Breath of the Wild Gameplay That Won't Get Stale

[Lozjam]

So, one of the biggest problems with open world games is that the Gameplay can get increasingly stale.

Take Skyrim for example. In my eyes, you do not really need to play 100% to get the full Skyrim experience. All you really need to do, is play the entirety of a guild quest, a good 30 sidequests, and the story. This is because, as amazing as Skyrim is, each quest or storyline mostly comes down to the same exact thing. Talk to person A-Go somewhere-kill all enemies-loot everything-kill the boss-collect a certain item-come back-talk to person A-talk to person B-go somewhere else-kill enemies-loot everything. Skyrim does make up for this fact with interesting NPC's and varying stories. There are some unique gameplay elements in dungeons, and some varying monsters(though really, it still isn't much because each enemy more or less uses the same strategies and you use the same strategies to beat them). There are some puzzles, but they mostly revolve around seeing signs within the dungeon and replicating them. The point is, if you are not interested in the story in quests, you are not going to have a good time with Skyrim, and it can get stale.

So what could they do to make Gameplay fresh and new within this huge adventure?

I hope that items will be the key to this. Having challenge rooms everywhere that involves different items would be fantastic. Such as, having whole dungeons revolving around TP's Spinner, or providing cool puzzles involving trickshots with the hookshot. But what do you guys think? What could Zelda U do to keep the entire game fresh?

 

[Dio]

I think it needs to not be too big and overwhelming like a lot of the other Open Word RPGs out at the minute. Zelda since OOT has been main story orientated and if they bombard the player with too much content then the main story can become an insignificance like I have found with Fallout 4.

What they could do is have more optional dungeons and quests that revolve around the events in the main story as they unfold.

Variety is the key to keeping things interesting and having too many quests having the player doing the same sort of thing over and over is going to get boring so I think quality side quests over quantity is the way to go. I like the idea of challenge rooms you mentioned but there could be mini dungeons that revolve around certain items as well.

 

[Lozjam]

I think it needs to not be too big and overwhelming like a lot of the other Open Word RPGs out at the minute. Zelda since OOT has been main story orientated and if they bombard the player with too much content then the main story can become an insignificance like I have found with Fallout 4.

What they could do is have more optional dungeons and quests that revolve around the events in the main story as they unfold.

Variety is the key to keeping things interesting and having too many quests having the player doing the same sort of thing over and over is going to get boring so I think quality side quests over quantity is the way to go. I like the idea of challenge rooms you mentioned but there could be mini dungeons that revolve around certain items as well.

This is something that I feel could put Zelda apart, in creating an amazing open world experience. Focus in story.

I think Majora's Mask is absolutely perfect in that regard with sidequests. All of the sidequests are their own unique, little mini stories. They were really fun to do. However, they still fell within the main plot. Each sidequest has occurred because of the destruction of the world, and Skull Kid's mischievous deeds, so they still fall into one cohesive whole. In Majora's Mask, you never forget what your objective is. Stopping the moon from falling. You are reminded of it constantly, and they still build up to the final boss fight, and make you want to fight it. Yet these sidequests are still unique versus what you do in the main story as well.

In Skyrim(And Fallout 4), on the other hand, you completely forget what you are even doing within the main story. There is no sense to even do anything in the main story, no real gameplay reason that is. You can completely forget about it, and do everything else but the main story if you wanted to, and you would get a better experience over just doing the main story.

 

[ZeldafreakCJM]

I mean it'll just basically be WW on land right? So long as there's plenty to find treasure chest and hidden area wise that's enough for me.

 

[thane98]

I think the entire principle of making the game centered around how your going to get to your destination as much as what you'll do when you get there could do a lot for gameplay. If travel itself is a thought provoking experience, with a diverse range of ways to get to where you need to go, then Zelda U will have a great base to work off of for keeping general gameplay engaging. I'd also love to see more complete side dungeons. Honestly, I'd say that I want side dungeons to not feel like side dungeons. I'd like for some additional dungeons with a full length and their own unique bosses and rewards. Then again, that's just me - Zelda dungeons really don't get stale for me as long as no individual dungeon overstays its welcome, so a wide variety of dungeons would prevent stale gameplay for me.

I feel like combining engaging travel with a good amount of side dungeons and side quests should be enough to give Zelda U some engaging gameplay. Obviously, there's more to each of these components that I haven't gone into - the need for rewarding exploration, for instance - but the general combination of those components would create a strong game.