As I spend time with other games and other sites, more and more I find myself hating myself for having opinions that are pro-conservative Zelda (except, I love OoT and that probably will never change -- best game ever for life). Among those opinions is the opinion of "OMG NU VOCER ACTINS ZLEDA DUN NED" that oh so many fans like to push out into the online world.
I'll try to rack up a list of things that were whined/complained against in the Zelda series but eventually happened anyway:
- The switch to 3D - many fans of the original quad-series (LoZ, AoL, ALttP, LA) were very unsure of three dimensional graphics in a Zelda game. [not a majority of them I don't think.] However, when Ocarina of Time released, it met insta-praise, and look where it stands now.
- Different ways of play - many fans of the original controller + buttons method have booed any different kind of way to play the Zelda series. However, the DS games with their stylus-exclusive gameplay have worked quite well. Different, yes, but definitely works [I myself am attached to buttons + analog stick]. The same can be said with SS and the 1:1 swordplay rather than mashing B, though I still would rather have mashing B as an option.
- Cel Shading - After Spaceworld 2000, everyone wanted a realistic Zelda. We got TWW instead, and while people complained about the cartoony, childish graphics...none can deny that they did nothing but complement the gameworld of The Wind Waker.
And now we have voice acting. Yes, the CD-I games were bad. Did Nintendo have anything to do with them? No they did not. Hell, Nintendo doesn't do much in regards voice acting -- Charles Martinet doesn't fully voice Mario in any of his installments.
What reason exists that makes voice acting in Zelda invalidated besides "I USED 2 LINK BEING SILENT SO VA WUN WORK" and the fact that Nintendo may or may not screw up, hire the wrong cast, and lose money? After all, it isn't like an option to disable voices is impossible to implement (it isn't -- in all good games you have the option to turn down the volume of sound effects, background music, etc.) so that way, the ones who are conservative fans can have silent Link and those who desire beneficial change can have voiced Link/NPCs.