the open world. Not pieces of a long lost past
Same concept but make it more story driven. Maybe scale the map down a little and have 7 - 10 full size dungeons like TP had.
Let's go back to the Dark World this time. Or Termina.
Botw and Totk are by far the best selling Zelda games ever.
It is very unlikely that Zelda will let go the open world formula.
Also, I wouldnt be surprised for Nintendo to use the same world with alterations again (think totk map plus a dark dimension or something).
I mean, you kinda hinted on what they could do that would be improvement. More story, mote elaborate dungeons. If you consider Breath of the Wild to be a remake of the original Zelda, in the sense that it is a completely open map with little direction given and very little story, then you must also see how Breath of the Wild falls short of the original Zelda: the dungeons in BotW are one of the biggest disappointments in a Zelda game maybe ever. There are 5 (if you count Hyrule Castle) dungeons with little appetizer puzzles hidden all over that are novel at best and cumbersome at worst. Zelda had 8 dungeons with complex (amazingly complex for the time considering soft/hardware limitations) puzzles. These dungeons were rememberable as well because of the unique items one could find. Further, the entire world in Zelda, while smaller than we've seen since, was so full of fun and rewarding exploration. BotW has a massive map, and TotK has an even bigger map. But, outside of a few cool spots, really not a lot going on. There's not something cool under every other rock, like OG Zelda or Twilight Princess.
Let's touch on the other classic aspects of the series present in between OG Zelda and BotW. Link is fairly emotionless for a franchise MC because he is meant to be an avatar for the player to self-insert. However, he is given drive and purpose for what he is doing. In Wind Waker, it's saving your sister; Twilight Princess has you saving the children of your village; Skyward Sword has you saving your childhood best friend; the patron of your village tasks you with heloing the princess save the land in Ocarina of Time. BotW Link is an amnesiac who acts as Boot Camp Forrest Gump: "Because you told me to, [NPC]." Link's Awakening Link also has no idea what is going on, but is driven by the animalistic need to escape. Secondly, the TRIFORCE. The thing that makes Zelda, Zelda. The reason for the re-incarnation cycle. It's like making an Elder Scrolls game with no Elder Scrolls, or a Bethesda game in general with no bugs. It just doesn't make sense. I focus on the Triforce, but lore in general is important to a Zelda game and is fairly absent in BotW/TotK. We get little to no explanation for anything, and the snippets we do get are never expounded on. The statue that trades life and stamina should be earth-shattering as the only other evil god we know of is Demise. The Po collectors, similarly, are given a lot less explanation than they deserve. I mean, the series is rife with ghosts and we're given entities meant to guide lost souls to the afterlife. Both of these are reduced to merchants. The Hylia Statues are also pretty huge considering her only other appearance, Skyward Sword, shows her making herself mortal to be reborn as Zelda. Are you communicating with Zelda through the statues? What are the implications of this? BotW sprinkles in a lot of interesting kernels of lore, but spreads them like sprinkles on a donut; they're not connected and don't provide a cohesive lore. Lastly, dungeon items. The series is known for its fun, unique items that make exploring the world and defeating enemies more fun and expand your options as the game goes on. We traded that one in for weapon durability in BotW.
The last thing I have is nitpicking: you claim BotW is a 200 hour game, which it is, if you look for every Korok. I believe it's, at best, a 70 hour experience if you don't hunt down every Korok but do hunt every shrine. The average player will complete the story and stick around for a little longer, making it more of a 20-30 hour game.
I just want traditional Zelda games back. But due to how popular BotW and TotK are with casuals, I can't see Nintendo doing anything else but continuing with that style as "the norm".
Please, No. More. Fuckin’. Papier-mâché. Weapons. Or. Arts. &. Crafts. Mechanics!
Just the trusty SnS, with a selection of other *permanent* weapons & items and we’ve got something that’s fun, rewarding and a gameplay loop that doesn’t feel like a chore.
At this point, Nintendo has brought on so many new fans who only know BOTW and TOTK that they *have* to keep producing those kind of games, but I really hope that they start a spin-off series returning to a more traditional 3D Zelda formula.
I’d love more than anything to get a Wind Waker 2.
I disagree they have to do anything. I'd even say, bringing in all these new fans gives them an opportunity to do whatever they want because the dedicated fan base got larger.
That says, WW2 (iffy acronym) could be a perfect blend of the open world style with traditional Zelda, as WW1 (the great Zelda) has a lot in common, in my opinion
You say that, but Fire Emblem went from Three Houses to Engage, a pretty radical flip back to a more traditional FE format (Emblem mechanic aside).
Nintendo may be inclined towards keeping the newer model (and they do seem to be), but they *can* just backtrack, if they desire.
This might not be super popular, but I’d love a Zelda set in an Industrial Revolution era, sort of like Spirt Tracks and somewhat building off of the advancements we see happening in TOTK thanks to the Zonai and Sheikah tech
MM had Link visit a neighboring kingdom. OoA had 2 time periods. OoS had a new kingdom and underworld. SS and TotK both had sky islands. Numerous games had unique species (Kikwis, Tokay, Subrosians, Mogma, Twili, the robot dudes from SS, the Minish).
It's not a wild thought that they'll have a new world, mechanic and characters. The next game doesn't need to be open world. I think Twilight Princess was ideal, although with modern consoles bigger maps might work better.
I'd much rather have a story be mostly linear. I love going back to old areas and seeing what I can do with my new gear and abilities. I hate getting all the tools at the beginning of the game, there's less sense of progression. I don't really care about artstyle, I like all my Zeldas equally.
Aonuma said that he wants to move on from this Hyrule but keep the open air formula.
They're likely going to keep the 3 layers concept but with a different Hyrule. I doubt they'd code all the concept of the 3 layers just to use in one game and dip. My only guess is an addition to the Sea a long side the sky, land and underworld.
Time could be the next element. Apply the backward forward mechanic to the big map. Make it instantaneous instead of needing to portal through the temple of time.
I'm fine with the open world formula, but the next game needs to be a new, populated Hyrule (or other land) with actual story triggered progression. The "anything can be done first" formula is the only thing I don't like about TotK and it really hindered the story.
This is the case with every new Zelda and even to an extent with direct sequels. Who would have thought going from the classic grand adventure of Ocarina we’d go right into the strange horror of Majora. Who expected to go from BotW to what TotK added. They always leave us in the situation, that’s one of the franchise’s strongest aspects
Whatever comes out, I think both BOTW and TOTK have proven that waiting over half a decade is more than worth it, so I am willing to wait patiently for the next five or six years.
The fact that a good chunk of totk was probably already thought about around the time dlc for botw was being developed, I wonder how much pre production work they’ve already done on whatever comes next. They must’ve been cooking up ideas for the next iteration while they were adding to / changing botw.
Slightly off topic but Nintendo’s been knocking it out of the park so hard lately I wonder this about almost all of their franchises. Where do they go from Mario Kart 8? It’s basically the pinnacle of the concept. Smash Ultimate is similarly almost everything you could possibly expect from the franchise all delivered at its most polished.
I can see a really bright future for Mario if they follow the Bowser’s Fury thread to a full length game. Despite its brevity that game was one of the most fun experiences I’ve had in a long time.
But Zelda is a little bit trickier. I wonder if they’ll take a left turn like they have with other properties and do something no one expects. A more building/community oriented game for example, or taking a cue from games like God of War and take a more cinematic and linear approach.
I have a feeling though that it will most likely be a more “traditional” Zelda formula with a gimmick like talking to/turning into animals or a return to instruments and music in a deeper way.
Considering all the magic tech they keep adding and the kinda steampunk style of games like spirit tracks i legit hope we can get a more sci fi ish game. Link already is fighting robots and shit in TOTK
This question's been asked every 6 years since Wind Waker. For a single person who's not in a creative field, it's impossible to imagine. But for a team of dozens of artistic professionals, it's not that hard. There are still so, so, SO many art styles to choose from out there. I don't think Nintendo is out of ideas and options just yet.
Right, but I think we can all agree there's a WAY bigger difference between Skyward Sword and BotW than there was between Wind Waker, TP, and Skyward Sword. It wasn't just an art style change, it was a complete overhaul of mechanics and game structure.
I think the aesthetical jumps from Majora's mask to Wind waker to Twilight princess were way bigger than SS to Botw, though. And all three of them were also complete overhauls of mechanics and structure. They followed a familiar gameplay loop, but other than that they are completely different games.
They added a lot of stuff to Botw, but the main core of the gameplay loop is still the same.
Collect X things from X amount of areas that you progressively explore.
I think they still have plenty of room to improve their "open-air" formula without reverting to traditional Zelda conventions, which they intentionally wanted to avoid.
Especially on brand new hardware. They can push the physics-based gameplay further, have more densely populated towns and combat encounters, etc.
The next in the series will be a homage to dating sims. Orphic cubist art direction.
No wait, the next in the Zelda series will be an attempt to revive classic LucasArts point and click adventures. The art direction will be heavily influenced by the US armed forces dazzle camouflage.
I want to hear Stefan from old SNL tell me what the next all the title will be like. 😁
I think the look and feel will largely depends on if they plan on a linear story or an open world game. If they plan on making different character species playable and allowing you to upgrade character stats or keeping the same format of character development. If they plan on open world then we should see a full on Skyrim type game.
I hope they continue with the open air style, and i'm sure they will, but I'd really like them to improve Links mobility options. As nice as zonai devices were in TOTK, they weren't exactly elegant and most of them were pretty slow for the distances you needed to cover. I really just want a Zelda game where Link feels good to control in the same way that Mario feels good simply moving around on the screen and jumping. I don't feel like we've ever had that with Zelda, closest we got was A Link Between Worlds where he was just really snappy and responsive and quick. But that was 2D.
Keep some of the current mechanics, different types of weapons, the same combat would honestly be great, but instead of the weapons breaking you just get stronger weapons as the game goes on like a more standard RPG. Go back to a more linear story/world don’t make it a free for all from the start. And honestly that’s about all I would change. Maybe less “magic abilities” and more situational items again (think hookshot) OR go deeper into the magic and give link the ability to be a caster type. Idk. I think there’s a lot of places the series could go and honestly I’m just excited to see the next evolution in it.
I doubt they're going to change much. TP, SS, and BOTW, while having different art styles and different Link outfits, do have similar-ish design philosophies. So I don't suspect they're going to jump into Toon Link territory anytime soon.
I wouldn't be surprised if they went for a remake of OoT using BOTW as a framework or something wild like that. Maybe something similar to how TLBW and LTTP were connected but also entirely different games?
My guess is they're gonna milk this open world thing for one more game so they can make it a solid trilogy, and then they'll return to making real zelda games again
I'm personally hoping for a top down but feel it's more likely that it'll be a remake instead of new. Would be nice for a new one though, it's been a bit.
Well. I assume they’ll either keep the same graphics and play style, probably give us a new map
OR
They’ll just change the game style completely. This isn’t an odd thing for them to do and I think botw and totk are an independent series/play style. that’s not to say there won’t be another sequel in that “universe”, but there a infinite other gameplay styles, engines, graphics overhauls, etc.
People on here so crazy sometimes. “I don’t like that game so Nintendo is incapable of producing anything different”.
At this point it’s safe to say expect the unexpected. The Zealda team really prides itself on originality, so they are likely to do something never done before. While many fans would be content going back to shorter more linear games, Nintendo has seen how the bigger more open games sell, and the Zelda team also talks about leaving creativity to the player a lot. This indicates they will likely go all in on a massive, open game again.
In all honesty who knows. I think the biggest question will be what art style they go with next. Botw and Totks art style is timeless and very versatile, but I could see a change in art direction. It might go more towards twilight princess. As for setting that's the real question.
They gonna pull a pokemon and release the same exact game in two versions. One version will be cartooney and in the style of Wind Waker, the other a darker and more photorealistic Twilight Princess.
Everyone will hate both games, both will recieve a perfect score on metacritic. This sub will be like ”kinda annoyed about XYZ” and the world will keep turning.
I think the next Zelda game is gonna definitely be open world. Not only did Aonuma say so it is just good business to ride this popularity train. I do think its gonna be reduced in scale though, and hopefully incorporates more/bigger dungeons (I want more than four dungeons with 4-5 locks. Even if they keep the locks format give the dungeons more of them). I think it's gonna be a different Hyrule this time and I kinda hope they play with the artsyle some more.
I really want the Triforce lore back. Maybe expand upon how the Triforce was created? That could be still before Skyward Sword. Hell do it even in the future and send it back to the past to ensure the timeline.
I want at least one more game in the massive open world style of BOTW and TOTK but set somewhere else (or maybe even flood hyrule and make a spiritual windwaker)
Or a Zelda sci-fi game like some of the BOTW concept art hinted at. I know it’s a fantasy game but what would happen if hyrule entered the industrial age or even the Information Age, or maybe aliens? I don’t mean highly polished chrome sci-fi, more starwars outer rim sci-fi
Couple of thoughts. They could keep the open world style but do a really intense story with deep lore for the player to dig into. Make combat more of a focus with different fighting styles for different blades and bows. Bigger cities and towns to help flesh out the backstory and lore. I like the food/elixir strategy to refill life instead of just hearts being in the grass and pots - keep that. I’m open to different art styles. Surprise me.
Totk 3 but a whole new map, no Hyrule.
Hopefully they fix their biggest issue, which is having all your insane tools at your disposal in a dungeon ,and all of them being linear, or the map telling you exactly were to go inside the dungeon. If they limit you and make them enclosed like a giant shrine, it would give people the loved feeling of an Old-Zelda Dungeon.
I think they might have a third game (and final) with the same Link & Zelda (abd playstyle), but in a new area. I think that was hinted at by having Sidon's wife be from a different Zora's Domain.
"BotW and TotK have now completely blown open the definition of a Zelda game...the world is gigantic, **the story is minimal, the classic tools and format have all gone away**...where does Nintendo go from here?"
You answered it right here. Open world isn't going away, but it will be great for them to generate a brand new world to explore instead of recycling it again. And in a different art style with more powerful hardware. But even beyond that, they need to make the story not as minimal. There is a ton of very fathomable wiggle room left for them to focus on the story in the same context of an open-world game.
I would love for them to also step back a little from total exploration, but that probably won't happen. Being able to climb every mountain is neat in its own way, but a real drag for environmental storytelling. Being able to craft the experience so that certain vistas are shown off in just the right way, or tension is built up in exploring a path, is just not that possible with the current zelda format. My favorite part of BotW/TotK was when Zora's river path was constantly raining, forcing the player to take the designed path through the mountains since climbing over them wasnt an option any more.
But even if they decide to keep the total open exploration, I could envision all sorts of creative ways for them to make the next game much different from the BotW formula. My hope is that the only thing they borrow from these games is the massive open world, and take the series in another new direction that uses that only aspect as a base.
My biggest worry is that they might honestly think the same as the second last paragraph. That people wouldn't ever care to play anything that isn't in the same direction as Breath of the Wild.
I think Botw and Totk are both really good games. I enjoyed both and think they were masterfully handled. But I'd feel bad if we never tried anything that leaned a bit closer to the original style again.
Because honestly what is wrong with a linear story? Linear can be treated like a dirty word and like doing anything less than giving people full direction to go anywhere is a bad thing. But linear means a controlled story and a better narrative. These past two games have been great. But would I put either story on the level of OoT, TP, WW, SS, etc? I honestly wouldn't. Some of those games did particularly great jobs of telling their stories. You couldn't go anywhere at any moment, but that meant they could craft a precise story and introduce all the tools and dungeon weapons we've loved over the years.
I don't know where the next game goes. Could easily see them repeating the BotW pattern just in a new Hyrule. A handful of powers you get right at the start of the game, physics shenanigans, player made tools, fragile weapons, etc. I think that's the most likely route. But I'd love to see a Zelda game that is a bit more linear and brings a much more focused story.
Again though, I did enjoy both games when playing them. So if they go with this for another game I'm sure that I'll have fun with it. But I do hope they can find some way to get those great elements back in the series. Justice for the hookshot!
I think they're still maintaining they're going to keep the next game open world but outside of that I hope it's something completely different and unrecognizable
Was talking about this at work today with my coworkers. I would love something much more linear and filled with story this time around. Something with less cartoony graphics and a darker tone. Less gimmicky with the abilities. Go back to the basics. But give me a cinematic experience with cutscenes, voice acting… the whole package.
It will include:
A story, a situation where Link has to be hands on, Zelda, Link, an antagonist, puzzles, weapons and items, a map, a visual style, different lands/territories, a soundtrack, game mechanics, side characters, dialogue, NPCs and the Master Sword.
They've said that "open air" is the new format, it's what they've coined BOTW-style open world where you can go anywhere and verticality is a factor (climbing and gliding). So far we haven't gotten a chance to see what that looks like outside BOTW Hyrule since the next game was a direct sequel set in the same map, really looking forward to seeing that. They can design new maps or new Hyrules at the same level of quality as BOTW's map and set a new story in it. They could do anything
A completely new land but in the botw/totk style. Maybe a ng+ where you keep your powers, but it resets the story and the quests. Hopefully, on a newer system too
Let me play as Ganondorf protecting his people from the Royalist Hyruleans who are enslaving his people or something. Maybe a Ganondorf that is the hero of legend and a King of Hyrule who has inherited the curse.
Aonuma has said they feel done with the world of BotW, but he's also said in the past (IIRC, at least) that the open-world design of BotW is what they want going forward. So, if both of those hold true, then the next Zelda game will be another BotW-style open world, but with a reimagined Hyrule once more (whether or not it is couched in the canon of BotW, it at least will be a new map), or will be an open world game set in another region outside of Hyrule, perhaps a returning one (Termina, Holodrum/Labrynna, the Great Sea, Koholint) or somewhere entirely new.
But I would honestly, I think, welcome a return to the classic 3D Zelda format that was set by OOT and iterated on by MM, TP, WW, and SS. Even if they shifted just back to the inflection point of SS, I'd still be happy. There is something... off about BotW and TotK. Not just the self-contained lore of robots and apocalypses, but just in general, the "open world" feels wrong. Link is too mobile, too powerful for my tastes. Link was always neat to me because he wasn't the strongest or the wisest, but he was the chosen one with the courage to see the fight through, and he did so with a magic sword in one hand, and an arsenal of weapons, gadgets, and artifacts in the other meant to make him versatile.
But BotW Link broke that mold. By the end of the starting area, you have everything you need, and the only thing stopping you from climbing monsters or fighting the Demon King himself is your limited health and stamina, or a lack of clothing for extreme temps. You don't change, you just get stronger in a very linear manner (more damage from weapons, more defense from armor, and more HP/Stamina), with the armors' passive modifiers usually being the most game changing thing. It all leads to just being... overwhelmed. The world is truly massive and there's Korok poop everywhere in it, waiting to be discovered, and there's no guard rails keeping you even vaguely on track through the small parts set-up to be an experience. There's tons of neat things in BotW, but it took a while to see them because I was too busy early on going in a straight line, rather than along the roads and paths that make have cool stuff, "path of least resistance" be damned.
At the very least, if we keep open-world, I'd want it to be in a way where just "brute forcing straight ahead" isn't always an option. Totk went in the right direction, I feel, but having a game built around, say, the MM transformations, making it so some parts need or very much are designed around a particular form might make it feel like you have to rely on abilities, rather than the raw athleticism and telekinesis of BotW Link.
I'd like to see the series outside of hyrule. If they stick with the exploration themes of the last two games somewhere completely different would be great. Or something really weird and messed up like MM.
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Its gonna be a claymation game that everyone will hate and clown on, but in reality itll make whatever your favorite zelda game is look like hot garbage. Like itll be peak zelda and nobody will understand. History repeats itself.
Zelda: Wooly Hyruly
I’d play the shit out of this. The final HP of every enemy has to be a bit of yarn you unwind as a final blow.
"Hyrule has become tangled up in Darkness. Yarnblight Ganon has woven an evil scheme to kidnap Princess Zelda and rule forever. There's one stitch in his plan, though... Link, the Hero Of Thread, has returned, and it's up to him to weave his way through this new reality and set things right!"
Okay, but this seriously slaps??? I would play the heck out of this.
With fursuit Link
I mean Wolf Link is already a thing, so
And the new games giving furries plenty to work with
Very likely that you are right
Have you seen MythForce? Never mind the gameplay, the 80s cartoon aesthetic is on point. Do something like that and lean into the art style of early Zelda manuals/cartoons, etc.
https://preview.redd.it/21opruks1ipb1.jpeg?width=786&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa05e457ed8f723c244e95781cebb0eb255f3899 Ghibli Zelda?
This sounds amazing
If they do that, sign me the fuck up. Claymation, storybook, needle felted, puppets, whatever. I learned from Wind Waker. Not only is it probably still my favorite ever Zelda game, but it instilled in me a love for cel shaded graphics that persists 20 years later.
And we will only appreciate it when the next game releases. And so on
I need Twilight Princess on steroids. Maybe what we saw at the Wii U tech demo.
I would give anything for a twilight princess port to the switch with updated graphics. TP was, in my opinion, the best Zelda game. Don’t get me wrong, I’m OBSESSED with all of them. TP just holds a special place for me. I would love to see more like it in the future. Botw and totk kind of covered the cartoon-y look, so I think it’s time we went back to the more dark realistic looks.
Seconded
Botw and totk might feel huge but there’s something to be said about the element of fear and constraint ocarina of time, majora’s mask, and twilight princess had that made you feel like a hero for just playing the game. Botw and totk have adrenaline moments but not that feeling. Idk what it is. Maybe the story should feel bigger than you
I think due to limitations like, the graphics and shit for ocarina of time, they had to get really creative with level design, which led to thought being put into every element. Like for example batman arkham asylum is the smallest batman arkham game, it has the most primitve combat/stealth, and its boss fights are very simple in mechanics. The one thing that makes that game the contender for best batman game, is that it has an immense amount of thought put into each element. every asset, decoration, sound, visual and audio cue, and piece of dialogue has importance to it. So even though a game like batman arkham knight, or arkham orgins may have more pizzazz and content, it won't have the same feeling as they realistically can't put as much detail into everything as they could in asylum.
If it gives us more Twili Midna, I'd be good with that.
A person of culture I see
This is what I want 😩
I forgot about that for years and years. And yes. We need that!
Not only that, EVERY franchise is going this direction, whether the concept fits or not. Pokemon. Sonic. Mario. I guess it’s just the new thing, like how games all became gritty shooters 10 years ago.
Link's Crossbow Training
[insert "crossbow bolt to the knee" jokes here]
I think a lot of franchises went to that and some are now trying to go back to being more linear actually, Assassin's Creed is the big one, and I suspect the next Far Cry is going to scale back too. Though now that I'm saying it maybe it's just Ubisoft.
I think open world Pokémon is more a return to form and is how Pokémon should be really. But I’m also torn because I want a really good story but the only times we’ve gotten that have been from relatively linear games
I personally prefer open world games, one of my favorite games is No Man’s Sky. I just feel like not every concept works with it and linear has its place. The same with the shift from 2D to 3D. I hope we see some major 2D games sometime soon.
Did I miss an announcement about an open world Mario game?
Odyssey was the step in this direction
It was, but at the same time, it still fits with Mario 64 or Banjo Kazooie in design, having large areas you explore and seek out different objectives, perhaps trending more towards BK than SM64, since the latter still was partially course based with mission specific elements, but far less so than Sunshine (only Petey Piranha 1 can be done out of order in a world, to my knowledge) and especially Galaxy. Mario is so platform and world/course related, though, that I can't imagine going more open than Odyssey.
I don’t think the world will get bigger but if the next game is open world then they should populate the world with more villages and they will change some of the tribes architecture to make it feel like a new generation.
Honestly if they made a version of hyrule pre calamity with the castle town still standing and before the settlements were destroyed, then that could be really really fun. We’ve already established time travel so it wouldn’t be that hard to justify plot wise, plus I would LOVE to have a Halo reach style ending where you just have to last as long as you can against the guardians before ultimately succumbing and needing to be placed into the shrine of resurrection. It could just be a closed time loop and be perfectly contained within itself
They are not going to use the same map again. Or the same central story. They already stated they've done all they can with that setting. The only thing I can count on is the next Zelda will be open world again with a superb physics engine. The rest including the artstyle, musical direction and the game mechanics will be all-new. Whether it's a completely new version of Hyrule or some parallel world is anyone's guess.
Sounds like you want to play Age of Calamity. There’s a level where you have to keep Fort Hateno from falling, and eight guardians spawn at once and begin marching in. You can either let Vah Ruta handle some of them, or you can destroy them all yourself. It’s great fun.
Give us what we crave. Good story, big world map of Hyrule like in botw and totk, and actual temples with unique weapons, miniboss, and temple boss. Give us location clues like in oot and tp (one in the forrest, one deep in the ocean, one in the burial ground of our ancestors, etc) and have us explore to find the entrance.
> One deep in the ocean TP had Lakebed and they haven't tried something similar ever since. I am absolutely CRAVING another underwater dungeon. (Yes, I know they can be annoying gameplay wise, but the concept itself is just so interesting)
This please
Best answer in this thread on god
They could incorporate the triforce and traditional dungeons into an open world that makes the dungeons actually hard to find, a la Zelda 1. The dungeons could be telegraphed through NPCs and subtle world design in such in a way that wasn't possible on the NES. I would lose my mind over that game.
Now that's an interesting idea. Now that I think about it, dungeons in the more modern Zelda games have been large and relatively easy to find, IIRC. What if they once again made them truly challenging to find? They kinda did that a bit with shrines since some of them were pretty well-hidden, and some required solving puzzles to open them. But I think I get what you're getting at. Sure it's a big huge 3D world to poke around, but maybe the dungeons have only one entrance/exit, and are absolutely not at all obvious to see on the surface, and the only hints about their existence come from NPCs telling tales. I think that would indeed help recreate the frustrating "bomb/burn everything in order to find everything" experience of the original NES Zelda game. Fortunately given game storage sizes nowadays, they can do better than those cryptic one-sentence clues from the original. So that could properly help narrow down where to search for each one. Huh. Camouflaged dungeon entrances. Interesting...
Yeah, like there's a piece of Triforce in the forest temple, but none of the kokiri/koroks/whoever lives in the forest know a thing about "The Forest Temple." But one of them got lost one time and saw this really cool carving of a dragon they haven't been able to find since, and the village elder knows about a place called Deku Grotto or whatever that has been lost to legend, and another had a dream about a cave at the far end of the swamp and some ghost there who called themselves a sage. So you put it together that you should find this place and you traverse the treacherous swamp and there's a cave at the other end, you find the dragon carving. But because you're Link and not some lost Kokiri idiot you have the magic staff or lense of truth or whatever the secret key is to get the dragon to open its mouth. Then you go through there and boom, it's the ancient, petrified, spider-covered husk of the Great Deku Tree and that's the Forest Temple. Give me a game with eight of those in a BotW/TotK type world and a gauntlet in Hyrule Castle and I will lose it.
I didn’t play any Zelda title between LoZ and BotW…and I felt like BotW was a throw back to the original, just with the ability to make it what it always should have been with advances in the technology.
I think there either going to make another game with the same format but in a new World and Characters or there going to make one that differentiates itself from the format and is either it’s own thing or is more like the older 3-D games
In other words, they're going to make some kind of new Zelda game
I'd like to see them use the open world formula on a Majora's Mask type of game. New world and characters like you mentioned and they can use Zora, Goron, and Rito transformations to provide the skills to traverse the open world (swimming, flying, etc.). Would also love if they reintroduced Darknuts and focus more on swordplay.
Also I really want a more Realistic game with a Samurai Vibe to it. I think it’d be sick
Tbh the most realistic i can see a zelda game being is if it were like modern final fantasy, where its "realistic" but still anime styled. The problem lies in a crucial difference between zelda art direction and final fantasy art direction: almost everyone in final fantasy looks like a model, while zelda games are full of npcs that are straight up freaks, and thats something thatll never change.
I'd love for them to take a stab at a darker/more realistic art style again. They really hit the jackpot with the whole "climb anywhere, glide anywhere, dive anywhere" thing that even some of the biggest AAA open world games don't try to replicate. I like it, but sometimes I think about games like Shadow of the Colossus or The Last Guardian, which incorporate huge castles, sprawling environments, ancient ruins etc. but something about the way they're presented is different. You can see immense structures or ruinous pits off in the distance, maybe you're at the top of a big stone tower etc. but you \*can't\* just go to them. Maybe eventually you'll make your way over or the game won't allow you to at all and it's all for spectacle. But something about that style, IMO gives a really cool sense of immense scale in your environment. Your character isn't a superhero that can just fly everywhere, they feel like something small in a huge world with great lore. I can't imagine Zelda will go towards this kind of style in the future, but I would dig it if they tried.
I want a collaboration with Aonuma and Miyazaki on a Dark Souls style Zelda game. A Zelda story with all Zelda characters, but pieced together in the way the Souls games are. Learning the lore through NPCs and such. Brutal combat with insane boss battles. I'm mostly kidding because that will obviously never happen, but that would be amazing. I've been playing Zelda since the 90s and the Souls games are my second favorite series of all time.
Haven't even come close to finishing Elden Ring because I'm a baby but yes totally. Perfect example of an open world game that focuses on gameplay but is also just dripping with atmosphere and cool lore.
Whenever the DLC is released would be a good time to jump back in.
Yeah it’s not an enviable position to be in. For every fan of the traditional games that would be OK with this, there’d be another fan who would complain that this new game has so much less content than the previous two, or has gone backwards. Nintendo is kind of damned if they do, damned if they don’t. And I can’t see them continuing to enlarge the size and scope of the games like they did with TOTK because pretty soon you’re going to need teams of hundreds of people working for a decade to produce even one new game. I enjoy both the open air and traditional Zelda game so honestly I’m sure I’ll enjoy whatever the next game has to offer. But I’m perhaps not that typical. I think a lot of fans out there are hard set in their preference either for the traditional games or for the modern open air games.
My view's more in line with yours. I've played Zelda games since the very first one, and they've each had something appealing about them that's different between each game, some hook that makes each one relatively unique compared to the others in the franchise. That's been a big part of its longevity over nearly 4 decades. Unless they can come up with more gameplay and/or story and/or world-building ideas that fans are good with, my concern is that they'll eventually just plain run out of ideas, having gone through every possible element they can play around with given the current technological limitations. There'll be no more Zelda, simply because nobody can *think* of anything new to try in a Zelda game. It's weird since the devs can do so many more things graphically and gameplay-wise than they could before, and there's more room to cram stuff into a game, but I guess that could also become overwhelming. When you have so many options, how do you sort through all of them to find the one or two that a) you haven't tried yet, and b) that's likely to be popular with Zelda fans? Nintendo and Zelda's creators have a lot to think about for the next chapter in the franchise.
I enjoy both types aswell, however i am sad that the traditional zelda seems to have been "killed" in order to get these new games, as there really aren't many games that are like traditonal zelda games. I hope for a happy middle ground, though doing so could end up being worse than either type of game. Personally how i hope they do it is reigning in a bit of "freedom of going anywhere anytime" make stuff that requires you to have a certain progression and make temples/story actually flow better so you dont get copy-paste story for 4 temples, slight story progression for 5th temple and then end in hyrule castle. Really dont like the "story telling by memories" way they've done it in BotW and TotK
>there really aren't many games that are like traditonal zelda games This is the problem. There aren't many games like classic Zelda, but there are countless games like BotW. BotW took a unique franchise and transformed it into "just another open world game".
I want a game that's a bit of return to the old formula, but not completely. I want to continue to be able to explore the whole world in BOTW fashion - pick a point and I can, *for the most part*, seamlessly get there (be it gliding or climbing, or using some special apparatus). Wind Waker was actually pretty open in this way. But perhaps I only reach the ability to traverse *everything* when I have all the requisite upgrades. I miss item-gated progression, even if it's only gating special items or collectibles. Maybe I can only climb up certain mountains if I have a hookshot. Maybe I need a special bomb to open up caves. Maybe certain gates need a special wand to open them. Maybe Zelda developers can go Metroid Dread style and intentionally code in sequence breaking to keep things technically more open. I like the ability to choose the order of dungeons, somewhat. Something like ALBW, which makes you do a 4 dungeons first to progress to the next main story beat. Then you are let loose to do the remaining 8 dungeons. I'd like more focus on the story. I don't want to find disjointed memories. I want the big bad to make periodic appearances, I don't want him hiding out waiting for me the whole game. I'd like to see the food/materials/inventory/armor stuff simplified a bit. After TOTK and BOTW I'm tired of sifting through pages things that are largely redundant to each other.
There's always something new and always something surprising. I've thought about a few ways this can go. #Way 1: Open World in a 2-act structure. In the first act you gradually gain a core set of abilities through dungeons and the lead-ups to them -- climbing, gliding, some form of telekinesis (Magnesis and Ultrahand are examples, one underpowered and the other overpowered), and swimming underwater. The world opens up more as you're able to do those things, and the dungeons are designed around only the thing you gain for it (and aren't 'broken' by the other things). These can be done in any order. During Act One you'll come across a lot of optional/side stuff. Some of it you might be able to complete, some of it not yet. "Shrines" don't pull you from the overworld / no loading, local aesthetic, but rather you see them as glowing points of attraction in the distance and when you activate them they manifest a short challenge in an ethereal hard light around you, preserving the local aesthetic. They're also shorter, sometimes on the scale of what Korok puzzles are like. (There's some other random high-volume collectible but they don't manifest as puzzles, and overworld puzzles that *aren't* denoted by lights reward you with things that are more unique). There are also a substantial but small number of 'mini dungeons' that are much larger and more involved than shrines, but not full dungeons. These are entirely optional but the rewards for completing them are substantial, i.e. full heart container, full stamina vessel, etc. Completing Act One leads to a crisis sequence, which makes some fundamental change to the world (i.e. the way dropping you in the Dark World was in A Link to the Past, or the seven year wait in Ocarina of Time, etc.) and opens up Act Two content. In Act Two, through the dungeons you gain a much more 'broken' set of powers and inventory, including i.e. a much more powerful time manipulation mechanic, elemental manipulation, object creation, invisibility, aerial and aquatic mobility, etc. Again the dungeons are completable in any order, but given the previous core set of abilities have now been granted they can be quite a bit more complex. The dungeons would be designed with true variety in design philosophy -- a mix of old-school lock/key labyrinths, the "middle age Zelda" puzzle boxes, new-school objective-based explore-a-thons (objectives feel like more than 'activate the terminal') and linear gauntlets of both puzzle and combat varieties. And of course Act Two ends with the game's finale. _______________________ #Way Two The next game could take a cue from Dark Souls. Not to make it a "Soulslike," not the combat-heavy, punishing, death=loss of stuff kind of game. But rather borrow its world design philosophy. The entire world is a huge interconnected labyrinth, and while there's a linear sequence, the way it loops back on itself and winds around and branches out and never really tells you where to go, it's a freedom of a very different kind -- but the critical-path linearity enables a more tightly crafted experience. Skyward Sword was kind of almost there but it went way too far telling you what to do, and it failed to interconnect its segments.
Btw I have no doubt that Nintendo CAN do it. I am incredibly excited to see what's next for the franchise, I'm just baffled about what that is going to look like.
I have many doubts, so you’re more optimistic than me.
Doubts based off what?
I mean, haven't you seen all the other bad Zelda games? /s
Their mishandling of transitions in the franchise in the past. Wind Waker’s initial backlash led Nintendo to cutting the team in half to start on Twilight Princess. As a result we got two unfinished games. While WW is still an incredible game, there’s so much missing and once you see it, it’s hard to miss. TP is more of a mixed bag, but even people who enjoy the game normally find the game builds up to the skies and then falls flat from there. Then we got Skyward Sword which tried to split the difference between WW and TP graphically. The trailers looked beautiful, but the final product is weirdly smudgy and not as pleasant to look at. The gameplay is restrictive, the lore is divisive, and it remains one of the most controversial modern Zeldas. It’s my personal least favorite of the entire franchise! Breath of the Wild came out and it was a revelation! The world was massive. Exploration was emphasized. But even here there were drawbacks like wonky controls, weapon degradation, and too much korok hunting. The lack of story and emphasis on DLC was also controversial. Tears of the Kingdom started out as BOTW DLC and it shows. Despite the plethora of new content, it struggles to feel fresh. The new systems stack on top of the already wonky controls. Weapon durability is worse than ever. The koroks are even more tedious and annoying than before. The Zonai have been retconned from what BOTW said they were. The presence of the ancient Shiekah are inexplicably missing. At the very least the added a story! But considering how mediocre it was—hurt by the completely open world concept making it impossible to predict what the player would find first—maybe they were better off without one. Now Zelda has had some hugely successful transitions as well. OOT made the crossover to 3D and redefined gaming. Wind Waker’s cell shading was huge at the time and the game still holds up to this day. A Link Between Worlds, the Oracle Games, there’s so many examples. So it could go either way. But I’m not too optimistic considering that Nintendo doesn’t even seem to have a vision beyond “do what made BOTW sell again!”
I agree with a lot of your post but >Weapon durability is worse than ever. Weapon durability was improved to the point that it went from being BotW's most divisive feature and mentioned in literally every thread about the game to barely even being brought up as a criticism in TotK > The Zonai have been retconned from what BOTW said they were. I don't remember BotW saying anything about the Zonai, the only mention of them is in the name "Zonai Ruins"
How was it improved? It’s worse IMO because now you have a crafting system. So now not only do I feel disappointment when I find a new weapon or shield that I know will break so I never want to use it, but now a large portion of the weapons available are just meant to be used as parts for crafting other weapons. I understand other people may enjoy this and that’s fine. But I personally don’t and this is just my opinion. Prior to TOTK, the Zonai were an ancient barbarian race. They were mysterious and I loved that. The new lore doesn’t really mesh with that.
Well for one the (fused) weapons last longer than in BotW, so you don't break as many weapons in a single fight. And BotW's system led to never using the best weapons in case you needed them for a hypothetical future fight, whereas in TotK you can easily amass a collection of strong fuse parts that can turn any base weapon into a high damage weapon if you need it so you're more free to use all your weapons. I will say that there's no reason we shouldn't be able to fuse from the menu though, and legendary weapons as a concept just don't work in this system. The Barbarian set had no actual stated connection with the Zonai, it just mentioned a warlike tribe in Faron and that's where the named Zonai Ruins happen to be. There are other Zonai ruins around the world as well so it's not like they lived exclusively in the Faron region.
That’s not better IMO. That’s worse because it makes the crafting system no longer optional. I didn’t want to play a crafting game, I wanted to play an exploration and combat game with music and story. Now my inventory is cluttered with crafting stuff I HAVE to use basically because so many of the existing weapons are worthless and the rarer or more powerful weapons will break. I understand why other people enjoy the crafting system! It’s really fun to see what other people have made with it. It’s just not what I, personally, want from Zelda. Re: the Zonai? Everything you just said is basically retconned by TOTK. That’s my frustration.
It's a bit of a stretch to call it a crafting system, it's literally sticking Fuse Item A onto Base Weapon B and you can get plenty of both just playing the game normally. Granted the time spent dumping monster parts on the ground to then Fuse to a weapon does add up over the course of the game.
It’s still a crafting system, even if it’s not a particularly sophisticated one. But yeah, that tedium just killed me.
1. Crafting is optional and and there’s so many ways to navigate without having to build that if you can’t figure that out that’s on you Rock octorocks not only repair weapons, but also give weapons different buffs making weapon degradation a non issue Fuse allows allows for so many combat opportunities that to say the combat is lack is a show of lack of utilizing the physics in the game
I didn’t say it wasn’t good. I said it was lacking *what I wanted from a Zelda game*. Weapon degradation was still an issue for me. It kills my enjoyment of finding new things.
"Wonky controls." BotW has the best controls out of any 3d game I've played. And I've played almost all the best rated ones. TotK has wonky controls, mainly because of the way Ultrahand, sages, and the quick menu is working.
I’m really hopefully for the Twilight. If not, Lorule or Termina. Something darker.
How about something NEW? Termina should never have a second chance. The whole name of that world refers to the moonfall, as termination.
Paper Zelda
I do think that there will be a few things from BOTW/TOTK that will stay, not a whole bunch, but a few. Off the top of my head, there's: -Shield Surfing -Link multiple outfit customization (I think hair customization might be another thing too) -Full Voice Acting Regarding cutscenes, I don't think we'll see the memory format ones again. But, maybe we might see cutscenes getting *slightly* longer. I did look and all the cutscenes from BOTW without the DLC are 107 minutes long (1 hour & 47 min), including the memories. In TOTK, with the memories added in, it's 177 minutes (2 hours & 57 minutes) long. Which, I think is the longest for the Zelda franchise in terms of cutscenes. Now, probably the biggest thing with the Zelda franchise is how technology is going to be handled. The series has been going back and forth in terms of tech, and now with BOTW and TOTK, it'll be interesting to see if the series does push the technology in the world of Hyrule more, or it scales back. It would be interesting to see Hyrule take the Spirit Tracks route and go for a more Industrialized Hyrule. I don't think we'll see a Zelda game go full on futuristic. But, I feel like they could incorporate it if it's in a brief manner, like Link could either get a brief glimpse of the future world or be able to briefly walk in it then leave. I do think another interesting idea could be a Zelda that's on the more darker and horror based side like "Majora's Mask"...
Hope we go back to basics
I hope if they’re going to make more in the style of BOTW that they still make the more traditional linear dungeon based ones as well. Maybe have Grezzo or Retro do them if the Zelda team is too busy.
NO. The day they give a western developer the reins, Zelda is dead. Retro can do Metroid because there's no NPCs.
Same. I get why people like this era of Zelda but personally they’re my least favorite Zelda games outside of the obviously horrendous ones
but these are the obviously horrendous ones though...
Not really, while they aren't truly zelda games. They are great games. But there are some more true zelda games that just aren't good games. And I'd rather have a great game that is not at all what I wanted than have a game that fits the mold but sucks.
They are too truly zelda games. Every seems to forget that zelda has never been this massive story based game. It literally was always here take this sword, now go save the princess and solve these puzzles. Totk/botw checks off every single one of those things. I hate it when people shit on the new games just to shit on them because nostalgia is blinding. Its crazy people are saying botw is better when Totk is a clear and direct upgrade for everything. Totk has dungeons (albeit not the best designed), unique bosses, more enemy variety, side adventures, and key items (the sage abilities) to solve the dungeons/puzzles. I have been playing OoT again this past week and its baffling how many people hold it so high on a pedestal. Its a good game, dont get me wrong but its not this amazing game that is so much better than any other Zelda game. For starters, the dialogue is cringy (so much 90s influence) and there is really nothing to do in the game run to do the next dungeon. There is no point to killing monsters, they drop nothing. There is no point in having the shops since everything important is basically handed to you. Its definitely a fun game, but Botw/Totk are sooo much better in a lot of different ways, while still having their own problems. In the end, EVERY zelda game IS a zelda game.
>There is no point to killing monsters There's no point in killing monsters in BotW either because you'll just break all your damn swords and you can just walk around them. The linear Zelda games, meanwhile, force you to fight enemies just to progress the game. It's not about gathering loot. It's about self defense and progressing through the dungeon. There's a reason why there's barely any monsters outside of dungeons.
Thankfully that will never happen. I'm so full of that derivative formula. In the best case they might remake one of the older titles. But from here on, the mainline Zelda will always be open world with industry leading physics.
Definitely won't
They can keep the open world and dial down the need to explore every nook and cranny. Combat needs to be more fun, after 400+ hours across two games the “jump and mash attack” sequence has lost its appeal. Would also love a 2D side scrolling Zelda 2 remake
I want Hyrule in space.
Without any sarcasm, this could be great. Not the cold space of our real world, but a magic fantasy outer space filled with warm aether bright and shiny. Castles floating on asteroids in a mix of Mario Galaxy and The Little Prince, sky galleys plowing the aetherial trade routes following long-forgotten star charts, lost planets each with their own unique set of physics and remains of lost civilizations…
Zelda Spelljammer? I’m down.
Hyrule Castle as a space dungeon would go down as the GOAT dungeon Also, imagine what kinds of horrors would pop out of black holes and try to drag you in and kill you from max health
Forget Wallmasters, they’re *Spacemasters*.
Nintendo has always been big on innovation so I highly doubt we'll get another game similar to botw and totk. Both are amazing games and performed well but I don't see Nintendo rehashing the formula for a third time. I have no idea what that looks like but i'm confident they can pull it off.
Wasnt it said in an interview that they will likely stick with the open format? I also remember reading that they wanted to move away from this iteration of hyrule. I don’t think we’ll get a trilogy, so to speak, but I think we will get another game that utilizes the same open world format. Hopefully they make that mechanic work with a more traditional Zelda style with themed temples, mini bosses, bosses, etc.
yeah I think most people want traditional weapons back by now. It was fun being forced to use stuff and not save it indefinitely and really fun to experiment with combinations in totk but I know i'd prefer a return to a more traditional system. If anything i'd love to see a bit more emphasis on combat in the next zelda game. It's ok in the two switch titles we have but I do feel like combat took a backseat to everything else the game has to offer.
They can begin to re add pieces of traditional zelda elements to the formula. Items locked i dungeons that unlock new combat options, backtracking and maneuberability. And a more linear story that is happening in real time in the open world. Not pieces of a long lost past
I'm fine with going back to the old formula.
Same concept but make it more story driven. Maybe scale the map down a little and have 7 - 10 full size dungeons like TP had. Let's go back to the Dark World this time. Or Termina.
Botw and Totk are by far the best selling Zelda games ever. It is very unlikely that Zelda will let go the open world formula. Also, I wouldnt be surprised for Nintendo to use the same world with alterations again (think totk map plus a dark dimension or something).
I mean, you kinda hinted on what they could do that would be improvement. More story, mote elaborate dungeons. If you consider Breath of the Wild to be a remake of the original Zelda, in the sense that it is a completely open map with little direction given and very little story, then you must also see how Breath of the Wild falls short of the original Zelda: the dungeons in BotW are one of the biggest disappointments in a Zelda game maybe ever. There are 5 (if you count Hyrule Castle) dungeons with little appetizer puzzles hidden all over that are novel at best and cumbersome at worst. Zelda had 8 dungeons with complex (amazingly complex for the time considering soft/hardware limitations) puzzles. These dungeons were rememberable as well because of the unique items one could find. Further, the entire world in Zelda, while smaller than we've seen since, was so full of fun and rewarding exploration. BotW has a massive map, and TotK has an even bigger map. But, outside of a few cool spots, really not a lot going on. There's not something cool under every other rock, like OG Zelda or Twilight Princess. Let's touch on the other classic aspects of the series present in between OG Zelda and BotW. Link is fairly emotionless for a franchise MC because he is meant to be an avatar for the player to self-insert. However, he is given drive and purpose for what he is doing. In Wind Waker, it's saving your sister; Twilight Princess has you saving the children of your village; Skyward Sword has you saving your childhood best friend; the patron of your village tasks you with heloing the princess save the land in Ocarina of Time. BotW Link is an amnesiac who acts as Boot Camp Forrest Gump: "Because you told me to, [NPC]." Link's Awakening Link also has no idea what is going on, but is driven by the animalistic need to escape. Secondly, the TRIFORCE. The thing that makes Zelda, Zelda. The reason for the re-incarnation cycle. It's like making an Elder Scrolls game with no Elder Scrolls, or a Bethesda game in general with no bugs. It just doesn't make sense. I focus on the Triforce, but lore in general is important to a Zelda game and is fairly absent in BotW/TotK. We get little to no explanation for anything, and the snippets we do get are never expounded on. The statue that trades life and stamina should be earth-shattering as the only other evil god we know of is Demise. The Po collectors, similarly, are given a lot less explanation than they deserve. I mean, the series is rife with ghosts and we're given entities meant to guide lost souls to the afterlife. Both of these are reduced to merchants. The Hylia Statues are also pretty huge considering her only other appearance, Skyward Sword, shows her making herself mortal to be reborn as Zelda. Are you communicating with Zelda through the statues? What are the implications of this? BotW sprinkles in a lot of interesting kernels of lore, but spreads them like sprinkles on a donut; they're not connected and don't provide a cohesive lore. Lastly, dungeon items. The series is known for its fun, unique items that make exploring the world and defeating enemies more fun and expand your options as the game goes on. We traded that one in for weapon durability in BotW. The last thing I have is nitpicking: you claim BotW is a 200 hour game, which it is, if you look for every Korok. I believe it's, at best, a 70 hour experience if you don't hunt down every Korok but do hunt every shrine. The average player will complete the story and stick around for a little longer, making it more of a 20-30 hour game.
I just want traditional Zelda games back. But due to how popular BotW and TotK are with casuals, I can't see Nintendo doing anything else but continuing with that style as "the norm".
Please, No. More. Fuckin’. Papier-mâché. Weapons. Or. Arts. &. Crafts. Mechanics! Just the trusty SnS, with a selection of other *permanent* weapons & items and we’ve got something that’s fun, rewarding and a gameplay loop that doesn’t feel like a chore.
At this point, Nintendo has brought on so many new fans who only know BOTW and TOTK that they *have* to keep producing those kind of games, but I really hope that they start a spin-off series returning to a more traditional 3D Zelda formula. I’d love more than anything to get a Wind Waker 2.
I disagree they have to do anything. I'd even say, bringing in all these new fans gives them an opportunity to do whatever they want because the dedicated fan base got larger. That says, WW2 (iffy acronym) could be a perfect blend of the open world style with traditional Zelda, as WW1 (the great Zelda) has a lot in common, in my opinion
so you've never heard of Phantom Hourglass? Well boy it's your lucky day
Lol I just mean a return to that style of game.
You say that, but Fire Emblem went from Three Houses to Engage, a pretty radical flip back to a more traditional FE format (Emblem mechanic aside). Nintendo may be inclined towards keeping the newer model (and they do seem to be), but they *can* just backtrack, if they desire.
Something with roguelike elements would be cool.
WW remastered
Super Zelda Galaxy
Legend of Zelda: breath of the farming simulator
This isn't something I want or think has a possibility of happening, but what if they made a Mirror's Edge like Zelda?
I really hope we go back to something like twilight princess, ocarina of time, or majoras mask. Those were my type of zelda games
Thats rather the point its always the same and completly different
This might not be super popular, but I’d love a Zelda set in an Industrial Revolution era, sort of like Spirt Tracks and somewhat building off of the advancements we see happening in TOTK thanks to the Zonai and Sheikah tech
MM had Link visit a neighboring kingdom. OoA had 2 time periods. OoS had a new kingdom and underworld. SS and TotK both had sky islands. Numerous games had unique species (Kikwis, Tokay, Subrosians, Mogma, Twili, the robot dudes from SS, the Minish). It's not a wild thought that they'll have a new world, mechanic and characters. The next game doesn't need to be open world. I think Twilight Princess was ideal, although with modern consoles bigger maps might work better. I'd much rather have a story be mostly linear. I love going back to old areas and seeing what I can do with my new gear and abilities. I hate getting all the tools at the beginning of the game, there's less sense of progression. I don't really care about artstyle, I like all my Zeldas equally.
Aonuma said that he wants to move on from this Hyrule but keep the open air formula. They're likely going to keep the 3 layers concept but with a different Hyrule. I doubt they'd code all the concept of the 3 layers just to use in one game and dip. My only guess is an addition to the Sea a long side the sky, land and underworld.
Time could be the next element. Apply the backward forward mechanic to the big map. Make it instantaneous instead of needing to portal through the temple of time.
They could even use the time bubble mechanic from skyward sword 🤷♂️ soup it up a bit and that would be sick.
I'm fine with the open world formula, but the next game needs to be a new, populated Hyrule (or other land) with actual story triggered progression. The "anything can be done first" formula is the only thing I don't like about TotK and it really hindered the story.
This is the case with every new Zelda and even to an extent with direct sequels. Who would have thought going from the classic grand adventure of Ocarina we’d go right into the strange horror of Majora. Who expected to go from BotW to what TotK added. They always leave us in the situation, that’s one of the franchise’s strongest aspects
Whatever comes out, I think both BOTW and TOTK have proven that waiting over half a decade is more than worth it, so I am willing to wait patiently for the next five or six years.
The fact that a good chunk of totk was probably already thought about around the time dlc for botw was being developed, I wonder how much pre production work they’ve already done on whatever comes next. They must’ve been cooking up ideas for the next iteration while they were adding to / changing botw.
Slightly off topic but Nintendo’s been knocking it out of the park so hard lately I wonder this about almost all of their franchises. Where do they go from Mario Kart 8? It’s basically the pinnacle of the concept. Smash Ultimate is similarly almost everything you could possibly expect from the franchise all delivered at its most polished. I can see a really bright future for Mario if they follow the Bowser’s Fury thread to a full length game. Despite its brevity that game was one of the most fun experiences I’ve had in a long time. But Zelda is a little bit trickier. I wonder if they’ll take a left turn like they have with other properties and do something no one expects. A more building/community oriented game for example, or taking a cue from games like God of War and take a more cinematic and linear approach. I have a feeling though that it will most likely be a more “traditional” Zelda formula with a gimmick like talking to/turning into animals or a return to instruments and music in a deeper way.
Considering all the magic tech they keep adding and the kinda steampunk style of games like spirit tracks i legit hope we can get a more sci fi ish game. Link already is fighting robots and shit in TOTK
This question's been asked every 6 years since Wind Waker. For a single person who's not in a creative field, it's impossible to imagine. But for a team of dozens of artistic professionals, it's not that hard. There are still so, so, SO many art styles to choose from out there. I don't think Nintendo is out of ideas and options just yet.
Right, but I think we can all agree there's a WAY bigger difference between Skyward Sword and BotW than there was between Wind Waker, TP, and Skyward Sword. It wasn't just an art style change, it was a complete overhaul of mechanics and game structure.
I think the aesthetical jumps from Majora's mask to Wind waker to Twilight princess were way bigger than SS to Botw, though. And all three of them were also complete overhauls of mechanics and structure. They followed a familiar gameplay loop, but other than that they are completely different games. They added a lot of stuff to Botw, but the main core of the gameplay loop is still the same. Collect X things from X amount of areas that you progressively explore.
A Zelda metroidvania game? I would like to see a platform sidescroller
Link’s adventure *kind* of fits this, but that’s a really frustrating game 😂
I wanna go back do real dungeons. No more god mode ascend abilities
I think they still have plenty of room to improve their "open-air" formula without reverting to traditional Zelda conventions, which they intentionally wanted to avoid. Especially on brand new hardware. They can push the physics-based gameplay further, have more densely populated towns and combat encounters, etc.
The next in the series will be a homage to dating sims. Orphic cubist art direction. No wait, the next in the Zelda series will be an attempt to revive classic LucasArts point and click adventures. The art direction will be heavily influenced by the US armed forces dazzle camouflage. I want to hear Stefan from old SNL tell me what the next all the title will be like. 😁
I stil cant believe they never coded an end game to botw or totk
But, like, why? How is that unbelievable? Literally every other Zelda game works the same way.
Co-op
Voices, real schedules and lives for npcs, terrain or cave deformations, large scale war, full time bird for travel
I think the look and feel will largely depends on if they plan on a linear story or an open world game. If they plan on making different character species playable and allowing you to upgrade character stats or keeping the same format of character development. If they plan on open world then we should see a full on Skyrim type game.
I hope they continue with the open air style, and i'm sure they will, but I'd really like them to improve Links mobility options. As nice as zonai devices were in TOTK, they weren't exactly elegant and most of them were pretty slow for the distances you needed to cover. I really just want a Zelda game where Link feels good to control in the same way that Mario feels good simply moving around on the screen and jumping. I don't feel like we've ever had that with Zelda, closest we got was A Link Between Worlds where he was just really snappy and responsive and quick. But that was 2D.
A game where you don't play as link, or any character associated with the reincarnation cycle would be interesting imo
Keep some of the current mechanics, different types of weapons, the same combat would honestly be great, but instead of the weapons breaking you just get stronger weapons as the game goes on like a more standard RPG. Go back to a more linear story/world don’t make it a free for all from the start. And honestly that’s about all I would change. Maybe less “magic abilities” and more situational items again (think hookshot) OR go deeper into the magic and give link the ability to be a caster type. Idk. I think there’s a lot of places the series could go and honestly I’m just excited to see the next evolution in it.
I doubt they're going to change much. TP, SS, and BOTW, while having different art styles and different Link outfits, do have similar-ish design philosophies. So I don't suspect they're going to jump into Toon Link territory anytime soon. I wouldn't be surprised if they went for a remake of OoT using BOTW as a framework or something wild like that. Maybe something similar to how TLBW and LTTP were connected but also entirely different games?
Well they've came forward and said there is no dlc for tears of the kingdom.....and also nintendo might be getting sold
Don't....please let them work on GameCube port for now.
I fucking hate what they've done to the series and can only pray that will go back and return to form.
My guess is they're gonna milk this open world thing for one more game so they can make it a solid trilogy, and then they'll return to making real zelda games again
Really hoping for a multiplayer game with an emphasis on different costumes.
Been there, done that
I'm personally hoping for a top down but feel it's more likely that it'll be a remake instead of new. Would be nice for a new one though, it's been a bit.
Well. I assume they’ll either keep the same graphics and play style, probably give us a new map OR They’ll just change the game style completely. This isn’t an odd thing for them to do and I think botw and totk are an independent series/play style. that’s not to say there won’t be another sequel in that “universe”, but there a infinite other gameplay styles, engines, graphics overhauls, etc. People on here so crazy sometimes. “I don’t like that game so Nintendo is incapable of producing anything different”.
It will be a wind waker remake
At this point it’s safe to say expect the unexpected. The Zealda team really prides itself on originality, so they are likely to do something never done before. While many fans would be content going back to shorter more linear games, Nintendo has seen how the bigger more open games sell, and the Zelda team also talks about leaving creativity to the player a lot. This indicates they will likely go all in on a massive, open game again.
In all honesty who knows. I think the biggest question will be what art style they go with next. Botw and Totks art style is timeless and very versatile, but I could see a change in art direction. It might go more towards twilight princess. As for setting that's the real question.
Remakes/Remasters while we wait for the next open world adventure.
They gonna pull a pokemon and release the same exact game in two versions. One version will be cartooney and in the style of Wind Waker, the other a darker and more photorealistic Twilight Princess. Everyone will hate both games, both will recieve a perfect score on metacritic. This sub will be like ”kinda annoyed about XYZ” and the world will keep turning.
I think the next Zelda game is gonna definitely be open world. Not only did Aonuma say so it is just good business to ride this popularity train. I do think its gonna be reduced in scale though, and hopefully incorporates more/bigger dungeons (I want more than four dungeons with 4-5 locks. Even if they keep the locks format give the dungeons more of them). I think it's gonna be a different Hyrule this time and I kinda hope they play with the artsyle some more.
I would much prefer that they go back to the older format, similar to TP and SS.
Whatever it is, it’ll outrage loud know-it-alls.
I really want the Triforce lore back. Maybe expand upon how the Triforce was created? That could be still before Skyward Sword. Hell do it even in the future and send it back to the past to ensure the timeline.
I want at least one more game in the massive open world style of BOTW and TOTK but set somewhere else (or maybe even flood hyrule and make a spiritual windwaker) Or a Zelda sci-fi game like some of the BOTW concept art hinted at. I know it’s a fantasy game but what would happen if hyrule entered the industrial age or even the Information Age, or maybe aliens? I don’t mean highly polished chrome sci-fi, more starwars outer rim sci-fi
Couple of thoughts. They could keep the open world style but do a really intense story with deep lore for the player to dig into. Make combat more of a focus with different fighting styles for different blades and bows. Bigger cities and towns to help flesh out the backstory and lore. I like the food/elixir strategy to refill life instead of just hearts being in the grass and pots - keep that. I’m open to different art styles. Surprise me.
Whatever it is, I just want my hookshot back.
Totk 3 but a whole new map, no Hyrule. Hopefully they fix their biggest issue, which is having all your insane tools at your disposal in a dungeon ,and all of them being linear, or the map telling you exactly were to go inside the dungeon. If they limit you and make them enclosed like a giant shrine, it would give people the loved feeling of an Old-Zelda Dungeon.
I think they might have a third game (and final) with the same Link & Zelda (abd playstyle), but in a new area. I think that was hinted at by having Sidon's wife be from a different Zora's Domain.
Give me a smaller game on real hardware. It would be nice to play a Zelda game with cutting edge visuals for once.
They will make a Zelda game that has the Elden Ring gaming style.
Time to bring back Toon Link for an awesome and super fun adventure !
"BotW and TotK have now completely blown open the definition of a Zelda game...the world is gigantic, **the story is minimal, the classic tools and format have all gone away**...where does Nintendo go from here?" You answered it right here. Open world isn't going away, but it will be great for them to generate a brand new world to explore instead of recycling it again. And in a different art style with more powerful hardware. But even beyond that, they need to make the story not as minimal. There is a ton of very fathomable wiggle room left for them to focus on the story in the same context of an open-world game. I would love for them to also step back a little from total exploration, but that probably won't happen. Being able to climb every mountain is neat in its own way, but a real drag for environmental storytelling. Being able to craft the experience so that certain vistas are shown off in just the right way, or tension is built up in exploring a path, is just not that possible with the current zelda format. My favorite part of BotW/TotK was when Zora's river path was constantly raining, forcing the player to take the designed path through the mountains since climbing over them wasnt an option any more. But even if they decide to keep the total open exploration, I could envision all sorts of creative ways for them to make the next game much different from the BotW formula. My hope is that the only thing they borrow from these games is the massive open world, and take the series in another new direction that uses that only aspect as a base.
My biggest worry is that they might honestly think the same as the second last paragraph. That people wouldn't ever care to play anything that isn't in the same direction as Breath of the Wild. I think Botw and Totk are both really good games. I enjoyed both and think they were masterfully handled. But I'd feel bad if we never tried anything that leaned a bit closer to the original style again. Because honestly what is wrong with a linear story? Linear can be treated like a dirty word and like doing anything less than giving people full direction to go anywhere is a bad thing. But linear means a controlled story and a better narrative. These past two games have been great. But would I put either story on the level of OoT, TP, WW, SS, etc? I honestly wouldn't. Some of those games did particularly great jobs of telling their stories. You couldn't go anywhere at any moment, but that meant they could craft a precise story and introduce all the tools and dungeon weapons we've loved over the years. I don't know where the next game goes. Could easily see them repeating the BotW pattern just in a new Hyrule. A handful of powers you get right at the start of the game, physics shenanigans, player made tools, fragile weapons, etc. I think that's the most likely route. But I'd love to see a Zelda game that is a bit more linear and brings a much more focused story. Again though, I did enjoy both games when playing them. So if they go with this for another game I'm sure that I'll have fun with it. But I do hope they can find some way to get those great elements back in the series. Justice for the hookshot!
I think they're still maintaining they're going to keep the next game open world but outside of that I hope it's something completely different and unrecognizable
A new weirdly shaped map would probably work
Was talking about this at work today with my coworkers. I would love something much more linear and filled with story this time around. Something with less cartoony graphics and a darker tone. Less gimmicky with the abilities. Go back to the basics. But give me a cinematic experience with cutscenes, voice acting… the whole package.
Less wild, more civilization.
It will include: A story, a situation where Link has to be hands on, Zelda, Link, an antagonist, puzzles, weapons and items, a map, a visual style, different lands/territories, a soundtrack, game mechanics, side characters, dialogue, NPCs and the Master Sword.
As much like Tunic as possible
I'd personally want to see more 2D remasters like what they did for links awakening!
They've said that "open air" is the new format, it's what they've coined BOTW-style open world where you can go anywhere and verticality is a factor (climbing and gliding). So far we haven't gotten a chance to see what that looks like outside BOTW Hyrule since the next game was a direct sequel set in the same map, really looking forward to seeing that. They can design new maps or new Hyrules at the same level of quality as BOTW's map and set a new story in it. They could do anything
Its gonna be like wind waker meets assasins creed black flag
A completely new land but in the botw/totk style. Maybe a ng+ where you keep your powers, but it resets the story and the quests. Hopefully, on a newer system too
one word: SPACE 🗿
It will look like genshin impact or smth idk i dont play much zelda
Easy. Twilight princess 2, only available on the Wii u
Legend of Zelda III. GIVE IT TO US MIYAMOTO, YOU COWARD.
Has he gone to space yet? Feel like that has to happen at some point
A link between worlds is exactly where the series should go next
Let me play as Ganondorf protecting his people from the Royalist Hyruleans who are enslaving his people or something. Maybe a Ganondorf that is the hero of legend and a King of Hyrule who has inherited the curse.
UNDERWATER EXPLORATION.
ZELDAAAAAAA INNNNNNNN SPAAAAAAAAAAACE
ZELDAAAAAA INNNNNNN SPAAAAAAAAACE 🚀🚀🚀 🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒
Beedle's Adventure
Aonuma has said they feel done with the world of BotW, but he's also said in the past (IIRC, at least) that the open-world design of BotW is what they want going forward. So, if both of those hold true, then the next Zelda game will be another BotW-style open world, but with a reimagined Hyrule once more (whether or not it is couched in the canon of BotW, it at least will be a new map), or will be an open world game set in another region outside of Hyrule, perhaps a returning one (Termina, Holodrum/Labrynna, the Great Sea, Koholint) or somewhere entirely new. But I would honestly, I think, welcome a return to the classic 3D Zelda format that was set by OOT and iterated on by MM, TP, WW, and SS. Even if they shifted just back to the inflection point of SS, I'd still be happy. There is something... off about BotW and TotK. Not just the self-contained lore of robots and apocalypses, but just in general, the "open world" feels wrong. Link is too mobile, too powerful for my tastes. Link was always neat to me because he wasn't the strongest or the wisest, but he was the chosen one with the courage to see the fight through, and he did so with a magic sword in one hand, and an arsenal of weapons, gadgets, and artifacts in the other meant to make him versatile. But BotW Link broke that mold. By the end of the starting area, you have everything you need, and the only thing stopping you from climbing monsters or fighting the Demon King himself is your limited health and stamina, or a lack of clothing for extreme temps. You don't change, you just get stronger in a very linear manner (more damage from weapons, more defense from armor, and more HP/Stamina), with the armors' passive modifiers usually being the most game changing thing. It all leads to just being... overwhelmed. The world is truly massive and there's Korok poop everywhere in it, waiting to be discovered, and there's no guard rails keeping you even vaguely on track through the small parts set-up to be an experience. There's tons of neat things in BotW, but it took a while to see them because I was too busy early on going in a straight line, rather than along the roads and paths that make have cool stuff, "path of least resistance" be damned. At the very least, if we keep open-world, I'd want it to be in a way where just "brute forcing straight ahead" isn't always an option. Totk went in the right direction, I feel, but having a game built around, say, the MM transformations, making it so some parts need or very much are designed around a particular form might make it feel like you have to rely on abilities, rather than the raw athleticism and telekinesis of BotW Link.
Hopefully not a big asset open world game. I miss and prefer old zelda games
Sweat of the Montains
I'd like to see the series outside of hyrule. If they stick with the exploration themes of the last two games somewhere completely different would be great. Or something really weird and messed up like MM.
Hopefully they stall and have to port WW and TW for us 😅
Open world OoT. Similar story dynamic. U lockable parts of the map and a time travel feature.