It appears the Flying Fisch piece we posted about earlier has really sparked some discussion based on one particular aspect: The Dungeons in Zelda. It inspired me to write an article about it, and even respond with a videocast. Now, Mases from Zelda Dungeon has taken his own crack at the discussion, going the polar opposite of what my thoughts were. I am glad he did this, if not for anything other then showing both sides of the argument. What do you guys think about the dungeons in Zelda? Anything you would like to see changed?
Categories: Fan Community News
Some interesting thoughts!
I agree with a lot of those ideas. I know this is starting to become a cliché, but I thought Majora's Mask had some of the best dungeons. There were only four, but they were all incredible (especially the latter two), both in atmosphere, style and difficulty. What I would love to see is a greater number of those higher-quality dungeons. You don't have to feel like you're going through the Water Temple the first time in Ocarina of Time with every one of them, but every once in a while, there should be a really tricky one, such as Stone Tower.
To this day, Stone Tower remains one of my favourite dungeons: on the one hand, it was quite frustrating to play it the first time around, but it was also incredbible satisfying to finally beat it.
As for the themes: I agree partly. There should definitely be themes, especially the more unusual ones, from time to time. But perhaps they should mix it up a bit with dungeons that have no clear theme at all, or something that's entirely different from any elements. Also, stop giving them generic names like the Forest Temple, Fire Temple, etc. Just think back to games like Link's Awakening, for example: Eagle's Tower, Turtle Rock, Catfish's Maw, Face Shrine. Aren't those awesome names for a dungeon?
As for the number of dungeons: I would LOVE to see 12 dungeons in total, but that should probably be the limit. Any more, especially if they're all quite long, and it might get tedious. I think a great deal of it has to do with expectations. They need to move away from the generic, several dungeons-plot-twist-few-more-dungeons-the-end schedule. In Ocarina of Time, this was done great, because once you had beaten only 3 dungeons, you suddenly learned that there were 6 more to do. But in Twilight Princess, it almost feels like they're trying to stretch the game.
How would it feel if you played two, quite regular dungeons for starters, then a plot-twist, then three much longer, difficult ones - and just when you think you've reached the end and prepare for the final confrontation, having gone through 5 fun dungeons - there's another twist and you have do 7 more in total and get to the real heart of the game and the story? If those 7 are also rather challenging, with a few really tough ones in-between, you'll be incredibly satisfied once you've finally reached the end and beaten the main game.
Well said, but I would still like more stuff to do in the overworld. I liked Windwaker the best simply because of Winfall Island, which was just amazing!