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Board 8 > So why is the Zelda franchise so consistently, great?

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INCEPTlON
05/30/23 1:52:06 PM
#1:


The franchise has been around for decades so they cant must rely on the same treat. The team behind the games has changed many times over the year. I just beat Tears of the Kingdom, and Im once again blown away.

What is it about Zelda that puts it in the highest of tiers?

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swordz9
05/30/23 1:54:42 PM
#2:


Its been a mixed bag for me so cant really relate. Even my favorite ones dont really register all that high among other games I like.
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KingButz
05/30/23 1:55:13 PM
#3:


I don't, know

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LightningStrikes
05/30/23 1:56:46 PM
#4:


In all seriousness I think it is that (for the core console Zeldas anyway) Nintendo are aware of the prestige and will just delay a game endlessly to get it perfect because they have the resources to do it. The prestige is worth more than the short term gain of releasing a lesser game earlier. This was especially true before the series absolutely exploded sales-wise with BOTW. With Tears of the Kingdom they delayed it by a year just to polish it.

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RaidenGarai
05/30/23 1:56:59 PM
#5:


As someone who can't get into the 3D games, I feel like it hasn't been great in a very long time.

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Arti
05/30/23 2:03:26 PM
#6:


I've never felt that any games in the Zelda series are really that great.

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Seanchan
05/30/23 2:03:37 PM
#7:


Because the Zelda games perfectly mix action, adventure, and exploration in a manner that no other series has matched.

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Radix
05/30/23 2:05:37 PM
#8:


zelda isnt even consistently good much less great tbh

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Seanchan
05/30/23 2:07:58 PM
#9:


Radix posted...
zelda isnt even consistently good much less great tbh

Whats the weather like on your planet?

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BlueCrystalTear
05/30/23 2:08:24 PM
#10:


I think the comma splice kinda ruined your point.

Also Skyward Sword and Phantom Hourglass exist, so no, it's not consistently great. Seems like you haven't played those.

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#11
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LightningStrikes
05/30/23 2:10:31 PM
#12:


Skyward Sword is a great game. Phantom Hourglass also quite good.

Either way this is clearly more about general reception so the its not that good! hot takes are kind of missing the point.

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paperwarior
05/30/23 2:11:33 PM
#13:


Putting aside how consistent one actually finds it to be, I would have to say the developers are good at what they do and have a creative vision, and the previous developers have been replaced over the years by others with those same strengths.

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#14
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BlueCrystalTear
05/30/23 2:13:06 PM
#15:


LightningStrikes posted...
Skyward Sword is a great game. Phantom Hourglass also quite good.

Either way this is clearly more about general reception so the its not that good! hot takes are kind of missing the point.
Says the guy with an extremely hot take. Skyward Sword is a 3/10 game, an excruciating filler-fest with poor controls and momentum-stifling gameplay. The general reception to that game is that without the Zelda coat of paint, nobody remembers it.

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swordz9
05/30/23 2:14:19 PM
#16:


LightningStrikes posted...
Skyward Sword is a great game. Phantom Hourglass also quite good.

Either way this is clearly more about general reception so the its not that good! hot takes are kind of missing the point.
Personally I dunno what kind of magic they have because LoZ hasnt really outdone any other games Ive played in anything. Theres better exploration, characters, story and gameplay in other individual games let alone multiple other series. I guess the magic just aint there for some of us?
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foolm0r0n
05/30/23 2:14:58 PM
#17:


Money

And maybe to some extent leadership

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foolm0r0n
05/30/23 2:16:27 PM
#18:


BlueCrystalTear posted...
Says the guy with an extremely hot take. Skyward Sword is a 3/10 game, an excruciating filler-fest with poor controls and momentum-stifling gameplay. The general reception to that game is that without the Zelda coat of paint, nobody remembers it.
This is worse than an LMS post

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BlueCrystalTear
05/30/23 2:17:07 PM
#19:


foolm0r0n posted...
This is worse than an LMS post
I'm sorry you can't appreciate the truth.

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TomNook7
05/30/23 2:19:14 PM
#20:


Lmao

topic: why are zelda games so good?

a bunch of detractors: theyre not

BlueCrystalTear posted...
The general reception to that game is that without the Zelda coat of paint, nobody remembers it.

Nah. People hate Skyward Sword because it doesnt meet the expectations that come with the series. If Skyward Sword wasnt Zelda, people would be like does anyone else remember this cult classic game on Wii?

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Seanchan
05/30/23 2:19:39 PM
#21:


Skyward Sword is a 3 out of 5. Thats a fine/good game. Not the best in the series and not the worst.

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MoogleKupo141
05/30/23 2:20:26 PM
#22:


skyward sword just had too many annoying pop ups explaining what rupees are, I think it would be received better if it didnt just frustrate people with that stuff

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Nanis23
05/30/23 2:28:29 PM
#23:


"so consistently great"

Well...besides Zelda II...it's too old...
And the CD-i games...they are not official...
And Phantom Hourglass...it doesn't count for some reason..
And Tri Force Heroes......it's a multiplayer game so it doesn't count..
And Skyward Sword...it has motion control gimmick so it doesn't count either..

But it's so consistently great

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#24
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th3l3fty
05/30/23 2:31:57 PM
#25:


I will never understand why people use Phantom Hourglass as the go-to for these arguments when Spirit Tracks exists and is worse in nearly every regard

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TomNook7
05/30/23 2:34:42 PM
#26:


Lmao I love how like 3 halfway decent games in a sea of like 25 mainline games somehow translates to not consistently great

Seanchan posted...
Skyward Sword is a 3 out of 5. Thats a fine/good game. Not the best in the series and not the worst.

this


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AllHeDoesIsWin
05/30/23 2:34:58 PM
#27:


th3l3fty posted...
I will never understand why people use Phantom Hourglass as the go-to for these arguments when Spirit Tracks exists and is worse in nearly every regard
Because pan flute soundtrack and ghost Zelda are amazing
Phantom Hourglass is still better though
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Radix
05/30/23 2:46:04 PM
#28:


TomNook7 posted...
Lmao I love how like 3 halfway decent games in a sea of like 25 mainline games somehow translates to not consistently great

eh its more than just 3. wind waker isnt very good, twilight princess is mostly eh, the oracles arent bad but not very good either, botw is fucking awful, majoras mask has some good lore and whatnot but the actual game isnt so good, the 4 swords might be good i guess i dont know anything about them, minish cap is p bad

so its really more of an ok series with a few standouts

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RuneterranSnap
05/30/23 2:48:01 PM
#29:


I mean, BOTW and TOTK are both mixed bags. Amazing open world and foundation, but the actual games on top of them is mediocre.

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PeaceFrog
05/30/23 2:54:58 PM
#30:


Wind walker and both oracles are all incredible, MM is one of the best, 4 swords was above average, and minish cap was completely fine.

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ZenOfThunder
05/30/23 2:58:51 PM
#31:


good leadership, big budget and a lot of time with minimum rushing and, from what I understand, minimum crunch

I think crunch might be part of Japan's culture though so they are always technically "crunching"

I wouldn't say they are all smash hits but I think for the most part they have not produced straight up bombs for the franchise. it's all at least "good" (see: Skyward Sword)

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Yesmar_
05/30/23 3:02:13 PM
#32:


It's interesting that there haven't been more Zelda-likes/clones over the years. Obviously there's exceptions like Okami, but it's curious that serious alternatives have only seemed to come about sporadically.

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RuneterranSnap
05/30/23 3:03:14 PM
#33:


Yesmar_ posted...
It's interesting that there haven't been more Zelda-likes/clones over the years. Obviously there's exceptions like Okami, but it's curious that serious alternatives have only seemed to come about sporadically.
They're not at all sporadic, they just tend to be very niche, mostly because they're never as good as the actual thing.

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foolm0r0n
05/30/23 3:07:34 PM
#34:


Hard to make a Zelda clone without Nintendo money. Metroid is essentially the Zelda formula but without narrative, so that's way easier for others to copy.

But one of the best Zelda games is Cadence of Hyrule, so there is merit to the idea that the fundamental formula of Zelda (exploration, setting, style) is just plain good. You get a great chance of success by starting with that formula.

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MacArrowny
05/30/23 3:28:24 PM
#35:


ZenOfThunder posted...
good leadership, big budget and a lot of time with minimum rushing and, from what I understand, minimum crunch

I think crunch might be part of Japan's culture though so they are always technically "crunching"

I wouldn't say they are all smash hits but I think for the most part they have not produced straight up bombs for the franchise. it's all at least "good" (see: Skyward Sword)
Nintendo is known to have less overtime than other Japanese businesses. Generally considered one of the best places in the country to work.

RuneterranSnap posted...
They're not at all sporadic, they just tend to be very niche, mostly because they're never as good as the actual thing.

What do you mean? There aren't really any 3D Zelda clones other than Okami, Fenyx Rising, and Darksiders. Unless you start counting stuff like God of War, of course. And none of those are niche.

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colliding
05/30/23 3:42:16 PM
#36:


To be honest, I thought they had been floundering slightly since OoT/MM until BoTW righted the ship. It's not that WW and TP are bad games. They were just uneven. SS was bad and the DS games were pretty bad too, though in all three cases it felt like they were chasing novel new playing experiences over a good finished product.

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tcaz2
05/30/23 3:46:50 PM
#37:


They're not.

They're generally pretty consistently pretty good but not great by any means. If you had asked back around the Majora's Mask era I might have agreed it was consistently great, though. Nearly everything after that has been solidly good except the DS games (also Spirit Tracks is definitely better than Phantom Hourglass) and a few other random stinkers here and there. A Link Between Worlds probably comes closest to being great again. Maybe WW after the rerelease fixed most of the issues it had.
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Hbthebattle
05/30/23 4:38:04 PM
#38:


maybe you guys would understand it more as "Why are Zelda games so consistently highly reviewed both among critics and the general public?" - Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, and Skyward Sword are all included in that: none of them have below an 80 on metacritic. Even other popular nintendo series like Mario don't keep that up for this long.

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Kenri
05/30/23 5:28:41 PM
#39:


MacArrowny posted...
What do you mean? There aren't really any 3D Zelda clones other than Okami, Fenyx Rising, and Darksiders. Unless you start counting stuff like God of War, of course. And none of those are niche.
Don't forget Star Fox Adventures, the worst Zelda game.

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Jesse_Custer
05/30/23 5:49:00 PM
#40:


RaidenGarai posted...
As someone who can't get into the 3D games, I feel like it hasn't been great in a very long time.

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WazzupGenius00
05/30/23 5:58:26 PM
#41:


Somewhat in the leadership vein but slightly differentsignificant employee retention between entries

Western studios rarely keep an employee for more than 10 years, they either get laid off, hop to another company, or burn out. There are many people who worked on TOTK who also worked on OOT and most of the games in between

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shane15
05/30/23 5:59:55 PM
#42:


It's probably the most overrated series of all time.

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TomNook7
05/30/23 6:59:32 PM
#43:


TC: makes a zelda appreciation topic

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/6/3/AAK53VAAEhlz.jpg

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colliding
05/30/23 7:03:14 PM
#44:


If the topic had been called "Why is the Zelda franchise so great?" I wouldn't have said anything negative

It's the "consistently" that makes me say something as a Skyward-sword hating contrarian troll.

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#45
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LightningStrikes
05/30/23 7:57:45 PM
#46:


I am also someone who prefers Spirit Tracks over Phantom Hourglass, which is a very common opinion on Board 8, but we have to accept that thats not the mainstream view. In terms of both general audience and critics people lost their minds for Phantom Hourglass but Spirit Tracks really is regarded as a lesser Zelda overall. Still liked though.

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Paratroopa1
05/30/23 8:04:30 PM
#47:


I thought the Zelda series was consistently great up through Wind Waker/Four Swords Adventures but then they were really wandering around in the dark for a while with TP/PH/ST/SS until finding their way again with ALBW and BOTW. Seriously, there was a time between 2006-2011 there where I thought the Zelda series was just shit now and would be forever
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LightningStrikes
05/30/23 8:10:09 PM
#48:


I mean we can talk about the DS games and Skyward Sword but listing Twilight Princess as part of a downward trajectory is just wild to me. Those dungeons are still some of the all time greatest game design.

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Paratroopa1
05/30/23 8:11:04 PM
#49:


Twilight Princess was the first Zelda game I ever disliked, I don't know what to tell you. I didn't like it and still don't like it today
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LightningStrikes
05/30/23 8:12:41 PM
#50:


What did OoT/MM/WW do right that TP did wrong?

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