Castle
Ch!ld0fV!si0n
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- Oct 24, 2012
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So video games have finite play areas, and in the world of Zelda there are only so many paths to explore.
One thing that always captures my imagination playing Zelda are those places you can see but not get to - tantalizing glimpses of distant landmarks with promises of lands beyond. I always look out over the landscape and think to myself "I want to go there!"
But alas, tis not to be.
Does anyone else ever get that feeling? Here are some examples...
1.) Zora Fountain "Pass" - this is the name I've given to a landmark in Zoras Fountain in Ocarina of Time. If you look north, you can see what appears to be a gap in the hills with trees along the side. How cruel of Nintendo that it is not simply some featureless wall! Now there's just got to be something back there! Since the discovery of Snowpeak in Twilight Princess, I've come to think that this is a pass to that uncharted land in an earlier age.
2.) Distant Fields: Eldin Field Twilight Princess - Standing upon the great expanse of Eldin Field in Twilight Princess, if the monsters can just leave me alone for a second thanks!! you can look across the gap the Eldin Bridge spans and see a distant green field with a grove of trees nestled beneath the craggy arid hills of Death Mountain. Looks like a quaint place to rest and get away from all those pestering monsters all over the place!!!
2.) Beyond the Woods: TP and OoT - The lost woods is an enigma shrouded in mystery. It is an ancient wood and it is vast. So vast that one has to wonder what lands lay within and beyond. Are there more gateways to other lands like Termina? What other secrets like ancient castles and forgotten temples lay hidden amidst the trees? What lands lay beyond the border of the great green wood? Is there a border at all, or does the wood bend time and space to some inconceivable form? The remains of the Temple of Time are hidden beyond the impassible windy gaps in regions beyond the known forest in Twilight Princess. I often stand on the rope bridge at the entrance to Ordon and look up the river canyon with its stark impassable cliff walls and wonder from whence those rapids are brought. Then there is the infamous legend of the so-called Beta Forest some say still exists somewhere in the game space...
4.) Beyond Snowpeak: For Hyrule's newest region, Snowpeak sure doesn't have much to offer. Who knows what secrets lay beneath the icy slopes of Snowpeak Mountain, or what other old world wonders like Snowpeak Ruins lay atop its peaks? Could the snowy passes conceal paths to distant lands...?
5.) The Hyrule Coastline - You may be thinking, "What coastline?" Well, Hyrule has a coastline... or at least it did. The very first LoZ features a series of maps that greatly resemble a coastline, and the area of Northern Hyrule in AoL clearly features expansive coastline. The Oracle games and of course Link's Awakening feature Link traveling to new lands from Hyrule by boat. But in later games there is no ocean or coastline to be found...
So what other areas are like this? I could certainly name a few more but this post would be darn near comprehensive and that would defeat the purpose of a thread!
One thing that always captures my imagination playing Zelda are those places you can see but not get to - tantalizing glimpses of distant landmarks with promises of lands beyond. I always look out over the landscape and think to myself "I want to go there!"
But alas, tis not to be.
Does anyone else ever get that feeling? Here are some examples...
1.) Zora Fountain "Pass" - this is the name I've given to a landmark in Zoras Fountain in Ocarina of Time. If you look north, you can see what appears to be a gap in the hills with trees along the side. How cruel of Nintendo that it is not simply some featureless wall! Now there's just got to be something back there! Since the discovery of Snowpeak in Twilight Princess, I've come to think that this is a pass to that uncharted land in an earlier age.
2.) Distant Fields: Eldin Field Twilight Princess - Standing upon the great expanse of Eldin Field in Twilight Princess, if the monsters can just leave me alone for a second thanks!! you can look across the gap the Eldin Bridge spans and see a distant green field with a grove of trees nestled beneath the craggy arid hills of Death Mountain. Looks like a quaint place to rest and get away from all those pestering monsters all over the place!!!
2.) Beyond the Woods: TP and OoT - The lost woods is an enigma shrouded in mystery. It is an ancient wood and it is vast. So vast that one has to wonder what lands lay within and beyond. Are there more gateways to other lands like Termina? What other secrets like ancient castles and forgotten temples lay hidden amidst the trees? What lands lay beyond the border of the great green wood? Is there a border at all, or does the wood bend time and space to some inconceivable form? The remains of the Temple of Time are hidden beyond the impassible windy gaps in regions beyond the known forest in Twilight Princess. I often stand on the rope bridge at the entrance to Ordon and look up the river canyon with its stark impassable cliff walls and wonder from whence those rapids are brought. Then there is the infamous legend of the so-called Beta Forest some say still exists somewhere in the game space...
4.) Beyond Snowpeak: For Hyrule's newest region, Snowpeak sure doesn't have much to offer. Who knows what secrets lay beneath the icy slopes of Snowpeak Mountain, or what other old world wonders like Snowpeak Ruins lay atop its peaks? Could the snowy passes conceal paths to distant lands...?
5.) The Hyrule Coastline - You may be thinking, "What coastline?" Well, Hyrule has a coastline... or at least it did. The very first LoZ features a series of maps that greatly resemble a coastline, and the area of Northern Hyrule in AoL clearly features expansive coastline. The Oracle games and of course Link's Awakening feature Link traveling to new lands from Hyrule by boat. But in later games there is no ocean or coastline to be found...
So what other areas are like this? I could certainly name a few more but this post would be darn near comprehensive and that would defeat the purpose of a thread!
