Breath of the Wild How Would You Feel if Link Moved Even Further Away from the Blank Slate Spot?

[ZeldafreakCJM]

Say for example you could no longer rename him, or he had a more visible personality and actually talked, would this ruin the game for you?

I know it's probably not happening, but it's something that I kinda want. Link isn't me, at least in my opinion, and there's already been a game where a Link has had textboxes (the Hero's Shade and

Spoiler

Gramps from ALBW

) and two games where you couldn't rename him (the original FS before being ported to the DSi/3DS and FSA), so I don't see it as a huge deal. However, I'm curious about you ZD, what do you think?


I'm referring to Zelda U to be clear, as Aonuma has talked about changing conventions.

 

[Ventus]

the more they make him a character the better. Finally make him a female and then it will be the ultimate SJW crowd pleaser..

 

[ZeldafreakCJM]

the more they make him a character the better. Finally make him a female and then it will be the ultimate SJW crowd pleaser..

Well..I've got a few reservations about femLink, but that's for a different thread. It's nice that you agree with me, at least I think I think you agree with me.

I can't tell sarcasm, I don't think that is sarcasm, but the second line kinda sounds like it.

I agreed with you ZeldaFreak, your sig. pretty much says it all "we all know his name is Link anyways." I never name Link anything but Link. However I prefer he stay a mute as I like reading the dialogue. Might be interesting though to have everyone speaking

Well to be honest, my sig is kinda ironic considering it says "I don't want to see Link changed in any significant way"; I made it during the whole E3 fiasco where Aonuma trolled everyone, as I really don't want to any significant changes to his overall design, but I guess I'm ok with his name being fully cemented as canon and a little bit of speaking here and there (something similar to Samurai Jack.)

Also, I never name Link anything other than Link as well, I think I tried once and I ended up chickening out of it as I figured my immersion would be broke every single time someone talked to Link.

Finnally, what does "reading the dialogue" mean in regards to Link having a textbox? I'm a little confused...

 

[AbrahamLinkoln]

I agreed with you ZeldaFreak, your sig. pretty much says it all "we all know his name is Link anyways." I never name Link anything but Link. However I prefer he stay a mute as I like reading the dialogue. Might be interesting though to have everyone speaking

 

[the8thark]

How Would You Feel if Link Moved Even Further Away from the Blank Slate Spot?

But then you say in your signature:

I really don't want to see Link changed in any significant way.

Contradictory wants much?

Actually the name means little as no one calls him by the name. If they did in ZeldaU then it'd matter more. LoZ is just one of those games where the PC doesn't matter much storywise, it's the NPCs that tell the story. Another game like this is the Diablo trilogy. I don't see this needing to be changed. To that end what name Link has or what link looks like does not matter.

Actually the game, mart of my forum name comes from is the same. The PC's name there is "Ark" and he does not talk. And the story is very NPC driven as well. The main difference is Ark's actions do matter. Even his first main action, opening pandora's box changes the world literally. But you have to open the box to progress the story. This is something I'd like to see. Link can stay a blank mute. But his actions need to matter. Not just mindless do what everyone is telling him to do. But actually have some of his own thoughts. And he should screw up, and Link will make a bad decision or two and have to fix up the mess caused by his own previous bad actions.

 

[ZeldafreakCJM]

But then you say in your signature:

Contradictory wants much?

Actually the name means little as no one calls him by the name. If they did in ZeldaU then it'd matter more. LoZ is just one of those games where the PC doesn't matter much storywise, it's the NPCs that tell the story. Another game like this is the Diablo trilogy. I don't see this needing to be changed. To that end what name Link has or what link looks like does not matter.

Actually the game, mart of my forum name comes from is the same. The PC's name there is "Ark" and he does not talk. And the story is very NPC driven as well. The main difference is Ark's actions do matter. Even his first main action, opening pandora's box changes the world literally. But you have to open the box to progress the story. This is something I'd like to see. Link can stay a blank mute. But his actions need to matter. Not just mindless do what everyone is telling him to do. But actually have some of his own thoughts. And he should screw up, and Link will make a bad decision or two and have to fix up the mess caused by his own previous bad actions.

My signature is referring to Link's design, I don't want a femLink or a customizable Link, I'd very much prefer he stay looking and being himself in that regard, but I'm fine with him becoming more of a character. Also, I'm not really sure what you mean when you say "no one calls him by the name" plenty of Zelda fans don't rename Link myself included, and literally every NPC that get's close to Link will use his name, which if you called him Link, then they're say Link, and none of this is to mention the various spin-offs that use the name Link and only the name Link. Furthermore, I'm not sure I agree with the idea that the PC does not matter much in Zelda, I mean WW literally opens up telling this grandiose recap of OOT, making the Link from it incredibly important from the viewpoint of the story, and in fact every Zelda game is from Link's perspective and usually ends with him single-handily saving the world so...

Also his actions do sorta matter, in both OOT and WW he inadvertently helped Ganondorf conquer Hyrule and restored the majority of Ganon's power respectively, by withdrawing the Master Sword. A similar action occured when he withdrew the Four Sword in FSA and unleashed both Vaati and Ganon. However, I'll agree, that they should take the concept a little further.

 

[DJ Twitch]

I would hate, I see where Nintendo is going with him and I don't like it. I want to be able to name him after myself or whatever silly thing I come up with, it's a small but effective freedom I don't want to be taken away. I've dreamed of decent costume customization as long as I can remember, but that has nothing to do with Link's characterization. I want to go back to the old days when I was the one in the game, because let's face it; ANY of us would make a better hero.

 

[the8thark]

Also his actions do sorta matter, in both OOT and WW he inadvertently helped Ganondorf conquer Hyrule and restored the majority of Ganon's power respectively, by withdrawing the Master Sword. A similar action occured when he withdrew the Four Sword in FSA and unleashed both Vaati and Ganon. However, I'll agree, that they should take the concept a little further.

I agree totally. But I think ZeldaU should have a real pandora's box. Taking the concept way further as you said. The master sword thing is something Link just does sure it has lots of consequences but link does not think about them before hand, jsut more just doing without thinking in a way. I'd rather have it a scenario where link really has to think before hand, should I do think knowing it might screw up things. He does it anyway but I think you get my point.

 

[Dio]

Say for example you could no longer rename him, or he had a more visible personality and actually talked, would this ruin the game for you?

I know it's probably not happening, but it's something that I kinda want. Link isn't me, at least in my opinion, and there's already been a game where a Link has had textboxes (the Hero's Shade and

Spoiler

Gramps from ALBW

) and two games where you couldn't rename him (the original FS before being ported to the DSi/3DS and FSA), so I don't see it as a huge deal. However, I'm curious about you ZD, what do you think?


I'm referring to Zelda U to be clear, as Aonuma has talked about changing conventions.

I'd prefer if most of his talking was done through the player selecting his speech like in Fallout3 or Skyrim where the main character is not voice acted for. He is link as far as I'm concerned so if they implemented voice acting for npcs and everyone called him Link, I'd be good with that. In Fable you can buy titles that NPC's will call you by, that could be implemented instead of Everyone just calling him link, personally I don't care but it might please some people if you could chose your title.

 

[Salem]

No, I wouldn't like this, ever. If they give him a name and make him NOT a blank slate, than why not go all out? Give him a a name that's NOT Link, maybe don't even call the game "Legend of Zelda".

The reason I say this because he was called Link because he's the "link" between the player and game, if he's his own character, there's no point in being called Link.

 

[ZeldafreakCJM]

I agree totally. But I think ZeldaU should have a real pandora's box. Taking the concept way further as you said. The master sword thing is something Link just does sure it has lots of consequences but link does not think about them before hand, jsut more just doing without thinking in a way. I'd rather have it a scenario where link really has to think before hand, should I do think knowing it might screw up things. He does it anyway but I think you get my point.

Oh I see. Yeah a concept like that could be kinda cool though it'd be a little hard to convey Link thinking if we can't really hear him speak or anything like that, but they could probably find a way.

I'd prefer if most of his talking was done through the player selecting his speech like in Fallout3 or Skyrim where the main character is not voice acted for. He is link as far as I'm concerned so if they implemented voice acting for npcs and everyone called him Link, I'd be good with that. In Fable you can buy titles that NPC's will call you by, that could be implemented instead of Everyone just calling him link, personally I don't care but it might please some people if you could chose your title.

I'm not sure I like the idea of multiple dialogue choices, I'm fine with them so long as they don't change the story line, because well I don't think Zelda needs multiple different endings and I'd prefer the timeline not get anymore complicated. However on the note of people calling Link by his name, what if they gave the option to pick between just a gap in speaking and the characters saying "Link"? The dialogue would have to be written so that it wouldn't be jarring but both sides could be pleased this way.

I would hate, I see where Nintendo is going with him and I don't like it. I want to be able to name him after myself or whatever silly thing I come up with, it's a small but effective freedom I don't want to be taken away. I've dreamed of decent costume customization as long as I can remember, but that has nothing to do with Link's characterization. I want to go back to the old days when I was the one in the game, because let's face it; ANY of us would make a better hero.

It's interesting how differently we view the same character...I'm honestly afraid of them going back to the more blank slate like spot, and I really don't want customization, and I'd rather he continue to evole, but anyways I don't think there's any reason to worry, I'm just proposing a hypothetical and to be honest considering Link manages to sorta cover both sides I don't see them changing Link anytime soon.

No, I wouldn't like this, ever. If they give him a name and make him NOT a blank slate, than why not go all out? Give him a a name that's NOT Link, maybe don't even call the game "Legend of Zelda".

The reason I say this because he was called Link because he's the "link" between the player and game, if he's his own character, there's no point in being called Link.

I'm not sure I agree with the idea that if he isn't a blank slate his name shouldn't be Link. I mean sure that might have been it's intention, or at least one of them considering the whole electronic chip thing, but fictional characters typically have pretty weird names for no real reason. I mean there's no reason for Crash to be called Crash, or for Spyro to be called Spyro, or Cloud to be Cloud, and like I said Nintendo has said before that he was named Link for a different reason, multiple times, so yeah.

Anyways, I'm not saying that it should happen or anything, just that I'd kinda like it. Also sorry for the late reply everyone, been a little busy.

 

[the8thark]

Oh I see. Yeah a concept like that could be kinda cool though it'd be a little hard to convey Link thinking if we can't really hear him speak or anything like that, but they could probably find a way.

You portray the emotions and thought process involved through the NPCs. It's been done before and I'm sure Nintendo could make it work.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Briefly put, Aonuma always trys pushing that when we are in control of Link, we are Link. If anything this is a convention that will be expanded on, and not pushed away from in Zelda Wii U. I personally like the idea of us being in full control of Link, controlling not just what he does, but also how he interacts with people in the game.

 

[ZeldafreakCJM]

Briefly put, Aonuma always trys pushing that when we are in control of Link, we are Link. If anything this is a convention that will be expanded on, and not pushed away from in Zelda Wii U. I personally like the idea of us being in full control of Link, controlling not just what he does, but also how he interacts with people in the game.

I don't really find myself to actually be Link, anymore tahn Mario, or Sonic, so I don't understand the notion that Link becoming more like them would give us less control, but to each their own I guess.

Also, could you explain why you think it'll be expanded upon? it's a concept I really don't care for much in Zelda and as such have been actually worried since E3 that Nintendo would try to go out of their way to further push it, and as such I'm a little anxious/intrigued as to why you feel this way.

 

[Octorokstar]

Link already has certain things that help him be defined. now that there are multiple Links in different timelines, theres no need to have him as just the avatar. we should see link do certain things that separate him further from the rest.