The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

[LATER BUDDY]

Yeah what's actually got me hooked the most out of everything is that they decided to use this old style again. Personally I'm a big fan of it, and I think it's a great way to make Link fresh again while not really having to take some unnecessary redesigning again. I always liked how the darker hair looked on him when contrasting with the rest of his color scheme.

 

That said I hope this isn't the only time we'll get to see him like this. I totally wouldn't be against a "classic uprising" in Zelda.

[Marcello]

Not sure if I've said it in this topic or if it was only in the ND topic, but the only problem I currently have with Link's model is that there's no expressions. His face stays the same the whole time. Usually Nintendo does a great job with that, so I'm fairly confident they'll fix that up by release, though. Also, I hope he has a similar pushing animation as LTTP. I want to go on a humping spree again.

[SuperLink]

Not sure if I've said it in this topic or if it was only in the ND topic, but the only problem I currently have with Link's model is that there's no expressions. His face stays the same the whole time. Usually Nintendo does a great job with that, so I'm fairly confident they'll fix that up by release, though. Also, I hope he has a similar pushing animation as LTTP. I want to go on a humping spree again.

I agree completely (except maybe the pushing but different strokes-)

 

The total lack of facial expression is a bit concerning, even Minish Cap and heck LttP Link had various expressions, this Link seems expressionless making me think that his model is in early stages.. or that they might be going almost /too/ silent-protagonist. I am a little concerned on that aspect despite how much I look forward to the gameplay. I also hope we get cutscenes with different camera angles and such.

[Patticus]

The model looks fine. If nothing else I was worried at first glance that they were using the Wind Waker style yet again.

I like the Wind Waker style, but it obviously doesn't belong in every new handheld Zelda game. It would be nice to see it in a new (non-remake) home console game set later on in the WW timeline, but it clearly doesn't belong in the ALttP timeline at all.

[Chaos Warp]

I love the Wind Waker style, but it has become seriously overused by the time Spirit Tracks rolled around (not to mention it didn't work nearly as well in the DS games) and I'm glad they are going back to the LTTP visual style (updated with 3d and all that of course) for this game.

[SuperLink]

I too love the WW style and I'm afraid that I might have come across as anti-WW sometimes due to my vocal dislike of them reusing the style so much, but that's literally it. I love that Zelda has, in the past, rarely kept the same style for more than a few games, it always keeps things fresh and interesting.. so when Wind Waker's Toon Link started being the only style ever used for handheld games, I began to worry that we'd rarely again see Zeldas of a different style- it began to affect my appreciation for each new iteration of Toon Link whom I previously adored, and the style of WW that I adored in its individuality.

 

This game has disproven that, it's new, it's revisiting a style that hasn't been used in over a decade, and it shows that modern Nintendo won't limit handheld Zeldas to just one style! It's very promising to me, that's the main reason why I appreciate it so much! It could look exactly like every single NSMB game ever with every character having DS-level plastic graphics and I'd still appreciate it for breaking the recent-Zelda mold.

[Blue Blood]

Stealing this bit of info from Zelda Informer. Lookie, here's a regular sword:

 

 

And here's the Master Sword:

 

Edited April 19, 2013 by Blue Blood

[SuperLink]

That definitely looks like the Master Sword

 

Or maybe it's the Magic Sword from Zelda 1? Or even the Four Sword?

[Blue Blood]

It could be anything. But it certainly looks like the Master Sword at any rate. 

[Salamander]

It wouldn't be the first time there'd been another magical sword in the series that looked near-identical to the Master Sword.  ...But yeah, it's going to be the Master Sword conspicuously not sleeping forever, isn't it.

 

Pretty much my only hope now for the game is that it at least remixes the dungeon order and subverts our expectations of it as a LttP clone to become something quite different, and that things like the identical graphics and Moldorm boss in what looks like the Tower of Hera turn out to be big red herrings.

[Patticus]

It wouldn't be the first time there'd been another magical sword in the series that looked near-identical to the Master Sword.  ...But yeah, it's going to be the Master Sword conspicuously not sleeping forever, isn't it.

This can be rectified in the game's intro or an in-game cut-scene with these words: "It was supposed to sleep forever!"

Then they can do whatever they like.

[SuperLink]

Or it could be a secret like it was in the Oracle games, that'd be awesome C:

 

I personally like the idea of the Magic Sword being bought more into canon though, that'd be neat. Ultra neat.

[Octarine]

I've always had kind of a weakness for special non-Master Sword swords in Zelda. The Magic Sword, the Phantom Sword, the Lokomo Sword, the Razor Sword and the Gilded Sword, the Four Sword... the L-2 sword from Link's Awakening that apparently isn't actually called the Seashell Sword...

 

So I'd like to see something other than the Master Sword here for novelty's sake as much as to stay consistent with the "sleeping forever" stuff. I won't sweat it if the Master Sword does return somehow, though; A Link to the Past was the game that let some dwarves and a fairy reforge the Master Sword twice to increase its power from ultimate to double-super-ultimate (I wonder what that did to Fi...), so there's a precedent for not treating the thing with any particular reverence.

Edited April 19, 2013 by Octarine

[SuperLink]

While I mostly agree, some of the non-Master Swords were pushing it a bit. "the legendary Lokomo Sword".. why not just use the Phantom Sword again? What's the point in introducing a new sword that is essentially the same and will never be seen again when instead they could have given another previously-minor sword a much-needed bonus to its mythos?
 
One of the great things about the Four Sword is that it's proven its importance and relevance throughout canon, the Lokomo Sword just feels like something they made up on the spot for a "legendary Master Sword replacement", did they not even think to reuse the Phantom Sword? Idk, small peeve.
 

I won't sweat it if the Master Sword does return somehow, though; A Link to the Past was the game that let some dwarves and a fairy reforge the Master Sword twice to increase its power from ultimate to double-super-ultimate (I wonder what that did to Fi...), so there's a precedent for not treating the thing with any particular reverence.

Fi sure has been battered around a lot poor baby. I really genuinely hope she's alluded to in another Zelda game someday.

Edited April 19, 2013 by SuperLink

[Octarine]

I was actually going to say that I prefer the swords that at least have a unique look or ability. I do at least like the Lokomo Sword's colour scheme a little better than the Master Sword's, but yeah, it's pretty dull. Maybe if it was a little more train-themed, somehow...

 

I played Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass in reverse order, so the idea of just reusing the Phantom Sword never occurred to me. That really would've made a lot more sense, and the Phantom Sword's definitely way cooler anyway. I guess they were wary of making ST look like too much of a rehash, or they wanted to sell people on New Hyrule by associating it with classic iconography?

[Salamander]

The Lokomo Sword literally just gets pulled out of thin air with no fanfare.  I like to think that, if Spirit Tracks had had longer in development, there'd have been another dungeon with that as the treasure... and if that were the case, maybe it could have been the Phantom Sword, sealed away by the previous Link when he settled in the new Hyrule?

 

And granted, the business of the Master Sword sleeping forever was not exactly a very forward-thinking remark to make at the time.  Still, while they almost certainly won't do this, I think it would be great if the Master Sword actually can't be drawn in this game, perhaps specifically because Ganon's not the villain, and so the heroes have to get a new legendary sword, or make a new one.  That would be one way of shaking up the LttP formula - and a good reason to go haring off to some other dungeons, too.  As I said above, I'm really hoping that they'll shake up the dungeon order, have other parts of the world map be completely changed, and so on.  It'd be nice if the Moldorm dungeon was just the first one and then all the rest gradually springs new stuff on us.

[Detective Shadzter]

Aonuma confirms light/dark world for Zelda’s new 3DS entry, reveals idea behind Link’s ability to turn into a drawing
http://nintendoeverything.com/120641/aonuma-confirms-lightdark-world-for-zeldas-new-3ds-entry-reveals-idea-behind-links-ability-to-turn-into-a-drawing/

[Jetronic]

Aonuma confirms light/dark world for Zelda’s new 3DS entry, reveals idea behind Link’s ability to turn into a drawing

http://nintendoeverything.com/120641/aonuma-confirms-lightdark-world-for-zeldas-new-3ds-entry-reveals-idea-behind-links-ability-to-turn-into-a-drawing/

I guess Link didn't wish for the Dark World to be all hugs and smiles =[

[Salamander]

This so started out as a remake, there's no way they planned this as an original title.  They must've switched it when they realised how much they wanted to change the dungeons.  I really hope the whole game progression isn't too much of a clone of the original.

 

Timeline-wise, incidentally, I'm increasingly thinking that maybe this happens to the original LttP Link after he's been through the Oracles and Link's Awakening (which conveniently will have been available on the eShop by the time this comes out).  All the intro has to say is that Link went off on a bunch of quests and then he returned to Hyrule to find shenanigans had occurred in his absence.  It's almost perfect - it gives time enough for the world to stay mostly the same, but time enough for stuff to happen while his back is turned... well, objectively mostly during Link's Awakening, as Zelda and Ganon were both in the Oracles.

[Conando]

I didn't really think about that before, but that really is the only point that it would make the best sense. I mean, Link sets out on an adventure like right after he destroys Ganon.

[SuperLink]

I am a little worried that the overworlds will be identical and the game will be more of a Black/White 2 sequel than a Majora's Mask type sequel. I'll definitely still enjoy the game regardless but.. I do hope the overworld and game formula have both their similarities and complete differences to the original.

[Detective Shadzter]

Got an e-mail from Nintendo about a new Zelda Facebook page for the UK. 

https://www.facebook.com/LegendofZeldaUK

[Salamander]

Got an e-mail from Nintendo about a new Zelda Facebook page for the UK. 

https://www.facebook.com/LegendofZeldaUK

 

Oh hey, they confirm that the U.K. also gets the Oracles on May 30th.  I'm pretty sure the European Direct only confirmed May.  That's nice.

 

To tie this into ALttP2, the Oracles games establish that the Triforce is sitting around in Hyrule Castle, so maybe ALttP2 is set off by Ganon's loyal minions breaking in and successfully wishing for his resurrection, whereupon... Zelda and the maidens seal them into the Golden Land again?  With optional Triforce shattering.  Or, more boringly, Ganon is resurrected off-screen and grabs the Triforce himself but is sealed into the Golden Land in doing so?  Since it took both Oracles games to resurrect Ganon and even then only incorrectly, I feel like his return should be a fairly mammoth undertaking.

[Solly]

I guess Link didn't wish for the Dark World to be all hugs and smiles =[

But he did wish for vultures to rule the desert. 

His priorities are a little mixed. 

 

Since it took both Oracles games to resurrect Ganon and even then only incorrectly, I feel like his return should be a fairly mammoth undertaking.

This is exactly why I don't want Ganon to return, at least not through some resurrection. 

[Octarine]

If there's going to be an original villain (even if the odds of Ganon being secretly behind everything or getting resurrected at the end anyway are roughly 150%), I hope it's a woman. As far as I can recall, there've only ever been three major female villains in the series, and two of those were Twinrova. And the other one worked for Twinrova. C'mon, guys, give us a little variety~!

 

If we do get Ganon again, though, I'd love to see that unused Ganondorf design from the Oracle games make an appearance. Aside from it just plain looking cool, it'd be fun to see his human form in a 2D game for the first time. Then maybe we could start getting proper appearances from pig-monster Ganon in the 3D games?