Over World Type?

[Kazumi]

So, I'm sure we all want an amazing over world for Zelda Wii, correct? The only thing that is different among fans, is what kind of over world you want. You may be thinking, what the hell? Types of over worlds? Indeed. Let me out line the types that I recognize.

Condensed:
This is the kind of over world that we saw in Majora's Mask. It's rather small, but quite varying in geography, and has a lot of enemies and places. Where as Ocarina of Time has one large, rather empty field, Majora's Mask's is a small field around Clock Town, filled with enemies, holes and buildings (it could have used more of those). Then, it has all of the varying areas (Beach, Mountain, Forest/Swamp, Canyon) branching out from it. This is the first type.

Big and Bleak:
This is the type of over world that we saw in Twilight Princess, and to a lesser extent Ocarina of Time. And to an even lesser extent, Adventure of Link. It's very large, and very empty. Not a house to be found, and only a few areas with anything interesting. It also doesn't have to many enemies. It's great for going out, exploring, and looking around. Plus it can be really epic with a horse and some good weather effects. Here is the second type.

No Walking For You:
This is the type of over world that we saw in Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, that won't get any votes. It's huge, often with many towns or locations, and enemies. Sounds great right? The catch? You can't walk. Either you can go about drawing a path, or you can go about drawing a path, but on set tracks. This is the third type.

Specific:
This is the type of over world that we saw in that great Hyrule Fantasy, Oracle of Ages/Seasons, Link's Awakening, A Link to the Past, The Minish Cap, and Four Sword's Adventures. Also Four Swords. Every screen has a story, and every screen has a price. Err.. A puzzle. They are quite specific, therefore leading to a smaller over world. However, the screens are packed with content and enemies, and often lead to a more difficult game. I really can't see this working in full 3D, but you never know. This is the fourth type.

So Big That You Should Probably Take The Car, But It Has Lots of Cool Crap Anyways:
This is what we saw in Wind Waker, and to a lesser extent Adventure of Link. In AoL you couldn't take the car/boat/plane/horse, but you should have been able to. At least Link walked unhealthily fast. In Wind Waker, you got to take around a boat, which in my opinion is really awesome. This is like mix of the first three types. It's huge, has lots of content, but is massive and bleak. That doesn't mean it doesn't have many enemies. And it encourages forms of travel over just walking/swimming. This is my favourite, and the fifth type.

So. Which one of these do you want? Or do you want something that I didn't mention? Vote and discuss. As for me, I said that I would like the fifith option. And I really already stated why it's perfect for me. So go ahead and discuss what you want.

 

[Master Kokiri 9]

Specific for me please. The Specific overworld is by far my favorite and really should make a triumphant return. Heck, 3-D would do wonders for it if you ask me. After all, I'd much rather walk around a complex varying overworld with lots of secrets and content as well as plenty of politi- err monsters to kill than just go around from rare town to rare town barely finding any secrets at all and only fighting a few monsters on the way.

 

[Dragmire]

big and full, bigger than twilight princess' size, fuller and more detailed than any other zelda game, i want to be able to do loads of things in the overworld as well as even more things in the towns/villages.

if tis no walking for you ill kill them

 

[yann]

I like the size of WW overworld, but it was ruined by the endless expanse of water.
A world that looks the Hyrule Field of TP, but near the size of WW overworld.
Of course, it would need to be filled with things over than submarines and tornado's but that wouldn't be too hard.
I just hate it when they make a large overworld, but there is nothing there!

 

[Xinnamin]

Large with content and transportation.

The OoT overworld was moderate sized and had Lon Lon Ranch, but other than that was totally empty.
The MM overworld was varied and interesting, but was way too small.
The WW overworld was filled with so many islands to explore, but was too big with was way too much empty sea between them.
The TP overworld was huge, beautiful, and just generally fun to run around, but it had nothing productive to do past a few cave systems.

All of the 3D overworlds had their good sides and their bad sides. What I want in the Zelda Wii overworld is a combination of all their good sides with the hopeful consequence that they'll cancel out the bad sides. I like large overworlds since they're beautiful and fun to explore, but an overworld like the WW was overdoing it. TP's size was my ideal. And when they're big like that, I expect there to be things to do. Things like all of WW little uninhabited islands or TP's cave systems are fine and all, but a big world should come with a big population. Things like the Lon Lon Ranch, not quite towns, but not deserted side challenges either. Plus varied terrain like that in MM could easily support multiple kinds of little dwellings, like the mountain smithy for example, or maybe a proper beach house with an actual living family. Those aspects of OoT and MM's overworlds would cancel out the emptiness of overworlds like in WW and TP. Large and fun, not just one or the other.

 

[Zeruda]

I'd like to see a combination of Specific and Very Large w/Stuff. There's no excuse to make a small overworld, not in this day and age. Back when technology was limited, yeah, it was okay. MM did a good job with that. But now companies are completely capable of making a large overworld. What confused me about TP was trying to figure out why NOBODY on the Zelda team spoke up and said, "Hey... there's nothing out here".

I'd like to see a big world like TP, but I don't want it to feel so caged in. I want there to be a noticable population, I want there to be various landmarks, and want it to have content. ALttP's overworld felt huge because you could explore eeeeeeverything. OoT's was big for its time, and it had enough to keep the player occupied, but it could have had more. I'd like to see improvement on the overworld.

Now, I don't want it as dense at MM, but I do want it to feel as lively. It doesn't have to be so huge that you get lost, but it needs to be bigger, and it needs to be filled.

 

[Master Link]

I like the fifth the best. The Specific overworld works wonders for the 2-D games, but I just cannot see it work for 3-D. Wind-waker's overworld was nice as long as you fed the fish to fill out your map (something I forgot to do). There was tons of stuff to do and lots of weather effects and enemies. TP's overworld was drop dead gogeous, and heck that was on the Gamecube! I can't wait to see if they push the Wii to its full potential with a large overworld like that.

My only complait about that overworld was that there was almost nothing to do. As stated in my post in a "What does ZW need thread" I 'need' to have the overworld packed with story and enemies, maybe even a few side bosses, and definitely another town or two. Some geographic features would be nice too, such as rivers and ponds with specific fish, and multiple forests that could serve as walking shortcuts. I would love Nintendo to giv e us some elaborate cliff setting like in Alttp with a maze of caves and levels. All this would be great to explore in 3-D.

 

[Zelink]

Allright I like turtles, just throwing that out there. Anyway we need more interaction in the overworld. I've talked about this before with character development so I'll save you the trouble. Let's just say TP would have been twice as enjoyable had the overworld been well, um, populated? Ya so more stuff in the overworld. I am wondering how far the Wii can go with this. Does anyone think that if they tried to they could have populated TP. My guess is they could have on the Wii but not on gamecube.

 

[Raven]

Condensed Please! Not because I want another Majora's Mask but because I find the connection between areas to be very interesting. when one area can be linked directly to another and your actions can affect a wider area because of it, it adds a sense of awareness and placement within the game. It makes for great side quests and I think that a condensed Wii overworld could still be about the same size as TP's but literally packed with content and no gaps in the area (there would still be loading screens and a lot more of them at that, but Zelda has always had great loading times). ALttP did well in condensing their overworld map and LA also did well, although they didn't have much space to begin with...

I just can't stand the no walking for you formula anymore, and big and bleak doesn't sound like the best idea after TP I think Nintendo should create a more vibrant land than before. Full of mystery and adventure.

 

[Zelink]

Condensed Please! Not because I want another Majora's Mask but because I find the connection between areas to be very interesting. when one area can be linked directly to another and your actions can affect a wider area because of it, it adds a sense of awareness and placement within the game. It makes for great side quests and I think that a condensed Wii overworld could still be about the same size as TP's but literally packed with content and no gaps in the area (there would still be loading screens and a lot more of them at that, but Zelda has always had great loading times). ALttP did well in condensing their overworld map and LA also did well, although they didn't have much space to begin with...

I just can't stand the no walking for you formula anymore, and big and bleak doesn't sound like the best idea after TP I think Nintendo should create a more vibrant land than before. Full of mystery and adventure.

This is what I was trying to say worded perfectly. props to you

 

[Y2K3]

I'd have to go with a conbination of the Big and Bleak with "Very Large With Content And Transportation". I'd like a huge overworld like TP's, having it filled like MM's, and perhaps having some transportion, kinda like WW's. This way, it's big and fun, but also interesting and captivating.
I wouldn't like the no walking one, as I like the walking. Although I've never played PH or ST, so I have no idea how exactly it works in those games. I also dont' want the Specific type, as I've never been a fan of that type.

 

[ThatOneGriffin]

I quite liked A Link to the Past's and Oracle of Seasons' overworld.

Basically, something that's both large AND varied in detail.

 

[octorok74]

I chose option number 5. I prefer this option, just without the transportation. My mind is telling me that the overworld will be solid ground, so having Link walk vast distances sounds fun to me, but it isn't fun for our hero. Besides, Link will have Epona hopefully. My final say is option 5 with no transportation except Epona.

 

[Rishian]

I'd like to see a very large area with a TON of stuff to do. Also, perhaps you start with a horse (or get one quickly) but are able to get a faster one over time? or your horse would be able to gain abilities as well? (Speed, an attack of somesort.. etc?)

 

[TheLastLink]

Nice thread, Kazumi! I would like to see a condensed overworld like in MM, but bigger. TP's overworld was disappointing for me, mainly because of the lack of content,
so i would like... Kind of a smaller, land version of the Wind Waker's ocean.