Comments on: Has Zelda franchise lost its way since Ocarina?

After playing every game over the past decade, Zelda addict Don Reisinger believes that the franchise has lost its way since The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

[bennywhatever]

I couldn't agree more. I did thoroughly enjoy Twilight Princess, but since OoT, they've just been subpar. I did, however, REALLY like the Master Quest. Before the OoT Master Quest, I had beaten the game at least 20 times. It was a nice little twist!

I personally think they need to remake Link's Awakening in the likeness of OoT graphics. THAT would be awesome, as the story for Link's Awakening was really interesting, and the characters were really unique.

[pcnerd37]

I agree, especially about the cel-shaded stuff. I long for a Zelda game like Ocarina and can't bring myself to play any Zelda game as ugly as Windwaker. Going to the cartoony graphics was possibly the worst move Nintendo has ever made with the franchise.

[devindotcom]

Get your own blog...

[ProbableCabbage]

I really enjoyed both Windwaker and Hourglass (as well as all the other ones). I think that the Zelda franchise is to be commended for trying new things, since it's been basically the exact same story since 1986: Baddie kidnaps princess, hero has to accumulate enough magic maguffins to rescue princess. I enjoyed the cell-shaded graphics, and wasn't really concerned that it wasn't a "true Zelda" since, honestly, the games aren't really meant to be sequels to each other or even live in the same world (with a few exceptions). I thought Hourglass was a lot of fun, using unique interface for a classic feeling Zelda adventure; but that's just what concerns me about Spirit Track: What's new about this? Is it just Hourglass with a train instead of a boat?

Honestly, the best thing about the Zelda franchise is that they keep mixing it up, which is necessary considering they keep releasing the same game. If Nintendo had made 8 carbon copies of Ocarina since OoT came out, we'd be very sick of it by now.

[BIG_BOI_CEO]

shut up punk

[The Noble Robot]

Phantom Hourglass is "another one" of your least favorites?!? The game plays just like "A Link to the Past" and its "gimmick" is not "cel shading," it's using the touchscreen for note-taking and puzzle solving, and it's an absolutely brilliant gameplay development that puts all other DS games to shame.

Meethinks that you just don't like the look of the "Celda" games, because those are the ones which you seem to dislike the most, while also spending the least amount of time describing.

Spirit Tracks looks especially goofy, I should say, but I'm excited to see another DS Zelda, because Phantom Hourglass was such a winner. Better than Twilight Princess and nearly on par with A Link to the Past.

[ShinyHappyHead]

I really enjoyed the Legend of Zelda on the first NES. Last year I had actually found a downloadable version of that game and played it. Ahh memories.

[The Noble Robot]

I should also say that I much prefer the look of the more realistic Zeldas, of which, in actuality, there have only been exactly one of: Twilight Princess.

OoT looks just as cartoony as Wind Waker, when you think of it, and the (S)NES Zeldas don't really have much of a unique style to them. In fact, they're all rather ugly.

But Zelda has always been about gameplay, and Phantom Hourglass especially excels in that department. Now, if only the next Wii Zelda is as well designed as TP and as innovative as PH.

[The Noble Robot]

(sorry, I just can't seem to stop commenting on this article)

Don, you have a tendency to make two (arguably individually valid) points which contradict each other without realizing that you are arguing with yourself. For example:

"We just want the opportunity to control Link in his quest to rid Hyrule of the legions of beasts that plague the villagers and prey on Princess Zelda."

"a solid story and compelling characters steal the show."

Anyone else find these statements, when taken together, hilarious?

[bennywhatever]

I think my main problem with Phantom Hourglass, as well as the other cel-shaded Zelda's, and even Majora's Mask, is that it depicts Link as a child. People that have been following the Zelda games since its beginnings are going to be more interested in a more mature-style game, which is why I think Twilight Princess was so well-received.

[invisible21]

First of all, you say it's annoying that they add in a new unnecessary feature every game, yet you love Ocarina of Time. I've got news for you, the whole Ocarina mechanic in that game was a 'new feature'.

So, by that logic, some new features could be beneficial. Just because nothing they've done impresses you doesn't mean it's not a good idea. At least they keep their new mechanics in the spirit of Zelda games. Look at Sega, adding ridiculously slow/cumbersome mechanics to all their new Sonic games. At least the new mechanics in each Zelda game don't generally ruin the game. In any case, new features and/or play mechanics could make a game revolutionary if done right and you shouldn't dissuade a developer from trying to evolve their product.

On the other hand, I totally agree that story-wise, the Zelda games have dropped off since Ocarina and none of the recent games have had the same meaningfulness. If they could hammer out a decent story, I think the rest would fall into place because clearly they have the gameplay and graphics side of things down.

[BIG_BOI_CEO]

shut up punk

Ocarina of Time is by far my favorite in the series, however, I was quite taken with Wind Waker and it's new style of animation. I loved the expressions of the characters faces and it provided a way to add more humor to the series.

I will, however, agree that Twilight Princess is definitely the most beautiful-looking Zelda game ever made. It actually looks better if you play the Gamecube version and the annoying sword-slicing noise is not a factor either. :)

My understanding of this article is that we want more character development with a richer story, yes? I couldn't agree more that the last few games have somewhat lacked the "epic" feel. They have been great to play, yet somewhat tedious with their new concepts of turning into a wolf or sailing a ship. I felt like Epona was sorely underused in TP!

In short, I agree with the main idea of this article. Let's take a step back and remember what made Ocarina of Time a perfect 10. The story flowed perfectly and you truly cared about each of the characters and got to know them better as the game progressed.

My idea for a possible new element to add to the franchise - a co-op mode. Why not bring Sariah or Zelda along for the ride? Or perhaps a Goron prince or Zora princess? Perhaps even the Hero of Time and Hero of Wind could fight side-by-side? There are so many new possibilities for gameplay when you must complete the game with another human-controlled character.

I still love Zelda, but seriously, if we're going to build on OOT, let's make it a two-man show!

[MajorasWrath]

Then im guessing you might not have played Four Swords Adventures on GC (I havnt played the GBA version). The multiplayer aspect of that is amazing, simply amazing. We had the most crazy nights in with that game and all we were doing was messing around robbing each other of rupees!

Try it, but you'll need to have GBA link cables and three GBA's to play multiplayer. Thats the only drawback but it's amazing.

[ddanckaert]

I too played Zelda Ocarina (as did my wife) ten years ago. We both enjoyed it. I subsequently played Wind Waker and found it to be enjoyable, but not at the level of Ocarina.

I started to play Twilight, but it just wasn't as compelling. I wasn't drawn in. I found leaving the initial area too much of a pain in the neck and finally I just moved on to something else.

[lucasarcher]

"Zelda games over the past decade have focused too much on tools and animals, and not enough on what made Zelda great in the first place: its story and its characters."

Are you stupid or just deliberately ignorant? Have you even played The Legend of Zelda or Zelda 2? Here, let me bust the story out for you: Link needs to beat Ganon to save Zelda. There's your masterpiece storyline and characterization.

The reason Zelda was such a hit was because of the gameplay, the puzzles, the dungeon crawling, not because I needed to know the motivation behind Link's desire to save up 200 rupee's to purchase the Blue Ring, or the hidden dark past of the poor soul buried where the Magic Sword was being held.

[DrahkenKahn]

Every time there's a topic even remotely about Zelda, I pull out my "I love Wind Waker" rant. But now that there's a topic directly about the subject, I don't even feel like it. But I will say a couple of other things. WW's "story was subpar for a Zelda series"? It the BEST of the series. You said that OoT's story was equal to that of LttP and also that OoT's is the best. By the transitive property, that means that LttP also has the best story. LttP barely had a story, and you think's it's better than WW's amazing characterization of Ganondorf? The game turned him from just a "Bad Guy" to a real person. And no matter your opinion on cel-shading, you can't tell me that OoT still looks great. And definitely not better than WW. Sure, at the time, OoT looked amazing. But then again, so did the Mario 64, or better yet, the original Star Wars arcade game (wow! it's got 3D wireframes!). And I do admit that TP's graphics look good, albeit good as seen through a used coffee filter (what is the obsession with earth tones and bloom lighting lately?), but I prefer the bright, beautiful visuals of WW. But that's just my opinion. And it seems like you don't want anything new to be added to new Zelda games. It seems like you just want to play OoT again and again. Maybe you should go do that instead of putting down some of the best games ever created.

[MajorasWrath]

Interesting article. It's reasonable to say that each Zelda game has it's own strengths & weaknesses.

Ocarina of Time was a groundbreaking Event in videogame history. As highly influential as Mario 64 was to the platform genre. So of course, all other titles that come after will have a hard time by comparison. And that will colour peoples opinions to some degree.

Especially when it comes to the realistic vs cel-shading argument.

I have no problems with the cel-shaded look. It's been a while since I've played WW, and I have yet to complete it. But yes, it's not perfect, but I think some of the objection to the look was silly. I mean, they coulda released a 8-bit look for thier latest zelda and it still could be awesome.

I think some, not all of the critics on the cell-shaded looks were a wee bit snobby, and fearful of what thier PS2 & X-BOX graphics junkie mates would think.

Majoras Mask was Awesome, it built upon what was great with OOT, I dunnio, maybe im weird.. but I found it more engaging and involving.

I was consumed with revenge when Majoras told link he 'got rid of' Epona (thinking it was the mafia meaning being implied). And the moment reuiniting the mummified guy and his frightened wee daughter gave glimpses of moments that moved emotion...something that Sony kept baning on about that thier PS2 could do with it's 'emotion engine'.

Then feeling pity for skullkid, and consumed with revenge for him after majoras mask appears to snap his neck (well thats what it looked like, N64 version). So i think, although MM wasnt as ground breaking, it was building upon a great game making it better.

And has everyone forgotten Four Swords for GC??? I was suspicious of a 4player Zelda..until I playeed it.. that was AWESOME. They should release that for DS & wii, making it online multiplayer.

Twilight princess was great, the wii controls takes alot of getting used to, especially after nearly 20yrs of button bashing that became 2nd nature lol.

Let Spirit tracks speak for itself... we'll see if its good or not.

[pentium4forever]

You thought Majora's Mask was more involving than OOT? Interesting take. Although I thought MM was good, it was too short of a game in my view, 4 temples, c'mon. I did like the end of the world feel to it when you are on the last and final day. The mummy guy reuniting with daughter was moving, I agree.

[Inconnux]

I've enjoyed all the past Zelda games and I'm sure that the next one will be just as enjoyable.

[IronMatt]

I suspect you didn't like Super Mario Galaxy much either if this is the case with all the zelda games.

what most of the old games have now is nostalgia. for sure they were the greatest things ever created when the first came out. Now consider some kid brand new to the series playing wind waker first. he'd probably think that was the greatest thing in the world when it game out.

for sure, ocarina of time was fan-freakin'-tastic but the main reason the new games are soooo tarnished in your eyes is because your holding a lighthouse to a candle.

maybe thats not the best way to put it. each game has its feature. OoT was the first with the ocarina and playing of songs. with something like wind waker, it was the boat and cell shading. things is, they are just different. more like holding a candle to a flashlight. both were revolutionary when they came out but it depends what you grew up with.

PS - was the boat really so bad? honestly, it was a little tiresome to sail everywhere but you did it anyway. eventually you get warp points and its no biggy anymore. Kinda like ocarina of time and having to walk everywhere..... until you get epona... then the warp points...... eh??

[IronMatt]

PPS - A TRAIN!?!?! REALLY??!?!?! i'll believe it (and possible not buy it) when it comes out.

[Jackofblade]

I agree with much of what the writer said. In many ways Kameo (a superb XBox 360 game) ended up being the story Zelda should have evolved too. In my humble opinion, Zelda needs to go backwards before it moves forward. By that I mean, it should re-captivate every single player who ever played the game (from 5 years old to 50 years old). They could do this by doing a complete Wii makeover of every single Link title in the series from "The Legend of Zelda" forward, with completely new graphics, enhanced storyline, new plot twists and etc. Of course I would not remake any Zelda title already on Wii. But I would borrow heavily and generously from the Kameo storyline to make the Zelda character much more compelling. I think that would add serious energy to the Zelda franchise. and give a true "Link to the Past. I would do the same thing for other classic nintendo franchises such as Mario Bros.

[okiecali]

They could do this by doing a complete Wii makeover of every single Link title in the series from "The Legend of Zelda" forward, with completely new graphics, enhanced storyline, new plot twists and etc.

LOL...

[Jackofblade]

I agree with much of what the writer said. In many ways Kameo (a superb XBox 360 game) ended up being the story Zelda should have evolved too. In my humble opinion, Zelda needs to go backwards before it moves forward. By that I mean, it should re-captivate every single player who ever played the game (from 5 years old to 50 years old). They could do this by doing a complete Wii makeover of every single Link title in the series from "The Legend of Zelda" forward, with completely new graphics, enhanced storyline, new plot twists and etc. Of course I would not remake any Zelda title already on Wii. But I would borrow heavily and generously from the Kameo storyline to make the Zelda character much more compelling. I think that would add serious energy to the Zelda franchise. and give a true "Link to the Past. I would do the same thing for other classic nintendo franchises such as Mario Bros.

[ProbableCabbage]

I did like Kameo quite a bit, and I do have to say that there have been other games that take the Zelda style action adventure puzzle solving dungeon crawl concept and do it better than some, if not all, Zeldas. Okami (on the PS2 and Wii) did the Zelda thing better than any Zelda game ever made. If any game in this genre deserves a series of sequels, it's Okami (a sadly underappreciated gem).

[lomain]

jackoblade, whatever, i hope you die, i do, i do. it's breaks my little heart to hear to say words like that. i'm going to get into that anymore, but i refused to play windwaker for about three years. eventually when i did, i came to decide it's my favorite, and i'm excited for the new ds game! i think the real topic at hand should be where the **** is zelda going with the newer wii title? NEW EVIL, NEW HERO - NO THANKS, ****. it'll probably still be amazing though, hahah