The Legend of Zelda Series

[talonmalon333]

My favorite Zelda artstyle might be the original's.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I wouldn't really call them corridors. The levels were pretty big. The main problem was that you could NEVER go off the beaten path unless you were in the sky. There was absolutely no exploration.

Well, OK, that actually DOES sound like a problem to me. I love exploration. If Skyward Sword really limits you in that regard just to keep you from getting lost, then it could really detract from the overall enjoyment-factor of the game for me. I actually "like" getting lost in Zelda games. Well, to be clear, I don't like being stuck on a puzzle or in a dungeon for too long, but I do like the overwhelming size of each new dungeon I go to, which is basically a new labyrinth for me to work my way through. Sure, you will usually get a map of the area pretty early on, but I love that initial aspect of having to explore the dungeon all over, not really knowing where I have to go right away, and then I can slowly piece together where I need to go and what I need to do. To me, that's actually the main appeal of Zelda games.

[Avaitor]

Skyward Sword feels like it wants to make for a very colorful world, almost like Oz in the Zelda universe, yet it ends up as a dark, ugly little game.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Once again, I have yet to play the game itself, but just based on what I've seen, I still really dig the art-style. Perhaps if I play the game for a few hours, it'll start to look ugly to me, though. I'll have to see.

[Avaitor]

Yeah, it looks better from a distance than in actual motion, honestly.

[Nel_Annette]

To be clear though, I don't really mean things like how they designed the characters or the colorful environments. That's fine. It's something you notice as you play it, Ensatsu. The further you are from an object, it gets blurrier and blurrier until it's just a mesh of color. This applies to everything. And it all has this texture to it, like it was made of felt or a pastel painting or something. Faraway things in Skyward Sword look like old PS1/N64 graphics to me, and it's incredibly distracting.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I wouldn't really call them corridors. The levels were pretty big. The main problem was that you could NEVER go off the beaten path unless you were in the sky. There was absolutely no exploration.

Well, OK, that actually DOES sound like a problem to me. I love exploration. If Skyward Sword really limits you in that regard just to keep you from getting lost, then it could really detract from the overall enjoyment-factor of the game for me. I actually "like" getting lost in Zelda games. Well, to be clear, I don't like being stuck on a puzzle or in a dungeon for too long, but I do like the overwhelming size of each new dungeon I go to, which is basically a new labyrinth for me to work my way through. Sure, you will usually get a map of the area pretty early on, but I love that initial aspect of having to explore the dungeon all over, not really knowing where I have to go right away, and then I can slowly piece together where I need to go and what I need to do. To me, that's actually the main appeal of Zelda games.

That's what I mean by corridors, the level design is basically a straight line. While Twilight Princess might not be my favorite Zelda it had a lot of wide open exploration elements. This game starts out with tutorials and small corridors and rarely gets wider than that. I had to stop playing because it felt almost like I was on-rails at times.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Oh, OK, I see how that could be a problem. I guess I was referring more to how the actual design of the world and characters looked. To me, I like that aspect of the game's look. However, the technical problems that you described would be very distracting for me, as well, especially with things blurring in and out of vision, which really puts a strain on my eyes in games that do that.

[Nel_Annette]

Yeah, I actually quite like the character art. I like how Faron Woods looks with the big colorful mushrooms everywhere. That stuff's still cool-looking. 

[talonmalon333]

I think the dungeons are artistically the best parts of the game. They all look awesome, with one in particular being the standout (won't spoil, but I think it's the fourth dungeon)... That was actually a problem I had with Wind Waker. The game as a whole was beautiful, but the dungeons looked pretty bland.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Nintendo just announced exactly what I wanted.

Nintendo 3DS
Top-down Zelda
Sequel to Link To The Past
3D graphics featuring camera movement
It looks to have traditional controls

Here is the announcement

Here is the video

As you can imagine, I'm hyped. I've been waiting for a new top down Zelda since Minish Cap and that it's a sequel to my favorite Zelda game makes it all the more awesome.

[Commode]

Oh wow, that sounds awesome!  The most excited I've been for a Zelda game in a while.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Looks like this is the year to be a classic Zelda fan with the Oracle games coming to the eshop on May 30th, the Wind Waker remake coming to Wii-U and the new classic 2D Zelda coming to the 3DS this holiday.

I just downloaded the eshop trailer. The gameplay is on the top screen in wide screen and 3D and it seems the bottom screen is for tool select so it has traditional controls.

Excite!

[Nel_Annette]

YeeeeeEEEESSSS!!!

Finally!

[Kiddington]

Ohhhhhhhhhh snaaaaaaaaaap

I am excited!