The Hylian Collective - Persistence is Futile May 1st, 2008 at 1:27 am by Last Chance Over the past several years the Legend of Zelda series has been pretty cut and dry in my ever so humble opinion. Don’t get me wrong, that is by no means to say that the games have not stayed somewhat fresh and without a doubt entertaining; they have. I enjoyed Twilight Princess immensely, and it easily replaced Ocarina of Time as second on my list of favorites (first of course being the classic Link to the Past). Maybe I’ve become somewhat cold over the years in that I want something more from my gaming experience than what’s been given to me time and time again in the past. Nintendo has done a good job of making variations with each Zelda game that has come out, but only to a point. When Wind Waker came out, everyone was fascinated/disgusted with the new cell-shaded style. I liked it personally (but what I like is irrelevant). That was really the only major variance between it and OoT/MM. The gameplay was exactly the same, only this time instead of riding Epona across Hyrule field for hours at a time, you got to sail the endless blue sea with the King of Red Lions. And what about the two Oracle games? The same game with differences in storyline. Now that’s just being lazy. Suffice to say, FSA was no more than a series of cruel genetic abominations that involved LttP’s Link and Minish Cap’s Link, combined together to and cloned into four mutated, bastardized Links that spread havoc and chaos throughout Hyrule with endless supplies of annoyingness. And to take a look back even further, what about the striking similarities between the original Legend of Zelda and Link to the Past? 16-bit recreation much? Oh yeah. Don’t even get me started on Link’s Awakening, or Four Swords for that matter. Adventure of Link? Irrelevant. Then along came Twilight Princess, which took most of our breaths away in its stunning graphical enhancements, its vast world, and its innovative new gameplay. It was indeed a pretty picture to look at, and by far the most creative Zelda game in recent memory. But so many aspects of it came directly from its predecessor, Link to the Past. The same Light/Dark (Twilight) worlds, the same two figurehead villains (Agahnim/Zant, and Ganon[dorf]), and of course the same end of Ganon’s dark reign of terror and dismissal to whatever place he’ll be staying until he eventually resurfaces to face Link’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson twice removed and doubly reincarnated. One could say that I’m just being picky, and one would be correct in saying that, but you’ve gotta admit that Nintendo is still playing of the same themes in some form or fashion whenever they bring out their latest game in our beloved Zelda series. Some might also argue, saying that’s the entire point, that the games are supposed to carry on the traits of its predecessors, else it will lose it’s identity as a Zelda game. If you don’t keep the similarities in tact then the game itself becomes too separated from what made it a great game in the first place, and that my friends is why it is perfectly alright that each game builds off the last one, keeping the systems similar but making the necessary changes in order to keep the series fresh. It must adapt to survive. Wait…what? Yes. I just intentionally destroyed my own argument. But there was a reason, don’t worry. The entire purpose of this first blog is not so much to take a topic and expand on it with humorous overtones or strong, valid arguments. This is more of a warm-up exercise, a way to stretch my brain’s blogging muscles in preparation for the blogs to come. I would like to do this weekly, but I know me, and I know I probably won’t stick to it due to life’s other responsibilities and stresses. That won’t stop me from shooting for that goal, however. As for you? Well, you have come to the new Zelda Blog in order to take a look into the minds of the various webmasters and members of the Zelda Community, my own included. You will no doubt come back and read whatever it is I happen to come up with for my next blog. It is inevitable. You will join the Collective. Filed under Humor Follow This Entry | Leave a Response | Trackback

12 Messages from the Gossip Stones about “The Hylian Collective - Persistence is Futile”

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Comments

1. 1. Abyss Master says:
   May 1st, 2008 at 3:49 am [quote]

   Good first article, Chance. I can see this evolving into many more that are equally good or perhaps even better. You certainly have the potential to go far with this =)

2. 2. Zeldaeinstein says:
   May 1st, 2008 at 10:13 am [quote]

   Definitely worth the read, and though you see this kind of thing so many times you end up wanting to cry. That being said you certainly managed to add something fresh to it all. One after the other, taking down the points countlessly made before in horrible manners, a feeling of ‘repetition in Zelda games and their cut and dry responses as well’ shows up nowhere. My return will be inevitable

3. 3. The King of Hyrule says:
   May 1st, 2008 at 6:24 pm [quote]

   You bring up some very good points in your article. But then again what exactly can Nintendo do to fix the problem? Someone’s always going to be upset.

   But you’re right in asking us to think about it, because it shows us the flaws in a series we all love so much. I like where this is going and I do hope that you continually post thought-provoking articles such as this one. Good job.

4. 4. mike says:
   May 1st, 2008 at 9:34 pm [quote]

   verily my vibrant vision has not vanished! very victorious post chance!

5. 5. ZeldaStrife says:
   May 2nd, 2008 at 2:28 pm [quote]

   very nice first article. You set the bar high for subsequent articles.

   And i believe you are right. My brother doesnt play much Zelda anymore because, and i quote, “They all use the same basic formula.” and he’s right. For some reason, though, Zelda will never cease to amaze me!

6. 6. Mike Fireball says:
   May 3rd, 2008 at 10:15 pm [quote]

   Link should travel more. The Game Boy games are great, because it introduced new places and new faces, while keeping enough of the familiar around.

   Also Majora’s Mask is awesome forever.

7. 7. Robert-UK says:
   May 6th, 2008 at 11:29 am [quote]

   My take on Ganondorf is that there are now/was two versions of him just like there are now two Link’s. A few months back Zelda’s new Director *why can I never remember his name?* announced that there were indeed two alternate time lines stemming from the ending of Ocarina of Time. This means that there are now two Hyrules, two Zelda’s, two Link’s, two Ganondorf’s and two…”shudder” Tingle’s. My view is that the Ganondorf in universe A was killed for good at the end of Twilight Princess. This means that the Ganondorf in universe B, Wind Waker, is very much alive and will torment both realities.

   I also agree that Zelda has to adapt to survive and to do that the creators have to do something that will truly shock as die hard fans, something that many fanboys may not like. Last year a fake Zelda trailor was released, found here-

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcvdT2C31oc

   This showed a possible Zelda game set in the far future, i for one would love to see a Zelda game like this. Link on a motorbike? Yes please.

8. 8. Eternal Legend says:
   May 6th, 2008 at 1:38 pm [quote]

   Well, I agree that the formula could be mixed around a bit, and that the games could be a bit different than the others, in more than one, singular way, but still retain the basics. How that could be done isn’t quite something I have many ideas for at the moment, but being different often ends up being good.

   But as a side-note, does anyone remember Miyamoto (or someone else of really high stature) mentioning that Twilight Princess would be the last game in the Zelda series as we know it? It’s true Phantom Hourglass didn’t really do that, but I can imagine that future Zelda games will break the mold in ways we haven’t seen for a while, which is something I’d really like to see. But more importantly, something I’d like to seen done correctly. Also, side-note’s bigger than rest of comment

9. 9. Jumanji_Shishioh says:
   May 6th, 2008 at 2:02 pm [quote]

   I don’t care for the gameplay being similar each game, it’s the storyline I like the best. The better the storyline, the more likely I’ll see it to the end. The only change I’d like to see in the series, is for it to become a little bit like Final Fantasy (been two years since Old ZeldaBlog, and I still haven’t played a Final Fantasy >_<) or a really good MMORPG (like World of Warcraft, which I want to play as well)

10. 10. Jumanji_Shishioh says:
    May 7th, 2008 at 11:23 am [quote]

    Forgive the double post, considering no-one’s posted here for a while, but Four Swords Adventures is not a cruel genetic mix-up of ALttP Link and Minish Cap Link, FSA was based off of Four Swords, just made bigger, in fact, it’s got one of the biggest maps since Zelda II: Adventure of Link, maybe even bigger. Minish Cap came AFTER FSA, and was really short for a Zelda game, IMO. Just providing some information.

11. 11. Last Chance says:
    May 7th, 2008 at 2:20 pm [quote]

    -loves how everyone has taken his article so seriously-
    XD