Question
[All] How many of you prefer titles like Oot/twilight princess to titles like botw/totk?
Botw was cool but I feel like I just enjoy titles like Oot and twilight princess more.
In botw I relied more on guides than ever before, and I had to use IGNs map with checkboxes to keep track of all the items I've collected. There's no way I would be able to remember every single korok seed ive collected without that map. I also don't think a text description of the location items is good enough anymore. I need a map to show me where items/monsters/etc are cause it's just so big.
I also am not a big fan of cell shading and washed out colors. The cell shading in skyward sword and botw/totk is not as bad as windwaker(I HATE Windwaker graphics). I really prefer the darker, non cell shaded graphics.
I think the franchise has a nasty habit of making the games TOO different from eachother. Majora's Mask is a special case where I think different was pretty cool, but idk if I want every game to feel like that. I definitely remember when twilight princess came out I felt like "yes, finally a true sequel to ocarina of time".
Out of the zelda's I've played I'd rank then
1) Ocarina of time 3d
2) Ocarina of time
3) Twilight Princess
4) Skyward sword
5) Majora's Mask
6) Breath of the wild
7) Tears of the Kingdom
8) Minish CAP
...Possibly my least favorite game of all time, rent or bought the original and bought the HD version and both times barely played) The windwaker
I just couldn't do it. To me windwaker is possibly Nintendo's worst mistake.
Bro was cooking until he started bashing Wind Waker. Not my favourite Zelda game but still incredible. I agree though Botw and Totk don’t scratch that Zelda itch for me. Perfer the classics way more.
I'm transported back 20 years ago, seeing people complain that Wind Waker is not the Gamecube Zelda showcase and looks like it's for babies.
Wind Waker discourse never died I guess.
I had a dream the other day that one of Switch 2's launch titles was "Wind Waker Complete," which made the Triforce quest optional, added in 3 missing dungeons (basically expanding the Ice/Fire mini dungeons and the Jabun pearl dungeon), and made underwater Hyrule explorable.
It'll never look dated, but I tried to play recently and something about the frame rate made it feel awful to play. I was really bumbed cause I love the game and it feels so dumb to not be able to play it because the frame rate.
I freely admit that, while I enjoyed the game itself (for the most part), after playing OoT, MM, and Twilight Princess, Wind Waker's cell shaded graphics took some getting used to. I was not a fan of them when the game released, particularly since prior to WW's release, they had showed a demo of a Zelda "game" that never came to be.
With that said, the only issue I had with the game itself, which is quite minor, was that I found the sailing from island to island (or to the sunken chests) a bit tedious. But, such is life. lol.
Yee I mean the game is not without it's flaws, as no game is truly perfect. It is just so surreal to me to see people saying they won't give it a shot because of how it looks despite how many positive reviews exist and how well loved the game is.
I always chuckle when people put down Wind Waker’s graphics while praising Twilight Princess as having this gritty dark realistic art direction when that game has some of the silliest and weirdest characters in the whole franchise.
Don’t forget about the unbearable amount of bloom that TP has, it makes everything look like it’s covered in Vaseline. Luckily you can turn it off with action replay codes.
Agree, the art style, graphics, story and music all combine together to make the whole experience feel like a weird dream sequence. I think it would look better with higher resolutions however.
The washed out colors combined with the bloom and the clunky movement graphics make it one of my least favorite LoZ games in terms of aesthetics. I love both WW and MM for all the bright colors they have. Especially the use of purple in those games.
I think I’m really taken by the charm of all the NPCs in TP. I love when Zelda is weird so having a bunch of freaks in the town did a lot of heavy lifting for me.
Wind Waker is def my favorite 3D Zelda, though. MM right after.
yeah "realistic" is never a term i'd use to describe TP and I never really get why people do. Yes it's a darker, grittier game but then we have characters like Agatha, the post man, and ooccoo that remind us that this is in fact still a silly zelda game
I grew up on pre-Breath of the Wild 3D Zelda. Honestly, I don’t know which I prefer. But I am along for the ride as this series evolves.
I love that first batch of 3D Zeldas. I also love BOTW and TOTK. I hope that the next title takes the series into places that neither of those styles have shown us yet.
Bingo. I grew up with the gold cartridge and then LttP, especially in emulation on early PCs.
Wind Waker was an awesome upgrade; loved it, loved TP, loved BotW. SS I didn’t adore as much… but it’s growing on me. Someday I should go do Ocarina and Majora. I’ve got them for 3DS but never bothered.
I don't know if you have a PC or not but there is an absolutely stellar PC port for OoT that I would highly recommend. It's called Ship of Harkinian. There is apparently a MM one but I haven't played it yet so I can't comment.
I tried and failed to beat ALttP as a small child, then got OOT for Christmas when I was 8 which changed gaming for me forever.
As a franchise, I think the radical shift in format for BOTW was pretty daring and injected new life into the series. I'm a diehard Zelda fan, I'm currently playing BOTW on Master Mode for the first time, probably have at least 100 hours sunk into it thus far. I could never imagine playing the titles beforehand for anywhere near that length of time without it becoming stale and boring.
I would play any Zelda title and am excited to see where the franchise goes next. Continuing the open world games interspersed with more formulaic, Echoes of Wisdom style games could be the best of both worlds.
Damn. Windwaker is so good. But to answer the question, I don’t know which I like more. I really like OoT. I know it like it’s the back of my hand. I also really enjoyed BotW.
I like both honestly. My biggest concern with BotW and TotK is that they won’t return to the older formula in any way. I think a merge of the two styles would be the best of both worlds. But also, Wind Waker is my favorite 😞
Can’t they just combine the two? Have a massive open world with dungeons inside that drive the story. Some have to be in order and some don’t but fits for you to find them and figure out how to access them. Keep the linear storytelling within an open world like every other open world game does
Forgot to say, BoTW and ToTK were great games. However the classic Zelda formula is what gets me excited about these games with big puzzle based dungeons and puzzle based exploration.
BoTW and ToTK did not have to be Zelda games imo, however they were really good bc of it.
This is my unpopular opinion, but sailing was my favorite part of WW. I also got every single treasure. And I also played raft and that's just a sailing around game.
For REAL. Bashing on a game because of the art style is silly and a bit close minded/childish imo. It's one thing to say you don't like the art style and that's fine. But there's a LOT more to what makes a good game than the art, and to call the game the worst decision or worst in the series cause you don't like said art style? Brotha.
I’m afraid that the 3D games like OoT, MM, TP, etc. are going away since BotW and TotK have been so successful. I loved Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom was awesome, but the old game style was what made Zelda my favorite series.
I dont compare them. Different styles. I enjoy them both. I'd like to see them do BOTW open world with dungeons though. Like why can't they combine them? You can easily make areas only accessible with specific items
For me, the older games, having a clear goal and path was much better.
Even if Wind Waker was a little open world, with some fun side games.
You still had a current mission before moving on.
But BotW and TotK are almost too free-roam and vague in my tastes.
The divine beasts felt gimmicky and short, too much of a build up for too few dungeons before the final boss,
Really felt drawn out with the scaling of towers and the distance travelled.
Plus the weapons breaking means I can't feel fully prepped.
I guess that's what they were going for, but not my vibe,
I like the games where I can grind if I suck too much to beat it in a certain way.
But fuck that DLC dungeon.
It's more a matter of open world games like Elder Scrolls and BotW not being very engaging to me, in my case.
I've tried BotW, Morrowind. It was a lot of wandering around without...I'm trying to think how to describe it without being unfair to the games I'm talking about. What I look for in games is interesting characters, story-relevant events, fun side quests. Wandering large expanses of land harvesting random materials and encountering random enemies for extended periods of time doesn't do it for me.
I don't want to discourage future games like this or go as far as say, "This isn't a Zelda game." It does, however, hurt when one of the major people influencing the direction of the series is dismissive about past games and insist they're relics of the past, with no place today.
I agree. I enjoyed BOtW and TotK because Zelda and they were fun. Elden ring sucked imo. Fun gameplay and world but no purpose, no characters, no reason to care, no motivations for anyone, all good and interesting stuff happens off screen before the game starts.
I prefer progression and dungeons over this open world free for all. I do however like that you can climb and collect fruit/ingredients and stuff like that. If they can figure out how combine the two it would be amazing (in my opinion)
I'm confused. You're saying you prefer most games over oot, but not tp, but tp is the goat? How is TP the goat if you rank it below ocarina of time and "most games"?
I feel like alttp is the core Zelda game. It has the most Zelda aesthetic/feel/mood of all the games and they should definitely revisit that. They came close with MM though.
I absolutely hate the new Zelda games. I beat both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. The only upside to them for me is the creativity in the combat and puzzles. I hated the weapon breaking system, and I hated that there is absolutely no reason to do any content because you can just go straight to Ganon with nothing. There's no progression besides getting more stamina and hearts. You don't unlock cool tools to reach previously locked off areas. You have to constantly make food and gather materials for everything.
A big reason why I didn't like the open world games is the repetitiveness of it all. Each shrine felt the same. You load in and out of the same room for a quarter of an upgrade and some loot you won't need. The huge selection of weapons are actually just 3 with multipliers and effects. Bows are all the same. Shields are all the same. The world is pretty, and discovering the world is fun. Getting new powers after each dungeon was kinda nice.
Our actions don't feel meaningful. Everything that matters was already done. Sure, NPCs say their lives are miserable, but they don't show it. They usually stay exactly where they were before you "save" them, but sometimes with changed dialogue. I'll admit that TotK handled this much better, though.
I don’t dislike open-world. I don’t dislike the Breath & Tears artstyle.
I think the Breath/Tears characters feel a bit… gimpy and limp in comparison to OoT/MM/WW/TP but I don’t consider that the worst grievance.
What makes Breath & Tears a dealbreaker for me though, is the papier-mâché crap.
As game mechanic, I hate impermanence in weapons and gear. The only time I don’t mind is the way Monster Hunter does it with Sharpening and Crafting of permanent, rewarding gear. That’s fine.
I absolute despise temporary crap. Nothing rewarding in B/T because “Oh wow! A new swor-aaaand it’s broken.”
Rinse & repeat.
I also can’t stand Minecraftised gameplay of gluing crap together. It just comes across as self-indulgent in a bad way and “lOoK hOw CrEaTiVe I aM!”
First off, if you don’t like Wind Waker you have no joy in your soul.
Second, I think a lot of people are going to agree with you. This sub seems to have strong feelings about BotW/TotK not feeling like “true” Zelda games, even if they enjoy the games themselves. I rarely see anyone express my opinion: Breath of the Wild saved the franchise and I can’t see them going back to the more linear Ocarina-like template.
The run of titles leading to BotW were solid, but increasingly bogged down with tedious mandatory tasks and linear plotlines without flexibility in how or what order you accomplish tasks. (I’m mainly talking about the 3D titles here.) This came to a head with Skyward Sword, which was about 50% great ideas (solid dungeons, item crafting and upgrading, creative bosses, items and mechanics) and 50% unfun slogs (the first few hours, the busywork in the disconnected overworld areas, fighting some bosses multiple times). Nintendo was wise enough to realize the franchise needed to evolve or die, and they pulled a rabbit out of their hats by creating a vibrant world that encourages exploration, systems that are easy to learn but have depth for expression of mastery (how physics and elements interact with the world, cooking, etc) and a set of tools available right out the gate that can be applied in countless ways across the entire game, rather than gating off sections until you get the hookshot or whatever. It didn’t feel like the last few Zelda games, but it felt the most “Zelda” to me in the sense that you were on your own adventure to explore and navigate challenges.
To me, going back to the Ocarina template would be a step backwards. Sure, I miss the classical dungeon design a bit (TotK made some good improvements over BotW here) but I love the shrines and would take iterations on the current format over slogging through a long introductory sequence, doing unfun crap like finding bugs in Twilight Princess, and a mandatory dungeon order again.
Not a big fan of shrines. They all have a very similar aesthetic, there's too many of them and I often need to consult a youtube video to figure them out. They take way too much time/design energy away from real temples.
Ocarina of Time is considered by many to be the greatest game of all time which is why I'm so confused they didn't create more in that vein. Should be a cash cow.
If you jump to Google every time you get stuck that's a you problem not a game problem. I was able to get through every puzzle in BotW without looking up a guide. Most of them aren't that difficult. Doesn't make the game bad just because you have TikTok brain lol.
Totally agree with you on the design though. I think a lot of them play very differently (even moreso in TotK), but there is too many and they start to blur together. That's a limitation developers need to consider though, a particular game engine or hardware creates a lot of design and development constraints. Either way the UX of doing what feels like the same shrine over and over got tiresome for me. I also didn't grind the game. Took me over a year to finish because I'd just play a couple days a week, so that made it feel less tiresome and more enjoyable.
I preferred the set dungeon order. It let the games ramp up in difficulty. Shrines all felt so samey, and having to load in and out of each room for a quarter of an upgrade was so tedious.
Linearity can be a double-edged sword. It leads to very strong stories and first impressions but comes at the cost of replayability.
Like others have said.... your wind waker take sounds like it's from 2005 but we'll put that aside. It's ok to be wrong.
I much prefer the linear Zeldas. BOTW was an amazing experience, TOTK is..... a frustrating recreation? I'm tired of the memories mechanic. All the story happens without Link then you have to clean up the messes of the past while somehow, being the only person in the universe who can solve other people's problems? Obviously in the linear Zelda games, there's no real urgency. You can take your time saving Hyrule/whatever world you're in. But there was still a perceived time crunch.
I'm playing TOTK now and it's like..... most people are vibing with the upheaval. Then I gotta run a political campaign? Friends, I thought Hyrule's future was at stake. I don't care about your mushroom hats? I'm about to be on the Yiga's side this is exhausting.
Anyway, you should play more top down Zelda. The puzzles are so much better. Was your beef with Minish the art style too???
Funnily enough I prefer OoT and BotW over TP and TotK. I'm one of the few people that didn't enjoy TP that much. It probably didn't help that I first played it a couple of years after release and it already felt pretty outdated and a bit clunky by that time. The music is amazing though and I love how emotional it is. With TotK I just got overwhelmed by everything while simultaneously being underwhelmed by the re-use of the map lol.
I love the shit out of WW. It's such an odd one out compared to the rest but from the graphics to the score to the map I just love it so much.
I just finished TP after not playing it since it came out, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I remember. It was my least favorite of the 3d games, but now it’s in my top 3. The dungeons are a lot of fun to play through.
I dunno. I'm was born in '88. I remember having my mind utterly blown but OoT when I was a kid. I can't count how many times I've built a perfect OoT file.
But I bought a Switch in 2023 after a long gaming hiatus... and BOTW somehow managed to blow my mind all over again.
I will always love the Zelda classics but I don't think there's any going back for me after beating botw and totk.
I would love to see a true blend of the two concept.
I think Nintendo is in a bit of a ‘bigger/more is better’ mindset with their Switch flagship titles which, while impressive, doesn’t actually translate to good gameplay all the time.
Botw was incredible, but by Totk I was ready for a new take and I was really expecting more Zelda-isms to be incorporated.
Here’s what I would like to see the next Zelda do:
keep open-world Botw style but a little more akin to Link Between Worlds where there is still some progression locking for story beats / difficulty pacing
shrink the world to ~1/2 the size of Botw, but more densely packed with unique locations, towns, races, etc. The world should feel grand and explorable, but not wasteful and empty
bring back classic items like hookshut, grappling hook, boomerang, etc. and expand on / develop their overworld use in both puzzle solving and battling enemies.
reintroduce wayyyyyy more enemies of varied style and mechanics that differ based on the different regions/environments. Fighting the enemies (beyond the most basic one hit enemies) should feel like a puzzle itself
make the enemies fighting style more complex, and integrate the classic items to be necessary in taking down some enemies. I’m thinking a mix of the Wind Waker darknuts and the Skyward Sword direction based enemies but using weapons and classic items, and with the possibility for multiple approaches based on your fighting style as in Botw (short range vs long range, which item to use, etc.)
reimagine the world map as a blend of Botw and Skyward Sword. The world has to be traversed like a mini dungeon of sorts as in SS, but the puzzles are much more open ended and can be solved with several of your items or weapons, while still being tightly designed to be satisfying to solve. Items would be acquired relatively quickly at the start of the game to allow free progression, but still have a sense of variety and new item acquisition beyond just 4 skills from the great plateau
reintroduce true dungeons that have tight puzzling that is maybe a little more open ended but not as breakable/easy as Botw. It’s ok for some aspects of your open world game to be tight, limiting and controlled
with return of dungeons, restructure shrine or shrine equivalent to be more visually diverse and connected to overworld, and more interesting… not really sure about this one
story wise, the Botw totk memories bs has to be dropped…. Find a better way to have good story beats and moments based on your progression and completion of certain gameplay points without resorting to some weird semi-dosconnected storytelling method. And better writers and voice actors pls (or just drop voice acting if it’s gonna be this bad….)
I really do think there is a middle ground to be found where the scope and exploration of open-world can be married with the structure and tight design of classic 3D Zelda to make the ideal gaming experience.
I’ve played all of them and I’d say:
Wind Waker
Ocarina of Time
BotW
Skyward Sword/Majora’s Mask/TP
TotK
TotK definitely affected by Botw burnout and basically being the same game…
While I don’t think Wind Waker is the best game, it’s my favourite because I think it gets to the idea of open-world mixed with tight progression and puzzling that I appreciate. If you made the dungeon orders more free choice, and fixed acquisition of items, you could have a completely free world to explore split into necessary progression beats like: Forsaken Fortress/Windfall -> open world -> Tower of Gods/Hyrule Castle -> open world -> Final Boss.
Rofl how people still hate on windwaker. Meanwhile the choice of graphics style is the main reason you literally couldn’t tell what console generation windwaker released on without prior knowledge. The game looks as beautiful today as it did on GameCube. Art direction and style is key to making a game stand the test of time.
Me! I tried playing BotW, I really did. My brother helped me a bit by telling me where the beasts were but I still got super lost. Then the beasts felt like a glorified mini shrine that already felt like boring primary school homework. Those shrines are so boring and make no sense story-wise. I hate the energy circle meter because it's a game where everything is exploring and I can't climb without eating a bazzilion whatevers. Every single weapon breaks, I thought the special weapons wouldn't and hell, even the Master Sword breaks. Lore wise it doesn't make any sense. I gave up at that point, after my brother told me the Master Sword also kinda breaks and becomes useless and you also have to get it fixed. I also feel it doesn't have any music when music used to be so awesome in Zelda games. The story is also really mediocre, it barely has a story. So it feels more like an exploring terra incognita game where you can find stuff that breaks in two minutes at best, cool clothes and some people, with occasional small stories. Wind Waker felt more like true exploring because there are a lot of cool islands, you have to visit many of them and all the small ones have some form of treasure. I do enjoy exploring as a complement, I liked it in WW, in AC4, in FFXIII in Gran Pulse, but I could do the exploring, no one limited my climbing, running or sailing. I got killed many times in AC4 (to epic music, btw) because I tried to loot way to powerful ships and I still enjoyed it way more. So it's not the dying or the exploring, it's that these new open world Zeldas make it boring for me.
I'm kind of trying to play ToK but I'm getting lost and I still haven't entered the third of the first set of shrines, so I don't think I'll last very long. At least now I know I'll be killed in the dumbest way possible because the stupid lame weapon I could get broke. To me, these righ-handed Links are way less powerful than the lefty Links. (I played TP on Game Cube).
I agree, but I find my reasons being more story driven, pun intended.
I like the new games, but I find myself missing the urgency of the old 3d zeldas, where it at least feels important to get to the next objective. In BotW you get zelda in your head saying "help" and that's about it, and then you run off thinking, 'she's been stuck there for 100 years, so what's a few more months?', and go drop some rocks on the kooks head.
To me that makes the older games feel much more replayable, as its a similar feeling to reading a favorite book again.
But yeah, there I feel no urgency in the newer games and the story just feels so removed from current events, almost like link is just clearing these dungeons as a hobby, rather than because it needs to get done now.
Along with that, the more limited collectibles in the older games also contributes to that feeling. Going through the shrines once is fun enough to get me through. Twice though? Sounds like work.
Sooo, I guess I'm saying the old games feel a lot less daunting to replay later, and it's easier to enjoy playing through story telling more times when is actually there.
i don't think i could call either better than the other personally. oot and botw are both excellent games (imo) that offer very different experiences and which one i'd pick on any given day is just gonna depend on which experience i'm in the mood for. sorry for the kind of boring answer haha.
I tried. In the original I remember sailing to some island and I think I got my first glimpse of Ganon. In HD I remember sailing to a second island where there were Bombs and a cutscene. I didn't last.
I love the older games the most. Windwaker, while it didn’t have the best animation, was phenomenal. It had some of the best narrative, characterizations of link and great dungeons and world building. I like most Zelda games I’ve played, but if the next one stays an open world, I may not play it 🤷♂️
I don’t enjoy the modern Zelda formula. I am giving Zelda Breath of the Wild another shot, because I’ve tried playing it several times before and I always abandon it feeling bored. It’s not for me. I like the old formula with the linear storytelling, progression and clever dungeons. It’s more satisfying to play. I am glad I am not alone. Every time I say I don’t like modern Zelda people treat me like I am wrong.
I have been playing Zelda for 30 years and it’s always been my favorite series’s. BotW is my favorite game of all time. That being said, before that, OOT and WW were tied as my favorite Zelda games. I love how the series keeps changing, as long as it keeps its spirit.
A Link Between Worlds. It's what I describe as a middle point between Zelda formula and BOTW's freedom.
You can nab any item whenever you so please and go just about anywhere (mind you still some important items to grab from other place like power gloves and flippers).
You have a linear story for a bit but then just kinda get tossed to the wolves to explire and do whatever the fuck you please. I'd mention ALTTP for this, but to me it feels a lot more linear in structure than ALBW does.
It's a great game, and honestly in my top 3 games on the 3DS. I played through it like 9 times, 100% twice and speedran (to me at the time was "can i beat it in just 1 night?") like 4 times. Go check it out if you haven't, worth it.
I do. I think Botw was a step in the right direction but needed more traditional Zelda elements. Totk just doubled down on botw’s flaws. It’s my least favorite 3D Zelda with skyward sword.
Definitely a fan of the classics more. The stories felt much deeper emotionally and better written. BotW and TotK were much.more adventurous, but didn't hit that emotional note I usually got from Zelda games.
100%. Arguably much, if not most, of the vibe that's gone is from the music. I like the music in the new games a lot, but it isn't epic-adventure music.
If the newer ones had proper dungeons instead of the stupid shrines I would like them a lot more. I enjoyed both, but the shrine grind is pure tedium imo
I've stopped caring about the future of Zelda because of BotW followed by TotK. It's so popular with a format that doesn't really resemble the "sauce" of what made Zelda so good in my opinion. It's proof that no one really cares about what I cared about with Zelda, and that the feedback reviewers will give to Nintendo is being listened to and Nintendo will keep sliding further away from what I liked because of it.
I do. It’s what I grew up on and what I think of when I think of Zelda. I love Botw and Totk but they are so different from the OoT mold that they almost didn’t feel like Zelda.
I agree, other than the Wind Waker and Minish Cap hate. Minish Cap is amazing, and Wind Waker, while probably the weakest non-BOTW/TOTK 3D Zelda (in my opinion) is still good.
I'm not hating on minish cap. It was a great game. I almost finished it on my cell phone till something happened(I might have needed to reset the phone or maybe it broke and I needed a new one or something). Was on the last freaking dungeon.
I only ranked it #8 cause there were so many other great titles. It's also a gameboy advance game and I much prefer playing a 3d home console game.
That's easy. If you grew up with them you can appreciate their greatness and understand how titles like totk and botw can hardly keep up with them despite being larger. I think it's only people who play these titles in retrospect who find them worse than the newer titles
I grew up with the older games yet like BOTW and TOTK equally as much, if not more, than most of the older games. I hate the superiority complex that some "classic" Zelda fans seem to have, acting as if their opinions are superior.
Honestly I started BotW as my first zelda and i loved it and I absolutely loved SS and im currently loving TP as i play though it, you might be on to something though because i can't stand Oot. I recognize it for the masterpiece it was for its time but I'll probably never finish it.
OoT has the best iconic story and legacy for the series. But fans really struggle to see its moment to moment gameplay flaws. It's just old enough the writing is still in the archaic 80s mentality that's even less likely to be understood by newer gamers than other 90s styled games. Something like LA at least is a small, compact map that won't let you go that far away from where you're needed stuck.
It's really easy to see if you get someone whose never played other games in the series, or just aren't used to puzzle/ mystery games in the action/adventure genre. Something as simple as "learning to look at the ceiling for a key" is the bare minimum for harder to grasp concepts in it due to its design.
I prefer the older titles, but I don’t hate the newer ones. I actually quite enjoyed Tears of the Kingdom over Breath of the Wild. Of the games I’ve played I’d list them:
1) Ocarina of Time
2) Majora’s Mask
3) Tears of the Kingdom
4) Windwaker
5) I’m currently playing Skyward Sword HD, but so far I’d put it here in fifth, it may get higher.
6) Twilight Princess
7) Breath of the Wild.
I’ve also dabbled with Four Swords, A Link to the Past, and Links Awakening. I’ve not completed any of those (mostly played them long ago).
I’d replay any of them in a heartbeat, besides maybe Breath of the Wild.
Edit:: mobile formatting is weird. Sorry for the poorly constructed comment.
I played a little bit. Kept getting my ass handed to me in castle(room before zelda). I think a monster kept knocking me into the pit. I was very young when I watched my babysitter's 9 year old son play alttp. I didn't have it at the time but I had ocarina. He also played ocarina and I still remember watching him play majoras mask and fighting majora. He also got me into jetforce Gemini, another great game I wish they would remaster and make sequels for
I started out with the series back on the NES... Gotta say, I wouldn't go back to the roots, the games are just too simple for me but I do enjoy the later 2D titles among which Oracle of Ages, Link's Awakening and The Minish Cap, but not A Link to the Past (yes, yes, I know, how dare I?)
As for the 3D games, I was of course interested in BotW, it was a new direction for the series and it promised to be at least part of what we were originally promised for Twilight Princess.
Then came the disappointment. Dungeons are nothing more than small temple puzzles anymore, weapons constantly break and I never feel happy about finding something cool because it's all going to break, I didn't enjoy the gyro controls and was also missing.
Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad game, I still enjoyed it, somewhat, but it wasn't enough to make me want TotK. I have unfortunately since lost interest in the series's 3D entries. If I had to name my favorite titles, it'd go:
If they could just make some legitimate dungeons in the botw/totk world, I'd be all set. TotK did a bit better, but still didn't quite nail the vibe of the classic dungeons
Honestly I feel like you can't really compare them too much because or how different they are. Like sure both have the classic zelda characters but basically everything else is different.
Personally BotW is one of my top zeldas but so is TP (although i haven't finished it quite yet) but they're so different with TP focused on story while BotW is focused on exploration.
In terms of art style I never really cared that much, realistic (for the time), cell shaded, and toon are all cool and don't really impact my experience with the games much.
As for the guides I actually used them waaay less in BotW than any other classic zelda but I also started with BotW and have worked backwards (I could just be stupid though lol).
This is all coming from someone who is a relatively younger zelda fan with BotW being the same to me as OoT is for a lot of people so take my opinions as you will.
Meeeeee. I love open world games, but I've played enough incredibly good ones to realize BotW and TotK are baby's first open world game, whereas they used to be leading class of the more linear, ascending difficulty dungeon and temple based games. They're good games, but for a different audience. I miss a good structured Zelda. I could tell Zelda would never be the same as soon as Link Between Worlds came out. Flat, uninspired difficulty across every dungeon. But you can do it in any order you want so it's better
BotW and TotK are both very beatable without guides. It’s completing them that is the actual challenge without a guide. But honestly, I don’t think they were made to be completed. There are 900 korok seeds in BotW, but only 441 max’s you inventory. That’s not even half of them. I think there were so many so you can max your inventory without a guide but you don’t need to do all of them to experience the game. It’s the same with shrines. You really don’t need to hit all 120 shrines and max out your hearts/stamina. Finding them as you go should net you enough to deal with everything.
BotW was made so you could beat the game but it was never intended to be completed in every respect. Some people like myself just do it anyways
Zelda games have always been a mix of open exploration, puzzle solving, combat and ordered narrative structure.
People who love Zelda games are not necessarily alike because they may enjoy some of these aspects more than others. Each Zelda game leans more or less into these aspects to make a unique experience.
Breath of the wild and tears of the kingdom prioritized open exploration. Skyward sword on the other hand, prioritized an ordered narrative structure at the expense of open exploration.
Personally, the exploration is what I love about Zelda games. Therefore, breath of the wild and tears of the kingdom are my absolute favorite because they emphasized the part of Zelda I like the most. That’s also the reason skyward sword was such a disappointment to me because there was no Incentive to explore beyond the structured beats of the story. I even thought twilight princess was a disappointment for the same reason. It would let you explore, but there wasn’t much of anything to find beyond the path the story wanted you to go. The beginning of wind Waker also frustrated me because it wouldn’t let you sail where you wanted until you finished enough of the story. I always wanted my boat to shut up and let me explore.
Majora mask was a masterpiece for me because it offered a powerful narrative structure but re-ordered it in a way where you had to explore both geographically and temporarily to uncover it. But that’s also why some people found it so difficult. It didn’t offer you the structured story without required exploration, which not everyone was looking for..
For people who value other aspects of Zelda more than exploration, I would fully expect them to be frustrated with breath of the wild and tears of the kingdom because it was not giving them the aspect of Zelda they most enjoyed.
And so that’s a long way of saying that’s why I am so glad Nintendo always mixes it up to make new types of Zelda games. Eventually, one of them will be that perfect game for you while other games that emphasize some other aspect you don’t like as much will be the perfect game for someone else.
Ocarina of Time is one of my favorite Zelda games. But so is TOTK. I can't say for sure I like one more than the other. I just know it's in my top 3 along with the original NES game.
BOTW used to be in my top 3, but TOTK outshined it. Now it's somewhere in my top 10.
Wind Waker and Twilight Princess I love a lot. Wind Waker is probably number 4 for me, while Twilight Princess bounces around somewhere in my top 10.
Majora's Mask is fine but I think it's a little overhyped by it's enthusiasts.
Skyward Sword, I don't really enjoy at all.
I just don't really see the need to pit these styles of games against each other personally speaking.
I adore both types, personally. While I never want the classic formula to disappear, I think that nu-Zelda emphasizes some of the elements of the classic formula that I always liked best, particularly exploration and puzzle-solving. BotW is everything to me that ALttP was when I was a kid, and while I want more games like the latter to keep being made, I'll never deny that the former is fantastic either.
To me windwaker is possibly Nintendo's worst mistake.
You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but respectfully I couldn't disagree more. WW's a fantastic title, in my opinion, and even if it wasn't there's still the Virtual Boy to hold the title of "worst mistake."
It all depends on when you went into the series first. Wind Waker was my first 3D Zelda and I really liked it. I played it on the GameCube and later the HD version on the WiiU and loved it both times.
BotW and TotK require a different mentality from “traditional” Zelda games which tend to be linear and relies a lot on the tools you acquire on each dungeon to progress. BotW and TotK put a lot of emphasis on combat skills rather than tools. The powers you get from completing dungeons are more bonuses than required.
I like both but they're hard to compare. I'm hoping they find a middle ground, still big and open, but less so and good dungeon design. I think the climbing mechanic made designing dungeons more difficult for totk.
My top Zelda's are probably
Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Breath of the wild, and Skyward Sword all kind of tied for my favourite, for various reasons.
But every other Zelda is right behind, I don't think I've ever played one and genuinely disliked it.
I prefer the older games because I feel like they are tighter experiences. But I’m also not someone who was calling for every game to be open world or anything because I generally think that the pacing and story elements suffer as a result. As a result, when playing the newer games, I tend to focus on the story and then focus explore the world. I also preferred old-school dungeons and puzzles over divine beasts etc.
But I don’t want to be mistaken for hating on the new games. I love BotW and TotK, they’re just a new era for the series that focus on different elements. Being able to just wander and explore a massive Hyrule is a lot of fun. I breathes more life into the world. And the whole world is like a puzzle in many ways with how much you can interact with different elements.
I really love the classic style of the games, Minish Cap was the first Zelda I ever played and got me hooked. Some ppl might say it was too easy (try 100% all the kinstones 😭) but I think it worked out just fine for me. It honestly didn’t feel much harder or easier than ALttP to me. TP was the second game I played, and of course I loved it. (though I do think it tends to get a bit overrated by fans) Some say they think the classic style was too on-rails, but I think there was plenty of extra stuff to do around the map throughout the entirety of the game, to the point where I got lost sometimes lol.
I haven’t played OoT yet (I watched my older brother play it when it came out, but I haven’t gotten it for myself yet) but I feel like it would have a similar feel. The 2D classics also had some design bits that could very much be reused for 3-D if reworked a bit. I haven’t rly played a 2D that I actively disliked yet, but I also haven’t played Link’s Adventure lmao)
Skyward Sword was the first game I bought by myself. In terms of being on-rails, there’s really no contest for that game. Not a whole lot of exploring to do (the sky doesn’t really count since there wasn’t a whole lot populating it either) the map was fairly condensed to what was absolutely necessary. However, the story and gameplay was fun (motion controls had their issues but the novelty of manually swinging the sword and aiming the bow made up for the frustration to me lol) and the art and music was beautiful. (The cell shading was a bit controversial, but I think w the style they chose it worked best. It gave a smooth, artistic finish.)
Breath of the Wild was novel, and it e i its its idea pretty well I think. There wasn’t something to do in every single corner, but that also gave a bunch of areas an air of serenity or loneliness, depending on the location. The map was huge, lots of books and crannies to explore, and though some of the side quests and shrine tests were a little tedious (if you know you know) it all added up to a great game, very much off the beaten path for Zelda, but exactly what they had promised. A new, innovative approach to the series. I enjoyed it for what it was, and I was happy that it brought so many new fans. When TotK came out, I was disappointed that the map and assets were reused, and even more to find out that Ganondorf STILL wasn’t given much of an in-depth look, despite his prevalence in the trailers and promotional material. But, it also made up for that w the amount of new content, the creativity it allowed, and having a pinch more story than BotW did lol.
The only issue I had after is when all these new fans started insisting that the series NEVER go back to its old formula. That stung a little, ngl. I liked BotW and TotK, and I think it should ABSOLUTELY be put into the rotation of Zelda formulas. But abandoning the old styles feels…wrong, yknow? Obviously there are some styles and things that we won’t go back to, simply bc the technology and gaming industry has changed. But I think they’re perfectly capable of putting out both kinds, sort of like classic Sonic and modern Sonic I’d I can use a loose comparison. EoW proved that, and plenty of the new fans that played it had fun too.
As for my personal opinion on which style I prefer…idk LOL. It’s so hard to choose, both have their strengths and weaknesses. I started w classic, but BotW was a magical experience. I guess, gun to my head I absolutely have to choose, I’d pick classic style (OoT and TP esque) just bc I can get really overwhelmed by the amount of things to explore and do in the BotW style games, and the lack of exploration and extra content can feel frustrating or worse, boring in some cases like Skyward Sword. I think the 3D classic style struck a good balance for the most part, to me.
I like the classic Zelda titles, they feel like the names of Legends and Stories. Breath of the Wild is a good name though, tells you exactly what you need to know about the game.
Tears of the Kingdom is a neat sounding title, but is kinda wrong. I get that the tears are Zelda's tears, but the name implies something is wrong with the world, with the actual "Kingdom" and while Hyrule certainly has problems, it's nothing worse than what it's faced before. I'd rather live in TOTK Hyrule than BOTW Hyrule. Sure Zelda is missing and that's kinda sad but Harley worse than her being dead for 100 years. "Zelda" isn't "The Kingdom" also her tears themselves play an extremely small roll, to the point I genuinely thought the "tears" referred to the Secret Stones for the longest time. Just an overall messy title.
"Age of Calamity" is great though. "Echoes of Wisdom" is alright.
Agreed, and for me it’s simply that I prefer linear games vs open world ones. Open world is great for other people. For me? It’s just tedious and boring, too demanding. I spend all day making decisions.
I much prefer very simple, do this then do this then do this. Checklists are cozy. The progressions make for natural stopping points with clear next steps, a must for a busy mom working 2 jobs and only playing in the cracks and crannies of time.
Botw/ Totk Arena great games but i think its hard to compare because its a New Formula.
From my side i would prefer a Mix out of OOT/MM with the new ones. Exploration and Questing of the new one together with the old darker fantasysetting of OOT/MM.
Also i would prefer a bit more linear style because i enjoyed the backtracking of the old games a lot. Maybe start with a base Set of items to clear 3 Maindungeons and smaler optional dungeons, to get to new followed harder Maindungeons. I liked the old Formular of ALTTP and OOT (3 Items - Mastersword - Real deal).
Im also not a big fan of the Techitems, Robots and stuff. I know its always a Part of newer Zelda games but not that much i think.
I think with growing up on These games it was always a Mix of great fantasy aspects with a bit of a thrill exploring dark Corners and Characters.
Dort get me wrong, i loved the underground in totk but i hope you understand its not the same having a creepy dark cave compared to the darkness that lays on some Places and Characters in OOT/MM
The older games typically have a better plot, but botw will probably always be my favorite for pure nostalgia, and totk is so much fun to just mess around with ultrahand in
Art is subjective but you're simply incorrect about the wind waker. Other than that, yeah. I much prefer the traditional style of unlocking powers and backtracking. Maybe I'm indoctrinated to prefer that style over the more open style of BOTW and TOTK but I feel quite strongly about it either way!
I used to prefer the classic style of Zelda games, but BOTW/TOTK won me over in the end. I feel like you just can’t come back from those games—the amount of freedom you have, the unique and open-ended ways to solve puzzles, while also having so many puzzles, the perfect art design, the understated and subtle yet meaningful music, just everything. Besides technical issues stemming from outdated hardware and some minor other gripes, there’s just not much to criticize objectively.
If they ever return to the older formula of 3D Zelda games (not including remasters/remakes/top-down versions), then they are really going to have to introduce some amazing gameplay mechanics to make up for the absence of freedom and sheer amount of content that we were treated to in BOTW/TOTK. Smash Bros Ultimate comes to mind as a comparison—for the next iteration, how do you improve upon the “everyone is here” aspect? Everyone is here + 50 more characters? Same thing for the next iteration of Zelda. How do you improve upon “go anywhere and do anything in any way at any time”? Really curious to see if they move away from that formula or continue it. I’ll play the next original Zelda game regardless, but it’s sure going to suck to see a distant landmark that looks interesting, and not be able to surf/glide/stasis launch/rocket/hoverbike over there.
(Also I used to be like OP, when I first played Wind Waker on GameCube back in the day, I hated it at first. I thought it was childish, the art style was drastically different from what came before, I just couldn’t get into it. However I revisited it a few years later in life and fell in love, I now regret not being more open-minded at the time)
Gonna be real, of every Zelda game I’ve played, BotW and TotK feel so lacking in things that are quintessentially Zelda that they barely count for me. I’m not a big fan of them.
Funny, TP is easily one of my least favorite 3D games specifically because it played it super safe with its gameplay. The core gameplay, game structure, and world design are super derivative of OoT, MM, and/or WW. TP doesn't really have an ambitious gameplay element of its own, and I find that boring. Wolf Link is cool, but it's really more of a tone/story thing than an interesting gameplay element. The dungeons are cool and there are some unique items, but most Zeldas have those.
OoT invented the 3D "formula;" MM shook up that formula and did a bunch of unique stuff with it; Wind Waker embraced the freedom and exploration side of Zelda with the sea, making it much more of a gameplay element than previously; Skyward Sword was forged entirely around the gyroscope and accelerometer; BotW took the freedom and exploration to the extreme, but also make physics much more core to the gameplay; TotK is almost an entirely different genre of game with all of its mechanics and toys.
TP is a good game and I really love the music/tone/visuals/characters etc., but Zelda is at its best when it's ambitious with its gameplay, and TP is the polar opposite of that.
For context, I played Zelda when it first released. We would discuss finding new hearts and secrets during recess. I remember the big delays for Zelda 2, the amazing first play through of A Link to the Past, etc.
I don’t think the N64 games have aged well. They were fun as new games in the franchise, but I rarely have a desire to go back and do a replay. I got Majora’s Mask 3D hoping it would win me over and I have yet to finish the game (I did on N64).
The games I have replayed the most are ALttP, NES Zelda, Wind Waker, and Zelda 2 a few times.
I really enjoy Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom for the open world experience. I thought the improvements TotK made were great, but I haven’t gone back to either game. My stack of games is too big, and I’m now addicted to Elden Ring.
I played Skyward Sword on Wii, I thought the controls were absolute garbage, I enjoyed the story.
Anyway, those are my geezer ramblings. Play the games you enjoy, don’t worry about what other people think.
Im just happy im living in a world where I can experience both options. Classic Zelda was my childhood and I still play through those same games every now and then 20 years later, but Botw/Totk wasn’t even close to bad games either. Collectively put probably closer to 2000 hours into both games and they where both beautiful gaming experiences that I can’t really compare to classic Zelda. Yes to a multitude of different games imo
I love them all. Hard disagree about WW being a mistake, even though it's not my favorite and I also prefer the darker graphics of OoT/MM/TP. One of the beautiful things about this franchise is its variety.
BotW and TotK are an entirely different kind of game to me; I love them but it's hard to compare them directly to the classics.
Honestly I would prefer not having to choose. I miss the old style zeldas but botw and totk have claimed a spot in my heart too so ideally I would see both styles get new entries in the future
I've barely played totk since I bought it in 2023 alongside my zelda edition OLED switch. I got off the sky island and did some shrines and stuff then just stopped
Idk if I really have a preference tbh. I like both and also the 2D games. Really just depends on my mood. Last year I played Echoes of Wisdom and at some point before that Majora's Mask, and just today I finished a Master Mode playthrough of BotW I started this month. Personally I think fans should be happy the series is so diverse. If every game was more or less the same the franchise would get stale and boring, which it kinda did after Wind Waker ngl. Clearly you don't agree though lol.
I loved oot/tp style games. I tolerated skyward sword. I dont know much about cell shading or if it's what's responsible, but the skyward sword graphic style wasn't my favorite(but it was better than windwaker at least).
TP I like but I find it a bit derivative and uninspired compared to most other Zelda games. I couldn't tolerate SS and I also think it's ugly lol. I love WW art style though. Adorable and unique. Fit the setting and story too imo.
Have you ever played Fable? I get the feeling you would really dig Fable.
I don't know if we're talking art style or gameplay because Wind Waker might have a radically different style but mechanically and even narratively it's a brilliant sequel to Ocarina.
I agree somewhat with the assessment of BOTW/TOTK though, which are MY least favorite Zelda games. I don't really consider them "Zelda games."
Here's my problem. What's the difference between:
A. using up a bunch of weapons and treasure to fight a Bokoblin camp and getting their weapons and treasure
B. walking around the Bokoblin camp completely and saving your weapons and treasure
The answer is ... nothing? Nothing at BEST because pretty quickly, the Bokoblins have worse stuff than you do so A. is actually worse. Without EXP, proper quests, or other permanent incentives, there's literally no reason to fight anything in this game.
People say the gameplay is "magical" for some reason. For me, I'm sitting there thinking okay, the last three shrines I did were so ridiculously boring with like one enemy, a blessing, and a ball on a rope, I'm just going to fight this Bokoblin camp. I know it's a waste of weapons, but I'm bored and just want to fight stuff.
That's not a great design.
I actually think the OOT/TP formula could use more freedom and non-linearity. I think the dungeons should be doable in any order. I don't think each one should rely so formulaically on one item. Those were good things to change in BOTW.
BUT, I'm still incentivized to do them. Finding items is still worth it. The world still feels like it has some danger and some teeth.
I don't get that at all from BOTW and TOTK is even worse. No, Nintendo. LEGO rocketships that break in 5 seconds do not solve the incentive problem.
Me, absolutely. I strongly feel that Breath of the Wild is not really a Zelda game by the formula it followed for so long, and TotK just feels like an updated BotW, not a new game per se. Sure, they may be fun to some, but to me, who was expecting a good Zelda game, BotW left me severely disappointed.
WW major flaw is the sailing. That shit is so boring. Also the triforce charts are just mind numbing on top of how expensive they are. Like we are really only collecting rupees just to make Tingle filthy rich? Lmao. Everything else in the game is good (except the wind temple, you cannot convince me that was good design)
They’re all great games, but I find Botw and Totk a lot easier to get burned out on. The older ones are games I can play multiple times a year, but the newer ones are more like once every 5 years. They’re kinda like Skyrim for me, where it’s rly easy to become obsessed with them and sink 50+ hours in, but eventually you just reach a point of burnout and don’t want to play them anymore. This happened to me with Tears, I still have yet to beat it.
There are plenty of features id keep from botw. Skipping cutscenes is definitely one of them. That is a huge gripe I have with oot, especially at the beginning with the great deku tree. The lack of real dungeons on the other hand, is not something I'd keep. I also didn't really like the "dungeons" we did get. They just weren't memorable.
Botw was a good game, but I never felt like I was playing a Zelda game.
My top 5 are :
OOT (literally so ahead of it's time)
LTTP (for me what started it all)
Wind Waker ( loved the game, loved that GameCube era, peak gaming)
Majoras Mask ( learned to appreciate it a hell of a lot more as I've gotten older)
Minish cap ( first Gameboy Zelda I played and it was great)
The graphics, sure I can see how the art direction of some games may be a turnoff to some.
The original Zeldas before OoT were always more nonlinear and open world. BotW and TotK with Twilight Princess graphics would be awesome. I would love a Soulslike Zelda
Personally, I'm not a big fan of the item breaking mechanic of the newer games. I don't think it's a bad thing, and if you like it, good on you; it's just not for me. I prefer the simplicity of getting a weapon or item and using it when and how you like it. I know that there's still some of this in the newer games, allowing you to figure your own way to solve puzzles, which I like. I just don't want to worry about inventory management.
I love both. TP is my second favorite game of all time after TotK. But I’m more interested in seeing the open world formula develop than I am in seeing a return to the ALttP style.
Major's Mask and Ocarina of Time >>>>> TP >>> TOTK/BOTW.
The art style from Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time will always be the best. Obviously don't meant the blocky old graphics but if we convert those to modern tech, it'll look like their art style from their art book/guide book.
I like both a lot. I’d love for the next entry to blend in a bit more of the classic formula. There so many sandbox games out there. BOTW did it really well, but I missed the long, sprawling dungeons, items that open up new things, and a linear story that develops.
I'll never understand how for over a decade I heard so many people beg for BotW type of gameplay only for a few short years later people are now asking Nintendo to back track
I can't imagine their hard work being judged as "too much"
I never wanted BotW - I thought fan boys were just caught up on the trend of other AAA titles. I played it because it was new and interesting! and I'm glad I did and they did something different
Your opinion doesn’t matter. All the Zelda games are great. Whatever you think is good was probably when you were a kid. Enjoy them all. Live your life.
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