Works for me. I get a kick out of being a condescending jack-ass. Can't do it much on internet forums without people getting their panties in a bunch. Kind of refreshing to find someone who takes it in stride. You can ask Makingmusic how god awful I am in person.

 My current thinking is they will keep it about the same and add the hint system. The problem is if you have to have your hand-held the entire way then how fun is the game? Imagine if before every puzzle in Zelda I had to take to controller from your hands, show you how to do it, and then reset the puzzle so you can. It would be boring as fuck. The current games are clearly not so easy that the average player can beat it in Nintendo's opinion. Why bump the difficulty up while making the game easier in the same breath? It just doesn't add up for me.

 And we will have to agree to disagree I suppose on Nintendo games getting easier. Super Mario Galaxy provides no where near the challenge Mario 64 did( skipped Sunshine). OoT, and Majora's Mask were about the same as I recall. I can't stomach more than about 2 hours of MM per few months though so my view might be distorted. Wind Waker was definitely easier than both though. And Twilight Princess was easier than that (save for the fact that Zelda forgot how to aim a fucking arrow!). Mario Kart has added extremely over powered items like Bullet Bill. But everyone will find different games to be a different difficulty so we will likely go in circles, although I do welcome any imput on how they have gotten harder.

You know, I can think of an adventure game that took this sort of thing to an extreme back in the day. The 7th Guest, one of the first FMV games, had some of the most difficult puzzles ever imagined. Some of them could literally take an hour each to solve, and that was if you knew how the rules of the puzzle worked. They added in a feature to the game, however: if you go to the library and check the book on the table, you get a hint for the last puzzle you checked. If you look at it again after attempting the puzzle, you get a more detailed hint. Check it again after another attempt, and the puzzle is solved automatically for you.

My question is, how many PC gamers bitched about that system being in The 7th Guest? I know I didn't; I never would have solved that damned microscope puzzle without it.

A new zelda i cant wait!!!
I hope its as hard as majoras mask but more dungeons.
TP had so many items in it but 3/4 of them were only useful in the dungeon you got them in.
the only useful ones were double clawshot, bombs, arrows and bottles (I think). I JUST CANT WAIT MAN.

...most liekly....PLEASE DEAR GOD MAKE HER LESS ANNOYING!

" see that we might be able to skip ahead in parts of the game, if things get too difficult"

OMG, this is killing gaming, casual gamers FTL!!! :(

You'll pardon me for dropping the matter of relative difficulty as compared to games in the past; that's not a matter on which I can mount a very full argument.

As to the need for hand-holding in the upcoming game... well, the first Zelda was different, yes, but all of the 2-D Zeldas have much more limited puzzle-solving in the first place. If you pushed on every block from every direction, set enough objects on fire, and placed enough bombs, chances are pretty good you had solved the "puzzle".

3-D threw all of that shit right out the window.

The thing about 3-D puzzle solving is that we as people who jumped on Ocarina of Time way back when are used to the logic needed to solve puzzles in a three-dimensional environment, which is very different from the logic needed for the old games; even the simplest stuff is much harder in 3-D, for most people, because it's not as intuitive that you're supposed to push that block into that depression, and once you add in the ability to move in a room which is actually constructed in three dimensions it becomes pretty clear why a lot of people have trouble getting through Zelda games as-is.

The way I figure it, the puzzles in 3-D are using a logic that people aren't wrapping their heads around as-is. The way this hint system can work is that not only does it allow them to pass a puzzle, but it gives players a chance to become familiar with the logic required to solved Zelda's puzzles in a 3-D space. This not only makes it irrelevant how hard the puzzles are (since they're too hard anyway, why not just make them harder), it indoctrinates them into the particular behaviors necessary to be able to do the puzzles on their own.

Hmm, I am all for Nintendo expanding the audience and making games accessible to less skilled players. In principle I think it is a good idea.

But they don't have to do it for all their franchises. I mean, why does every game have to appeal to everyone? I think most of the people who actually are Zelda fans are pretty dedicated players who like a challenge. Zelda is a huge series, sure, but it's never going to be all-family-mainstream like Mario Kart is, so why try?

It is a mixed bag though, Nintendo's games aren't all getting easier, not yet anyway. Mario Galaxy had a pretty good mix I thought, a lot of the stars are quite easy, but getting them all is more of a challenge. Personally I had problems with some of the "beat the boss over again with just 1 on your life meter" (the ghost boss I always would get hit at some point).

Super Mario Sunshine on the Gamecube was much harder tho, and much harder than Mario 64. Some of the levels there are tough as nails, especially those retro levels where you could fall to your death any second and you didn't have the water pack. It was one of my first games on Gamecube, and I actually got so frustrated that I broke my controller :)

Other Nintendo franchises are hard to, F-Zero comes to mind, F-Zero GX was EXTREMELY hard on the higher difficulties, even tho that was developed by a Sega studio, Nintendo must have approved.

The Metroid Prime games aren't very easy either, the puzzles are both big and complex and some enemies and a lot of the boss fights aren't a walk in the park without some practice.

So, Nintendo are definitely not making all games easier yet, but Zelda definitely has been dumbed down a bit to appeal to more players.

Both Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are much easier than Majora's Mask. Phantom Hourglass has a casual appeal with the control system, and I didn't find the puzzles that hard. I got the fold the DS screen together puzzle in just a few seconds. I did almost run out of time in that damn hourglass dungeon tho on several occassions. Once I actually ran out and barely managed to finish before I lost all my life, and I consider myself quite a skilled Zelda player, having played Zelda games for about 20 years now.

I hope Nintendo won't come to the conclusion that all games should be made so anyone can play. That they wanna expand the user base of Zelda a little is understandable, and maybe this patent is how they are gonna try to appeal both to the skilled/experienced players and new ones. But I want harder Zelda games, not easier, and especially harder puzzles. Not necessarily frustratingly hard, but atleast back to the level of Majora's Mask (my favorite game EVER!)

 Which makes a good case for the next Zelda being harder. This one you need to build up an audience though. I am supposing we can agree that this, at its very heart, an attempt to bring in a new audience, and re-capture people who tried in the past but got frustrated by the game. Allowing them to go through the entire game only needing to fall back on the hint system as few times as possible. Once you get them around the idea they can beat a game, then the next one they will stick with a bit longer before flubbing out. Seems the most logical to me at least.

 @KSV
Zelda has been an easy game since it was put on the SNES. There has not been one exception I could find to this. If most Zelda fans are playing it because of its difficulty then they are playing the wrong series. It never has been, and never will be the epitomy of challenge even within its own genre.

I would acquiesce to that, but I like to think that they can use the first dungeon for that, if need be - or the first "half" of the game, if we think of it as being like Ocarina of Time or Link to the Past.

The beauty of this idea (if it is Zelda) is it put the "core" games into the "expanded audience." It is no different then having a movie like game. Rather then playing the whole game, you can pick and chose where to play. You can even cut the fat and turn a long 40 hrs game into no more then 10 so that people can finish it.

It's a genius idea really.