DKC Atlas Forum

[SummerSky]

Made you look!

That's not the real name, but that's probably what I'd like to call the fan Zelda I've been thinking about. Things I'd like to see in the new Wii Zelda are:

- No linearity. In TP, it was frustrating being stopped at barriers (especially at the start of the game) when you just wanted to explore. I think it'd be cool if all the puzzles and 'dungeons' were interlinked, and you could go wherever you like right from the start.

- No clashing themes. Take Twilight, for example; you'd be in Hyrule Field (green, bit barren), and then you'd be in a fire dungeon, ice dungeon, or a desert-based dungeon. I think they clashed with the overworld - they didn't feel part of it. And they were mostly always boxed in and indoors. You never, ever glimpsed the overworld from the dungeon.

- So with that in mind, let's imagine an overworld that's weird and surreal in appearance. Like the Majora's Mask artwork, with the weird-shaped stone buildings, vivid colours, and clocks. And there'd be no dungeons. Instead the overworld could contain the puzzles. I guess the term 'dungeon' would take on a new meaning - it'd be used to describe each area of the overworld (or province), with each area being distinguishable not by theme (fire, ice, sand, rock, etc), but by the stuff that is there that's derived and grown from the same surreal style of the overworld.

- I'd prefer it if they didn't give us strange, mystic items at the end of 'dungeons.' Instead, why not just have events take place as you complete more puzzles? A status screen could tell you a percentage of the puzzles you've solved, and how much you'll need to have solved to trigger the next event.

- New story, and a redesigned Link; one that has a weird outfit, perhaps with loads of strange trinkets hanging from it. New baddie.

- A Jump button! Platforming in a Zelda game would make puzzles even better.

- The return of cel-shading, except a darker style. I feel cel-shading will appease the fans in Japan, and the darker edge to it will give the western fans something to like.

The Wii Remote

I think the remote could be used to open 'windows' in the levels. You could be stood in an area, and draw around something you've seen in an area to open a window into that area as it is in any of the four seasons. You could open several windows (each a diferent season) in an area, and draw a line from one window to another to trigger reactions.

I think it'd be cool. Most puzzles would be season-based, and involve the use of the 'Window Maker.' Lame name, I know, but hey!

What would you like to see?

[Jomingo]

Nice ideas. I like your overworld ideas. I think'd be cool if the overworld could change different seasons, and day and night and things like that, and certain events had to be completed at a certain time. Seasons could change every two hours of play time, and day and night every 20 minutes or so.

I especially like your idea about some platforming. They need that.

I had an idea for a Zelda game where the plot revolved around some kind of magic paint brush or quill of some sort, and you could draw on the screen at certain times to do stuff(using the wiiMote) such as solving puzzles or defeating enemies. But there'd still be a lot of the classic gameplay.

[SummerSky]

Thanks for the feedback, Jomingo!

I love the idea of being able to use a paintbrush! You could colour parts in with it by selecting colours, and painting within weird transparent outlines of scenery. The main badguy could have similar powers to you, too.

I think'd be cool if the overworld could change different seasons, and day and night and things like that, and certain events had to be completed at a certain time. Seasons could change every two hours of play time, and day and night every 20 minutes or so.

They could actually re-use the Majora's Mask time limit thing with something like that. Seasons would be great for puzzles in a 3D Zelda game - especially if it was cel-shaded. The colours would be beautiful, and the transition from season to season could make for some amazing animations.

Platforming would be a great thing to add, I think. The automatic jumping was starting to feel very clunky and restrictive in Twilight.

[Qyzbud]

I like these ideas, they sound like a lot of things I would appreciate seeing in a Zelda game. I haven't played any Zelda game since OoT, so and suggestions I make here are probably old news for the franchise, but I agree about the value of a jump button, or at least an improved jumping system of some kind. Link can backflip, and hop sideways at will, but can't jump until it's absolutely necessary? How odd. Well I like the idea of a costume redesign, with dangly trinkets. Hey- make Link a bellydancer! Only kidding.

Maybe we should call the thing used to open season windows the 'Window Waker' instead; that's a completely original name which is unlike anything within the Zelda series. Cel-shading's a nice idea, too. Did I mention I haven't played any Zelda game since OoT? Lulz. But seriously, a darker cel-shading style would be really sweet.

Great stuff, guys. I'm sure there are many devout Zelda fans out there who could add a lot more to this topic than I can.

[Stone]

But seriously, a darker cel-shading style would be really sweet.

Okami isn't that dark, but it shows us that cel-shading doesn't have to look as childish as it was in Wind Waker

[SummerSky]

Okami's style was very pretty and fitting for the game's style; although it was a little hard on the eyes sometimes. Things blurred and made it difficult to pick details out because of the shimmering dark brushstrokes that sometimes 'bled' into each other. The colours looked washed-out a lot too, but then, the watercolour 'look' was what they were going for.

The solid, cel-shaded style of Wind Waker was the right direction for the series, I think. But if they could somehow 'replicate' the surreal look of the Majora's Mask artwork with it, I think it'd top Wind Waker's cel-shading, whilst giving it a different mood - a darker mood.

Plus, if the Zelda series was to allow automatic jumping, do you think the cartoon style or the Twilight Princess graphical style would work best with it? I'm thinking cel-shading, because everything can look bouncy. Different jumps (jumping when stood still, jumping when running, etc) wouldn't work as well in the more 'realistic' style.

It'd also open up the possibility to have items and other objects placed above Link's head. Without automatic jumping in the Mario games, for example, there'd be no '?' or POW blocks.

Maybe we should call the thing used to open season windows the 'Window Waker' instead; that's a completely original name which is unlike anything within the Zelda series.

Window Waker! Top stuff.

[Qyzbud]

Just to clarify... you mean 'manual' jumping, rather than automatic jumping, right?

As for the graphical style, I like cel-shading, but I'm not too fond of the bright and cartoony look WW had. I think a more mature/dark/serious style would work well, and go towards highlighting the good vs. evil struggle which Zelda games are typically about.

[SummerSky]

Yes, sorry! Getting my words mixed up again.

I'd like something more like Ico in atmosphere. A ghostly, ethereal style of cel-shading, if they can do it. There were a couple of moments at the end of Majora's Mask that are exactly what I'm meaning. I know you've not played it, Qyzbud, but there's a bit where you get to the moon, and it's all dream-like and hazy. It's surreal, because you're running around on a field on the moon!

Awesome stuff.