By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Why do Zelda Console games take 5 years to develop.... ?

I have never seen a musician or group spawn as many masterpieces in five years as there are in a usual Zelda game. And i kinda think the gameplay is too boring for shorter releases. More spinoffs would be awesome though, I can see so many genres fitting in with zelda's theme, maybe Zelda Mystery Dungeon, Turn-based RPG, Strategy RPG, Zelda II 2, all of those would be awesome releases inbetween the usual games.



Around the Network
TheFallen said:

Well the two previous new entries in the series. I'm not talking about remake or remasters ala Windwaker. The development time is comparable to a modern day Grand Theft Auto.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not trying to bait fans of the series ( If you've read my posts , you'll see i'm actually a HUGE Fan). I'm waiting for the day Nintendo announces the release date so I can plan my Wii U purchase, just as I purchased a Wii last gen for Zelda only.

 Is it a question of resources Nintendo allocates? Yes, I know they've developed DS and 3DS Zelda games since ( Rockstar made GTA IV plus dlc , Red Dead Redemption AND GTA V in the same time frame between the last Zelda and the next one) I'm obviously not asking for Nintendo to UBISOFT i.e. annualize the series , I would just prefer to have a new main entry ever 3 years , as opposed to 5 years. Can anybody shed some light?


I think it takes so long because Nintendo has to develop not just Zelda, but all their other games. They can't work on all their IP at the same time. 



What everyone else said, plus the fact that Nintendo has proven time and again that it would rather delay a game over and over to put out the best experience possible on Day 1 than to shit out some hot trash and consider patching it later.



mZuzek said:
I feel like the comparisons with GTA here are a bit shallow. You guys are missing something.

Zelda has a lot of artistic creation behind it. For every new game, they have to come up with a new gameplay mechanic, artstyle, world, story, characters etc. etc. etc. to keep the game fresh. If you look at stuff like the artwork in Hyrule Historia, it's clear they spend a lot of time designing each and every part of the game to make it unique.

GTA doesn't have that. They have all the artistic process done from scratch - copy a real world town with realistic visuals, make a cliche story involving crime and corruption, and don't make lots of significant changes to gameplay or new mechanics/twists. They pretty much start development with the artistic process basically done.

The Zelda team delays the games because they shift focus during development with new ideas for what they want to create - GTA doesn't have this problem because from the start it's already set in stone what the game should play like.

You really take a lot away from what GTA accomplishes when you boil it down to basics like that. The choices of what city to work in, what missions to design in that world, what cultural facets should be satirized, etc. are all just as much a part of the artistic process as choosing which new gimmick everyone will hate that Zelda should have this time around. It takes talent to create a world like GTA, where everything is both real and surreal at the same time. You can't just say everything is done for Rockstar just because they base loosely in reality.

 

As an aside, Zelda's delays only further perpetuate the Zelda cycle. While I prefer the games to be done rather than lazily finished (WW), they've been OVERdone in past entries, leading to a fizzle out in interest for many fans (TP and SS). The delays only increase expectations, to the point that perhaps a new gimmick isn't always worth another year of silence.



You should check out my YouTube channel, The Golden Bolt!  I review all types of video games, both classic and modern, and I also give short flyover reviews of the free games each month on PlayStation Plus to tell you if they're worth downloading.  After all, the games may be free, but your time is valuable!

cause outside of Majora's Mask every home console Zelda game was built from scratch and with Zelda U being an open world game those usually take a while to make cause for example

Witcher 2 came out in 2011 while Witcher 3 came out in 2015 (4 year difference)

GTA 4 came out in April Of 2008 while GTA 5 came out in 2013 (5 year difference)



Around the Network
JNK said:
Mythmaker1 said:

Not even close. I've played quite a bit of Skyward Sword, and the breadth and depths of mechanics is paltry. 

ive played ss and gta v and both games are on a same level in size and co. dunno what ur talking about.

i need about 40 hours for both to complete. both had same diversion and co.

What I'm talking about is scale and mechanical depth. Skyward Sword has a very small scale and very little mechanical depth. I can't speak to the mechanical depth of GTAV, but the scale of that game is enormous.

As far as "40 hours", I can only believe that it takes you that long to 100% Skyward Sword. As far as GTAV goes, not including multiplayer, there looks to be far more content.



I believe in honesty, civility, generosity, practicality, and impartiality.

Nintendo magic takes a while to marinate.



I agree with your sentiment in saying that Zelda should by no means become an annual franchise but should see a release schedule of every three years as opposed to every five.

I understand that Nintendo wants their Zelda titles to be of high quality, they seem to be too careful with this franchise. Each console generation should see something similar to the Nintendo 64 - two Zelda titles using the same engine. This would be far more efficient in releasing more Zelda titles within a consoles life cycle.

Perhaps this way they can release approximately two new Zelda titles and one remake per console.



animegaming said:
cause outside of Majora's Mask every home console Zelda game was built from scratch 

Twilight Princess used the Windwaker engine as well. But still a lot was changed barely making that matter. 

http://zeldawiki.org/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_The_Wind_Waker

Contrary to popular belief, programming the game with an engine based on this style was more difficult than programming Twilight Princess, after modifying said engine, to favor realistic graphics




Each Zelda is a reinterpretation of the previous instalments, from the artstyle to the mechanics. And of course, franchise fatigue. Zelda is Nintendo's second most popular franchise, I think. So they don't want to rely on it too much because that could potentially hurt the overall positive reception of the franchise.



.- -... -.-. -..