[ALL] The Ultimate Legend of Zelda game

So I recently spent a couple of years replaying every single Legend of Zelda title looking for the aspects that make each of them great. At the same time, I’m looking for aspects that take away from each game, aspects that the game would have been made better by their absence. Of course, this is entirely opinion based, so your opinions are also welcome. I hope Nintendo will get wind of this eventually and use it in a future installment.As a note, this post exists in a game-by-game version on my Tumblr account. Hopefully no one will be too upset by the length here.The Legend of ZeldaThe very first zelda game has one tried and true thing that all zelda games should have, assembling the triforce. Yes, it has also been done in Wind Waker, but it started here. Link should be able to assemble the triforce. Also, the first Zelda has something never seen again… the Lost Hills.I can only think of two things about this game that took away from it (considering its age). The first is the obscure puzzles. When I first played this game, the guy that said “grumble, grumble” had me stymied for days. And this was LOOOOOONG before any sort of online help existed. The only other thing, and this may have been a glitch, was with the teleport whistle. Whenever the whistle took you to level 7, it would open the level, but you could never take it past that to get to level 8.The Adventure of LinkI know that this is universally the most hated Zelda game on a Nintendo system, but there is one thing that Zelda 2 has, and that is its sheer amount of spells. Link from Zelda 2 is practically a wizard in his abilities. Far more than the traditional three spells gained from the three goddesses of Hyrule. You don’t even need to use the same spells. The 3 medallions from Link to the Past can be used. And, of course, a healing spell. The next thing this game has that, while it has been repeated in future games, started here. That is the learning of additional fighting techniques. Yes, the up and down thrust wasn’t much for Zelda 2, though they were truly vital in some areas, it is a good concept to put in an ultimate game.I know I don’t really need to say it, but the side scrolling was just utter crap. It was just completely different from everything that makes Zelda awesome.A Link to the PastThis one should be obvious. An alternative world. A dark world. Essentially, doing this will double the exploration opportunities that there would normally be. This game also had the first “stealth mission” where you had to be sneaky and not power your way through a section with good weapon skills. If done right, you might have yourself a BatLink.Personally, I cannot think of anything negative to say about this game. This is not to say that there isn’t things about it that are bad, just that the quality of the game is so good, I just can’t think of anything bad.Link’s AwakeningThis one has another thing that, while it has cropped up from time to time in other entries of this amazing franchise, it started here. The trading quest. The utter need to swap one item for another here and there until some mysterious object is achieved. It may not be essential to completing the game, but it certainly does help.I think the only things I have to say negatively about this game is with the overall plot. The fact that the whole island was simply a dream didn’t sit well with me.Ocarina of TimeThis game has so many things that made it utterly amazing, it’s impossible to pick just one. So I’m not going to try. First off, you have the time travel element. This means that things you do in one time period will affect the other time period. If you couple this with the alternative world from Link to the Past, this means you have a past and present light world as well as a past and present dark world. Secondly, you have the titular ocarina, or more specifically, the songs. Yes, music has been a part of Zelda since the first game with its teleporting whistle, but this is where the music truly came into its own. And then you have something else that made the game just a little more fun… the quest for the gold skulltulas. You may have figured out by now that I’m a fan of pointless side quests. There’s a reason for that. Yes, you could just do all the dungeons in order (if there is one) and then go and stomp Ganon into the ground, but what’s the point of having a massive world if you aren’t going to look around. And if you’re going to look around, you may as well have a reason to do so. And while Breath of the Wild has its quest to find all the Koroks, I say why not both.The biggest thing I didn’t like about this game, and this has already been more or less solved in subsequent games, is the horrible camera controls. This game was so good, especially for its time, that there isn’t much else to say against it. Well, and then there’s Navi.Majora’s MaskMajora’s Mask is one of those games where you either love it or you hate it. I enjoy playing it quite a bit, and there’s two things about this game that I would like to add to my ultimate zelda game. First off, the bomber’s notebook. Not necessarily the notebook itself, but what it represents. Helping people out in such a way that it make permanent changes to the world. Helping a couple get married, teaching someone a dance, etc. The other thing about this game is the masks. Not just the every day masks that Breath of the Wild already has to offer, but the transformation masks that can give Link some extra abilities. Perhaps a Goron transformation will give Link an ability similar to the power bracelet. Perhaps a Ruto transformation will let Link actually fly.I know a lot of people didn’t like the repeating 3 days thing. While I didn’t mind it so much, I can see their point. While I do enjoy time being a factor, perhaps the repeating days could be removed. Instead events might have a 7 day or 30 day cycle to them (and having an in-game calendar or notebook might be helpful)Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of AgesI’m lumping these two together simply because they are essentially one game spread out over two cartridges. There isn’t much new about this particular game, but there is one thing. The rings. This game has a large amount of rings that Link can swap out in order to give him small boosts in minor areas here and there. The ability to walk on ice without sliding. The ability that his bombs won’t explode as long as he’s holding them, heart regeneration, etc. Even a small boost to offense or defense could be handy.The one thing about this game that I found irritating was that the only way to get 100% completion is to play both games back and forth. I can only imagine the headaches involved if Nintendo had managed to get this game to be a 3 cartridge cycle instead of just 2.Wind WakerThere are two things about this entry I would like to include. The first is the treasure maps. One doesn’t need to sail to use this idea. One simply needs to include a shovel among Link’s tools. I can imagine this could be a good way to dole out several pieces of heart. The other option, and I can already see some people getting their rotten fruits and vegetables ready to throw at me, is the Nintendo Gallery. Yes, going around and snapping photographs of things, including bosses. Now, I am not saying that we should get miniature carved statuettes of these things. Perhaps keep them in photo format and have an art gallery. Yes, I know that Breath of the Wild already has something similar to this in place, but I’d like a physical place in Hyrule for others to go and look at Link’s work, and not just have everything stored on his HyPad.Fortunately, the things I thought detracted from this game were very few. The tedious sailing times. The sheer amount of time I spent in this game doing nothing, even after I was able to teleport was just astounding.Four Swords AdventureHonestly, the only thing I could possibly think of that this game would bring to the table is the concept of co-op multiplayer. I have never been much of a multiplayer person myself, so the idea doesn’t exactly fill me with excitement. However, if the character options were not just different colored Links but instead actual characters (Zelda, Impa, Tingle) then it might be more workable.My biggest problem, though, is that this just doesn’t feel like a zelda game. It doesn’t play like one. You can’t go back and re-search a dungeon for treasure you forgot to get. Once you get to a certain point, you basically start over. Bad Nintendo. No cookie.Minish CapBeing another Nintendo/Capcom hybrid, this game plays a lot like the oracle games. However, this one brings something new: Link shrinking down to miniscule size. This would allow for yet another degree of exploring the world. And Link would not necessarily need to find a particular portal or something to shrink down. As I stated for Zelda 2, Link would just need to learn a shrink/grow spell. Additionally, I personally enjoyed the kinstone fusion, especially when the fusions would make world changes, such as moving a tree out of the way or allowing a store to open up. Furthermore, we have a non-Ganon main villain. Who is to say that Ganon is the only villain to use in an ultimate Zelda title?My biggest frustration was with the “random kinstone” fusion people, and the fact that some people need you to go in and out of the building before they will fuse with you.Twilight PrincessFirst off, we have another game with a dual world, light and dark. With the number of times this theme seems to be recurring in Zelda games, it would make sense to have this duality as a baseline. However, unlike the others, this one greatly involves one world merging with the other. Possibly an effect of the aforementioned kinstone fusions could be fixing some of those? On top of that, this game offers yet another potential spell option, that of transforming into a creature. And not a bipedal creature like a Zora, Goron, or Ruto, but a wolf. And that’s just plain cool. On top of that, I like the idea of the spirits that protect individual provinces, very similar to the beings in Majora’s Mask. Pair them up with the three goddesses and we could have something interesting going on there, too. Finally, the double clawshot. Honestly, whenever I start using that, I feel like Spider-Link.I tried. I tried really hard to find an aspect of this game that just took away from the experience. I’m sorry, but I just could not find one. If you think of one, please let me know. It should be known, by the way, that I played the HD version on the Wii U. Therefore, if there were any issues with motion controls, I am completely clueless.The Phantom HourglassThe first unique thing this game has is the dungeon with the timer paired with the ability to lengthen the timer. The second thing they have is the first appearance of the anouki race. I’d love to see a game that has every single race involved. I could see each race primarily living in a given region, such as the anouki living in the tundra region, etc. And if the game used the Breath of the Wild method of mini dungeons, each one could easily be set up with a timer. Certain dungeons would be impossible until the timer was increased to a minimum amount. At the same time, I really enjoyed making notes on the screen. These can be as detailed as you want, rather than trying to remember what default stamps are supposed to be.I may have said this before, I don’t recall, but I am a completionist. I want to locate everything possible in the game, upgrade all possible items, etc. I have a burning need to achieve 100% whenever I play a game. That being said, unless you have a bunch of friends playing the same game at the same time as you (and these have to be local friends, not your friend in Singapore and your other friend in Germany), you pretty much cannot get 100% of the boat options. I also was not a big fan of being forced to use the stylus for both movement and combat. I would have preferred an option to being able to use the D-pad and buttons to cause my mayhem. I also didn’t like being forced to use the microphone to navigate certain things.Spirit TracksAt first glance, the premise for this game is kinda stupid. However, if we are going to build the ultimate Zelda, then the premise of a train could be very handy in a world as huge as Breath of the Wild. Perhaps Link could even have to travel overland to new areas and, once he gets to a new city, he finances the laying of new tracks to get a station set up there. I also enjoyed that, at times, Zelda actually worked with Link. Thus tying in with the possible multiplayer I mentioned earlier. I also particularly like the side quests that can be done. It gives more of an open world feel than just exploring for treasures. Now, while I like the concept of the Anouki, I don’t really like the idea of the Lokomo. They seem to exist only because of the tracks. And again, we have another villain that is not Ganon. My thoughts for how to use this is that each territory in Hyrule has its own major baddie with Ganon having central Hyrule of course.Truth be told, everything I didn’t like about phantom hourglass was repeated in this game. However, they made it worse. Needing to blow into the microphone to play the necessary songs and use the whirlwind was just a real pain in the ass.Skyward SwordI don’t care what all the nay-sayers say, this is actually a relatively good game. Yes, there are things about it that aren’t all that great, but doesn’t every game have that problem? By now you’ve figured out I’m obsessive about collecting things, and while that does happen in this game, it isn’t as much of a driving plot device as it is in the other ones, so it can be done at your own leisure. Other things I really liked here: I like how you can manually upgrade your gear, such as the quiver and bomb bag instead of having to either buy it somewhere or go through a minigame of some sort to earn it. I can’t tell you how many times I had to play some stupid archery game just to qualify for the biggest quiver and so forth. The gratitude crystals. Yes, the idea has been explored before in the form of skulltula tokens, but the execution here is different. They are tied into the success of side quests. Now, if you remember before, I said I liked the idea of the bombers notebook from Majora’s Mask. They could easily tie together. This game also introduces the stamina wheel we’ve seen in Breath of the Wild. And while most of the motion controls are truly a pain, I kind of like the motion controls when it comes to the fighting, with being able to parry and be parried against. It gives a whole new dimension to combat not previously seen in a Zelda title.There were many times where the motion controls irritated me. Trying to do the skyward strike, trying to get those spinny eye guardians dizzy, trying to balance over the tightropes, etc. Most of the time, it was just more trouble than it was worth. And don’t get me started on the minigames that need you to use the motion controls. Drove me nuts. And I really hate, hate, hate minigames where a piece of heart is awarded.A Link Between WorldsThe similarities between this game and A Link to the Past are so many, it is quite obvious this is meant to be a direct sequel. Even the map, while not identical, is incredibly close. The biggest and most obvious thing to take away from this game is simply the ability to merge with the walls. It opens up so many puzzle options and it is something that could be attributed to one of the magic spells, or treat it like they do in this game and have it part of a magic item. It all depends on the number of buttons you want to have attributed to something, but with the Switch having A, B, X, Y and 4 shoulder buttons, there is plenty there for customization and options. Maybe a series of medallions that have various effects: one for shrinking, one for merging with the walls, etc.Lorule? Really? I’m sorry. I love puns, but even that was too much for me. Calling the dark world Lorule was just BAD. And I would like to reiterate how much I despise requiring to do mini games in order to get essential upgrades. I never did get the piece of heart from that baseball game.Breath of the WildSo for this final entry into the ultimate Legend of Zelda game, you aren’t just getting my opinion. I had a bit of a chat with my brother on this one, so what you’ll be getting is a bit of an aggregate of our thoughts. There were a lot of areas where we thought alike, but a few where we split off.Breath of the Wild should probably be used as the core for an ultimate LoZ title as it already has many of the things that I have mentioned previously. It keeps track of time (but not date), you have to worry about temperature and elevation. Your stamina is something that is precious to you. And on top of all that, the game world is the largest one so far.The biggest problem overall, though, is that with all of that, it just doesn’t quite feel like a Zelda game. My brother was of the opinion it was more like Witcher 3. Now, I haven’t played Witcher 3 yet (though I do have it – I keep getting side tracked before finishing 1), I noticed a lot of elements that were similar to the Assassin’s Creed series, of which I have played most of.The one thing we both missed was the incredibly immense dungeons riddled with clues and critters, and needing to find that one permanent item that is most likely going to be used to kill the dungeon boss. Yes, there were the divine beast dungeons, but those weren’t exactly like what I described.The 120 shrines (132 with DLC) were nice in their own way, but we could have done with fewer of them. However, the shrines would have been good candidates for things to go through using the phantom hourglass time limit!A good thing about this game compared to previous Zelda titles was the reduced amount of mini games, and the ones that did exist were purely optional when it comes to getting 100%. They were replaced with side quests and shrine quests which is a good change, but at the same time is what changed it from a classic Zelda game.Next: Limited weapon durability can go straight to hell. I can understand with something like a tree branch, but some of the ancient weapons? If you’re going to stick us with the durability, then how about giving us a way to repair things?I want an in-game recipe book. It can be added to by finding recipes written down in books and scrolls, and also through trial and error.I must admit, I have missed some of the classic Legend of Zelda tools, such as the hookshot and power bracelet, but I know those tools existed for the sole purpose of solving puzzles and opening up gameworld.Another thing I would like is that when you have elected to have a quest active, putting the next step somewhere on the screen instead of having to go into the quest menu every single time would be nice. via /r/zelda https://ift.tt/30vmk8O