10 replies to this topic

[Wolf O'Donnell]

I thought I'd share these Zelda story ideas with you, because quite frankly, I want to hear your opinions on them.

I've got two Zelda story ideas, both of which are somewhat set in our world.

1. Majora's Mask Link wanders off into our world. Obviously, in the past, though. Some evil monsters follow him through, all set in High Middle Ages Europe. Got the idea from uncovering my copy of Knightmare: Fortress of Assassins (http://en.wikipedia....rces/055252638X). The only problem with this idea is that I have difficulties doing a convincing Middle Ages setting. Being set in our world, Link would obviously be viewed as an Elf and un-Christian, which could cause some hijinks.

2. This one I'm not too sure about. I've thought of having all of Hyrule enslaved by a curse to make Christmas gifts. The King of Hyrule in this story is a psychotic Santa Claus, made mad by several centuries of Christmas deliveries. Link would yes, be a Santa's helper. However, if I have an adult Link, he would be a knight in the heavily fortified Hyrule Castle. That would make Link a kind of Pyramid Head figure. I'm kinda partial to having him as a bloodied psychopath as well.

I am also looking forward to hearing if any of you have any ideas too.

[MikePetersSucks]

I'm kind of enchanted by the recent implication in the Zelda games that the goddesses use magitech and may or may not be aliens. Someone should explore that.

[SOAP]

A whiles back I played iwth the idea of Zelda being a commoner and Link's childhood friend instead of a princess. This was yaers before Skyward Sword. The backstory of the game was there was some war that broke out that caused a huge fire in Hyrule Castle. With the Royal Family threatened by the attack, Impa switches the baby Zelda with the baby of one of the servants who is dead. The baby Zelda was secretd away to Kakariko and raised as a Sheikah girl. With the King and Queen killed, the chancellor steps in as the head of Hyrulean government and the false Zelda was raised up by the servants as a symbol of Hope to the people but she grows up increasingly spoiled and obnoxious and her grandiose demands as grows older come at the cost of the people's happiness. Meanwhile, the chancellor continues to abuse his political strength to muscle in on neighboring countries to get their resources and build himself a militaristic police force to bully the people Hyrule to keep them from rebelling.

Cue Link and his childhood friend, Nadia. Both are orphans living a orphanage ran by Impa. A series of events in Kakariko lead Link into taking up a sword and coming to the aid the princess Zelda when the Chancellor turns into a monster and tries to devour her for her Force. When he discovers the princess is a false one, he becomes enraged and aims his anger at Link. But when he comes close to him, he picks up the scent of the real Zelda on him and laughing evilly, he spares Link's life and disappears. Having saved the princess, who at this point is completely catatonic after discovering she lived her whole life with a monster who raised her up in order to eat her and that she wasn't even a real princess to begin with. Returning home to Kakariko, Link goes to consult Impa, but the town is attacked by monsters who kidnap Nadia, who is the true Zelda. The second act the game begins with Link going to save his friend and the fake Zelda remaining in Kakariko where she learns first hand how her selfish actions affected the people. She turns a new leaf and she decides to do whatever she can to help LInk and Impa rescue his friend.

In the end, Link kills the evil chancellor rescues the real Zelda, who still prefers to go by Nadia. She turns down the crown, feeling she can better serve her people away from the throne. The fake Zelda remains on the thrown but after all she had learned, she becomes a wiser, more compassionate ruler and gets crown Queen Zelda. Link becomes knighted and Nadia becomes a liasion between the royal family and the working class and poor.

[Egann]

You know, I actually started doodling up a game script idea for how I would "fix" Zelda. On the gameplay side, I gave Link a human partner whom Link would constantly be conversing with over; solving puzzles, handling fights, or just chatting away about things in Hyrule. On the story side it would be Majora's Mask Link returned to Hyrule and confronted with a political intrigue adventure, centering on the history and future of the Gerudo, why two so similar peoples hate each other so much, and a foreshadow to how they would have gotten over it by the time of Twilight Princess.

The purist Zelda fans would rip such a game to shreds--Link talking would be a key part of the game, seeing how conversing and working with an AI would be how puzzles would be solved--so I never took the idea anywhere.


On topic, though, I don't think Link fits in a medieval setting. He fits humanist High Rennaisance, better, and may work better as late as the late Reformation, perhaps. The reason is that medieval settings while "romantically" matching Link's Hylian origins...actually don't. Hyrule is a very egalitarian society, and those ideas don't jive well with oldschool Roman Catholicism. Link would be forced into being an outsider quickly. Egalitarian ideas could, however, work with humanism or reformed theologians.

That, and swords and shields were used in warfare and duels well into the 1600's. Heavy armor got ditched because of the musket, but firearms didn't take over in force until there were reliable flint-locks.

The second idea I'm more apprehensive about. So much of that, though, depends on direction and execution...

[Wolf O'Donnell]

On topic, though, I don't think Link fits in a medieval setting. He fits humanist High Rennaisance, better, and may work better as late as the late Reformation, perhaps. The reason is that medieval settings while "romantically" matching Link's Hylian origins...actually don't. Hyrule is a very egalitarian society, and those ideas don't jive well with oldschool Roman Catholicism.

Exactly. The conflict of cultures would cause enough conflict that there'd be no real need for a monster or Ganondorf to play an active part as the main villain.

The second idea I'm more apprehensive about. So much of that, though, depends on direction and execution...

Yes, I'm having difficulties with that one.

On the other side I like your ideas.

[Selena]

I had two ideas for what I thought would be fun Zelda games, though it was mostly idle brainstorming.

Idea #1:

The king dies and Zelda is set to ascend to the throne, but her envious sibling/another noble/chancellor/etc. makes their own bid for power. They discretely manipulate the existing tension between the races of Hyrule and send the land into civil war. During the chaos, they oust Zelda's regime and paint her as a weak-willed diplomat unsuited for rulership during troubled times. Zelda escapes before assassins can finish her off.

Having been trained in the art of Sheikah warfare by Impa, Zelda sets off to reunify her country and take back her crown. She wouldn't mimic Link's moveset - she'd be slinkier, stealthier, and faster. Agility over strength. Use a variety of Sheikah equipment rather than the regular stuff. Throwing stars, climbing claws, etc. Instead of fetching pieces of some subtitle object that will never be seen again, she'd enter dungeons in each race's territory and free imprisoned loyalist leaders. Puzzles would be more oriented to maneuvering around dangerous environments rather than flipping glorified switches. Once Zelda manages to replace all the warlike leaders and win the faction's support, she can lead an assault on Hyrule Castle and defeat the usurper.

Instead of having a companion of any kind, Zelda would be able to use the Triforce of Wisdom to guide her. She would be able to read the minds of other people - winning sidequest and main quest information. And possibly have visions regarding major courses of action.

Unfortunately, Zelda as a main character was forever ruined by the CDi games.


Idea #2

Mentioned this one not long ago, but it'd be Link on an Odyssey-like quest to return to Hyrule after adventuring in another land.

The game opens with Link in the final stages of a "normal" quest. He's in a castle, ready to fight some big bad. They duel, Link wins, and the foreign land is liberated from the baddie's tyrannical rule - but wait! A parting shot! The dying villain blasts him with a spell, and Link is transported to who-knows-where in the middle of the wilderness. He must begin a long, perilous walk back to Hyrule.

His journeys take him across glacier-covered mountains, sweeping highlands, labyrinthine canyons, and the ruins of ancient civilizations. He's hunted along the way by the forces of darkness, who can attack unscripted at any time. At strategic points along the way, Link will have to work through major dungeons in order to progress to the next region. Some haunted, some just booby-trapped, but all with a big mystical boss at the end.

The final region is the Gerudo Desert, which straddles the border of Hyrule and whatever land Link has ended up in. Just as he sees Hyrule proper in the distance, he encounters the first villain he defeated - the tyrant returning in vengeful demonic form to prevent Link from returning home. He, of course, has been the one sending all the forces of evil after him the whole time. A bigger duel takes place, but, naturally, the hero wins and returns home to his designated blonde princess.

I think it might be fun to Link start with his usual equipment rather than pull a Metroid and make him lose it all. He'd instead collect upgrades for his existing stuff. There could be a song on the Ocarina (or whatever) that allows him to send a shooting star across the sky towards Hyrule, thus providing rudimentary navigation if the player strays from the main road. And warp songs to send him back to previous regions.

[FDL]

I like your second idea in particular a whole lot, Selena. Fanboys would whine about it being too linear but I think it'd be a really cool twist that would still allow for the feel of past Zeldas to appear in some form.

[Egann]

Unfortunately, Zelda as a main character was forever ruined by the CDi games.

I actually had an idea--an idle brainstorm, as you put it--which was totally not inspired by porn.

What about gender-reversing the Link-Zelda relationship.


What if rather than reversing the roles Link and Zelda played in the story, Link and Zelda were gender-reversed. In other words, what if Link was a battle maiden, while Zelda was a wise prince. Except for the "Cremia Hug" in Majora's Mask where Link admired Cremia's breasts in a very responsible pubescent boy way--that's an oxymoron if ever there were one--Link has never said or done anything I cannot fairly see a girl doing. Link and Zelda strike me as a pair which could be rather easily gender-reversed.

That's the dead opposite of Solid Snake, who could never be gender-reversed properly.

[SOAP]

Unfortunately, Zelda as a main character was forever ruined by the CDi games.

I actually had an idea--an idle brainstorm, as you put it--which was totally not inspired by porn.

What about gender-reversing the Link-Zelda relationship.


What if rather than reversing the roles Link and Zelda played in the story, Link and Zelda were gender-reversed. In other words, what if Link was a battle maiden, while Zelda was a wise prince. Except for the "Cremia Hug" in Majora's Mask where Link admired Cremia's breasts in a very responsible pubescent boy way--that's an oxymoron if ever there were one--Link has never said or done anything I cannot fairly see a girl doing. Link and Zelda strike me as a pair which could be rather easily gender-reversed.

That's the dead opposite of Solid Snake, who could never be gender-reversed properly.

Gender Swapping? Psssh! That never works.



Oh wait...

Edited by SOAP, 01 January 2012 - 06:14 AM.

[Wolf O'Donnell]

Apparently, I'm not allowed to see that video because I'm in a different country.

Selena, your second idea strikes me as an intriguing, but perhaps it would be better if the tyrant drugs Link up and ships him off to a Colisseum where he's to die in battle in front of a crowd? If that were to be a game, the battle in the Colisseum could be worked in as an in-game tutorial or rather training for the battle would become the in-game tutorial. They worked an in-game battle tutorial into Twilight Princess along similar lines, and with your idea, the same could be done.

[Masamune]

I think it would be cool to do a game where the Triforce shows up, but it has different bearers. Zelda is still around and Link is the protagonist of course. But the Triforce is claimed by some sorcerer or something who arrogantly wants the wisdom of the gods for... nefarious reasons. He receives only Wisdom due to his own imbalanced heart, leaving Courage and Power in the hands of others. Courage might fall into the hands of another hero (or heroine) who is an NPC character that acts as a rival to Link (like Ralph, only with an expanded role) and Power might fall into the hands of an enemy general/leader who isn't evil, but isn't exactly a friend of Hyrule either. Inevitably Link would have to collect all three pieces to set right everything that has went down, but that will prove difficult, seeing as how he's just a dude with a sword. And fate isn't exactly going to bat for him this time around.