General Zelda A Longer Main Story or More Side Quests?

[Justac00lguy]

A lot of the things that are brought up when a new Zelda game is announced, or one on the verge of being revealed, is the length of the game itself. To me it seems like the general want is that bigger is better, and people with a "bigger" game. So when talking about length what do we really want? A larger overworld? A longer plot line? A ton of side quests? I assume the ideal is a bit of both, but this thread is solely to decide which you would prefer: a longer main story, or more side quests?

I'll give two examples of games that represent what I'm talking about. Twilight Princess Is probably the most lengthy and largest Zelda game in the series and it's plot follows that trend with a hefty nine dungeons, multiple cut scenes, long periods between dungeons etc. And on the other end of the spectrum you have Majora's Mask, a game that has only four dungeons but with a multitude of side quests you have a pretty large game.

Now I don't want you to compare the two games above as they are just relevant examples; however, which is the better? Would you like a longer plot line? Or a game that has a rather average main story, in terms of length, but has a large bulk of side quests/miscellaneous things to do? Let's say the next Zelda game had to go one way to increase length, which would you like to see more?

 

[A Link In Time]

As much as I loved the sidequests in Majora's Mask, I'd like to see a focus on dungeons once more. Sidequests are hit-or-miss while dungeons are more consistent in their high quality of design. Dungeons never feel like a chore unlike the grind quests present in nearly every Zelda game.

Realistically speaking, however, since we haven't had a game with less dungeons and more sidequests since The Wind Walker, there is a higher probability that Zelda Wii U will follow that model.

 

[Link and Zelda]

I would like more of everything of course. But I prefer a longer story length. A longer plot, long periods between dungeons and cool cut scenes. Not just too much cut scenes, but like in SS. Those cut scenes were not all over the place and looked all right. (I mean no idle chit chat.) That's what I like. Now that doesn't mean I want less of anything else. Cause side quest make you feel stronger for the actual plot and most of the time help people. But a longer story would be nice. Good thread!

 

[Azure Sage]

I want both. I want a game jam-packed with lots of sidequests to do, as well as a longer story with more dungeons and things to do. A concern I'd have with this is that this might lead to some padding, though that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I am worried that the padding will end up being boring or unfulfilling. I suppose that a multitude of sidequests could make up for that, though. But, either way, I want a loaded game.

 

[Jirohnagi]

With a longer story mode they tend to "flesh" out the leading roles such as Ganondorf sadness over hyrule being drowned and zelda turning into a pirate, Where as if we tons of sidequests such as we had in MM we tend to explore the world more and see what each person says this fleshes out the game world more making it more realistic and relatable to the player in question. It also show that the game developers have made the game immersible. There is no point to a game once completed with nothing to do after wards.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

I don't know, sometimes I enjoy having more things to do in-between dungeons like in the Oracle games, cuz those were mostly neat sidequests that helped pushed the story along, or MC's Kinstones cuz that was just for fun. I don't mind fetch quests and trades, but I do wish that they'd quit the collectathon crap. That gets really annoying, or if they're gonna do it, at least lower the number. I really don't wanna go searching all over the place for a hundred of this or eighty of that and I hate forced mini games like the Wild Tokay or Subrosian Dancing.

 

[LinkIsCool]

It's been a while since I played Majora's Mask but if I had to choose between a longer story or more side quests I would choose a longer story that would hopefully have more locations/areas to explore/discover.

 

[DarkestLink]

Longer main story. Sidequests are one of Zelda's weakest areas.

 

[Kylo Ken]

I agree with A Link In Time, I want Nintendo to focus on making the dungeons bigger. And also more, dungeon like. I like games with long stories, too. They keep me compelled to truck on, and generally make the game more memorable.

 

[Mangachick14]

I'd ask for a longer main quest AND lots of sidequests, but that's greedy soo... It really depends; if the sidequests are MM standard, then by all means, put in plenty. But if the side content is like OoT's or TP's... I dunno, I'd say definitely go for a longer main quest.

 

[DJ Twitch]

More sidequests, dungeons are too boring. The side quests also shouldn't be just deliver X to Y and get a heart piece, but they need to form subplots of their own like Anju/Kafei.

 

[MW7]

I enjoy dungeons more than anything else in Zelda, but I don't think a longer main quest is necessarily better. I think games with a lot of required content can become tedious and boring if the game design isn't consistently great. For instance Twilight Princess has amazing dungeons, but the content between dungeons wasn't too much fun for me. What's strange is that the purely optional parts of Twilight Princess such as the lantern caverns were enjoyable, but the things you had to do outside of dungeons such as the tears of light quests were mostly a waste of time to me. So my solution would be to have more sidequests in a sense, but the game should have several dungeon-like sidequests like the Gerudo Training Grounds in OoT or the Skulltula houses in Majora's Mask. Another way of putting it is that I think there shouldn't have to be required content between dungeons if it doesn't add much to the game. In some cases it seems to me that game designers feel obligated to give players more game for their money and this leads to some uninspired segments of games. I'd like to see more mini-dungeon areas and optional dungeons. It's not that hard to think up useful items that optional dungeons could hold. I mean look at ALBW- there were tons of optional dungeon items that were definitely worth going after. The next step is to make entire dungeons that are optional.

 

[r2d93]

I have to pick one? I love both I want both so much

But if i have to choose...

Probably a longer plot line and main story. BUT if its much longer the dungeons and everything in between HAS TO BE GOOD or else the game will drag.
As much as I love side quests and think they are crucial to the game, a long plot line would feel sooooo much more satisfying in the end than performing a bunch of tasks would (MM I see as an exception because the side quests were to provide a general theme of helping people out and relieving them of pain or sorrow)

 

[onebizarrekai]

It really all depends on the kind of game it is. For a game like Majora's Mask, that game is actually very short, it just has a crap load of side quests that you're probably going to want to complete. For something like Twilight Princess, the majority of that game is main story. Though, the 'main story' is really just a bunch of dungeons and not actually more plot. The plot is very basic, it is just stretched out a lot into a lot of dungeons.

I hope, one day, that they make a Zelda game with a complicated, long story line so you actually feel like you're not just going to a bunch of random dungeons to collect some items/awaken some people you need for that other thing. Though, if the story is too complicated, there won't be any space at all for side quests, which really defeats the purpose of the whole 'adventure' and 'do whatever you want right now' thing. It would be kind of cool to have a plot-twisty Zelda game with a deep story, but that would kind of restrict the amount of imagination the players can use for it.

I really like the balance of side quests and story. If there is going to be a lot of main story, there needs to be a good reason for it. That doesn't necessarily mean that there should be more dungeons, there should just be more plot, I guess.

 

[Sir Quaffler]

Hmm... why is it always just more dungeons when people talk about a longer main quest? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love me some dungeoneering, and solving all those neat puzzles and beating the crap outta some bosses is a favorite pasttime of mine. But there is still so much more that can be done within the main quest alongside the dungeons, Skyward Sword has shown me that. And not just something that unnecessarily pads the game out, I mean stuff that is relevant to the plot that expands the world that the game is set in. For example, the whole Sand Sea portion in SS. I loved the fact that the game decided to weave a sad tale of the Ancient Robots, their Captain and his long-gone family, and the Pirates and their captain Scervo who stood guard over the Sand Ship for thousands of years. It wasn't directly tied in to the central plot of Zelda, Ghirahim, Demise, and the gang, but it was still important to that respective region and enthralled me while playing.

Basically, I want more world-building in the main quest. Which I guess most Zelda games use the sidequests to accomplish that (and MM is the shining example of it done right), but Idunno... I can see how it can be accomplished in the main story itself, and I want more of it.