Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are both fantastic games - and Tears of the Kingdom really does feel (to me) like they just took Breath of the Wild, and added a few more years of dev time to it.
Where do you think Nintendo will take Zelda from here though? Can they keep with the same new formula? Should they? Will a more traditional game feel disappointing after this?
I don’t really know what I want myself. I think they should try something different though. At the same time, I can’t help but think I’d be disappointed if the next game was more similar to something like Twilight Princess. Have they boxed themselves in?
Assuming we get a third game in the botw run, I would love to see link travel back to early Hyrule like Zelda did. Nintendo could use the blueprint of the depths ruins as the backbone for a thriving Zonai civilization. Aboveground would be a truly wild Hyrule similar to what the depths are now. No sky islands as this would predate their creation. Instead we could have a ‘dive’ feature that lets us visit an ancient Zora, spread out in the waters in and around Hyrule. All new characters (except maybe Raru and friends), but many characters could be ancestors of current characters so they would be familiar in some ways. I would love to see the ability to tame monsters, more complex Zonai devices, and yes, perhaps real dungeons.
Also I could even see a fourth game in this series that totally turns all of the formula on its head. It would actually star Zelda, and she would travel through time to different eras of Hyrule. We’d get to see areas and dungeons from ocarina of time, twilight princess, skyward sword and even many of the 2d titles, redesigned with botw graphics and controls. The focus of the game would be for Zelda to help Link. She must stay out of sight, navigate dungeons to place keys, compasses, maps and/or key weapons that the link of that era will need to defeat whatever evil he faces. I think this would be super cool.
Instead we could have a ‘dive’ feature that lets us visit an ancient Zora, spread out in the waters in and around Hyrule.
The Legend of Zelda: The Way of Water
In all seriousness though, this sounds amazing. There are so many unanswered questions from the BotW universe. It would be interesting to see another addition to the series.
Although I might be in the minority, I hope that they try to make a story-centered game like Twilight Princess. I loved how deep the characters felt and the atmosphere so much. I think they could mix in more story telling and maybe even some kind of friendship/affinity system with NPCs. I don’t think it would interfere with the core mechanics too much.
There was definitely lacking in the story department in totk. In botw at least you got to find the villages, get to understand the different cultures etc. In totk being the same, that discovery factor was gone and the story elements were severely lacking. The missions are also very basic and somehow don’t have the satisfaction of completing them.
I haven’t finished TOTK yet and I feel the same. It’s a good sandbox game of zonai tech, but IMO it’s not a good “Zelda” game. I know people might argue that traditional approach of dungeon puzzle or boss design makes it too “linear” or not exploring the creativity of player. Basically, designer designed how a puzzle or boss should be dealt with. BUT, at least it was done in a meaningful way that you learn along the way of different mechanism and how older Zelda shine.
I will probably try finished all the shrines and story and put it away. Since the side quests I run into so far are mostly copy paste side quests. (photo quests I will probably do them all if I can find them. I like photo quests)
To be honest, other than theming, the old Zelda dungeons are overrated. Every dungeon from LttP and on – you’re going to get an item, and that item is critical to unlocking the 2nd half of the dungeon. It’s exceedingly linear. I don’t consider boomerang lock-on for 5 targets or using fire arrows to light torches amazing gameplay.
I do love totks crazy spinning fan torch puzzles.
I’m convinced lately the fan praise of Twilight Princess is due to youth having this as their first game. It doesn’t hold a candle to what OoT or Majora’s Mask was. Even then, OoT is LttP in 3d (for the first time, and it was phenomenal).
Didn’t Miyamoto say that this is the new template for Zelda? Or at least something along the lines that this is the direction they will be heading in.
I’m expecting the next to be quite different in some extend (not as equal to BotW/TotK), but I am expecting the open world to be here to stay at least.
It was the producer Eiji Aonuma who said that Breath of the Wild was the new template going forward. https://www.eurogamer.net/open-world-zelda-is-a-format-for-the-future-of-the-series-says-producer-eiji-aonuma
A Link to the Past it up. Give me Hyrule in the distant past, now, hell, even the future. Design the puzzles around it. And give me a Hookshot as well
I like the idea of more open world games, would still like the dungeons to be a bit stronger, though totk was an improvement. I think a return of the great sea is a natural extension and could give an opportunity for different powers that would be more helpful on the open ocean, kind of like how ascend was a natural complement of caves and the depths. I think keeping autobuild and ultrahand and extending it further to boats or maybe even airships in the endgame would be really neat. Could also see them building on time powers even more. Maybe a return to termina?
