Could Zelda Games Be Better?

[Cyg]

Having recently played Skyrim and seeing the scope of the world that exists in it, I got the thought that - would it be possible for Zelda games be better, as in technology-wise.
What I mean is this: back when OoT was released <not this again, LOL) it was revolutionary in nearly every single way. It even beat most games of that generation graphically (cue N64 vs PS1 debate). When you fast-forward 15+ years, you see Skyward Sword going against games like Skyrim, Saints Row the Third, and Arkham Asylum. This raises the question - could Zelda games be better compared to other big name titles. I'm not saying that these games are better than Zelda, actually, I think SS is much better than TES V : Skyrim, but what I am saying is that seeing how big Skyrim is, wouldn't it be possible to make a better Zelda game?

Of course, this depends largely on the console running the game, and it is obvious that the Wii is much weaker than the PS3 and Xbox, and it is actually surprising that the Wii could run Skyward Sword considering how big the game is. One thing, though - it is known Nintendo creates the console based on first-party games they have planned. Ex: the N64 had the three-prong controller to facilitate Mario 64 controls. So why not make a console capable of running a bigger Zelda?

As for the Zelda HD, we all know the Wii U is still gonna be technologically inferior to the next-gen Microsoft and Sony consoles.

 

[theoathtoorder]

There is always room for improvement (just read Axle the Beast's articles), but Zelda is pretty darn close to being perfect for me.

 

[link'sneighbor]

definitely they could do all sorts of things things they could expand on other things they did in older zelda games for example

 

[Spirit]

I get the sense that when you say 'better' you mean 'bigger'. I've not played skyrim because it doesn't interest me, but I've heard it has a lot of bugs (people walking on the air/disappearing into the ground) i've never seen any of those kinds of flaws in any Zelda game ever, so I'm going to say right off the bat the Zelda games (however powerful the console is that its on) is already a lot 'better' than a lot of current gen games. Zelda could always be bigger, (I still don't know why Nintendo chose to make SS look like it did when they ported TP from the Wii and it looked as good as if not better than the GC version). Zelda games and most nintendo games are of amazing quality and you don't get many glitches in them that weren't on purpose, in fact we all know OoTs glitches can help enhance the game for fun every now and then; as opposed to giants walking in the air.

As for Nintendo's next console being weaker than the next consoles sony and microsoft throw out, i don't think that will be the case. Nintendo, microsoft and sony are all developers and know the technology i think all three consoles are going to be very powerful with very little separating them in terms of power. The n64 was more powerful than the ps1 (clue is in the n64[bit]'s name) and GC was arguably the most powerful console of Xbox and Ps2.

Nintendo have done very well in this console war with the wii, most casual and hardcore gamers bought a wii, everyone seems to have one because of the appeal of motion controls, and again in this war, nintendo are going first with their release to keep the market fresh, sony and Microsoft will be happy just putting out the same machine with the standard controller and just make use of the Hd/3d technology available, yet nintedo dare to change things and the new xbox and ps4 will surely have a controller like WiiU in the future. What the wiiU means for Zelda even if the console isnt as powerful as sony's and microsoft's new ones is a fresh and unique experience as most Zelda's have been. And so in that respect Zelda can be argued as being the best and has no need to be better.

Personally those who want Zelda 'to be better' are those too sore that the wii isn't a ps3 and that nintendo like to play with the aesthetic style of things rather than a traditional skyrim/CoD trudge affair.

 

[A Link In Time]

What the franchise lacks in terms of the technology of the hardware it is on, is greatly ameliorated by the exceptional creativity of Nintendo's developer team. Skyward Sword especially underscores that point. Traditional block puzzles were replaced with creative uses for all of the items throughout especially the beetle and combat was more strategic than ever before. Also, to prevent the franchise from feeling stale, Nintendo added so cool new features such as the weapon upgrade system.

Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. Skyrim's dungeon are hardly incorporated into the plot at all; on the other hand, Skyward Sword managed to keep gold Nintendo's promise that the overworld and dungeons would be interwoven seamlessly. Finally, traversing the land between monster lairs was full of chills and hard thinking itself. There is a certain threshold for how large and expansive a game world can get before redundancy sets in ad this problem plagued Skyrim while Skyward Sword remained largely free of it.

In regards to your graphics argument, the Wii U is an extremely powerful system and the shading effects are better than those of any other console hardware I have ever seen. If Nintendo chooses to incorporate the ability to shift from day to night in the final product, I will be floored. More importantly, Nintendo is paving the way for revolution in new ways to play games. Seeing the company's success, Microsoft and especially Sony shamelessly copy and paste its tactics into their own products. Skyward Sword has the best motion controls of any software currently on the market and it will certainly be remembered for that achievement. Nintendo isn't the one playing catch-up here, it's the pioneer blazing the trail.

 

[VeNoM316]

Having recently played Skyrim and seeing the scope of the world that exists in it, I got the thought that - would it be possible for Zelda games be better, as in technology-wise.

I'm under the impression that you think that technology is what makes games better. If that's the case then no, technology do not make games better. Just the game play matters.

Sure technology will make the graphics better and make the games realistic and all pretty like but it doesn't necessarily make the game better when playing it. I've played games that have great graphics and are realistic like but the game play just wasn't great enough for me to go back for more. I would go back to the original LoZ instead for example and play it and HAVE FUN while I'm not even thinking about how out dated the graphics look. As I'm looking forward to what the Wii U's hardware capabilities are and how the new Zelda game would look like on it, it's gonna be the game play that is going to matter in the long run.

Personally those who want Zelda 'to be better' are those too sore that the wii isn't a ps3 and that nintendo like to play with the aesthetic style of things rather than a traditional skyrim/CoD trudge affair.

Amen!

 

[cloudy skies]

There is always some thing in each zelda game that could have been better. I think they are very near perfect though.

 

[Hephaestus]

Everything could be better. But Zelda is the most well rounded franchise of all time.

 

[Cyg]

I didn't really mean that bigger is better, or that technology is what trully makes a game better. I said in the OP that SS and TP are better than Skyrim. What I am suggesting is that would it not be possible to make a superior game even better if Nintendo had better tech. I understand that Nintendo is more than capable of making amazing games with limited hardware, but imagine if Nintendo had not been playing catch-up hardware-wise and their games ran on stronger systems. Imagine if they could have given SS more sidequests, something that everyone complained it lacked. Or how about if Nintendo was able to make more physics-based Zelda puzzles like the ones in Half-Life games. Physics-based puzzles would perfectly fit into Zelda, it's just that the dev team might have been unable to make them with the Wii's hardware. What if the dev team could flesh-out each character a little more, or have made more NPC's we could talk to (not TP castle town-style NPC's). What if Nintendo were able to include more environment-based storytelling like from in Half-Life, where the environment reacts to what you do, and can change more to suit the current events. SS may have been a great game, better than the games found on stronger consoles, but what would it have been in less limited hardware?

PS: I did not make any mention of graphics in the OP, I like nintendo's art styles very much and would rather not have it as realistic-looking as Crysis or BF3. I used the graphic example of OoT as an example, I did not bring it to today's Zelda games.

 

[KawiNinjaZX]

I'd rather have a smaller, tighter world with more content then a big open world with random things and empty space. I would like to have seen one more region in SS, but it was amazing how you could spend 70+ hours in a game like this and not get bored of the map.

 

[MonkeyFightSquad]

Yes, definitely. They could make so much more room for exploring. They could also make the games really long. And maybe you could be someone else instead of link in a co-op kind of way.

 

[Petman1325]

Honestly, what I think could make the Zelda series better would be to go back to the days of Legend of Zelda, A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and Wind Waker. After playing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Skyward Sword for a while, I realized what had been missing from the newer Zelda titles: freedom.

I mean, sure, you can go back to previous places in games like Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess, but there are many times in which you're forced to go down a single path with no way of just sliding it to the side and doing a plethora of sidequests, like in Wind Waker, even if they're just small "Give X to person Y" or something along the sort.

In The Legend of Zelda and The Wind Waker (after a brief time), you could go anywhere you wanted to in the whole overworld, just limiting access to which dungeons you can visit. Nowadays, you must unlock chunks of the overworld (even if they're little fragments) in order to explore the area.

 

[De_krumpel]

majoras mask was almost perfect i guess.

 

[ChuChuOfTime]

I think that zelda is already nearly perfect and making it bigger would change the game. Zelda isn't a hard core, giant map, super graphics, kind of game it's a game made for all ages and meant to be on a Nintendo console.