#this is a sub post at a specific Twitter user LOLOL

[nolongerapileofashprobably]

Sometimes I see people bag on Botw/Totk about how they aren’t real ‘Zelda’ games. Because they don’t follow the same format repeated since OoT. But when we think about it, OoT was ALSO a change from previous Zelda games. It was insanely different from the 2D games, having mastered linearity and adding a whole new piece to the story— time travel. We saw a sliver of this before but the way it was utilized was brand new.

Ocarina of Time introduced so many iconic moments, lore, and characters that have gone on to affect the series even now. It was DIFFERENT yet similar with its dungeon format.

Now, with BoTW and ToTK, we have a different format— a non-linear game with an open concept world. The dungeons are there but we all know they lack the same feel as the old ones, this was due to choice of developing the world over one-stop dungeons (at least in botw). We got a much more advanced version of these dungeons in ToTK, with more of a long form dungeon crawl that adds a better balance between the development of the world and these dungeons that we do get to go back to if we so choose.

Now, I’m now saying that these dungeons are the same as they used to be. They aren’t! But we have a world that I have not gotten sick of, in either game, despite this Hyrule being seven years old. This large expansive world is unlike ANY of the games.

BoTW & ToTK are transition games— they mark a new era of Zelda games. They have echoes of old games but are venturing into new plots and lore we have not seen. You see, these games are not a copy and paste of the lore and format we have gotten for literal decades. It’s something new, something that requires a transition.

If they had been copy and pasted formats, we would have haters calling it repetitive, a series long overdue for something different, etc. That’s just the way of the world haha

But these games are an exploration into a new era, a new set of lore and stories for us to enjoy. It’s something we can criticize but it isn’t something we can claim isn’t a Zelda game. It is. It’s just new, introducing new plot points and new mechanics. The series will have a plethora of new lore to delve into THANKS to BoTW/ToTK.

I’m excited to see where the story goes. No matter how much I wanted MORE I’m still quite content with what we have. It’s all the more reason to appreciate what we have and be excited for what’s to come.

[bonsaitreehouse]

I’d argue that A Link Between Worlds was the transitional game from “linear Zelda” to “sandbox Zelda” by providing rentable tools which allowed players to complete the Lowrule dungeons in any order. It was the subtle step priming the audience for the paradigm shift that was about to happen.

More than what’s to come next, I’ll personally be interested to see what paradigm shift they’ll go with next once audiences get bored of the direction that this current format goes in. Because it WILL happen eventually, just as it arguably happened with the “linear” format following the release of Skyward Sword.

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but some day…

Sometimes I see people bag on Botw/Totk about how they aren’t real ‘Zelda’ games. Because they don’t follow the same format repeated since OoT. But when we think about it, OoT was ALSO a change from previous Zelda games. It was insanely different from the 2D games, having mastered linearity and adding a whole new piece to the story— time travel. We saw a sliver of this before but the way it was utilized was brand new.

Ocarina of Time introduced so many iconic moments, lore, and characters that have gone on to affect the series even now. It was DIFFERENT yet similar with its dungeon format.

Now, with BoTW and ToTK, we have a different format— a non-linear game with an open concept world. The dungeons are there but we all know they lack the same feel as the old ones, this was due to choice of developing the world over one-stop dungeons (at least in botw). We got a much more advanced version of these dungeons in ToTK, with more of a long form dungeon crawl that adds a better balance between the development of the world and these dungeons that we do get to go back to if we so choose.

Now, I’m now saying that these dungeons are the same as they used to be. They aren’t! But we have a world that I have not gotten sick of, in either game, despite this Hyrule being seven years old. This large expansive world is unlike ANY of the games.

BoTW & ToTK are transition games— they mark a new era of Zelda games. They have echoes of old games but are venturing into new plots and lore we have not seen. You see, these games are not a copy and paste of the lore and format we have gotten for literal decades. It’s something new, something that requires a transition.

If they had been copy and pasted formats, we would have haters calling it repetitive, a series long overdue for something different, etc. That’s just the way of the world haha

But these games are an exploration into a new era, a new set of lore and stories for us to enjoy. It’s something we can criticize but it isn’t something we can claim isn’t a Zelda game. It is. It’s just new, introducing new plot points and new mechanics. The series will have a plethora of new lore to delve into THANKS to BoTW/ToTK.

I’m excited to see where the story goes. No matter how much I wanted MORE I’m still quite content with what we have. It’s all the more reason to appreciate what we have and be excited for what’s to come.