General Zelda Is Zelda Using Too Many Alternate Worlds?

[Azalea]

Is Zelda Using too Many Alternate Worlds?
Although most of the games in zelda are in Hyrule, a lot have a the entire game revolving around alternate worlds, examples are Twilight princess, Link between worlds, a link to the past, and Majora's mask. More, like spirit tracks and Skyword sword, have other realms involved but don't put much focus on them (examples are Dark realm and realm were you fight demise)The point is that Zelda uses a lot of alternate worlds, and although different worlds is a cool idea, I think they need to use less of it and put more focus on our beloved Kingdom Hyrule. Tell me what you think.

 

[Azalea]

In Majora's mask the entire game revolves around Termina, an alternate world to hyrule.

 

[Cfrock]

I wouldn't say that "a lot" of Zelda games revolve around alternate worlds. Certainly A Link to the Past, Twilight Princess, and A Link Between Worlds are examples fo games that do, and Majora's Mask was, apart from the first five minutes, set entirely within one, that's only four games out of seventeen. Skyward Sword had us in alternate worlds for a few minutes at a time, so I wouldn't really say it counts, since the game certainly didn't centre around those visits. I certainly wouldn't say Zelda uses "too many".

I think alternate worlds are used well enough in the series. They don't come up all that often and, when they do, they tend to stick in our minds, usually for good reason. However, I prefer the approach taken in the likes of The Minish Cap and Oracle of Ages, in that there is a 'second' world but it's actually the same world. For example, The Minish Cap gives us Hyrule and then Hyrule from the perspective of someone two inches tall, changing the nature of everyday things. Oracle of Ages gives us Labrynna in two time periods, changing the landscape of the one world for us. I think that approach is more interesting in general.

 

[Rafa1996]

Don't forget Phantom Hourglass.

 

[OmenBlite]

Well, alternate worlds can exist without acting as an immediate focus. You speak as though Hyrule is the center of the Zelda Series; while, in a sense, you're correct, Hyrule can seem just as foreign as any "alternate world" (take, for example, Skyward Sword, where your sense of familiarity is built around the comforts of Skyloft).

The presence of a world alternate to Hyrule does not necessarily mandate that the game-play of the title in question must revolve around that alternate world. For example, both Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess feature alternate realms. However, neither their game-play nor their pacing revolve around the concept of such a realm; almost the entirety of Majora's Mask takes place within Termina, and Twilight Princess' Twilight Realm is only visited once, and briefly, at that.

With those two eliminated, the only games which feature a relevant, physical "alternate realm" and exercise the concept of such a realm to its full potential are A Link Between Worlds and A Link to the Past. Of course, both of these games treat their alternate realms very similarly, so, for the sake order, we can refer to them as one experience.

So, with really only one experience of a full alternate realm in the series, I'd be glad to see a new alternate realm emerge, so long as it provides us with a different experience than those of the ones we've seen already; but not right now, nor anytime soon; after all, A Link Between Worlds just released last month.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

yeah i think the zelda series should cool it for a bit w/ all this weird separate dimension business

 

[snakeoiltanker]

I cant believe im hearing this LOL! call me bias, but the whole alternate world thing has almost become expected, especially in the downfall timeline, its a staple there as almost every game but the two on the NES and LA have them, and when you think about it, it really hasnt been used that much.

OoT was cool, even though it was different times and not dimensions, TP was just twilight covering what was already there, no actual agricultural change! so that dont count, MC was a freakin sweet game, but i think we all agree that dont count either. I would claim that the Oracle games count just as i did with OoT!

But as far as actual alternate dimensions we just have ALttP, and ALBW. This my friends is where i am Bias. these are two Full Sized Maps, basically doubling the overworld experience, which is where i spend most my time. Call me a Collector. All i have to say is, whats not to love! I do wish we could explore the idea of having Link at two different time periods. Nothing feels better, than play about 4 or 5 hours as a child in OoT, then after a long cut scene we play as an older Link, which at the time just looked awesome, especially in contrast to the chubby lil kid. I always enjoy playing as an older link, OoT, TP, even SS, though i havent returned to the game due to the motion controls!

All im saying is that the idea of revolving a game around 2 separate world, has not been used quite as often as this thread makes it out to be, Nor have they done it all that much recently, ALBW was the first time since the oracle games that actually based the game around traveling back and forth between the two worlds.

 

[Vanessa28]

In TP the main story is taking place in Hyrule so I definitely won't count that one as a game where an alternate world is overused. I like the way they did it in ALBW. It was perfect for me. I won't call it overused. In fact they could even do a lot more with it. I wish that we had the option to explore the Twilight World more in TP instead of only heading to Zant's palace

 

[snakeoiltanker]

I wish that we had the option to explore the Twilight World more in TP instead of only heading to Zant's palace

I hear that, Twilight was Sweeeet!

 

[2bmc]

I'd definitely say they're overused. And there are many more than that, because I would even call OoT one that uses an alternate world since it is time travel. Wind Waker uses it too, with the Great Sea being above the former Hyrule, TP with the Twilight Realm, SS with the sky vs the surface, ALBW and ALttP with their dark worlds, MC with the world of the Minish. A very large chunk of games use this mechanic because it adds to the discovery of the game. I think they need to make another game that doesn't involve this for sure.

 

[JackHM]

I love the alternate worlds as a story-telling device. It makes it interesting to see how they can tie different things together in different ways across the worlds.

 

[Ventus]

See, my problem isn't that each game uses many kinds of worlds. My issue, rather, is that Hyrule itself is massively incoherent throughout the ages. What is Hyrule? Is it a culmination of different lands? Is it a planet? Is it the ingame universe - Holodrum, Termina, etc encompassed? What?

 

[Doc]

I'd definitely say they're overused. And there are many more than that, because I would even call OoT one that uses an alternate world since it is time travel. Wind Waker uses it too, with the Great Sea being above the former Hyrule, TP with the Twilight Realm, SS with the sky vs the surface, ALBW and ALttP with their dark worlds, MC with the world of the Minish. A very large chunk of games use this mechanic because it adds to the discovery of the game. I think they need to make another game that doesn't involve this for sure.

I don't think you can consider all of these "alternate worlds". OoT I can sort of get, although I wouldn't agree. But WW and SS certainly didn't use alternate worlds. Hyrule in WW is a location just like the multitude of islands. The sky is a location separate from the surface, much like the lanyayru desert is a different location than eldin volcano. To consider these alternate worlds is just like saying the realms in ST are alternate worlds. Alternate worlds means different dimension or universe with its own history and lore different from Hyrule's.

 

[Sir Quaffler]

See, my problem isn't that each game uses many kinds of worlds. My issue, rather, is that Hyrule itself is massively incoherent throughout the ages. What is Hyrule? Is it a culmination of different lands? Is it a planet? Is it the ingame universe - Holodrum, Termina, etc encompassed? What?

This. Right here. I do love how the series has treated its alternate realms, I really do. But... what exactly is OUTSIDE of Hyrule? IS there anything outside of it? Are there warring nations outside Hyrule that may invade it at some point? Gimme some frame of reference here!

 

[Azalea]

I don't think you can consider all of these "alternate worlds". OoT I can sort of get, although I wouldn't agree. But WW and SS certainly didn't use alternate worlds. Hyrule in WW is a location just like the multitude of islands. The sky is a location separate from the surface, much like the lanyayru desert is a different location than eldin volcano. To consider these alternate worlds is just like saying the realms in ST are alternate worlds. Alternate worlds means different dimension or universe with its own history and lore different from Hyrule's.

I don't consider any of those games to have alternate worlds. Just ones with dimensions like Albw