• Welcome to ZD Forums! You must create an account and log in to see and participate in the Shoutbox chat on this main index page.

Breath of the Wild Non-Traditional Dungeons?

Cfrock

Keep it strong
Joined
Mar 17, 2012
Location
Liverpool, England
Readng a comment made by A Link In Time the other day got me to thinking about this. In the next console Zelda title do you think it would be a good idea for Nintendo to give us dungeons that are quite different to what we have come to understand dungeons to be? If so, do you have any thoughts on the kind of dungeon they could use? Or do you think they should stick to the traditional format?

To give an example of what I'm talking about, the specific comment ALIT made was the following:

With the added horsepower of the Wii U, Nintendo could effectively make [Gerudo Fortress] as large as a complex infiltrated in Metal Gear Solid 4. Imagine a stealth dungeon crawling with Gerudo guards-foot soldiers, archers, cannon men. Toss in a new breed of ferocious canine and Nintendo could make great use of fond fan nostalgia and innovation. It'd be an ineresting departure from what players typically associate as a dungeon

I hope he doesn't mind me quoting him here but I thought this was brilliant. A stealth dungeon would be a great departure from the franchise's norms and provide a tense and exciting dungeon.

Another example is the idea of a 'chase dungeon', one designed around the notion of one invincible enemy which chases or hunts you throughout the dungeon, forcing you to solve puzzles quickly so as to not be in one place for too long and seeing you have to run and hide when in danger. The map could be used in such a scenario to track this enemy's movements so you don't run into it by mistake.

So do you think Nintendo should mix things up with dungeons that are different to what we're used to? Or would you prefer for things to stay more traditional?
 
I find it strange that you created a thread quoting my response about a stealth dungeon as I was creating a thread about stealth sequences in Zelda. Great minds think alike.

Another idea I’ve voiced in a thread several times is a dungeon which alters based on seasonal changes. The most obvious elemental combination this would have an impact on is water and ice. The lair could be a winter wonderland during autumn/winter and melt into a giant lake during the spring/summer. The return of the Rod of Seasons or similar item isn’t necessary if realistic seasons are implemented like with Pokemon’s sporadic alterations. It’d be a nice return to Majora’s Mask too compelling players to complete certain portions of the dungeon within a time limit for some areas are accessible only during one of the elemental states.

Moreover, this thread conjures an image of a moving dungeon. Perhaps Nintendo could craft something along the lines of the rolling barrel present in The Minish Cap’s Deepwood Shrine albeit on a much larger scale. Using the touchscreen on the Wii U Game Pad, players could twist the area’s appearance with one quick motion. It’d be a nice throwback to the Stone Tower Temple. Additionally, I’ve been fond recently of a Wild West steam punk train sequence as a mini-dungeon. This would contribute to a variety of environments as Link navigates train cars, the engine room, and even climbs on board the train James Bond style. The thrill of jumping off the ride as it goes bounding off a canyon and explodes in flames would be nothing short of spectacular and make exceptional use of the Wii U’s added visual flare.
 

Lord Carlisle

He Who Shall Not be Named
Joined
Sep 9, 2012
Location
Florida
I think this might be a good idea for a single dungeon, although I wouldn't want the entire game to revolve in this way. With the capabilities of the gamepad, I think virtually anything is possible, and I can see it being used to help in stealth sequences... just imagine using the gamepad as a lens of truth!

I'd actually like to see tons of personality throughout the dungeons. SS did a good job of this as each was vastly different and made use of different key functions, such as the timeshift stones, but a complete overhaul would be interesting, if unlikely.
 
Joined
Dec 9, 2012
I think that having a stealth dungeon would be a good idea. Imagine the Gerudo have locked Link up, stripped him of his items, so all he can do is just avoid guards, and maybe have Link set traps to temporally stun them to recollect his items.
 

izi

Not A Wizard
Joined
Nov 30, 2012
Location
Los Angeles
I think that having a stealth dungeon would be a good idea. Imagine the Gerudo have locked Link up, stripped him of his items, so all he can do is just avoid guards, and maybe have Link set traps to temporally stun them to recollect his items.

The only problem I see with that is that it's just a Silent Realm with traps :eek:
 

Mellow Ezlo

Spoony Bard
Joined
Dec 2, 2012
Location
eh?
Gender
Slothkin
The only problem I see with that is that it's just a Silent Realm with traps :eek:

It worked well on the ascent up Eldin Volcano in SS, didn't it. I agree with Maxxy. I think a dungeon where Link must find his items while hiding from guards would be thrilling, and would draw away from the standard "work your way through, fight a miniboss, receive item, and then use said item in a fight against a colossal monster". The Eldin Volcano ascent was just a small example of what Nintendo could be capable of pulling off in a full fledged dungeon if they work hard enough. And on the topic of the Silent Realm, this is a completely different concept. In the Silent Realm, you had to run and try to collect all of the tears, while trying not to wake up the Guardians. Even if they do wake up, that doesn't prove that they're going to catch you. A stealth dungeon would be the opposite, moving slowly so as to avoid being seen, while trying to recover your stolen equipment, therefore giving you ways to kill the guards. The idea of a stealth dungeon intrigues me, and is something that I would love to see in the future!
 

Zorth

#Scoundrel
Joined
Apr 22, 2011
Another example is the idea of a 'chase dungeon', one designed around the notion of one invincible enemy which chases or hunts you throughout the dungeon, forcing you to solve puzzles quickly so as to not be in one place for too long and seeing you have to run and hide when in danger. The map could be used in such a scenario to track this enemy's movements so you don't run into it by mistake.

I would love something like this personally, I saw this in a 'Prince of Persia' game called 'Warrior Within'. What happens is that the player is chased by a beast called the 'Dahaka', however the difference is that in 'Warrior Within' this beast chases you the entire game instead of just one dungeon. I still think it would be an awesome dungeon, forcing us to solve puzzles faster, take unexpected routes through the dungeon and just make everything unpredictable, love this type of hectic gameplay.

So yes, I would definitely love for Nintendo to mix things up. Let them add some chase, maybe something less scarier than survival horror but similar; we are being chased by an invincible enemy that we can't hurt but just run from. I'd also love to see a trial dungeon again, where we test our skills as a hero, we see this in OoT as a side quest (Gerudo Training Grounds) and in WW as an important dungeon (Tower of the gods). As long as the dungeon doesn't revolve around one singel item or one single type of element (fire/forest/water/etc.) I'll be very happy.

Quote of me from ALIT's thread about stealth and dungeons.

What I'd like for ZU is a portion of the game where we aren't forced inside to get something that is ours back, rather to spy on the enemy and get some information about something, probably taking out a few enemies on the way with some fancy stealth item, not something that renders us completely invisible but something that maybe like poison arrows or tranquilizers, eavesdropping things, disguises etc. Hell, the main boss could even be just a target we need to interrogate or steal something from him/her/it (or even if it's M rated, assasinate).

:yes:
 
Last edited:

Not Take Mirror

Sage of Ice
Joined
Dec 8, 2012
Location
Minneapolis, MN
I'd like to see more use of nontraditional dungeons in the Zelda series as it keeps things interesting and fresh. Some of my favorite nontraditional dungeons have been Snowpeak Ruins (TP), Sandship (SS) and Sky Keep (SS). Inside Jabu Jabu's belly was about as non-traditional as they come. You're inside a big fish! This dungeon doesn't deserve all of the hate it gets. Okay, carrying Princess Ruto around gets annoying but the dungeon was a good transition in difficulty between the first two child dungeons, and the adult temples to come. The boss battle is pretty challenging too- it really kept me on my toes.
 
Chase dungeon sounds cool, though it'd remind me of the second Prince of Persia game on the ps2, which is no bad thing.

Keeping with the Prince of Persia Warrior Within theme though I'd like to see a three dungeon mechanic; two dungeons which are connected to one bigger dungeon, you'd need to traverse the two towers in a certain order to open up the third dungeon and then go back to either dungeon after progressing part way through the third to open the third some more, a massive undertaking and grande puzzle.

I'd like to see a dungeon catered around the game's method of transport, WW touched on this with the first room of Tower of the Gods where you needed to use the Boat to get from side to side, i was a little gutted that you couldnt take it with you and based on that i still want a transport dungeon, it'd be nice to take Epona into a dungeon some time just so she can see what you do for a living as an adventurer. SS missed a trick with not using the loftwing in a dungeon, diving to certain parts via loftwing on multi-levels would have been a lot of fun, nevermind...
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom