General Zelda What Story Element Are You Least Forgiving Of?

[A Link In Time]

In recent years, the Zelda series has been banished for its storytelling.

Critics of Twilight Princess bash Ganondorf's inclusion citing it as unexpected thrown-in weakening Zant's character.

Spirit Tracks nay-sayers point to its lack of narrative development from the start of the game until after the third dungeon.

A common complain about Skyward Sword is the filler content leading up to the final confrontation in the Sealed Grounds.

These are just a few examples among many.

Which story "transgression" troubles you most and why did it ruin said games' narrative?

 

[DarkestLink]

Majora's Mask for a lack of main plot. Oh yeah, it was there, but it didn't FEEL like a main plot. Each of the four areas could have passed off as sidequests. The sidequests stories were better than normal ones, but in the end, it was just a bunch of pitifully weak stories instead of a one decent one. Even ST, for all of its story faults, had more of a story than MM.

 

[HylianHero]

I'm pretty forgiving of Zelda story-lines. Overall I enjoy them, however bad they can be. I don't think there is one game whose story I can't forgive above the rest.

 

[Sydney]

Spirit Tracks has the utmost weakest storyline I've ever seen in a video game. I'll just quote myself instead of repeating things 100 times:

Okay, yeah, I'm the only one who didn't like Spirit Tracks. Besides the absurd controls, the plot was poorly divided throughout the game. You had one giant section of storyline in the beginning, bits and pieces in the middle, and another giant section at the very end. Very. Poorly. Done.

 

[Ventus]

Yeah, all of the filler content in Skyward Sword is the most annoying element of all the series. I understand that you can't make an amazing story spread across an XXX hour game, but at the very least give us some miniquests or some isolated plots. Kingdom Hearts does it, Zelda OoT did it, so why can't the latest entry do it? And these miniplots do not need to be 100% story based - they can be little cryptic things or small suggestions via character dialogue. Don't treat us to meaningless filler; give the filler some emotion even though it's irrelevant.

 

[Salem]

I think it's the whole "you are the chosen one" thing, I wish they would do away with all that.
and also the fact that the first half of skyward sword is spend chasing after Zelda, it was annoying

 

[Salem]

I don't care as long as I'm having fun. I didn't like the filler in Skyward Sword because I wasn't having fun. Zelda plot has been and will always be awful so I don't really care how good the plot is.

First of all, I'm glad you don't care, secondly, I don't think zelda plots are always awful.

 

[The Jade Fist]

I think it's the whole "you are the chosen one" thing, I wish they would do away with all that.
and also the fact that the first half of skyward sword is spend chasing after Zelda, it was annoying

Ya, you don't need to be the chosen one in every game, or be told at the very beginning if you are. Let the player discover this, not just tell them.

Its just pandering to what they assume to be younger audiences.

 

[Salem]

Ya, you don't need to be the chosen one in every game, or be told at the very beginning if you are. Let the player discover this, not just tell them.

Its just pandering to what they assume to be younger audiences.

Atleast it was at least sort of subtle in alttp, it was more in-your-face you're the chosen one in ss.

 

[SpiritGerudo]

Ok, I love The Wind Waker and all, but I hate that the story really had no point. The beginning was great. "Oh no, my sister was kidnapped! I have to go save her!" So you go, and you fail, and then you meet the King of Red Lions. And then the story dies.

The King of Red Lions basically tells you, "If you want to save your sister, you have to kill Ganon. So do what I say until I let you go there again."

And then you do some stuff, find some sword, and he's like, "Ok, you can try again now that you did this stuff for me that doesn't really make a difference."

So you go there again and you free your sister and you're like "YAY!!"

And the King of Red Lions is just like, "Wow, I'm surprised you're capable of anything. You still have to kill this guy cause I said so, though. But first you need to do more stuff for me."

So you do more stuff for him and then he's like, "Wow I'm surprised you accomplished anything for how surprisingly dull witted you are. But first you need to run around and try to find this thing that really doesn't have any affect on anything."

So you go find it and he's like "Now go kill this guy."
And you go kill him.

The end.
P.S. WWHD is going to be retitled The Legend of Zelda: The King of Red Lions and his Trusty Sidekick, Link.

 

[The Jade Fist]

Ok, I love The Wind Waker and all, but I hate that the story really had no point. The beginning was great. "Oh no, my sister was kidnapped! I have to go save her!" So you go, and you fail, and then you meet the King of Red Lions. And then the story dies.

The King of Red Lions basically tells you, "If you want to save your sister, you have to kill Ganon. So do what I say until I let you go there again."

And then you do some stuff, find some sword, and he's like, "Ok, you can try again now that you did this stuff for me that doesn't really make a difference."

So you go there again and you free your sister and you're like "YAY!!"

And the King of Red Lions is just like, "Wow, I'm surprised you're capable of anything. You still have to kill this guy cause I said so, though. But first you need to do more stuff for me."

So you do more stuff for him and then he's like, "Wow I'm surprised you accomplished anything for how surprisingly dull witted you are. But first you need to run around and try to find this thing that really doesn't have any affect on anything."

So you go find it and he's like "Now go kill this guy."
And you go kill him.

The end.
P.S. WWHD is going to be retitled The Legend of Zelda: The King of Red Lions and his Trusty Sidekick, Link.

You forgot at the end the king of red lions is like, you know what screw you guys, world's flooded MORE.

 

[Salem]

Ok, I love The Wind Waker and all, but I hate that the story really had no point. The beginning was great. "Oh no, my sister was kidnapped! I have to go save her!" So you go, and you fail, and then you meet the King of Red Lions. And then the story dies.

The King of Red Lions basically tells you, "If you want to save your sister, you have to kill Ganon. So do what I say until I let you go there again."

And then you do some stuff, find some sword, and he's like, "Ok, you can try again now that you did this stuff for me that doesn't really make a difference."

So you go there again and you free your sister and you're like "YAY!!"

And the King of Red Lions is just like, "Wow, I'm surprised you're capable of anything. You still have to kill this guy cause I said so, though. But first you need to do more stuff for me."

So you do more stuff for him and then he's like, "Wow I'm surprised you accomplished anything for how surprisingly dull witted you are. But first you need to run around and try to find this thing that really doesn't have any affect on anything."

So you go find it and he's like "Now go kill this guy."
And you go kill him.

The end.
P.S. WWHD is going to be retitled The Legend of Zelda: The King of Red Lions and his Trusty Sidekick, Link.

It was sort of the same with tp, these games revolve around Link's "sidekick" not him.

 

[ihateghirahim]

Major Spoilers lay ahead.

Time travel not making any sense and ruining the game. Time travel is hard to do, so why do people do it so often in games and other media? It rarely contributes to the gameplay or story in any particularly good way, and it leads to plot holes, inconsistencies, and a whole big mess for fans to figure out. I wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't so prevalent. Why was it done in SS? They've just created unnecessary problems in places where a one-night rewrite could have easily fixed the story without time travel. The Time-shift stones, on a side note, aren't much a problem for me. They provide fun gameplay without really messing up any timelines.

MM is an example of Time Travel done right. Link's travels constantly reset the entire world, so the plot holes are pretty few. The only things not affected by Time Travel are Link (whose travelling), some of his items (a simple gameplay necessity), and the magical masks and owl. The time travel enhances the story and gameplay, and the its nice to be able to do key story events as many times as you want. Its good for completionists. The game also has a satisfying ending. All story points converge and you are left with one nice timeline.

OoT creates plenty of issues. The relationship between the two worlds and the resulting triple timeline is an abomination of plot holes and confusing ideas. It's a great game, probably the best, but I feel like the travel back to the child time created way too many plot holes and was only needed for one instance which could have easily been taken out. It doesn't really hold back the game, but it was completely unnecessary. Don't even get me started on what Nintendo did with it when creating the timeline. It's a mess.

I know of like two games to pull off time travel and nail it: MM and Fire Emblem: Awakening. You've then got all those games things that fail at it- Sonic 06, SS, OoT, and so on. I'm just tired of it. It's lazy, confusing, and irratating all around.

 

[Doc]

Ok, I love The Wind Waker and all, but I hate that the story really had no point. The beginning was great. "Oh no, my sister was kidnapped! I have to go save her!" So you go, and you fail, and then you meet the King of Red Lions. And then the story dies.

The King of Red Lions basically tells you, "If you want to save your sister, you have to kill Ganon. So do what I say until I let you go there again."

And then you do some stuff, find some sword, and he's like, "Ok, you can try again now that you did this stuff for me that doesn't really make a difference."

So you go there again and you free your sister and you're like "YAY!!"

And the King of Red Lions is just like, "Wow, I'm surprised you're capable of anything. You still have to kill this guy cause I said so, though. But first you need to do more stuff for me."

So you do more stuff for him and then he's like, "Wow I'm surprised you accomplished anything for how surprisingly dull witted you are. But first you need to run around and try to find this thing that really doesn't have any affect on anything."

So you go find it and he's like "Now go kill this guy."
And you go kill him.

The end.
P.S. WWHD is going to be retitled The Legend of Zelda: The King of Red Lions and his Trusty Sidekick, Link.

Can't say I very well agree with this. Of course, The King of Red Lions does seem a little bossy, but thats what you have to expect when Link is a mute, basically. However, he doesn't really ever force Link into doing anything for him. At first he warns Link that he can't beat Ganon and save his sister until they get the Master Sword. Which is all of part 1. None of this is "because I tell you to". In fact, there never seems to be an actual point of which the King of Red Lions makes Link do anything for him. After you rescue Ariel ((I think)), you already are close to Tetra/Zelda and so as a character, want to help her. Of course the King has a secondary agenda, he seems to take Link's into account as well.

 

[DarkestLink]

Can't say I very well agree with this. Of course, The King of Red Lions does seem a little bossy, but thats what you have to expect when Link is a mute, basically. However, he doesn't really ever force Link into doing anything for him. At first he warns Link that he can't beat Ganon and save his sister until they get the Master Sword. Which is all of part 1. None of this is "because I tell you to". In fact, there never seems to be an actual point of which the King of Red Lions makes Link do anything for him. After you rescue Ariel ((I think)), you already are close to Tetra/Zelda and so as a character, want to help her. Of course the King has a secondary agenda, he seems to take Link's into account as well.

But he doesn't need to beat Ganondorf to save his sister...