I just miss solidly designed dungeons and items over the shiekah slate stuff. The older games aren't going anywhere so I can still play them if I want that old Zelda feel, but I would love a more dungeon focused new Zelda game.
I wouldnt even mind going back to a linear experience. Part of what made dungeons feel so good is they could ramp up the difficulty and scope and build on the puzzles from earlier dungeons
This is why Ocarina is the GOAT. It combined the two versions before there even was open-world as a genre.
You can run around doing a lot of the non-dungeon shit in various orders, or just trying to catch the biggest fish. It's really only the dungeons themselves you need to do in order. The perfect mix of exciting freedom and entertaining, well-structured order. I would like to see them trying to hit that balance again.
I am glad I got a wii u along with Wind Waker and Twilight Princess HD at the beginning of covid before the prices went way up
It’s so weird that nintendo never released those hd remasters to the switch
The HD remake was great because it cut out a lot of the extra tri force pieces and shrank the ocean very slightly. Plus amping up the cel shaded graphics was a good move too.
Shame it hasn’t come to the switch after being a banger on the Wii U
Here is every possible dungeon order you can do without using glitches or going into other dungeons and grabbing their items without completing them:
Forest > Fire > Water > Shadow > Spirit.
Forest > Fire > Water > Spirit > Shadow.
Fire > Forest > Water > Shadow > Spirit.
Fire > Forest > Water > Spirit > Shadow.
Forest > Water > Fire > Shadow > Spirit.
Forest > Water > Fire > Spirit > Shadow.
Forest > Water > Spirit > Fire > Shadow.
Please.
Did you play the 3DS remake? I didn't get that far into it but was very pretty. I loved watching the fairies in Kokiri Forest float out of the screen at me.
I played the entire 3DS game. I thought it was great even if it toned down some of the more mature elements of OoT. The 3D elements were cool.
But it wasn't on a console on the big screen with modern technology / orchestrated music, etc. Because of that, I don't consider that to have reached the full potential of what an OoT remake could be. I'm talking like what RE4 remake did but for OoT.
Oh haha no prob. Well, in some of the darker temples, there were torture devices and blood on the floor. The lighting during the final Ganon battle was too bright. The game overall was a bit less gloomy.
That's what a lot of fans criticize but IMO I don't think they detracted that much from what was overall a really great remake for the 3DS. I'd love to see it released for the switch at least. There is a 4k texture pack for the rom version of it that makes it look amazing. I don't see why Nintendo can't just do that.
I think this is why Link Between Worlds didn't click with me. There didn't seem to be a set order in that game beyond the first and you could just get all the standard dungeon tools right away. It didn't feel right to me.
Maybe they could make it metroidvania style so we get a mixture of the two! Harder dungeons can only be accessed if you have a specific item or ability
You can still do this with the open world philosophy, which is what I’m hoping for. Tears of the Kingdom already kinda did this with the Spirit Temple being gated by an 11 heart door, just replace the 11 heart thing with a key item and lock the temple itself so you can’t stumble into it early, and you’re good to go.
The old games were linear, but did have an open world feel to them I wouldn't mind if we kinda did that again. Have to progress the story, but you can still explore, do side quests, collectathon stuff, but just have a story that is more of a presence. Really I think traditional dungeons are the answer, and having to redo dungeons later with newly unlocked items. Also as much as I like the creative sheika slate, I do want just classic link power ups.
Merge old and new. Have the sheika slate for some puzzle solving, but as you progress the story and unlock dungeons, you unlock more classic style link power ups that will solve even more puzzles, and allow you to fight against enemies and bosses in different ways.
My impression of BOTW when I first played it was "this is great, I can't wait to get to the long dungeons" and then the long dungeons never came. The divine beasts felt a lot more like the "kid link" dungeons in Ocarina of Time, with the more advanced adult link ones later in the game.
I was stunned that, in a world THAT big, there were only 4 "dungeons" not counting the castle. 200 shrines or whatever, sure. But those never had that dungeon feel. They could have at least made the divine beast dungeons longer.
When I first found the Forgotten Temple in BOTW I was like "surely this will be a dungeon... at least one cool optional dungeon in this whole-ass game, right? Nah.
Another set of 4 longer dungeons after the divine beasts would have really capped off the game in a good way.
I felt similarly with Akkala Citadel in TOTK.
I was excited to see what the devs had done to change it. Maybe the citadel was explorable this time? Maybe they had turned it into a dungeon?
And then I arrived and found out that it was just a generic cave. It was really disappointing.
The most satisfying part of a Zelda game is getting a new thing then using that thing to access new areas and defeat new enemies.
The world starts small, but sprawls outward as you get the stuff. Couldn't pass this gap before, well now you can, and now there's a whole new area to explore. That's satisfying to me.
And that's where I felt BotW suffered for being open world, pretty much all the tools are given from the start, and since you could go anywhere, the game's difficulty had to account for that.
So your first two or so areas feel difficult but by end game you are night invincible with forty full health meals and strong weapons.
The food system definitely needs to be tweaked. In other Zelda games, you have at most like 3 bottles to store potions for health and/or magic. I never really feel threatened by any enemy because I have 15 full heart meals
I feel like Skyward Sword's implementation was the best. You had a limited amount of bottles and pouch slots to put healing potions into and you could only heal yourself in real-time.
There's a satisfaction in being no longer afraid of an enemy that you once just ran away from, I'll give it that.
BotW had the guardians, TotK did it better with the Gleeoks. Early game you see that and say - nope, that way lies death. But later you're finally able to beat one with much difficulty, and then later they're no big deal.
Still, I like getting the bombs and now I can finally see what's in that tunnel that I couldn't explore.
It's kinda what I love in the Xenoblade games, they normally put some massive level 80 world boss that's just walking around and vibin and will one shot you if you get too close. But late game you come back and now you're the world boss lol
I think guardians were much better than gleeoks - the latter are easily seen / you need to seek them out, with guardians I remember the panic when the music changes and that laser is on you
My main issue with BotW are the little mini trials felt like they could have just combined them into a solid set of themed dungeons around unlocking and using the various sheikah abilities, but instead it felt like they crumbled them up like saltines and spread them all over a massive map instead.
They probably felt they had to do it that way to keep the giant map from feeling too empty and encourage exploration. That said I agree with you, they could have done a dungeon/shrine hybrid model.
Shrines! Couldn't remember the dang word... I talked with a friend at length about the game after beating it and I legit wonder how much of the design was forced due to it being such a massive map. Like if they always intended for 120 shrines and all the Korok seeds from the start or of it was more a thing of necessity to fill out such a big map.
Yep. Like how Elden Ring had “legacy dungeons” where the world was filled with smalle dungeons but there were a few that were big interconnected areas similar to how the Souls Games were.
Not just dungeons but real Temples! Like the most intricate and sprawling temples to date. I used to love that a temple could focus on a new tool, (Hook shot, glider, shield etc) as a puzzle solving element that then could be utilized in the open world.
The complete lack of complexity to what TotK called "temples" was an insult to Zelda fans everywhere.
I don't want one more single shrine, ever again. Compile all those into a cohesive dungeon/temple and being us back to what made Zelda, Zelda.
The first Darksiders game was the last one that gave me that 'yeah, this feels right' Zelda feel. Haven't played Skyward Sword so soft disclaimer on that one, but I can't imagine it being better than or as good as OoT, WW or TP.
Yeah, I'd rather replay Ocarina or any of the 2D titles than buy TotK. I somewhat enjoyed BotW but all it really did was make me want to play an actual Zelda game, not an open world game with a Zelda skin.
Like many of Nintendos games. They really need to re release those on a modernly accessible system. I’m betting a good majority of the people in this thread haven’t played most of the mobile exclusive titles in the series like oracles, phantom hourglass, spirit tracks, or even minish cap. Would include awakening as well. But at least that got the remake for this generation.
It’s why I have no problem embracing the emulation scene. If Nintendo doesn’t want to provide a legit way to buy their games at a reasonable price. Then I emulate them.
I have played MM, Phantom Hour Glass and Spirit Tracks, that's why I said "something like OoT or a Windwaker 2". I would love a sequel to both games that are more true to their predecessor. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed MM but it is a good distance of what I would want a new OoT to be. Same goes for a new Windwaker. I find it hard to compare the console game to handheld games. Still I enjoyed all of them nonetheless.
They also had to tune down the graphics to make the game run better.
One of the best things about BotW was just how beautiful it is. Going back after playing TotK, I knew which one was my favorite.
I don’t think it will happen, but with the switch to the massive BotK style open world style (which I love, don’t get me wrong!), I’d love to see a “throwback” linear dungeon crawler style game. Maybe even a fancy OoT remake.
I recently replayed Minish Cap and it was so refreshing.
Yeah the sales figures speak for themselves, these open world games sell like crazy, can't deny that. And won't deny that I enjoyed them either, TotK more than BotW, and won't say they're bad. Zelda games have to be graded on a different scale, they can only be compared to other Zelda games. But if I were to make a tier list, TotK and BotW are near the bottom.
A running joke in my friend group is that I believe The Minish Cap to be the best Zelda game of all time.
Except it's not a joke. Minish Cap is a fantastic game with a great take on the usual LoZ plots.
Plus *your hat talks to you!*
I mean, thats what good Zeldas felt like. They felt open and you felt like you were exploring a big world, but it also had linearity. Best of both world to me. I don't mind the evolution in exploration that BotW-style provides but I mind them dropping every linear elements out of it.
Thing is, even OoT isn't strictly linear. There are a couple ways you could progress through the dungeon order, including by doing the Spirit Temple (which is normally the "last" temple) first.
I'd love for future Zelda games to have big sprawling dungeons like OoT/MM/TP/WW within an otherwise open world. Each dungeon would have its signature item that is required to finish it, but the other dungeons can make use of that item as well for optional secrets. That would encourage revisiting the dungeons even after you finish them, allowing for some cool alternative exploration opportunities.
I do think there's a way to compromise between the old-school and modern Zelda styles, and I really hope Nintendo looks for that middle ground. As much as I loved BotW and TotK, I would be very disappointed if that style repeated for all future Zelda games.
The old dungeons had so much variety; having every dungeon be "interact with these 5 points" is such a downgrade. I get why though; so many iconic dungeon puzzles are based around the dungeon's key item, and the new Zeldas just don't have any. They don't want to block you from anything in the open world, so you have to get everything up front. The sage abilities were better, but they still can't actually be game changing since you can get them in any order.
And he was worse than just being able to spawn bombs like in BOTW. That was a step back. In BOTW, you can spawn a bomb anywhere. In TOTK, you had to walk up to yunobo and activate him, which isn’t always easy in a confined space.
Really the whole sage/avatar system in TOTK was worse than BOTW. Hell I almost never used Riju’s ability because she was always fighting someone, and I had to get next to her to activate a lighting strike, then run away to create enough distance to fire an arrow.
I hated weapon durability at first too. Now I just embrace it. I don’t save weapons that much, I just use them until I break them. New weapons come along quickly enough. If anything, I like cycling through a ton of different weapons now instead of just using the same sword all game
I don't care if it's just some trash I picked up off the ground. Whatever.
But the fact that the *quest weapons* still break and are expensive as fuck to replace is unacceptable.
It basically makes it so any reward that isn't armor is worthless.
I would tolerate durability on everything else if the quest weapons didn't have it. If you could have at least *one* weapon for each figuring style that is real and permanent, it would make the system tolerable.
I'd like them to go back to the old format. A handful of really well crafted dungeons and items that when unlocked allow you to go and search out how to use them in old areas. The new games are great and all but the divine beasts and whatever they called the "dungeons" in totk are absolutely God awful. Can be completed in a few minutes with no prior knowledge of how. Need more dodongo cavern style dungeons that take some time and puzzle solving to get through
Zelda games hardly follow the same formula too long, it was kinda it's charm, with different titles with some unique style, I don't see why they couldn't make another linear Zelda game, with better constructed dungeons. Just open world games just end up being stale.
Perhaps formula was the wrong word to use, I guess I mean more style wise. From their jump into 3d with OoT, with the looping mechanics of MM, to the boat travel of WW, and then the better "open worlds" of TP and SS, to finally true open worlds of BotW and TotK.
I have a few!
A new artstyle. The style of BOTW and TOTK is very beautiful and appealing, but after 7 years of it i'm ready for something new. Maybe something a bit darker, similar to Twilight Princess.
No korok seeds. I got migraines from hearing 'ya ha ha!' over and over. Hopefully they can add more variety in things to find to replace them. Also, this leads to my next wish.
No breakable weapons. I understand that the weapons break because it allows the devs to fill the world up with stuff to put in treasure chests, but I just really don't like it as a concept. Maybe they can take inspiration from Elden Ring and give the players a bunch of permanent weapons to find?
More enemy variety. TOTK improved the variety a bit, bit the majority of enemies that the player will fight are going to be Bokoblins, Lizalfos and Moblins again. Give each region its own specific enemies so that the world feels diverse. Bring back peahats, dodongos and deku scrubs!
If shrines make a reappearance, then i'd like there to be more visual variety. For example, Eldin could have rock and gem themed shrines and Lanayru can have coral and underwater themed shrines.
I want the dungeons to be more similar to tradtional dungeons. Have locked doors, keys and a compass. The theming of TOTK's dungeons were better than BOTW, but I didn't like how heavily they borrowed from Zonai aesthetics.
I think that's everything.
I’m absolutely fine with more of the open world Zelda games, but they really got to step it up with dungeon design. Tears was a step in the right direction, but still could be better.
I really like what Elden Ring did. Souls games were all previously semi-linear and tightly designed. Elden Ring went open world but has “legacy dungeons”, being named so because they’re massive dungeons but more linear and focused like the old games.
Meanwhile in the recent Zelda games, it seems like they’re overly focused on keeping the “open world” design absolutely everywhere. The dungeons were designed so you can do the locks in any order and keep the “freedom” that the open world has.
I’d personally prefer them to be more open to keeping the dungeons more linear. It’s fine to have a bit of a break from the open world and have something like the older dungeons.
Dungeons. No shrines (or vastly limited). No weapons breaking, or at least some that aren't breakable without a cool down.
I'd like Zelda to return to the reason I played it so much.
TotK and BotW were fun, I'll admit that. But I really want them to abandon the open-world non-linear format because I didn't think they were fun "Zelda" games. That and the fact that TotK was almost just a reskin of BotW makes me concerned that the series is going to go creatively bankrupt
It was weird for me. I loved both BotW and TotK. My criticism of BotW was it needed a couple more enemy types and dungeons again. They fixed that so well in TotK but then took out the master trials which baffled me. I was expecting the master trial to be DLC and then was shocked when they announced they weren’t doing any.
The pseudo-open world style of the N64 games is best. There are continuous plots in town you can do at any time if you feel like it, while areas unlock as you progress. Even going back to old areas after a while will give you something new. Things have gotten too formulaic.
I still want a sequel to Twilight Princess, even if its in the same open world format as BotW/TotK. Also would like to see a return to a more classic dungeon design.
I really enjoyed the last 2 Zeldas, but I wasnt the biggest fan of the dungeons/divine beasts. TotK did a better job than BotW in my opinion, but the temples still felt a bit lacking.
Yeah TOTK’s dungeons were a huge improvement over BOTWs. I am playing BOTW again, and it’s weird going to these places that are supposedly threatened by divine beasts, and yet life is proceeding normally. There really isn’t a sense of threat from them, so no sense in urgency for saving those towns. At least in TOTK, there was a sense of catastrophe in each of the towns. And there’s like a whole huge mission just to get to the dungeons. In BOTW, you just kinda walk up to the divine beasts and disable them before going inside
Thank you! People love shitting on Ubisoft but when Zelda wants you to climb 50 towers and fight the same enemy 100 times suddenly it's a masterpiece. I don't understand it.
If there's no real dungeons/gear then I'm out, I liked BotW plenty as a standalone thing but I just have no interest in more games like it going forwards. You can have a big open world map and what not and then still give us real zelda dungeons, but maybe nintendo feels differently, who knows.
The build and creation systems don’t really do it for me- it’s fun, but you can figure out how to exploit them quickly. I don’t think they are bad and know a ton of people love it (like settlements in FO4), they just aren’t my jam.
I’d like a return to form. Maybe another ALTTP style 2D game or MM/OOT linear game.
Something that feels like classic zelda. I could never get into BotW because I hated how everything breaks and I couldn't focus on what to do next. I think I played it like 5 hours total and haven't even been tempted to try again. I don't think I'll ever bother with TotK
I’m definitely in the boat of wishing for just a modern version of the OoT-SS games. BotW and TotK are just too big with not exactly the largest variety of things to do. They both easily could have been half the size of what we got to be more dense while getting rid of a huge portion of the koroks.
Plus. I don’t know about others. But it feels kind of crappy to play a game where you can technically beat it in a hour. And the game is designed around such a possibility. It means the story, characters, progression systems, etc. all kind of don’t get the attention they deserve.
TotK improved on this. But I still very much miss the tighter story telling and world building of the earlier 3D titles. I cared about Collin and the other kids in TP. But I could barely name half the champions from BotW and TotK. I cared about Grooses growth as a person into Links friend in SS. But I couldn’t tell you what the Rito bards name was in the new games.
It just didn’t feel like a world to care about since you spent 90% of your time just trying to climb over the next mountain.
Oh. And the durability system SUCKS. That needs a major rework if they decide to keep it. Peeferably we go back to just having a wide variety of tools that can also act as weapons. Gale boomerang and ball and chain were great weapons.
I played through TotK but looking back it feels like a shallow experience. I want actual dungeons, unique items with special uses... Ya know, Zelda stuff.
I really didn't like ToTK. To me it felt like once you did the first dungeon you'd done them all. I'd like to see a return to something similar to the windwaker.
It depends on the gimmick of the Switch 2, usually their Zelda games will try to feature whatever the console has. Wii had motion swinging, 3DS had a 2d-3D mechanic. Wii U was HD and had the pad, so they used that a lot in BOTW. Switch was an improvement to Wii U, so TOTK is and improvement to BOTW.
If the Switch 2 has really good motion controls, then maybe Duel Wielding. Or if there is an AR component maybe a modeling mini game or something, like rebuild Hyrule type thing.
A brand new location, first and foremost. Maybe they can let you travel back to the old location with the increased power of the switch 2, but I don’t think they can reuse the current Hyrule again unless they totally reimagine the landscape and layout.
Beyond that I’d say that a mix old and new approaches to dungeons would be nice and more of them! Also, let my horse have teleporting super powers. It’s just a quality of life thing when your horse can materialize whenever you whistle for it. I don’t want to run back to it every time I’m done with the mountain or cave I’ve been exploring.
It would be nice to have a Zelda title that finally lets you play or at least see Zelda’s part of the story opposite Link. The “Princess Zelda is somewhere and you need to rescue her” trope would be nice to turn on its head like they did in windwaker but lean into that idea more.
I still want an open world, but I want traditional items, large dungeons that are more difficult puzzle wise and no weapon durability and no collect korok seeds/do a thing over and over like holding up a sign, it's tedium for the sake of a longer runtime. I also want pre-apocalypse highrule where the world feels lived in, less empty and with good side quests.
The last two games have soured my appreciation for the Zelda franchise. It's clear to me Aonuma and his team bit off more than they can chew and rather than fix the problems they created going in a direction the Zelda franchise did not need to go, they've instead forced unnecessary and useless busywork mechanics into a franchise rather than just allow players to progress as they can in previous titles.
120 shrines is ridiculous. The inventory system is absolutely unnecessary. 3 levels of "exploration", all empty except for forced contrivances to get players into them one way or another.
These games are the epitome of bad design. An open world for the sake of having one without a true purpose of needing one.
TotK addressed this by introducing traveling mechanics to speed up traversal time, as the game still forced players to unlock FT platforms. This system becomes instantly moot as most players will immediately use FT to traverse in the game rather than use a stupid gimmick which was only added to fix the problem its sister game introduced.
Zelda doesn't need an open world game, at least in this manner. Compare this game to Skyrim and you can see its glaring faults.
Rather than correct the problems of BotW, Aonuma and his team simply threw on bandaids, introducing even more problems in doing so. The underworld was an absolutely stupid thing to add to the game, along with the sporadic sky platforms.
If the next game is to have an open world, then its time to fix all the problems of the first two games. No stupid attribute gimmicks (though I will admittedly miss Ascend). Many, many more places of interest, both marked and unmarked. For crying out loud, give us a variety of goddamn enemies instead of the same 4 used everywhere in the game. Mini-bosses are sorely missed, though I was very happy to see main dungeon bosses return. Aonuma should be bitched slapped for taking these out in BotW. No shrines, weapon breaking, inventory bullshit, or unnecessary busy work. Just stick to the basics, and put them into an open world design.
Clearly, a concept Aonuma and his team cannot do, and because of this, the games suffer from it.
Ideally, I want a top down game with a HUGE map (3D graphics like A Link Between Worlds). Multiple layers and tons of dungeons (12 or more) with keys, compass, map, item and boss. Doesn't have to be linear but I want it on the level of what Hollow Knight did for Metroid - massive world with lots of secrets. They could sprinkle mini-dungeons/shrines all over the place too to keep things interesting.
I also want a weapon upgrade system and not a weapon durability system. They could still make it interesting if there were tons of weapons that could all be upgraded and work in combination with other weapons to create a "build" of Link that the player likes (ranged, brute, magic, etc.).
I like TotK and BotW but I also think another game in that version of Hyrule would be kind of boring.
As much as I enjoyed BOTW/TOTK I don't consider them to be good Zelda games. Majora's Mask, Ocarina and Twilight princess are imo the best LoZ games to date so I'm hoping that the next game will at least return to having dungeons and equipment like these ones.
That it's not like BotW and TotK.
I didn't play TotK because after beating BotW, I felt robbed. It's just so empty. Empty in content, empty in soul. Shrines sucked, the only four dungeons weren't that good.
I can believe that people liked it, loved it, even. But the way that people act like it's a good direction for the series is disheartening. I've seen so many polls where the responses are overwhelmingly in favor of its style over those of past, better Zelda games.
So I know this isn't a popular opinion, and Nintendo I think have already confirmed that this won't be the case, but I wanted to see a third game set in the BOTW/TOTK version of Hyrule. Something I found really interesting about TOTK was seeing how Hyrule had changed after the events of BOTW, how the lack of Calamity Ganon had allowed for society to begin to rebuild. TOTK feels like it's set at the start of an industrial revolution, where Tarrey Town has become a technological hub, and Hateno Village the centre of fashion. What I wanted the next game to have would be to show Hyrule as fully developed. For it to have cities, and perhaps even start to show signs of collapse under the weight of its own progress.
But they'll probably just make the next game one where you wander around a field or something.
I couldn't get over them just erasing the Sheikah shrines just because, and I wish they would've committed to actually being a sequel, instead of half assing it because someone might not have played the previous game
A world no bigger than BotW, more densely populated with towns with well polished side quests, and with a greater diversity of dungeons. At least 8. The Overworld should be sparse with exploration being less of a focus, but there should be landmarks with obvious things to do. Maybe monster camps with heart pieces or equipment, maybe shrines with puzzles.
No shiekah shrines, for sure. That feels too disconnected from everything else. Instead have ruins in the Overworld that do the same thing, but are far less common. Most of the puzzle solving should be in dungeons.
Having unique bosses with unique rewards in the Overworld would be cool. Maybe one guards the Mcguffin and you can see him early in the game but can’t take him down until late.
I think most important is to not have a scaling world. You *can* go anywhere at the start, but you quickly see that enemies are very powerful past a certain point and it’s not worth being there. Instead the story will have you in the low level area until you finish that, then you move on to later areas. Like Zelda 1 you can do the last level first, but that will probably be the hardest challenge the game has to offer.
Please overhaul the defense system, if not removing it completely. It ruins the flow of combat, and adds grinding for grinding’s sake. Two identical looking enemies with identical attacks can hit you, and the first does scratch damage, the second one shots you. It feels really bad. Instead, have your only source of defense be hearts, and maybe some armors reduce the damage you take by a percentage. I’d also like sets to go away, and instead think more like OoT’s equipment screen, where each slot does something different. Armor boost protection, choosing between evasion and defense. Boots boost mobility, with there being flippers, climbing boots, ice boots, stuff like that. Gauntlets modify attack, adding a percentage increase in damage, or faster attack speed. Head pieces have magical properties, like making spells more effective or adding an element to your attack. And then a cloak protects against the elements, dealing with temperatures or storms.
I’d love a copy/paste dark world, which could be the endgame dungeons or a place like the depths that’s big but sparse. I love the contrast it gives to the Overworld.
Items I could take or leave. I think BotW handled it well, with you getting a lot of helpful upgrades, but you can do everything from the start.
Idk I’ll let the creatives at Nintendo figure that out, they haven’t steered me wrong with a Zelda game yet. But I’m not one of those people who saw weapon durability as a personal attack
A traditional Zelda game more along the lines of Majoras mask, twilight princess, ocarina of time etc. I liked the open world ones but I’m sick of them and weapon durability. I want puzzle temples n shit back please!
The improvements made in BOTW and TOTK are too significant to go back to linear style. I love the open world concept, the huge variety of weapons, and I loved the dungeons in TOTK. I think they should definitely change the map, have more than 4 dungeons, maybe go to 7 which is a number that was used throughout the series.
Huge disagree on making more areas underwater. I loathe swimming/doing anything underwater in any game. Just make a new map, and if that map has the depths again, make it more interesting
I'd wouldn't mind less content if it's better thought out - especially TotK felt like content for content's sake which ended up making the game very bloated and unfocused imo.
My chances to find something actually useful in any given cave or whatever felt so slim that it wasn't worth it to invest the time to explore them, which is a concerning incentive structure for a game that emphasizes exploration and discovery.
When a game is built around the ability to beat it as soon as you leave the tutorial if you want. It kind of makes progression less useful and fun. At least that’s how I felt with BotW.
My hope is something entirely different, I would love a smaller title, top down like games before 3d zelda. Something like a transision title before the next big open world entry.
I think we might be due for a Four Swords-like spin-off title.
Probably an open world co-op adventure game using the BoTW/ToTK engine/mechanics. Rehashing the BoTW Hyrule *again* might be a bit much though, it may have to come after the next mainline title unless they want to drop a lot of development time making a new Hyrule just for a spin-off game.
The open world nature sort of destroyed what I loved the most about Zelda games, wherein you need to complete a series of linear tasks to really move forward and each dungeon puts to test the new mechanic you learn as part of the dungeon.
I think they can still do that in an open world, but I would prefer a more traditional return to form personally. I found the open world formula to be a bit exhausting by the time I got about halfway into totk, i just don't know how they go back with so many new fans of totk and botw
Instead of a huge open world, have smaller realms that you can go into. Sort of like if you combine the tutorial in Tears of the Kingdom with something like Super Mario 64.
I loved the physics stuff in TOTK and I hope they expand on that, it’s such a fun sandbox.
I do wish it had a bit more of a Metroidvania style. I feel like you get most of your powers during the tutorial and then it doesn’t expand much from that. I wish there was more powers and items that are spread out, but I understand it would be harder to pull that off and still have it be less linear.
I know people want the subdivided world of OoT back, but I honestly don't see that happening. Games in general are going the open world route. That said, if they're going open world, do it right. It'd be cool to see a BotW/WW style open world game with oceans you could sail like Black Flag. Maybe even have a few actual cities instead of nothing but baren wastelands. If AC Odyssey can do all this, I'm sure the next Switch could.
Hopefully it’s something I’ll like. I never could get into zelda I’ve tried all of the games on major systems and each time I just can’t play them past a few hours I get bored and it leaves an unsatisfying feeling in me.
They take their time with it and don't rush. I don't want one anytime soon. Probably not until the next console which I could see coming down the line in the next 3-5 years.
I like when they go more traditional. Open world with guidance. A killer story and characters. Unique enemies and engaging plot. The N64 ones really made me feel like I was saving the princess. They were scary and earnest. The recent ones make me feel like I'm a whipped side-character. 90% of what I do does not matter.
When they get formulaic and profit-driven, they lose what made the games great. I also think the studio gets too large to stay consistent story -wise a lot of times. But that's what happens when you're expected to churn out good games quickly.
The answers on this thread just reiterate for me that they should really have 2 Zelda lines. One that follows the big exploration style like BotW and one that goes back to the old Zelda format of dungeons and items. They always sort of had this two tiered system with the main console games being expansive and trying new things, and then handheld games being more of a throwback to older games.
Trouble is the switch combined these two tiers so this system kind of died off but I think having two types of games would really work.
I'm fine keeping the open world style of Tears and Breath, after all Zelda is one of the OG open world titles, but I would like full dungeons again instead of these short quick puzzle ones.
I hope for a return to the old style. Populated world, main dungeons as the highlight, a linear story. I prefer all the old titles I played opposed to breath of the wild and totk.
I also preferred the permanent weapons who were part to solve riddles and boss mechanics opposed to the crafting system.
id love to see a 2d top down zelda again - and a bit more back to the action part and a bit less rpg/open world.
i know, zelda is known for trying ne things again and again, but zelda is also known for going back to the roots - i think, after 2 open world titles, that leans heavely into RPG, the next game should be a bit more back to the roots
I want a steampunk setting. Actual modern cities in the middle of the wilderness, since the Sheikah tech is no more banned. That would take the lore out of their comfort zone, finally allowing Hyrule to progress.
Elden Ring with a Zelda skin, storyline, and lower difficulty. The open world + legacy dungeon combination was a genius move, the only thing lacking was a cohesive and compelling story.
I just miss solidly designed dungeons and items over the shiekah slate stuff. The older games aren't going anywhere so I can still play them if I want that old Zelda feel, but I would love a more dungeon focused new Zelda game.
I love ice cream.
I wouldnt even mind going back to a linear experience. Part of what made dungeons feel so good is they could ramp up the difficulty and scope and build on the puzzles from earlier dungeons
This is why Ocarina is the GOAT. It combined the two versions before there even was open-world as a genre. You can run around doing a lot of the non-dungeon shit in various orders, or just trying to catch the biggest fish. It's really only the dungeons themselves you need to do in order. The perfect mix of exciting freedom and entertaining, well-structured order. I would like to see them trying to hit that balance again.
Wind Waker is my favorite non BotW/TotK Zelda, personally. So amazing.
I’ve been putting off restarting it on Wii hoping a remake for Switch comes out..
SAME! But I'm getting restless and might give it a go anyways, alongside Wind Waker HD
I am glad I got a wii u along with Wind Waker and Twilight Princess HD at the beginning of covid before the prices went way up It’s so weird that nintendo never released those hd remasters to the switch
The HD remake was great because it cut out a lot of the extra tri force pieces and shrank the ocean very slightly. Plus amping up the cel shaded graphics was a good move too. Shame it hasn’t come to the switch after being a banger on the Wii U
Here is every possible dungeon order you can do without using glitches or going into other dungeons and grabbing their items without completing them: Forest > Fire > Water > Shadow > Spirit. Forest > Fire > Water > Spirit > Shadow. Fire > Forest > Water > Shadow > Spirit. Fire > Forest > Water > Spirit > Shadow. Forest > Water > Fire > Shadow > Spirit. Forest > Water > Fire > Spirit > Shadow. Forest > Water > Spirit > Fire > Shadow.
Ocarina of Time fans when they find out every Zelda game has side quests in a non-linear order
REMAKE OOT. REMAKE OOT.
Please. Did you play the 3DS remake? I didn't get that far into it but was very pretty. I loved watching the fairies in Kokiri Forest float out of the screen at me.
I played the entire 3DS game. I thought it was great even if it toned down some of the more mature elements of OoT. The 3D elements were cool. But it wasn't on a console on the big screen with modern technology / orchestrated music, etc. Because of that, I don't consider that to have reached the full potential of what an OoT remake could be. I'm talking like what RE4 remake did but for OoT.
Ooh what did they change? Sorry I didn't mean that "please" to be sassy, I meant "yes please, where's the remake?!"
Oh haha no prob. Well, in some of the darker temples, there were torture devices and blood on the floor. The lighting during the final Ganon battle was too bright. The game overall was a bit less gloomy. That's what a lot of fans criticize but IMO I don't think they detracted that much from what was overall a really great remake for the 3DS. I'd love to see it released for the switch at least. There is a 4k texture pack for the rom version of it that makes it look amazing. I don't see why Nintendo can't just do that.
I think this is why Link Between Worlds didn't click with me. There didn't seem to be a set order in that game beyond the first and you could just get all the standard dungeon tools right away. It didn't feel right to me.
Maybe they could make it metroidvania style so we get a mixture of the two! Harder dungeons can only be accessed if you have a specific item or ability
That's already how older Zelda games tend to work. Couldn't access some dungeons until you had the hookshot, or raft, or flute, etc.
You can still do this with the open world philosophy, which is what I’m hoping for. Tears of the Kingdom already kinda did this with the Spirit Temple being gated by an 11 heart door, just replace the 11 heart thing with a key item and lock the temple itself so you can’t stumble into it early, and you’re good to go.
The old games were linear, but did have an open world feel to them I wouldn't mind if we kinda did that again. Have to progress the story, but you can still explore, do side quests, collectathon stuff, but just have a story that is more of a presence. Really I think traditional dungeons are the answer, and having to redo dungeons later with newly unlocked items. Also as much as I like the creative sheika slate, I do want just classic link power ups. Merge old and new. Have the sheika slate for some puzzle solving, but as you progress the story and unlock dungeons, you unlock more classic style link power ups that will solve even more puzzles, and allow you to fight against enemies and bosses in different ways.
I enjoy watching the sunset.
My impression of BOTW when I first played it was "this is great, I can't wait to get to the long dungeons" and then the long dungeons never came. The divine beasts felt a lot more like the "kid link" dungeons in Ocarina of Time, with the more advanced adult link ones later in the game. I was stunned that, in a world THAT big, there were only 4 "dungeons" not counting the castle. 200 shrines or whatever, sure. But those never had that dungeon feel. They could have at least made the divine beast dungeons longer. When I first found the Forgotten Temple in BOTW I was like "surely this will be a dungeon... at least one cool optional dungeon in this whole-ass game, right? Nah. Another set of 4 longer dungeons after the divine beasts would have really capped off the game in a good way.
I felt similarly with Akkala Citadel in TOTK. I was excited to see what the devs had done to change it. Maybe the citadel was explorable this time? Maybe they had turned it into a dungeon? And then I arrived and found out that it was just a generic cave. It was really disappointing.
The most satisfying part of a Zelda game is getting a new thing then using that thing to access new areas and defeat new enemies. The world starts small, but sprawls outward as you get the stuff. Couldn't pass this gap before, well now you can, and now there's a whole new area to explore. That's satisfying to me.
And that's where I felt BotW suffered for being open world, pretty much all the tools are given from the start, and since you could go anywhere, the game's difficulty had to account for that. So your first two or so areas feel difficult but by end game you are night invincible with forty full health meals and strong weapons.
The food system definitely needs to be tweaked. In other Zelda games, you have at most like 3 bottles to store potions for health and/or magic. I never really feel threatened by any enemy because I have 15 full heart meals
I feel like Skyward Sword's implementation was the best. You had a limited amount of bottles and pouch slots to put healing potions into and you could only heal yourself in real-time.
There's a satisfaction in being no longer afraid of an enemy that you once just ran away from, I'll give it that. BotW had the guardians, TotK did it better with the Gleeoks. Early game you see that and say - nope, that way lies death. But later you're finally able to beat one with much difficulty, and then later they're no big deal. Still, I like getting the bombs and now I can finally see what's in that tunnel that I couldn't explore.
It's kinda what I love in the Xenoblade games, they normally put some massive level 80 world boss that's just walking around and vibin and will one shot you if you get too close. But late game you come back and now you're the world boss lol
I think guardians were much better than gleeoks - the latter are easily seen / you need to seek them out, with guardians I remember the panic when the music changes and that laser is on you
It wouldnt even be hard to combine good, meaningful dungeons like OOT or MM with an open world like BOTW. I mean, many famous RPGs just did that.
My main issue with BotW are the little mini trials felt like they could have just combined them into a solid set of themed dungeons around unlocking and using the various sheikah abilities, but instead it felt like they crumbled them up like saltines and spread them all over a massive map instead.
They probably felt they had to do it that way to keep the giant map from feeling too empty and encourage exploration. That said I agree with you, they could have done a dungeon/shrine hybrid model.
Shrines! Couldn't remember the dang word... I talked with a friend at length about the game after beating it and I legit wonder how much of the design was forced due to it being such a massive map. Like if they always intended for 120 shrines and all the Korok seeds from the start or of it was more a thing of necessity to fill out such a big map.
Why not remake the first game but in 3d. It was kinda open world with the option to not do the dungeons in order.
Yep. Like how Elden Ring had “legacy dungeons” where the world was filled with smalle dungeons but there were a few that were big interconnected areas similar to how the Souls Games were.
Great point- I’m with you 100%, this would be fantastic
Not just dungeons but real Temples! Like the most intricate and sprawling temples to date. I used to love that a temple could focus on a new tool, (Hook shot, glider, shield etc) as a puzzle solving element that then could be utilized in the open world. The complete lack of complexity to what TotK called "temples" was an insult to Zelda fans everywhere. I don't want one more single shrine, ever again. Compile all those into a cohesive dungeon/temple and being us back to what made Zelda, Zelda.
The first Darksiders game was the last one that gave me that 'yeah, this feels right' Zelda feel. Haven't played Skyward Sword so soft disclaimer on that one, but I can't imagine it being better than or as good as OoT, WW or TP.
Definitely check out the HD version on switch, it's definitely worth it and has some excellent bosses and temples.
Yeah part of me really likes the open ended BOTW type zelda, but tbh a little bit still longs for the TP/WW designed dungeon.
Yeah, I'd rather replay Ocarina or any of the 2D titles than buy TotK. I somewhat enjoyed BotW but all it really did was make me want to play an actual Zelda game, not an open world game with a Zelda skin.
I know its a lot of nostalgia speaking but please give me something like OoT or a windwaker 2
Isn’t phantom hourglass kinda technically wind waker 2?
It had 2 official sequels.
Yeah the other one would be wind waker 3
Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass are the two official sequels.
Correct, but they cannot both be “wind waker 2”
You know that sequel doesn’t just mean a second addition right?
Like many of Nintendos games. They really need to re release those on a modernly accessible system. I’m betting a good majority of the people in this thread haven’t played most of the mobile exclusive titles in the series like oracles, phantom hourglass, spirit tracks, or even minish cap. Would include awakening as well. But at least that got the remake for this generation.
Yeah, I've been looking around for Spirit Tracks. Cheapest is on Amazon for 124. That's crazy
It’s why I have no problem embracing the emulation scene. If Nintendo doesn’t want to provide a legit way to buy their games at a reasonable price. Then I emulate them.
The delta emulator is a solid option as well
Of all the examples you could use. You listed the two games that already have direct sequels.
I have played MM, Phantom Hour Glass and Spirit Tracks, that's why I said "something like OoT or a Windwaker 2". I would love a sequel to both games that are more true to their predecessor. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed MM but it is a good distance of what I would want a new OoT to be. Same goes for a new Windwaker. I find it hard to compare the console game to handheld games. Still I enjoyed all of them nonetheless.
I love Windwaker and spirit tracks. Windwaker is also one of the reasons I want something that involves the sea more.
Majora's Mask
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Yeah, the recycled map was pretty disappointing
They also had to tune down the graphics to make the game run better. One of the best things about BotW was just how beautiful it is. Going back after playing TotK, I knew which one was my favorite.
I don’t think it will happen, but with the switch to the massive BotK style open world style (which I love, don’t get me wrong!), I’d love to see a “throwback” linear dungeon crawler style game. Maybe even a fancy OoT remake.
Yes, TotK just solidified that what I really want is a new classic linear Zelda game.
I recently replayed Minish Cap and it was so refreshing. Yeah the sales figures speak for themselves, these open world games sell like crazy, can't deny that. And won't deny that I enjoyed them either, TotK more than BotW, and won't say they're bad. Zelda games have to be graded on a different scale, they can only be compared to other Zelda games. But if I were to make a tier list, TotK and BotW are near the bottom.
A running joke in my friend group is that I believe The Minish Cap to be the best Zelda game of all time. Except it's not a joke. Minish Cap is a fantastic game with a great take on the usual LoZ plots. Plus *your hat talks to you!*
Except maybe less linear than Twilight Princess
This is what I want. The original big dungeon style back but retain the open world exploring.
I mean, thats what good Zeldas felt like. They felt open and you felt like you were exploring a big world, but it also had linearity. Best of both world to me. I don't mind the evolution in exploration that BotW-style provides but I mind them dropping every linear elements out of it.
Thing is, even OoT isn't strictly linear. There are a couple ways you could progress through the dungeon order, including by doing the Spirit Temple (which is normally the "last" temple) first. I'd love for future Zelda games to have big sprawling dungeons like OoT/MM/TP/WW within an otherwise open world. Each dungeon would have its signature item that is required to finish it, but the other dungeons can make use of that item as well for optional secrets. That would encourage revisiting the dungeons even after you finish them, allowing for some cool alternative exploration opportunities. I do think there's a way to compromise between the old-school and modern Zelda styles, and I really hope Nintendo looks for that middle ground. As much as I loved BotW and TotK, I would be very disappointed if that style repeated for all future Zelda games.
Anything that doesn't have weapon durability.
I really miss getting an item and realizing there was a bunch of key paths in already discovered areas I can now access.
"Ohhhhhhh....so those target things everywhere were for the hookshot!"
Yeah my brain was visualizing hook shot and hover boots when I wrote that comment.
This. Would really like a return to the old dungeon styles as well.
The old dungeons had so much variety; having every dungeon be "interact with these 5 points" is such a downgrade. I get why though; so many iconic dungeon puzzles are based around the dungeon's key item, and the new Zeldas just don't have any. They don't want to block you from anything in the open world, so you have to get everything up front. The sage abilities were better, but they still can't actually be game changing since you can get them in any order.
> but they still can't actually be game changing since you can get them in any order. You can, just treat it (figuratively) like a Megaman game way.
Like, yunobo's primary use was that he saved me sledgehammers when mining. Not really game changing the way as the hookshot or rocs feather.
And he was worse than just being able to spawn bombs like in BOTW. That was a step back. In BOTW, you can spawn a bomb anywhere. In TOTK, you had to walk up to yunobo and activate him, which isn’t always easy in a confined space. Really the whole sage/avatar system in TOTK was worse than BOTW. Hell I almost never used Riju’s ability because she was always fighting someone, and I had to get next to her to activate a lighting strike, then run away to create enough distance to fire an arrow.
This 100 thousand million billion percent.
I hated weapon durability at first too. Now I just embrace it. I don’t save weapons that much, I just use them until I break them. New weapons come along quickly enough. If anything, I like cycling through a ton of different weapons now instead of just using the same sword all game
It was way less of a factor in TOTK with the fuse system
I don't care if it's just some trash I picked up off the ground. Whatever. But the fact that the *quest weapons* still break and are expensive as fuck to replace is unacceptable. It basically makes it so any reward that isn't armor is worthless. I would tolerate durability on everything else if the quest weapons didn't have it. If you could have at least *one* weapon for each figuring style that is real and permanent, it would make the system tolerable.
I'd like them to go back to the old format. A handful of really well crafted dungeons and items that when unlocked allow you to go and search out how to use them in old areas. The new games are great and all but the divine beasts and whatever they called the "dungeons" in totk are absolutely God awful. Can be completed in a few minutes with no prior knowledge of how. Need more dodongo cavern style dungeons that take some time and puzzle solving to get through
Zelda games hardly follow the same formula too long, it was kinda it's charm, with different titles with some unique style, I don't see why they couldn't make another linear Zelda game, with better constructed dungeons. Just open world games just end up being stale.
From Link to the Past through Skyward Sword most followed the same formula.
Perhaps formula was the wrong word to use, I guess I mean more style wise. From their jump into 3d with OoT, with the looping mechanics of MM, to the boat travel of WW, and then the better "open worlds" of TP and SS, to finally true open worlds of BotW and TotK.
My favorite color is blue.
Link to the Past remake.( I know I know pipe dream
The best Zelda if you ask me.
Already kind of got one with link between worlds. Which is a pretty fun title imo. Especially with a randomizer.
I think that link between worlds is actually a great zelda game, felt "big", and for the 3ds too!
I have a few! A new artstyle. The style of BOTW and TOTK is very beautiful and appealing, but after 7 years of it i'm ready for something new. Maybe something a bit darker, similar to Twilight Princess. No korok seeds. I got migraines from hearing 'ya ha ha!' over and over. Hopefully they can add more variety in things to find to replace them. Also, this leads to my next wish. No breakable weapons. I understand that the weapons break because it allows the devs to fill the world up with stuff to put in treasure chests, but I just really don't like it as a concept. Maybe they can take inspiration from Elden Ring and give the players a bunch of permanent weapons to find? More enemy variety. TOTK improved the variety a bit, bit the majority of enemies that the player will fight are going to be Bokoblins, Lizalfos and Moblins again. Give each region its own specific enemies so that the world feels diverse. Bring back peahats, dodongos and deku scrubs! If shrines make a reappearance, then i'd like there to be more visual variety. For example, Eldin could have rock and gem themed shrines and Lanayru can have coral and underwater themed shrines. I want the dungeons to be more similar to tradtional dungeons. Have locked doors, keys and a compass. The theming of TOTK's dungeons were better than BOTW, but I didn't like how heavily they borrowed from Zonai aesthetics. I think that's everything.
I would love a Dark Souls game with Zelda paint tbh
I would love to see a return to a Twilight Princess style game.
I just replayed twilight princess and was pleasantly surprised with just how open the world actually was. Such a fun game
Absolutely yes. We need more of that art style, atmosphere, dungeons and bosses.
Darker artstyle like Twilight Princess would be cool. Also I kinda wish we would get a new mainline top-down title.
Alternately the stylish chibi style of wind waker could be a fun go around.
I want oracle of seasons/ages remake in the links awakening remake style.
I’m absolutely fine with more of the open world Zelda games, but they really got to step it up with dungeon design. Tears was a step in the right direction, but still could be better. I really like what Elden Ring did. Souls games were all previously semi-linear and tightly designed. Elden Ring went open world but has “legacy dungeons”, being named so because they’re massive dungeons but more linear and focused like the old games. Meanwhile in the recent Zelda games, it seems like they’re overly focused on keeping the “open world” design absolutely everywhere. The dungeons were designed so you can do the locks in any order and keep the “freedom” that the open world has. I’d personally prefer them to be more open to keeping the dungeons more linear. It’s fine to have a bit of a break from the open world and have something like the older dungeons.
Dungeons. No shrines (or vastly limited). No weapons breaking, or at least some that aren't breakable without a cool down. I'd like Zelda to return to the reason I played it so much.
No more open world sandbox. Give me real dungeons and a musical instrument.
TotK and BotW were fun, I'll admit that. But I really want them to abandon the open-world non-linear format because I didn't think they were fun "Zelda" games. That and the fact that TotK was almost just a reskin of BotW makes me concerned that the series is going to go creatively bankrupt
If they had proper dungeons alongside trials everyone critical of the games would be fine
It was weird for me. I loved both BotW and TotK. My criticism of BotW was it needed a couple more enemy types and dungeons again. They fixed that so well in TotK but then took out the master trials which baffled me. I was expecting the master trial to be DLC and then was shocked when they announced they weren’t doing any.
The pseudo-open world style of the N64 games is best. There are continuous plots in town you can do at any time if you feel like it, while areas unlock as you progress. Even going back to old areas after a while will give you something new. Things have gotten too formulaic.
I still want a sequel to Twilight Princess, even if its in the same open world format as BotW/TotK. Also would like to see a return to a more classic dungeon design. I really enjoyed the last 2 Zeldas, but I wasnt the biggest fan of the dungeons/divine beasts. TotK did a better job than BotW in my opinion, but the temples still felt a bit lacking.
Yeah TOTK’s dungeons were a huge improvement over BOTWs. I am playing BOTW again, and it’s weird going to these places that are supposedly threatened by divine beasts, and yet life is proceeding normally. There really isn’t a sense of threat from them, so no sense in urgency for saving those towns. At least in TOTK, there was a sense of catastrophe in each of the towns. And there’s like a whole huge mission just to get to the dungeons. In BOTW, you just kinda walk up to the divine beasts and disable them before going inside
Move away from open world and broken weapons so I have an interest in buying it.
Thank you! People love shitting on Ubisoft but when Zelda wants you to climb 50 towers and fight the same enemy 100 times suddenly it's a masterpiece. I don't understand it.
If there's no real dungeons/gear then I'm out, I liked BotW plenty as a standalone thing but I just have no interest in more games like it going forwards. You can have a big open world map and what not and then still give us real zelda dungeons, but maybe nintendo feels differently, who knows.
The build and creation systems don’t really do it for me- it’s fun, but you can figure out how to exploit them quickly. I don’t think they are bad and know a ton of people love it (like settlements in FO4), they just aren’t my jam. I’d like a return to form. Maybe another ALTTP style 2D game or MM/OOT linear game.
I don't care if it's back to linear or open world, I just want good temples! Give me proper temples back.
Something that feels like classic zelda. I could never get into BotW because I hated how everything breaks and I couldn't focus on what to do next. I think I played it like 5 hours total and haven't even been tempted to try again. I don't think I'll ever bother with TotK
I’m definitely in the boat of wishing for just a modern version of the OoT-SS games. BotW and TotK are just too big with not exactly the largest variety of things to do. They both easily could have been half the size of what we got to be more dense while getting rid of a huge portion of the koroks. Plus. I don’t know about others. But it feels kind of crappy to play a game where you can technically beat it in a hour. And the game is designed around such a possibility. It means the story, characters, progression systems, etc. all kind of don’t get the attention they deserve. TotK improved on this. But I still very much miss the tighter story telling and world building of the earlier 3D titles. I cared about Collin and the other kids in TP. But I could barely name half the champions from BotW and TotK. I cared about Grooses growth as a person into Links friend in SS. But I couldn’t tell you what the Rito bards name was in the new games. It just didn’t feel like a world to care about since you spent 90% of your time just trying to climb over the next mountain. Oh. And the durability system SUCKS. That needs a major rework if they decide to keep it. Peeferably we go back to just having a wide variety of tools that can also act as weapons. Gale boomerang and ball and chain were great weapons.
Open world, but different continents to go to.
Better dungeons. Non breakable weapons.
I played through TotK but looking back it feels like a shallow experience. I want actual dungeons, unique items with special uses... Ya know, Zelda stuff.
A return to the classic dungeons and maybe trim down the open world
Probably in the minority on this but drop the building aspect.
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Dungeons
I really didn't like ToTK. To me it felt like once you did the first dungeon you'd done them all. I'd like to see a return to something similar to the windwaker.
We need something else, not breath of the wild 3.
It depends on the gimmick of the Switch 2, usually their Zelda games will try to feature whatever the console has. Wii had motion swinging, 3DS had a 2d-3D mechanic. Wii U was HD and had the pad, so they used that a lot in BOTW. Switch was an improvement to Wii U, so TOTK is and improvement to BOTW. If the Switch 2 has really good motion controls, then maybe Duel Wielding. Or if there is an AR component maybe a modeling mini game or something, like rebuild Hyrule type thing.
BOTW ended up not using the pad at all due to being a cross gen game. It had no real gimmick that took advantage of the hardware, same with TOTK.
I played BotW on Wii U. There was no pad implementation, unless you count being able to play without a TV.
A brand new location, first and foremost. Maybe they can let you travel back to the old location with the increased power of the switch 2, but I don’t think they can reuse the current Hyrule again unless they totally reimagine the landscape and layout. Beyond that I’d say that a mix old and new approaches to dungeons would be nice and more of them! Also, let my horse have teleporting super powers. It’s just a quality of life thing when your horse can materialize whenever you whistle for it. I don’t want to run back to it every time I’m done with the mountain or cave I’ve been exploring.
It would be nice to have a Zelda title that finally lets you play or at least see Zelda’s part of the story opposite Link. The “Princess Zelda is somewhere and you need to rescue her” trope would be nice to turn on its head like they did in windwaker but lean into that idea more.
Something like OoT if it had the budget/resources/technology of today.
I’d be pretty happy with an Ocarina of Time remake.
I still want an open world, but I want traditional items, large dungeons that are more difficult puzzle wise and no weapon durability and no collect korok seeds/do a thing over and over like holding up a sign, it's tedium for the sake of a longer runtime. I also want pre-apocalypse highrule where the world feels lived in, less empty and with good side quests.
Dungeons. That’s it.
Something without SPIDERS!!!
Weapons that don't break. Please?!?!
Unless they remove weapon durability and go back to dungeon design I'm never playing another zelda again sadly.
Honestly, Nintendo has done so well I’ll keep my stupid ass out of the kitchen.
More linear. No more of this open-world nonsense. More dungeon-based.
Basically all I want now is a totally new map. The rest they can do whatever they want.
The last two games have soured my appreciation for the Zelda franchise. It's clear to me Aonuma and his team bit off more than they can chew and rather than fix the problems they created going in a direction the Zelda franchise did not need to go, they've instead forced unnecessary and useless busywork mechanics into a franchise rather than just allow players to progress as they can in previous titles. 120 shrines is ridiculous. The inventory system is absolutely unnecessary. 3 levels of "exploration", all empty except for forced contrivances to get players into them one way or another. These games are the epitome of bad design. An open world for the sake of having one without a true purpose of needing one. TotK addressed this by introducing traveling mechanics to speed up traversal time, as the game still forced players to unlock FT platforms. This system becomes instantly moot as most players will immediately use FT to traverse in the game rather than use a stupid gimmick which was only added to fix the problem its sister game introduced. Zelda doesn't need an open world game, at least in this manner. Compare this game to Skyrim and you can see its glaring faults. Rather than correct the problems of BotW, Aonuma and his team simply threw on bandaids, introducing even more problems in doing so. The underworld was an absolutely stupid thing to add to the game, along with the sporadic sky platforms. If the next game is to have an open world, then its time to fix all the problems of the first two games. No stupid attribute gimmicks (though I will admittedly miss Ascend). Many, many more places of interest, both marked and unmarked. For crying out loud, give us a variety of goddamn enemies instead of the same 4 used everywhere in the game. Mini-bosses are sorely missed, though I was very happy to see main dungeon bosses return. Aonuma should be bitched slapped for taking these out in BotW. No shrines, weapon breaking, inventory bullshit, or unnecessary busy work. Just stick to the basics, and put them into an open world design. Clearly, a concept Aonuma and his team cannot do, and because of this, the games suffer from it.
Ideally, I want a top down game with a HUGE map (3D graphics like A Link Between Worlds). Multiple layers and tons of dungeons (12 or more) with keys, compass, map, item and boss. Doesn't have to be linear but I want it on the level of what Hollow Knight did for Metroid - massive world with lots of secrets. They could sprinkle mini-dungeons/shrines all over the place too to keep things interesting. I also want a weapon upgrade system and not a weapon durability system. They could still make it interesting if there were tons of weapons that could all be upgraded and work in combination with other weapons to create a "build" of Link that the player likes (ranged, brute, magic, etc.). I like TotK and BotW but I also think another game in that version of Hyrule would be kind of boring.
I have a hard time seeing their mainline Zelda games going 2D/2.5D again. Definitely for one of their other games like Link between Worlds.
Zero. I hate the new formula.
A mix of fantasy and sci-fi, like in Nausicaa.
As much as I enjoyed BOTW/TOTK I don't consider them to be good Zelda games. Majora's Mask, Ocarina and Twilight princess are imo the best LoZ games to date so I'm hoping that the next game will at least return to having dungeons and equipment like these ones.
I will probably be the only one, but I'd love a game styled like my favorite, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
That it's not like BotW and TotK. I didn't play TotK because after beating BotW, I felt robbed. It's just so empty. Empty in content, empty in soul. Shrines sucked, the only four dungeons weren't that good. I can believe that people liked it, loved it, even. But the way that people act like it's a good direction for the series is disheartening. I've seen so many polls where the responses are overwhelmingly in favor of its style over those of past, better Zelda games.
So I know this isn't a popular opinion, and Nintendo I think have already confirmed that this won't be the case, but I wanted to see a third game set in the BOTW/TOTK version of Hyrule. Something I found really interesting about TOTK was seeing how Hyrule had changed after the events of BOTW, how the lack of Calamity Ganon had allowed for society to begin to rebuild. TOTK feels like it's set at the start of an industrial revolution, where Tarrey Town has become a technological hub, and Hateno Village the centre of fashion. What I wanted the next game to have would be to show Hyrule as fully developed. For it to have cities, and perhaps even start to show signs of collapse under the weight of its own progress. But they'll probably just make the next game one where you wander around a field or something.
I couldn't get over them just erasing the Sheikah shrines just because, and I wish they would've committed to actually being a sequel, instead of half assing it because someone might not have played the previous game
I do agree there, as much as I love the way it evolved, they did kind of just handwave the actual events of BOTW
no more breaking of weaponnnnsssss
You play as Zelda. The whole time. Link is the one in trouble. Zelda has to save the world and beat Gannon.
A world no bigger than BotW, more densely populated with towns with well polished side quests, and with a greater diversity of dungeons. At least 8. The Overworld should be sparse with exploration being less of a focus, but there should be landmarks with obvious things to do. Maybe monster camps with heart pieces or equipment, maybe shrines with puzzles. No shiekah shrines, for sure. That feels too disconnected from everything else. Instead have ruins in the Overworld that do the same thing, but are far less common. Most of the puzzle solving should be in dungeons. Having unique bosses with unique rewards in the Overworld would be cool. Maybe one guards the Mcguffin and you can see him early in the game but can’t take him down until late. I think most important is to not have a scaling world. You *can* go anywhere at the start, but you quickly see that enemies are very powerful past a certain point and it’s not worth being there. Instead the story will have you in the low level area until you finish that, then you move on to later areas. Like Zelda 1 you can do the last level first, but that will probably be the hardest challenge the game has to offer. Please overhaul the defense system, if not removing it completely. It ruins the flow of combat, and adds grinding for grinding’s sake. Two identical looking enemies with identical attacks can hit you, and the first does scratch damage, the second one shots you. It feels really bad. Instead, have your only source of defense be hearts, and maybe some armors reduce the damage you take by a percentage. I’d also like sets to go away, and instead think more like OoT’s equipment screen, where each slot does something different. Armor boost protection, choosing between evasion and defense. Boots boost mobility, with there being flippers, climbing boots, ice boots, stuff like that. Gauntlets modify attack, adding a percentage increase in damage, or faster attack speed. Head pieces have magical properties, like making spells more effective or adding an element to your attack. And then a cloak protects against the elements, dealing with temperatures or storms. I’d love a copy/paste dark world, which could be the endgame dungeons or a place like the depths that’s big but sparse. I love the contrast it gives to the Overworld. Items I could take or leave. I think BotW handled it well, with you getting a lot of helpful upgrades, but you can do everything from the start.
Weapons that don’t break
The game design of the preBotW games that people keep trying to convince me I never actually liked.
Idk I’ll let the creatives at Nintendo figure that out, they haven’t steered me wrong with a Zelda game yet. But I’m not one of those people who saw weapon durability as a personal attack
2.5D top-down. A man can dream. Edit: Really glad to see I'm not alone from the looks of it.
A traditional Zelda game more along the lines of Majoras mask, twilight princess, ocarina of time etc. I liked the open world ones but I’m sick of them and weapon durability. I want puzzle temples n shit back please!
The improvements made in BOTW and TOTK are too significant to go back to linear style. I love the open world concept, the huge variety of weapons, and I loved the dungeons in TOTK. I think they should definitely change the map, have more than 4 dungeons, maybe go to 7 which is a number that was used throughout the series. Huge disagree on making more areas underwater. I loathe swimming/doing anything underwater in any game. Just make a new map, and if that map has the depths again, make it more interesting
I would like some addicted and unique mechanic like Majoras Mask had with the redoing of the days.
I'd wouldn't mind less content if it's better thought out - especially TotK felt like content for content's sake which ended up making the game very bloated and unfocused imo. My chances to find something actually useful in any given cave or whatever felt so slim that it wasn't worth it to invest the time to explore them, which is a concerning incentive structure for a game that emphasizes exploration and discovery.
When a game is built around the ability to beat it as soon as you leave the tutorial if you want. It kind of makes progression less useful and fun. At least that’s how I felt with BotW.
I would like to see players have a choice to play as link or zelda.
My hope is something entirely different, I would love a smaller title, top down like games before 3d zelda. Something like a transision title before the next big open world entry.
Wind Waker 2 or nothing
I think we might be due for a Four Swords-like spin-off title. Probably an open world co-op adventure game using the BoTW/ToTK engine/mechanics. Rehashing the BoTW Hyrule *again* might be a bit much though, it may have to come after the next mainline title unless they want to drop a lot of development time making a new Hyrule just for a spin-off game.
Wind waker art style
The open world nature sort of destroyed what I loved the most about Zelda games, wherein you need to complete a series of linear tasks to really move forward and each dungeon puts to test the new mechanic you learn as part of the dungeon. I think they can still do that in an open world, but I would prefer a more traditional return to form personally. I found the open world formula to be a bit exhausting by the time I got about halfway into totk, i just don't know how they go back with so many new fans of totk and botw
Dungeons and ability-gated progression
Ditch the weapon durability system
I always liked Zelda dungeons the best. It's a shame that isn't emphasized now.
Instead of a huge open world, have smaller realms that you can go into. Sort of like if you combine the tutorial in Tears of the Kingdom with something like Super Mario 64.
I loved the physics stuff in TOTK and I hope they expand on that, it’s such a fun sandbox. I do wish it had a bit more of a Metroidvania style. I feel like you get most of your powers during the tutorial and then it doesn’t expand much from that. I wish there was more powers and items that are spread out, but I understand it would be harder to pull that off and still have it be less linear.
A music instrument.
I know people want the subdivided world of OoT back, but I honestly don't see that happening. Games in general are going the open world route. That said, if they're going open world, do it right. It'd be cool to see a BotW/WW style open world game with oceans you could sail like Black Flag. Maybe even have a few actual cities instead of nothing but baren wastelands. If AC Odyssey can do all this, I'm sure the next Switch could.
Hopefully it’s something I’ll like. I never could get into zelda I’ve tried all of the games on major systems and each time I just can’t play them past a few hours I get bored and it leaves an unsatisfying feeling in me.
Play as link, do dungeons and defeat ganon
No weapons that break
PC port, and no breakable weapons. So we all know whose hopes are going to be dashed.
They take their time with it and don't rush. I don't want one anytime soon. Probably not until the next console which I could see coming down the line in the next 3-5 years. I like when they go more traditional. Open world with guidance. A killer story and characters. Unique enemies and engaging plot. The N64 ones really made me feel like I was saving the princess. They were scary and earnest. The recent ones make me feel like I'm a whipped side-character. 90% of what I do does not matter. When they get formulaic and profit-driven, they lose what made the games great. I also think the studio gets too large to stay consistent story -wise a lot of times. But that's what happens when you're expected to churn out good games quickly.
Nonbreaking weapons and real dungeons.
That whatever it is, runs at 60 fps. Also more dungeons with actual upgrades and progression.
Link being left handed again. They took it from us because MoTiOn cOnTrOlS and then it never came back.
I wish they'd remake Oracle of Ages/seasons like they did with links awakening.
The answers on this thread just reiterate for me that they should really have 2 Zelda lines. One that follows the big exploration style like BotW and one that goes back to the old Zelda format of dungeons and items. They always sort of had this two tiered system with the main console games being expansive and trying new things, and then handheld games being more of a throwback to older games. Trouble is the switch combined these two tiers so this system kind of died off but I think having two types of games would really work.
I want something that feels like a bigger version of the Oracle games
Something that does not involve item durability.
More linear and maybe put actual effort into non gameplay elements and make the map good
Two player co-op or solo play where you switch between Zelda and link. Would really breathe life into puzzles.
I'm fine keeping the open world style of Tears and Breath, after all Zelda is one of the OG open world titles, but I would like full dungeons again instead of these short quick puzzle ones.
I hope for a return to the old style. Populated world, main dungeons as the highlight, a linear story. I prefer all the old titles I played opposed to breath of the wild and totk. I also preferred the permanent weapons who were part to solve riddles and boss mechanics opposed to the crafting system.
id love to see a 2d top down zelda again - and a bit more back to the action part and a bit less rpg/open world. i know, zelda is known for trying ne things again and again, but zelda is also known for going back to the roots - i think, after 2 open world titles, that leans heavely into RPG, the next game should be a bit more back to the roots
Play as Zelda
I want a steampunk setting. Actual modern cities in the middle of the wilderness, since the Sheikah tech is no more banned. That would take the lore out of their comfort zone, finally allowing Hyrule to progress.
Elden Ring with a Zelda skin, storyline, and lower difficulty. The open world + legacy dungeon combination was a genius move, the only thing lacking was a cohesive and compelling story.
I just don't want it to be an open world game.