Breath of the Wild Evolving Stealth Sequences

[A Link In Time]

Stealth sequences have been a staple of the Zelda universe since Ocarina of Time’s Gerudo Fortress. The same concept was present in the Pirates’ Fortress in Majora’s Mask. The Wind Waker’s Forsaken Fortress required furtiveness and smart item stealing via the Spoil’s Bag in order to progress.

Twilight Princess was the first installment to truly spice things up by converting an entire patch of overworld into a twilight infested region Wolf Link needed to traverse in order to gather the Tears of Light. Skyward Sword further improved this concept by pitting the vulnerable Link against quick, destructive Silent Realm Guardians.

Where do Link’s covert operations go from here? While The Legend of Zelda certainly isn’t Metal Gear Solid, these sly portions have always helped to vary the gameplay. Would you like to see more dungeon like environments like the Gerudo or Pirates’ Fortress or do you prefer open sneakiness as in the Twilight and Silent Realms? How can Nintendo improve these past ideas? What new concoctions come to mind? Should Zelda ditch this aspect entirely?

 

[Cfrock]

One moment that sticks out for me in relation to stealth in Zelda is the return to Eldin Volcano in Skyward Sword. You get locked up and have your items taken form you, forcing you to sneak around and retrieve them one by one. I felt this was a well done and interesting sequence.

I would like to see stealth made more a part of gameplay. I'm not hoping for Zelda to become Splinter Cell or anything but give Link the ability to crouch or crawl. This would make any specific stealth sequences more stealthy, rather than what Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask did which was just force you to stay out of sight. Crawling would let you move around without being detected and crouching would let you hide behind more than just corners. If these were just features of the gameplay in general you could even utilise such abilities in the field and non-stealth based areas as an extra option for those who like having more ways to play through the game.

It wouldn't take much to add a little bit of depth to stealth to Zelda and I think it could do some good, if I'm honest.

 

[JuicieJ]

Funny that you mentioned Metal Gear Solid. I would love to see that sort of stuff in Zelda. Not copy/paste like the lookouts having exclamation points appearing over their heads and all that stuff, but the intense, multi-layered sneaking that requires skill, timing, and patience. The first visit to the Forsaken Fortress in The Wind Waker and the Eldin Volcano Song of the Hero sequence in Skyward Sword did a pretty good job of putting the Zelda spin on that sort of thing, but there was only one solution for each scenario, making it lack depth and variety like in MGS. Not anything offensive by any means, since it's a Zelda game, but watered-down nonetheless. I would really like to see Zelda have a portion designed to be very MGS-esque -- options galore. It's really an ideal thing considering this is Zelda.

 

[Random Person]

I'm not exactly sure where it would go from here. It would all depend on the theme of the next game. If the next Zelda is more futuristic, than I could see a lot of potential.
However, I don't believe the twilight realm was the stealth in TP. I believe the bokoblin fort just before the Arbiter's grounds was supposed to be it. That was probably the worst stealth sequence so hopefully that doesn't return. While I Personally did have a ton of fun sneaking around and sniping, I saw others who didn't know it was supposed to be a stealth sequence just run through the whole thing. This would've been fine, but because Link is so OP in that game, these people didn't really get a chance to experience the fun of sneaking around like they should've so they just slashed through everything. So as long as you actually have to sneak (or maybe there's some secret where you don't have to like MM's stone mask) then I'm pretty sure Nintendo will do fine in this area.

 

[Castle]

It's a personal distaste, but I am largely unfond of stealth sequences in video games. Especially in games where it is used once, maybe twice during specific sequences and the rest of the game play consists of standard action/adventure hack n' slash, exploration, puzzle solving... whatever. TLoZ stealth segments haven't ever been too disruptive, with the possible exception of the Forsaken Fortress.

The Witcher 2, however, has deplorable stealth sequences. There are no more than two across a single playthrough and they are horribly ill conceived. If a game is gonna have stealth as part of its gameplay, then I would rather it bill itself as a stealth action and use stealth throughout or at least maintain it as a possible approach. The only stealth action game I appreciate (which is to say it's really freaking awesome) are the Batman Arkham video games. Those got stealth action right and not only made it functional, it made it helluva loads of fun!

So, since one or two stealth segments in Zelda games has become standard by now, and since there hasn't really been a "bad" stealth segment in a Zelda game yet, I can tolerate them, sure. Doesn't mean I have to like them.

To do stealth action right, you have to put ample care and thought into it and playtest it into oblivion. Stealth segments are slow and methodical by nature. Like chess, you have to think several moves ahead. This is what Batman got right and The Witcher got wrong. In Batman, you have methods at your disposal to track enemy movements undetected. Then plan an attack, position yourself and take down enemies with a wide variety of tools at your disposal, not only gadgets but environmental objects as well... like a predator (it's called the Predator system, after all). There is an anticipation during the build up to an attack when you seize an opportunity and an elation when you get the drop on a crook undetected and knock him out. The AI is impressively smart. Crooks will use a surprising number of methods to detect Batman and eliminate the opportunities he has available to use against them. This makes Arkham's stealth action system highly dynamic. You can play through dozens of times and the same sequence will never play out the same way twice and the games afford opportunities to get very creative.

The Witcher's stealth segments, however, are pretty basic yet it seems like the developers tried to throw all sorts of standard stealth action stuff in (dousing lights, taking cover, knocking out guards from behind) that just didn't work well. Probably because it happens twice in the whole game so why bother? The Witcher's is all about trial and error pattern recognition. Figuring out the exact way you are intended to move through the level, remembering exactly where hidden guards are and when, and simply running the same gauntlet until you make no mistakes and come out the other side. This made those segments tedious and frustrating. A stealth action adventure where sneaking around happens throughout is made or broken on the success of its stealth action mechanic... so it had better get it right. If you can't get stealth action done right I'd rather it not even be included at all.

 

[Zorth]

It would be nice to have a dungeon or part of the game revolving around using stealth tactics, like the Pirate's Fortress or the WW Forsaken Fortress. I'd like for the stealth gameplay however to have a little bit more action, in WW we lost our sword and had to hide within barrels to get past the enemy, which was a well done stealth sequence but quite boring because I was expecting some more fightning while in MM inside the Pirate's Fortress it didn't feel like stealth, it felt like the Gerudo have an IQ below 10.

What I'd like for ZU is a portion of the game where we aren't forced inside to get something that is ours back, rather to spy on the enemy and get some information about something, probably taking out a few enemies on the way with some fancy stealth item, not something that renders us completely invisible but something that maybe like poison arrows or tranquilizers, eavesdropping things, disguises etc. Hell, the main boss could even be just a target we need to interrogate or steal something from him/her/it (or even if it's M rated, assasinate).

Now THAT would be a fun dungeon

 

[Burning Beast]

Sure, I'd love to see more stealth in Zelda, but if they put it in the game I want to be much more involved. The stealth sequences in that were mentioned above were all terrible parts of each of their respective games in my opinion, there has yet to be a good stealth portion to any game that I know of in the Zelda series. I'd like to see more involved stealth parts where Link will have to crawl around in some parts, or maybe hide behind a pillar, the constant just running around the way he does in normal situation isn't how I'd do it in real life I know that! Also make it more involved and more difficult, have more guards, or different kinds of guards that are challenging to escape for different reasons. And when your sighted, for gosh sakes give me the chance to runaway for once! Don't throw me in jail or hit me with a rock without giving me a chance to make a run for it!

 

[Not Take Mirror]

For the most part, I dread the stealth sections in Zelda games the most. I don't like waiting around for the opportune moment to sneak by. I remember how much of a pain Forsaken Fortress in WW was. You get caught and you have to start all over again from the beginning. I found it tedious and nerve wracking.

One stealth portion I didn't mind though were the silent realms in SS. At least you had more freedom to move around, and even if you were spotted by a guardian, you could still run for it or stop them temporarily by grabbing another tear of light. The silent realms also had something of a puzzle aspect to it- figuring out the best order to get the tears of light without being caught. Something I appreciated.

 

[Zorth]

For the most part, I dread the stealth sections in Zelda games the most. I don't like waiting around for the opportune moment to sneak by. I remember how much of a pain Forsaken Fortress in WW was. You get caught and you have to start all over again from the beginning. I found it tedious and nerve wracking.

One stealth portion I didn't mind though were the silent realms in SS. At least you had more freedom to move around, and even if you were spotted by a guardian, you could still run for it or stop them temporarily by grabbing another tear of light. The silent realms also had something of a puzzle aspect to it- figuring out the best order to get the tears of light without being caught. Something I appreciated.

I agree that getting caught and having to start over again is tedious but if the stealth section isn't unforgiving like this then IMO it doesn't feel like stealth, there is no risk of something happening if you get spotted.

 

[Networker1]

I like the stealth segments of Zelda, they're actually more fun than simply hack'n everything in your way to oblivion. In ZU I hope they use stealth like in the PS2 games Sly 2/3, where you could fight an enemy, sneak up and silent-kill, or avoid altogether. If some enemies were more vulnerable to some moves than others it would be great. (e.i. darknut falls quickly to back-stabs but are hard to kill in a frontal aussault, a scout enemy could spot you easily and alert friends if you don't run right up and kill it, iron knuckles are immune to surprise attacks but can't keep up if you run)

Off topic: perhaps it is time Link learned some hand to hand combat skills, could be ZU version of the hidden skills.

 

[Burning Beast]

On second thought I guess not all stealth sequences are bad, Forsaken Fortress in WW was okay, and Silent Realms in SS was actually pretty fun, but again I'd like to be more involved and for there to be more movement commands then just 'Oh lets run around!'

 

[Kirino]

I usually enjoy stealth sequences in Zelda. The Forsaken Fortress was decent, but I disliked how you were always sent to the beginning, and how you had to search for searchlights to turn them off. There should have been more options, but you were always forced down a certain path, and had to do specific things in order to suceed. I really like the idea of a whole dungeon devoted to stealth, but there should be different options, different ways to sneak past and crawl through. Maybe there could also be a way to take down enemies, and there should also be a way to escape your foes instead of automatically being caught (the Silent Realm comes to kind).

Zelda definitely isn't Metal Gear Solid, but I still want refined stealth that offers choice. I can think of numerous different additions that could help Zelda. If there is a stealth dungeon, there should be shortcuts and checkpoints so you don't have to start from the beginning. The option to crawl would be great, not just for stealth, but for many different uses in the Zelda series. You should also be able to walk slower and quiet your footsteps. Stealth in Zelda is pretty good, but could definitely be improved.

 

[Spirit]

I wouldn't have called the Twilight sections in TP stealth.. but here we go.

I don't like stealth games or stealth missions in games (which is why i've never played a Splinter Cell game aside from that one time...) I disliked the Silent Realms in SS because Link was powerless, i disliked the Forsaken fortress in WW because I'm not patient enough, i've always found stealth tedious in action adventure games so i wouldn't like to see Zelda implement it any more than it has done already.

 

[Mellow Ezlo]

Stealth has played a part in all the 3D console Zelda games, so I'd be expecting it to return in ZU. I always liked the stealth elements in Zelda, and I'd actually be willing to see a whole dungeon themed around stealth.

In Ocarina of Time, there was sneaking past the guards in Hyrule Castle and Hyrule Castle courtyard, as well as the Gerudo fortress. Although they were both fairly easy, they were implemented quite well, and I really enjoyed both of them.

In Majora's Mask, there was the Deku Palace gardens as well as the Pirate's Fortress. I didn't like them as much as the Ocarina of Time stealth sequences, but that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy them. I still did, and I still think they were executed well.

The Wind Waker was the first time stealth really played a big part in the gameplay, as there was a whole dungeon devoted to it! I really enjoyed being in a dungeon without any weapons, trying to sneak your way to the end. Hiding in barrels was really kind of cool (even though the moblins were really, uh... STUPID!!). If you read my post in the thread I linked to earlier, you will see that a stealth dungeon is something I would love to see again!

In Twilight Princess, the only part I consider "Stealth" was the Bulblin's hideout in the Arbiter's Grounds. Although I enjoyed being able to snipe my way through, I didn't really think it was executed all that well, which is a shame since it could've been much better (though I guess the epicness of the dungeon did kind of make up for it...).

The type of stealth seen in TP returned in Skyward Sword (when you climb Eldin Volcano during the Song of the Hero quest). Although, it was much better! In TP, being seen by the watchmen wasn't an issue because you had a way to kill the enemies the whole time. However, in SS, you had to find your items as you went along, giving you more ways to kill the enemies and solve puzzles, which I absolutely loved! But, that wasn't the only form of stealth present in SS. This game introduced a new kind of stealth that had not been seen before, that of course being the Silent Realms. In the silent realms, you literally had nothing to defend yourself with. You had to run through a large area to collect tears, while trying not to wake up the guardians. It was a race against the clock, and there were also several obstacles to face, including Waking Water, the Watchers, and the Stamina gauge! With all that SS had to offer, I would say it is my favourite stealth game in the series.

I definitely want to see stealth return in ZU, and I want it to play a bigger part in the story. Not saying Nintendo needs to make a Legend of Solid Snake or anything, but stealth is always something I have liked from the series, and I feel like there is still a lot more that they could do with it.

 

[linkbeatmario]

I like the stealth in the zelda games, but i would like more as i think they are kind of fun. I really liked the part in SS where you had to sneek around and collect your items, i thought that was really fun. I would also like for link to be able to change tunics and blend in with the environment, like if he is in a snowy mountain he should wear a white tunic so that enemys don't see him, and if he wears a color the contrasts too much in a certain environment the enmies would notice him more. i think it would be fun to see link in different colors rather than the traditional green but i guess that is just personla preferance