What could Nintendo have done besides the downfall timeline?

[thePlinko]

the backstory of LttP is Ganondorf entering the sacred realm and taking the triforce, and OoT is the closest game of that happening

Ok so maybe I should’ve phrased that better. I meant why only OoT. I get why it was after OoT specifically, but why is it just a single game that gets the “alternate universe where the villain wins” treatment?

 

[Moblinking5000]

In the child timeline, where that battle for the Triforce was prevented from happening, it later was forcefully set into motion. That battle is so important that it seemingly cannot be prevented even after time travelling to stop it - it temporarily postponed it, but it still happened. Predestiny/destiny is often cited as a real force in-game, and I think that grapple for control of the Triforce after a split was one of those things that was predestined.

What's interesting is that some similar things happen in TP as they did in the adult part of OoT, such as the freezing of Zora's Domain; maybe Ganon had decided to put some of his originally intended plans into fruition in TP after having his plans delayed for millennia as a result of his imprisonment in the Twilight Realm?

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

What's interesting is that some similar things happen in TP as they did in the adult part of OoT, such as the freezing of Zora's Domain; maybe Ganon had decided to put some of his originally intended plans into fruition in TP after having his plans delayed for millennia as a result of his imprisonment in the Twilight Realm?

Maybe, or it could just be that he didn't have it all planned out yet, but once he was in the position he was inclined to have some similar plans.

 

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

@Ryuu Kage Desu should know more about this

Thanks for confidence.

The only issue I have with the downfall timeline is that it’s specifically a sequel to OoT. Why just OoT?

As I proposed it, Ocarina of Time is naturally a no win situation. It's a version of the game we don't play. Time travel doesn't take place. Then, later, an event takes place that allows a past event to be changed. The events we actually play through lead to the adult timeline. Even though Majora's Mask is concidered a direct sequel to OoT, we don't play through that version of events either, being the result of Link being sent back, during the end credits scene.

Basically, time splits at that moment, due to events later on; not time travel in that particular story, by itself.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

Wheel timeline

 

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

Wheel timeline

Wheel OF Time-line?

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

Wheel OF Time-line?

That's what I titled the thread, yeah

 

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

Wheel timeline

In this instance, my theory about the natural state of Ocarina of Time being unwinnable still works, with one minor tweak. Instead of the event influencing the past, changing the course of history, the event would change the next cycle.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

In this instance, my theory about the natural state of Ocarina of Time being unwinnable still works, with one minor tweak. Instead of the event influencing the past, changing the course of history, the event would change the next cycle.

It's possible that timeline branches are branches off the main cycle (of which the downfall timeline probably loops back on itself, if any) and the events of the games from skyward sword through ocarina of time will infinitely repeat on themselves until they go a certain way

 

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

It's possible that timeline branches are branches off the main cycle (of which the downfall timeline probably loops back on itself, if any) and the events of the games from skyward sword through ocarina of time will infinitely repeat on themselves until they go a certain way

And, that's where the timeline altering event comes in. The most likely candidate being the Triforce wish in the late downfall timeline. The wish making the events we do play possible, the next time around.

Edit:
The only time line that doesn't fit so well with the cycle model is the child timeline, due to the fact that both the child and adult timelines are created by the same event; Link being sent back by Zelda. If we consider the adult timeline the main loop that time around, then the child timeline has to branch off of it. Unless they are both branches, breaking that loop completely, to avoid the events we know as the animated series (Adult Link staying but with the mind of a child), wiping it from existence.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

yeah none of this is related to the thread, let's maintain the topic

 

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

yeah none of this is related to the thread, let's maintain the topic

I thought the topic was to come up with ideas as to how the timeline(s) could be reworked to make the downfall games feel more important to the newer games.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

I thought the topic was to come up with ideas as to how the timeline(s) could be reworked to make the downfall games feel more important to the newer games.

you guys were talking about a wheel timeline or something which seems like its own topic

I was asking where you guys think nintendo could've put the 2d games w/o resorting to a 3rd timeline

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

I feel like the biggest issue with the timeline is that it just... doesn't exist in the games. The split timeline is already a concept that the games have never acknowledged, but just contriving a third timeline for the games to never acknowledge just feels... well, contrived.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

I feel like the biggest issue with the timeline is that it just... doesn't exist in the games. The split timeline is already a concept that the games have never acknowledged, but just contriving a third timeline for the games to never acknowledge just feels... well, contrived.

I mean how exactly do you acknowledge another timeline in-game?

I think twilight princess might be the best instance of this though, it's a sequel to ocarina of time's child ending, but it came out after wind waker, which was a sequel to the adult ending, so they definitely made the game knowing that it's on the opposite side of wind waker's canon