What's your biggest problem with the Zelda series overall?

[Farore's Chosen]

I would like to be able to save anytime anywhere more often and not end up either at the beginning of a dungeon or at a save statue. Zelda was one of the first games to ever have a save that didn't involve passwords and better save systems came out in the late NES/SNES/GB days. Pokémon does it, Golden Sun does, tons of other games do it and your tellin me I can't save and pick up right where I was? This is 2015.

This isn't a gripe as it is a personal want. I do not want voice acting in Zelda. Mario and Toad's high pitched voices annoy me and a lot of voice acting in videogames make me cringe. What I would like is to see Link having text and text choices more often. It wouldn't be a perfect solution but I think it would be better for the people who want to add more character to him and for the people who want him silent.

 

[SavageWizzrobe]

My biggest problem with Zelda is how formulaic it can be in terms of its dungeons. Beat miniboss. Get a new item. Use your new item to reach and defeat the boss. It's become very predictable and stale. A related problem is the dungeons can also be quite linear, requiring you to get keys in a certain order, for instance. It would be nice to be able to have an unused small key count of 2 or higher in most dungeons.

 

[DJ Twitch]

This may not sit well with some readers, but here we go...

My biggest problem with the series is the ARROGANCE of it. The fact that it feeds on it's own past glories and then acts like it's the best thing ever -- When I was playing Twilight Princess, (a good game nonetheless) I was rolling my eyes every time I was reminded that I was supposed to take it seriously. It has become a flawed shell of what it used to be. I mean, every long running franchise deteriorates too this point, but Zelda seems to pretend it hasn't.

Any half-baked attempt to improve or move on has fallen flat on it's face and what's worse is that there isn't a hint of self awareness in it. Hate to compare Zelda to a bad game, but at least Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolt deliberately made it clear that they've run their course. At least the Mario games are shamelessly honest about what they're doing. And here's Zelda lying in it's ow filth, pretending nothing's wrong.

Well there you go, my personal problem.

 

[the8thark]

The remakes. They are just really poorly done. They all look horrible, and just ruin the atmosphere the original games were portraying.

 

[Squirrel]

The fact that Ganondorf is a really powerful sorcerer and Link can't really do any magic. They have the magic meter but it's not like he's using magic; he's just using a magic artifact that he really doesn't have an understanding of. I don't mind there being a lot of items but I wish Link had some talent besides using the items that appear before him, buuuut he doesn't. And even if there's nothing extra he can do as far as gameplay, I'd like the game to at least justify some of the stuff he does as being his own abilities. I'd prefer if the sword beams from the Master Sword were Link doing magic in conjunction with his sword rather than the power stemming from the sword itself. I mean Link can accurately fire his bow and he knows how to wield a sword very well but other than that there's not really anything special about him. Even Zelda does magic but not Link. No, he just swings a sharp piece of metal around hoping to take down the strongest sorcerer in the world.

 

[Moonstone]

I think my biggest gripe with the series is the spin-offs too. And having Link in Mario Kart...? As much as I love Mario Kart and Zelda, please leave them separated. Or put Link on an actual horse. Or give Link a modern look/outfit to better fit in with the game. He simply doesn't fit, IMO. And it makes me feel, like someone else said, that it devalues the idea of the Zelda franchise as a whole.

I think every character aside from Link should have a voice. This doesn't matter to me as much as options to guide Link in the direction we want him to go through dialogue options to various ways of completing dungeons, puzzles, and side-quests. I think we either deserve a fully voiced story at this point, or we should be able to manipulate the story to suit our own choices. If we could have both that would be excellent, but I prefer the latter.

I also want less linear storyline and gameplay. I like completing dungeons in whatever order I feel, and recent console games have taken that away.

 

[Iridescence]

The biggest issue is that the recent games have followed formula too much.

1. Serene atmosphere; then princess is kidnapped
2. You need 3 artifacts, so go to 3 dungeons.
3. Find some keys. Open some doors.
4. Get the bombs, bow and hookshot. Solve obvious puzzles.
5. Use your 3 artifacts to get a magical instrument
6. Now you need 3 more artifacts, so go to 3 more dungeons
7. Final castle, rescue princess, happy ending

TMC - Didn't add much new to the series
TP - Was an Ocarina clone
PH - Was a Wind Waker clone
ST - Was a Phantom Hourglass clone, with some new ideas
SS - Had some original ideas, but still followed the Ocarina formula a bit
ALBW - Was an (albeit great) ALTTP clone

 

[A Link In Time]

My biggest problem with Zelda is that the franchise doesn't build upon every aspect that makes it great with each subsequent installment; Nintendo's experimentation has hurt the consistent great quality the series had displayed in earlier years. I made a thread about this over a year and a half ago: http://zeldadungeon.net/forum/threads/zelda-reboots-lacking-a-sense-of-direction.46507/

 

[AncientPoe]

Iteration time. It takes entirely too long in my opinion from one Zelda to the next. I wish what they'd do is have two dev teams working side by side with vastly different development ideas so that we could get grade A Zelda titles two years apart, but they would be very different from each other.

 

[ILU]

I think my biggest issue is that there are too many ALttPs, despite it being one of my favorites in the series. I was fine when OoT came out and was basically like a 3D version of ALttP, but then TP was just like OoT, and we have ALBW now too.

I really enjoy these games, but the clinginess to and dependence on ALttP is getting really stale. The designs might differ in appearance, but at the core they're the same. I never get lost because I'm used to the design and know which way to go. I feel like I've already seen all these puzzles before. The dual worlds, copypasta story... I just want something new.

 

[Vanessa28]

The only problem I got with the series is the story is getting too predictable. I mean Link is somewhere and is send on a quest. Link turns out to be the hero and he must obtain the Master Sword to save the princess and beat the villain. Another storyline would be great too.

 

[TheRockinStallion]

I think some voice acting would be nice. That's not really a complaint but just something I'd like. I actually like Link being pretty much a blank slate but I think the developers could really have some fun with all those NPCs.

 

[RusoPerez]

Maybe that they experiment too much with themes and don't masther them? I didn't really like the controls for Phantom Hourglass, it was the only Zelda I didn't enjoy (That much) but they were spot on with Spirit Tracks... But then, they didn't continue with that line... Maybe with that example it was for the better (The controls were a dead end from the beggining) but I miss the terror of the N64 era for example. It was nice the recall of the classic, A Link Between Worlds, though.

 

[Troublesome Pixie]

My only major gripe would be the fact that we haven't gotten a console young/toon Link game since Wind Waker, and barring a surprise in the next game that trend doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon. Not to mention that Toon Link's past two games forced the aforementioned touch controls. I don't mind them on their own, actually it feels more like playing as Ciela to me, of which I naturally approve. But an option would be nice, and it feels like time he got another main entry.

Also I'm a bit annoyed by the artists buckling to fan pressure a bit too much. The black and white Twilight Realm felt so much better then the yellow version, and while I never did see final confirmation on if they toned down the painted look between the demos and full game of Skyward Sword, the fact that the debate exists shows they didn't go as all out with it as they could have. Wind Waker is my favorite Zelda both in overall game and visual style, and I hate the thought of something equally as great being toned down or outright canned due to fear of backlash.

 

[misskitten]

For me it's mainly a nitpick thing as I'm getting into more of the titles and it's the large and expansive collectathon sidequest that is rarely done right. ALBW is one of the rare games that I felt did this right. The incentive and rewards made the Maiamai quest worthwhile and doable, while in many other games I've come across a collectathon quest, it's more felt like a chore that I've abandoned halfway through. Minish Cap was close to doing it right with the Kinstone merging thing, where the rewards were varied and unpredictable, making me want to look for more NPCs to interact with to see if they wanted to merge kinstones, but then the game introduced the figurine collection where you'd have to pull a lever a few hundred times and/or grind for more shells/rupees to complete it. I wasn't keen on it to begin with and as I progressed through the game and found everyhing worthwhile in other ways it became more apparent how pointless that sidequest actually was.