The Legend of Zelda is a series based in a fictional world where giant blue pigs with tridents capture princesses and attempt to acquire golden triangles in order to rule the world. There are many strange creatures, perplexing structures and diverse locals. It is needless to say that The Legend of Zelda features its fair share of magic. However, it has more than often been the case that our hero, Link, does not possess magic directly. Instead, he is granted arcane abilities by items or fairies, abilities that are often useful in only one or two situations. There have been games where Link has been able to focus his mind and create a magical shield or form a sphere of fire, but the trend of magic in the series has always been below par compared to other action games. Why should our man in green be denied access to powers that could enhance the Zelda experience and provide an interesting twist to the gameplay that we are all so very accustomed to?
The Adventure of Link featured the first use of real magic within the series. It also featured the largest array of magical powers and boosts, ranging from increased defence to powerful bolts of lightning. Link was able to level up his abilities in order to make them stronger, and the player relied on these powers in order to pass the game. While The Adventure of Link featured many more RPG elements than any other Zelda title, it did make excellent use of the eight spells it offered, as well as providing a unique experience for players who were familiar with traditional Zelda gameplay. The stage for magical abilities had been set by The Adventure of Link, but Nintendo did not follow through in the same manner in future titles.
A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time were the next two titles to feature magical spells. In A Link to the Past, these spells took the form of medallions. These items were simply equipped to the item button and cast, chewing up a portion of Link's magic meter in the process. While the end result of these medallions was the same as the spells from The Adventure of Link, no true skill was required in their use; the player simply pressed the item button and watched as the entire screen became engulfed in the power of the spell. Ocarina of Time featured three spells each linked the Goddesses of Hyrule; Din's Fire, Farore's Wind and Nayru's Love. Similarly to A Link to the Past, these spells were equipped and then cast, no aiming required. The Magic Meter was an excellent element in both of these games, but its capabilities could be further explored with the return of RPG-like spells such as those from The Adventure of Link.
The effort put into the use and originality of magic in the series has continued to decline since the time of The Adventure of Link. The use of the Magic Meter was restricted to firing Fire, Ice and Light Arrows, and was altogether forgotten about in Twilight Princess, where Link relied solely on mechanical weapons such as the Clawshot and the Spinner. The spells introduced in many of the games have been bland and have not required much skill in their execution. Nintendo have stated that Zelda is making changes for the better with Zelda Wii in production, and the inclusion of decent magic spells similar to those in games such as Diablo or Fable will definitely give the game some much needed variety when it comes to both combat and puzzle solving. We can only wait and see what Zelda Wii will have in-store, but here's to hoping that we can shoot bolts of lightning at Moblin's and Deku Baba's in future titles.Categories: Articles
Din's Fire/Farore's Wind/Nayru's Love and Fire/Ice/Light Arrows for next Zelda Wii FTW!
"Why should our man in green be denied access to powers that could enhance the Zelda experience and provide an interesting twist to the gameplay that we are all so very accustomed to?"
Simply put our power ups are not spells but items... You could easily replace all the items with a spell that will give the same result... For example the hookshots spell counterpart could be like Neros grip in DMC4...
But personally I like it the way it is right now by using items instead of magic
I think it should be a balance between magic and items like in OoT, MM, and ALttP.
Sure add spells, but don't compare Zelda to Fable. Fable lives in the realm of crappy games and I don't think it did anything in a way that I'd like to see in Zelda.
Fable is actually a pretty good game in my opinion though it is nowhere as good as Zelda.
The problem with zelda has nothing to do with magic, it has nothing to do with story, it has nothing to do with gannon and tri-force pieces or any of that. TP was a so-so game because it was gimped - it was clearly a half-done game where they took out most of it at the last minute. There was no exploration, there was hand-holding, there was nothing to do in the world.
Zelda needs to get back to exploration and increased difficulty and cut-out this somersault crap. Zelda needs to be generally non-linear and there needs to be multiple paths. The world needs to be as big or bigger than wind-waker (much bigger - globe-sized) but with larger land-masses and there needs to be plenty of things to do. Items need to be plentiful and useful. A first item might be a dagger, spear or bow that Link steals from a Bokoblin. Link might get his first horse by tricking an enemy to follow him into the forest and link runs them in circles and steals the horse. Link needs to be able to make items from random things he finds. There should be more than one way to achieve something (i.e., reaching a near-by island - link could steal a boat, he could stowaway, he could build one, he could swim, he could fly by building a hang-glider and launching himself from a sea-side cliff, etc.). Link should be able to kill by stealth, ranged attack, magic, setting traps, hand-to-hand(punching,kicking, throwing rocks). Zelda needs more varied environments - cut this crap out about fireland, desertland, waterland, forestland, just stop it already. There should be multiple and huge forests that we can actually walk through, multiple deserts and oceans and lakes and streams - think Zelda:AoL.
Seriously, games are getting prettier but completely lack imagination.
Sorry, one more thought. Zelda started out by borrowing ideas from other games like D&D and I don't know what else at that time but since then has failed to incorporate the great ideas from other games like Morrowwind and Baldur's gate. Why can't there be people who live their daily lives and caravan goods to various cities but get robbed along the way? Link could have sidequests where he captures bandits. Why can't gannon's minions real-time raid, burn and loot towns - if link is there he can stop them and build his reputation or something. I mean seriously Nintendo, make something amazing. to crap with all this talk about "a great story" - we're gonna change things up by making Link's sword a person. Whoop-de-do, that doesn't make the game - that is completely irrelevant to gameplay. How about Link goes randomly exploring in a desert and finds almost hidden underground monument that contains some treasure items and some enemies rather than Link goes to dungeon #5 desert dungeon. Maybe gannon's minions see link go in and attempt to corner him or whatever. And please stop with these goofy puzzles, what kind of a believable dungeon requires someone to pull a chain, stand on a block and shoot crystals with an arrow all at the same time to open a door? Some innovative and context driven puzzles are okay but why can't there be hidden switches and hidden doors and entrances (LoZ had them). Link could search for hidden switch with the Wii-remote or something and it would vibrate to let you know.
If I can think of this stuff Nintendo has to be able to come up with something. Sorry, I'm ranting.
Zack may I direct you towards: http://forums.zeldainformer.com/forum/107-article-submission-forum/
lol, where it said zelda took ideas from other games, zelda was creaded by shigeru miyamoto based on his childhood when he explored caves and lakes, i don't agree alot with your ideas, first of all, you are talking like if it was easy to make all those stuff, i may agree with the game being less linear, but all of that sounded more like a gta and another game i can't remember and in my opinion, many of your ideas doesn't fit alot to the zelda games, but well this is my opinion anyway
Zelda was Miyamoto's version of a dungeon crawler and yes, he said he based it on his childhood but there are clear similarities between it and some games that came before it.
It sounds like GTA because link can take his enemies ride? The item system needs to be expanded. You should be able to create items from stuff you find. The main point was that zelda is lacking in exploration and sense of adventure. It is being taken away from us by creating too many rules. Wind waker had exploration but too much water. OoT and TP lacked exploration completely. TP had amazing scenery (think the first town); Link's house is in the middle of the woods but all you can do is look at the forest around you, you can't even explore the forest right outside your house. There are mountains with grass and trees but you can't explore the hillsides; you're restricted to a path. This is not Zelda at all. In traditional Zelda games you were rewarded for exploring unknown and dangerous territory. Think LoZ and AoL; the game starts out without a having to sit around for an hour hearing a bunch of rambling and jumping though hoops. You are just thrown in the middle and free to go almost anywhere. In LoZ you have four options right from the start: go East, North, West or in the door. You don't even have to get the sword, you could run around exploring forever if you wanted. You can go in the second dungeon first or the sixth if you wanted. The game didn't force you to play through a sequence and it didn't hold your hand telling you what to do next. Any directions were given through vague hints: "A bush by a great lake holds a secret". See how this works?
Zach you need to shut your ugly fucking ass lips. Seriously, this shit is classic, dont fucking change anything about zelda, ok? youre a fucking faggot that needs to write for the newspaper not for some random ass site like this. please get off Link's nuts and get on his level
@Zach
You do realize that only two out of over a dozen games follow that pattern, right? You can't really say that the current system is not zelda.
Ok, calm down everybody. Zach, you are being a little crazy, but I do like some of your ideas. It would be nice if Zelda had more exploration, more weapons and tools that can be used in more than just the dungeon that you find them in; I'm not sure that I like the idea of making tools from scratch, but Having a more inteactive world (like in MM but not just on a 3 day loop, and over the whole world). These ideas and more can be worked into Zelda games without changing the core of Zelda too much. All y'all need to relax and listen to each other.
First, I want to comment on magic as after replaying AoL I really do find the lack of magic to be a major loss. So it would be a great addition. I didn't mean to imply that magic couldn't add to the gameplay, I was just saying that much more major changes need to occur to evolve Zelda. Hopefully it would be much more than what was seen in OoT and LttP and much more like AoL. It would be interesting to hear some more detailed ideas regarding magic. also, bring back the projectile sword, what happened to that? That is zelda through and through.
@JustPassing
Well, I think that Zelda I, II and Windwaker were based on exploration and to some extent LttP and its clones on GB had it to a lesser extent but the feeling was still there. YEah, WW had the intro which could have been ditched but after you get your boat, you can go just about anywhere you want. The beginning to WW in accordance with traditional Zelda framework is: if you let the title screen sit for 30 secs a story would play that says, "Link's sister was kidnapped by a giant bird. Link put on the heroes cloths and set sail for Forsaken Island to save his sister." After pressing start and entering your name, the game starts you out on the island with the boat ready to sail off and if you want you can start playing right from that second.
I haven't played MM but OoT and TP were hand-holding nightmares - both these games are essentially giant tutorial fests. Miyamoto should have just assigned one of the buttons the possibility of the game playing itself. I think the problem might come with trying force a story on the player. Story in a game should really be context intuitive, meaning that there aren't a bunch of cut-scenes and dialogue - rather the story should be created in the imagination by interacting with the game. I just played TP and noticed that Midna interrupts the game-play about every five minutes. Each time she does this it breaks the flow of the actual game (the interactive). It is very stressful. In the first three you just play. Yeah, there is some minor dialogue (thats ok but...).
The current system isn't Zelda, it is much more like a cut-scene fest with intermittent hack-n-slashing, jar-breaking and lame puzzle-solving. For example, right at the beginning in TP, the part where you get the sword and shield... I knew exactly where they were (I've played it before) and I kept trying to jump up on the roof and dig under the house but nothing would happen because it wanted me to trigger a cut-scene first. The player needs to be allowed to play and figure things out on their own without triggering multiple sequences of events.
@ Tim
The thing about tools from scratch is about expanding the idea of exploration. Exploration is often about survival. But exploration doesn't have to involve just looking around a world, exploration can also involve exploring what is possible. We kinda caught the beginnings of this in WW where link could pick up sticks and enemy weapons or collect jelly and make potions - we're just talking about building on that. These make-shift items/tools wouldn't substitute traditional items but they could be used until Link finds the Master Sword, the hook-shot or the bow. Think about in the very beginning you are placed in a world you know nothing about and you don't have much... like the example I gave above, Links first weapons and transportation could be things he finds in the environment. I'm talking about creating game which is always making the player figure out how they will get to this place, defend/attack, etc. Will I avoid, attack, trick, etc? How will avoid, attack, trick, etc? Should I take a risk, should I play safe? It is about risk/reward. the player should constantly be rewarded for taking risks through discovery of new places, things, etc.
Magic could be a part of that. Link might find random texts in libraries across various towns and cities which teach him spells or list ingredients for potions - side-quests would involve the player voluntarily looking for these ingredients, he may have to get hints or read(in an interactive encyclopedia type thing) about where these things might be. Maybe spells require special items which are rumored to be located in various locations. But Link isn't forced to do so, but he will be greatly rewarded by doing so. This stuff is done on a small scale in Zelda but it needs to mature and so that there are lots of options and it should be done in a way which requires searching rather than being told exactly what to do as is the case currently: "Link, your next mission is to go find ____, you'll find it at ____ "(see? this is the problem, this is why so many people are bored with the newer games). Stop telling me stuff, stop telling me that the rupee I just picked up is worth 5 every time I pick it up (let me figure it out on my own), stop telling me I need four more heart pieces to make a whole, stop telling me: "Link, you got a bomb bag, with this bomb bag you can hold 10 bombs, to use a bomb equip it to Y..." (Why are they telling me about the buttons on my controller? They might as well run, "You are currently playing a video game, this is not real" across the screen through the whole game). "Link, talk to me with the A button." Seriously, you're going to say that right in the game? This stuff is a major no-no, yet Zelda has become plagued with this garbage.
I am worried that Nintendo thinks something like altering the plot here and there is going to create a new experience, as if that is what is lacking, or over-whelming the player with a story or adding a new "gimmick" like motion control (don't get me wrong, I think motion control is great) will make the game feel new. I am worried that they have forgotten what Zelda was initially about: exploration driven by a risk/reward system and action. Also, I read so many people echoing this whole thing about altering the plot as if they are content with the gameplay but bored of the story. The gameplay or lack thereof is the problem (zelda has lost all of its gameplay, it is too easy). Zelda doesn't need a story just a basic plot and setting.
Zach youre delusional, stfu, seriously, no one is gona listen to you nor read half the shit that you write. stop writing essays asap
i agree with you, the legend of zelda is a world of fantasy, i think spells are needed, i actually missed the fire and ice arrows and the magic meter in twilight princess, it will be nice to see new spells in the next zelda wii