“Did You Get All That?” Weekly News Recap

Here we are once again my lovely little friends, for this weeks weekly news recap. Where I, Kaepora Gaebora share with you all the most important moments in the past week, from the latest in the Zelda news front to the things that inspired your comments most. Come with me on a journey back in time as we revisit a ZD Talks for the week that inspired much conversation, to the announcement of a Tri Force Heroes release date and more. If you missed any of the goodies from last week then you will definitely want to join us on our latest jump back in time. But before we do, I must ask…

Did you get all that? If so, follow me past the break.

The first moment we find ourselves revisiting is the ZD Talks for the week. In this particular ZD Talks, Josh and some of the ZD staff ponder the question; Is a Zelda game more enjoyable to complete at 100%, at minimum or somewhere in between. This lead to much conversation as the team seemed to be in slightly different places with an agreement amongst Alexis and Andrew that they are in mainly for the story and thus don’t necessarily feel inclined to complete it further, and Jon being the utmost completionist likes to do all three with basic completion, then 100%, then minimum being his preferred order. Many of you had some pretty fantastic opinions and thoughts as to what works best and in what order, however one of you had definitely thought of this before and had much to say!

This is what TheMaverickk had to say:

“I think enjoyment is subjective. It really comes down to the player and what they want.

For some players their enjoyment comes from seeking out and finding every collectible. Those people will likely be the ones who get the most enjoyment out of a 100% completion rate.

Where you start to have players dissatisfied with a high completion rate is when a player wants to challenged by the game. Whether through puzzles or combat.

The cold harsh reality is that like most video games, new equipment, items and collectibles usually make the player stronger. Or make them able to overcome certain limitations. Or even solve puzzles quicker (or give the player the ability to solve a puzzle at all… which is a case with dungeon items). Inevitably to make the game easier for the players who struggle.

With this in mind any player who is looking to be challenged by the enemies and bosses they fight will likely find Zelda far too easy at the 50%-100% completion level. Since the sad truth is that since Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask the default difficulty has been scaled down quite a bit.

With the biggest determining factor for challenge easily being the number of hearts Link has. The less the player has, the harder the game is. The more he has, the more likely the player will breeze through combat and bosses. With the additional perks being bottles which can extend a life meter even greater (considering certain items completely refill a gauge, and you can do this up to 4-6 times in certain Zelda games using potions) or invincibility items (Nayru’s Love, or Magic Armor).

Going the 100% route will have the player vastly over powered for any Zelda title. Making any boss a relative joke. Although certain titles are worse then others with this balance in mind. Overall I think the sweet spot for most would be somewhere around the 25%-40% complete mark. Putting the player at roughly 8-10 full heart containers (a mixture of boss rewards and a few heart pieces), 2 bottles, and maybe… jut maybe one magic armor type item.

At this level the player has enough health that they can take a decent series of hits before collapsing. With one or two back up fairies or potions just in case. With Magic Armor perhaps to buy some time to figure out enemies in a tough situation. The less health a player has, and the more likely they are to use these items the more satisfied they will be to have them. As opposed to having 20 hearts and never ever needing to use a bottle of potion or invincibility.
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TL:DR – Personal opinion – First run through of a Zelda title, I don’t actively search for everything. I go at the pace I want and get to the end without finding everything. Although after completion and seeing the credits I will return to the same file and complete it.

Second Run will be absolute minimum. 3 Hearts (6 in SS), no sword upgrades, no shield/upgrades (if possible), no magic armor. Basically make it as hard as possible in combat situations which force you to rely on weapons other then your sword (arrows and boomerangs become incredibly important on these sorts of runs).”

To see more of the comments or share some of your thoughts, go to the original post here.

Our second stop for today takes us to the announcement from Nintendo at Gamescom 2015 of the release date for our next adventure in the Zelda series. The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes will release in Europe, Australia, and North America on October 23rd. This news led to a mixed bag of comments, from some of you being super excited, to some that are still unsure that you will be taking the leap and joining the Trio on this adventure.

ganaham is still one of those unconvinced and here is why:

“I don’t care about this game. It’s hard for me to take this seriously as a Zelda game. It feels more like a $10 E-Shop game than a Zelda game. But they’re trying something new, and I admire that. Probably won’t buy it though.”

Some of you felt very differently and have already got the game on pre-order! To share your thoughts or see more of the conversation, check out the article here.

We now take a moment to revisit another post brought to us by Tri Force Heroes. Along with the announcement of a release date Nintendo also provided us with some new artwork for the upcoming title. We received three different images depicting the trio of Heroes in various moments of adventure, danger, and fashion where we got another glimpse at some of the outfits that will be available. It seems some of you are pretty excited about that last bit!

Scott already has his choice picked out:

“I know what outfit I’m using throughout the whole game…”

To get a look at the three new images, go to the original article here and you can also check out an analysis of one of the images by GameXplain here.

The last stop on our journey together takes us to the publication of a web based comic on Play Nintendo.The comic is based on The Legend of Zelda series and the original manga that was created by Seitaru Komatsu and published in the CoroCoro Comics Special. The comic is titled Link’s Hijinks and shows our hero trying to save the world, but not in the way you think!

Check out part one of this web comic here.

That brings us to the end of our time together on this day but look to my return next week, where I will once again take you on an adventure! Before I bid you farewell, I must ask…

Did you get all that?