Were the Shrines Mini Dungeons?

[YIGAhim]

Breath of the Wild had shrines, as we all know.

In a recent thread, I got in a little mini-debate about if shrines counted as Mini Dungeons.

Do you think shrines count as Mini-dungeons? Why?

 

[Ninja]

Technically, yes, they are mini dungeons that consists of either puzzles or "mini boss" strength test fights, ending with treasures consisting of weapons, armor, and a shrine orb.

Personally, I don't see them as mini dungeons, more like easy puzzle rooms needed to increase hearts/stamina. When I think mini-dungeon, I think of the Ice Cavern from OoT, Bottom of the Well, Ancient Castle of Ikana, Gerudo Fortress, the Moon dungeons, Fire Mountain, etc.

 

[PalaeoJoe]

I think the answer to this question is quite simple. Some of the shrines were large enough and had enough rooms to be mini-dungeons and therefore were. While most of them were only large enough to be a room that could be featured in a proper dungeon or mini-dungeon or was large enough to be used as a section of a dungeon.
Most shrines were not mini-dungeons.

 

[Dizzi]

some were mini-mini-dungeons? maybe??

 

[DarkestLink]

No. The Divine Beasts could pass as mini dungeons--barely. But the shrines were way too short.

 

[MW7]

I would say yes, but it really depends on your definition. I think you could accurately define mini-dungeon in a way that all, some, or none of them would count. The divine beasts are the closest things we have to full dungeons, and really if someone asked how far I was in the game, I'd probably put it in terms of beasts and shrines cleared. Regardless of whether shrines are defined as a dungeon or not, they along with the beasts have kind of replaced dungeons in terms of measuring progress in the game. For instance "I'm at the Forest Temple in OoT" gives a sense of how much progress has been made and number of shrines and beasts would as well.

 

[AncientPoe]

Technically, yes, they are mini dungeons that consists of either puzzles or "mini boss" strength test fights, ending with treasures consisting of weapons, armor, and a shrine orb.

Personally, I don't see them as mini dungeons, more like easy puzzle rooms needed to increase hearts/stamina. When I think mini-dungeon, I think of the Ice Cavern from OoT, Bottom of the Well, Ancient Castle of Ikana, Gerudo Fortress, the Moon dungeons, Fire Mountain, etc.

As weird as this may seem, though Twilight Princess is constantly decried as having had a very barren and bland overworld, they had some of the best of what I'd call Mini-dungeons in the form of those cool caves you could find sometimes that had branching paths and kept going deeper and deeper, where you lit torches along the way. I liked those. I'd like to see more of something like that, but with a bit more effort into the actual layout and design, with a couple puzzles and combat challenges. They don't all have to mix it up, some of them can lean heavily in one direction or the other in that regard. But yes, more of those please.

I would not say that Shrines were mini-dungeons because they lacked any real complexity. Though individual shrines might be able to bear the mantle...

 

[PalaeoJoe]

As weird as this may seem, though Twilight Princess is constantly decried as having had a very barren and bland overworld, they had some of the best of what I'd call Mini-dungeons in the form of those cool caves you could find sometimes that had branching paths and kept going deeper and deeper, where you lit torches along the way. I liked those. I'd like to see more of something like that, but with a bit more effort into the actual layout and design, with a couple puzzles and combat challenges. They don't all have to mix it up, some of them can lean heavily in one direction or the other in that regard. But yes, more of those please.

The "Lantern Caves" were the best thing in TP's Overworld, they were reminiscent of the many caves found in ALttP. Both SS and BotW would have benefited greatly by having more caves to discover and explore.

 

[AncientPoe]

The "Lantern Caves" were the best thing in TP's Overworld, they were reminiscent of the many caves found in ALttP. Both SS and BotW would have benefited greatly by having more caves to discover and explore.

I was deeply disappointed that Breath of the Wild didn't have any legit caverns. Especially with the Darkness mechanic, they could have been truly gorgeous and wondrous to explore... here's hoping for the DLC (but I'm not counting on it...)

 

[Wiggum]

This is an impossible question to answer unless we put a hard definition on "mini-dungeon" ... I just think all of us probably have different views on what constitutes a dungeon to begin with. Not necessarily here, but I have seen to many debates on whether or not the Divine Beasts are even dungeons ... so if "we" can't even agree on that, how can we say there are or are not any mini-dungeons?

That said, I am about to be really vague. I THINK that technically the divine beasts, labyrinths, and even Hyrule Castle are supposed to be considered dungeons in this game - but that would be according to the general use of the term "dungeon" with respect to video games. However, I do not consider them dungeons because in terms of Zelda games they don't meet the typical criteria and characteristics of a dungeon.

So with respect to all that, technically (in the general video game world) the shrines would be mini-dungeons ... but to ME they are not mini-dungeons ... they are just shrines.

Short answer, I do not consider them mini-dungeons, and do not consider this game to have any dungeons at all.

 

[YIGAhim]

I've never considered Hyrule Castle a dungeon in any game, really.

 

[Wiggum]

I've never considered Hyrule Castle a dungeon in any game, really.

Me either, but from what I have seen/read, a lot of people do.

Honestly, on a general note, I HATE the term "dungeon" ...

 

[mistertc73]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, not at all, even the divine beasts do not qualify as mini-dungeons

the game had no dungeons and no mini-dungeons, dungeonwise that game was an absolute disgrace, there was a total absence from something that is key in a zelda game, so that was one of the reasons i had the feeling i was not really playing an actual zelda

 

[Vanessa28]

In a way they were. They were there to give you a reward. Orbs or anything else. So I count them as mini-dungeons. But I would rather call them mini trials rather than dungeons. I still enjoyed them a huge lot though.

 

[Spirit]

I wanna say no.

I've always thought of mini-dungeons as exactly that, smaller versions of bigger dungeons, like the Ice Cavern in OoT.

None of the Shrines had a theme, they were all the same which pushes them into a category of their own in my opinion.

Like Vee said I think calling them trials rather than dungeons is a better way of thinking about it.