Will BotW/TotK Dungeons Reappear Again in Echoes of Wisdom?

[Sentinel]

As you can read it in the title, this thread is about the question whether we see dungeons or not.
Nintendo posted the new trailer of EoW and whilst this game looks truly fun to play with, it's sus that we didn't see a single thing about dungeons...

Furthermore, if dungeons reappear, will the dungeons be completely oriented with the BotW/TotK ones? You know, with the terminals/isolated puzzle structure which can be solved in any order? I loved progression in traditional Zelda dungeons, so I personally wouldn't like if the 2D title uses the same new dungeon formular but this isn't just about my opinion, so I'm gonna ask if y'all would like playing these kind of dungeons?

If it's in the form of the Lightning Temple, with keys to give some real progression at least, I wouldn't say no to it. The TotK dungeons were better than the BotW ones but I feel like they were quite halfassed, at least the Water Temple, Construct Factory and the Wind Temple, and needed more complex design. But they definitely had great potential and at least the dungeons had good theme.

So I hope EoW combines modern dungeons with traditional ones even more. If it works with shrines, I don't see why dungeons should be less restrictive for progressive issues. Yet again, if EoW has dungeons in the first place.

 

[Azure Sage]

What are you talking about? We've seen several dungeons in the trailers. Notably, that's clearly where we see Tri give Zelda the Bind ability, and we see a few entrances to them scattered in the overworld throughout the footage.

Whether they function like they did in the Wild era games is still up in the air, but even if they did, I'm for it. All of the TotK dungeons were great and had fun puzzles and atmosphere. But considering the map is heavily inspired by the ALttP layout, it's probably a fair guess that they'll be more linear. We know there's sidescrolling sections in them, at least.

 

[Sentinel]

What are you talking about? We've seen several dungeons in the trailers. Notably, that's clearly where we see Tri give Zelda the Bind ability, and we see a few entrances to them scattered in the overworld throughout the footage.

Wait, when???
You are sure, they weren't just caves or "mini dungeons"?

But hey, if they were dungeons, I'm all in for it.

Whether they function like they did in the Wild era games is still up in the air, but even if they did, I'm for it.

The cheese factor was way too much in the majority of these dungeons which I didn't enjoy at all. The Fire Temple would be a great dungeon if... you cannot just nearly skip 90% of the core mechanism in the dungeon, with the cart puzzles.
Like I said, even the shrines had more restrictions and many of their puzzles had levels which build upon the more you progressed through a shrine.

In the BotW/TotK dungeons, you had few puzzles, each very isolated, and unlike the more traditional dungeons, there is no real progression of difficulty when it comes to similar dungeons since the Zelda team doesn't know what kinda puzzle the player will finish first or finish last.

Also, like I said, I don't dislike the approach to solve puzzles in your own way but what happened in the Fire Temple, Wind Temple and especially the Water Temple (quite frankly, the Water Temple even looks bad in comparison to the Divine Beasts while the Fire Temple suffers from the cheese factor. Wind Temple gets excused due to it being the first dungeon) is just lazy design tbh. It's not creative if you can easily skip the majority of those puzzles. That's my issue with these in the first place.

Or design the larger dungeons similarly to the shrines with keys. I think they would be more enjoyable for all fans, new and traditional fans. Well, that's rather a topic for the next 3D title I guess.

But considering the map is heavily inspired by the ALttP layout, it's probably a fair guess that they'll be more linear. We know there's sidescrolling sections in them, at least.

I agree with this one btw.

 

[DJ Twitch]

Yet again, if EoW has dungeons in the first place.

Why would it not?

 

[Sentinel]

I'm SO glad my thread aged like milk because we've got one of the best dungeons in the entire series with EoW.

They really implemented every idea I had about combining traditional and modern Zelda dungeons and it really proves, the BOTW/TOTK formular wouldn't be remotely damaged if their dungeons had a more linear progression because in EoW, you still were able to solve the puzzles in any way you like - that's the freedom part.

Modern Zelda dungeons don't need the terminal BS system. I'm glad they abandoned this system in EoW but I hope it won't return in the next 3D Zelda game...

 

[Prince Sidon]

Why would it not?

HeckheckcoughcoghBotW/Totk"dungeons"Heckheckcoughcogh

 

[Sentinel]

HeckheckcoughcoghBotW/Totk"dungeons"Heckheckcoughcogh

Can you blame me, tho? Those two games inflicted bigger trust issues on me than my ex lol

 

[DJ Twitch]

HeckheckcoughcoghBotW/Totk"dungeons"Heckheckcoughcogh

They were lame, but they were still dungeons nonetheless.

 

[Sentinel]

They were lame, but they were still dungeons nonetheless.

Definitely but compare EoW and TOTK dungeons and you immediately recognize the difference between those dungeons.

In BOTW/TOTK, there is just no navigation, you go to that specific area, solve some puzzle(s) and then activate the terminal whilst having the freedom to solve said puzzles in every way you like.

So you have the freedom to
1.) Choose which order you finish the dungeon
2.) Skip entire puzzles due to the cheese factor (I hated it because the Fire Temple had SUCH A FUNNY CONCEPT)
3.) Choose how you wanna solve the puzzles.

EoW only has 3.) of the aforementioned points and I believe that is more than enough. It is supposed to be a dungeon. Backtracking is supposed to happen. Laying obstacles along your way so that you cannot freely progress as you like should also be included to have the good dungeon experience.

Spoiler

The Faron Temple was one of the best forest dungeons in the series; there were several entrances and you could choose which way you go first (kinda like the Skull Woods in ALttP) but you still had to navigate properly through the dungeon, you still had to find small keys whilst understanding the complex dungeon layout to move forward. I also liked all the puzzles in this dungeon.

That simply isn't the case with the Tears dungeons because they use the Divine Beast system with the terminals. That's one issue.
Another issue is that they were still way too small for main dungeons.

Spoiler

The Eldin Temple is basically the TOTK Water Temple in EoW but the difference is that it still operates and functions more consistent and thorough than the Tears dungeons because all the aforementioned things still apply to it but it is still a quite short dungeon. Better than the Water Temple, worse than the Lightning Temple. So yes, dungeon performance is still important even with the more traditional formular.

I can just empathize more and more how important is it how they're implementing their dungeon ideas. I can just see how halfassed the Water Temple is. I've also seen the first ideas of the Water Temple and they're almost the same to the final version. So what? They barely bothered to make the dungeon more compelling?

Edit: Sorry, I ended up writing an essay again, lol. But I can't help it, the dungeons are just one of the core elements which I absolutely like about the Zelda series and with EoW, I finally got this experience again. I could talk all day about the dungeons and not grow tired of it.