General Zelda Which Installment Could the Series Do Without?

[Ventus]

1) Overpowered abilities that weren't fun to use and were just...overpowered. Better to just take them out entirely rather than limit them.

...You must not know what balancing is...

2) Unneeded limits to abilities that didn't need it. And because we needed the magic for puzzles, we were encouraged to never use these EXCEPT in the puzzles.

...examples of these abilities?

And while you could argue that these items could lead to more puzzles, the puzzles they offered were incredibly easy, repetitive, and required no thinking whatsoever.

Sounds like a majority of the Zeldaverse's "puzzles" if you ask me...

 

[Musicfan]

Well...the magic meter gave us 2 things.

1) Overpowered abilities that weren't fun to use and were just...overpowered. Better to just take them out entirely rather than limit them.

2) Unneeded limits to abilities that didn't need limits. And because we needed the magic for puzzles, we were encouraged to never use these EXCEPT in the puzzles.

And while you could argue that these items could lead to more puzzles, the puzzles they offered were incredibly easy, repetitive, and required no thinking whatsoever.

Eh I find them fun to use. The medal in ALttP were the only OP magic in my eyes other then that I dont see any others that were op. The magic armor drained faster as you were hit.

 

[DarkestLink]

...You must not know what balancing is...

What is balanced about adding godlike abilities even if they are limited? Especially for such an easy series like Zelda where you have no excuse for dying.

...examples of these abilities?

Lantern-aLttP: It was useless as a weapon and its puzzles were pathetic. There was no reason to take away the joy of using items because I might have to use this in a pointless puzzle later.

Fire Rod-aLttP: They could have just made it like the Magical Rod in LoZ. The Magical Rod in LoZ was fun to use, but not as powerful as the sword and didn't work on all enemies. In aLttP, they gave it a pointless boost and then required that magic be taken when using it, ruining almost all the fun of ranged combat.

Cane of Somaria-aLttP: There was no reason to put the magic meter in this. It was much more fun to use in OoA when magic wasn't around. There was no need to make it a weapon.

Farore's Wind-OoT: What was I going to do with this that REQUIRED I use magic power? Was I going to somehow spam it to beat the boss or something? Ooccoo worked fine without magic.

Lens of Truth-OoT/MM: No reason for this. Did you spam "sense" in TP? Did that give you some sort of unfair advantage? Well I didn't...the view got annoying so I regularly turned it off.

Spin Attack-OoT/MM: Why needlessly make this cost magic when I can do the same attack for no magic? That goes double for MM where the stronger version cost no magic.

Bubbles-MM: Again, were they worried I was going to spam this or something? The bubbles were extremely weak and the fact that they cost magic made the Deku Scrub underpowered compared to the others.

Rolling-MM: Why did they have to turn it into a weapon and add magic to it? Should Epona cost magic too, especially seeing as she was invincible compared to the Goron.

Deku Leaf-tWW: There were few situations I could even use this in...gravity was its own limit. We didn't need to include magic.

 

[Musicfan]

What is balanced about adding godlike abilities even if they are limited? Especially for such an easy series like Zelda where you have no excuse for dying.



Lantern-aLttP: It was useless as a weapon and its puzzles were pathetic. There was no reason to take away the joy of using items because I might have to use this in a pointless puzzle later.

Fire Rod-aLttP: They could have just made it like the Magical Rod in LoZ. The Magical Rod in LoZ was fun to use, but not as powerful as the sword and didn't work on all enemies. In aLttP, they gave it a pointless boost and then required that magic be taken when using it, ruining almost all the fun of ranged combat.

Cane of Somaria-aLttP: There was no reason to put the magic meter in this. It was much more fun to use in OoA when magic wasn't around. There was no need to make it a weapon.

Farore's Wind-OoT: What was I going to do with this that REQUIRED I use magic power? Was I going to somehow spam it to beat the boss or something? Ooccoo worked fine without magic.

Lens of Truth-OoT/MM: No reason for this. Did you spam "sense" in TP? Did that give you some sort of unfair advantage? Well I didn't...the view got annoying so I regularly turned it off.

Spin Attack-OoT/MM: Why needlessly make this cost magic when I can do the same attack for no magic? That goes double for MM where the stronger version cost no magic.

Bubbles-MM: Again, were they worried I was going to spam this or something? The bubbles were extremely weak and the fact that they cost magic made the Deku Scrub underpowered compared to the others.

Rolling-MM: Why did they have to turn it into a weapon and add magic to it? Should Epona cost magic too, especially seeing as she was invincible compared to the Goron.

Deku Leaf-tWW: There were few situations I could even use this in...gravity was its own limit. We didn't need to include magic.

I fail to see how it takes the fun out of it. Why not have limlitles arrows bombs and others. I prefer flores wind to occo it made more sence in terms of how it worked. I see nothing wrong with the fire rod LoZ had many limitations this is why ruppes were your arrow supplie. Even the lanturn makes sence what could posibly power the lantern.
CoS its a magic cane. LoT it could put strain on the body. Bubbles were not an innate ability it was giving to you by TGGoM. Spin attack you can preform it with out magic but with magic the range is extended. Ill get the rest today in the afternoon.

 

[DarkestLink]

Spin attack you can preform it with out magic but with magic the range is extended. Ill get the rest today in the afternoon.

For OoT, yeah, but the wait wasn't worth it. For MM, the quick spin's range is just as good if not better. And while you can justify the realism in the others, that's not the point. The point is how much it hinders the GAMEPLAY.

 

[Salem]

First of all, if the magic is too overpowered, then the magic bar can balance it, making you not use it all the time.

Also, I think no Zelda game should not exist, even if that game is terrible in some way, it always has something to teach us, wither there's aspiring game designers among us or not.

 

[Spirit]

*ignoring the quote war*

As far as storyline goes i'd say either Link's Awakening or Phantom Hourglass.

As far as gameplay goes i'd say Skyward Sword.

 

[Salem]

For OoT, yeah, but the wait wasn't worth it. For MM, the quick spin's range is just as good if not better. And while you can justify the realism in the others, that's not the point. The point is how much it hinders the GAMEPLAY.

Okay for most of the magic items you mentions, you may have a point, but then again, the green meter is already too large in most games, it can be even expanded, so the usage already becoming minimum, so your point is kind of moot if you ask me...

 

[VitaTempusN92]

I would have to say neither cause I just really love them all.

 

[DarkestLink]

How about we don't go with your opinion and go with actual fact: Zelda would have been different without AoL. No magic meter and many games would have been affected as a result.

...Exactly. While you could argue the series would be unaffected without ST, I argue removing AoL would have had a positive effect.

 

[Salem]

...Exactly. While you could argue the series would be unaffected without ST, I argue removing AoL would have had a positive effect.

Just because you didn't like how the magic meter was handled, doesn't mean every one did, and besides, magic meter wasn't Aol's only contribution to the series, it had towns, the triforce of courage, it expanded the scope of hyrule's world far beyond the original game to a point no other game have reached.

The first ever project to make a 3d zelda was a polygon version of Aol(no pictures or footage exists to my knowledge) arguably the one on one sword fights in the later 3d titles have been influenced by Aol.

In other words, Aol's existence had a positive influence on the series.

 

[Beauts]

Phantom Hourglass, Adventure of Link and Minish Cap could all go I think, and nothing would be lost.

 

[DarkestLink]

From the OP:
"Which Installment could the series generally do without? essentially which Installment was the least significant in the grand scheme?"
Let me quote that again:
"essentially which Installment was the least significant in the grand scheme?"

Also as Sroa said, it introduced many other things to the series.

Fair enough. I was mainly going off what the title asked and what was the least significant.

 

[terminacarnival]

phantom hourglass hands-down.
It is just a side-game and even for a side game it dose not stand out
it rips of link's awakening
bellum was just a monster of the week
they don't even find new hyrule like I expected
it was just an account of an adventure that was just a dream that only lasted ten minutes of ZELDA time
so,so,so unnecessary.

 

[DarkestLink]

If we are to go by impact...I'd have to say probably Majora's Mask. It hasn't really influenced the rest of the series as far as I can tell. Some might say PH, but PH gave birth to ST. ST is too new to judge, but it introduced New Hyrule, which may become a standard world in later games. SS is also fairly new, but it still introduced new lore and explained a little bit.