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[Chuck Berry]

My perfect Zelda game would be a blend of BOTW and OOT. An interesting open world like BOTW's, but with a good 8 dungeons with bosses in the same vein as OOT. Where you could only access certain areas of the world once you had found new abilities.

This is what I want as well for sure

 

[MagiusNecros]

Last Zelda title was the most lazy Zelda sequel ever and it took them a lot of time to develop it. If the next one looks the same and plays the same then I'll just assume the series is dead for me.

On the topic of optional content that some posters were discussing earlier: no, you don't need a giant map filled with useless shit to have optional content. Ocarina of Time had optional content, and it was all there to serve a purpose or grant you interesting and useful rewards: the skultulas, the hidden heart pieces, the fishing pond, the poe hunt, the gerudo training grounds and, if I'm not mistaken, even getting Epona and helping the ranch is something optional.

And yeah when it comes to style (visual and overall) I'd love to go back to the days of ALTTP/OOT/MM. Those days where the best for this series, imo.

Gilded Sword and Biggoron's Sword were great side quests that gave you a sizable permanent upgrade. No such luck in the Zelda of today. Where every weapon is either throwaway or disposable. If the Champion's weapons had infinite durability I'd cry less about it. Much less the Master Sword.

And the amount of healing items and resources in Breath era Zelda actually makes you worse at managing them instead of finding/earning bottles or containers to hold Fairies and Potions. Truly not understanding the lesson of less is more.

If the Zelda series stays the same it's going to just be a Musou franchise for me since I love the crap out of Hyrule Warriors.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Gilded Sword and Biggoron's Sword were great side quests that gave you a sizable permanent upgrade. No such luck in the Zelda of today. Where every weapon is either throwaway or disposable. If the Champion's weapons had infinite durability I'd cry less about it. Much less the Master Sword.

And the amount of healing items and resources in Breath era Zelda actually makes you worse at managing them instead of finding/earning bottles or containers to hold Fairies and Potions. Truly not understanding the lesson of less is more.

Oh yeah! the Biggoron Sword quest and collecting all the bottles. I specially miss the later, felt like a stapple of the series was thrown away like nothing.

 

[Emedan]

After all Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is a canonical title.

Who cares, Skyward Sword isn't the same type of gameplay as OoT since it's entirely motion controlled and yet it's still a mainline title. It's not "semantics" it's the official classification.

I dont know if you're acting stupid on purpose or just like to be argumentative but you know very well what I mean. THE last Zelda game wasn't Echoes of Wisdom, it was Tears of the Kingdom.

 

[MagiusNecros]

I dont know if you're acting stupid on purpose or just like to be argumentative but you know very well what I mean. THE last Zelda game wasn't Echoes of Wisdom, it was Tears of the Kingdom.

It's been long confirmed every Zelda game that starts with The Legend of Zelda is considered mainline. I don't make the rules. That is just what the rules are.

Furthermore while there is supposedly no Zelda timeline...that doesn't stop the fanbase from creating one and Nintendo/Aonuma rolling with it.

And the Echoes of Wisdom Lore is actually quite good with it's main Villain and adds quite a bit to the Pantheon of higher powers with it's final boss.

 

[Aldric]

I dont know if you're acting stupid on purpose or just like to be argumentative but you know very well what I mean. THE last Zelda game wasn't Echoes of Wisdom, it was Tears of the Kingdom.

No, it's you who created some stupid arbitrary standards that don't exist in reality. Top down/isometric Zelda games are absolutely mainline titles or else it'd mean the first true Zelda game is OoT which is pants on head retarded. Just look at the official timeline, there's no separation between 3D and 2D games they're all part of the same canon.

 

[peronmls]

Everything after TP was terrible. it was Eiji Aonuma whose creative direction is what made the games good. Dark and gloomy. Now it's all cute and cheery. Like a Kingdom Hearts game.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Everything after TP was terrible. it was Eiji Aonuma whose creative direction is what made the games good. Dark and gloomy. Now it's all cute and cheery. Like a Kingdom Hearts game.

Really does feel like it has a Walt Disney slap of paint doesn't it?

 

[tr1p1ex]

I like the various art styles. Wind Waker I liked a lot. Very whimsical. I thought TP looked like dirty tp. But I love all my kids.

 

[Dampf]

I remember.

Spoiler: Water Temple OoT

Spoiler: Goron Mines TP

Spoiler: Snowhead Temple MM

Spoiler: Tower of the Gods WW

God I miss these tightly designed instances. TOTK tried to replicate dungeons in the formular but it was far from successful.

 

[TheInfamousKira]

I remember.

Spoiler: Water Temple OoT

Spoiler: Goron Mines TP

Spoiler: Snowhead Temple MM

Spoiler: Tower of the Gods WW

Just seeing the dungeon maps laid out like that takes me back, dude. Such detail and consistency and awareness of each neighboring room or area. That's why I think games like ALTTP, OOT, and MM felt like massive, lived in worlds, despite the "overworld," consisting of like...areas a quarter as large as the Great Ocean at it's largest points. I used to think it was primarily applicable to the fact that open world wasn't a genre back then, so anything organized in a grander way than "Level 1 - Level 2 - Level 3," seem alive, but now I'm thinking it's a bit of column A and B.

 

[Instant_Classic]

Breath of the wild was weird. The initial 10 hours were masterful but you quickly realise how shallow the game is. The shrines sucked. The main quest line was underwhelming. The side quests boring. The base for open world zelda is there but it needs more meat! Less building shit and more adventure. Where's the dungeons? Where's the classic zelda like music? I was baffled exploring the world with no background music! Breath of the wild and tears of the kingdom don't feel like zelda to me.

Exactly this.

They felt like an attempt to copy the Western open world gaming format, rather than play to the strengths of what makes Zelda...Zelda.

 

[Instant_Classic]

Last Zelda title was the most lazy Zelda sequel ever and it took them a lot of time to develop it. If the next one looks the same and plays the same then I'll just assume the series is dead for me.

On the topic of optional content that some posters were discussing earlier: no, you don't need a giant map filled with useless shit to have optional content. Ocarina of Time had optional content, and it was all there to serve a purpose or grant you interesting and useful rewards: the skultulas, the hidden heart pieces, the fishing pond, the poe hunt, the gerudo training grounds and, if I'm not mistaken, even getting Epona and helping the ranch is something optional.

And yeah when it comes to style (visual and overall) I'd love to go back to the days of ALTTP/OOT/MM. Those days where the best for this series, imo.

So much this!

 

[Instant_Classic]

Everything after TP was terrible. it was Eiji Aonuma whose creative direction is what made the games good. Dark and gloomy. Now it's all cute and cheery. Like a Kingdom Hearts game.

With today's technology, and it being nearly 20 years since the realistic style was attempted.

The time has come to give it another shot, if the next Zelda has the art style of BoTW I will rage.

 

[Instant_Classic]

Gilded Sword and Biggoron's Sword were great side quests that gave you a sizable permanent upgrade. No such luck in the Zelda of today. Where every weapon is either throwaway or disposable. If the Champion's weapons had infinite durability I'd cry less about it. Much less the Master Sword.

And the amount of healing items and resources in Breath era Zelda actually makes you worse at managing them instead of finding/earning bottles or containers to hold Fairies and Potions. Truly not understanding the lesson of less is more.

If the Zelda series stays the same it's going to just be a Musou franchise for me since I love the crap out of Hyrule Warriors.

There's such a thing as "growing with a weapon".

Seeing it evolve over time.

Weapon degradation as seen in modern Zelda games, destroys this whole concept.

 

[Robb]

what makes Zelda...Zelda.

I think you're going to have to re-evaluate the meaning of that statement. BotW/TotK has sold 56M units. That's more than all other 3D Zelda games combined, even when including all the remasters over the years.

There are more people out there today that recognize 'Zelda' as being BotW/TotK than there are recognizing it as something like OOT.

At this point we can probably assume that having stuff like psychic powers and breakable weapons is what makes Zelda… Zelda, for most people.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Just seeing the dungeon maps laid out like that takes me back, dude. Such detail and consistency and awareness of each neighboring room or area. That's why I think games like ALTTP, OOT, and MM felt like massive, lived in worlds, despite the "overworld," consisting of like...areas a quarter as large as the Great Ocean at it's largest points. I used to think it was primarily applicable to the fact that open world wasn't a genre back then, so anything organized in a grander way than "Level 1 - Level 2 - Level 3," seem alive, but now I'm thinking it's a bit of column A and B.

A big portion IMO of what has made Zelda what it is has always been the Dungeons and Dungeon design all the way back to Zelda NES. You are thrown into a world that has these old ruins that you explore and acquire items that aid in your progression towards becoming a hero and usually defeating the big bad guy. While simplistic at first things got more complex.

Games like Link to the Past and Super Metroid were loved for this and the impeccable level design in games like OoT/MM/TP/WW, OG Tomb Raider, Golden Sun among others were and sometimes still are top tier both in design but also in atmosphere. Dragon's Dogma 1 kind of has this too in it's select dungeon like zones.

And for MMOs you easily have Everquest and Final Fantasy XI. Man dungeons in Vana'diel are so good. Just yes.

But it's also traversing that world and getting to those dungeons. I think Zelda Fallout Edition can achieve this but they really got to make dungeons with level design akin to the classics. The sandbox structure is fine but add meaningful exploration to it. You have to make a world with stuff you want in it. You don't make a map and then decide what to do with it. Or make a map and have 100+ shrines that instance you to another room you load into...completely disconnecting you from the world you took the time to create.

I also think the game cheapens itself by essentially giving a majority of your gear to you through shops or just stuff you pick up. Or for endgame stuff...farm Dragons for materials to upgrade gear. No real associated quest. Mind you there are quests for this sort of thing to get some base gear regarding the dragons in BotW...but in TotK not really.

Because a lot of my time with TotK I really enjoyed traveling to or making the "dungeons" accessible(Lightning Temple triangulation beacons was cool stuff) but when it comes to doing them it falls flat on it's face. Especially with the options available to you. They really messed up with how much you trivialize things with Rocket Shield or Ultrahand.

Right now for that proper dungeon experience given Zelda Fallout's MASSIVE SALES I can only really see them continuing with the current formula or altering it slightly.

For that classic Zelda experience for new games you will be relying on Indie Devs to provide. Crosscode and Unsighted as great examples. And Alabaster Dawn and Abyss X Zero look promising in that regard as well.

For the big studios I only really see Metroid Prime 4 being the kind of traditional Zelda that old Zelda fans are looking for.

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Last thing. Regarding optional content. To me the side quests in older games were meaningful, contributed to lore or rewarded you with upgrades or a unique item or piece of gear and was always worth doing and never felt like a chore. In newer games...there is plenty of activities to do....but you either don't want to do them or the rewards for investment are so insignificant they aren't worth the hassle. Now I don't know about you but a quest chain to acquire a sword is always more interesting then collecting 500 poops for 1 megapoop.