General Zelda How Much Change is Too Much Change for You?

[Ventus]

So...as a Zelda player, I naturally come across game mechanics that I like and ones that I dislike. I find story characters that I like and dislike, same with items, puzzles, scenarios, and structures. And, naturally, I also desire some length of change in these aspects. But really, how much change is too much change to do? Last night, I was reading an article at ZeldaInformer titled "Why Can't Link Be Black?" (clicky). I read the article, agreed with it in some points, and went to the comments where I knew it'd be nothing but hatred. Changing the MC's skin color is so very insignificant. I've played game after game where there's an established main character, and there's all sorts of customization options available. These options never destroyed the identity of the character, the game in question, or the series to which the game belonged.

There we have it. A minor change is too much to you. What change would you be willing to accept in Zelda, and what change - if not HOW MUCH - would you shoot down immediately?

 

[DarkestLink]

The series is changing too much as it is. It's like it has A.D.D. and can't figure out what kind of series it wants to be.

 

[JuicieJ]

It's not so much about change as it is adding onto previously-established ideas and refining the latter. Too much change would be altering the core formula from what it is, which would be stupid since it's beyond structurally sound. There's nothing inherently flawed about the groundwork Zelda is built on, so there's no need to tamper with it. What's built on it just needs innovation and renovation.

 

[ihateghirahim]

On a side note, that article is taking this way too seriously.

Second, I think series is balancing pretty well right now as far as change. Each game is great in it's own right, and each game further adds to the gameplay, challenge, and lore of the series. I would like to see more return-to-roots sort of games, but ALBW seems to satisfying this. I'd say the series has an overall good balance of tradition and innovation. Each game is well-received and well-designed. I know we all have our little irks about this or that, but it's Zelda, and we all love it. I pray the series continues to shine above the generic and boring.

 

[Hoff123]

Honestly I'm one of those boring kids who freak out when instead of making the world bigger and denser, they introduce a weird wall mechanic...

Yeah, I guess I'm no "true Zelda fan" because I don't like how art styles, controls, and "mechanics" keeps changing all the time. It kind of feels like every game is a series itself. I know a lot of people love that about Zelda though...

 

[Dimooshky]

The only things that really will change are the controls - which change with console - gameplay mechanics - which change with console - story and art style to keep it interesting for longer. And these thing are those which need to change in order to differ from game to game - with story being the only essential factor -. The only change that will really outrage everyone are complete changes in formula, name and design as in character design like the Hero's Tunic being fluorescent pink or Zelda is a guy and Link a girl.

 

[Salem]

If it's a spin-off game like the Tingle games. Is any Zelda character is popular to warrant a new spin-off series, besides Ganon, Zelda and Groose that is...

 

[HyruleHistory10]

I like change not enough and it becomes stale. That is why I am not getting A link between worlds because when Eiji Aonuma Said this in an interview I knew it would be trouble:

"Aonuma: I do that same thing over and over, almost every day as I’m playing the game. I’ll get stuck in the game and say, hey, this level isn’t complete, is it? And my team has to say, “Remember, this is the new game,” to remind me that I’m not playing Link to the Past anymore, there’s actually this other dimension that I need to move into. I want to give users that same feeling of frustration, that frustrating feeling of getting stuck, because I think that’s a great part of the gaming experience. We’ll continue to work on those, find new ways to do that, and we’ll continue tuning the game to make sure that it’s a good experience for everyone."

Rele if the general director admits that it plays THAT similar to ALTTP what IS new........?

It was an interview with wired by the way Q&A: Zelda's Producer Crafting New Legends for 3DS, Wii U | Game|Life | Wired.com

 

[NoRush]

I like articles like the one on ZeldaInformer. Cool stuff, an interesting perspective. I personally wouldn't mind playing with a non-white Link... ...(why not!? Get it...ugh apologies haha)

As what is for too much change for me, well, I think the backbone (or atleast some vertabrea) of the Zelda series is the story: starting out on a quest with a goal to save the world, which in order to complete, requires items, which requires challenges, and the world in which the story is taking place is somewhat involved in itself (villagers to talk with, random secrets such as the camper under the bridge in ALtTP). That's pretty over-arching I guess but I think that's what makes a Zelda game feel like a Zelda game to me. Take away the feel, too much change.

Actually, thinking about this deeper, I think making the Zelda games TOO CHILDISH is absolutely rediculous. Maybe that's why I stopped playing Zelda for so long when I saw PH come out back when I was in hikeschool. I just thought, "lame." Nintendo was and I believe still is aiming Zelda at children, at that needs to stop. I don't think of the first 6, maybe even 8, Zelda games as "childish" and I loved those, and I was playing those when I was a child.

Change for the sake of change is a waste in quality for simply being tagged as innovative. Nintendo shouldn't worry about, "oh, this is a new console with a new mechanic so let's add this" but rather should say, "alttp was such a huge success, how can we make this game comparable to that one on this new system?" Slight change in thinking = slight change in approach means not forcing change on a series just for the sake of change.