Daily Debate: Is “Open World” Good For The Zelda Series?

By this point, every Zelda fan is aware that the new installment in the series is going to be “open world”. The news came from Eiji Aonuma himself at E3 2014. Now that everyone has had time to get excited about it, we can take a step back and weigh out the pros and cons of such a claim in our beloved franchise. Of course opening the world up in this way would give the players the sense of freedom that they want out of the game, but what falls by the wayside when this happens?

When people have brought up games for comparison in the open world genre, Skyrim often gets the highest praise because of its vast, optional world. But with that sense of freedom, it suffered in the overall story line. While I don’t think that Zelda would be plagued with fetch quests the way Skyrim did, having an immensely open world to only be seeking out a handful of dungeons would feel empty.

That said, I think that a lot of good can come out of a truly open world game. Having some small dungeons dispersed throughout the land would be an exciting new way to acquire those missing pieces of heart or item upgrades. Optional side quests that help to develop characters would bring the world to life in new ways. But is that freedom worth having if it means that the main story line and the sense of urgency in your quest might diminish? What of the vital characters in the game like Princess Zelda? Would our relationship with them fade with their lack of a role throughout the game? Sound off in the comments section below!