re: Zelda BOTW 2 in development

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Seems like “BOTW2” is going to be to BOTW as Majora’s Mask was to Ocarina of Time...at least in surface-level tone.

I’m in.

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I hope it’s a return to Termina. That would be awesome, just add 4 more lands and I think you’re good to go.

I need 8 total dungeons and a much much better final boss fight

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I hope it’s a return to Termina. That would be awesome, just add 4 more lands and I think you’re good to go

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I am not really up-to-date on the timeline, but I don’t believe Termina exists in the world of BOTW. I could be completely wrong though

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Am I the only one who wasn't crazy about BotW?

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No. There is such a thing as "too open" and BotW hit that for me. There's a delicate balance between open world and linear progression that previous Zeldas had perfected. BotW was a fantastic game in terms of executing what it wanted to do. What it did, it did well. But I think the story and world building suffered through limitations in design choices. The world in BotW is no more empty than Hyrule Field in OoT, but it FEELS more empty because the world is less developed through plot and character interactions/dialogue.

BotW was a great one-off, but I really hope they don't hard commit to this new full-sandbox style at the expense of storytelling going forward.

I posted this a few months back, but I think it’s worth revisiting Majora’s Mask (call it Majora’s Wrath to differentiate it) with a different engine. You could still do it with Old Link, just adjust the people to those with BotW with some exceptions and some updates from the N64 version:

1) Armor has an update from hit points to percentage. This is game breaking in BotW, so this has to be immediately dealt with.

2) The time stays the same as it was in BotW. So if you don’t slow down time, you have 72 minutes before time runs out. If you play the song of slowing time you have 216 (3 hours 36 minutes) uninterrupted minutes before the world ends.

3) Instead of 4 temples, there are now 8, and thus 8 giants to free to keep the Moon from falling. The 4 previous temples return with roughly the same central mechanic, although remixed to varying degrees. The new temples:
a) Mogma Pit: You have to drain the temple of its quicksand to make it to the bottom where the boss is.
b) Dark Deku Tree: Need to heal its roots for it to bloom and revealing the boss.
c) Firestone Prison: You have to manipulate electric currents to get full access and open up the boss.
d) Rito Sanctuary: A skyward temple of various floating Islands that you must align properly with one another so the sun can hit a jewel at the right place revealing the boss (sort of like the final temple in Skyward Sword).

4) Firestone Prison and the Stone Tower are near Hyrule Castle in size and scale, which are a prelude to the actual temples. Firestone is overrun with thieves, criminals, and some monsters, while the Stone Tower is overrun with monsters and the undead. You must make it through them to unlock the Temple proper, and you must have the song of the area to unlock them. To enter the Stone Tower Temple, you must also have all 6 transformation masks to do so.

5) Termina is around 2/3 the size of Hyrule (ie: Skyrim). The center holds Clock Town, Termina Field, and Romani Plateau. The other lands are as follows, starting from the Northern most point and going clockwise (with the directions abbreviated as reminders):
a) N Snowhead (Cursed with a brutal winter)
b) NE Rito Valley (Plagued by vicious rainstorms and tornados making it impossible to fly)
c) E Mogma Mines (Plagued by a huge influx of sand storms and quicksand)
d) SE Ikana Canyon (Cursed by the dead rising)
e) S Black Forest (Cursed with eternal darkness and vicious creatures/plants)
f) SW Poisoned Swamp (Cursed with poisoned water)
g) W Great Bay (Plagued by oiled, fiery, and smoking waters)
h) NW Firestone (Plagued by a volcano erupting with poisonous fumes around its base)

6) A total of eleven towers and 80 shrines. The shrines and towers are “Timeless” so they remain beaten no matter if you reverse time or not. Beating a shrine will give you a Time’s Tear. Return them to the Happy Mask Salesman to get a heart or Stamina upgrade.

7) Total of 60 masks, with 3 new transformation masks: Mogma, Wolf, and Rito. Mogma Link can climb the fastest and in rain, and while Rito Link can fly, the stamina meter depletes far more quickly than if you use your glider. Wolf Link is mostly the same as Twilight Princess. Also (save for Deku Link), the transformation masks are far more difficult to get.

8) Majora becomes aware of the fact that you are traveling through time defeating the Temples. Each two temples or 20 shrines you complete, the enemies upgrade in class. This is flexible, so if you beat one temple and ten shrines, then the enemy class will be upgraded.

9) The whistling function on the controller is gone and replaced with the Ocarina. If you hold it down even longer, then you open the mask inventory, of which 10 masks can be on there at a time. All 6 transformation masks are there at all time with you delegating the other 4 to it.

10) It seems the DLC content is fixing this, but Gold Class level of enemies.

11) Lynels, Hinoxes, Talluses, and Molgeras return, but Guardians will not (save for the sentries which will be at the Stone Tower and Firestone Prison). Additional sub-boss characters to be added would be Queen Gohmas, King Dondongos (both fire and ice varieties), Alpha Keese, Moldaraches (scorpion like monsters), Leviathans (Found in the ocean), and Darknuts. Darknuts will be of varying degrees of power and be found in Shrines and Temples only.

12) Larger enemy variety. Some suggessions: Thieves, Dodongo, Gohma, Deku Babas, Gibdos, Like-Like, and Skulltulas.

13) The Shattered Fairies return, but the Fairy Fountain does not upgrade regular Link’s armor. Instead you go to smiths found throughout the lands for that. You have to find all 15 shattered parts of the Fairies in order to get the benefits of the Fairy Fountains. The benefits are as follows:
a) Clock Town: As Deku Link the power to shoot bubbles; as Regular Link the Great Fairy Mask.
b) Swamp: Great Fairy Bow, the only bow that doesn’t permanently break; Deku Link armor upgrade.
c) Forest: Korok Mask; Wolf Link armor upgrade.
d) Canyon: Great Fairy Sword, the only sword that doesn’t permanently break.
e) Mines: Great Fairy Shield, the only shield that doesn’t permanently break; Mogma Link armor upgrade.
f) Valley: Rito Gail; Rito armor upgrade.
g) Mountain: Goron’s Protection; Goron armor upgrade.
h) Volcano: Mountain’s Fury (like Urbosa's Fury meets PK Starstorm)
i) Sea: Zora’s Healing; Zora Link armor upgrade.

14) No more stables. I can’t think of a way to make them to work within the logic of the game, but you can still capture wild horses to ride. Once you free Epona from Romani Ranch, you can call her at any time.

15) All the masks have a secondary ability that can be activated. You can only activate 3 per cycle. If you activate the special ability of the masks then the world instantly transforms into the circumstances you received said mask. So if you choose to activate some of your boss’ remains, then the overall plague infesting a land is instantly wiped out without having to directly fight the boss again. Due to this, all the lands are far more hostile than they were in the original Majora’s Mask, but turn incredibly docile once you free the land of its plague.

16) With the mask activation option, there are far more side quests to do that can only be unlocked once you free a land from what is plaguing it. Instead of the Shiekah Slate and Bomber’s Notebook, you will have the Bomber’s Tablet. It will keep track of people you meet and what these characters are up to on their respected “light” and “dark” timelines. The only major side quests to return from the previous Majora’s Mask are the Anju and Kafei quest and the Romani Ranch quest. All the rest are unique, and almost all side quests you will be rewarded with a unique mask.

17) A large subplot would be Skull Kid releasing all the prisoners from Firestone Prison before the start of the game and them causing additional chaos throughout the land. In one of the biggest side quests, you have to find a Farmer’s Daughter who was abducted by the thieves. It takes all 3 days to complete, but at the end of it, you face off against Termina’s form of Ganondorf who is going to sacrifice Zelda with blood magic in hopes of stopping the Moon from falling. A full blown boss battle ensues with 6 hours remaining. Once you beat Ganondorf (although you won’t kill him because he admits he has gone too far (and then give you the Dark Helm) and giving him one last moment of redemption) and reunite Zelda with her father who will give you one last mask.

Yeah, fan fiction whatever, but what would yall think if this was given to you?

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If they decided to do that then do be it, I will play it regardless as long as weapon degradation is removed. It made me put the game down immediately in BotW.

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It’s why I put the option of going out of your way to get an indestructible sword, shield, and bow. They degrade after a while, but after not using it for 20 minutes you can get it back like the Master Sword in the previous game.

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Great post btw.

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Thanks

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BotW was a great one-off, but I really hope they don't hard commit to this new full-sandbox style at the expense of storytelling going forward.

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Now that the engine is place. Keep the same gameplay but now add a lot more side characters/stories to help breathe life into the world.

Those that say they don't want a collect-a-thon and want more dungeons and say Majoras Mask is their fav Zelda game are being hypocrites!

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ETA you have to have the Wii controller, what a rip off. Oh well

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Do you? I thought I played skyward sword with a gamecube controller? Or am I thinking of another zelda on the wii? Shoot. They kinda blended together to me.