New timeline dropped

[Daku Rinku]

You know, I've played a lot of video games. Heck, I've played a lot of extended series, some of which have upwards of fifteen-ish mainline entries. I've been playing Zelda games since around 1999. There was a time when I'd have touted it as my favorite video game franchise.

None of those series struggle with chronology the same way Zelda does, and telling someone that they should just do the homework about the video game timeline keep failing to establish isn't exactly an "Aha!" moment.

The curse of time travel is a convoluted timeline. Little did Nintendo know that a staple of the franchise would be its bane; time travel us like Ouroboros eating its tail.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

The curse of time travel is a convoluted timeline. Little did Nintendo know that a staple of the franchise would be its bane; time travel us like Ouroboros eating its tail.

I wouldn't say the timeline's failings have anything to do w/ time travel

 

[Daku Rinku]

I wouldn't say the timeline's failings have anything to do w/ time travel

Ocarina provided three separate timelines alone.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

Ocarina provided three separate timelines alone.

it provided two which can be understood, but then tacked on a 3rd one which didn't need to be there

 

[Daku Rinku]

it provided two which can be understood, but then tacked on a 3rd one which didn't need to be there

Right, but the fact time travel added two to three timelines proves time travel made the timeline more complicated which leads to confusion.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

Ocarina provided three separate timelines alone.

I'd say the writers caused those problems more than anything.

 

[Daku Rinku]

I'd say the writers caused those problems more than anything.

That’s my point, time travel has to be written well or it makes the threads (timelines) become like knotted ball of yarn.

 

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

Counterpoint: if the chronology of your games isn't self-evident and needs to be clarified through interviews decades later then it's bad.

My job is to literally explain things that my students don't immediately think is self-evident. I don't think this statement provides a very good basis of judgement; especially for something intended to be mysterious, or open to interpretation. Aside from the downfall time split, I think all important elements of the chronology can be gleaned from in game.

of all examples, why final fantasy? it's like a different universe each time

I think the question is more valid than it may first appear. There are a number of games that take place in Ivalice, for instance, and each of those games do reference other games, as one would expect from a shared history. It's easy to see in those games, but is also not difficult to look up. The different answers are very informative in a conversation like this.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

I think the question is more valid than it may first appear. There are a number of games that take place in Ivalice, for instance, and each of those games do reference other games, as one would expect from a shared history. It's easy to see in those games, but is also not difficult to look up. The different answers are very informative in a conversation like this.

Ivalice 100%, but mainline FF isn't at all comparable to this which is what I assume mikey meant

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

My job is to literally explain things that my students don't immediately think is self-evident. I don't think this statement provides a very good basis of judgement; especially for something intended to be mysterious, or open to interpretation. Aside from the downfall time split, I think all important elements of the chronology can be gleaned from in game.

Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of mystery to my stories. A story that lays all its cards on the table from the get-go just doesn't have anything else left to play. Heck, I've been enjoying Dark Souls games except for Dark Souls 2 and their ilk for more just over a decade now and those have are infamously cagey with each shred of lore, but even those games don't **** around with when they take place. They're chronologically in order aside from the Dark Souls 3 DLC that explicitly tells you it takes place at the "end of time".

And not to belabor my Baldur's Gate 3 shaped stick or whatever, but mainline Baldur's Gate is a franchise that has been developed across just short of 30 years by six or so different developers and even it doesn't have to play some nonsense card about obscuring its timeline and literally editing the chronology of individual games within that timeline across different source books.

 

[Mikey the Gengar]

They're chronologically in order

Well, yes and no
The fire brought disparity, but as the fire fades, things like "linearity" become more like suggestions, so bits and pieces of all the dark souls games take place at vastly different times in the same locations. The high wall of lothric is not meant to be there, it just appeared one day above the undead settlement. Oolacile is accessible from darkroot garden despite them being the same geographic place. Ornstein is arguably somewhere but not at any given time
Etc etc
Not the greatest example of a timeline game (especially considering how hesitant ds2 is to act like a ds1 sequel- ds3 is the much stronger sequel)

 

[Somasoa]

You know, I've played a lot of video games. Heck, I've played a lot of extended series, some of which have upwards of fifteen-ish mainline entries. I've been playing Zelda games since around 1999. There was a time when I'd have touted it as my favorite video game franchise.

None of those series struggle with chronology the same way Zelda does, and telling someone that they should just do the homework about the video game timeline keep failing to establish isn't exactly an "Aha!" moment.

SS > OoT

OoT > WW > PH > ST

OoT > MM > TP

MC > FS > FSA

aLttP > LA > aLBW > LoZ > AoL

BotW > TotK

I insist, tell me what about these arcs isn’t comprehensible in your eyes. It’s literally just a matter of fitting these arcs together, which - truly and sincerely - if you approach with an open mind and don’t instantly try to demean any attempt at caring about the story, is quite easy.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

SS > OoT

OoT > WW > PH > ST

OoT > MM > TP

MC > FS > FSA

aLttP > LA > aLBW > LoZ > AoL

BotW > TotK

I insist, tell me what about these arcs isn’t comprehensible in your eyes. It’s literally just a matter of fitting these arcs together, which - truly and sincerely - if you approach with an open mind and don’t instantly try to demean any attempt at caring about the story, is quite easy.

Alright.

Where does BotW take place relative to A Link to the Past?

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

SS > OoT

OoT > WW > PH > ST

OoT > MM > TP

MC > FS > FSA

aLttP > LA > aLBW > LoZ > AoL

BotW > TotK

I insist, tell me what about these arcs isn’t comprehensible in your eyes. It’s literally just a matter of fitting these arcs together, which - truly and sincerely - if you approach with an open mind and don’t instantly try to demean any attempt at caring about the story, is quite easy.

firstly, the apparent fact that the alttp arc doesn't matter since it didn't happen, and also how the four swords arc doesn't go FS>FSA, it goes FS>other unrelated games I guess>FSA

 

[Somasoa]

Alright.

Where does BotW take place relative to A Link to the Past?

In the far distant future of A Link to the Past, per the countless accounts of Aonuma and Fujibayashi of Breath of the Wild taking place at the end of the timeline.

firstly, the apparent fact that the alttp arc doesn't matter since it didn't happen, and also how the four swords arc doesn't go FS>FSA, it goes FS>other unrelated games I guess>FSA

I and others have openly discussed in comments in this thread how the “official” timeline was put together by fans and has nothing to do with Zelda Team’s actual opinion in regard to the timeline. This is why A Link Between Worlds - literally the first new game after the Hyrule Historia released - ignored the modified account of Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past’s backstory and instead continues using the original A Link to the Past backstory as described in A Link to the Past’s manual.

Furthermore, as this was not picked up on by the Hyrule Historia staff, the game and the Japanese website explicitly reveal that Four Swords Adventures is a direct sequel to Four Swords with the same Link. Hence why the FSA intro describes the FSA Link and Zelda as the same cast as the characters from FS.