Monday, September 22, 2014

Hyrule Warriors DLC Speculation

Because it's fun... I put some more thoughts into what each pack could contain since my last post. So, let's go through each pack individually.

Master Quest Pack
  • 1 new Weapon
  • New Scenario
  • New Adventure Map
  • 2 Costumes

I think for the most part this pack will deliver content for the three new villains, Cia, Volga and Wizzro. You get to play them for free, but if you want their weapon upgrades, Heart Containers and Pieces, you need this pack. The new scenario might be new villain missions for those guys and the new Adventure Map takes care of the rest.

The new scenario for Legend Mode could also be something really tough to stay true to the "Master Quest" name of the pack. Maybe it's really 2nd Quest for the Legend Mode, where all missions are tougher in their strategies. But I honestly would prefer an all new villain campaign, because I love those three baddies. It could also be something, where you replay the original missions as them. But I'm not sure, how this would work, since most of the time they just stay put in one place.

I'm not sure about the weapon. The Bongos for Darunia would be better in the Majora's Mask pack, the Crossbow should be reserved for Linkle/Aryll, the Scythe should come with Batreux, and Cia already fights with a whip-like weapon, so introducing the Whip here wouldn't be as exciting. So, I'm expecting a surprise here. Maybe something new for Zelda or Impa.

As for the costume, I thought it would be nice to make some of the concept art a reality, like Valkyrie Zelda or the feather outfit for Ganondorf:


source

Impa should also get her Skyward Sword and Ocarina of Time versions at some point. And Sheik her Ocarina of Time version. But maybe this will happen as a fifth costume pack, whenever they decide to release the four existing packs in the eShop.

Cia also needs to have two costumes, one with the mask and one without. But I believe that this will be available from the get-go with the 1.3 update, because this is already in the game and not a major change of her model. You can already look at both her costumes whenever you want, so you shouldn't have to pay for it.


Twilight Princess Pack
  • 1 new character
  • 1 new weapon
  • New Adventure Map
  • 2 Costumes

The "1 new weapon and 1 new character" might translate into "2 new characters". If you remember the E3 demo, there Midna originally had a 2nd weapon, which didn't make the cut. Fans speculated that this 2nd weapon would be wielded by her true form. It could be the Dominion Rod or something like the Twilight Mirror, but whatever the weapon is, Midna doesn't have the "shackle" anymore. So, maybe true form Midna is the weapon.

This leaves place for one more character like Yeto (weapon type "Fish") or the Hero's Spirit. The Spinner could also be a new weapon for Link, but at this point they shouldn't really add any more weapons for Link and focus on other characters, who don't have a secondary weapon type. I also would like to see Agitha with a Bug Net, though I don't really know how a second moveset for her could be like.

Of course the new character could also be Linkle with a Crossbow. Her design was inspired by Twilight Princess and the Crossbow is the main weapon from Link's Crossbow Training, which is a spin-off based on Twilight Princess.

I'm not sure about the costumes. Maybe those really are just the Zora Armor and Magic Armor for Link. It wouldn't be a bad choice, even though Link already has lots of costumes (8 in total). But he's Link, so... his Ordon clothes would be another possibility for a costume. Or maybe the robed Zelda, but this might be boring. Ah, I know... Puppet Zelda! That would be cool.

The pale Midna could also be it, but this would probably be too "sick". I thought about the Hero's Spirit as a costume, but costumes don't change the sound of a character, so it wouldn't fit. Also, the Hero's Spirit has too many unique trades like the golden wolf or the ability to multiply, so it should be its own character and not a costume.


Majora's Mask Pack
  • 2 new characters
  • New Adventure Map
  • 3 new costumes

The most iconic and popular choices for the characters would be Fierce Deity Link and Skull Kid. There are some people at GameFAQs, who want to have Fierce Deity Link as a simple costume and not a character, but there are many reasons not to do this:

a) Smash Bros. 4 already did that.
b) Fierce Deity Link is about 1,5 times the size of Adult Link.
c) He needs that sword and a sword beam moveset!

Since the pack doesn't come with a new weapon, the Fierce Deity's Double Helix Blade could only be part of a new character.

Skull Kid (weapon type "Mask") is a must for two simple reasons:

a) He's an Assist Trophy in Smash Bros. 4, like Midna or Ghirahim.
b) He has his own First 4 Figures statue.

Actually both Skull Kid and Fierce Deity Link have F4F figurines. And with them Koei would have every F4F Zelda character playable in Hyrule Warriors. And with Skull Kid, Midna and Ghirahim they would have all the characters playable, which people didn't want to have only as Assist Trophies.

Of course there are other potential characters from the game. As you know I would like to see Mikau and the Deku Princess. I also often see requests for the Happy Mask Salesman and Kafei, though I don't see their appeal as fighters.

Hopefully this pack also comes with a Clocktown stage or otherwise it wouldn't feel complete. None of the packs say anything about new stages though, which would be a shame, because stages help with the variety as much as characters do. And we need that setting for Fierce Deity Link and Skull Kid. Also, Clocktown already has these perfect wide stairs between the areas and square places, which the battlefields in Hyrule Warriors need. I guess they could translate Clocktown in a way that it works nicely for Hyrule Warriors, but still look familiar.

That leaves the costumes. Three new costumes is quite a lot, but I have some ideas. For Ruto you could have Lulu's dress as a costume and Darunia could get a Goron Link Costume. With that I don't mean a full "Darmani skin", but just Link's hat and the pants to resemble Darmani in a way. Problem with Darunia and Darmani is that we don't really need both, because whatever moveset one has, you could also give the other. So, a costume for Darunia and a 2nd playstyle for Darunia using bongos might be the better choice here instead of having Darmani as his own character.

Last costume could be a Twilight Princess skin for Skull Kid, just for the sake of completion. Of course this wouldn't fit the Majora's Mask theme, but the Twilight Princess pack gets released before this one and it wouldn't make sense to include a costume for an unreleased character there.


Ganon Pack
  • 2 New Game Modes

This is supposed to be a small and cheap pack, so I don't expect anything big here. A Survival Mode would be nice, where you keep fighting enemies until you die or your base falls. No healing items.

A boss battle mode could also work, even though we already have the extra battles. But there you fight all the bosses at once, which can be fun with the characters, but really annoying with the huge bosses. And it would be nice to have something, where you battle each boss and strong character in a row.

It could be also some sort of strategy mode, where you fight for territory. Imagine the map from the Legend Mode as some sort of battle map, where you try to conquer all stages.

But maybe they also go back to their dungeon ideas, where you have to complete actual dungeons, but this would require them to design new areas. Probably too much effort for this small pack.

I also won't expect a versus mode, because for that the characters are way too unbalanced.


Costume Packs

So, we got these already:

  • Ocarina of Time Link and Zelda
  • Twilight Princess Link and Zelda
  • Skyward Sword Link and Zelda
  • Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess Ganondorf

Following these patterns there could be more packs like this for existing and potential upcoming characters:

  • Ocarina of Time and Skyward Sword Impa
  • Ocarina of Time Sheik
  • Twilight Princess Skull Kid
  • Demise Costume for Ganondorf

The costumes for Sheik and Impa could be one "Sheikah Pack". And I already mentioned the Skull Kid costume as part of the MM pack. The Demise costume could be content for a later Skyward Sword pack.

1 comment:

Skullvic said...

pfff these zelda valkyrie put me on fire. Oh fuck.