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Which pre-BotW Zelda conventions do you miss?

Sheikah_Witch

I just really like botw
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Apr 8, 2019
Location
Sweden
The Zelda series have been riddled with conventions for a long time. The series has up until now - with the release of Breath of the Wild - followed a formula that was seemingly growing more and more rigid (to some people even stale) as time went on. A formula that followed certain patterns, set-ups and a list of pre-determined features. It became infamous, a meme almost. Something the developers really wanted to shake up.

And they did, with the release of Breath of the Wild in 2017, a game that disregarded a long, long list of long-running conventions. And I was wondering, are there any of these conventions you miss, that you didn't like was discarded, and that you maybe would like to see return in a future installment in the franchise?

Some that I come to think of off the top of my head:
* Lengthy introduction sequences that sets the mood and eases the player into the world
* A companion character
* A dark world/dual world/alternative world
* Trading quests
* Dungeons themed after certain elements (fire, wind, water, ice etc)
* A familiar narrative framework (Three dungeons, Master Sword, plot twist, some more dungeons)
* Things that needs collecting before defeating Ganon, also known as MacGuffins
* A central town/hub world
* Item gating

As an additional point of discussion, to turn the question around: Which of these conventions are you glad that BotW got rid of? Have any of these conventions hindered you to enjoy an installment in the series to it's full extent in the past?
 
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I actually missed themed dungeons in BotW way more than I thought I would.

I was sick of the forest, fire, water, opening combo, but it was more interesting than the same interior four times in a row.

I don't miss much else though.

I'm quite glad they got rid of item gating. Not only because it stifled freedom, but because you always knew what you were going to find because you'd see increasingly suspect puzzles that could all be solved the same way with the one thing you didn't have but knew you were going to get soon.
 

Azure Sage

March onward forever...
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I’m actually glad they got rid of most of what you listed, especially item gating. That’s the biggest thing that gets me annoyed when going back to past games. If I miss any of them, it’s definitely a companion character. I still wish BotW had optional companions beyond the wolf link amiibo.

Zelda being prominent is still true in BotW, though. I’m not sure what you mean by that one.
 
Joined
Sep 21, 2014
Location
Michigan
Legit dungeons, dungeon items. But I like the non-linear structure and exploration, so I hope they kinda go with a tiered system for the next game. Each dungeon at least able to be found and entered (a few highest level ones likely gated in some way) but using the monsters found close by as a barometer for how tough the actual dungeon is. And if you want to gate things off in the dungeons, make it so extra areas are accessible with later game items, so there's a reason to make note of interesting landmarks and come back later. Also, an ability to add actual word annotations to the map.
 
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twilitfalchion

and thus comes the end of an era
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A more memorable soundtrack. I can appreciate the minimalist approach to music that BotW took, but I also miss the countless iconic songs that the previous games had, if that counts as a traditional convention.

Other than that, I don't miss much of the traditional conventions. I dislike item gating, I dislike companions for Link (although Midna was a standout), I dislike the MacGuffin quests, I'm not a fan of traditional dungeons, the Dark/Light world theme is stale at this point, elemental dungeons aren't that interesting to me, and the same "get three items, get MS, plot twist, more dungeons" formula that ALttP established has become very bland by now.

This sounded way more like a list of complaints than I meant it to. I'm not saying I don't appreciate the past games for what they did. I just think it's nice to actually make some changes instead of doing what is essentially the same thing over and over.

I think BotW was a much-needed refreshment of the classic Zelda design philosophy. It turned the series on its head and I think that's a great thing. I definitely want to see more of that innovative way of thinking for Zelda in the future.
 

MW7

Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Location
Ohio
Legit dungeons, dungeon items. But I like the non-linear structure and exploration, so I hope they kinda go with a tiered system for the next game. Each dungeon at least able to be found and entered (a few highest level ones likely gated in some way) but using the monsters found close by as a barometer for how tough the actual dungeon is. And if you want to gate things off in the dungeons, make it so extra areas are accessible with later game items, so there's a reason to make note of interesting landmarks and come back later. Also, an ability to add actual word annotations to the map.
This is the main disappointment of the game for me. We received a lot of dungeon-like content with all the shrines adding to the divine beasts, but altogether 120 shrines plus 4 divine beasts was less enjoyable than the sum of the dungeons in any other 3d Zelda game for me. Shrine quests and puzzle based shrines were all cool, but I missed long, complex dungeons. Divine beasts were neat but were not nearly on the same level as the dungeons in previous 3d games.

I would like either what AncientPoe describes or something more similar to A Link Between Worlds in terms of progression. Breath of the Wild runes are similarly given at the beginning of the game, but there are a lot of items and abilities that Breath of the Wild lacks. I keep changing my mind, but I think my number one item that I miss is something to let Link swim underwater.
 
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I would like either what AncientPoe describes or something more similar to A Link Between Worlds in terms of progression. Breath of the Wild runes are similarly given at the beginning of the game, but there are a lot of items and abilities that Breath of the Wild lacks. I keep changing my mind, but I think my number one item that I miss is something to let Link swim underwater.
I would not like the ALBW system either. I feel they erased all difficulty curve from the game, so once you're on like... dungeon 3, there's zero challenge because they're all treated like they could be your first one, and none of them scale up. I actually felt really let down by that system. (Also didn't like the item rental system in terms of what it did to dungeons because it basically meant they had to put the solution to most puzzles right next to the puzzle and gave it away. Like every room with a respawning bomb thing, for instance. But I don't think that's what you were talking about when you said 'like ALBW'.)
 
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MW7

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I would not like the ALBW system either. I feel they erased all difficulty curve from the game, so once you're on like... dungeon 3, there's zero challenge because they're all treated like they could be your first one, and none of them scale up. I actually felt really let down by that system. (Also didn't like the item rental system in terms of what it did to dungeons because it basically meant they had to put the solution to most puzzles right next to the puzzle and gave it away. Like every room with a respawning bomb thing, for instance. But I don't think that's what you were talking about when you said 'like ALBW'.)
That's a very fair criticism. Basically playing ALBW, I feel like the game is risk-free after a while unless you make challenges for yourself to make it harder. Yes, I mean more the spirit of letting you access a lot of things whenever you want plus traditional dungeons rather than doing things like making puzzles painfully obvious. I think what I'm arguing in favor of is that not necessarily having items in dungeons could be a good thing. Like some dungeons might have traditional items like the bow or hookshot, but I'd prefer that it doesn't have to be like that in every dungeon and some dungeons might only have optional items.
 

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