22nd June 2016, 10:23 AM
I thought I'd add one of my concerns about the new Zelda game. They're adding cooking to the game (as well as bringing over crafting from Skyward Sword). However, I have to criticize those systems in a game like Zelda.
Zelda, primarily, has always used gameplay that made you feel like the actual agent of change, the actual person doing things in the world. They have traditionally skewed away from any user interface that isn't absolutely necessary, letting you just use items yourself whenever possible. This is what makes Zelda stand out for me as my favorite game series. Not that I don't enjoy a game like a more traditional RPG where you decide to solve a puzzle by throwing your INT stat at a problem inside a dialog menu. There's always room for variety in game design. I just think that on a fundamental level, I prefer to actually do the things myself.
With that said, I am not a fan of how crafting was implemented in Skyward Sword. In any other game, I'd be fine with it, but in Zelda? I think we, as the players, should be the ones actually doing the crafting. Not an interface menu, us. That is, crafting (and cooking) should be mini-games on the level of the fishing mini-game in OOT or TP. When I cook, I should have to pick my food (that part can use a menu), then actually cut up the parts and mix them together myself, followed by heating it over a flame and making sure I don't burn it. It doesn't need perfect realism, it just needs to "feel" like I'm doing it. In that way, even if the cooking looked cartoonish it would end up feeling more realistic than most cooking in RPGs.
Crafting equipment would likewise involve a mini-game of hammering out metal, carving wood, fitting parts together, and maybe even a little sword tempering. Remember the dwarves tempering your sword in LTTP? Now imagine actually doing those steps yourself. This is what I'm hoping for in Zelda style crafting, and the sort of thing that would make Zelda stand apart from the rest of the crowd.
Zelda, primarily, has always used gameplay that made you feel like the actual agent of change, the actual person doing things in the world. They have traditionally skewed away from any user interface that isn't absolutely necessary, letting you just use items yourself whenever possible. This is what makes Zelda stand out for me as my favorite game series. Not that I don't enjoy a game like a more traditional RPG where you decide to solve a puzzle by throwing your INT stat at a problem inside a dialog menu. There's always room for variety in game design. I just think that on a fundamental level, I prefer to actually do the things myself.
With that said, I am not a fan of how crafting was implemented in Skyward Sword. In any other game, I'd be fine with it, but in Zelda? I think we, as the players, should be the ones actually doing the crafting. Not an interface menu, us. That is, crafting (and cooking) should be mini-games on the level of the fishing mini-game in OOT or TP. When I cook, I should have to pick my food (that part can use a menu), then actually cut up the parts and mix them together myself, followed by heating it over a flame and making sure I don't burn it. It doesn't need perfect realism, it just needs to "feel" like I'm doing it. In that way, even if the cooking looked cartoonish it would end up feeling more realistic than most cooking in RPGs.
Crafting equipment would likewise involve a mini-game of hammering out metal, carving wood, fitting parts together, and maybe even a little sword tempering. Remember the dwarves tempering your sword in LTTP? Now imagine actually doing those steps yourself. This is what I'm hoping for in Zelda style crafting, and the sort of thing that would make Zelda stand apart from the rest of the crowd.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)