A Futuristic Zelda - Yay or Nay?

[Bomby]

I had this great debate a few days ago at Zelda Universe's forum over whether or not a futuristic Zelda game would work within the series, and almost started another debate on the same topic in... erm... one of the other forums at VGF at the mention of this debate. So, I decided to post a topic debating the same topic in the rightful place where it belongs.

I am personally all for it, but I'll hold out my reasoning until I see someone else's reasoning against it.

[Tad Venture]

I think it would be cool, but only if it was done extremely well. If it kept the gameplay, idea, and general Zelda feel, it could be good. But it would have to be executed perfectly or else it would fail really hard.

[Bomby]

With the already consistently high quality level of execution within the Zelda series, I don't think it would be any more difficult to make a great game than any of the other games in the series (excluding, of course, Adventure of Link, which I swear to god I can't stand).

[ZeldaGirl]

I'm for it, too. Look at another popular, successful series that has followed the same path - Final Fantasy. It wasn't until FFVII that the whole futuristic setting came into play, and was implemented in VIII and X (and other games, but to a much lesser extent). And personally, I greatly enjoyed those games. I think, as Bomby said, the high quality that the creators are capable of should definitely make it all worthwhile.

[Tazy_10]

Well, that is a pretty good idea, although I'm sure a Gun would replace the Bow as well as more Modern Weapons coming into play <_<

Although this is my inner fanboy talking.

[KING 1-UP SALESMAN]

Great idea. It should be like Final Fantasy VII. Guns 'n swords, guns 'n swords

[Tad Venture]

Originally Posted by Bomby

(excluding, of course, Adventure of Link, which I swear to god I can't stand).

Why's that? I adore AoL (see avatar).

[Bomby]

I think the side scrolling aspect was poorly executed. I know there's a lot of people who like that game, but I'm not going to pretend I liked it just because Zelda is my favorite video game series.

I personally would favor a crossbow replacing a bow over a gun.

[ZeldaGirl]

^Crossbow would be cool, but why not both?

I think that the overall idea has extreme potential, but I'd like to hear from a dissenter. Anyone opposed to the idea? Don't be afraid, I won't eat you maybe.

[I am nobody]

I'm against it. Too much would have to be changed for it too have even a chance of working.

[ZeldaGirl]

^Explain - we're trying to generate a debate, so give some specifics as to what you think will go wrong.

[Tad Venture]

Well, wait. How futuristic are we talking here? Because I asked my brother and he automatically thought of lasers and spaceships and stuff. I was just thinking a Steampunk world.

I think a Steampunk world would be the only way to pull something like this off.

[ZeldaGirl]

^I'm with you. Not SUPER futuristic, and no space.

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

I actually think that m amodern day Zelda has more potential but I don't wanna confuse the debate.

As for the futuristic aspect, it would have to be the near future, no SciFi staples like lazers and a buncha metal **** everywhere like Star Trek. It needs to keep the world alive and vibrant vs cold & dead.

[The Missing Link]

So let's distill Zelda down to its raw components and see what trickles to the surface, shall we? Far as I'm concerned, you need rather nifty weaponry, dungeon venturing, puzzle solving, epic boss fights, and some semblance of an overarching evil.

Depending upon how you "modernise" Zelda (i.e., making it "futuristic"), some of these by their very nature will become broken. If you look at dungeon venturing in the sense of a space-age world, it practically doesn't make a lot of sense in the common framework. About the best you could do -- and still have it make sense with the story, mind -- would be to do something on par with infiltrating an enemy base, but you'd run the risk very quickly of making it a shooter- or stealth-type genre, and I'm not so certain I like that in my Zelda-Nut Cheerios, thanks.

Pulling Zelda out of the archetypal medieval setting would difficult for this reason because the whole sense of dungeons and questing is pretty much rooted in that time period; very few other time periods could easily pull that off successfully.

So I guess that'd put be in the category of "not against it, but sceptical of it."

[Tad Venture]

Dungeon ventures get totally screwed in a space game, which is why steampunk is definitely the only way to go, IMO.

(For those of you who don't know what Steampunk is, think of Skytown from Metroid Prime 3)

[Speed is just Speed]

Oh that's what you ment by "Steampunk"

Well anywho, no to the space age crap that's for Star Fox and Metroid.

I was thinking either something present times (Metal Gear Solid) to near but still not Space Age (FF7, Sonic Adventure) there are things that could be good and things that could be bad it really is a dice roll.

[I am nobody]

ZG:

1. Swords. They just don't work in a game where guns are going to be present. However, we're talking about putting guns in Zelda. Swords can't leave, they've always been important in the series, but Link doesn't have a chance fighting against enemies armed with guns unless he suddenly has supernatural reactions, vision and stamina. (you aren't going to block every bullet no matter how fast you can move) God-Link wouldn't really work for the series, and normal Link would die before getting within a mile of an enemy. There are plenty of games that have very little realism, but most of them don't get to the point of having you fight guns with a normal sword.

2. Guns. Would Link be using them? If yes, then the whole concept of the game changes. How hard are enemies like Octrocks going to be when you can shoot them from 100 yards away? What about the enemies that rely on you getting close to them, like Iron Knuckles, ReDead, Poes and Gibdos? How can they fight when you can kill them from so far away? Link using guns would mean that almost all of the enemies would have to be reworked.
If Link didn't use guns, then he would have to have god-like abilities to survive, as mentioned above.

3. Dungeons
See TML's post

4. Bosses
What would the be like in this game? Covered in bullet-proof armor to allow for the use of a sword? (bullet-proof vests are sometimes unable to defend against stabbing, so this would actually be realistic) Or would they keep their distance, only allowing Link to shoot at them. Keeping the bosses balanced would require some major changes to the typical fights. (i.e., the giant eye bosses aren't going to last very long when you can shoot them while staying out of their attack range. if they went with the bullet-proof armor, then it might be difficult to make the weapon switch after going for so long with the gun as your primary weapon)

5. Characters
Not a major problem, but the characters would have to be changed a lot to keep from looking outdated in the game.

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There are ways around this, like having some enemies be bullet-proof, restricting gun use to certain areas or making ammo rare, but bringing in guns and other modern technology would have a huge effect on the game no matter how it was used.

The game would have to be done perfectly to be able to be both set in the future and feel anything like other Zelda games.

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

An MGS setting would be perfect. Just less stealth, more combat and puzzles in huge areas (more Resident Evil like).

And narritive like in MGS would deepen the game and fill any voids left open. The game needs a change, if only temporarily.

[X-3]

For the whole guns and swords problem, I think of No More Heroes, where you can block bullets with your sword. Plus, if you're shot, you don't die. Then again, that sword was a laser sword.

Steampunk would be cool, but I really wouldn't like "supa futuristic" that much.