Ocarina of Time 3DS OoT, Make the Ice Arrows Useful!

[ZoraBoy]

I love magic in Zelda. And one of my favorite magical item is any ice related weapon. Ice weapons allow you to freeze opponents, drain their health, freeze them on place and then get some payback on them for all the torture they've made you go trough. the best thing of all? The cannot do anything about this!

Metroid games already showed us how good it is to use ice base weaponry. The ice missiles or the ice beam... if you love Metroid, you should know these and how pleasant it is to freeze those pesky enemies and then shatter them with a missile.

Zelda games havent featured to many spells recently, but OoT, MM and WW featured the Ice, Fire and Light arrows. WW and MM actually made the ice arrows useful, especially MM. Not only they were actually required to complete the game, but they came early enough to use them properly in combat. Wizzrobes in WW are great example: two ice shots and they are gone. Considering how annoying those enemies are, ice arrows are a welcomed item.

But OoT doesnt give a any good use to the ice arrows. They come to late, and they are very useless against enemies, because they are other means that are quicker and less time consuming. The thing is, that you must go through the entire Gerudo's Training Ground for an item you will never use, what a waste! Not only that, but it is an item with a lot of potential.


That's why I think ice arrows should become more useful in OoT 3D. Firt of all, they shoul be obtainable early in the game. Then enemies should be designed to be actually vulnerable to them, and their use against those enemies should be worth the effort. Can you imagine freezing a Stalfos and then throwing them a bomb and make them shatter? Or to be able to freeze Poes in midair? I would love to do that. Or, what about using them to freeze water and reach far away places to obtain goodies like extra rupees or potions?
The ice arrows in OoT should be an optional upgrade thats worth the effort to obtain, and they should be fun to use. Much like the Biggoron Sword is worthy upgrade.

What do you think? Should the ice arrows become the useful item they deserve to be?

 

[PhantomTriforce]

Yup, I totally agree with you. They said they will change a couple of things here and there, and I sure hope this is one of them.

 

[Cel-Shaded Deku]

Wizzrobes in WW are great example: two ice shots and they are gone.

Doesn't it take two shots with normal arrows? Why waste the magic?

Maybe not have them come sooner but they could have more uses and be requires for something like, a shortcut in Ganon's Tower.

 

[arkvoodle]

The Ice Arrows in OoT were quite...useless. Their only use was in one dungeon, after that their purpose was eliminated.
But, I doubt that the purpose of the ice arrows will be altered greatly in OoT 3D. I belive the only changes are the graphics and several gameplay details. (I think some of the sidequests will be replaced for the sake of saving memory).

 

[Master Kokiri 9]

Doesn't it take two shots with normal arrows? Why waste the magic?

Maybe not have them come sooner but they could have more uses and be requires for something like, a shortcut in Ganon's Tower.

Actually, the statement that it takes two shots from an Ice Arrow to kill a Wizzrobe in WW is false. See, it takes one shot to freeze it. That chips away half their health like a normal arrow. But, once they thaw (or fall to the ground) the other half of their HP is depleted.

So, either way, it only takes one Ice Arrow to kill the Wizzrobe. It's just not the arrow itself that directly does the finishing blow.

Anyways, if they made the Ice Arrows in OoT3D useful, I'd like that a lot. Maybe give them to you earlier. Maybe make the enemies in Ganon's Castle/Tower harder and actually give you a reason to want to freeze them (and maybe go a WW approach and make them two shottable with an Ice Arrow/Hammer combo). Maybe even give them a use for the puzzles. I'd definately like to see that.

However, one problem I can see is the graphics getting in the way and taking up too much valuable space for them to be able to be made useful... But here's hopin'!

 

[knowlee]

Yes, I agree that the ice arrows should be a lot more useful in OoT 3DS than they are currently in the original OoT. I myself never got the ice arrows in that game, but from what I've heard and seen, they are pretty useless. I liked how they were put to use in MM where you had to have them in order to get to certain areas in the Great Bay Temple. You even had to have them to get across the river to climb up that cliff in Ikana Canyon. You can even use them to freeze enemies. The ice arrows need to be useful like they were in this game in OoT 3DS.

 

[Kybyrian]

Well, they are pretty much completely building the game up from scratch since it can't be ported, but I don't know if we'll see too many major changes. I think we can expect some minor things here and there, but nothing too big as far as changes in the uses of items and the puzzles in places. Perhaps they can add some little extra puzzles here and there that use the ice arrows more effectively. They won't add anything too big as far as their ability is concerned, though. If they suddenly added in an option to freeze water, that would changing a little too much in my opinion. Especially if they put it in dungeons. Minor additions may be seen here and there.

I'm sure that, along with the ice arrows, we can probably see some more use for some of the items as well. The other items all had a pretty good use and were used consistently throughout the game, but maybe they can add a few little side puzzles or something like that. Since they really are building it back up from scratch, it is most certainly a possibility that I am looking forward to.