fhqwhgads said:
Let's go through this, though. Zelda II, fans were shocked by the change, and quite a few didn't like it. Majora's Mask, same. Wind Waker, same. Every time Nintendo has decided to change Zelda, fans whine about it. Now, with Twilight Princess, they whine about it being the same, but really, it's their own fault.
Ok, I'm willing to discuss this on a game to game basis here (because I am, in fact, a super nerd). Generally speaking most people fell in love with the Zelda franchise because of ALTTP, and nearly every fan that enjoyed that game also enjoyed the next game in the series, OOT. So why is it that every Zelda game since then has been receiving mixed reactions from fans?
Majora's Mask was a game that borrowed heavily from it's predecessor, from the menu screens, to animations, to characters, core gameplay, and so on. The big differences the sequel bore were the emphasis on masks and a time limit. The time limit, of course, was met with great outcries from fans who largely believed what made ALTTP and OOT so great was it's seemingly boundless worlds to explore. No one particularly liked the idea of being rushed through a Zelda game and focusing on the objectives instead of letting their curiosity lead them where it may (hopefully towards a hidden heart piece). The addition of masks as useful items made the control layout somewhat frustrating. Easily one of the least liked parts in OOT was the water temple due to the fact that you had to toggle your boots on and off in the menu screen, and every time you wanted to add or remove an item from your c-buttons you had to go back and forth between your boot screen and your item screen. It was a very cumbersome system. The addition of masks as items made this very irritating system part and parcel of the entire game. In essence, Majora's Mask took away a trademark of the series (open ended exploration) and replaced it with a tiresome gameplay mechanic. In essence, they changed what they should have kept and kept what the should have changed. Moving on...
Wind Waker was easily one of the most controversial titles in the series. The unveiling of the trailer for the game left most people literally thinking it was some kind of joke. Part of what made OOT such a great game was the fact that it felt like it was ALTTP realized in a 3d space. What most fans of the series were expecting for the first addition to the series on a new console was something akin to OOT but different in the sense that it took advantage of the technological advances. More enemies, physics systems, dynamic AI, one could say people were expecting a bigger, better, OOT. Nintendo's decision to change the graphic style to resemble that of ALTTP instead of OOT seemed like a step backwards to most fans of the series. In addition to that, everyone had been expecting a much more grand and animated hyrule to run around and "play" in, but much to their dismay fans of the series found out that there was no "Hyrule" to explore, but a "Great Sea." Now, the great sea idea was actually a neat one, but the problem was simply that it strayed to far from one of the core elements of the Zelda franchise. Once again, Nintendo tried to change the free roaming exploration feeling of ALTTP and OOT, something that should have been left alone. People didn't want Hyrule field to be different, they just wanted it to be bigger and better than it was before. Easily the most exciting part of Wind Waker for myself was when I got to go below the sea and look at the mountains and hills of Hyrule. For a split second wonder filled my heart as I began to imagine exploring the vast land I saw before me. But of course, I never got that chance, because Nintendo wanted me to explore the great sea instead. Sorry, but it's not the same thing, and it really should have been.
Twilight Princess was a much more fitting sequel to OOT, and in most respects I will have to say that Nintendo remained fairly faithful to the series. The problem with TP was that it still had all the issues of OOT that fans of the series expected to improve with the Gamecube's technology. There was little added to the combat system, the story was still just an excuse to go dungeon crawling, the game was too easy, too short, and ultimately, too late. Had TP been released at the time Wind Waker was I don't think you would hear as many fans of the series complaining as they do. TP's biggest problem was that by the time it had come out people who had been waiting for a true sequel to OOT got their kicks elsewhere. Shadow of the Colossus, RE4, Okami, these were all games that did what TP did, except better. This made TP's flaws stand out all that much more.
At the end of the day, you can't please everyone, I understand and respect that. However, when the vast majority of fans of the series are complaining about the same core issues, I think that as an artist and as a business, Nintendo is obligated to please as many fans as possible.
