Some people may be disappointed about the "delay" of the sequel to Breath of the Wild, but knowing that it comes out next Spring makes me feel closer to this game than ever, where I'm finally beginning to put more thoughts into it. A lot more of that will come to fruition once they've properly showcased the game, maybe around June where the cancelled E3 would have taken place. Until then we have to grasp at the straws that were presented to us in two and a half teaser trailers.
One of those straws concerns the actual title of the game, where it should be clear that it won't be named "the sequel to Breath of the Wild" forever or even "Breath of the Wild 2". Well, there was "Kamigami no Triforce 2" in Japan, which we know as A Link Between Worlds in the west, but it's more likely that it will have its own title to set itself apart more. So, what could this title be?
Well, it would certainly impress me if someone were to actually guess it, since Nintendo has stated that they didn't want to reveal the title yet, because it would give too much away. It could be related to things that we simply don't know yet. But it could also be related to things that we have already seen in the teasers – it's just that they haven't given us any explanation for them yet.
One of those things is Link's corrupted right arm and the mysterious hand that was holding down Ganondorf, which seems to give Link now a variety of abilities, essentially as a replacement for the Sheikah Slate. One of these abilities is to morph through ceilings, so he can reach the new sky islands from below or reach the surface from an underground cave. It's possible that the title of the game may have something to do with this hand, but of course it would feel somewhat uninspired if it just was named after the "item", like Ocarina of Time or Phantom Hourglass before it. After all, Breath of the Wild isn't named "The Legend of Zelda: The Sheikah Slate".
Another aspect are the sky islands themselves and the whole story around the sealed Ganondorf, where we really don't know anything yet and can only speculate. But from what it seems it's going to be a story that explores more of Hyrule's history as we know it from the classic Zelda games, where even the Triforce could play a role. The divine artifact never got mentioned by name in Breath of the Wild, where its meaning and existence could be something that's essentially lost in time. The sky islands that we saw may even be the Sacred Realm for all we know, where a lot of it gets portrayed in a golden color. This could become the first Zelda game where we actually get to explore the Sacred Realm as we've first seen it from the artworks for A Link to the Past.
Overall, it would be nice if the title had the same format as Breath of the Wild: "x of the y". This would make it a bit more obvious that these games are related by looking at the title alone, which is something that the series has done before, even though some of it got lost in translation. In Japan Majora's Mask is actually called "Mujura no Kamen", "Mask of Mujura", which sounds a lot more similar to Ocarina of Time, "Toki no Okarina". And the Nintendo DS games even followed the same format. Now, the sequel to Breath of the Wild will be in the same position as Majora's Mask and Spirit Tracks, where the subtitle could actually lean on the previous one. And since Japan also uses the English title for Breath of the Wild (only in Katakana), it's likely that it could be "something of the something" again. Of course there doesn't necessarily need to be "of the" in the title, but maybe something that rolls off the tongue similarly.
Now, what's that something? Putting everything together so far, the best I could come up with is "Reach of the Divine" or possibly "Reach for the Divine". This would go hand in hand with Link's new ability to reach for the skies, but it also ties into the Triforce, the Sacred Realm, divine intervention, and all that. And it would give a away a similar vibe as "Breath of the Wild" did.
At the same time it's not all that likely, considering that such a title wouldn't give away all too much and this is what has been Nintendo's concern before. Of course this also could have been just a generic PR excuse, so you never really know. But in the end this is just some speculation for the fun of it, as always, where I wanted to share some of my current thoughts before the curtain gets lifted later this year.
I forgot about the tidbit of the title giving too much away. With the corrupted looking master sword and sky islands I almost wonder if the title could be somewhat of an homage to Skyward Sword.Tho it remains to be seen how much the game actually pulls from it. BotW had Zelda speak to the master sword but that's about it as far as connections go so far (Sacred Realm seems more plausible than Skyloft returning) I do think sky/skies should be in the title tho since that's where the most interesting exploration will take place as BotW already covered the land. Plus the opening shot showed him free falling.
ReplyDeleteAnd if not sky then some variation of fly/soar/flight, etc
ReplyDeleteSince we already have "Skyward Sword" and even have it on the Switch, I don't really expect this to have "Sky" in the title again. Plus, there is also the potential underground exploration and the first trailer didn't have anything about the sky in it, except the last bit. The new sky realm will probably be a big part of the game, no doubt about it, but it's not necessarily all there is to it. I think it will only be one side of the same coin: going above and going below.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the gliding isn't really what's new here, so I wouldn't bet on something like "soar" or "flight" either. You could already do this in Breath of the Wild, even in The Wind Waker. It's not a defining feature. What's special is the ability to portal through ceilings, hence why I personally feel that "reach" could be part of the title.
Fair. If the title does relate to his ability this time then I could see either "Reach" like you said or "Rise" working for the idea of exploring both the underground caverns and the heavens w his portal. Could also see "Heavens" (something high above the clouds) used as a similar alternative to the "Divine"
ReplyDeleteI always loved these regional differences, not just the names and titles, but also some of the content (the different Zelda 2 1987 battle music, for one). It keeps the games interesting to explore.
ReplyDeleteAn update on the Endless Cucco sadistic endurance that I completed a few months ago. I've been trying to get the Big Cucco on my Hero File as well. Another round of being a nervous wreck, losing at bullet hell cucco round 500-600 over and over again (and I've gotten pretty good at doing round 200-300 without pausing; there's something of a dodgeable pattern if you pay attention).
And then I decided to read the game's text dump, which contains all the lines of dialogue. And what do you know? It has an ALTERNATE congratulations line if you complete Endless Cucco a SECOND time on the SAME file. The designers actually went the extra sadistic mile to write that in!
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/3ds/711412-the-legend-of-zelda-a-link-between-worlds/faqs/70434
I almost wish I hadn't known about that info. Of course, there is no way I'm ever going to do that. 100% completion for reading an extra bit of alternate dialogue? No way I'd ever play Endless Cucco for 999 seconds FOUR times (two for each file). One for each Regular/Hero file is more than enough. I still have to suffer Streetpass Battles on Hero Mode as it is.
Yeah, I knew about the changed dialogue. Doesn't matter anyway, since there is nothing permanent gained from it in your save file. It's like going through the Cave of Ordeals a second time, just because it's different. You can do that for your own personal achievement, sure, but it's not required for 100% completion. It's the first time that gives you any meaningful flags within the game's code.
ReplyDelete(I actually still do that, just so that I have three bottles filled with Great Fairy's Tears at the end, but that's rather pointless nonetheless, because you obviously don't need those.)
Agreed. Though at least going through the Cave of Ordeals a second time you do face extra enemies in some of the rooms (4 DarkNuts in the final room, for one), which at least gives it some variety a bit of extra challenge (and I recall someone once said you could do the same on Wind Waker's Savage Labyrinth, but I'm sure that's either an urban legend or the guy confused the games).
ReplyDeleteThe Savage Labyrinth also gets harder on your second playthrough, it's probably just not as noticeable as in the Cave of Ordeals and its fight against four Darknuts at the end. And yeah, that one is a nice challenge, where I hate the fact that you need to go through the whole dungeon TWICE just to experience it.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. But at least you can afford to get hit during the dungeons and still make it.
ReplyDeleteI've been playing Metroid Dread's Dread Mode, and I've been having a surprising amount of fun. You can save your progress everywhere, the checkpoints are generous, and I've been mastering the bosses in a way I hadn't in prior playthroughs (learning to shinespark Golzuna, Escue and the Experiment bosses were immensely satisfying). I still die a lot, especially from charging bird enemies, but it's making me a better player.
Now that's how you design a no damage run. If only you could save state the endless cucco, or at least some form of voluntary checkpoint every 200 seconds or so.
If the Endless Cucco Rush had checkpoints of any sorts, I would have cleared it eight years ago. If the game ever gets officially emulated by Nintendo, I will most likely even do so (but then clearing the StreetPass Challenges will probably take forever, since you are dependent on the automated Shadow Links without actual StreetPass). However, putting myself through that torture just so that I can claim that I have 100% completed the entire Zelda series is not worth it. No offense, I think it's admirable that you managed to do so, but I personally decided to give this a pass a long time ago.
ReplyDeletePlus, I'm afraid it might wreck my circle pad. :D I really don't like playing games with that thing anymore, by the way, which is why I hope that Nintendo will eventually port / remaster the best Nintendo 3DS games, like Samus Returns.
And yeah, I can imagine that Dread Mode is actually quite motivating thanks to the many checkpoints. I will certainly play this at some point when I'm in the mood for the game again.