Bold Prediction: Zelda HD will sell 8m+ LT

[S.Peelman]

RolStoppable said:

S.Peelman said:

Random thought on this, I don't mean to enter this discussion, but still;

One might say that with the old games it was the other way around. Puzzles were more difficult to program than combat. There would have been no way for the NES to have a dungeon with changing water levels for example. Besides, the NES original still had light puzzles; block puzzles, The Lost Woods, puzzles hiding entrances to dungeons, and whatever else. A Link to the Past already had more elaborate puzzle solving, Link's Awakening even already had more elaborate puzzle solving, so it wasn't like this wasn't a thing in the series already. Maybe the N64 just finally gave them enough power to give the balance they wanted.

Puzzles were certainly not more difficult to program than combat. For example, the NES housed the Adventures of Lolo series which is nothing but puzzles. Likewise, the grandfather of block-pushing puzzles (Sokoban) already existed before the original The Legend of Zelda went into development.

When you take the execution of combat and puzzles during the 1980s on a broad level into account, there's simply no way that one can conclude that combat was easier to program. Something that requires precise controls is always more difficult to do than something that can get away with a relaxed pace. This hasn't changed and it's also the main reason why nowadays indie games are often infused with lots of puzzles. When Ocarina of Time released, the 3D era was still in an early stage. The dynamic of the combat in Zelda also shifted to one-on-one battles instead of constant groups of enemies, because the camera in a 3D space is a challenge. Puzzles don't generate the same problem because the player gets ample time to readjust the camera position.

Alright, sounds like a fair and plausible argument. It's indeed true more complicated things had already been done on NES regardless.