There's been a lot of talk lately about giving new life to the Legend of Zelda series. Much of it revolves around changing old formulas and replacing old tried and true tricks with something fresh. Certainly Nintendo needs to take a deeper look at the series than they have. Efforts to liven things up so far have centered around gimmicks like sail boats, trains and lycanthropy. Not that such gimmicks are bad but, as is the nature of a gimmick, they work once then become yesterday's news.
Recent rumblings from Nintendo indicate that they are on top of the problem. Hints dropped thus far tease and tantalize about motion plus enhanced sword fighting and such. This is all very exciting and I await the next E3 with the same enthusiasm as any red-blooded Zelda fan; however, I really don't believe the series' stagnation problem lies with what Zelda has retained, but with what it has lost. It has lost Hyrule Field.
"What's this!?" you say. "Lost Hyrule Field? Are you daft?" The overworld certainly hasn't gone anywhere. Be it the literal field or an ocean, the overworld has been growing ever more vast since Link took his first steps into the third dimension. In fact, I remember in the weeks leading up to the launch of Ocarina of Time, some of the hype centered on how large Hyrule Field was. It would take five minutes to walk across it, or some such.
In Wind Waker, the ocean was so expansive that you could set your course then go have lunch while Link sailed intrepidly onward. Twilight Princess gave us the most beautiful rendition yet, a great stretch of grass, groves of trees, and interconnecting canyons. Vast, lovely, and empty. Ever since Ocarina of Time, the overworld has become an ever growing wasteland, scenic but sterile. A void to tramp across in your search for something to do. It wasn't always this way.
In A Link to the Past, Hyrule Field was loaded. Every screen promised discoveries and challenges. There were a variety of wandering enemies, caves to bomb open (caves that were mini-dungeons in themselves, not just holes housing a Rupee chest), miscellaneous mini games, obstacles to puzzle through, and all manner of surprises—a favorite discovery of mine being the hobo under the bridge who rewarded you with a bottle. The overworld was a continuation of the action seen within the dungeons themselves, forming a seamless flow of content.
Starting with Ocarina of Time, though, Hyrule Field went from an active place to a mostly empty space separating the nodes of interest (the temples). Thus far, the only 3-D Zelda to keep the flow of action pretty consistent throughout the game, littering the over world with discoveries and spreading the action liberally outside of the main dungeons was Majora's Mask. It's a sad reality that the time manipulation element turned so many off this masterpiece; a game that has, for me, aged much better than Ocarina of Time.
The basic structure of the Zelda game has always revolved around conquering temples and gaining new items that made further progression possible. Embed this formula in an overworld teeming with all manner of unique activities, and you'll find the action of the game flowing from start to finish as a cohesive whole. Remove the overworld action and the formula becomes prominent, repetitious, and stagnant. Whatever innovation Nintendo brings to the table with the next Zelda, I hope they fill the entire world of Hyrule with things to do and discover, rather than create little islands of activity surrounded by a vast and empty sea.
Recent rumblings from Nintendo indicate that they are on top of the problem. Hints dropped thus far tease and tantalize about motion plus enhanced sword fighting and such. This is all very exciting and I await the next E3 with the same enthusiasm as any red-blooded Zelda fan; however, I really don't believe the series' stagnation problem lies with what Zelda has retained, but with what it has lost. It has lost Hyrule Field.
LoZ: Ocarina of Time – Hyrule Field
"What's this!?" you say. "Lost Hyrule Field? Are you daft?" The overworld certainly hasn't gone anywhere. Be it the literal field or an ocean, the overworld has been growing ever more vast since Link took his first steps into the third dimension. In fact, I remember in the weeks leading up to the launch of Ocarina of Time, some of the hype centered on how large Hyrule Field was. It would take five minutes to walk across it, or some such.
In Wind Waker, the ocean was so expansive that you could set your course then go have lunch while Link sailed intrepidly onward. Twilight Princess gave us the most beautiful rendition yet, a great stretch of grass, groves of trees, and interconnecting canyons. Vast, lovely, and empty. Ever since Ocarina of Time, the overworld has become an ever growing wasteland, scenic but sterile. A void to tramp across in your search for something to do. It wasn't always this way.
In A Link to the Past, Hyrule Field was loaded. Every screen promised discoveries and challenges. There were a variety of wandering enemies, caves to bomb open (caves that were mini-dungeons in themselves, not just holes housing a Rupee chest), miscellaneous mini games, obstacles to puzzle through, and all manner of surprises—a favorite discovery of mine being the hobo under the bridge who rewarded you with a bottle. The overworld was a continuation of the action seen within the dungeons themselves, forming a seamless flow of content.
LoZ: A Link to the Past - Overworld
Starting with Ocarina of Time, though, Hyrule Field went from an active place to a mostly empty space separating the nodes of interest (the temples). Thus far, the only 3-D Zelda to keep the flow of action pretty consistent throughout the game, littering the over world with discoveries and spreading the action liberally outside of the main dungeons was Majora's Mask. It's a sad reality that the time manipulation element turned so many off this masterpiece; a game that has, for me, aged much better than Ocarina of Time.
The basic structure of the Zelda game has always revolved around conquering temples and gaining new items that made further progression possible. Embed this formula in an overworld teeming with all manner of unique activities, and you'll find the action of the game flowing from start to finish as a cohesive whole. Remove the overworld action and the formula becomes prominent, repetitious, and stagnant. Whatever innovation Nintendo brings to the table with the next Zelda, I hope they fill the entire world of Hyrule with things to do and discover, rather than create little islands of activity surrounded by a vast and empty sea.