The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Wii U / Switch

[Hero-of-Time]

Well, I've been wracking my brains and I just can't figure out who else could be a main female character that's anything similar looking to Link in a game like Zelda - I guess it'll remain a mystery forever!

 

[Rummy]

Man, if only Zelda was a grill! There'd be no more mystery!

[Ronnie]

Ah yes I'd forgotten about that piece of cringe-worthy sexism.

 

Sexism? Link is a boy, always has been. He's a fleshed out (ish) character with a 30 year history. It's hardly sexist to keep his character male.

[MindFreak]

Link is a representation of the player which is why he doesn't speak. He could easily be portrayed as a girl without losing anything.

[Glen-i]

 

As N-Europe's official "Guy who plays way too much Hyrule Warriors" I can certainly get behind Linkle being promoted to mainline series.

She is secretly the best character in that game, after all. Plus, she does say "Woo!" at one point.

[Ashley]

Sexism? Link is a boy, always has been. He's a fleshed out (ish) character with a 30 year history. It's hardly sexist to keep his character male.

 

That's not the sexist part. The sexist part is "if we gave the girl something to do the boy wouldn't have anything to do and we can't have that" even though making Zelda the hero doesn't mean Link can't also be, or Link can't be active. It also implies they only really want one main female character. And they want her to be rescued. I know Zelda tends to fight back, but that statement had multiple layers of assumptions that women are inferior and of no interest.

 

Two minute idea - multiple dimensions/realities. One in which Link is the Hero of _ and one in which Linkle is and you start the game and at some point these realities merge/flip and you alternate between Link and Linkle in the same way OOT has you alternating between young and teenage Link.

 

Maybe even have it so there's a gender flipped alternative version. Works for Adventure Time, although that has a deeper lore at times.

[Mr-Paul]

Hm. At 0:52 we see a female figure looking a lot like Link. Relative or have they decided to go with the choice of playing a female Link?

 

I just presumed it was Zelda! I'm thinking that both that one and the hand at the end were her.

 

Would be quite cool if she was playable, or this is hinting at her being more "action" than a damsel in distress.

[Ronnie]

That's not the sexist part. The sexist part is "if we gave the girl something to do the boy wouldn't have anything to do and we can't have that" even though making Zelda the hero doesn't mean Link can't also be, or Link can't be active. It also implies they only really want one main female character. And they want her to be rescued. I know Zelda tends to fight back, but that statement had multiple layers of assumptions that women are inferior and of no interest.

 

Two minute idea - multiple dimensions/realities. One in which Link is the Hero of _ and one in which Linkle is and you start the game and at some point these realities merge/flip and you alternate between Link and Linkle in the same way OOT has you alternating between young and teenage Link.

 

Maybe even have it so there's a gender flipped alternative version. Works for Adventure Time, although that has a deeper lore at times.

 

That sounds like a lost in translation moment to me but fair enough. Personally I dont care if Link is male or female. It makes no real difference, just give me a great game.

[Glen-i]

I just presumed it was Zelda! I'm thinking that both that one and the hand at the end were her.

 

Would be quite cool if she was playable, or this is hinting at her being more "action" than a damsel in distress.

 

To be fair, Zelda's never really been much of a Damsel in Distress. Don't get me wrong, she's had her moments. But outside of the first three games, she adopts a more action focus.

OoT has her pulling a tactical retreat, disguising herself and aiding Link from the sides.

I don't need to mention what role she plays in Wind Waker.

Twilight Princess doesn't have her in distress, but shows her making a decision to save her people.

And Skyward Sword has one of the best Zelda's for precisely that reason!

 

Not to mention Hyrule Warriors Zelda is about as hands-on as you can get!

[Ashley]

Actions speak louder than words and the Zelda franchise's actions speak more of the time it originated than the time it's in now. Part of a wider trend within Nintendo and the industry at large sadly.

 

And to the point above that snuck in. She's still the quest. The goal. The objective. The objected.

[Glen-i]

And to the point above that snuck in. She's still the quest. The goal. The objective. The objected.

 

Well, I do like Chameleons, sneaking is kinda their thing.

 

But she doesn't even play a big role in some games. In fact, she's only mentioned once in Link's Awakening.

 

Like I said before, that's the case in some of the games. But I wouldn't say that's the case in all of the games. I'd argue that the goal is more often to "Defeat whoever is doing all the evil this time"

Zelda just happens to have that same goal most of the time.

 

Which is why I'd love her to take a cue from Hyrule Warriors Zelda and get stuck in the way Link does, as a playable character.

[Mr-Paul]

To be fair, Zelda's never really been much of a Damsel in Distress. Don't get me wrong, she's had her moments. But outside of the first three games, she adopts a more action focus.

OoT has her pulling a tactical retreat, disguising herself and aiding Link from the sides.

I don't need to mention what role she plays in Wind Waker.

Twilight Princess doesn't have her in distress, but shows her making a decision to save her people.

And Skyward Sword has one of the best Zelda's for precisely that reason!

 

Not to mention Hyrule Warriors Zelda is about as hands-on as you can get!

 

That's a very fair point, damsel in distress is probably pushing it a bit too far into the Princess Peach region, but she is still largely a 'support' character and still vulnerable when she is active, the likes of Hyrule Warriors aside. When she's Tetra is another matter, but as soon as she's revealed as Zelda she's back in hiding.

 

It would be cool if she is more of the 'Warrior Princess' in this, a hero in her own right, leading Hyrule in battle.

[Grazza]

Yeah, that's definitely a female Link at 0:51, I'd say. Admittedly Nintendo once said otherwise, but what they say doesn't always end up accurate!

 

Anyway, trailer looks great, just what I was hoping for.

 

Seems clearer than ever that this is an absolute, direct prequel to Wind Waker:

 

* Link's outfit colours are similar

* Koroks are in the game

* Winged creatures could easily be related to the Ruto

* Moblins are very similar in design to WW's

* Lots of mountains (the islands in WW were mountain peaks)

 

Anyway, that's nothing that hasn't been said before, probably, but it's all shaping up in that direction. Let's hope it's as good!

 

[liger05]

Loving it but hope in Jan we see the switch version.

[Ronnie]

Yes that's my only fear with this game, the art style is nice but the graphics themselves look ROUGH, ditto the frame rate. I'm sure it'll be fine in the final release though. I do however wish they'd just gone full cel-shaded visuals like Wind Waker.

[Retro_Link]

Granted I've tried to keep away from media on this, but the small bits of footage I've seen the visuals look kinda dulled out...? Right? or just certain areas of the game?

[Ronnie]

I think today's footage is deliberately hazy given the area they're in, from an artistic point of view. The direct footage from E3 from Nintendo looked a fair bit more contrasty.

[Retro_Link]

I think today's footage is deliberately hazy given the area they're in, from an artistic point of view. The direct footage from E3 from Nintendo looked a fair bit more contrasty.

Haven't seen todays, but I watched about a minute of gameplay from perhaps the last 5min gameplay video (before deciding not to watch any more) - Link was running around some temple ruins in grassland. For all I know that's could describe a lot of the game :p

 

But yeah, it does look hazy. Has this been a point of interest/concern?

[Ashley]

They might be bloom light happy again like they were with WW HD.

[Hero-of-Time]

Amiibo functionality details.

 

Legend of Zelda 30th Anniversary amiibo are in stores today! Each will offer random items you can use in the game when used with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Legend has it, you may even receive a treasure chest with a rare item if you’re lucky?!

8-bit Link will reward you with a random number of barrels. You might find rupees inside too!

Ocarina of Time Link will reward you with a random amount of meat.

Toon Link will reward you with a random amount of fish.

Wind Waker Zelda will reward you with a random selection of plants.

 

There is a bunch of shots/footage of this stuff in the following link.

 

http://nintendo.tumblr.com/post/153959693594/the-legend-of-zelda-30th-anniversary-amiibo-are

[Fused King]

I was wondering this after Skyward Sword, but do you guys hope the next mainline console Zelda game will leave Hyrule for what it is and focus on another story line or would you be content my with more adventures in and around Hyrule?

Technically Skyward Sword was pre-Hyrule but the game served to set up the Hyrule narrative.

I think I would love to see anything like Majora's Mask again where a new lore can be created outside of Hyrule. A return of Vaati would also be very welcome, especially in 3D. Ah, how I remember the speculation that Ghirahim might be Vaati, haha.

Continuing the timeline at the very end of any of the three timelines would be interesting, and I will never stop hoping we will see Toon Link on the big screen again someday.

[Julius]

I'll admit, I'm not the biggest Zelda fan in the world (Pokémon has been the only consistent Nintendo thing in my life if I'm totally honest), but this game has me extremely intrigued and excited. The visuals look amazing - graphically there seem to be hiccups but I assume they're cleaning them up before the Switch presentation in Jan - and this is the first game in a long time I've seen advertising for being solely from the game, as opposed to cinematic trailers rendered in glorious fashion, and if anything that makes me even more excited. My only problem will be if the rumours are true about it being "delayed" again until next summer - specifically June - as this will likely delay my purchase of the Switch altogether, and would seem a poor move on Nintendo's part for obvious reasons. Then again, the prospect of Mario at launch, Zelda a quarter later and then the first console version of a main series Pokémon game certainly spaces out tent pole releases in a similar fashion to, say, a certain successful comic book movie universe, and having 2 of the 3 aforementioned games at launch would likely sell consoles but not games.

 

Alas, I do find myself with a question towards you Zelda fans, who seem to have a much more solid grounding in the lore of the franchise than I. I'm thinking of purchasing some Zelda games and history in January, specifically Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask and Hyrule Historia, to prepare myself for the Zelda launch and have a much stronger footing in the lore. I'm without a Wii U, but do have a 3DS and Wii: are there any games other than those I mentioned that you would propose I play (in the aforementioned consoles), and would OoT and MM put me in good stead for having a greater understanding of the franchise as a whole?

 

Cheers in advance :P

[Ronnie]

From a lore point of view Majora's Mask won't provide you with too much, it's a very self contained game. Wind Waker or Twilight Princess would be better.

[Hero-of-Time]

I recommend playing A Link to the Past, which is available via the Virtual Console if you're rocking a New 3DS. That game is kinda the blueprint for how a lot of Zelda games play.

 

To be honest I wouldn't worry about trying to catch up and understanding the lore. All Zelda games can be played and enjoyed whether you've played any of them before or not. Sure there maybe be little nods to previous games but there's nothing game changing.

[Ronnie]

Speaking of little nods

 

 

There seems to be a ton of references to previous games, more so than any other game it seems.