Zelda's Overworld: Vast or Dense? Which is Better?

[zeldan]

a lot of people seem to complain that twilight princess had too big of an overworld with not much in it! in many ways this is true and there certainly should have been a lot bit more to do in the overworld but i always felt that it gave this great feeling of vastness and epicness (if that is even a word ) that made the adventure feel much grander

at the same time a lot of people praise zelda games like link to the past for having a small overworld with lots packed into it. this was cool good because it diddnt take as long to travel around hyrule and every little cave or hole felt like it needed exploring as there was nearly always somthing good in them (much better then just rupees in almost every cave like in TP) however it does take away from the vastness and scale of the adventure just a bit.

i like both approaches a lot but i tend to prefere a smaller world like majoras mask and link to the past with lots packed into it, as apposed to the vast and epic worlds in wind waker and twilight princess mostly because its just easier to get around and the games dont feel so empty.

so how bout you? vast or dense?

 

[KaeporaGaebora]

In games like TP the vast open overworld worked. It wouldnt it games like MM and ALttP. TP also had far more heart pieces to collect. Mostly because they made it 5 pieces instead of traditional 4. I haven't played WW yet so I wouldn't know if it worked.

 

[Seth]

I would like vast AND dense lol.
If I had to pick one, dense. One thing I didn't like about TP was the field was so massive and yet nothing in it.
ALttP Hyrule was small but it felt huge and wondrous because their was so much to explore, see and do.
ALttP probably did it best as far as that goes.

 

[Ganondork]

I wish it could be vast and still plenty to do. I still feel accomplished because I did everything in the caves in ALttP without a guide. And the items are worthwhile, too. Nobody wants to waste an hour of gaming for 50 rupees. If you want to do that, play LA and just cut down grass - seriously, it is hard to get money in LA. If it's a heart piece, then sure, I'm good for it, but really, I don't like rupees since they normally gather dust.

I like vast areas like TP and WW, as long as there is stuff to do. One thing I did, was just kill every monster I saw, and the area felt more packed with things to do. WW was a time-consuming thing, and that was just sailing. But I liked being a pirate, I still love being a ninja/pirate in the Forsaken Fortress when Link lost his sword.

I also like dense areas, because that means more to do. ALttP was fun just because it seemed like there was so much to do. If I had to pick my favorite overworld between TP and ALttP, ALttP always wins. Not to mention, dense overworlds = less traveling.

 

[goomboo]

Vast or Dense? Which is Better? Theres only one way to find out.........FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT. Sorry I couldnt resist... (This is from Harry Hills TV Burp which is a British TV show. I dont know is it is shown in the US so please dont -reputation points for this... Thanks) Anyway, I think that a large expanse of land is great. It really adds a sense of adventure to the game.

 

[DeletedUser9]

I don't really see why it has to be one or the other. Twilight Princess' overworld had a lot of scale, but it actually was not sufficiently larger than say the overworld of Ocarina of Time so that they couldn't have more stuff around. And then there's another way you can do it: Have a large, expansive overworld that's bigger than TP's without crowding too much content into a tight area, but make it so that there really is a LOT of content just spread out a bit. I don't mind a Zelda game where you have to travel a lot, but there has to be some appeal to doing so. TP had a large overworld, but it was dull. It was mostly just some canyons and fields. What if there were more gorgeous vistas? Grander overworld battles (even overworld bosses)? Secrets hidden in the roots of trees, along cliffs, and on riverbeds, so you always have a good reason to stop and search?

There's plenty of ways you can expand the overworld to make things grand and epic without sacrificing stuff to do. Twilight Princess really had no excuse.

 

[Zorato]

What do you mean it didn't have much in it? I thought it had the MOST to it. There are many cool spots to check out. You can get a sort of sniping spots on the bridge of eldin. The was the lava cavern. There was Kakariko gorge. There was the little mountain near the yeti's house. The lantern caves. The dig spot caves. TP had the most fun over world. People who complain about the overworld being too big hadn't gotten the warps yet. TP has a vast and dense overworld.

 

[DeletedUser9]

What do you mean it didn't have much in it? I thought it had the MOST to it. There are many cool spots to check out. You can get a sort of sniping spots on the bridge of eldin. The was the lava cavern. There was Kakariko gorge. There was the little mountain near the yeti's house. The lantern caves. The dig spot caves. TP had the most fun over world. People who complain about the overworld being too big hadn't gotten the warps yet. TP has a vast and dense overworld.

How can you say that TP's overworld was dense at all? I don't understand how it even fits the definition. o_0

▸ adjective: closely crowded together ("A dense population")

I won't deny that TP's overworld did have stuff in it, but there was far too much empty space between things of notice. Or rather, not too much space but too much uninteresting space. I don't enjoy just traveling. There were no good sights and no interesting feedback from the horseriding itself to make the overworld travel worth it for me. The warping didn't change this, except for warping directly from area to area and bypassing the overworld entirely. The Horse Whistle might have helped a little, but you only got that at the end of the game, meaning you had to hunt for Horse Grass otherwise. Again, though, it wasn't the lack of a horse or lack of speedy travel that made it a bad overworld for me. Speedier travel just means bypassing more of the overworld faster; the overworld itself still wasn't interesting.

OoT had a similarly dull overworld though, now that I think of it. A Link to the Past, Majora's Mask, and The Minish Cap had great overworlds though.

 

[Axelotl38]

I actually loved the overworld of Twilight Princess, and I could spend a few hours just riding around, but despite that, I would prefer a dense overworld where there is heaps of stuff to do. In TP, there was nothing to do at all really. While a big overworld, for me, adds a adventure feel and makes it more epic??? to me, a dense place makes it feel more realistic, that there are people in the world outside the castle towns. There should be a big Overworld with heaps of stuff packed into it. (sorry if this was a bad post)

 

[Djinn]

This is kind of the problem, an overworld really needs to have just the right balance between vast and dense. If it is too vast then people become annoyed and bored with traveling over incredibly long distances just to reach someplace. This gets much worse if they are in the middle of a certain mission or sidequest that requires lots of travel to and from many different locations. This frustration can become a little worse if the reward for the quest was not quite worth wasting an hour or two on roaming aimlessly in the field or if they got lost more than a few times looking. All of this can lead to players becoming bored with playing over time, and affects replayability since they will not want to go through the grueling hour long roaming in the middle of nowhere missions ever again.

Meanwhile a dense overworld can look cluttered and cramped. There are treasures, enemies, wells, and stairs hidden in every single place you look leading the player to think that maybe the developers were more concerned with adding gameplay content and not concerned enough with creating a more realistic environment for the characters. Small densly packed overworlds work better in 2D Zelda gamesas they are a little more about the game and story over scenery, but the 3D games are largely expected to be just as visually stimulating as they are fun to play. Players expect to be amazed at the wide and expansive world around them to explore. Players want to see that Hyrule really is a large and great kingdom with multiple villages and settlements, it has to resemble a normal nation so it much be at least in gameplay mechanics several miles wide. But there is a limit, It can be too big.

 

[Blendercat]

I recently decided to ride from the south exit of Castle Town to Kakariko Village, and I have to say, I like riding over the land shooting or slicing all the enemies. If you don`t like the wide expanse of land, use that thing called warping. I don`t mind it at all.