Is the Adult Timeline More Technologically Advanced?

[Jetter]

Note: Your Adult Timeline may not have the same games as mine. I won't be counting Minish Cap and the Four Swords Games.

As you may know, a lot of the games in the Adult Timeline has different technology then the games in the Child Timeline. Wind Waker has submarines, large ships, canons, and other items and vehicles. These seem very different from Ocarina of Time's Technology and the Child Timeline. I know Twilight Princess has the Spinner,but that is only one thing. Phantom Hourglass has a Steam boat, cranes, and other things I can't think of at this moment. This is also different from the other games in the Child Timeline. I know you might want to say that The Hook/Clawshot is very techologically advanced. I don't think this is important since a lot of the games have it. Spirit Tracks has trains. Wait let me restate this. Spirit Tracks Has Trains! It only takes 100 years after Phantom Hourglass and yet it has trains, People in "cars"(Lokomos), an underwater rail system,and much more. You may be thinking that trains may be just normal to the Lokomos. That's probably the reason,but still.

This doesn't have to be part of this theory but, Termina could be taking place in the Adult Timeline since it's advanced,but it's not as advance as some of the things in the Adult Timeline. Please Discuss.

 

[MrMosley]

I think the advancement can be contributed to the fact that in the AT, people had to have a way to get used to life on the sea. Hyrule was one land, being that there were other lands surrounding it, but none of the races or people had to really travel by boat or anything too advanced because it just wasn't needed, and the technology never came into existance. In Wind Waker, the people had to develop boats, which lead to steam engines. Because they had to find ways to improve their means of transportation on the water, it lead to new discoveries in technology that would also help them incorporate those technologies on land. This is why we have trains in ST, because the boat technology had advanced enough that a train wasn't as hard to come up with or think of a way to power. The CT just didn't have anything to kick-start an advancement in their technology, at least travel-wise.

 

[Pinecove]

Aonuma has stated that technology isn't important to a timeline:

Kotaku: Spirit Tracks features a train, which may be the most modern piece of technology included in a Zelda game. How modern do you think the Zelda Universe can get? Could it include, for example, a radio? A car? A gun?

EA: Technology actually was not a major concern for us when we decided to use the train. In The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, the boat was the key mode of transportation. Now that Spirit Tracks takes place on land, we needed a new way for players to get around, and felt that the train offered the best sense of exploration and discovery. We don't think it feels out of place in the game world.
Trains are also a popular mode of transportation in Japan. My children and I still feel a great sense of adventure when we ride trains in Japan.

Regarding use of other forms in technology in the future, as long it adds to the overall game experience and is something we feel the player would enjoy, we wouldn't be afraid to implement it. As a matter of fact, we have used the Hook Shot in several previous games, which would be considered a very modern type of technology, even by today's standards.

Source.

And while I'm at it, I may as well point out that there are rocket launchers and magnetic cranes in TP seen nowhere else in Hyrule. Oh and don't forget the jukebox in OoT.

 

[Jetter]

Aonuma has stated that technology isn't important to a timeline:



Source.

And while I'm at it, I may as well point out that there are rocket launchers and magnetic cranes in TP seen nowhere else in Hyrule. Oh and don;t forget the jukebox in OoT.

I guess that's why I think before I post.

 

[PhantomTriforce]

Well, there is a possibility that the land where PH took place and New Hyrule are more technologically advanced than Old Hyrule (Hyrule in OoT and WW)

 

[Majora's Cat]

You're all thinking this over too much. You can see advancements in technology in every game. Yes, technology seems very jumbled and out of place in Zelda. I guess the developers didn't really think people would go into so much detail. As long as you a gradually advancement in technology over time and don't dispute about little things like how TP had a canon and an entire city above the clouds propelled by fans, and was only only 100 years after MM and OoT, which had no such technology. Zelda is complicated.

 

[xmajorax]

There was a jukebox in OoT? I've played through that game over 11 time but I don't remember a jukebox

 

[Satsy]

It took me a moment to remember but the jukebox is in Hyrule town, in either the Bombchu bowling or the treasure chest game buildings. It's not a significant feature, just something they included (I'm thinking Bombchu bowling since it goes with all the neon lights and the like).

 

[DeletedUser9]

I think the advancement can be contributed to the fact that in the AT, people had to have a way to get used to life on the sea.

I agree with you partially on this point. Thing is, the technology in Zelda isn't and never has been important. As that Aonuma quote implies (and I've always felt this was fairly obvious before even) the technology is largely put in there as an aesthetic. It's there as part of design, part of the art. It's not something worth putting timeline consideration into as they only put it in the games if it fits that particular game, not because it works on the timeline. It's one aspect of the series that is definitely stand-alone, not connected to the timeline.

Even if you were to connect it to the timeline, I don't think it's fair to say the Adult Timeline is more advanced. Sure they technically use more advanced travel technology, but in games like Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess you see massive architectural and mechanic feats (like the Great Bay and Lakebed Temples, to start) that are barely possible with modern technology, if perhaps even too advanced for that.

All in all, the development of technology in Zelda doesn't make sense either way. A jukebox? A camera? A train, a giant structure with a network of pumps that is somehow a "temple"? I think it's clear.

You're all thinking this over too much. You can see advancements in technology in every game. Yes, technology seems very jumbled and out of place in Zelda. I guess the developers didn't really think people would go into so much detail. As long as you a gradually advancement in technology over time and don't dispute about little things like how TP had a canon and an entire city above the clouds propelled by fans, and was only only 100 years after MM and OoT, which had no such technology. Zelda is complicated.

I kinda agree with you. At least on the stuff about putting too much thought into it. What bugs me a bit are the bolded statements.

I don't feel it's very out of place at all. As long as it fits in with each game's aesthetics, it works fine. And I feel like they've kept within those lines very well. Most of the technology they've done is either steampunk, which works very well with fantasy, OR it's just so over the top that it is fantasy.

And I also don't feel Zelda is that complicated. In fact overall, I feel it's very simple. Besides, you say we're thinking it over too much. How can we be if Zelda is complicated? I think it's an over-complication of something really simple.

 

[J Oh]

It took me a moment to remember but the jukebox is in Hyrule town, in either the Bombchu bowling or the treasure chest game buildings. It's not a significant feature, just something they included (I'm thinking Bombchu bowling since it goes with all the neon lights and the like).

Bombchu Bowling, just got done doing it :p