Breath of the Wild Huge Open Exploration. "Lost Woods"

[bspurka]

For all of those who own a Wii U, we know that it is pretty advanced and the console itself can out perform that of an Xbox 360. Would most of you like to see the same zelda you have been seeing but more of an overworld of Skyrim/fallout, not the same graphics per say but a more advanced overworld with caves and lakes and tunnels to explore? I even came up with the idea for the lost woods. The Lost Woods are "huge" instead of taking the lost woods in a guided path or direction like in previous Zelda games, what if they made it have more of a wooded feel where you can actually get lost. Now here me out on this, the place you are looking for through the woods lets just say a "graveyard" or "Sacred Forest Meadow" the place will spawn in different locations every time you enter the forest, until you learn a warping song or find a map, but before you dont have that there will be clues set up like riddles and what not to help you find a way to the point of intrest. I figure that the woods should look a little something like this, . There can even be new places to discover in the Lost Woods and even explore. Well leave some comments people and tell me if this is something you would like to see in a Zelda game, this goes for "death mountain" and "lake hylia" as well the possibilities for exploration are endless, let me know what you guys think.

 

[Azure Sage]

One reason I adore the Zelda series is exploration. The idea of an open world is extremely enticing to me. I would absolutely love to see that in Zelda, as well as what you described. I just have one concern, though. I'm worried that the overworld might turn out like Twilight Princess's, and end up being huge with hardly anything to offer. I would want the overworld to be huge, but wide open and riddled with content.

As far as the Lost Woods are concerned, I really like your idea. Having the important destinations spawning in different locations would be awesome. It would give it a great "lost" atmosphere, seeing as you don't always know where you're going. Some people might complain about tedium, though, since it could take a while to get to where you're going sometimes if it's set up like that. Other than that possible issue, I really like your ideas.

 

[Jimmu]

I quite like your idea, more exploration would be good for the Zelda series. Having dense woods would promote more exploration, they'd just have to make sure that they have plenty to do as Azure said.

 

[Zorth]

Huge world I wouldn't want, a bigger world than we have currently sure, but not something so huge that it becomes a time sink. To me personally what makes a world big isn't just because you can take 500 steps and still be in the same area, But more if a medium sized area has so much stuff to do in it so it never seems to end.

I'd rather they focus more on stuff to do within these huge overworlds instead of just making them as huge as possible now that the console can handle the vast amounts of data needed to make the huge amounts of quests, mini-games, mini-plots etc. I've been talking about in most of my posts. If you think about it, it would be extremely boring to run around in an empty world that is huge than to run around in a smaller world where you have tons of stuff to do.

 

[bspurka]

Not sure I'd like a Skyrim-esque word in a Zelda game. But the Lost Woods could certainly do with taking a leaf out of its book. Lake Hylia, not so much. There's only so much water I can take. Death Mountain perhaps, but really it's hard to get lost on a mountain. Just head up...

I see what you are saying, I didn't mean like get lost in lake Hylia or Death mountain I means the realness factor and the realness in size and having to battle your way up this huge mountain not so much having to find it by using clues.

 

[A Link In Time]

One of The Legend of Zelda's greatest design flaws is the predominance of hallways rather than open world progression. Although the overworld was disconnected, each of Skyward Sword's three landmasses largely ameliorated the problem by providing a fairly large unbounded area to traverse. The best example is Lanayru Desert by far-an open veranda as far as the eye can see.

As Zorth mentioned above, Nintendo needs to find chemistry between objectives to accomplish in a given area and grandeur. Twilight Princess suffered a massive setback in both dungeons and overworld by providing large expanses acting as filler, serving no story purpose.

Your idea is excellent, bspurka, but in the spirit of the name, the Lost Woods require more than a massive scope to confuse wanderers. Given the extra power of the Wii U hardware, I wouldn't mind seeing environmental conditions such as fog which render the location difficult to traverse.

Some people might complain about tedium, though, since it could take a while to get to where you're going sometimes if it's set up like that.

Litter the Lost Woods with minor tasks like the target guarded by the Deku Scrub in Ocarina of Time's and throw in an overworld boss to alleviate the issue.

 

[Spirit]

I think, a short time ago i'd have said yes to a more natually designed world that wasn't built around puzzles and fit into an overworld that worried about consistency and repetition, but that design of overworld has become what Zelda is and i think now, if i played something akin to Skyrim or Xenoblade Chronicles in relation to their overworlds with a Zelda logo stamped on the box i think it'd feel too alien, and i dont think nintendo would be able to shine. Skyrim and Xenoblade had some awesome looking overworlds and they were very beautiful but i did spend a lot of time running towards something with very little to see when i could have been blowing up the ground to find an underground cow, pushing some blocks, snaking down a cave with branching paths and using items to overcome an obstacle, Zelda really is about solving puzzles rather than enjoying the sights and gaping at the grandeur of everything. TP gets flack for unused space on the overworld but it had nothing Xenoblade. Nintendo put a lot of effort into their designs and if they just threw a meadow at us as long as those found in Xenoblade then nintendo would go mental on a production level with no idea of how to fill the space.

I'm all for realistic looking places and even some epic architecture to return like TP and many other games like Xenoblade and Skyrim had, but on a design aspect i think nintendo are gonna do what they always do and give us some unrealistic geography in the name of gameplay immersion.

 

[bspurka]

Everyone just disregard the Skyrim comment lol.

 

[OcarinaBoy]

I would be eager to see this in a Zelda game. The Lost Woods never made me feel very lost after the first few times through, so changing up the locations of things would be a wonderful way to amplify the feelings of loneliness and confusion associated with being lost. In regard to the look, I think the Lost Woods should have the general forest appearance that you provided an example of, but I think the area should be shrouded in a perpetual darkness. There should also be a lack (but not an entire absence) in enemy forces in the Lost Woods to create a creepy deserted forest effect. A more haunting melody to top everything off would make the perfect Lost Woods (in my mind, at least).

 

[The Wanderer]

What Zelda really needs is a balance between size and and function. Xenoblade Chronicles was beautiful. I love the game. The overworld was boring. At the very least, I'd have appreciated a horse/motorcycle/tricycle/SOMETHING to make travel faster. Running across beautiful plains of nothing was good on the eyes, but still tedious.

If Nintendo could pull off a Skyrim-sized world absolutely littered with secrets (hidden caves, optional dungeons, sidequests, mini-games, buried treasure, Easter eggs, etc.), it would be one of the best things Zelda has ever experienced. Apparently, one of Skyrim's joys was the wealth of things to do within the confines of its controls and nature. Unusually, quantity was its quality rather than just being a lot of simple stuff. I haven't played Skyrim yet, but that's basically what I've heard of it. The Legend of Zelda, meanwhile, takes numerous other factors into consideration, like story, cutscenes, evolved combat, puzzles within dungeons, puzzles outside of dungeons, hidden caves, and mini-games. I've heard Skyrim's overworld is a lot of emptiness. I'm alright with Zelda having a big overworld that's not as big as Skyrim's if it'll allow Nintendo more time and space to make the world filled with content.

But then they need to do it. The sky from Skyward Sword was supposed to be a big playground with lots of content (or at least it was interpreted to be as such), but it wound up being almost entirely useless. Goddess Cube Chests could easily have been on Skyloft's main island, and Link could easily have accessed the world below without needing to fly. The sky added little to the game. So if Nintendo promises an overworld filled with meaningful content...they need to do it. I'm not even confident they would, but it would be one of the greatest things to happen to Zelda. Imagine a huge Zelda overworld with dozens of hidden caves, a few optional dungeons, overworld bosses, buried treasure, and incredible views. It's got to happen, but I don't know that Nintendo is on board with it. Zelda's focus no longer seems to be exploration, but puzzles and combat - which were originally supplementary to exploration, not independent from it.

The Lost Woods could make particularly good use of an open-world mechanic. Subtle environmental signs (kind of like the flags from the Haunted Wasteland in Ocarina of Time) could point you in the right direction; stepping off the correct path would result in genuinely getting lost unless you knew the woods like the back of your hand. But if getting lost meant constantly finding secrets and pleasant surprises, it wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Zelda really needs an open world. Even if dungeon order is linear, to be able to go where you want from the beginning, minus the rock walls closing everything off, would benefit the series tremendously.

 

[Zorth]

What Zelda really needs is a balance between size and and function. Xenoblade Chronicles was beautiful. I love the game. The overworld was boring. At the very least, I'd have appreciated a horse/motorcycle/tricycle/SOMETHING to make travel faster. Running across beautiful plains of nothing was good on the eyes, but still tedious.

If Nintendo could pull off a Skyrim-sized world absolutely littered with secrets (hidden caves, optional dungeons, sidequests, mini-games, buried treasure, Easter eggs, etc.), it would be one of the best things Zelda has ever experienced. Apparently, one of Skyrim's joys was the wealth of things to do within the confines of its controls and nature. Unusually, quantity was its quality rather than just being a lot of simple stuff. I haven't played Skyrim yet, but that's basically what I've heard of it. The Legend of Zelda, meanwhile, takes numerous other factors into consideration, like story, cutscenes, evolved combat, puzzles within dungeons, puzzles outside of dungeons, hidden caves, and mini-games. I've heard Skyrim's overworld is a lot of emptiness. I'm alright with Zelda having a big overworld that's not as big as Skyrim's if it'll allow Nintendo more time and space to make the world filled with content.

But then they need to do it. The sky from Skyward Sword was supposed to be a big playground with lots of content (or at least it was interpreted to be as such), but it wound up being almost entirely useless. Goddess Cube Chests could easily have been on Skyloft's main island, and Link could easily have accessed the world below without needing to fly. The sky added little to the game. So if Nintendo promises an overworld filled with meaningful content...they need to do it. I'm not even confident they would, but it would be one of the greatest things to happen to Zelda. Imagine a huge Zelda overworld with dozens of hidden caves, a few optional dungeons, overworld bosses, buried treasure, and incredible views. It's got to happen, but I don't know that Nintendo is on board with it. Zelda's focus no longer seems to be exploration, but puzzles and combat - which were originally supplementary to exploration, not independent from it.

The Lost Woods could make particularly good use of an open-world mechanic. Subtle environmental signs (kind of like the flags from the Haunted Wasteland in Ocarina of Time) could point you in the right direction; stepping off the correct path would result in genuinely getting lost unless you knew the woods like the back of your hand. But if getting lost meant constantly finding secrets and pleasant surprises, it wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Zelda really needs an open world. Even if dungeon order is linear, be able to go where you want from the beginning, minus the rock walls closing everything off, would benefit the series tremendously.

Couldn't agree more.

The one thing that kills every Zelda game for me is the end of the main story, I just run out of stuff to do. However in most other Action Adventures/RPGs there is so much more stuff to do after you have finished the main story which makes the game live longer, but sadly not immortal like an MMO. :'(

 

[The Wanderer]

The one thing that kills every Zelda game for me is the end of the main story, I just run out of stuff to do. However in most other Action Adventures/RPGs there is so much more stuff to do after you have finished the main story which makes the game live longer, but sadly not immortal like an MMO. :'(

I couldn't agree more, either. You can conjure up more things to do after beating the game: opening all the treasure chests, finding all the Goddess Cubes, maxing out your health - but you're basically grasping at straws. Considering you were able to beat the game without all that stuff anyway, it isn't really useful afterwards. This is where multiplayer and online functions would really benefit Zelda. What if you could explore mini-dungeons/caves and reap rewards with other people? Or kill bosses together? Or engage in some sort of competitive battle mode? Or, better yet, create your own dungeons and send them to other people? There are plenty of ways to increase The Legend of Zelda's longevity, but Nintendo needs to step outside the comfort zone for it to happen.

 

[Networker1]

The Lost Woods could make particularly good use of an open-world mechanic. Subtle environmental signs (kind of like the flags from the Haunted Wasteland in Ocarina of Time) could point you in the right direction; stepping off the correct path would result in genuinely getting lost unless you knew the woods like the back of your hand. But if getting lost meant constantly finding secrets and pleasant surprises, it wouldn't be such a bad thing.

*lightbulb* like a cut/scrape on the tree... or trampled grass, or something else that reward the keen eye. Just don't make it too recognisable, like "oh an eye switch again, better get out my bow" or "ANOTHER big rock in the way, time for some bombs."

 

[Dukusword]

Yeah in my "Zelda Wii U - Overworld Wants " thread explorable forests is definitely what I want in Zelda Wii U, like what TheBlueReptile said, Nintendo was on the right track with Twilight Princess in the beta footage but then it changed into a more linear forest, even in Ocarina of Time it seemed like it had a more explorable forest.

I am kinda confused why we didn't get that in a 3D Zelda game, it has huge potential, especially now in HD with 1GB+ ram.

Ocarina of Time beta forest and Twilight Princess beta forest

 

[DarkestLink]

Ehhh...it doesn't sound like my thing. I wasn't too pleased when I saw the forest in TP's trailer. It looked like walking forest version of the Great Sea.