| bigtakilla said: If we include everyone that has made open world games then two words, Xenoblade Chronicles. |
Not even that. XBC can get away with things an action adventure game like Zelda couldn't, because of how cerebral its battle system is. That's enguaging enough. Zelda would be an absolute snore with that kind of world. Any action game would.
The reason I'm so excited about Zelda U is because it's Wind Waker 2. I could tell as soon as I saw that Epona controls like the King of Red Lions. That's how to build an open world. People take Wind Waker's overworld for granted, but it's the most fun I've had in a 3D overworld outside of a Souls game. Every mechanic in the game was done with the intention of encouraging exploration. Completing the map, plunging treasure, submarine mini dungeons, towers, rafts with bokoblins, Giant Octos, ghost ships, and all the random islands.
That's the literal closest any game has ever come to recreating the map structure of Zelda 1. And that is, I'm sure, what they plan to expand upon with this new entry. It's going to be the Wind Waker open world on steroids, and without the linear plot structure stifling its potential. Instead of shooting bombs at submarines on a boat, you'll shoot bomb arrow at enemies on a horse. Same gameplay, different skin.
They'll be no guidence, but there will be more interesting stuff to find. Not just caves and dungeons, but towns, cities, and villages. All discovered of your own accord. You'll get hints through word of mouth to where some dungeons are if you're lucky. Others, you'll have to find on your own. Some will be in plain sight, waiting to be conquered. Others will be very well hidden, just like in Zelda 1, and you'll have to search for clues on where they are hidden and how to reach them.
The inspiration he got from remaking Wind Waker HD is absolutely palpable. You can see from the last Zelda games he's made since he's started Zelda U how it's shaping up. Wind Waker HD, A Link Between Worlds, Hyrule Warriors, Majora's Mask 3D, and now Triforce Heroes. If those are the games on his mind while making Zelda U, we're getting an absolute master piece.
The only things I'm afraid of is that the game will be too easy and that the game won't have voice acting. I can fix the prior by making my own challenge mode, though Zelda U should really take a few pages from Bloodborne when it comes to difficulty. I can't fix no voice acting though, and it's a shame that in 2016, not having VA in a AAA open world game is a legitimate concern. Nintendo has the IP to have Studio Ghibli level VA, and yet the cheap out on everything.
