General Modern Even More Gameplay Features In Zelda?

[Ronin]

Over the years the Legend of Zelda has continually been reimagined and redesigned to bring about a fresh take on almost every game. They were given specific features that aided the players in their quests. Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Wind Waker all had the Magic Meter, MM had a wide supply of masks to select from, and Twilight Princess introduced the Hidden Skills. These are only a few examples, as I'm sure there are many more within the rest of the games.

It's been said that Zelda has inspired other gaming series similar to its genre to borrow certain elements from its formula. But only recently the same occurred within our own franchise. Almost out a year already, Skyward Sword had introduced a new line of gameplay features:

• Adventure Pouch
• Dowsing
• Stamina Meter
• Item upgrades
• Shield Meter
• Air Gauge

Although most or probably all of these were in other non-LoZ before this, it was cool to have a few fresh features to partake in.

Now, what about you? Do you enjoy having new features (in and outside Zelda), as with Skyward Sword, or prefer the formula to return to its roots? Was there anything I forgot to list above? And finally, what sort of features—namely from other action/adventure franchises—would you want in the Legend of Zelda?

 

[Ventus]

Do you enjoy having new features, as with Skyward Sword, or prefer the formula to return to its roots?
I'm a "middle liner" in that I like being at the series roots, but new things don't automatically hurt. I mean, I'd much rather the formula return to the roots of exploration (heck, even plop us in the middle of nowhere again! That'd be a sight for sore eyes in a very ironic sort of way), but reinventing the formula is also another route Nintendo can take.

What sort of features would you want in the Legend of Zelda?
Me? I would really love to see the Hidden Skills concept be evolved to the point of being part of Link's arsenal. Have a whole bunch of skills that, while all can be used to defeat a wide variety of enemies, some skills provide special bonuses on any one enemy whereas others might have drawbacks versus that same enemy. This isn't particularly new feature in the realm of gaming -- JRPGs have done this long ago -- but it'd would be relatively new to Zelda (the degree I mean to take hidden skills to).

 

[DarkestLink]

Overall?

Like:

I liked hidden skills. I want to see their return in a future game.

Items like masks would be cool.

The air gauge allowed for new challenges. It could be used again. I could go either way.

Stamina meter was pretty nice. It didn't do any real harm and offered challenges at times.

Item ideas were a good idea. I just think they should take out the stupid treasures and let us get upgrades via sidequests.

Dislike:

Magic meter. I hated this thing so much. I'm fine with magic in the series and the masks did everything right with it. This stupid little meter was everything that was wrong with magic.

Adventure pouch. I want to be able to have all of the items on me at all times. If they limit it to just medals (assuming they return), then maybe I could deal with it.

I hated the shield meter. It was unforgiving to newbies who were new with the controls and it discouraged us from using our shields against fast hitting opponents. It discouraged trying to deflect enemy attacks and taking the risk of getting hit.

 

[JuicieJ]

Twilight Princess had an air gauge. Just sayin'.

I've said this many times in the past, but I'll say it again. I want to see physics puzzles in the Zelda franchise. I'm not asking for all-out Assassin's Creed parkour, but I would like to see a small vibe of it. Take it further than taking a couple steps up a wall. It would be really cool to see Link's acrobatic skills taken to the next level alongside of observing the environment to see a path of walls and ledges to hop across, all while paying attention to the Stamina Gauge.

Beyond that, I would love to see more resource management and RPG mechanics. Skyward Sword did a really good job with this with the Adventure Pouch and limited resources in the overworld and small-capacity item containers, as well as the upgrade system, but not taking these features further would practically be a crime. Same with not adding even more new elements.

There are a lot of other things that I would like to see in future Zelda titles, but these are the two main ones, so I'll just leave it at that.

 

[Sir Quaffler]

I like these new features, when they work. SS's new features made playing the game that much more entertaining and interesting; it also felt like a breath of fresh air in a series that was starting to get stale for me. But while I immensely enjoyed these new features I don't want the Zelda franchise to keep adding on bells and whistles, that would bet cluttered and aimless fast. Also, while I, again, immensely enjoyed Skyward Sword and it's story & presentation, I'm not really opposed to having more non-linear exploration in it. Build up on what SS did right and improve on what could use some work.

One feature that I think would be awesome to incorporate is the Scan Visor feature from the Metroid Prime series. Now, I'm not sure how this would even work, but I want to learn about all that's around me and keep a logbook of what I find. So perhaps just beef up the information the assistants hand out on enemies, structures, etc. and allow me to keep a logbook of it somewhere.