The Wind Waker HD got a lot of doubt, because the port didn't have anything new to offer besides lots of bloom effects, a faster sail and wannabe Twitter messages in a bottle. A good remastered Zelda-port should offer something new in the least. Link's Awakening DX had the Color Dungeon and Photo Quest, A Link to the Past on the GBA had the Palace of the Four Sword, the Riddle Quest and an entire new Zelda multiplayer game bundled with it. The Four Swords Anniversary Edition had a new singleplayer mode and 18 new challenging dungeons floors. And Ocarina of Time 3D had a Boss Battle Mode, as well as the "enhanced" Master Quest. All of these add some value for Zelda fans, who already expierenced the original version many times. It's a definite selling point, which The Wind Waker HD lacked so far.
And it seems that Nintendo has listened, which is rare enough. According to the newly released product description on Amazon.com, which was written by Nintendo, the game will have a "more challenging difficulty level", which "adds to replay-ability". Great! That's the stuff, we want to hear! Nice! The game really could use a tougher difficulty level, it's way too easy.
Now... don't get too excited yet. It could just mean that they took the original 2nd Quest (where Link wears the blue shirt, etc.) and made it so that you lose two hearts instead of one and don't find any recovery hearts. Like in the "Hero Mode" of Skyward Sword, which also was supposed to add to replay-ability, but failed to deliver ultimately. And maybe they mirrored the entire game again like in Master Quest for the 3DS. It could be just a really lazy last minute addition like that. However, the "replay-ability" would be questionable. The replay-ability of Skyward Sword's Hero Mode was zero to nothing.
If they're good, they really change around some elements in the 2nd Quest. Changing enemies would be already a good start. Let's say you encounter Darknuts already in Dragon Roost Cavern as the mid-boss, while the Moblins are common inside the dungeon. Or you get to fight Seahats and Gyorgs more often while on the boat. Just have more and tougher enemies everywhere. It's not hard to make and would be exciting enough for a replay. And they could relocate items like the Triforce Charts, the Power Bracelets and the Iron Boots to new places. For example they could make it so that you need to reach the end of the Savage Labyrinth to get the chart there. Or the Iron Boots are in a place, where you normally would get a Triforce Chart. Something that surprises people, who know the game well enough. There are many possibilities to twist the game and make it more interesting.
However, we are getting closer to release and there might be not enough time to test larger alterations. So, Master Quest-style dungeons are probably out of the equation, even though this would be great. Still, changing enemies and the location of things is a possibility that can be added last minute.
I'm excited to see how this new difficulty level will look like and I really hope it's not just the "take double damage" thing again.
And it seems that Nintendo has listened, which is rare enough. According to the newly released product description on Amazon.com, which was written by Nintendo, the game will have a "more challenging difficulty level", which "adds to replay-ability". Great! That's the stuff, we want to hear! Nice! The game really could use a tougher difficulty level, it's way too easy.
Now... don't get too excited yet. It could just mean that they took the original 2nd Quest (where Link wears the blue shirt, etc.) and made it so that you lose two hearts instead of one and don't find any recovery hearts. Like in the "Hero Mode" of Skyward Sword, which also was supposed to add to replay-ability, but failed to deliver ultimately. And maybe they mirrored the entire game again like in Master Quest for the 3DS. It could be just a really lazy last minute addition like that. However, the "replay-ability" would be questionable. The replay-ability of Skyward Sword's Hero Mode was zero to nothing.
If they're good, they really change around some elements in the 2nd Quest. Changing enemies would be already a good start. Let's say you encounter Darknuts already in Dragon Roost Cavern as the mid-boss, while the Moblins are common inside the dungeon. Or you get to fight Seahats and Gyorgs more often while on the boat. Just have more and tougher enemies everywhere. It's not hard to make and would be exciting enough for a replay. And they could relocate items like the Triforce Charts, the Power Bracelets and the Iron Boots to new places. For example they could make it so that you need to reach the end of the Savage Labyrinth to get the chart there. Or the Iron Boots are in a place, where you normally would get a Triforce Chart. Something that surprises people, who know the game well enough. There are many possibilities to twist the game and make it more interesting.
However, we are getting closer to release and there might be not enough time to test larger alterations. So, Master Quest-style dungeons are probably out of the equation, even though this would be great. Still, changing enemies and the location of things is a possibility that can be added last minute.
I'm excited to see how this new difficulty level will look like and I really hope it's not just the "take double damage" thing again.
6 comments:
Even if they made the greatest of all changes, it's still a remake here and there. I'm passing on it.
It's not a remake, it's a port.
And you also said that you'd prefer a remade overworld over a bad new one. Why not got one step further and say that you'd prefer a remade game over a new bad one?
Not the same logic, and you know it.
A port, remake, whatever you call it wastes time and resources. A Link Between Worlds could have been available on 2011 or 2012 had they not wasted time with OOT 3D. Instead of accelerating the development of Zelda Wii U, they're relaunching TWW HD which takes away the momentum of the newer game's development. And they haven't just done this with Zelda. Look at Star Fox 64 3D and DKCR 3D. All of them unnecessary.
The overworld thing is, like I already said before, the lesser of the evils. A remade good overworld can be used for a brand-new game. But ultimately I too would like a new good overworld like the level selects of PH and ST.
Ocarina of Time 3D was outsourced to Grezzo, it did not hinder the development of A Link Between Worlds in any way whatsoever. Quite the opposite, they were able to incorporate certain assets from Grezzo into ALBW, which accelerated the development of the game. Grezzo also made Four Swords AE.
ALBW could have been available on 2011? Where do you get this ludicrous ideas? The development of the game started late 2011, after Skyward Sword was done. There's no way that the game could have been done after a month.
Starfox 64 3D was outsourced to Q-Games. And DKCR3D was outsourced to Monster Games, Retro Studios was not involved in the development of the 3DS version.
So, Nintendo didn't waste time and resources on any of these games. Get your facts straight.
The Wind Waker HD is the first "remake" in years, which gets developed by Nintendo itself. And seeing how lazy this remake was done, I doubt that much time and resources were wasted on it.
The story is that Aonuma's team didn't have any ideas for the Wii U, so they started experimenting with HD remakes of TWW, TP and SS to get ideas. That's why TWWHD exists in the first place.
Fine, you won, but I'd still would be nice to see more new games instead of remakes.
Well, remakes are easier to make. That's why you currently see more remake material than new stuff. Nintendo has to make as many games as fast as they can to feed the Wii U and 3DS. And remakes are an easy way to fill some gaps to keep people entertained until the new games are ready. Remakes like OoT3D and TWWHD mainly act as a filler until the new Zelda games come out, which is fine imho. But naturally they should focus on the new games afterwards.
I still want Majora's Mask 3D though, because the game is the technical sequel to Ocarina of Time 3D and it just does make sense to release this. It looks incomplete without it. Imagine they only re-released Metroid Prime for the Wii, but not Metroid Prime 2 (the Wii versions are very awesome). Or have a remake of Super Mario Galaxy, but not Galaxy 2. That's how it feels for me, if there would be no MM3D. If you say OoT, you have to say MM as well.
Of course Grezzo should be doing it, so it doesn't get in the way of new Zelda 3DS games like ALBW and ALBW follow ups.
I could also imagine them making Skyward Sword HD. But this won't most likely happen until 2016, so don't freak out.
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