I think there's some use talking about it.

I mentioned here http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/post.php?post=2897954&page=1&postnum=17 that I think there are three different "schools" of Zelda design right now, and each of these has very different focuses in terms of what they deliver in the gameplay department. What you're referring to is the focus of the Old School, which is the largest school we've had.

I expect Zelda Wii to be the start of another new school, and I actually expect it to be much more combat-focused than the older 3-D games. I don't know if the puzzle-solving will suffer because of it, but a greater focus on combat and the mechanics of combat is something that I expect based on the scant info we've gotten concerning the game's controls.

Twilight Princess should have had two more dungeons in it, there were 9 in Ocarina of Time, 3 as young Link and 6 as Adult Link including Ganon's Castle. There were also plenty in Link to the Past.

Miyamoto really hasn't been the "go-to guy" of the Zelda series since he told the director to "do whatever he wanted" with the final battle in OoT. His way of working as a producer is to leave the designers alone, periodically evaluating their work, thus "upending of the tea-table." He does not usually linger very long on any one title at this point, and thus he cannot be considered a very good authority figure for any one of them.

As to what director I would want, I personally hope Fujibayashi is involved alongside Aonuma. The man's got style. Koizumi is currently working as a producer at EAD Tokyo making him an unlikely candidate, though he might still pitch in as a writer (he worked on the story of LA and MM, among others)... Probably not, though.

As for what Aonuma said; Great! I'm looking forward to it, Mr. Hype-san!

Aonuma also said a couple of years ago the central dungeon concept in PH was something that was being considered for Zelda Wii. I'll find a source, if I can.

With all the talk about changing the structure, I'm thinking they may do away with item related dungeons all together. Progress through the main story and sidequests is done in a more immmersive overworld, with more parts of the central dungeon being accessible as you do more in the overworld, perhaps. A few key skills are used, sword combat, archery, bombs, boomerang, hookshot and horse, (rather than a plethora of items like TP) across all puzzles-that like the puzzles in the Ocean King Temple and Spirit Tower are based more around mind bending logic than what ever the latest item you picked up is. (Apologies for the convoluted sentence)

That's a direction I'd like to see Zelda go in. The side quests are like the personal ones you undertake in Majora's Mask (Anju and Kafei is gamings greatest love story, as far as I'm concerned) and overworld quests are a combination of mini-dungeons, combat and story driven set pieces. Whether the events of the main story would be linear or not and to how much of a degree, I don't know.

Apart from that I hope for full voice acting (save Link) and fully orchestrated music. A soundtrack to the standard of Galaxy would please me greatly. I think voice acting and orchestrated music could help with the immersion-though I have heard some say that it may break the immersion. If it's properly done, I think it would help.

Regardless of what they do, I have faith in them to deliver a great game. The real question is whether or not it will define a decades worth of titles, as Ocarina of Time has done.

I'd just like to see dungeons that use all the items at your disposal, or a least as many items as you can reasonably access quickly.

Each dungeon would be necessarily more complex than the last as a result.

Hm, interesting take on things.

I'll be honest, I have no idea what Zelda Wii is going to end up like. I suppose the fact that I'm not a fan of "The DS School," which are the 2 most recent entries into the franchise (though I haven't yet played ST, it looks very similar to PH), has me worried about Zelda's future. In reality, I'm sure it's possible they don't give handheld Zelda's and console Zelda's the same treatment.

I personally don't mind the puzzles at all. If they're going for accessibility and expanding the Zelda audience, though, I imagine something like the Water Temple from OoT is a very bad idea (old example, I know, but I haven't played TWW / TP in a while).

My two main worries are the traveling (shouldn't be a chore to get from A to Z), and story. I want them to cut down on the text, significantly. I'm only really bothered when it gets to Twilight Princess intro levels (way overboard), though I think it'd be great if the intro was no longer than NSMB Wii's. Most of the text (stuff like lore) can be optional, and placed in books or something (see: Metroid Prime). There should be a way to provide the traditional fans with enough story, without impeding on those who bought the game for the action / adventure.

... Okay, done talking about what I want, what matters is how the actual game will be! We should probably compile all the quotes Nintendo has said about the game.

Khuutra said: noname2200 said: Que?

It sounds like he's going to try to go for the "wow" factor, with "vast and realistic" being the guiding motifs. I prefer that he play up the "fun" factor: as I wrote in the NSMBWii thread, I think that "wow" best springs from "fun."

@c0rd:

That is a very reasonable stance to take and I hope you end up satisfied.

@noname:

It's Aonuma, supervised by Miyamoto. Fun will come first, I am sure.

Twilight Princess was a fantastic game. I actually enjoyed my later playthroughs more than my first play through. I played the game on Cube btw. It was a better game than WW in my opinion. I was not much of a fan of WW tbh (gasp!)

But as far as 3-d Zelda's go OoT remains my favorite. TP perfected the formula and gameplay introduced in OoT but that formula began showing its age. In fact I think the reason why I was slightly disappointed with TP early on was because I was expecting to recapture the feeling of OoT all those yers ago. But once I put TP in its own realm I enjoyed it much more.

Still, I think the series is in need of some overhauls and just incremental improvements are not going to cut it this time. I have all the faith in the world in Nintendo to deliver one hell of a gaming experience as they are the best in the business at doing so (imo).

The more involved Miyamoto is, the better the game will be.

Also: I want more lore. Especially enemy lore, even something like the little snippet Navi/Tael (or was it Tatl) would give you in OoT/MM