Do Zelda games have bad or cliched stories?

[Khuutra]

Xeta said:

Khuutra said:

Xeta said:
People, stop getting confused. Plot has an actual definition. It is the SEQUENCE in which the events of a story are presented. Here, even Wikipedia says so: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plot_(narrative)

That does not change the difference between "plot" and "story".

It does mean that Majora's Mask's plot structure is extremely innovative.

Plot is an element of a story. "Saving a princess" can be a character motivation, a summary of the ending, or the summary of a storyline, but it is definitely not a story. The convergence of all the elements presented to the player/viewer/reader is the "story".

This is important because a Zelda game can excel at certain elements of storytelling and completely neglect others. Regardless, what is important is that the final product you experience is the story. This means that it's probably a bad idea to just bunch an entire series of stories and declare them "good" or "bad" and basing it on specific elements like characterization, dialogue, atmosphere, or "saving the princess".

I was just trying to stop people from separating story and plot. Everything you experience is part of the story. Actually, the thread title should not ask about "bad" and "cliched" in the same sentence, since those are two entirely different subjects (the former is far more subjective than the latter).

Then we are in agreement. Forgive me, I thought that your post was directed at the half dozen or so of us who were differentiating Zelda's story from its plot.