/vr/ - Retro Games

>>1117725
(2/3)
There's no *theme* to anything in the earlier Zeldas. The dungeons are just kinda there. All the rooms look the same. They all have a very sterile, mechanical layout and seem to only exist for the purpose of being a dungeon in a videogame. There's no scenery, no atmosphere, just murdering things and stealing their loot because it's a videogame.

In Ocarina of Time, everything is something. Every area has its own theme and atmosphere, and every dungeon is filled with clues as to what it might be in-universe, leading to plenty of long-winded fan theories such as http://zeldaoottheories.tumblr.com/post/31552542874/the-forest-temple.. You can call it "headcanon" or "fanwank" if you want, but the point is people are talking about it. You are made to wonder and made to feel a certain way. To me this is part of a charm of the game and others like it; this is how it continues to hold your attention even on subsequent playthroughs. Not with rupees and videogame powerups, but with the world itself.

Earlier Zeldas didn't have any of this. There is nothing memorable about any of the palaces in AoL (other than the balls-crushing difficulty) or the original LoZ. Nobody is talking about them or writing long-winded fan theories. They're just obstacles on the road to winning the game, nothing more. They have no wonder or mystery and they don't make you feel or think beyond "how do I beat it".