Breath of the Wild Do You Think The Nonlinearity Will Lead to a More Side Quest Focused Game?

[Justac00lguy]

I'm just slightly curious on this and I have been ever since Aonuma alluded to a more nonlinear game a year or so ago now. A Link Between Worlds wasn't necessarily side quest heavy (the handheld games tend to lack on this department); however it did show that, possibly, nonlinearity can lead to a less focused main plot.

I think my main hunch is your typical nonlinear style open world game. They do have that main quest line, but they also allow you to deviate off course and do things how you please. Is Zelda going to ever transition into having 100+ side quests? Well that's going a bit too far, but I'm just talking more of a side quest focused game - think Majora's Mask.

Anyway thoughts? Do you think that this heavy focus on nonlinearity could lead to more of a focus on side quests rather than the game revolving around the main plot? Or do you think the exact opposite?

 

[snakeoiltanker]

If he means Open World as in the way he mentioned his interest in how Elder Scrolls plays, I think its inevitable that there will be a TON of side quest. Add that to our screams for MM3D which was basically all sidequest so I think we got something good coming to us. I am loyal to the the traditional formula of LoZ, but if they can make a Traditional LoZ on the scale of an Elder Scrolls game, it will be pure Bliss, as I love how Elder Scrolls plays minus the constant MMO like gear swapping and the odd way of leveling up.

actually that being said, i would love if they also pulled a leveling system into the game, not as deep as Elder Scrolls, but you get the drift.

 

[Salem]

The non-linearity has nothing to do with a more side quest focused game, side quests will always be there, regardless if there's a lot or a few of them.

The only thing that might make it more side quest focused is if the game keeps on telling you about side quests somehow, if there's a fairy or a companion that keeps on reminding you as an example, but that sou;d be irritating.

 

[Deleted member 14134]

I wouldn't say side quest focused but I imagine there will be a strong amount of them. Hopefully nothing like the skyward sword fetch quests though.

 

[DarkestLink]

You'd think so...and yet ALBW had exceptionally few Sidequests.

 

[niteporter]

I absolutely think, that we are going to see several side quests. There are lots of locations visible in the trailer. Traveling to some points without finding anything would be disappointing, whereas finding people or whatever in need, so you could help them (=side quests) is kind of rewarding. A big adventure needs those things. It would be awesome, if side quests and dungeons kind of merge, so you couldn't foresee weather or not you just start a little side quest or this thing turns into something much bigger and then eventually into a kind of dungeon. Blurred lines instead of clichés.

 

[Locke]

Not sidequests as we think of them. Aonuma's comment about world-level "puzzles" has me very excited. That is, puzzles on the scale of sidequests, which involve learning information from one location and using it in another. Not because some NPC told you to, but because the information is there and there's a problem that can be solved through knowledge of it.

For example, there might be a legend in a certain village of a passage hidden behind a waterfall in the mountains nearby. And maybe you have to dam the river to access it. And there's no point in the story that says "Now you have to go find this cave. Try talking to this person." National Treasure 2 comes to mind, too, though they'd be a lot simpler and with lower stakes.

 

[Go_Skyward]

Personally, having never really played any kind of Skyrim, I think that the concept is really great from what i've seen and heard and could work for a Zelda title nicely with the traditional Zelda formula. That being said, I'm not a big "side quest" person. I mean, don't get me wrong once I start a side quest it becomes my duty to complete it entirely, kind of thing... unless I get bored or give up. Now, what I think would be REALLY nice is item finding and the whole open world thing simply excites me because it could be more like Twilight Princess (in the sense it was decently large but sadly very, very empty unless you knew what you were looking for). My favorite thing about Zelda games is running around and defeating enemies and then eventually going into the dungeons and getting new items so I can go back to square one and explore and defeat enemies with the new item I got. Now, if they had side quests where you just defeated enemies and got an item to beat more enemies. Yes, that is my kind of side quest. I wouldn't risk my life to go get, say, a fairy bottle but if, say, you go on a giant side quest for a dungeon-like item before you got there, sort like ALBW, that'd be really cool, in my opinion.

So, all in all, if more side quests means more fun in the newly open Zelda world, I'm completely game for it.

 

[JuicieJ]

I certainly hope there's a large emphasis on sidequests. Skyward Sword & A Link Between Worlds already had a lot (especially the former), so it would be a real waste to not follow up on that with this new game -- not to mention sidequests should be abundant in Zelda to begin with.

 

[DarkestLink]

I certainly hope there's a large emphasis on sidequests. Skyward Sword & A Link Between Worlds already had a lot.

...How do you define "sidequest"?

 

[snakeoiltanker]

Considering i Mentioned Elder Scrolls and its influence on open world gaming in general. I would like too see all the random caverns and dungeons, not like actual dungeons, but like just places to explore like Elder Scrolls, yeah in Elder Scrolls you didnt always find a lot in the caverns but it would be great to have a ton of those in Zelda that aren't actual storyline dungeons. maybe use them to get heart pieces. Kinda seem right that you would have to work and fight for a heart piece!

 

[JuicieJ]

...How do you define "sidequest"?

A... quest on the side... i.e. something that's not part of the main story, but has its own objective.

Why would you even ask this?

 

[DarkestLink]

A... quest on the side... i.e. something that's not part of the main story, but has its own objective.

Why would you even ask this?

While ALBW has made a step up in sidequests to some other 2D games *cough* PH and ST *cough*, but it's main sidequests can be lumped into only heart pieces and bottles...and it only has 28 heart pieces. After that, you only have a few stray sidequests like Maiamais (which I grant you is a large sidequest), Dark Link (is that even a sidequest?) and getting the Pegasus boots.

SS took 5 hearts from the table (3 extra at the start and two medals), which pretty much takes 20 sidequests out of the game. Actually, it has the fewest amount of heart pieces in any 3D title. The gratitude crystals take a total of 12 sidequests to finish, which still leaves it significantly short in the sidequest department. Out of the 5 bottles, 2 are free and one is included with the gratitude crystals.

 

[JuicieJ]

SS took 5 hearts from the table (3 extra at the start and two medals), which pretty much takes 20 sidequests out of the game. Actually, it has the fewest amount of heart pieces in any 3D title. The gratitude crystals take a total of 12 sidequests to finish, which still leaves it significantly short in the sidequest department. Out of the 5 bottles, 2 are free and one is included with the gratitude crystals.

Finding collectibles counts as giant, spanning sidequests, broseph. You can't count finding each Heart Piece as one sidequest. 12 individual quests is significantly more than what you'll find in any other Zelda that isn't Majora's Mask, and it's much more fulfilling than stuff like "Oooooh, find the bugs that get me rupees that don't even matter in this game to begin with!"

It's also good that SS went back to four Pieces per Heart Container. TP making it five was a sad attempt at padding out the extra content, and many of them were basically placed right in front of you, anyway.

 

[DarkestLink]

So...going of what you just said, the definition of a sidequest can change at your whim to suit your argument. And for this discussion to go any further, we'd need to

1) Bring up at least three Zelda titles as a reference.

2) Come to an agreement on what counts as a sidequest in those titles.

3) Go back to SS and ALBW.

4) Look at the collectibles and discuss which ones count as a sidequest.

5) Debate on which one counts as a sidequest with a lot of cherry picking from either or both sides.

6) Go back to the other titles and then debate why one short objective in one game counts as a sidequest, but not in another game.

7) Debate how long it actually takes to do each and every individual task.

8) Search for videos and time these tasks.

9) Completely hijack the thread while we're doing this.

10) Realize, that with the sheer vagueness of what is defined as a sidequest, that this won't go anywhere and end the argument.

I'm just going to skip to step 10.