What could Nintendo have done besides the downfall timeline?

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

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

Make it a story element. You could allude to Ganon, Link, and Zelda remembering things that haven't happened. Lives they haven't lived. Maybe aspects of other stories start to bleed over.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

Make it a story element. You could allude to Ganon, Link, and Zelda remembering things that haven't happened. Lives they haven't lived. Maybe aspects of other stories start to bleed over.

that's leaning into convergence which I doubt nintendo would want to do, they more so try to make the games self contained but in the background say "oh yeah, it takes place after link to the past I guess"

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

that's leaning into convergence which I doubt nintendo would want to do, they more so try to make the games self contained but in the background say "oh yeah, it takes place after link to the past I guess"

It doesn't have to be convergence. The timelines interacting or bleeding into each other doesn't mean that they have to merge. It just needs to be written by someone who isn't Nintendo.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

It doesn't have to be convergence. The timelines interacting or bleeding into each other doesn't mean that they have to merge. It just needs to be written by someone who isn't Nintendo.

in a way you could say that the whole zelda speech thing in botw is an example of that, I just don't see them going any further than that

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

in a way you could say that the whole zelda speech thing in botw is an example of that, I just don't see them going any further than that

I think the speech is a nice reference, but it's a nice reference that doesn't actually do anything. It's the sort of reference that can be quietly shuffled away without any real impact on the series. I suppose I'm looking for something big enough that it can't be ignored or debated. It has to be something real, but it seems like Nintendo either doesn't keep good writers on staff or actively curtails any attempts at doing anything with the stories.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

I too prefer to ignore reality

 

[Moblinking5000]

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.

In the JP version of TWW, the KoRL mentions that the Hero of Time left Hyrule by ''travelling the flows of time''. Also, the ending of OoT shows that the future where Ganondorf was defeated and sealed still exists even though the HoT had left it minutes before, making the existence of a split timeline clear in game.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

In the JP version of TWW, the KoRL mentions that the Hero of Time left Hyrule by ''travelling the flows of time''. Also, the ending of OoT shows that the future where Ganondorf was defeated and sealed still exists even though the HoT had left it minutes before, making the existence of a split timeline clear in game.

I suppose that's just not enough interconnectivity for me (especially since I'd have to look to a specific version of a specific game to see it). While Ocarina of Time does offer a brief glimpse of what maybe implies that the bad future is still there, no other games do anything with it. It just doesn't have a bearing on their story.

I feel like the counterpoint to something like Zelda's continuity would be... I dunno. Something like Mass Effect (I've been playing the Legendary Edition)? All games in which events and chronology of previous games are referenced and used in future games while telling a better story.

 

[GZ Zelda]

They tried to make three sequels to Ocarina of Time (Majora's Mask/Twilight Princess, Wind Waker, A Link to the Past), but they really only made one sequel to OoT: Wind Waker, and everything else feels superfluous as I didn't playthrough any of the alternate scenarios presented: I only played through the timeline in which Wind Waker takes place.

 

[Moblinking5000]

I suppose that's just not enough interconnectivity for me (especially since I'd have to look to a specific version of a specific game to see it). While Ocarina of Time does offer a brief glimpse of what maybe implies that the bad future is still there, no other games do anything with it. It just doesn't have a bearing on their story.

I feel like the counterpoint to something like Zelda's continuity would be... I dunno. Something like Mass Effect (I've been playing the Legendary Edition)? All games in which events and chronology of previous games are referenced and used in future games while telling a better story.

I mean, TWW takes place in a world where the world was flooded and the Spirit of the Hero never returned to thwart Ganon upon his return, which makes sense considering his spirit left the AT. The events of OoT are also mentioned repeatedly throughout the game.

Events of previous games don't have to be mentioned all the time, anyway. It's not like it would make sense for anyone in ALBW to say, ''Hey, did you ever hear about the heroes who sealed the Wind Demon Vaati with the Four Sword?'' out of nowhere despite the fact that it is something that canonically happened in the past, because that is something that has no relevance in regards to ALBW.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

Events of previous games don't have to be mentioned all the time, anyway. It's not like it would make sense for anyone in ALBW to say, ''Hey, did you ever hear about the heroes who sealed the Wind Demon Vaati with the Four Sword?'' out of nowhere despite the fact that it is something that canonically happened in the past, because that is something that has no relevance in regards to ALBW.

palace of the four sword tho

 

[Moblinking5000]

palace of the four sword tho

What about it?

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

What about it?

I'm jokingly mentioning it, b/c it's almost exactly what you just described, but w/ link to the past

 

[Moblinking5000]

I'm jokingly mentioning it, b/c it's almost exactly what you just described, but w/ link to the past

Considering that Ganon is still a threat in the secret ending you get for completing it and the fact that the Historia and Encyclopedia don't mention it in regard to ALttP's story, it's questionable as to whether it's canon.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

Considering that Ganon is still a threat in the secret ending you get for completing it and the fact that the Historia and Encyclopedia don't mention it in regard to ALttP's story, it's questionable as to whether it's canon.

whether it does or not is pretty inconsequential, it's just there as bonus content, if anything I guess it affirms that four swords happened in the past at some point, which we now know