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Fortunately, Nintendo is doing it regardless of the minority. So in the end I get what I want.

Another thing to consider is that people that express concern about a big Zelda Overworld like to bring Twilight Princess as the be all end all of examples to refute the point.

The thing is, an important problem with TP overworld was not exactly how "empty" it felt but how lifeless it was.

Take the same TP Overworld and add another set of subsystems like animal life with behaviour patterns and species appering in different times of the day, NPC's doing some activities, more varied weather and lighting conditions, etc. It would have a significant role enhancing the experince withouth needing to program extra events or activities related to gameplay.

 

[Katzenjammer]

is no clipping hard to program? i was watching the new order 1886 game play, for a heavy graphics focus game it also has clipping.

Short answer: yes. Usually it's a matter of the artists having to avoid it when they create and animate meshes though. The only time it has to do with programming is when objects with physics simulation are clipping, and preventing that fully can be very computationally expensive.

If it's graphics from a competent developer, you can almost always assume that small quirks are known about and not fixed because it wasn't simple or viable to do so.

 

[balgajo]

Would you guys like Metroid Prime more if they increased the sheer size and let everything remain the same?

I didn't finished Metroid Prime(yes, you can judge me...XD), but for Zelda I think that if they stretch the world with some natural life, beautiful landscapes, small secrets, I wouldn't mind at all. That's why I prefer Twilight Princess overworld approach instead of Skyward locations, where all the content is condensed to a small area. SS areas felt more like a playground than a real world. That's not good for my immersion.

The thing is, an important problem with TP overworld was not exactly how "empty" it felt but how lifeless it was.

So true. Even though TP overworld is the best in 3D series imo, still it lacks on many things. And that's why I got hyped for Zelda Wii U.



Btw Ansatz, are you most of a puzzle or exploration guy?

Puzzle Zelda players tend to prefer SS approach more. Things that streamline the puzzle solving(and I think that SS did this well, but that's not my favorite approach).

 

[Dimmle]

Take the same TP Overworld and add another set of subsystems like animal life with behaviour patterns and species appering in different times of the day, NPC's doing some activities, more varied weather and lighting conditions, etc. It would have a significant role enhancing the experince withouth needing to program extra events or activities.

Yeah, this is why I'll take the Great Sea over TP Hyrule any day.

 

[Lunar15]

Would you guys like Metroid Prime more if they increased the sheer size and let everything remain the same?

So the narrow tunnels connecting two large areas become wider and longer, with absolutely nothing in them beside cosmetics? Instead of it taking 5 seconds to walk through, say 20 seconds just to go from door A to door B?

Because this is what I'm arguing here, the sheer scope. Retain the exact same layouts, shapes and forms, just make them smaller in size to minimize walking. Expanding the space has absolutely zero effect on me.

I feel like it'd be more akin to letting you pilot Samus's ship around the planet or between several close planets/moons. Which I have heard people ask for, regardless of whether or not that would be good.

I dunno, it's all about how they use that overworld. I'm ok with some big distances, as long as it's pretty and varied. The reason people disliked the openness in TP is because while it had big open areas, they were still sectioned off into zones. You could explore that big empty field, but nothing looked that different or added any beauty. This seems slightly different.

I'm usually not for open world design, but it just depends. I disliked Skyrim, but I loved Fallout: New Vegas. It's about what you fill that world with.

 

[Cave Johnson]

With such a big open world, I really wish they nail the adventure experience. I want to feel an immense of amount of suspense and anticipation when I enter a new castle/dungeon or even searching for mysterious artifacts. The problem with most open-world games are unable to deliver that sense of emotion. Knowing Nintendo, they tend to always bring out aspects in game design most developers don't even bother with. A giant open-world is only half the formula, the rest is proper integration of the mechanics and interactivity.

 

[zeldablue]

In a Zelda game, I don't think I'd be happy to be hunting animals. It's one thing killing evil enemies which explode into smoke, but killing defenceless animals and having their dead bodies appear - I would not want to do that at all.

Typically in Zelda, attacking an animal almost always results in instant karma attacking you back. Nintendo wouldn't allow Link to kill animals. Capturing, however...could be a lot of fun! There must be some big form of interaction with the wildlife, they need some kind of purpose.

You can burn dogs and chickens alive in LA though...hmmmmm.

 

[Dimmle]

You can burn dogs and chickens alive in LA though...hmmmmm.

LAPD should get on that.

 

[sörine]

Which made it better than Twilight Princess. Having a small boring overworld was still a huge improvement over the vast emptiness in Twilight Princess. I didn't even bother to finish TP (I did finish Skyward Sword and regret wasting my time in hindsight).

No, it was worse. The Sky hub was annoying and unintuitive to traverse and the labyrinth like ground sections below were disjointed and tiring. Skyward Sword had pretty much the worst world design of any Zelda, even worse than the great grid ocean of nothing in Wind Waker. Great art though.

Twilight Princess wasn't great for it's overworld (it was basically like several OOT-style Hyrule Fields linked together, blech) but it was easy to cross and relatively brief for the most part given you were usually blazing through it on horseback or in wolf form. It dragged less than either SS or TWW.

 

[georly]

Would you guys like Metroid Prime more if they increased the sheer size and let everything remain the same?

So the narrow tunnels connecting two large areas become wider and longer, with absolutely nothing in them beside cosmetics? Instead of it taking 5 seconds to walk through, say 20 seconds just to go from door A to door B?

Because this is what I'm arguing here, the sheer scope. Retain the exact same layouts, shapes and forms, just make them smaller in size to minimize walking. Expanding the space has absolutely zero effect on me.

I don't want it in metroid, no. Simply because the way progression is locked in that game, having a huge world does not benefit it. Metroid and zelda are a little different though. In Metroid, items are for progression throughout the world and for bosses. In zelda, items *CAN* be used for progression, but they're also used for solving puzzles.

One of the themes of Zelda that is not really a theme in Metroid, is adventure, and adventure seems much more grandiose if the world is bigger and has much more to explore. I totally see your complaint, and it's totally valid, and we can only hope the world is full of neat things to do, but even if it's not, I think exploring an open world is reward enough for some people. It's not for everyone, but at least you can try to appreciate that some people like that. We want to feel like we're in a real place, with life-sized distances to cross, with tons of hidden areas. We want to feel like it's an adventure in a big world. I totally can see where you're coming from, and it's a totally valid point, but for once, I'm glad we have a big open world, even if it's mostly empty. If people hate it, then they'll scale back down in the future, but I have a feeling a lot of people will enjoy it.

Maybe the handheld Zeldas can be the more compact ones while the console games get the big open worlds.

Another thing to consider is that people that express concern about a big Zelda Overworld like to bring Twilight Princess as the be all end all of examples to refute the point.

The thing is, an important problem with TP overworld was not exactly how "empty" it felt but how lifeless it was.

Take the same TP Overworld and add another set of subsystems like animal life with behaviour patterns and species appering in different times of the day, NPC's doing some activities, more varied weather and lighting conditions, etc. It would have a significant role enhancing the experince withouth needing to program extra events or activities related to gameplay.

Even giving TP the treasure/bug collection from SS would have helped the overworld. Rather than 2 bugs per area, you have dozens. You also have random treasure hidden and scattered, forcing you to explore nooks and crannies and giving you a reason to visit areas that were normally empty. Simple gameplay changes can transform a dead open field into something full of life.

 

[oatmeal]

I think it looks great.

It's amazing how easy it is to rip on a game that actually shows you gameplay rather than a fancy cinematic trailer that makes everything look more interesting than it is.

Can't wait to explore. My one hope is that they don't fucking force shit down your throat with tutorials.

My ideal opening would be just you waking up in a field or something and off you go, whichever direction you want.

 

[Dascu]

Would you guys like Metroid Prime more if they increased the sheer size and let everything remain the same?

So the narrow tunnels connecting two large areas become wider and longer, with absolutely nothing in them beside cosmetics? Instead of it taking 5 seconds to walk through, say 20 seconds just to go from door A to door B?

Because this is what I'm arguing here, the sheer scope. Retain the exact same layouts, shapes and forms, just make them smaller in size to minimize walking. Expanding the space has absolutely zero effect on me.

You're comparing different franchises.

I would like a Zelda game that feels a bit "epic". And I think that's a feeling you can get by having a very large scope, even if that implies 10-min journeys with nothing substantial to do in the mean time. Maybe it's not fun in the traditional sense, but it gives you a feeling of place, of scale. It makes you feel like you're a lone hero in a world that's much too big for you, on a quest to fight a monster much too strong. This is something I value in the franchise, much more than having a dozens NPCs sending you off on fetch quests or having ample mini-game distractions. This is why my favourite moment in the series is sailing the empty ocean in Wind Waker, with the seagulls flying next to you.

So, bit of an unpopular opinion perhaps, but I would actually be perfectly fine with a game that has more or less the same amount of content as Wind Waker, but on land and spread out even further. Give me a handful of big dungeons, a handful of mini-dungeons that I need to search out myself, and one or two villages. Finding a hidden cave in a Zelda game after exploring the world is a great feeling, but that will completely dissipate by the time you've found your tenth "hidden" cave.

I'm reminded of the saying: "Perfection is attained, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away."

 

[Ansatz]

I think it looks great.

It's amazing how easy it is to rip on a game that actually shows you gameplay rather than a fancy cinematic trailer that makes everything look more interesting than it is.

Can't wait to explore. My one hope is that they don't fucking force shit down your throat with tutorials.

My ideal opening would be just you waking up in a field or something and off you go, whichever direction you want.

For every new mechanic they add, the developer needs to ensure you have learned the basics, because they will apply it later and then assumes you're aware of it. Without a tutorial, you'd eventually get stuck not knowing what you're supposed to do.

Think of the mini cave right before you rescue the Loftwing in SS, there is a steep incline that you can't ascend in regular walking speed, Link will just slide back down. This is a deliberate roadblock made for you to stop and think until you realize that sprinting solves the problem. Congrats, now you know a vital game rule: sprint on steep inclines. This tutorial is necessary and elegant in execution.

 

[georly]

I just opened a fortune cookie that said "A dream you had will come true"

I think it's talking about zelda u guys.

For every new mechanic they add, the developer needs to ensure you have learned the basics, because they will apply it later and then assumes you're aware of it. Without a tutorial, you'd eventually get stuck not knowing what you're supposed to do.

Think of the mini cave right before you rescue the Loftwing in SS, there is a steep incline that you can't ascend in regular walking speed, Link will just slide back down. This is a deliberate roadblock made for you to stop and think until you realize that sprinting solves the problem. Congrats, now you know a vital game rule: sprint on steep inclines. This tutorial is necessary and elegant in execution.

Yeah, starting out in an empty field is a very difficult design decision because there's no way you can guarantee that people won't find some obstacle later and get stuck. It's probably best if you start in a village that teaches you basic traversal mechanics as you try to leave. Then, once you leave the village, let you go wherever you want. I mean, they're going to have to teach/give you the sail cloth at some point, you can't just expect the player to go off, explore, and survive jumping off a random cliff. People will get frustrated.

 

[Ahnez]

Typically in Zelda, attacking an animal almost always results in instant karma attacking you back. Nintendo wouldn't allow Link to kill animals. Capturing, however...could be a lot of fun! There must be some big form of interaction with the wildlife, they need some kind of purpose.

You can burn dogs and chickens alive in LA though...hmmmmm.

Well, you can control cuckoos is TP by attacking them.

Maybe there will be some kind of new absurd thing you can do with the wildlife this time

 

[Neff]

Would you guys like Metroid Prime more if they increased the sheer size and let everything remain the same?

So the narrow tunnels connecting two large areas become wider and longer, with absolutely nothing in them beside cosmetics? Instead of it taking 5 seconds to walk through, say 20 seconds just to go from door A to door B?

Because this is what I'm arguing here, the sheer scope. Retain the exact same layouts, shapes and forms, just make them smaller in size to minimize walking. Expanding the space has absolutely zero effect on me.

Metroid has always thrived on being dense, even claustrophobic, though. It's a subterranean labyrinth of tunnels, doors, and platforms. From the outset, Zelda always attempted to sell itself as an expansive, epic adventure, with a strong sense of journey. In that regard, I don't think Zelda U is breaking formula too hard in the current state it's in (assuming they didn't actually remove stuff for simplicity's sake for the preview).

I'll also reiterate that Zelda's overworlds have been largely featureless aside from inconspicuously-placed enemies and random wildlife ever since OoT.

 

[Malus]

I always found it kinda unfair how people don't consider the dungeons as a part of the world, as though they don't take up a huge amount of dev time. Xenoblade, GTA V, Shadow of Mordor, Infamous and others don't have anything like Zelda dungeons. People complain all the time about TP's "barren" world but it had 10 dungeons! With some of the best designs in franchise history. But people expect that plus an open world just as big and content rich as other games whose sole focus is to create a big overworld.

 

[Shiggy]

No, it was worse. The Sky hub was annoying and unintuitive to traverse and the labyrinth like ground sections below were disjointed and tiring. Skyward Sword had pretty much the worst world design of any Zelda, even worse than the great grid ocean of nothing in Wind Waker. Great art though.

I can definitely agree with you on that. Skyward Sword was a boring mess with great boss fights (apart from that big monster you fought 3 times and the Ghirahim battles).

Twilight Princess wasn't great for it's overworld (it was basically like several OOT-style Hyrule Fields linked together, blech) but it was easy to cross and relatively brief for the most part given you were usually blazing through it on horseback or in wolf form. It dragged less than either SS or TWW.

Still, it was pretty pointless to have such a big overworld with nothing to do just for the sake of having a big overworld.

 

[ibyea]

Another thing to consider is that people that express concern about a big Zelda Overworld like to bring Twilight Princess as the be all end all of examples to refute the point.

The thing is, an important problem with TP overworld was not exactly how "empty" it felt but how lifeless it was.

Take the same TP Overworld and add another set of subsystems like animal life with behaviour patterns and species appering in different times of the day, NPC's doing some activities, more varied weather and lighting conditions, etc. It would have a significant role enhancing the experince withouth needing to program extra events or activities related to gameplay.

Bingo. I didn't mind how large TP's overworld was. The problem was that it was static and so made it uninteresting to traverse through.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

I don't think 3D Zelda has yet to nail a really satisfying overworld, personally. Its always prefaced with "for its time" or "with the exception of" and sometimes "and yes I know the...isn't all that great"

 

[mdtauk]

What about the fishes?!

The fishes were thrown back

 

[maxcriden]

I don't think 3D Zelda has yet to nail a really satisfying overworld, personally. Its always prefaced with "for its time" or "with the exception of" and sometimes "and yes I know the...isn't all that great"

Yep. Nothing is cohesive and satisfying to the level of a 2D Zelda. Say a Minish Cap, or Oracle game...or LTTP/LBW....

 

[Lunar15]

I don't think 3D Zelda has yet to nail a really satisfying overworld, personally. Its always prefaced with "for its time" or "with the exception of" and sometimes "and yes I know the...isn't all that great"

I agree with this. That's one reason I liked the decreased focus on it in SS.

 

[MCN]

Twilight Princess, Wind Waker and Skyward Sword weren't demos though. They were plagued by a lack of interesting stuff to do in the overworld.

They were also plagued by a tiny amount of RAM. 43MB for GC and 88MB for Wii. Can't have a whole load of extra stuff with that little RAM.

 

[Malus]

They were also plagued by a tiny amount of RAM. 43MB for GC and 88MB for Wii. Can't have a whole load of extra stuff with that little RAM.

I've seen a few people bring up memory space. Is this a thing? There have been content rich games on weaker platforms. Xenoblade was huge, detailed, and dense with content, and it was on Wii.

 

[ibyea]

Puzzle Zelda players tend to prefer SS approach more. Things that streamline the puzzle solving(and I think that SS did this well, but that's not my favorite approach).

That is exactly why I like SS a lot. I am more of a puzzle focused Zelda player myself. Hence why I dislike Zelda 1, 2, and while LttP is great, it's my least favorite of the ones I like (caveat, didn't play the DS Zeldas).

 

[georly]

I've seen a few people bring up memory space. Is this a thing? There have been content rich games on weaker platforms. Xenoblade was huge, detailed, and dense with content, and it was on Wii.

It also wasn't a wii launch title. That said, lack of content in the overworld wasn't necessarily a memory thing. That only really dictates how many things can be on screen at once, as far as filling the overworld with content.

 

[Ahnez]

I've seen a few people bring up memory space. Is this a thing? There have been content rich games on weaker platforms. Xenoblade was huge, detailed, and dense with content, and it was on Wii.

You need RAM to load things and to calculate things.

If you need more than you have, it will cause slowdowns and will impact the frame rate.

It limits how much can be done at the same time, but it doesnt mean that its impossible to some wizards like Monolith to do great things with only 88 Mb

 

[zeldablue]

I just want magical mystery, secrets and a lot of unexpected scenarios.

This overworld looks like it knows how to give me that. Everything looks so curious, I can see myself spending hours just trying to check something small out.

I'm concerned about NPCs but Nintendo probably just wants to focus on the map right now. Dungeons, items, story and characters will come later.

Speaking of items...what if all the items are actually different arrow heads? Like a rope and arrow for the hookshot, or explosive arrows instead of bombs etc?

 

[En-ou]

The part with the wild horses is fantastic.
Reminds me of no mans sky a bit.
I hope the have more wildlife and have some kinda light gameplay mechanic around them. Btw at the horse animations!!!

 

[FreedomFighter]

They were also plagued by a tiny amount of RAM. 43MB for GC and 88MB for Wii. Can't have a whole load of extra stuff with that little RAM.

But Twilight Princess got around this by sectioning off the overworld. There were narrow corridors you would go through to get to the next big field area which masked the game loading that next section. I feel like it's more of a design choice.

And I really don't get the general criticism of nothing to do in the overworld to begin with. I can see that being levied to Ocarina of Time's Hyrule Field because there weren't much puzzles to solve or ruins to explore on the overworld itself, but I though Twilight Princess had some pretty decent stuff like bug catching, hidden heart pieces, and good amount of caves to explore (which lead to bugs, heart pieces, and rupees).

Can someone give me an example of a game where you consider the overworld to be full of things to do? I prob never played it so I need a frame of reference.

 

[roddur]

Short answer: yes. Usually it's a matter of the artists having to avoid it when they create and animate meshes though. The only time it has to do with programming is when objects with physics simulation are clipping, and preventing that fully can be very computationally expensive.

If it's graphics from a competent developer, you can almost always assume that small quirks are known about and not fixed because it wasn't simple or viable to do so.

thanks

 

[rex]

Would you guys like Metroid Prime more if they increased the sheer size and let everything remain the same?

So the narrow tunnels connecting two large areas become wider and longer, with absolutely nothing in them beside cosmetics? Instead of it taking 5 seconds to walk through, say 20 seconds just to go from door A to door B?

Because this is what I'm arguing here, the sheer scope. Retain the exact same layouts, shapes and forms, just make them smaller in size to minimize walking. Expanding the space has absolutely zero effect on me.

Metroid prime isnt fun to simply play though because the game is in first person.

Riding on horseback, travelling at top speed, slashing at enemies and firing arrows, all that stuffs simply fun to do, to me anyway. Its the mario 64 castle hub writ (very) large. If the mechanics are fun enough it doesnt bother me if theres not much of real purpose between a and b.

 

[phanphare]

Yep. Nothing is cohesive and satisfying to the level of a 2D Zelda. Say a Minish Cap, or Oracle game...or LTTP/LBW....

or Link's Awakening

that had probably my favorite over world of any Zelda game

 

[SuperJay]

I'm just glad to see Nintendo putting adventure back into their adventure games, especially after stripping it out of Skyward Sword and Super Mario 3D World.

 

[rabhw]

I searched the thread and didn't see this posted:

Perspective-corrected version of Zelda TGA Gameplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdB28QD-QSY

Source

 

[mdtauk]

Yep. Nothing is cohesive and satisfying to the level of a 2D Zelda. Say a Minish Cap, or Oracle game...or LTTP/LBW....

I think Koholint Island in Link's Awakening is the best example of an Overworld which is fun and densley packed with secrets. I do think that is the secret, Give the player something worth finding, and ensure every item you collect has an additional use outside of the dungeons, for exploring or accessing new parts of the overworld.

 

[zeldablue]

Koholint was the best. @__@

Easily my favorite overworld. What made it so engaging was that after each dungeon a side story happened and you'd have to follow it through to get a key to the next dungeon.

It made the game flow so well. I hope they don't lose that in this new game.

 

[brandonh83]

I feel fortunate I suppose to not have any specific preferences to how Zelda games are handled just as long as they're good. I like the open approach and I thought Skyward was a refreshing blast and experience. But one thing I don't really want is the "game begins and turns you loose" approach.

It was fine in earlier installments and probably because of tech limits but starting with Link to the Past they've mostly at least had setups. I for one loved the story in Skyward to bits, as a long time fan I loved the establishments and thought the long intro was fine as it was literally introduced everything.

I'm hoping the next game is like that, only with a quicker intro as the last game handled the exposition (if this is a continuation of Skyward). It could be a totally new thing though as far as we know. I would just hate it if Skyward did all that stuff, being the very beginning of the story and not run with everything they took the time to establish.

 

[Votron]

Also keep in mind that this isn't the entire world map, it's just the most zoomed out view that was shown in the video. I'm guessing that the entire world map will be at least 3-4 times bigger then what was shown, if not more.

This is the whole map.. as you can see in the video when he pushed the zoom out button.. it greyed out.

 

[FreedomFighter]

Btw Ansatz, are you most of a puzzle or exploration guy?

Puzzle Zelda players tend to prefer SS approach more. Things that streamline the puzzle solving(and I think that SS did this well, but that's not my favorite approach).

The question wasn't posed to me but I like both. I loved Skyward Sword except that it didn't have a ton of exploration because it was pretty linear but I generally love puzzle Zelda though.

So I guess I'd be an exception to the rule in that while I love puzzle Zelda, I didn't quite like SS' approach.

 

[zeldablue]

During early development of OoT they had a character that looked like Marin, and she was going to be your follower/partner.

They obviously ditched her because it would've been a pain in the butt to have her stalk you around. But I feel like they could actually do a partner AI competently now. At least as a friend to have in safe areas would be neat.

 

[Sammy Samusu]

I just opened a fortune cookie that said "A dream you had will come true"

I think it's talking about zelda u guys.

I just opened opened one too.

http://www.myfortunecookie.co.uk/fortunes/102/

Playable Zelda confirmed.

 

[rex]

Also i just popped in twilight princess and, im not sure why nintendo pretended they had created something new here, but the mechanics are in large part the same.

In tp, you can even take out the bow to aim, and epona will simply run forever, as far as i can tell, just like zelda wii u. As soon as you put the bow away, epona drops speed and youve got to hit a to spur her on.

And of course you can make epona run steadily if you can muster the awesome strength required to push the control stick forward and keep it there, conveniently leaving your other hand free to use the sword.

So the only real things theyv added seems to be that epona travels faster and further after you stop hitting A to spur and auto tree avoidance for the people who are half asleep while playing the game, or maybe cant be bothered to control their character in a video game.

Otherwise the tp formula seems to be intact.

 

[kittens]

I feel fortunate I suppose to not have any specific preferences to how Zelda games are handled just as long as they're good. I like the open approach and I thought Skyward was a refreshing blast and experience. But one thing I don't really want is the "game begins and turns you loose" approach.

It was fine in earlier installments and probably because of tech limits but starting with Link to the Past they've mostly at least had setups. I for one loved the story in Skyward to bits, as a long time fan I loved the establishments and thought the long intro was fine as it was literally introduced everything.

I'm hoping the next game is like that, only with a quicker intro as the last game handled the exposition (if this is a continuation of Skyward). It could be a totally new thing though as far as we know. I would just hate it if Skyward did all that stuff, being the very beginning of the story and not run with everything they took the time to establish.

The last gen Bethesda games did it well. Give you a short introductory area to gain your bearings and learn basic mechanics, then set you free into the wilds.

 

[Ahnez]

I just want magical mystery, secrets and a lot of unexpected scenarios.

This overworld looks like it knows how to give me that. Everything looks so curious, I can see myself spending hours just trying to check something small out.

I'm concerned about NPCs but Nintendo probably just wants to focus on the map right now. Dungeons, items, story and characters will come later.

Speaking of items...what if all the items are actually different arrow heads? Like a rope and arrow for the hookshot, or explosive arrows instead of bombs etc?

Well, I think its safe to say that there will be other arrow types, as the demo shows the arrow as your item, instead of the bow

 

[Gotdatmoney]

I've seen a few people bring up memory space. Is this a thing? There have been content rich games on weaker platforms. Xenoblade was huge, detailed, and dense with content, and it was on Wii.

I honestly find Xenoblade one of the rare games where exploring the world was it's own reward. I wanted to get to X location simply because it was intriguing and cool to explore. If Zelda can get that kind of awe in it's overworld while adding quests and other fun stuff to do it's going to be one of a kind.

 

[zeldablue]

Lol, speaking of Zelda. Aonuma asked himself if it matters if Zelda is a princess or not. Seems like she might not necessarily be royalty in this one. (She wasn't in SS either.)

What's to bet she was raised by animals in this one and is completely nutso.

 

[brandonh83]

The last gen Bethesda games did it well. Give you a short introductory area to gain your bearings and learn basic mechanics, then set you free into the wilds.

Yep. Also please god let there be a huge snow environment be it a mountain or whatever. Twilight's snow peak was glorious.

 

[Azure J]

I don't think 3D Zelda has yet to nail a really satisfying overworld, personally. Its always prefaced with "for its time" or "with the exception of" and sometimes "and yes I know the...isn't all that great"

As much as I really enjoyed Windwaker, this is true. 3D Zelda overworlds have yet to top ALttPs.