The Legend Of Zelda - General Thread

Zelda: Other Z?

But Zother doesn't mean anything, so that would ruin the deep symbolism!

I'd be down with a female Link, but yeah, leery about what the developers would do with her. I'd be hoping for something pretty much exactly like what male Link gets up to.

Same.

Being female should be the only real difference entirely. Obviously some dialogue needs to change, like referring to her as female pronouns. Hell, even make it so you could choose either option.

I know most of Link's partners are female. Don't change that. Makes the gender aesthetic only. It'd be really interesting as is. Of course, as I said, I want to play as Zelda directly, preferrably with a more magic based item set. Maybe something where her being able to slowly regenerate magic, much like the item meter in ALBW. Likewise, her weapon could be a staff, and some items could be interchangeable. She can use a Bow in multiple games.

Like I said, it'd probably have to be an alternate option, and would overall impact only a handful of things- But considering that Link is meant specifically to be the player's projection onto the world, a female model would be part of that.

I liked Super Princess Peach where Peach saved the Mario Bros. People said that it was stereotypical that she was so emotional, but I did like that she was so in control of them.

Maybe not have a female Link, but do make Zelda the heroine. Then call it The Legend of Link where Zelda has to use her magic to save him.

The problem with making a female Link be exactly the same as a male Link is that there would be no point to making her female. If you're going to make a change like that, there has to be a reason other than "this is something we haven't done."

i like irene's suggestion.

What would be a good name for female Link anyway?

I mean, yeah, Link isn't a real name, but it doesn't sound agender name either.

Wonder whether it should be the case where other gendered version doesn't exist or have them be like siblings or something

And honestly, if we ever DO actually play as Zelda... Make her have sheikah training and be ninja like Sheik from smash bros Seriously, why does every concept of Zelda as playable always have her replace Link or have her just have magic and bow? Make her ninja. That does allow variety of equipment(including bow and magic I guess :P) to be used in same way as Link does without making her just another sword and shield fighter.

edited 27th Apr '14 1:48:59 PM by SpookyMask

I know, right? Why the hell do so many games let the player choose, when nothing new happens either way? What right do women have to demand equal representation in circumstances of blank slate protagonists!

edited 27th Apr '14 1:48:40 PM by Pulse

Zelda uses magic and a bow and a sword (or at least has one) like Link, so there would still have to be something special about her.

She's not really the same kind of dumb, roll-around-Hyrule kind of hero that Link is (as cool as he still is :P), so I would think that a game starring her would have a lot more elegance to it.

Never mind the Philips CD-i game that apparently doesn't exist—I feel like Zelda's game would still be very slow and small...unless she doesn't go wearing a dress.

Why does there need to be a story reason? He's a player character who has nothing notable about him besides that. He's a hylian(most of the time), and carries a sword and shield and has items. That's literally what defines Link. Being male has nothing to do with his complete lack of characterization. The only emotion he shows most of the time has nothing to do with being male in the first place.

Also, connecting to the players is very important, and giving them gender choices further serves to do this. As there's quite literally nothing about Link's gender that has really shown much of an effect on most of the games(the only one I can think of is that Hylian Soldiers are apparently all male? That just means certain ones would stay male at best, not affect every game). Being the son of a Hylian Soldier is not even specific to every game anyway. So it holds no bearing. There's really no reason not to do it. And yes, sake for the sake of change is good if it adds something useful to the series. And it does as is.

True. Not counting the CD-i games(but hey, I don't care if she uses items from them either way. They're just items), that is, I think there's not that much overall difference between 'em. TP shows she could use a sword(and can anyway, although as possessed. I doubt she would float around as a PC)

Thanks, Tarsen.

@Spooky: I think Link still works fine. The name doesn't feel male-specific, but it does fit the purpose of the name, connecting the players.

@Pulse: While I agree, it doesn't need to be said aggressively.

edited 27th Apr '14 1:52:40 PM by Irene

Link could be transgender, and part of the story could be Link's quest for acceptance.

.....

I'm not sure if people are ready for that. I could be wrong though.

The Legend of Zelda is hardly ever character-centric, and just about never Link-centric. These days it's always based on a theme. Or its subtitle.

Ocarina of Time had time, and the ocarina...Majora's Mask had the titular mask and all the other masks, also time travel...the Wind Waker had the Wind Waker itself and the open sea...Twilight Princess had the invading Twilight and all the symbolism therein...and Skyward Sword had the sky and the sword.

In the handheld games, the Oracle games focused on time and the seasons too (The Legend of Zelda loves time...it's just about everywhere)...the Phantom Hourglass had the sea and the hourglass...Spirit Tracks had the train...Link to the Past and Link Between Worlds had the Dark World/Lorule...

I leave out the first few games because those weren't really themed at all, though Zelda II had the sleeping Zelda, but that wasn't very character-driven either...

Point is, it's always really more about Hyrule than Link and Zelda. Doing anything that puts the focus on either of them isn't really in the spirit of the games.

edited 27th Apr '14 3:08:01 PM by Keybreak

I tuned out for a bit, I come back, we're discussing a female Link.

I am completely on board with this idea.

Female Link, a female Zelda who spends most of the game in her Sheik disguise, the two start getting close, and even after Zelda reveals her true self the two still get tog— Oh, wait. We're discussing the impact on the games, not fanfic ideas. Well drat!

I like the idea of there being two Links for a game, one male and one female. The explanation could be that they're twins or something so the spirit of the hero got split between them.

It would be an interesting way of incorporating branching paths and such into Zelda.

hm...

5 minutes into wind waker and already ive accidentally thrown a pig through the ground.

a sign of things to come?

You mean glitchiness?

No, Wind Waker is pretty solidly coded. There's a few complex exploits used for speedrunning, but nothing you're likely to stumble upon accidentally or have interfere with your game. The pigs sometimes fall through surfaces when thrown, though, I guess. I only had it happen when throwing the giant pig onto Mesa's house.

Link the pig ate the other smaller pigs. It's the only explanation for their disappearance

edited 29th Apr '14 10:41:55 AM by Xopher001

i figured the other pigs were eaten by the family, and the reason link is so big is cuz they've been fattening him up.

Oh. I didn't think of that. But then why did they name it? I thought the kids were fond of it

i assumed that was cuz eating them wasnt originally the plan. initially they wanted pigs as pets after all.

If you talk to the family after only Link the Pig is left, they do indeed mention that they ate the other two for dinner.

Zill: It was delicious!

edited 29th Apr '14 10:55:19 AM by Anomalocaris20

So I just learned that in Ocarina of Time, the plan for Lon Lon Ranch was to have Ingo burn down the ranch in a fit of madness after you beat him in the race. Then one of the development team asked what would happen if Link went back to the area, so it was dropped.

edited 1st May '14 1:44:41 AM by lalalei2001