What do you wish Zelda did more of?

[Jacob van Eyck]

One mechanic I really liked was the masks in MM. Not necessarily the transformation ones, but the effects one. Most quests in other games are solved by either bringing someone a certain item or by hitting something with different tools until something happens. Basically the same wash rinse and repeat interactions. But with the masks, each one would bring a different response and only some would trigger certain events. It's not like dungeon items where you get it, use it to finish the dungeon, and then use it for mostly other dungeons and explorations. Most masks were completely optional to obtain and just gave the quests and characters more depth. It also created multi layered quests, where you need to get the mask and then use it to do something else. It was a super cool thing I don't think most people realize the usefulness of in the overall accomplishments of the game.

I totally agree. I also think something like this results in different experiences of the game for each person. Almost no one is going to encounter everything in the same order or even everything at all and it creates a different game for each person.
Like, the inner narrative of the player will be totally different depending on which quest they perform first or second and so on.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

Character development and soft gated progression.

I don't think there's any character in the series whose character development I'm really happy with. BotW Zelda is the closest, but it doesn't help that all of hers takes place in flashbacks while being hindered by some subpar direction. For the most part, characters like Link, Zelda, and Ganon are written less as characters and more as vehicles to shuffle the plot forward. I've never gotten the sense that any of them change or learn during the games.

Soft gated progression I'd like to see just to make the accessing of new areas more satisfying. Instead of locking some areas behind a dungeon item, lock them behind hard enemies that might be much stronger than the player at the time they encounter them, but can be overcome with skillful maneuvering and butt pokes, potentially giving earlier access to a later area.

 

[SinkingBadges]

I'd wanted to see how overworld bosses panned out since before Breath of the Wild did it. Hoping next time they do it there's a bit more variety, though that by itself was a shakeup I appreciated nonetheless.

In fact, some more breaking with typical dungeon -> item -> boss structure in general would be nice. Going into BotW at first was exciting to me because there was no guarantee its version of a dungeon would look the same as previous ones. Or they could do the Wind Waker thing of having one specific part you'd expect to have a dungeon, and then not have one. Or have one part require revisiting a previously cleared dungeon, like Skyward Sword. Less predictability, generally speaking.

 

[Ryu that somebody?]

I'd like the sword beam to return to prominence. They must have determined that it broke the game in some way because after the first game they pretty much immediately gimped it and subsequently kept it tucked away as this little bonus you get later in the game. But the fact that they do keep it around in such an obligatory manner suggests they realize what an important part of Zelda iconography it is.

I'm fine with it being weaker than the actual blade and giving it less reach and/or speed than the arrows (if that's the concern). But it always feels like there's a little something that's missing without it.

 

[thePlinko]

I'd like the sword beam to return to prominence. They must have determined that it broke the game in some way because after the first game they pretty much immediately gimped it and subsequently kept it tucked away as this little bonus you get later in the game. But the fact that they do keep it around in such an obligatory manner suggests they realize what an important part of Zelda iconography it is.

I'm fine with it being weaker than the actual blade and giving it less reach and/or speed than the arrows (if that's the concern). But it always feels like there's a little something that's missing without it.

An attack that only works when at full health in a game where it gets increasingly hard to stay at full health isn’t that great, particularly when in nearly every game that its in there are better alternatives either very early on or even prior to when you unlock the sword beam. Heck, in Zelda 2 it’s practically worthless due to its travel distance only going so far and its inability to hit most enemies. The only games where they’re partially useful are MM and SS, which just so happen to be the only times they don’t rely on your health to be at a certain point.

I think that a more plausible explanation is that they couldn’t figure out how to really implement it in a 3D environment for OoT, and since then it just kinda fell out of the spotlight, even though nearly every game since has had it in some form.

 

[Link Floyd]

I wish we could have musical instruments in every game. To me, that sets Zelda apart from other action/adventure games.

Also, it would be pretty neat if there was more of a focus on character development and improving the stories of the games...something along the lines of Twilight Princess. Breath of the Wild does give me hope that we will see better character development in future games though.

 

[Ryu that somebody?]

An attack that only works when at full health in a game where it gets increasingly hard to stay at full health

Interestingly, I'm working through Oracle of Ages for the first time and it appears to have a (bonus, optional) sword beam that's enabled when Link is at lower health. I haven't upgraded the sword yet to try it out myself.
(Edit: Oh wait a sec, reading up on it some more, I think I might've misunderstood how that worked)

In any case, regardless of its usefulness I think it's a part of the series identity. Like if someone were to ask what the difference was between Link and, say, Robin Hood or Legolas? My honest to God first response would be 'Well, for one, Link fires a BEAM through his SWORD!' haha

 

[Mikey the Gengar]

Interestingly, I'm working through Oracle of Ages for the first time and it appears to have a (bonus, optional) sword beam that's enabled when Link is at lower health. I haven't upgraded the sword yet to try it out myself.

Minish cap has it too

 

[Ryu that somebody?]

Character development and soft gated progression.

I don't think there's any character in the series whose character development I'm really happy with. BotW Zelda is the closest, but it doesn't help that all of hers takes place in flashbacks while being hindered by some subpar direction. For the most part, characters like Link, Zelda, and Ganon are written less as characters and more as vehicles to shuffle the plot forward. I've never gotten the sense that any of them change or learn during the games.

Also, it would be pretty neat if there was more of a focus on character development and improving the stories of the games...something along the lines of Twilight Princess. Breath of the Wild does give me hope that we will see better character development in future games though.

I'll offer a dissent on this one. I think that the Zelda games mostly providing the broad strokes of a story and leaving Zelda, Link and Ganon as mostly blank-slate archetypes to be filled in by the player is one of the secrets to the series' success. Whether Link is stoic and humble or if he's a cocky wise-ass who says things like "excuuuuuse me, princess!" is totally up to the player. I think in particular Link being an implicit avatar for the player made A Link to the Past's ending especially affecting.

I'll note I'm specifically referring to those three main characters and not anyone else, and also I suppose I wouldn't necessarily mind a one-off game here and there that dabbled in more defined plots and characters, but I wouldn't want it to be any kind of permanent direction.

(On a side note I think we might also be conflating "characterization" and "character development" but that's neither here nor there)

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

I'll offer a dissent on this one. I think that the Zelda games mostly providing the broad strokes of a story and leaving Zelda, Link and Ganon as mostly blank-slate archetypes to be filled in by the player is one of the secrets to the series' success. Whether Link is stoic and humble or if he's a cocky wise-ass who says things like "excuuuuuse me, princess!" is totally up to the player. I think in particular Link being an implicit avatar for the player made A Link to the Past's ending especially affecting.

I'll note I'm specifically referring to those three main characters and not anyone else, and also I suppose I wouldn't necessarily mind a one-off game here and there that dabbled in more defined plots and characters, but I wouldn't want it to be any kind of permanent direction.

(On a side note I think we might also be conflating "characterization" and "character development" but that's neither here nor there)

I think it's mostly that I don't find the blank slate cutouts that are Link, Zelda, and Ganon to be very satisfying. I'm not going to be pulled into a story these days if it doesn't have interesting characters, and all three of our main characters barely edge out enough personality traits to qualify even as uninteresting. There are tons of games that do the silent player avatar thing better than Zelda does. Stuff like Outer Worlds, Fallout: New Vegas, and Baldur's Gate 3 keep your character silent while letting you define their voice and keeping all the characters around them interesting.

 

[AncientPoe]

Releasing more games.

 

[thePlinko]

Releasing more games.

Actually release updates for games that they’ve announced.

 

[AncientPoe]

Actually release updates for games that they’ve announced.

Meh. I wouldn't care about media blackouts if the games came faster than ever 7 years. If main line titles came out every, I dunno.... 3-4? I'd be fine not hearing about them much in the meantime.

 

[thePlinko]

Meh. I wouldn't care about media blackouts if the games came faster than ever 7 years. If main line titles came out every, I dunno.... 3-4? I'd be fine not hearing about them much in the meantime.

Well yeah, but the least they could do is actually tell us about the one game they’ve announced. I guess they’re just too busy outsourcing crappy spin-offs and half-assing the one legacy port they bothered to actually make for that.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

Well yeah, but the least they could do is actually tell us about the one game they’ve announced. I guess they’re just too busy outsourcing crappy spin-offs and half-assing the one legacy port they bothered to actually make for that.

Instructions unclear. Charged $60 for an unaltered port of TPHD.