Wind Waker HD and the Future of the Zelda Franchise

First of all, I’m a huge Legend of Zelda Fan. I’ve loved the series for some time. Honestly more than anything I’m just hoping that Nintendo is going to take the franchise in the right direction. Next up they want to do an HD version of Wind Waker. Now, I’m not against that since next to Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker is definitely one of the most underrated of all the Zelda titles.

Screenshots from IGN

Wind Waker was a truly great game. Cel Shading gave it great performance; It ran and played beautifully. The game was huge in scale and yet somehow had not a single load time. I loved that they did something different with the story, where you are trying to save your sister and they keep the identity of Zelda secret the entire game. But most of all I love it for the music. Wind Waker has arguably the greatest sound design of the entire Zelda franchise.

But to be honest, I’m worried about the future of the Zelda franchise. I know I’m going to piss off some Zelda fans but I was not the biggest fan of Skyward Sword. It was a very good game but it had problems. And to be fair while Wind Waker was great and unfairly maligned, it wasn’t perfect either.

So since Skyward Sword was the most recent game. And I can assume that it shows the direction they want to take these games in, I’ll start there. But since I don’t want Zelda fans to kill me I’ll start with what I liked.

The Good

I loved the motion control for the most part. The sword and gadgets worked great and controlling the swings was fun. I liked the difficulty level. This was easily the most challenging of all the 3D Zelda games. And I looooooved the dash button. Being able to do anything faster , from climbing a ladder to running along walls, was a good thing. So overall the controls in this game were top notch. I also really liked how people would say different things thought the game. Just going through the Bazar and having a girl slowly develop a crush on you was a funny little touch. I also really liked how they kept changing the gameplay and the environment would change as you revisited places in the game.

Now for the bad

We're talking about Legend of Zelda. THERE IS NO BAD!!!!!

I hated the save system. We’ve always been able to save wherever, spacing it out was a huge pain in the ass. Also the bird did not control well. Most motion control parts have a button to press to center the direction control just in case it got funky. Riding the bird you didn’t have that. I could rarely get it to go the way I wanted.

But those are nitpicks I have two major complaints with Skyward Sword. One the game felt isolated. I mean, wasn’t Wind Waker the one where you dealt with islands? In this game there is no connected overworld like there is in almost every Zelda game. This one you pick little places in the clouds where you want to drop down. It made the world feel really small. Remember in Ocarina of time, there were many towns with their own shops and different characters and prices. Well, we didn’t get that in Skyward Sword. The game as a whole just felt really small. I would have loved to visit the world of Twilight Princess (that is assuming there aren’t orc’s shooting burning arrows at me.). Just seeing the sights and going fishing would have been amazing. But I can’t say I’d ever want to  visit the land of SS.

My second major problem is the pacing. This game is SOOO Damned SLOW. Everyone wants to talk and they take forever to do it. Now I love a good story. That’s why I play games, but this one gave me no sense of freedom. You are trapped on a very linear path for over an hour in the beginning of the game before The game really gets going and lets you roam free. Now that I think of it? Every Zelda game seems to have more and more story.

The Legend of Zelda

Here is the story... "It is dangerous to go alone. Take this"

And that’s it, the action starts. You want story? Read the book on your own time. Your imagination created the story. 

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link 

You're told the princess is cursed or asleep or something. It's been a long time since I played this one. You grab your sword and head outside. Adventure started.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link To the Past

You see a short cut scene about an evil sorcerer taking over the kingdom. Zelda sends out a telepathic message to you and your uncle. You follow him and you find his fat ass in a gutter, too weak to continue. Take his sword and shield and there you go, adventure begins, plus you're already in the first dungeon.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Now the story lines start. But at least in this game most interactions aren’t cut scenes. You talk to people but your are in control of Link the whole time. Plus if you already know how all this shit works then you don’t even have to talk to all the people hanging out. All you have to do is find a sword and shield, then after a quick conversation with the Great Deku tree, your first dungeon begins.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Now this IS the most underrated stories in the Zelda franchise. But you start off getting jacked and cursed. Then you have to figure a way back into your body. Now this game has some time go by before you can go explore the whole world but in this game you don’t have to sit and watch cut scenes. You actually get to decide whereto go and what to do. After you become human again, you and Link are off to bitch slap evil doers.

The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker/ The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

I put these two together because they have similar openings. Link live a simple and yet happy life. You meet friendly townsfolk then shit goes down and you have to save the day. After that when you think it’s over SHIT GETS REAL and the adventure begins. Now in both of these games you have openings that are linear and story heavy.

But in these cases you actually get more freedom than in Skyward Sword. You can talk to who you like and the conversations don’t go on forever! Eventually in both games you get complete control over where you go and how you explore. In SS you have to talk to people again and again. And it never seems to stop. But the problem is that People talk so damn slow. And that isn’t something that happens just in the beginning of the game. The WHOLE game is like that. Cut scenes where they aren’t needed.

You don’t have to show me a cut scene to tell me that I knocked this boss off its feet. I just fucking did it for the fifth time, stop showing me!  I swear I never do this in games but I kept hitting the A button in the cut scenes wishing it would go faster so I could get back to the gameplay. If you haven’t played SS, imagine if everyone you talk to in the game is just like your conversation with this guy....

Oh God I give up. Gannon wins just stop talking!

So overall SS was a good game, but it frustrated the hell out of me. And unfortunately the bad kinda poisoned all the good things that this game gets right.

 But what does all this mean for the future of the franchise? What will happened in the games to come.  Well the producer released a video where he’s talking about the series.

Me mentioned changing two things about Zelda gameplay. One that dungeons are done in a particular order. Maybe this means that we will get to explore things in any order that we like. Also he mentioned that we assume that we will play alone. Does this mean that the game will be online? That we can join up with friends or even strangers to take on dungeons?

This news actually has got me pretty excited. I never got to play four swords and I’ve always wanted to know what it would be like to take on a dungeon with friends. So hopefully we see the franchise go in new directions. 

To all the hardcore Zelda fans out there. I leave you with this.