| kitler53 said: first off, zelda isn't the only stale game out there. ratchet and clank is also at the top of my list of franchises that need change. luckily all4one at least appears to be attempting it although i'm still wary. second, i played twillight princess and more-or-less hated it. and the reason isn't that the game was "bad" but rather a feeling of staleness embodied by this story: after getting through the early training portions of the game i finally got out into hyrule field, i saw a heart container in the distance and said to myself, "i'll come back to that once i get a hookshot". puzzle games have some of the worst replayability of any genre. the problem is that the fun is in the joy of the discovery not in the act of completion. zelda has been very puzzle driven over the last few games with the real issue being that from one game to the next they are using the same puzzles. you may not particularily agree but the fact that soo many fans of the series are clamoring for change should be a clear sign to nintendo it is time to try something different like what they did with the metroid prime series. hold onto the core elements while delivering a brand new experience. |
That's all fine and dandy - but you should really learn to recognize rhetorical points. My case is that Zelda is irrationally, if consistently, being singled out as a series in need of change - but just what does that entail? Isn't Mario's level structure (run from left to right) and reoccuring thematic worlds just as bad as anything Zelda does? Yet that series is left alone by the masses. Now, you might have reasonable standards for variance, not just with regards to Zelda but lots of game franchises, but are you applying them consistently? Most people, quite frankly, don't, and that's a problem.
Using the same puzzles over and over would be a problem - but I'm not aware of that happening beyond introductory elements. Yes, there are similar themes - and even overt references - to puzzles in other games, but what franchise doesn't do that? As Rol said, and as I implied, you can remove the staples of the series, but what purpose does that serve? Forced creativity? Look at the DS Zeldas and see how far old concept can be taken.
And I can't stress this enough; people really should play Four Swords Adventures. There's your template for a modern action Zelda (and prototype for NSMBWii) - courtesy of Eiji Aonuma.
