How Many is Too Many

[ihateghirahim]

Zelda games have had different numbers of dungeons. From four to eleven I believe. MM had four and focused more on side missions. Other games have had you going from dungeon to dungeon most of the game. How many dungeons is enough? What should be the balance between dungeons and other missions?

 

[A Link In Time]

The more dungeons, the better as long as they are original. I vouch for a dozen dungeons like A Link to the Past had with very little repetition. Ideas like the Skull Woods and Gargoyle's Domain have been emulated since but never executed as artfully.

The number of dungeons should obviously be influenced by the narrative. My only desire is for the three dungeon-plot twist-five or six more dungeons pattern to be abolished.

 

[Ventus]

How many dungeons is enough?
Honestly it isn't a question of how many. It's a question of quality. If I got 25 dungeons of Skyward Sword's quality, I'd still be craving more. If I got 25 dungeons of Majora's Mask's quality, I'd probably be desiring less. 25 of Ocarina of Time's would leave me wanting more. (btw 25 isn't a ballpark figure) et cetera et cetera. In general I think 11+ dungeons is a healthy count for any Zelda game, but even a measly 4 can get by if they're very symbolic or unique.

What should be the balance between dungeons and other missions?
There should always be at least 8 times as many sidequests/missions as there are dungeons. Whether it's a majority of mundanely collecting heart pieces or doing tasks related to a subplot, I feel the side content should constantly, consistently, and vastly outnumber the main quest content. That's a bit what I liked about Majora's Mask; outside of the main quest there was just oodles of things to do no matter what point of the game you were at! :3

 

[Din Akera]

Ventus took the words right out of my mouth. I think it is important to distinguish between dungeons and side-quests/overall gameplay/area getting to each dungeon. But as that has been sufficiently covered, I would focus on a different aspect of the numbers of dungeons; how they are connected.

For me, this is huge, because I am more focused on story when it comes to Zelda games. If dungeons are all connected through a story arc, then I have no problem going to the next one right after I finished the previous. But if it just seems to be one thing after another that the plot is making up to force you to do more dungeons, then it is laborious and the game has too many dungeons.

Example, OoT had you collect three spiritual stones and then 6 sages. Now 6 in one arc is a lot, but it worked for OoT due to Ventus's point about quality dungeons. Skyward sword broke it up into so many pieces (some of my examples are not dungeons, but i'm trying to make a point) that I felt like when they told me, okay now... you have to go get the hero's song, but it is broken into three pieces, okay but now, you have to collect the tadtones to do one of the pieces of the song. Okay now you have to prove yourself with these trials before you can go into the dungeons. The connections between the different dungeons were too loose and too abundant. We had all these little jobs to do that were part of the main quest that didn't really connect to each other. I felt it became laborious and was there for the purpose of dragging the length out.

So, in my opinion, if the dungeons are quality and they connect to each other with solid reasons, then I say, the more the better.

 

[Castle]

As many as they can make significant or worthwhile. Bland, repetitive, or visually uninteresting dungeons are unwanted. If each dungeon is unique, visually distinct and sufficiently engaging then they can throw in as many as they want. Optional dungeons sure wouldn't go unwelcomed.

But it is nice to have as many overworld sidequests as there are dungeons to delve into. Twilight Princess had a wealth of dungeons but an empty overworld. A few scripted sequences took place in the overworld at certain times, but nothing in the way of many things to do on ones own time. If Majora's Mask consisted of even one more of its relatively bland dungeons it would already be too many.

But variety is key. I like having around half a dozen dungeons in a single stage of the quest. ALttP had four starter dungeons and then seven more after that and could have had plenty more as far as I'm concerned. OoT had three then five, not a bad number considering each ones relative challenge and complexity. It's obvious that Majora's Mask put much more emphasis on the overworld and had far more going on in it than it did in the dungeons. So the number also depends on the nature of the game. MM differs mostly because of the persistent time limit, I think.

 

[DarkestLink]

9 dungeons is enough. Anything less than that is unacceptable. There should always be more main quest content than sidequest content....something Zelda has had problems with in recent games....side content has never been a strong point in the Zelda series. The main content however, is amazing and should be focused on. Sidequests shouldn't be added unless they offer a lot of fun and replayability or Nintendo needs to fill content holes. There is no such thing as too many dungeons...but since we're limited on heart pieces, I suppose 15 would be fair, but I would love to see more. Perhaps 17 dungeons and 10 mini dungeons.

 

[Snoober]

It depends really. Majora's Mask had 4, but the game was by no means short and was still amazing. TP had a load more and wasn't near as good as MM IMO. It just depends.

 

[toonlink]

To me, it really depends on the story, and the aptmosphere they want to give off. I believe that 5-8 dungeons is within my comfort zone, so long as they aren't repetitive.
Side missions? In my opinion, there should be about maybe 70-80% dungeon parts, with maybe about 15% towns with missions. It really depends.

 

[Igos du Ikana]

Well, I think the most obvious choice(s) for the amount of dungeons would be Ocarina of Time/ A Link to the Past, just for the reason that these are heralded as the best in the series(which they are). Personally I liked the four dungeons in Majora's Mask and would like to see there be another game where there was this little bit of dungeons, though I doubt it will happen. The gaming demographics have changed in the past 13 years; their's way too many good Zelda-esque games now with 9 levels to justify a casual gamer buying a game that he could beat in 4 hours.

 

[Hylian_Monolith]

Me? I love dungeons, and long games. I want magic on my first run-through, where I do few side-quests in full. But it should relate to the plot heavily. It needn't all be dungeon--after a while in a dungeon, the feeling of it does grow old, whereas outside it you can keep adding new terrain and elements, because it's everything. So, give me eight dungeons or so, and a lot of in-between. I love a long game. But for later runs to be more in-depth, make a lot of side-quests, not in the least of them collection quests. Goddess, i hate the. Trade sequences, yes, gathering 50 rabbits or 24 bugs or however-many of whatever? No. Not all of it should be collection.

In other words, I like really long, really good games... Not a common combination, unfortunately.

 

[Spirit]

I'm a Zelda gamer that doesn't take much joy into being crowbarred into a dungeon. WW felt right with six and a big overworld they felt necessary and more like discoveries etc and i think that concept worked well. In OoT the dungeons were more like a check list, as soon as you were out of one you were moving straight into another with very little to no overworld exploration or narrative progression. Twilight Princess had a good idea with event style goings on between the dungeons like meeting Zelda in Hyrule Castle before the first dungeon, Rescuing Colin and Protecting the carriage, but again after the third dungeon the dungeons following became checklists with nothing between coming out of on and going into the other.

I'd like more overworld action than dungeon action, I'd say WWs six with a large overworld is fine with me and then the last dungeon for the final boss like Ganon's tower, but i'm a minority.

 

[Ghirahimiscool]

I don't care how many side quests there are in Majoras Mask. Its fun!