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Hypothetical: Zelda Survival Game

Joined
Apr 11, 2020
Hey, I'm new to the forum, so I figured I'd start by discussing an idea for a Zelda game I've been noodling around in my head. I realize it doesn't sound like anything new, but I was thinking of an Open-World survival game inspired by games such as Minecraft, The Forest, and Subnautica. Not only maintaining basic needs such as hunger, thirst, and energy, but repairing, crafting, and upgrading weapons using items in the game world, building your own base, perusing dungeons, defeating bosses and generally upgrading your character skills. Ending in an ultimate end-game area where all of your effort in upgrading your items, weapons, and character come to fruition with a final epic boss fight.

As for the story, I have some ideas, if you want to hear them, feel free to ask, I don't feel like putting it all here just yet.
 
Joined
Apr 11, 2020
Great idea!
How about Aragarok instead of ender dragon?

In accordance to the story I'm writing, I'm thinking the final boss should be Demise, but a far different version from what we've seen. I imagine him as a towering elder-god figure with cosmic powers to control the elements. I wanted to do a thing where Ganon and Demise are separate entities, with Ganon being the same age as Link. I wanted the story to be an ironic twist on the conventional sense of whimsy and discovery that comes with a Zelda game. It's a story about leaving Neverland: Departing from the nest with confidence only to find the world isn't as colorful and cheery as you believed. That's how the gameplay and story intertwines. In the beginning, the Triforce Trio are all rebellious and unconstrained teenage spirits who only want to explore the world without consequence, only to find that an impending doom will force them to take up their mantles and accept their responsibilities.

Along with this, I wanted to add some backstory behind the major events long before the game. The Fierce Deity, Hylia, and Demise were all actually friends, a young group of gods assigned to protect this world and help it grow. I haven't written the bulk of it yet, but I imagine each had their own idea of how to run their world, Hylia and Fierce wanted to run the world with a sense of order and rules to follow, while Demise, still clinging on to his rebellious spirit, wanted people to live under their own rules, free of the outside influence of the gods which will allow them to slowly evolve and grow. In that regard, Demise is the tough-love father of the group, letting his children make their own mistakes and learn from them over time. Fearing repercussions from the higher powers, Hylia and Fierce had their own friend sealed away in another dimension, where he festered in his own hatred for their betrayal, mutating his physical form into a creature of pure anger. He now spends his entire life attempting to wipe clean the impact of the gods on their world and when all is said and done, he will end his own life, allowing his people to live on as they see fit.

He tried this once before when the advanced race of the Twili were testing new technology allowing them to view and visit alternate universes. Out of sheer luck, they landed upon the dimension Demise was trapped in. This open portal emitted a wave of energy that caused a near-extinction event across Hyrule, instantly killing billions and forever scarring the miles of land it started on, becoming known as the "nihilvita scar" 300 years after the event, the population grew back and the event was remembered as the "Gods' Wrath" initiating an era in which the royal family seized control over Hyrule in the name of their gods. Culminating in a series of holy wars upon the Gerudo peninsula. Years after the wars had finally ended with a peace treaty and a coup d'etat of the current Hylian king from his own people, the two nations finally came to an agreement and remained at peace. However, years after the war, tensions are still high among victims of the royal army's march, leading to insurrectionist groups sprouting up in both the lands of Hyrule and the Gerudo desert. In Hyrule, monsters who were persecuted by the previous king remain deeply resentful of the kingdom and often raid small towns and ambush caravans, while in the Gerudo desert, groups of resentful Gerudo and Sheikah formed their own band of desert raiders.

That's about all i have for the story right now, feel free to ask.
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2020
Location
In the future playing BotW 2
Gender
Mobian
Ooh! Interesting topic! I'll contribute a little idea I guess.

PLOT
10 years after the BotW games ended Ganon was sealed within an alternate dimension/reality using the Triforce where his malice can spread all he wants, but it will never leak out and harm Hyrule. or so they thought (dun dun duuuun). Suddenly the seven sages which reside in the castle are sensing a disturbance coming for Hyrule, and have identified it to be Ganon. Zelda tries to use the power of the TriForce to seal him away once again but does....kinda. The malice itself was sealed away but Ganon's lifeless corpse (In Ganondorf form) just fell to the ground and no one seemingly noticed. After barely regaining consciousness He finds a place to take a deep slumber, and regain his powers. fast forward 5 years, everyone's thriving and a random teen named Link is doing his mail duty around his neighborhood. His normal route has a traffic jam so he takes a shortcut, and runs into weird shadowy monsters. He runs away from them and dodges them till he gets to a clearing (this will serve as a movement tutorial) There's a big sword in a pedestal (not the master sword) and Link knows this will be his only hope to defeat the creatures, so he has to pull it out. (button mash a series of buttons before the monsters get to Link). After Link pulls it out a mysterious 3 triangle symbol appeared on his Left hand (which is his dominant hand he uses to swing the sword) and starts glowing. (you can probably guess what it is) Link easily defeats the monsters, and then notices writing on the pedestal his newly acquired sword was in saying "If ye manage to retrieve the sacred sword and receive the TriForce on they hand, ye is the chosen one" . After reading the sky goes black and Link runs away to try to get back to his village, only to come across a creepy figure with darkness spiraling around it, and it reaches its hand out to Link, and everything goes back. Link wakes up and he's in the middle of his village and everything's on fire. he has to do a small puzzle to find a key to raise the gate to get out the village, and fend of baddies along the way, all while not being spotted by the figure. Link escapes and runs to the castle, explaining to the guards what happened (no voice for link, just speech prompts like BotW). The guards figure that Link was making up a bunch of bs and he commited arson, burning down the village and everyone in it (aside from link of course) however luckily for Link, a sage is outside and hears Link's explanation of the events, and stops the guard and tells Link it confirms their suspicions. Link goes up to meet with princess Zelda and the Sages and they tell Link that the figure was Ganon, and he must go around to 7 sacred places (dungeons) to find the keys which will seal Ganon back to its pocket dimension. (this is where the game actually starts) Link adventures to each of these places, and learns how to use his TriForce powers along the way. (the player can also go to secret ruins scattered around Hyrule, with 13 in total. after a small puzzle you get a piece of lore which you put together like puzzle pieces, but its still fairly difficult too since they aren't in order and depending on some circumstances 1 ruin might have 3 pieces of info all in one, but you think it's one whole piece of the story because it flows together well. and I haven't thought of the actual lore yet btw). By the time Link gets all 7 keys he confronts Ganon in the castle, however to truly stop Ganon they need to obliterate his source of power: the TriForce of power. The problem is a part of it is within Link, so destroying that part of the TriForce then making a pure one would cause the old corrupt one to meet up and become whole, in Link. so Link sacrifices himself and the power overloads Link, and his soul.........fades away? The player gets the mystery ending. However if you find all the lore, all will be explained and you might get a different ending. (I will flesh out the lore and the true ending later)
 
Joined
Apr 11, 2020
Ooh! Interesting topic! I'll contribute a little idea I guess.

PLOT
10 years after the BotW games ended Ganon was sealed within an alternate dimension/reality using the Triforce where his malice can spread all he wants, but it will never leak out and harm Hyrule. or so they thought (dun dun duuuun). Suddenly the seven sages which reside in the castle are sensing a disturbance coming for Hyrule, and have identified it to be Ganon. Zelda tries to use the power of the TriForce to seal him away once again but does....kinda. The malice itself was sealed away but Ganon's lifeless corpse (In Ganondorf form) just fell to the ground and no one seemingly noticed. After barely regaining consciousness He finds a place to take a deep slumber, and regain his powers. fast forward 5 years, everyone's thriving and a random teen named Link is doing his mail duty around his neighborhood. His normal route has a traffic jam so he takes a shortcut, and runs into weird shadowy monsters. He runs away from them and dodges them till he gets to a clearing (this will serve as a movement tutorial) There's a big sword in a pedestal (not the master sword) and Link knows this will be his only hope to defeat the creatures, so he has to pull it out. (button mash a series of buttons before the monsters get to Link). After Link pulls it out a mysterious 3 triangle symbol appeared on his Left hand (which is his dominant hand he uses to swing the sword) and starts glowing. (you can probably guess what it is) Link easily defeats the monsters, and then notices writing on the pedestal his newly acquired sword was in saying "If ye manage to retrieve the sacred sword and receive the TriForce on they hand, ye is the chosen one" . After reading the sky goes black and Link runs away to try to get back to his village, only to come across a creepy figure with darkness spiraling around it, and it reaches its hand out to Link, and everything goes back. Link wakes up and he's in the middle of his village and everything's on fire. he has to do a small puzzle to find a key to raise the gate to get out the village, and fend of baddies along the way, all while not being spotted by the figure. Link escapes and runs to the castle, explaining to the guards what happened (no voice for link, just speech prompts like BotW). The guards figure that Link was making up a bunch of bs and he commited arson, burning down the village and everyone in it (aside from link of course) however luckily for Link, a sage is outside and hears Link's explanation of the events, and stops the guard and tells Link it confirms their suspicions. Link goes up to meet with princess Zelda and the Sages and they tell Link that the figure was Ganon, and he must go around to 7 sacred places (dungeons) to find the keys which will seal Ganon back to its pocket dimension. (this is where the game actually starts) Link adventures to each of these places, and learns how to use his TriForce powers along the way. (the player can also go to secret ruins scattered around Hyrule, with 13 in total. after a small puzzle you get a piece of lore which you put together like puzzle pieces, but its still fairly difficult too since they aren't in order and depending on some circumstances 1 ruin might have 3 pieces of info all in one, but you think it's one whole piece of the story because it flows together well. and I haven't thought of the actual lore yet btw). By the time Link gets all 7 keys he confronts Ganon in the castle, however to truly stop Ganon they need to obliterate his source of power: the TriForce of power. The problem is a part of it is within Link, so destroying that part of the TriForce then making a pure one would cause the old corrupt one to meet up and become whole, in Link. so Link sacrifices himself and the power overloads Link, and his soul.........fades away? The player gets the mystery ending. However if you find all the lore, all will be explained and you might get a different ending. (I will flesh out the lore and the true ending later)

Interesting, but with this idea, I wanted to make the story more unconventional in terms of story. For example, I wanted Demise to be a sympathetic villain, a young god who had a different view of how to raise his people but got so carried away in his journey that he lost control of himself. I also wanted to add some sci-fi elements in the form of the Twili Empire and their caches and outposts hidden throughout the land. Also, in this world, Ganon and Demise are different people, yet after the holy wars and seeing what the royal family did to his people, he initially takes the side of Demise. It's because of this the penultimate battle should be emotional and depressing. You're not fighting the same warlord who's plagued Hyrule in the past, you're fighting your best friend who's simply confused and scared.
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2020
Location
In the future playing BotW 2
Gender
Mobian
Interesting, but with this idea, I wanted to make the story more unconventional in terms of story. For example, I wanted Demise to be a sympathetic villain, a young god who had a different view of how to raise his people but got so carried away in his journey that he lost control of himself. I also wanted to add some sci-fi elements in the form of the Twili Empire and their caches and outposts hidden throughout the land. Also, in this world, Ganon and Demise are different people, yet after the holy wars and seeing what the royal family did to his people, he initially takes the side of Demise. It's because of this the penultimate battle should be emotional and depressing. You're not fighting the same warlord who's plagued Hyrule in the past, you're fighting your best friend who's simply confused and scared.
hmm, alright. That holds a lot more emotional impact actually, good idea.
REWORKED PLOT: EPILOGUE
In the beginning there was 8 specks of light. They developed into somewhat humanoid figures, then went on to shape the world. God's cannot die of old age but can be slain, do they have offspring every 100 years, however 1 offspring went rouge and killed 4 God's with weapons he created, which were sealed away.The rouge Was banished to earth, however after practically going insane over being alone for a very long time, the God's created life. Not only plants and animals, but humans. These humans were very advanced, and they created a technological empire. 10 years later the God's decide they can trust these humans, and gave them the weapons the rogue God had created. The rogue God had been waiting for this moment, however couldn't just start a mass slaughter. He suggested that the weapons should belong to the strongest warrior, and some people took his side. Others suggested that the government should keep these items, and people also agreed with this opinion. A civil war broke out, and in anticipation of this event lots of civilians created bunkers, which they hid valuables in. In the end the rouge was killed only 5 people survived. they new this world was not good and begged for a new one. The God's took their lives as payments and recreated their race which was dubbed the "Twili Empire" and kept the bunkers in remembrance of them. and thus the Hylians were created. They were less intelligent compared to the Twili, however they developed fairly quickly. over the years the God's made a home above the clouds above this new race, which they dubbed "Hylia" and everyone in it "Hylians". Over the years the God's had risen and fallen, with their offspring taken their place. However everything would change when a new God was born. He somewhat resembled the rouge God from all those years ago, and was named: Demise.

this is the best I have for now, I'll do the main plot later

GAMEPLAY
you would start off with a normal sword and wooden shield (which burns when exposed to heat)
while adventuring you can advance your skill tree. Essentially building up your connection to the TriForce of courage which allows you to use some of its power. In each town you can do jobs for villagers and gain materials to make weapons, or the weapons/tools themselves. During the night you can face the powerful shadow creatures, or make a tent to sleep. While being mainly survival, I want there to be a balance between a BotW and sort of like a Minecraft feeling to the game. you can essentially go wherever you want, but main story quests further the game which is required to access some areas, however not all main story quests are required, only about half of them are. The bunkers that the Twili once used long ago hold special items, though none are really required. (The gods decided to call the bunkers caches) In certain catches you can find fragments, which you can fit together like puzzle pieces. I wonder what you can make with them.....................
 
Joined
Apr 11, 2020
GAMEPLAY
you would start off with a normal sword and wooden shield (which burns when exposed to heat)
while adventuring you can advance your skill tree. Essentially building up your connection to the TriForce of courage which allows you to use some of its power. In each town you can do jobs for villagers and gain materials to make weapons, or the weapons/tools themselves. During the night you can face the powerful shadow creatures, or make a tent to sleep. While being mainly survival, I want there to be a balance between a BotW and sort of like a Minecraft feeling to the game. you can essentially go wherever you want, but main story quests further the game which is required to access some areas, however not all main story quests are required, only about half of them are. The bunkers that the Twili once used long ago hold special items, though none are really required. (The gods decided to call the bunkers caches) In certain catches you can find fragments, which you can fit together like puzzle pieces. I wonder what you can make with them.....................

I also want there to be sort of "level-gating" not in terms of your skills but your tech level. For example, some areas can only be properly traversed with the right equipment. For example, crossing Lake Hylia with a boat, of which the blueprint must first be found or crafting a hookshot to traverse mountainous terrain. As for combat, I imagine some sort of mix between Souls and Creed. Stamina is for more than just running, it also reinforces your block, running out of stamina will break your defense, leaving you vulnerable for a second to counter attacks. Stamina does not affect your attacks, however.

Also, in terms of story, I want to take it in a different direction by making the main villain for the past 20 years a sympathetic character. Rather than enforce the will of the gods upon the people, he wanted to leave them alone to learn and fend for themselves. Something I didn't notice while writing, but it parallels the story of Lucifer. The rebellious angel banished to hell. In this story, the trinity of gods meant to watch over this realm are technically gods, but are more like angels. Lesser gods meant to fulfill the wishes of the higher powers.
 

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