I don't remember any threads being made about this, but one of the details revealed on Zelda U in December is that enemies in this game will have health bars for enemies. That's pretty weird because health bars are usually reserved for games with difficult to kill enemies or an extremely heavy focus on combat, something that recent Zelda games frankly lack. This is especially strange because even Zelda 1+2, which are the most difficult games in the series by a mile, lack health bars. Only two games in the franchise, to my knowledge and memory, with any health bars at all are Wind Waker (HD), where it was optional via the Hero's Charm, and Hyrule Warriors, which is a spin-off game. Zelda U would then be the first mainline Zelda game with seamingly mandatory enemy health bars. But why?
Like I said, even the more difficult Zelda games lacked health bars, so why start here? Well my hope is that, since we can supposedly tackle the dungeons in any order, there will be a bigger focus on actually finding the dungeons. Like, they're hidden across Hyrule and the point is to find them. Of course, tackling the dungeons in any order brings up the same issue it did In Zelda 1; some of the dungeons are clearly meant for the end of the game and are much much harder as a result. It would be kind of weird, how ever, to walk into a dungeon in 2015 and have it tell you flat out that it's a "Level 6" dungeon or something. So instead, it could focus more on the other way Zelda 1 discouraged players from playing the harder dungeons first; tougher enemies.
If you approach an area where the enemies are more aggressive, deal much more damage, and take much less damage, it will be clear that you may not want to tackle that area until you're more powered up. Having the enemy instantly and clearly display that your attacks are doing much less damage than what is prefered with a visable health bar makes all that much easier to understand.
Still, it is kind of strange seeing a health bar in Zelda. Surely having your ass beat by a much tougher enemy is enough for anyone to get the message without explicitly needing a health bar, right? Well maybe the combat itself is more challenging as well. Compared to other 3D games, the combat in 3D Zelda has never been really that deep or difficult. That's not to say it isn't fun or satisfying, but it's a far cry from other action games in that reguard. That being said, aside from SS and TP on the Wii, each 3D Zelda has been improving incrementally from the one before it, with TP GCN having the deepest sword combat options in the series, even if they were completely under utilized in that game. I still think that WW had the deepest combat overall, but the point is that Zelda clearly has a mind for improvement in this reguard.
Even Skyward Sword, which had an absolutely terrible combat system, did it from a good place. It tried to execute an idea that, on paper, could provide a combat system far deeper than anything so far in the series. And that comes not only from the the motion controlled sword play, but from the way the enemies were designed. They clearly at least wanted to make a deeper, and more difficult combat system.
Which brings us to Zelda U. If it's picking up from TP, or atleast in my opinion from the efforts put into SS, then we can probably expect a much deeper combat system than they have ever tried to execute before. Just the hints that Link will start out with a bow proves that. By widening your starting arcenal, the devs are allowed to design enemies with more weapons in mind. There's proof of this in the E3 trailer. When finally confronting the legged Beemos, Link fires off two bomb arrows before vaulting off Epona to deliver what it assumed to be a critical blow.
What is interesting about this is that there are no visable clues to tell us that it is taking damage here. No cracks in its armor or anything. Instead, in recoils and is visable stunned by the two consecutive blows, but in the same way the boomerang was know to do in prior Zelda games. Instead of being used simply as a way to score more damage, theres a utility and planning to the bomb arrows being used. What's also notable is that the Beemos was clearly in the middle of telegraphing an attack. By interupting this attack with the impacful Bomb Arrow, Link was able to render it dazed, putting him in an excellent position to follow up with a more critical blow.
I've seen people complain about the Bokoblins, saying that they look like they are just as easy as they've been in prior Zelda games. I think there's something to keep in mind, though; Bokoblins are kind of the bitches of every Zelda game. They are some of the easiest enemies in every Zelda game they're in. Even Zelda 1+2, which are the hardest Zelda games, have enemies like the Octorocs. Even the Souls games have some easy to kill enemies, especially early on. Another thing to note is that we never actually see one of them die. We see them get hit by arrows a bunch of times, but never enough to actually die.
What I assumed, with all this in my head, is that the area Aonuma stumbled apon was the entrence area to what would lead up to the "first" dungeon. Or at least the dungeon that you're expected to tackle first. In Zelda 1, not only is the first dungeon pretty easy, but the enemies leading up to it are easy, and it is the closest and likely the first dungeon most first time players will find.
Those are just my thoughts on the health bar. I'm praying, though not confidently, that it means a much deeper and more difficult Zelda. I usually 3 (or 6 where appropriate) heart run 3D Zelda games because they tend to be so incredebly easy other wise, even with Master Quest and Hero Mode. I'm really hoping that I won't have to do that with this one. What do you think the health bar means?
