Top-down, third-person, and even a VR point of view–these are the eyes in which players view Link. What if you could view a Zelda game through Link’s eyes for an entire play through? How would this play out or look? Could you switch between first and third person, or would it be fixed in first person, capitalizing on different ways to complete puzzles? Well, lets peer through the Lens of Truth and discuss the ordeal.
Going back three decades when I was five years old, I played my first Zelda game, Zelda II Link’s Adventure (insert grinding teeth emoji), and I thought that this was how you played all Zelda games, and to my surprise, when I played my next game in the series, A Link to the Past, I couldn’t believe the top-down perspective and how much I enjoyed it. Going back to the original Zelda and Links Awakening, I saw the same style and loved this point of view. But it wasn’t until The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that I realized Nintendo and the Legend of Zelda series were constantly changing and pushing boundaries.
With the third person point of view established, it had me thinking of all the different points of view the series has done and all the ways the developers could incorporate them. Examples include when Link turns into a drawing and navigates the rocky walls in A Link Between Worlds and the virtual reality point of view utilizing the cardboard VR LABO for Breath of the Wild. But what if the series allowed the player to change their preferred view like in a Fallout or Elder Scrolls game where you can change between first and third? How could this shift the gameplay dynamic or story from the player’s perspective?
Could you imagine playing through Breath of the Wild or any of the other 3D games in a first person view? I can’t fathom how that would make me feel. It would be like playing Resident Evil 4, my favorite game in the series, and then suddenly switch it over to Resident Evil 7. The different camera views definitely make a big difference in how a player perceives the game, but I very much enjoyed both experiences. Could camera view shifts benefit a new way to play in the series much like Super Paper Mario for the Wii did, where you shift between 2D and 3D planes? In most cases, it’s how well the design team incorporates the mechanic and how fun it is to perform, but I believe Nintendo could utilize a mechanic like camera angles to pull off something unique and enjoyable.
How would you like to view future Zelda games? Do you think what they have now is working, or would you like to see a change? Nintendo always likes to incorporate different methods of uniqueness and quirkiness in all they do, but could they do this well in a Zelda game? We will have to wait and see.
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