The Legend Of Zelda - General Thread

Actually... Is it just me, or are a vast majority of the baddies in Zelda just fantastical wild animals? Octoroks, Tektites, and Leevers, too, all just animals (or plants) that want a meal and think Link looks tasty. It's mostly just the -blins and the various undead that are actively malevolent.

Monster can probably be quantified as those who descend from the Demon Tribe that spawned from Demise's evil or emerged from the hole in the ground he did.

edited 7th Dec '16 4:44:05 PM by lycropath

Yeah, I wondered about Moblins myself, since they're shown to be sentient (and, in Wind Waker, able to read and write!), but then Skyward Sword specified that they're demons and I thought, "Oh, that's okay then. No harm in brutally slaughtering thousands of sentient demons."

Really, Link is an equal-opportunity killer, provided his victims are confirmed Bad Guys. Good Zoras live, but naughty Zoras that spit fireballs at you get the business end of the Master Sword. Ditto nice Deku Scrubs and bad Mad Scrubs. And though you can't see their faces, the Iron Knuckles in Twilight Princess are presumably human, as opposed to animate suits of armor like in Ocarina of Time.

edited 7th Dec '16 6:21:34 PM by ThriceCharming

There are no Iron Knuckles in TP, though? Not that I'm arguing your overall point, but the closest thing is the Ball and Chain midboss Darkhammer, and that's very clearly an armored Lizalfos.

edited 7th Dec '16 6:26:27 PM by Perseus

I meant the Darknuts. I always, always, always forget that those humanoid armored things in Twilight Princess are Darknuts and not Iron Knuckles.

Though in my opinion the only difference is that IK are bulky and slow.

A shame neither was present in SS. I'd love to see Fokkas return someday, though. That beast was the hardest enemy in Zelda II and I'm dying to see it in 3D.

Well functionally, Darknuts and Iron Knuckles are the exact same thing, so I don't blame you for making the mistake.

Big dudes in suits of armour. The other stuff is all window dressing.

Yeah, I never quite grasped any meaningful difference, beyond perhaps that Darknuts almost always wield swords of some kind while Iron Knuckles use heavier weapons.

Well, in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask (and I think Adventure of Link too?), the thing about Iron Knuckles is that they never attack first. You have to hit them to make them get up and attack. Darknuts sometimes stand still and sometimes walk around, but you can trigger them into attacking simply by walking near them. I think that's the only real difference, though.

We see moblins wanting to live peacefully in several games like Zelda 1, and Minish cap.

The Great Moblin in the Oracle games tries to be evil, but is pathetic enough that the game not only allows him, and his followers to live, but punishes the player for being too cruel to him.

Good way to differ Darknuts, and Iron Knuckles

• Darknuts=Creatures of some sort in armor.
• Iron Knuckles=Animated Armor placed as guardians. The ones in Zelda 2 even have an open visor showing an empty helmet.

edited 7th Dec '16 8:03:40 PM by Monsund

Except that the Iron Knuckles in OOT/MM are Gerudo in armour, not empty :v

Maybe I'm just bad at detecting sarcasm, but I'm fairly certain that's just the developers re-using their Nabooru model, rather than implying anything about the Iron Knuckles.

The reason for having bodies inside the Iron Knuckles doesn't change the fact that there's bodies inside the Iron Knuckles.

Also, according to one of the Zelda wikis, the model for Nabooru is different from the Gerudo models inside the other Iron Knuckles. They were still likely reusing assets for convenience, but they weren't specifically reusing Nabooru's.

I wouldn't be surprised if Twinrova abducted other Gerudos besides Nabooru to have them under their orders.

Also, was I the only one who got initially reminded of Squirtle and Cubone (of Pokémon fame) after seeing Snapper and Masked Hiploop respectively?

Courtesy of iam8bit, we're getting a new Ocarina of Time symphonic orchestral album next year, both digitally and in some fairly pretty-looking rupee-coloured vinyl.

My interest is piqued. Preview for the album is pretty decent, so I'll be looking forward to this.

edited 8th Dec '16 11:17:53 AM by Draghinazzo

I am not a music expert but I love Ocarina of Time music and remixes.

I always wondered what those armored knights were from Oracle of Ages were, I had no idea that they were called Darknuts and I always thought that they just mercenaries who trained on the mountains. I wonder if the Darknut is a deliberately corruption of Dark Knight? Also concerning the enemies in Ocarina of Time, did anyone notice that they made the Moblins, Iron Knuckles and Bobgoblins bigger than usual? Or were they always that big it is simply just a limitation in technology?

edited 8th Dec '16 11:48:11 AM by GAP

RE: whizzerd

I imagine thats just a remnant of an early model used for the Nabooru Iron Knuckle. The Ocarina of Time 3DS removed the gerudo head.

Even when Nabooru was is in it, its clear the Armor itself is in control, I'd say.

RE: GAP

The Darknuts in Link's Awakening, which used the same sprites, even used to be a guy's servants, until they went berserk. Whether they were humans, or they were monsters used as servants like in Zelda 2 is unknown.

Come to think of it, I wonder if all Darknuts are canines? The Wind Waker/Minish Cap Darknuts do have extremely flat dog-nose, and even lips◊, in addition to helms that compress their ears? There's also that so many Zelda enemies change wildly in appearance each game.

Moblins are extremely big in the game, most games make them roughly person-sized. I imagine its too make them an easier target. Zelda enemies are often different in size, and appearance.

Bokoblins weren't introduced till Wind Waker, there are Spear moblins, and the larger Bigger club moblins though, both of which only get named in the official guide.

So I was thinking, would anyone want a full Monster Town in a Zelda game? Moblin villlagers, Darknut Guard, Bokoblin inn, and Octorok pets? Link would get inside initially with a disguise, or alternate form of some sort, perhaps like Wolf Link.

edited 8th Dec '16 12:28:46 PM by Monsund

That's the weird thing- they removed the Gerudo's head in the 3DS version, but the 3DS Iron Knuckles still* have the chest-jewel and dark skin that Gerudo woman have.

*I'm not even sure that upper body design was part of the non-Nabooru Iron Knuckles in vanilla OOT.

I also disagree that the armour was in control- the impression I got was that Nabooru was fighting you while brainwashed (and if the armour was in control then... literally what was the point of sticking Nabooru in there in the first place?)

Anyway, a Monster Town would be neat. Deku Palace was one of my favourite locations in a game full of my favourite locations.

Ok this has been bothering me. Does anyoen think that certain characters look off in the official artstyle? lana looks plastic and some of her facial expressions reach uncanny valley.

You have no idea how much I want a Monster Town in a Zelda game. I even had a little story in mind for it. It's a haven for monsters who refused to follow Ganon/dorf and are now in hiding. One of the residents would be Kasuto, a Moblin, who later becomes a sage.

When you enter the town, three little Keese who are hanging upside-down from the gate at the entrance flutter all around you, going "Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!"

It should be illegal to bring this much cuteness to the thread.

RE: whizzerd

Hostage presumably. Even if the person inside has some control, I'd still imagine they're influenced by the spirit of the Iron Knuckle armor. Hence the deep voice different from Nabooru. I'd also guess, Hyrule's King in Zelda II learned how to make Iron Knuckles himself from the Gerudo. Course this is all my WMG.

Another one is Darknuts are the same species as Moblins, and Goriyas.

I think a Monster Town. would add alot of flavor, monsters are people too.

RE: Thrice Charming

I love that idea. Also the Kasuto mystery would finally be solved!

The Twilight Princess Darknuts are pretty monstrous-looking under their armor, almost like undead or demons a tier above the -blins.

Really? They look like guys in masks and chain mail to me.

And, aw, I'm glad you guys reacted positively to my Monster Town idea! Whenever I think about it, the Monstro Town music from Super Mario RPG plays in my head. What would you guys want the place to look like?