8th August 2018, 7:13 PM
(This post was last modified: 10th August 2018, 6:18 PM by A Black Falcon.)
True, the LA and LttP art is pretty similar in style. So you're right, Oracles never did make much sense as happening after LttP, did it... they made Link look years too young!
Or, you mention Triforce Heroes, and their new explanation of why that world is how it is. I just kind of doubt that that's the actual explanation for that. I mean, isn't it more likely that they made the game like that because they thought it was amusing or something, and then several years later invented an excuse for why it is that way? "Oh that game is like that because it's a setup for the decline of Hyrule, really!" Yeah, right... I mean, maybe, but they weren't saying this back when the game released as far as I know! It's more likely to be like the three-timelines thing, a later invention done to make their timeline vaguely fit together.
And really, I'm fine with all that. Zelda is one of the best series ever because of its gameplay, after all, certainly not the games' stories! Some Zelda games have decent and occasionally even compelling stories, but the gameplay is what makes Zelda games great and that is how it should be. I do care about the Zelda timeline somewhat, but because of the way the games are made I don't know if it is possible to make a fully plausible timeline that doesn't have to make random stuff up long after the games are made to explain how some of the games are the way they are. Re-interpreting a story after its release to fit it in with later stories in an ongoing series happens all the time of course across media and storytelling, but here we're seeing again how hard that can be to do in a plausible way.
And on that note, how can BotW be in three timelines at once? That doesn't make any sense...
Quote:Also, what do you mean by it being such a mess? Frankly I think it works pretty well.Nintendo, or at least Nintendo EAD, going with the Miyamoto way, focuses on gameplay first, story... maybe eventually. I doubt that Nintendo has almost ever started work on a Zelda game already knowing where it fits in the timeline, if they even really had one back then. Instead they start with gameplay, and then toss in a story later. As a result, the plot points and retcons they've had to come up with to fit the whole Zelda timeline into one tree are kind of dumb at times. To give the most obvious example, retroactively inserting in a third timeline, where Link loses to Ganon at one key point, is absurd! Link wouldn't lose to Ganon, and having to go to that extreme to explain how some games are the way they are is pretty silly and, obviously, retroactively invented.
Or, you mention Triforce Heroes, and their new explanation of why that world is how it is. I just kind of doubt that that's the actual explanation for that. I mean, isn't it more likely that they made the game like that because they thought it was amusing or something, and then several years later invented an excuse for why it is that way? "Oh that game is like that because it's a setup for the decline of Hyrule, really!" Yeah, right... I mean, maybe, but they weren't saying this back when the game released as far as I know! It's more likely to be like the three-timelines thing, a later invention done to make their timeline vaguely fit together.
And really, I'm fine with all that. Zelda is one of the best series ever because of its gameplay, after all, certainly not the games' stories! Some Zelda games have decent and occasionally even compelling stories, but the gameplay is what makes Zelda games great and that is how it should be. I do care about the Zelda timeline somewhat, but because of the way the games are made I don't know if it is possible to make a fully plausible timeline that doesn't have to make random stuff up long after the games are made to explain how some of the games are the way they are. Re-interpreting a story after its release to fit it in with later stories in an ongoing series happens all the time of course across media and storytelling, but here we're seeing again how hard that can be to do in a plausible way.
And on that note, how can BotW be in three timelines at once? That doesn't make any sense...