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Keys need to go

Dio

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I think a believable world is the key to immersing the player which is why SS kind of sucked in that regard. Its overworld was unbelievable even within its own game world due to the puzzles everywhere. Overworlds in my opinion should be places the player is free to explore and enjoy not to constantly hinder their progress by making them solve a puzzle.

I think that Overworlds should feel natural and believable as part of an in game fictional world rather than a world designed for a game and I also think dungeons should too.

Most dungeons are designed to be deathtraps to protect treasures from intruders so why the hell are there locked doors and the keys to them placed in chests for an intruder to obtain. I think they should come up with something more creative to stop intruders. You never see Indiana Jones using keys he has been provided with by the dangerous temple. He is usually avoiding stepping on traps that will cause spikes to come out of the walls and kill him or he running away from boulders that will crush him. I think there should be more of that type of thing than the series standard of find the key to progress.

The worst thing of course is the boss key. I can understand a dangerous beast being caged and locked up but the idea of a boss key becomes particularly ridiculous when the boss is an intelligent being such as Ghirahim, Zant or Ganondorf. I know they are crazed individuals but seriously who has themselves locked in a room from the outside? If they wanted not to have to face Link they all possess the ability to teleport or fly.

Do you think the key should go or at least be used less in Zelda. Or is it something you consider part of the series and should remain the way it is?
 

VikzeLink

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The worst thing of course is the boss key. I can understand a dangerous beast being caged and locked up but the idea of a boss key becomes particularly ridiculous when the boss is an intelligent being such as Ghirahim, Zant or Ganondorf.

To be fair, Ghirahim wasn't in the boss rooms to begin with, he went to them to catch Zelda/stop Link. Zant, being the coward he really is, probably locked himself in for his own safety.
 

Dio

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To be fair, Ghirahim wasn't in the boss rooms to begin with, he went to them to catch Zelda/stop Link. Zant, being the coward he really is, probably locked himself in for his own safety.

It makes no sense for the door to be locked in the first place and the key to be in a chest. Ghirahim can teleport in but Zelda and impa had no way to get in.

As for Zant. If he wanted to lock himself in he would have kept the key and not put it in an accessible location outside the door he wanted to keep his enemy out.
 

Iridescence

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I agree. I'm not anti-key by principle, but I think it's one of those things that worked excellently in early Zelda games but with modern technology, we can expand on that.

The majority of dungeons in the series have just followed the same formula. Go to a +1 room and find a key. Then, spend your key on a -1 room (which will enable you enable you to get a map/compass or open up a new area).

There are other ways to create obstructions. I like what The Minish Cap did in its Temple of Droplets with having a large chunk of ice blocking an entrance, to which you must melt with sunlight. There are plenty of other ways to block and open new areas. Nintendo just can't be lazy.
 
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Boss keys are a hit or miss. I can't begin to describe my frustrations of plowing through the dungeons, only to arrive at the boss door and realize I forgot the key along the way. Retracing your steps can take out the fun of it, and by then it's just a chore that I do not wish to repeat in another dungeon.

Perhaps have keys only for rooms with the dungeon treasures. it makes more sense for the door to be locked to an item that could be used against the monster.
 
Keys are a Zelda staple, they do make things feel less realistic and natural, but if Nintendo did do away with them then they'd just find something equally none-natural to replace them with to hinder dungeon progress. I do agree that most doors that are locked and require keys in Zelda really shouldn't be locked, some of them are just pointless rooms that throw you off, its annoying.

Your Indiana Jones comment made me think of this game though, a game where you create traps to stop NPCs reaching the end of the area.

 

Jamie

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A lot of the dungeons are actually created by the goddesses as a challenge for the hero; in these cases I think keys are fine. Or, if it's an enemy's fortress, and killing certain enemies will drop a key. I agree that it's a little strange that say, Dodongo's Cavern or the Deku Tree has keys and such but to be fair, when has Zelda ever been immersive?
 

Dio

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Keys are a Zelda staple, they do make things feel less realistic and natural, but if Nintendo did do away with them then they'd just find something equally none-natural to replace them with to hinder dungeon progress. I do agree that most doors that are locked and require keys in Zelda really shouldn't be locked, some of them are just pointless rooms that throw you off, its annoying.

Your Indiana Jones comment made me think of this game though, a game where you create traps to stop NPCs reaching the end of the area.



When I saw that video link it was just a girl bent over. I instantly wanted to click that link.
 

Zorth

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+10 for mentioning Indiana Jones <3

Keys don't need to go from the series since there are clever ways of implementing them, but like you said, boss keys make no sense at all sometimes and the way normal small key chests are placed for the intruder can be so illogical. I'd be fine though with the concept of having keys to lock up actual beasts/monsters that just cause chaos & annihilation, not an intelligent villain or at least something that doesn't really need to be locked up.
 
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Moonstone

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+10 for mentioning Indiana Jones <3

Keys don't need to go from the series since there are clever ways of implementing them, but like you said, boss keys make no sense at all sometimes and the way normal small key chests are placed for the intruder can be so illogical. I'd be fine though with the concept of having keys to lock up actual beasts/monsters that just cause chaos & annihilation, not an intelligent villain or at least something that doesn't really need to be locked up.


Actually, the beast locked up is a really good idea. Have there been any Zelda games where Link has to leave the dungeon and find the person who has the key OUTSIDE of the dungeon? Like perhaps there's an elder in town who doesn't let guests in at the start of the game, but showing the weapon that kills the boss might make them let Link in, and perhaps give him a key to finally destroy the monster. I think that would be really cool and honestly something like that would interest me.

I don't want Nintendo to do away with keys, but I would like them to be more innovative with where the keys are or how you can obtain them.
 
I like the concept of a boss key, but it should indeed be something more than a convenient means to access the boss. The DS Zelda games and Skyward Sword had solid ideas in this regard. My favorite take on this was in Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks where Link had to actually carry the boss key to the boss door. This made for some interesting situations, including avoiding key masters and requiring Zelda to carry the big key in Phantom form in ST. Skyward Sword's ideas to have sculpture like keys that needed to be twisted in place was also a plausible implementation of having the boss key do something more; using your Indiana Jones analogy, it would be something that an adventurer seems likely to run into. I want to see these more thoughtful approaches used in the future.

I have no problem with regular keys. They're usually guarded by enemies or puzzles. It's not always about making the end goal hard to reach but setting a trap.
 

CrimsonCavalier

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Interesting. I've never thought about this, so I guess in a way that means it doesn't bother me, but at the same time I like what you're saying. Changing the formula up a bit could be interesting, at the very least.
 
A lot of the dungeons are actually created by the goddesses as a challenge for the hero; in these cases I think keys are fine. Or, if it's an enemy's fortress, and killing certain enemies will drop a key. I agree that it's a little strange that say, Dodongo's Cavern or the Deku Tree has keys and such but to be fair, when has Zelda ever been immersive?

Neither of those dungeons have keys :P

Forest Temple was the first dungeon in OoT with keys.
 
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If anything, you could have the Boss Key just sitting in the very first room. Then Link would grab it, then open the boss chamber, and get eaten because the dungeon hasn't had a chance to make him stronger. Haha!
 

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