The Zelda franchise has always impressed its fan-base with a large array of unique and fun secondary items. Link has been blessed with the powerful Goron Bracelet, the clever Bombchus and various boots and tunics. The trend set by these items has continued through most of the games, where Link can clad himself up to the eyebrows with powerful vestments and jewelery to better his chances at defeating Ganon and scoring with saving Princess Zelda. However, there is one collection of items that has only seen the light of day in two games thus far, the Magic Rings from the Oracles series.
The concept of the Magic Rings was an amazing addition to the Zelda series. These rings contained a wide variety of magic powers that Link could harness when he wore them, whether it was the ability to recover hearts over time or take no damage form bomb blasts. However, following their introduction in the Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons games, these rings have not resurfaced in a Zelda game to date. Why is this? Sure there were some flaws, such as Link only being able to wear one ring at a time, but they gave the player additional powers to wield as they moved through the game while providing the fun of discovering, collecting and appraising the rings as an additional side quest. Were these perks not enough to warrant a return in future titles, or are Nintendo just too busy working on graphics and game play to be bothered with adding more lovable side quests and collectibles?
The rings where often found in treasure chests in the overworld or inside Gasha Nuts that fell from Gasha Trees. These trees could be planted by the player themselves, thus providing yet another side quest. Unfortunately, a ring was unusable after it was found. They were often discovered as blank rings, which were useless to Link. However, these blank rings could be appraised at the local Ring Shop in either Labrynna or Holodrum. The shop owner would reveal the ring's true powers, making them available for Link to use when he sported the ring. The abilities of the rings were perfect for the Zelda series, ranging from increased sword power or decreased damage to greater rupee drops or transforming Link into a Moblin.
The list goes on, and the 64 different rings provided more than enough variety, with very few having repetitive powers, such as the Armor Ring Levels 1, 2, and 3. Even some of the negative effect rings can be fun to play with, such as the Cursed Ring, which lowers your sword damage and increases the damage you take, as they provide more of a challenge for a masterful player. The fun of collecting all the rings and trying out their unique powers against Veran, Onox and Ganon was endless, and in no way inhibited the storyline or continuity of the Oracles games.
With Zelda Wii closing in, one can't help but think of what Nintendo are going to add to the new title. Imagine what Rings could do for the series nowadays. With the demand for more intriguing side quests, tougher gameplay and more unique abilities, Rings are the answer. The quest to find and collect rings would add a great amount of exploration and puzzle solving to the game, which will keep the players interest in the game fresh as they travel from dungeon to dungeon. Rings similar to the Moblin Ring could add a great new aspect to the game; stealth and intrusion. While disguised as a Moblin, Link could infiltrate an enemy hideout in order to learn more about the next dungeon or perhaps acquire an item hidden within the hideout. The possibilities are endless for Rings, and can vastly expand Zelda gameplay as we know it. Nintendo has always been great at spicing up its games with little items and side quests, and Rings are no exception.
These rings were a small yet effective addition to the franchise, and the fact that they did not return is quite disappointing. This is yet another example of Nintendo letting a great idea slip through their fingers as they focus on more important issues such as graphics or controls. Zelda is unique in its range of collectables and side quests, and the Magic Rings provided yet another fun task for the player to attempt in-between dungeons. However, it appears Link's bling has been replaced with mindless hunts for Golden bugs and Poe spirits, neither of which bestow upon Link awesome magic powers. Rest in peace, Magic Rings.
Categories: Articles
Hmm... never knew Gollum was a writer for ZI.
Hey! And, weren't Flagship the ones behind the Oracle series? About the rings though, here I was this whole time thinking they were just useless filler, but now I know some people actually appreciated them. Very enlightening article!
I disagree with ya to a point, Mel; sometimes old is better than new. Besides, when it comes to the Zelda series, MANY things have been used, reused, and basically worn down to a bloody stump over the years. The rings, on the other hand, have only been used in a couple of coinciding handheld games, before all but vanishing from the series. If Nintendo brought the rings back in the next installment to the series, I would hardly consider it a rehash compared to some of the other crap they've pulled in the past. This brings me to my next point; why not just do the same thing and call it something different? This is something Nintendo has both failed and succeeded in orchestrating.
Another option is the one Mel suggested, which is just to implement similar concepts into the game. This seems the most likely to play out, considering the general concept behind what Ben is proposing sounds like a natural progression for the series to make. Nevertheless, I'll take this as an opportunity to indulge one of my own fantasies.
I'd really love to see a bounty hunter side quest, where the player hunts down fugitives, demons, mythological beasts, and whatever else the developers could think up. It would be cool if you had to like study up on your target, employ unique tactics, and battle them into submission in order to take down your mark. the rewards could be like getting valuable items or even acquiring the powers of the creature that was slayed. I don't know, I'm kinda dry right now. It would be nice to see more people's thoughts on this article =)
The rings were a nice little extra, but most of them were useless, or turned the game easier... If they were to come back, or a similar concept implemented, It would be nice if their usefulness was increased (maybe even making a couple of them mandatory)... Rings that make the game wasier work best in a challenging game, and that's not what we've been getting lately.
However, the rings that make the game harder would add a little much appreciated challenge to the game...
Nice read Viral. I agree with where you're coming from for the most part. Fans need to feel more rewarded when other major quests are finished. And in that sense rings or trinkets of some sort would be an easy way for Nintendo to reintroduce the concept.
Of course, acquiring various add-ons like these should be difficult, and non-linear in acquirement (meaning the player can still go back to a particular instance in the game to get something they may have missed) - Usually Zelda games are pretty good with that. I'd like to see a game that still allows the player the explore his world even after the main villain has been vanquished, possibly opening up opportunities to extend extra quests to gain these extra items.
Well we saw how well Majora's Mask incorporated masks into sidequests to make the game more enjoyable. Sure a few of them didn't do much, but for the most part, it was largely successful.
The Oracle games started something good with rings, and a future game could make full use of it. I agree with LoZ Historian that post-game sidequests would be great, and rings could factor into that.
I have never really been a fan of finding every last heart piece, and every last poe, because I can easily beat the game without them. Legit side quests are fun, because they expand the story and lore, but random collection of objects after completing a game has never been much fun for me.
If the game had a much higher difficulty or a Cave of Ordeals that was much longer or much harder, then that would justify the extra ring collection. Since this is Nintendo, I don't see that happening.
Well what about unlockable sidequests? Like Viral mentioned in the article, what about optional, infiltration sidequests?
If implimented properly (not just to make the game more difficult, or longer, but to make it more enjoyable) the rings could have a lot of different applications.
Good read.
I really liked the rings in OoX. As you mentioned in your article, some brought with them only negative abilities. While to a casual player those would have been the "duds", as a hardcore fan, rings like that - if found early - could add a lot of challenge and fun to a normal play through.
I would love to see some kind of accessory or something like that, mostly because the problem I have with Zelda games is that they don't allow me to do things the way I want. Now I'm not saying "sandbox zelda" is the way to go, but being able to alter Link slightly with accessories I work hard to find would be a real booster.
Now that I think about it, the curse ring is a really great thing. I know a lot of people complain about Zelda's easiness (I agree :<), so finding something like a "curse ring" early in the game would allow players to give themselves challenge when they want. On top of that, if they find it too difficult at times, they could take it off to finish that one bit that's "too hard".
Bring back rings.
A very good article, the idea of the rings definitely is promising and I would like to see them again. Of course it doesn't have to be rings, something similar would do it as well. And there shouldn't be any useless rings or three rings of the same kind. The abilities should be more compact, like the masks in Majora's Mask or the Spirit Gem abilities in Phantom Hourglass.
I like the concept of rings, but needs to be more like Majora's Mask style. Armor and defense rings are nice, but I want to see some rings like they did with the masks.
Postman Ring, Kafei Ring, Bunny Ring, etc. Also some transformation rings as well.
64 rings would be awesome! It would be like another Majora's Mask but with more to collect
Hey guys, Zelda Wiki has a neat table for all the rings and what they do: http://www.zeldawiki.org/Magic_Rings
/shameless plug
i could only find 2 rings the friendship ring(you know the first ring you get that does absolutly nothing)and the moblin ring.but my sis found a ring that turned you into a crawly seed shooter thing
I loved the quicksand ring for the Tarm Ruins boss, it made things so much easier.
The rings were fun though the one I mentioned above was the only one that I used, really. many of the better ones are rather rare.
@TotG
They also have a neat database error. More evidence that the ZI server flogs the ZU one.
/shameless plug
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Great article. While the rings were a great thing in the Oracles series I don't want to see their return myself in this manner. I think bringing back the rings would be doing too much of the old, and clinging to the past too much, which is something Nintendo seems to do though.
Nevertheless, I'd like to see a similar concept to the rings implemented, that is better than bugs and poes, but not entirely the same.