The Legend of Zelda: Community Thread - A Link to a new ERA (Speculation, Thoughts, Timelines)

[Meelow]

Welcome to the community thread for The Legend of Zelda, here we will talk about everything Zelda! From timelines, to bosses, to characters, artwork , etc. Let's have fun with this!

Can you believe that the Legend of Zelda video game series is now 34 years old?! The first game was released by Nintendo on February 21st 1986 in Japan with the US and European releases coming in August and November of the following year. The 2017 blockbuster "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild!" which has already been acclaimed as one of the greatest video games of all time, is now the 19th release in the series.

The 20th game in the franchise has been announced, sequel to Breaath of the Wild.

Random facts:

1. The fifth title in the series, "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" once held the Guinness World Record for being the highest rated video game ever.
2. Did you know that Ocarina of Time was originally set only in Ganon's Castle? The game was supposed to work the same way Super Mario 64 did, by having Link traverse paintings to other worlds. The idea of the painting was kept, however, and used in the boss fight of the Forest Temple.
3. Since the first Legend of Zelda game was released the main character Link has been left-handed. This is a nod to the game's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, favoring his left hand. The shape of the Nintendo Wii platform's controller design required players to use their right hands when playing the "Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess", "Skyward Sword," and "Breath of the Wild" but in the rest of the games Link is left handed.
4. Did you know the first "The Legend of Zelda" has a subtitle in Japan as "The Hyrule Fantasy"
5. Well EXUUUUUUUSEEEE ME PRINCESS! Did you know that The Legend of Zelda TV series existed in the 1980's?
6. The shapes of 5 of the dungeons in the second quest of the first game were deliberately designed to spell out "ZELDA."
7. Before the first The Legend of Zelda released in America, Nintendo had doubts it would be a success.
8. The Legend of Zelda series has sold over 82 million units worldwide.

 

[Deleted member 8112]

Thanks for the thread! Here's mine on BotW's timeline placement: https://www.resetera.com/threads/th...he-wild-timeline-placement-spoilers-all.1400/

 

[Deleted member 5086]

I didn't realise this thread existed until now! Link to the BotW OT for those who are unaware: https://www.resetera.com/threads/th...ild-ot-i-did-not-know-you-could-do-this.6918/

Just a suggestion Redneckerz , but I don't know if the adopt-a-user quote is necessary for a community thread. ^^ I think the first line is enough.

 

[Redneckerz]

Just a suggestion Redneckerz , but I don't know if the adopt-a-user quote is necessary for a community thread. ^^ I think the first line is enough.

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I don't make the quote anymore in more recent AAU threads after a previous user ''complained'' of it. It was just a word pun, and nothing more, and i am not happy that people do complain of it, but to avoid having people commenting on this again (Well, you do now too), i have refrained from using these since.

I have removed the quote.

Im surprised this thread has seen very few responses.

 

[Deleted member 5086]

I don't make the quote anymore in more recent AAU threads after a previous user ''complained'' of it. It was just a word pun, and nothing more, and i am not happy that people do complain of it, but to avoid having people commenting on this again (Well, you do now too), i have refrained from using these since.

I have removed the quote.

Im surprised this thread has seen very few responses.

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Yeah I understand it's totally innocent, just thought it fit regular threads more than community ones. And yeah, same. I'm guessing most people don't know if its existence, as that was the case for me. Hopefully it gets more lively in the future.

 

[Lizardus]

I typed this up for the BotW GotY thread but I'll post it here:

The non-inclusion of Iron Knuckle and Darknuts really bugs me because they are PERFECT for BotW. It doesn't take a genius to see that the limited variety of enemy in BotW is an effect of needing to supply Link weapons on a constant basis (You can see that most enemies wield weapons and even enemies like Hinox and Modluga drop weapons in a way that makes sense "lore"-wise. The enemies that don't drop weapons are very weak (chus and keese)). Darknuts and Iron Knuckles are THE enemies that come to mind when I think of the system in BotW.

 

[Deleted member 15457]

I typed this up for the BotW GotY thread but I'll post it here:

The non-inclusion of Iron Knuckle and Darknuts really bugs me because they are PERFECT for BotW. It doesn't take a genius to see that the limited variety of enemy in BotW is an effect of needing to supply Link weapons on a constant basis (You can see that most enemies wield weapons and even enemies like Hinox and Modluga drop weapons in a way that makes sense "lore"-wise. The enemies that don't drop weapons are very weak (chus and keese)). Darknuts and Iron Knuckles are THE enemies that come to mind when I think of the system in BotW.

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They could be miniboss type enemies found near forts and in Hyrule Castle you'd fight multiple of them at once.

 

[Axass]

Yo, nice to have a Zelda Community Thread

So... Link's Awakening is my least favourite Zelda (haven't played Tri Force Heroes yet), PH and ST are far superior to it. Fight me!

 

[DecoReturns]

BOTW Zelda is best Zelda.
Wind Waker Link still the best Link

This is my first contribution to the Zelda Community thread and regret nothing.

 

[Xbro]

Best series ever.
OoT is best game ever.


Shouldn't this thread be in hangouts?

 

[Neufr0]

Even though I liked BOTW a lot. I think I want the next game to be more "classic" or at least not as open as BOTW was.
To be honest, I want real dungeons :/

 

[Deleted member 5086]

I typed this up for the BotW GotY thread but I'll post it here:

The non-inclusion of Iron Knuckle and Darknuts really bugs me because they are PERFECT for BotW. It doesn't take a genius to see that the limited variety of enemy in BotW is an effect of needing to supply Link weapons on a constant basis (You can see that most enemies wield weapons and even enemies like Hinox and Modluga drop weapons in a way that makes sense "lore"-wise. The enemies that don't drop weapons are very weak (chus and keese)). Darknuts and Iron Knuckles are THE enemies that come to mind when I think of the system in BotW.

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Yeah, I've always found the Darknuts intimidating and missed their inclusion in BotW. Hopefully they make a comeback in the next game.

Even though I liked BOTW a lot. I think I want the next game to be more "classic" or at least not as open as BOTW was.
To be honest, I want real dungeons :/

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I don't think the game being open and having 'real' dungeons are necessarily mutually exclusive. I could see an open-air Zelda with elaborate dungeons, especially since that was one of the biggest complaints people had about BotW. The Zelda team has always been receptive to feedback. I think they could find a way to make it work, especially now that the groundwork is already there. They'll be able to concentrate on building on to it.

 

[Kickmaster Kim]

I should probably get around to finishing Oracle of Seasons, but that game pissed me off part way through with that bullshit.

 

[DanteLinkX]

I firmly believe Zelda should always be on BotW Graphics style from now on, it feels like the perfect balance between WW, OoT and TP. I wonder what Zelda Community on era thinks about this.

 

[Deleted member 5086]

I firmly believe Zelda should always be on BotW Graphics style from now on, it feels like the perfect balance between WW, OoT and TP. I wonder what Zelda Community on era thinks about this.

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I really like the art direction in BotW, too. I'm not that fond of Zelda's design, though it grew on me eventually. Apart from that, I really liked the character designs.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

BotW has a merged timeline so that somewhat implies (implicitly as I doubt Aonuma or the writing staff care much about the Zelda timeline) that there was some event that merged the three timelines back into one before BotW.

 

[Redneckerz]

Yeah I understand it's totally innocent, just thought it fit regular threads more than community ones..

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To be perfectly blunt, i feel its really meta-complaining. It doesn't hurt the legacy of Zelda in anyway, but its just that distractive enough that one has to post about it. And i dislike that. To me it reads like ''no fun allowed''.

So i changed it and i hope nobody else ever will be agitated enough by it to warrant it a post. It never was my intention for it either way.

 

[MrPhiliasfrog]

Even though I liked BOTW a lot. I think I want the next game to be more "classic" or at least not as open as BOTW was.
To be honest, I want real dungeons :/

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I don't really mind the lack of more traditional dungeons, but I would like to see more variety. Some caves, towers, fortress, hollow tree, etc.

I hope we see a good combination of shrines (if they decide to keep them), dungeons and secret places.

Edit: What kind of dungeons would you guys like to see in the next game?

 

[Kickmaster Kim]

I need to get a ton of money so I can get a Switch and play BOTW.

 

[King Dodongo]

Zelda is the best franchise. It has tons of gems, most people anticipate with bathed breath whenever a new one is announced, and the charm is there!

 

[Dernhelm]

Was thinking earlier today that it's weird there wasn't a collective community thread for Zelda of all franchises on Era. Nice to see it pop up here.

 

[Neufr0]

I don't think the game being open and having 'real' dungeons are necessarily mutually exclusive.

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I think that too. It didn't mean to link these two aspects. I just don't want to see another open world because it would probably be disappointing after botw another direction would be better imo.

 

[404LinkNotFound]

I don't really mind the lack of more traditional dungeons, but I would like to see more variety. Some caves, towers, fortress, hollow tree, etc.

I hope we see a good combination of shrines (if they decide to keep them), dungeons and secret places.

Edit: What kind of dungeons would you guys like to see in the next game?

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Allll the dungeons
A mix of traditional dungeons
Dungeons like hyrule castle
And controllable dungeons that work similar to the divine Beasts
And shrines as mini dungeons

 

[Deleted member 5086]

I think that too. It didn't mean to link these two aspects. I just don't want to see another open world because it would probably be disappointing after botw another direction would be better imo.

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Given BotW's crazy success, I would be shocked if they went in a drastically different direction, unless it was a stop-gap topdown game like ALBW. I have heard that they said they're sticking with the 'open-air' format, too, but I haven't read the article/seen the video myself.

 

[Watershed]

Cool that there's a community thread now. I assumed there already was one.

Also, Skyward Swords soundtrack is surprisingly high quality. It has a full orchestra saturday morning cartoon vibe that works really well for the game.

 

[Dernhelm]

If I were to let my imagination run wild as to where they go from BotW (without trying 'reinvent the wheel' needlessly, nor regress back on an older game design from the series), I'd look at Tarrey Town as a genesis for a good starting point. Not the town itself, but more that it's something you helped build up over a quest. A Zelda that follows closer to SS's era that shows the rise of Hyrule Kingdom as pocketed towns and villages would be a good step forwards for the series at this point. It's ground that has been covered (albeit incredibly poorly) by the likes of Bethesda with Fallout 4's settlement mechanics, if given the same level of thought and expertise that Aonuma and the team gave to open-world, the concept of foraging to civilisation development and protection is a mechanic that'd keep people playing for months.

 

[Richietto]

Given BotW's crazy success, I would be shocked if they went in a drastically different direction, unless it was a stop-gap topdown game like ALBW. I have heard that they said they're sticking with the 'open-air' format, too, but I haven't read the article/seen the video myself.

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Yeah the next game is for sure open-air. But hey the next game will for sure have more traditional Zelda elements now that the groundwork is out of the way. I imagine big sprawling dungeons took a back seat to accommodate creating the open world stuff for the first time.

 

[Deleted member 5086]

Yeah the next game is for sure open-air. But hey the next game will for sure have more traditional Zelda elements now that the groundwork is out of the way. I imagine big sprawling dungeons took a back seat to accommodate creating the open world stuff for the first time.

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Yeah, and from what I have noticed, the Zelda team are pretty receptive when it comes to criticism and feedback. It's an important franchise for Nintendo, after all. Fujibayashi had this to say recently regarding BotW:

"Even in situations like this, talking to people and finding out that people want to pet dogs gives me a lot of motivation, a lot of ideas for things we could put into the game."

Given the lack of elaborate dungeons being one of the common complaints, I'm sure that's something they've picked up on, if they're aware that people wanted to pet doggos of all things. :P And I agree, hopefully now that the groundwork has been laid, I'm interested to see how they'll build on or tweak it in future games. They certainly have the motivation right now.

 

[LatteToGo]

Will nintendo ever release an official timeline for Botw? I read various version and they all seem legit

Edit: and can you play Skyword Sword on WiiU with a pro control? Being itchy to play it

 

[Dernhelm]

Will nintendo ever release an official timeline for Botw? I read various version and they all seem legit

Edit: and can you play Skyword Sword on WiiU with a pro control? Being itchy to play it

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Unless there is a mod out there (given what people have been doing with the WiiU these past couple of years), Skyward Sword was never ported, so I can't imagine it's playable without the Wiimote. Too much of the combat relies heavily on that design.

Edit: As to your first question, I couldn't guess, they've released a lot of publications of art and design for the series these past couple of years - which is a likely place to find the definitive answer, but I dunno if they have enough content beyond BotW's own art and design to make another book so soon.

 

[Joqu]

Ah, now this thread feels like home.

Has anyone here picked up the japanese breath of the wild art book? It looks really promising from what I've seen, but I'm hoping dark horse brings that one over too.

 

[Deleted member 5086]

Ah, now this thread feels like home.

Has anyone here picked up the japanese breath of the wild art book? It looks really promising from what I've seen, but I'm hoping dark horse brings that one over too.

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I'm waiting for the English version myself, but I'm fairly certain we'll get it. It's part of the 30th anniversary set of books as far as I'm aware? I remember Damiani mentioning it in his tweets. We got Arts and Artifacts, and Zelda Encyclopedia is making it over, so I'm sure Master Works will too.

Will nintendo ever release an official timeline for Botw? I read various version and they all seem legit

Edit: and can you play Skyword Sword on WiiU with a pro control? Being itchy to play it

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Supposedly the Master Works book will have a lore dump about BotW. It'll probably be mentioned there.

 

[Watershed]

Wow, that cover is awesome.

 

[Phendrift]

I firmly believe Zelda should always be on BotW Graphics style from now on, it feels like the perfect balance between WW, OoT and TP. I wonder what Zelda Community on era thinks about this.

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On one hand, I agree with this. BotW is absolutely gorgeous.

On the other hand, I like how the series changes art style for each game. It makes each one stand out more. I wouldn't complain if we got a style based off of, say, the Zelda Wii U tech demo next.

 

[What-ok]

Ah, now this thread feels like home.

Has anyone here picked up the japanese breath of the wild art book? It looks really promising from what I've seen, but I'm hoping dark horse brings that one over too.

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What!? Oh I might have to import that. Anyone know a good source for Japanese art books?

 

[Vidiot]

It's easily my all time favorite game series. Really, really excited to see what they do after BotW. If they can manage to have a BotW style game with better dungeons and boss fights then man oh man! The Champions Ballad gives me some hope since it had the most dungeon feeling Devine beast and the best boss fight.

 

[Deleted member 5086]

What!? Oh I might have to import that. Anyone know a good source for Japanese art books?

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Amazon JP should have it. But like I said, it's pretty sure to make it over, just like Hyrule Historia, Arts and Artifacts and Zelda Encyclopedia.

Edit: Here's the link to it on Amazon JP if you're interested: https://t.co/rEXWxIjob7

 

[InkyVulture]

Allll the dungeons
A mix of traditional dungeons
Dungeons like hyrule castle
And controllable dungeons that work similar to the divine Beasts
And shrines as mini dungeons

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Don't forget the random holes in the ground and caves!

 

[kaden]

I picked up the Master Works book yesterday, it is pretty awesome. The art work for characters, environments, armour and weapons is cool. Even includes the DLC stuff. I never noticed the lobster shirt gives Link a couple of wrist bands until I saw the image in the book.
I haven't had a good look at the written information yet, but there is stuff about Zelda's journey including maps and what looks like a timeline for the 100years before events.

 

[404LinkNotFound]

Don't forget the random holes in the ground and caves!

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Holes that have cows in it! ,tht was so strange back in Ocarina of time

 

[Deleted member 9971]

Damn the Mario 64 like Ocarina of Time would have been the cooler game imo :(

Btw huge Zelda fan grew up with the series and it helped me greatly.in life, BotW and Twilight Princess oh and Majoras Mask and Minis Cap are my favorites, i have a Imp Midna and Wolf Link Tattoo, will get Midna's true for on my ribs somewhere in 2018.

The games are honestly what i exactly want in gamin so it's the perfect gaming series to play for me. Put in 255 hours in BotW and still even have to do Master Mode :P wich i will start in early 2018.

My best gaming memory is when i had a gaming room where i gathered eith friends daily and we played through Twilight Princess multiple times, even my sister eho hates Zelda game loved the game and liked to play as wolf link. I and my friends played through most of the games in those days it was awesomex this and how it helped me sometimes in life with mental issues etc are why i have the tattoo's.

Here is the imp midna one
https://m.imgur.com/YDAnLDZ
Artwork of the humanoid form i am getting in 2018.
https://imgur.com/zIY7xts

 

[@ShenmueGuru]

I just finished replaying Twilight Princess, and if my desire to play BoTW was so low, based on what I have read, it couldn't be any lower.

One of the things I love most about Zelda is it's temple approach. I always have. Lots of different temples, with its own theme, running undercurrent, unique puzzle arrangement, a new item obtainable to then allow you to delve deeper into the Temple, a boss at the end which has made the temple a place where evil dwells and you need to defeat it to revert it back to its original state (whatever that is), how the temple fits into the overall story arch, and what ramifications you have to defeating the boss at the end of it.

Not even just enjoying playing it as a gamer, I love the buzz I get when I am presented with a new radical take on a temple, and think, WOW someone thought if this up? Amazing! From little things like the winding corridor in OOT Forest Temple, the upside down nature of Stone Tower, taking old ideas like iron boots, and making them magnetic in the Goron Mines in TP, or taking the simple Temple of Time in OOT, and actually linking it to a real temple in TP. It's those kind of things I consider so special as a gamer of the franchise, not just playing the game as a stand alone entry, but when it has those links (no pun intended) to previous games, and changes your perspective on them.

I haven't seen any of that, and whilst BoTW is critically acclaimed, it just seems to be too far a detraction from what I know and love about Zelda games of yore.

 

[Nintex]

I just finished replaying Twilight Princess, and if my desire to play BoTW was so low, based on what I have read, it couldn't be any lower.

One of the things I love most about Zelda is it's temple approach. I always have. Lots of different temples, with its own theme, running undercurrent, unique puzzle arrangement, a new item obtainable to then allow you to delve deeper into the Temple, a boss at the end which has made the temple a place where evil dwells and you need to defeat it to revert it back to its original state (whatever that is), how the temple fits into the overall story arch, and what ramifications you have to defeating the boss at the end of it.

Not even just enjoying playing it as a gamer, I love the buzz I get when I am presented with a new radical take on a temple, and think, WOW someone thought if this up? Amazing! From little things like the winding corridor in OOT Forest Temple, the upside down nature of Stone Tower, taking old ideas like iron boots, and making them magnetic in the Goron Mines in TP, or taking the simple Temple of Time in OOT, and actually linking it to a real temple in TP. It's those kind of things I consider so special as a gamer of the franchise, not just playing the game as a stand alone entry, but when it has those links (no pun intended) to previous games, and changes your perspective on them.

I haven't seen any of that, and whilst BoTW is critically acclaimed, it just seems to be too far a detraction from what I know and love about Zelda games of yore.

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BOTW has something to discover around every corner.
Instead of having just interesting things in dungeons, they've scattered them all over the place.

- Interesting quests and character back stories like in Majora's Mask
- Abandoned fortresses and temples, sometimes with hints to past Zelda games
- Shrines hidden in the overworld behind ruins of dungeon-like temples

As you play it the game feels like the original Zelda art

 

[Deleted member 11276]

And shrines as mini dungeons

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Nah. Instead of shrines they should strike for visual variety, for example a ghost house with a small story or Akkala Castle. Would be much better

 

[404LinkNotFound]

Nah. Instead of shrines they should strike for visual variety, for example a ghost house with a small story or Akkala Castle. Would be much better

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Oh when i say shrines ,i mean the concept of em ,short little fun puzzle rooms that double as warp points. I dont mind adding some visual vareity to them. We can still easily also have that idea of yours with that ghoat house sidequest or Alala castle also :p still
Ie i guess im saying

 

[Deleted member 30569]

Hi all. Nice thread!

My absolute favorite franchise is Resident Evil. But at the rate things are going, The Legend of Zelda series might dethrone it! And this is for someone who didn't even touch a Zelda title until 2013.

It was A Link Between Worlds, I got the special ALBW edition 3DS XL. And funny enough, the only reason I got a 3DS in the first place was expressly to try Ocarina of Time -- I simply had to play the so called "greatest game of all time."

Anyway, fell in love with A Link Between Worlds instantly and thought that if that was the Zelda formula, I definitely needed more of it. I'm planning to play through a good chunk of the series next year, most games of which I'll be playing for the first time. Starting from the OG NES game, for which I bought the cartridge because clearly I needed some of that action in my gaming life.

 

[404LinkNotFound]

Hi all. Nice thread!

My absolute favorite franchise is Resident Evil. But at the rate things are going, The Legend of Zelda series might dethrone it! And this is for someone who didn't even touch a Zelda title until 2013.

It was A Link Between Worlds, I got the special ALBW edition 3DS XL. And funny enough, the only reason I got a 3DS in the first place was expressly to try Ocarina of Time -- I simply had to play the so called "greatest game of all time."

Anyway, fell in love with A Link Between Worlds instantly and thought that if that was the Zelda formula, I definitely needed more of it. I'm planning to play through a good chunk of the series next year, most games of which I'll be playing for the first time. Starting from the OG NES game, for which I bought the cartridge because clearly I needed some of that action in my gaming life.

Click to shrink...

I love that game so much ,like its my third favourite Zelda game and my fave 2D game.
I even venture to say that its better than A Link to the Past(well in my opinion lol). People say the game is easy but thats fine by me ,i dont mind easy games at all

 

[.exe]

Recently came across this magnificent cover of the OoT title screen music. The best take on it I've personally ever heard. In any case, I think the people in here may appreciate it!



Got hit with hard with nostalgia listening to this. May just boot up Ocarina or Majora's Mask on 3DS again. As much as I loved Breath of the Wild, I really missed the amount of world-building and lore you usually get in the older Zelda 's that add so much flavor to already great games. Also looking forward to that artbook that'll be hitting Western shores in a few months!

I typed this up for the BotW GotY thread but I'll post it here:

The non-inclusion of Iron Knuckle and Darknuts really bugs me because they are PERFECT for BotW. It doesn't take a genius to see that the limited variety of enemy in BotW is an effect of needing to supply Link weapons on a constant basis (You can see that most enemies wield weapons and even enemies like Hinox and Modluga drop weapons in a way that makes sense "lore"-wise. The enemies that don't drop weapons are very weak (chus and keese)). Darknuts and Iron Knuckles are THE enemies that come to mind when I think of the system in BotW.

Click to shrink...

So true! I was really disappointed at their absence. I convinced myself they had to be in/around Hyrule Castle but alas.

 

[What-ok]

Amazon JP should have it. But like I said, it's pretty sure to make it over, just like Hyrule Historia, Arts and Artifacts and Zelda Encyclopedia.

Edit: Here's the link to it on Amazon JP if you're interested: https://t.co/rEXWxIjob7

Click to shrink...

Thanks for the "Link".
So a Dark Horse release might be worth the wait? I only have the Historia release. How do the Arts and Artifacts and the Encyclopedia compair? Must buys?

 

[Rand a. Thor]

BoTW looks like a perfect game, but yeah, shrines and the divine beasts ruin things for me. I mean when I will eventually play it, its gonna be great exploring a massive hyrule, with secrets, lore hints, and backstory for a massive cast of NPCs, but that techno look just drains me completely. No variation whatsoever. And I might be stupid on this, but I can't deal with an ambient soundtrack when it comes to Zelda. Even if I am playing for 500 hours, I want pomp in my battles, bombstic overtures carrying me through the vast fields of Hyrule, triumphant warsongs as I slay the mighty bosses. I understand the game has some of that, but its too sparse from what I heard of the OST. Basically next game Zelda Team:
-Give me proper dungeons. Only 4-6-8? Make em massive fucking portions of the overworld, with Shrine like puzzle rooms that share its theme scattered all over that portion of the world.
-Dial Back the durability. Give me permanent weapons/items and bring back stuff like the hookshot, spinner, sand rod, etc. Dial back the physics engine if needed to do so.
-Step up your game in the music Department. ALBW had some of the best music in the series, with much needed remasters of old songs.

Story and visual presentation I have no idea about, but I assume they are near perfect.