some thoughts

i got a game informer magazine, a special issue celebrating 25 years of zelda games.  I kept thinking what makes zelda games so popular. 

Compared to the latest zelda game with contemporary titles, I could not really find much.  But by looking back at ocarina of time and compare it to the titles at the time.  A huge difference shows.  Ocarina was the first great 3D action adventure RPG.  At the time, there's none in the market that can compare it to it.  The open world design and the fluidity of the control, plus variety of gameplay, it is the skyrim of its time. 

Fast forward to the present day.  I read many reviews actually think the latest zelda game is not as open as the ocarina.  The game design is just as tight as before.  And the market now has skyrim, batman Arkham City, assassin's creed series...etc.  The advantage seemed dwindling.  The most innovation of zelda of this generation is the motion control.  However, from what I gathered, this innovation doesn't really sell the game as well as its game design as a whole.  Nintendo will need to find another way to boost its super series. 

I feel that ocarina pushed the boundary of the video game industry.  But since then, other people stepped on the way nintendo paved and goes beyond, far beyond the scope, nintendo envisioned.  Elder Scroll was 77.58% in 1998 and rightly so.  But it is 95.22% in 2011, the same time, zelda got a score of 93.11%.  Elder Scroll in 2011 is one of very few largest open world.  Zelda is not one of them. 

I've always thought that the boundary zelda needs to push this time around would be combat.  Because I've thought that if they could create a zelda game with Soul Calibur 2-esque fighting style, that would be awesome.  But that's not true.  Because Skyward sword plays like Mount and blade is an awesome experience!  However, it is not the main reason it scored 93.11%.  I now think it's the game design as a whole is the main reason. 

It is a very interesting problem.  Because compared to the Assassin's creed series, Zelda is designed in a different direction, in my opinion right now.  Assassin's creed 1 was a disappointment to some, because as a whole, the game felt more like a tech demo.  This game rode into the market with one single appeal, climb anywhere players wanted.  And it delivered just that.  Other parts of the game was boring or at most a lukewarm effort.  It is not until AC2, the game finally blossomed into a great game.  The designers crafted a game with a much tighter design as a whole.  Compared to the zelda, Zelda always have very tight design as a whole.  It's combat simple, yet addictive and not much fault in itself.  There's no platforming in 3D zelda, since there's no jump.  But everything else, is fantastic.  What I would like to find out is that "everything else".  And once we could identify that, we can then add stuff to push the boundary. 

It is amazing that throughout 25 years, Nintendo did not lose the feel of zelda game.  I wondered if designers made zelda more like elder scroll, what would happen amount the fans.  And would that draw crowds?  Or the series would lose its uniqueness among the similar titles?  To me, the feel of zelda game is incredibly important.  It makes the game stand out.  However, they do need a breakthrough.  I cannot stop thinking beyond game mechanics.  So I will utter my thoughts according to this line of thought.  I'd say that Nintendo try to avoid one of the most difficult gameplay mechanics in 3D gaming which is jumping by designing an auto jump.  I'd say if they want to break new boundary, they need to solve the jump issue now.  Because, frankly, none of the games nowadays could claim they solved that issue.  The most common method for platforming is climbing, which was popularized by Prince of Persia series by the same studio that makes assassin's creed.  But I cannot believe that a company, which created Mario in 2D and 3D, cannot solve this issue for Zelda?!  I like the climbing, parkouring, and all that, but I also wish to see a Mario like jumping integrated into Zelda or any other similar games.  Climbing and parkouring are fun for a while, until repetitiveness sets in.  Jumping is empowering to me personally.  :p