25th May 2003, 4:04 PM
Hmmm...very interesting. Aonuma back at the helm. Taking the toon-shading as a given, there are a few things I'd like to see in the next Zelda:
1. Make it as different from Wind Waker as Majora's mask was from Ocarina of Time.
2. Reduce/eliminate/smooth the distance blur, except in cutscenes. The effect, while technically impressive, looked bad on my television when the thing I was focusing on (the big island in the distance) was not what the effect put into focus (Link's boat).
3. Get rid of dithering. It made te fog skip every other horizonal line of pixels on my television. This had the opposite effect of fog--to set the mood. Instead, I was like, "I wonder what those wierd lines are on my television."
4. While there is inherent fun in sailing, that fun was used up in the first 60 minutes of sailing. It was too much of a good thing, to the point that I was stuffed and Wind Waker was still spoon-feeding me banana cream pie. Be mindful of tediousness.
5. Rethink the items. By including completely new items, people that are new to the series will be on even footing with old fans. I believe at one point, Miyamoto asserted the opposite, which doesn't make sense to me. How does including the hookshot, which only fans know the use for, put newbies on even ground with fans?
6. Rethink the philosophy behind Heart Containers. As a result of the Heart containers, the person that is the most diligent, has the most skill, and has been playing Zelda for the longest will have the EASIEST play experience. The beginner will, conversely, have the most difficult play experience. This goes against Miyamoto's philosophy. While some kind of reward is necessary for completing side quests, this extra effort should not reward the player by making the main quest EASIER.
7. Rethink controls. This is more specific to Wind Waker. Why was the sail an XYZ button? It's used so frequently that it should be part of a context-sensitive button. In addition, changing the direction of the wind was required so frequently that setting the waker to XYZ, pulling it out, playing the song, and selecting the direction is too much of a process for how frequent it is done. Imagine if, in SMS, every time you wanted to change your nozzle (from hover to rocket to propel), you had to go to the Delfino lobby. That would be frustrating. Wind changing is almost as tedious as this hypothetical. So what should the controls have been?
A-context sensitive
B-sword
R-context sensitive (including opening and closing the sail when at sea)
XYZ-less-frequent items
L-target
Analog stick-movement
C-up direct wind North
C-up+right direct wind Northeast
C-right direct wind East
C-down+right direct wind Southeast
C-down direct wind South
C-down+left direct wind Southwest
C-left direct wind West
C-up+left direct wind Northwest
The biggest change is the C-stick. Instead of moving the camera, the C-stick automatically changes the direction of the wind. When the C-stick is pushed, the camera swings to an overhead perspective with North at the top of the screen, South at the bottom, East at the right, and West at the left. From this perspective, it is easy to choose the proper direction of the wind. These changes in wind direction are simultaneously "notes" that are "played" by the Wind Waker. When you direct the wind in the proper order, you play a song (much like the Ocarina in Oot). For example, let's say you press C-right, C-left, C-down. You have conducted the song that moves forward a half day. It's simple things like this that would make Wind Waker less tedious. Because of this, the puzzle designers could encorporate more puzzles that require you to change the direction of the wind (in a quick manner).
1. Make it as different from Wind Waker as Majora's mask was from Ocarina of Time.
2. Reduce/eliminate/smooth the distance blur, except in cutscenes. The effect, while technically impressive, looked bad on my television when the thing I was focusing on (the big island in the distance) was not what the effect put into focus (Link's boat).
3. Get rid of dithering. It made te fog skip every other horizonal line of pixels on my television. This had the opposite effect of fog--to set the mood. Instead, I was like, "I wonder what those wierd lines are on my television."
4. While there is inherent fun in sailing, that fun was used up in the first 60 minutes of sailing. It was too much of a good thing, to the point that I was stuffed and Wind Waker was still spoon-feeding me banana cream pie. Be mindful of tediousness.
5. Rethink the items. By including completely new items, people that are new to the series will be on even footing with old fans. I believe at one point, Miyamoto asserted the opposite, which doesn't make sense to me. How does including the hookshot, which only fans know the use for, put newbies on even ground with fans?
6. Rethink the philosophy behind Heart Containers. As a result of the Heart containers, the person that is the most diligent, has the most skill, and has been playing Zelda for the longest will have the EASIEST play experience. The beginner will, conversely, have the most difficult play experience. This goes against Miyamoto's philosophy. While some kind of reward is necessary for completing side quests, this extra effort should not reward the player by making the main quest EASIER.
7. Rethink controls. This is more specific to Wind Waker. Why was the sail an XYZ button? It's used so frequently that it should be part of a context-sensitive button. In addition, changing the direction of the wind was required so frequently that setting the waker to XYZ, pulling it out, playing the song, and selecting the direction is too much of a process for how frequent it is done. Imagine if, in SMS, every time you wanted to change your nozzle (from hover to rocket to propel), you had to go to the Delfino lobby. That would be frustrating. Wind changing is almost as tedious as this hypothetical. So what should the controls have been?
A-context sensitive
B-sword
R-context sensitive (including opening and closing the sail when at sea)
XYZ-less-frequent items
L-target
Analog stick-movement
C-up direct wind North
C-up+right direct wind Northeast
C-right direct wind East
C-down+right direct wind Southeast
C-down direct wind South
C-down+left direct wind Southwest
C-left direct wind West
C-up+left direct wind Northwest
The biggest change is the C-stick. Instead of moving the camera, the C-stick automatically changes the direction of the wind. When the C-stick is pushed, the camera swings to an overhead perspective with North at the top of the screen, South at the bottom, East at the right, and West at the left. From this perspective, it is easy to choose the proper direction of the wind. These changes in wind direction are simultaneously "notes" that are "played" by the Wind Waker. When you direct the wind in the proper order, you play a song (much like the Ocarina in Oot). For example, let's say you press C-right, C-left, C-down. You have conducted the song that moves forward a half day. It's simple things like this that would make Wind Waker less tedious. Because of this, the puzzle designers could encorporate more puzzles that require you to change the direction of the wind (in a quick manner).