Hearts

[Ganondork]

Now, as we all know, Heart Containers, and Heart Pieces are what give our silent protagonist - Link - more life. But as we have gone through the Zelda series we have seen variations of this unique idea.

We have seen few, whole heart containers scattered throughout Hyrule (Example: Adventure of Link), and many, separate heart pieces scattered through the lands that Link goes through (Example: Majora's Mask, Ocarina of Time). Not only that, but we have also seen different heart piece capacities now. Normally, four heart pieces make one full heart container (Example: A Link to the Past), but now we have seen five heart pieces making one heart container (Example: Twilight Princess). Another thing introduced by Twilight Princess was heart pieces being in dungeons.

Now, before you guys start telling me that I posted this in the wrong forum, time for my Skyward Sword-related post.

Would you like there to be fewer, full Heart Containers seen through Hyrule? Would you like there to be Heart Pieces? Would you like four or five - or even more - Heart Pieces make one Heart Container? Would you like them to be seen in dungeons?

Personally, I want there to be four Heart Pieces to make a Heart Container. But I don't want there to be Heart Pieces in dungeons.

Post your thoughts below

 

[WhiteRundas]

Four Heart Pieces = 1 Heart Container is tradition,but more Heart Pieces means more exploring.
But I like the traditional more.Maybe a long sidequest would end with a full Heart Container.
And no Heart Pieces in a dungeon.This was so annoying in TP.

 

[DeletedUser9]

I think there were specific reasons for the setup on Twilight Princess that I don't think are going to apply to Skyward Sword because of things we already know about the game.

Twilight Princess had a high number of dungeons, which of course means a higher number of full Heart Containers collected after each boss. Not necessarily more so than some other games in the series, but it was still a high number and, for a change, I think they decided to up the number of Heart Pieces so that there was more content added in. In the absence of more meaningful rewards or sidequests, most of the game when not following the plot was spent hunting collectibles. Golden Bugs, Poe Souls, and Heart Pieces. So to forcefully inject more content, they upped the number of Heart Pieces. The dungeons themselves were designed with a little bit of a treasure hunting feel, with all the hidden rupees and extra chests, and since that got boring and pointless, they threw in some collectibles. The Heart Pieces.

That said, Nintendo's talked about Skyward Sword being a shorter but denser game, which means less dungeons. They've also talked about collectibles for upgrading weapons, which means they have no need of upping the Heart Piece count, because they have plenty of other things to turn to for collectibles. I definitely don't think 5 Heart Pieces will be the number for making a new Heart Container in this game. It'll be the usual 4. But they will still have collecting them instead of full containers, I'm pretty sure, so they can still have a bunch hidden around.

As for hiding them in dungeons, I definitely don't want that. It's great for normal playthroughs, but it raises two issues. One, it makes things too easy. If you happen to collect a full container in the dungeon (and you will once or twice, I guarantee you), that's a full heal and it makes the dungeon too easy. Two, on 3-Heart Challenges or Minimalist Runs, it becomes a huge pain trying to avoid certain chests in the dungeon while still trying to find the keys. That said, I think it happening in Skyward Sword is also unlikely, and not just because of wishful thinking. There's no reason to, if you're going to be collecting items for upgrading weapons. It's just not necessarily and would be really pointless.

 

[JuicieJ]

Building off what Axle said, the Heart Container we saw in the Ghirahim demo video didn't look stretched out like it did in TP. The Pieces and Containers looked like they did because of the fact that the number was 5. Just looking at that Heart Container in the video assures me that it's going back to 4 again. (On a side-note, I kind of liked having to collect 5 Pieces. There was more to find.)

 

[dadude1200]

no heart pieces in dungeons. no heart pieces at all in fact. just heart containers. you should have to do sidequests to get them, not find them in a cage with a cow. (oot)

 

[Reyh]

The only problem I had with Heart Pieces in dungeons, was what Axle said. They refill your health. If they didn't do that, I'd have no problem with them in a dungeon.

I also enjoyed the collecting of 5 Heart Pieces, and wouldn't mind seeing the return of the 5 pieces = 1 full container.

More than 5 per container would seem a little excessive. Unless the world was massive. Essentially a console remake of A Link To The Past.

 

[Aelic7]

I like the 4 hp's = 1 hc, but with one exception. I mean this with all respect as possible, but Nintendo sometimes doesn't do a good job making rewards to a sidequest proportionate to length of the sidequest. One example is the Gold Skulltulas, where you get a measly Gold Rupee for tracking down every 100 of those things. Kind of the same thing with the Poe Souls. I think what Nintendo should do is have Heart Pieces for shorter quests, and full Heart Containers for the really long ones. Not too many, though, otherwise it would be too easy.

EDIT: I just realized WhiteRundas said the same thing.

 

[Cel-Shaded Deku]

no heart pieces in dungeons. no heart pieces at all in fact. just heart containers. you should have to do sidequests to get them, not find them in a cage with a cow. (oot)

It's called "exploration", one of the reasons I like the Zelda games. When I saw the heart piece in the cow's cag I was franticall searching for a way to get it.

 

[Wolf Sage]

Going by what the new formula for adventuring is supposedly going to be like in Skyward Sword, I hope there's heart pieces to be found within the deepest regions of a dungeon in every nook and cranny possible. Skyward Sword will feature backtracking which means we'll have to re-explore some areas (possibly more than twice). Finding a few heart pieces along the way should make retracing some of your steps a little less tedious, in my opinion.

 

[unknown_user]

I think Nintendo should stick with the traditional 4 heart pieces

 

[zeldafreak]

Personally, I really don't care what Nintendo does, as long as you have to search for them.
I'd just adjust to what they give me, and try to find all the pieces or containers.

 

[Pikacondon]

I personnaly like 4 pieces of heart to make a container, and with them being found in weird places (cow cage in OoT) I would like to see the pieces of heart come back for SS.

 

[Master Sword13]

I'd prefer 5 pieces to make a whole just because then there are more to find. It depends for me if Heart Pieces are in dungeons or not. If they were difficult to get and I needed to go out of my way to get them, then yes, just because then it'd give me more of a sense of exploration and heroism. If they were obtained while simply progressing through the dungeon, then no.

(This is irrelevant, but I want to say that getting Heart Pieces in dungeons was actually introduced in MC, not TP. Sorry, just needed to say that.)

 

[Azure Sage]

no heart pieces in dungeons. no heart pieces at all in fact. just heart containers. you should have to do sidequests to get them, not find them in a cage with a cow. (oot)

If that were the case, there'd be hardly any exploration. If there were hardly any exploration, it wouldn't seem like Zelda anymore.

On topic, I think that even though four heart pieces = one heart container is tradition, I thought that having five heart pieces = one heart container gave cause for more exploration, which I like. Although, I do agree that there shouldn't be heart pieces in dungeons, because in Twilight Princess, that lead to back tracking, and come on. I can't be the only one who finds back tracking a little annoying.

 

[WhiteRundas]

Yeah,the back tracking is the annoying thing I meant.