What's Wrong with The Legend of Zelda? Part1 - Overworld

The Legend of Zelda is one of the most well known franchises among gamers and has been a series of powerful flagships for Nintendo. Since the first game on the NES, the series has caught the imaginations of players as they impersonate the silent hero Link to save Hyrule. Ocarina of Time has remained as the best game of all time in many lists and Twilight Princess has become a huge icon in America. The theme is one of the most well known across the world and has inspires developers into game development.

Yes, many things can be said for this franchise from fans like myself. However, I am going to get off the fan shoes and look at the series from the outside. With an open mind and an analytical perspective to how the series has evolved, starting from the overall game and then dissecting it piece by piece for a closer look.... And I found that the series, even though it has released consistently good games, is starting to become stagnant and very soon it will require a re imagining or it will slowly wither and die as the fans' eyes and jaws are wide open in disbelief.

Before the pikes and torches are risen against me, I suggest to just look at the console games starting with A Link to the Past to Twilight Princess. BE more objective and you see that while things has been improved in some fronts. Others have remain still and are beginning to hurt the overall value and are desperate for a change. I am going to post my analysis on the series and show what I believe it's wrong with the series and needs focus from the developers

Huge, but Rather Empty, Overworld

It started with Ocarina of Time, but it has become more and more apparent as they reached Twilight Princess. The overworld is big, giving you a strong feeling on how huge Hyrule is, with Lake Hylia, Death Mountain, Zora's Domain, among others... But...

WHERE IS EVERYBODY?

The problem here is in two fronts. The first one is the enemy encounters. In most cases it's very little or almost non existent. Of course, many of you will mention places with a number of enemies indicating that is populated.... yeah right. But don't you notice something out of place? You are clearing dungeons, getting stronger, with more hearts and items... but the enemies in these places are the same, the number remains the same, the type of enemies are the same or just change once. I mean, is the evil one so dumb to underestimate the hero's deeds, come on!.

Also, there was one thing I liked in Wind waker that was not present In twilight princess, there were NPC's traveling the world and I was expecting something similar in Twilight princess, but there was no such thing. Even in dark times, there should be caravans the transport goods or something, this could add some side quest and stuff to keep people playing.

The series has shown small glimpses of this, but it has not been exploited properly to add more realism to the game and it does not require a graphical overhaul.

Complaining that the overworld in TP was empty...it's just so obvious of a complaint that it's pretty much redundant, clearly written by someone who has an over-inflated ego and wants to appear smart and 'objective'.

Well I would think for a nice fresh take on the overworld, they should just try to recreate an overworld like in Link to the Past which would:

1. Make it Bigger
2. Include more NPCs and enemies
3. Make the landscape more varied

This is definately my biggest problem with Twilight Princess, the seamingly empty overworld.. I loved Wind Waker and Majora's Mask because it was full of interesting NPC's.. to me Hyrule didn't feel big at all in Twilight Princess. It felt like the Castle Town was basically the extent of it.. and there were a bunch of fields surrounding it with a couple of towns on the outskirts..

I'm looking forward to part 2 now.

Wait until more is known about Zelda Wii until you claim the franchise is stagnant and will wither and die slowly. Nintendo reinvent their major franchises to make them innovative and relevant.

I'd like this more if Miyamoto and Aonuma hadn't already said they want to change the franchise because they feel it went as far as it could under the OOT style template. They already know things need changing, as much as I like the intent of your thread, the series producer/director are very much ahead of you.

EDIT- On the subjet of overworlds in Zelda, I agree that TP's felt empty. The sense of scale and the design was great, but nothing much happened in it. And for all of Beadle's shop boats in Wind Waker, most of that was empty blue ocean.

I agree with the bolded but can you give a link to when Miyamoto or Aonuma said they wanted to change the franchise from the OoT template?

And your edit.. Games are about the feel, do you expect to have more things happening in a field of a kingdom or a sea? the fact that Wind Waker had a vast sea gave a different feel because anything could have jumped out of the water at any time and on many occations, that's exactly what happened. Exploring a vast sea makes the player feel good when they find a little island or a pirate ship or a trail of rupees appearing with barrels floating up. Having to go to each part of the sea for a new map section.. It all adds up to the experience of sailing whereas Hyrule Field and the general Hyrule layout including the stupid and dated over head view of Castle Town, another squandered opportunity to have the player feel part of a bustling town.. It just didn't work for the design..

-sigh-

I love TP to death but I have to agree.

@Asriel

I agree that we should wait for the Zelda game on Wii, but the points I am showing is that so far it has not changed in the series and what I think needs to change in my opinion. I hope it improves with the next game

the enemys in the overworld aren't a problem, why do you need enemys? you don't level up, enemys don't drop items, enemys don't increase your skills.

I disagree. Why not flame SotC as well, for having not a single enemy outside bosses(and it also has a huge overworld)? I think the overworld has less enemies for the same reason. It adds atmosphere, when you're making that last ditch hero ride to save your friends.