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Which Game Has the Best Story?

How Important is Story to You in a Zelda Game?

  • Story is the Deciding Factor For Me

    Votes: 4 16.0%
  • Kind of Important, but Doesn't Make or Break the Game

    Votes: 8 32.0%
  • Just One of Many Aspects That I Look For

    Votes: 9 36.0%
  • I Don't Care Much About Story

    Votes: 3 12.0%
  • Stories Are Completely Unimportant For My Enjoyment of a Game

    Votes: 1 4.0%

  • Total voters
    25
Joined
Nov 28, 2011
I'll be the first to say that I don't really gravitate towards Zelda for the story, and I don't think any story in any Zelda game is particularly strong when you stack the series up against the medium of video games on the whole. I think a lot of the games have some charming elements to their narratives, most notably in the settings and quirky NPCs, but I seem to struggle getting emotionally invested in Zelda narratives. I think this can be largely attributed to a lack of strong, developed characters in the main cast, which I can't really complain about since it seems like that's more or less a direct result of Nintendo's efforts to make Link a surrogate and to keep his stories surrogate friendly. There are a few Zelda games, though, that I think have at least an inkling of good characterization and some emotional grounding. And since I'm generally having trouble deciding which is my favorite, I'm just going to go through my thought process in an organized-ish fashion.

Majora's Mask has some of the most interesting and complex side-quests, mostly due to how wonderful and weird the side characters are. I also really like the bizarre imagery, tone, and themes that it uses to convey its narrative. I think this is more or less the first time in Zelda's history that its story felt like it had enough work put into to make it more than obligatory. That said, there's still not a ton there, and the narrative elements don't actually intersect with the gameplay much, beyond them being used to set up the mechanic of time travel. Still worth a mention, I think.

Wind Waker and Spirit Tracks, and to a slightly lesser extent Phantom Hourglass, do a good job of portraying a cinematic story alongside the player's progression through the game in a way that really punctuates certain moments and makes them feel rewarding. It's weird comparing these three because Wind Waker is my longstanding favorite, Spirit Tracks is my least favorite in the main series, and Phantom Hourglass is somewhere in the middle, but they do all share a particular strength for presentation. The cut-scene work in Wind Waker especially is god tier, especially for the era in which it came out. Moments like Valoo burning down Forsaken Fortress and DAT ENDING stand out as two moments that make you feel awesome for clearing that section of the game (and in the latter example, the whole game). Where I think Wind Waker falters is in its main cast. Even though Tetra is a rad Brad, she pretty much has a lobotomy the moment she turns into Zelda and isn't fun or interesting for the entire rest of the game. Even though King of Red Lions is a stoic cool guy that I really like, he is very one-note and we don't really ever get to know him despite how much time is spent around him. I will give WW props though, for making its Ganon by far the most interesting villain in Zelda, though I do wish he'd have been given a more persistent presence throughout the narrative. I feel like this is the part where Phantom Hourglass and especially Spirit Tracks pull ahead of everything else - they have legitimately interesting core casts.

Phantom Hourglass has a bit of a meandering plot and struggles from a real lack of urgency, but I think it's all helped tremendously by the character of Linebeck. He's one of the few characters in all of Zelda that feels like they have a real personality that we get to spend a lot of time with, and I think it outright saves PH. He's charismatic and charming, but also oafish and timid. He's simultaneously selfish and caring. He isn't exactly an original character, but he's got strengths and flaws, and he's fun to be around. He makes story events more interesting by having thoughts to offer about them, and advice to give, and reactions that line up with his character. He also even has a subplot thing going with that one pirate lady, which is pretty cool. Beyond this, Ciela doesn't have that much going on but she's a pretty welcome companion character. At least as much as Tatl, I'd say. Spirit Tracks, for its part, makes Zelda an actual character. I may have been annoyed by her, and I may have really not liked her gameplay segments, but she was a person with a personality and her active involvement in the plot meant that she actually felt like she mattered. Byrne really steals the show, though. His character arc is one of the more interesting elements of ST on the whole, along with his relationship to Anjean. Spirit Tracks has a really, REALLY silly plot, but every time a cutscene properly made use of the cast it helped drive home that oh-so-necessary emotional core that helps the game feel like more than it is. You know, until you're back in the train wishing you were dead. The main thing that puts Spirit Tracks beyond PT and WW is that its characters and their interactions actually directly impact the gameplay, meaning that there is cross-talk between the gameplay and the narrative nearly all the time. This, I think, makes much better use of the strengths of the video game medium as a conduit for storytelling. This is an aspect that no Zelda games have done better than them so-called grown up Zeldas.

Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword both do something that none of the other games in the series to date have done, which is to make the biggest and most bombastic moments in their narratives be largely diegetic to the gameplay. Whereas Wind Waker created spectacle through uber hype cut-scenes, TP and SS each had tons of weird, one-time gameplay events in their narratives. While neither were as cinematic as the scenes in Wind Waker (Demise fight excluded, obviously), they were definitely a whole lot more engaging. Actually getting trapped in the fire on the bridge and having to jump off in TP, or actually diving from your bird onto the back of a colossal sky whale in SS are really good examples of how good these games are at sucking you into their narrative. Now I can't say that I really like the plots of either of these games much because neither of them really go to any unique or interesting places, but I think that these two are neck and neck for presenting their narrative the best of any Zelda game. The problem with both of these games, though, is that I feel they lack a lot of personality. The models are very detailed, but not nearly as expressive as the ones in Wind Waker, so a lot of scenese can come off feeling pretty lifeless at times when they really need to pop (this is particularly bad in the cut-scene moments in TP). I also think that they lack the interesting and engaging character dynamics from Spirit Tracks. TP has Midna, who I don't really like but who is a genuinely solid character with a traceable arc, but it also has Zant - and I think Zant is cool and all but he's not very interesting and has almost nothing going on - as well as the least inspired Ganon ever. TP also suffers from a case of the edgy tryhards, and its attempts to be dark and adult just come across as really poorly thought out and often narmy. SS I think does a better job with its themes and its tonal consistency, but has basically no characters. Fi could easily be written out of Skyward Sword without making any legitimately substantial changes to the plot for all the impact and personality she has, and while I think SS Zelda is a fun character we spend like no time with her.

I also have to give a shout out to Minish Cap, which doesn't do any one thing excellently but has almost no major weaknesses in its narrative. It has some decent character development for Ezlo, uses Link more like an actual character, gives a somewhat compelling backstory for Vaati, and manages to give the narrative some presence throughout pretty much all the main parts of the game. It also has a delightful world and is just fun to play through. I think, also, that Tri Force Heroes has a legitimately hilarious story, even if it isn't brought to the forefront much. Its characters are simplistic but charming and everything about it is so fanciful and nice, but I think it suffers from a bit of ludo-narrative dissonance in that the areas you go through aren't really themed in the same way that the story is. I know that's part of the joke, but I honestly wish they would've gone full oddball and made a bunch of clothes-themed enemies and had us solve puzzles in giant, labyrinthine laundromats or something. Anyway, I've rambled forever and I haven't at all answered the question. If I were to just say which plotline I think is the most interesting, I'd say Majora's Mask, but I think by way of math Spirit Tracks actually seems to have the most strengths and least glaring weaknesses in how it presents and treats its narrative. So, Spirit Tracks it is then! Feels weird to say because I hate that game.

Okay sorry for long post bye.
 
Last edited:

Justac00lguy

BooBoo
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Gender
Shewhale
I don't like when people pass off story. Yeah in games like ****ing FIFA or Call of Duty online, story is never going to do anything to surpass or even greatly compliment gameplay. Though in most games, story gives everything a greater meaning.
 

Woyogoyo

The Oncoming Storm
Joined
Aug 22, 2012
Location
Sacred Realm
I will always be a bookworm at heart, so to me, a game's story is important. I personally liked MM's story best. It's the only Zelda game where I actually felt empathy towards the characters.
 
Joined
Feb 19, 2017
Gender
Male
Twilight princess bored the **** out of me. In contrast the story of Skyward Sword got me excited.
I agree TP was a decent game but I felt when you became a wolf and had to collect the orbs to unlock parts of the world it was way to repetitive.
 

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