Well my dream game is some form of a Zelda game so gigantic in scale and ideas I don’t even know if it could be made. But this is fantasty so lets do it. I wouldn’t mind using the Zelda license for this but I personally would do a knockoff just so I could have full freedom in the story. My main character will talk, the story will be grand in scale. I don’t have the specifics cause whatever, story isn’t that important in a game like this, I will simply make sure to give it its due. It will have characters you really care for, a story that can move you, something LOTR like. That said I will make use of many Zelda elements like the hero using a sword, shield and bow. It will have items like a boomerang (or anything that flies back at you), a form of hookshot, bombs, and many brand new items.

Game World

I  want to go back to the open ended nature of Zelda 1, a world without markers pointing the way or conveniently locked paths that funnel you to your next destination. Now it wont be without direction but that direction will be given through story or in world markers not some hud display or words flashing on the screen. For instance lets say you are in a forest because one of the townfolk said there is some hideous beast hiding some treasure, that information is stored in a journal you can access which keeps track of various clues over heard. It will NOT be organized in terms of quests, it wont say “wolf side quest”, it will be a traditional journal with notes of various clues you encounter in the game world. So you are in the forest doing your thing and you discover a cave, you light a torch and go in. You see human remains, someone was eaten, the cave looks lived in. On the wall you see a drawing of a unique looking tree, it casts a shadow and at the end of the shadow is an X. That picture is stored in your journal. That is all the info you get, no waypoint marker, just that, you don’t even know if that drawing is part of the beast quest you are looking for, it could be something else entirely.

You exit the cave and begin your search for the tree, perhaps find some high ground to getting a better lay of the land. You spot the tree due north and make your way there. Enemies litter the world as well, maybe some dynamic gameplay situations happen like NPC being attacked by goblins and such. So you reach the tree now where is the X supposed to be, all it showed was a shadow being cast and the x being at the end of that shadow.  Those not paying attention would miss that in the drawing you need to pay attention to where the sun is in position to the background. In the drawing the sun was to the left side of the painting and there is a mountain on the right side of the tree. So you position yourself  so that the tree is in alignment with the mountain. Now you can let time pass and have the sun reach the position it was in the painting, follow the shadow and dig up the mark. You find a treasure chest with some silver arrows. Notice how that puzzle had no hint markers or any aid of any kind, it is simply deductive reasoning using clues in the game world. It is also completely option.

You hear a growl, the beast has found you. I gigantic werewolf starts charging at you, you dive out of the way and decide to use the new weapon you just discovered. Silver arrow, you unleash an arrow right into its chest, it howls the arrow clearly worked. Use a few more and the wolf begins to morph back into a human. The silver arrow reversed the curse. He used to live in that cave, he murdered his wife while in beast form, he tells you there is a den of wolves to the north west  in a cave, deep inside is a chest full of gold. Now if you had not discovered that first cave with the clue you could have still battled the werewolf, it would have been a much tougher fight and it would have died without turning back into a human as the silver arrows were need for that. The townsfolk would give you a smaller reward for taking care of the beast.

And that is how the dynamic quest system would work. There would be many scenarios like that all over the huge open world. How does the game keep the player in check by keeping away from late game areas, well by having super enemies in certain spots that clearly cannot be battled until you find better gear. In classic Zelda fashion there will be areas that are simply unacceptable until you find the right item to reach that point. Your map will have the option to make notes on it so if you ever see a path high in a mountain you cant reach yet, make a mark of it on the map for future exploring.

Dungeon entrances will behave in the same kind of way as the quest I described above. It will be a series of clues from townsfolk, maybe ancient writings, or even enemies may spill its location. There will be puzzles to solve to find it. You can accidentally stumble on a dungeon not meant to be cleared until later in the game. Like in Zelda 1 you may enter harder dungeons and perhaps find an item from later in the game that may help you out earlier in the game, though there will parts of the dungeon locked off cause of an item you have yet to find. Still exploring is encouraged and many times rewarded.

Oh and every location, cave, city and dungeon is hand crafted for the best level design possible. Random caves won’t be randomly generated like in TES, they will have unique puzzles and combat scenarios. There is no filler, just great design throughout.

Controls and combat mechanics

One of the most important aspects of any game are the controls since that is what you will be using for the 100 hours it takes to beat my game. Zelda games have never had good combat, I am an action game junky, my fake Zelda would have great combat, it will also provide an actual challenge. Now in my perfect world wiimote controls would be super popular and every game would be using it. It would work flawlessly and my game would have true 1:1 sword combat, it would be tactical and intense. It wouldn’t always be locked in a behind the back 1 on 1 fight view, I want fake link to be quick and be able to jump around a battle to attack multiple enemies then go in for precise hits.

Also if I had wiimote controls I could incorporate them into other gameplay scenarios. Think of an item that allows you to levitate and move objects as if you have the force. In a dual stick setup both sticks are required to move an object in a 3D space, meaning your character is locked in place while you move an object. With a wiimote you can have full control of an object in 3D space with one hand, your other hand can still move your character. Imagine an area where there is a large tunnel but no floor, you manipulate a platform which you control with the wiimote, your character runs onto the platform and you fly across the tunnel on this platform.  The tunnel has all sorts of twisted columns and strange paths to take that require the player to tilt or rotate the platform to fit into these space. In the mean time there are lazers (or whatever projectile fits) shooting at fake link so you need to be moving him as you move the platform. There will be moments where lets say this super blast is about to hit and the only way to shield link is to tilt the platform straight up so that the bottom is now shielding link as he is on the other side now vertically, you would need to hang on using a grab button. That is just what I came up with off the top of my head. All sorts of complex gameplay scenarios can be worked in using a wiimote control scheme, not to mention aiming is straight up better.

But NOOOOO everyone hates the wiimote so scrap all that. Instead it will have to be a more traditional combat system. Admittedly I have not though of it much, there are so many great combat systems to borrow from, there is no need to reinvent the wheel here, the other elements are more important in a game like this. So it could be a more grounded DMC like system, or the ever popular Arkham battle system. It will be good, it will be challenging, that is what matters.  Also since this is a fake zelda game the items you have will be required to be used against certain enemies. Some enemies will be puzzles of their own. Say there are these large shielded brutes. The shields are huge, hitting them from the front is basically impossible. So you use your hookshot to attach to the shield and yank it away exposing the enemy. That is a simple example, some enemies may require multiple items to be used in succession to expose their weak spots. Some even dynamically shift strategies during a fight. Use the hookshot strategy too much and the enemies will anticipate the hookshot to the shield trick, so when you shoot the hookshot the enemy lowers the shield and grabs the hookshot,  pulling you toward him for a big hit. To stop this from happening you smack it upside the head with a boomerang first, stunning it, then yanking the shield.

That is the level of dynamic combat I am looking for. It is not just skill based, though there will be many scrub enemies where the combat is straight focused on traditional combat. But I want a level of thinking required to deal with tougher adversaries, not just the boss battles. I also never want it to feel repetitive so using the same strategy on the same enemy will not always work. Those are the keys to the combat system.

All other controls will be traditional third person controls. And in this game fake link can JUMP. In fact platforming will be a far larger part than it is in any zelda game.

NPCs,questing and rewards

I would borrow heavily from the way Majora’s Mask handled NPCs as that game is the gold standard for NPC quests in any game.  But this game will not have time manipulation so it would have to be altered a bit. There will be no time based side quests, I hate the idea of being locked out of content. Every single NPC in the game world is unique, has a name, has a story and many of them have some small quest or interaction that leads to a reward of some sort. Your journal will have a section keeping track of every single NPC, it will make notes of any observations you see. Say you overhear a conversation between two women gossiping about the town whore seeing the rich married man, now your journal has information on those NPCs, it will state “town whore” seeing “Mr.Rich adulter”. The way I see it, it would be a chart of NPC faces with lines connecting NPCs who have relationships. Notes will tell you if there is an open “quest” related to that NPC.  So say you confront the wife of the rich dude, she may task you in getting evidence of her husband cheating on her, she would give you a reward for your efforts. Then you can stalk the rich guy and take pictures when he is with the whore. Or you can directly walk up to the husband, tell him of his wives plan and turn the tables, he probably can offer you more money.  I am not looking to make this game super violent or turn fake link into a murderer, so there is no option to kill the wife or bury a body. There is a limit to what this fake link will do.

So I want quests like that for most every character in game, if you played Majora’s Mask you kind of understand the kinds of situations you can create with a system like that. Quest lines like the couple that were to be married are the kinds of things you will experience. They all lead to some gameplay situation, a new cave to explore, a new puzzle to solve,etc. It will NEVER be “go here and kill 10 of that”.

Rewards for questing will range from simple stuff like money to upgrades for items to even NPCs that can join you in certain moments in the quest to aid you. Lets say you discover an ice cave while exploring, now this cave has these ice walls that are invulnerable to fire, there is no way in except you notice there are two switches that need to be pressed at the same time to enter. Hours late you enter an Eskimo village, you explore the town, do side quests and one of them so happens to be an explorer of knowledge of that kind of special wall. So you help him solve his problem whatever it is and now he will join you to explore that dungeon. The next time you reach the dungeon he will be there and you two open the door and go inside where there is a series of puzzles involving using two people to activate doors and traps, even fight enemies that may need to be distracted by the eskimo while you hit it from behind. At the end of the dungeon you get the ice rod, which is actually an optional item that lets you entire other caves and aids in combat as well.

Rewards need to mean something. It cant just be generic sword number 25 that you throw out. Every single item in this game has specific usage in the game world, to explore every nook and cranny every item will be needed to be found, every item upgraded to its max level. You will never find an item that you never use (unless you choose not too explore all parts of the world).  That is one thing Zelda games do so well, every item is important, they are not “gear” not things you find one better of and throw it away. But Zelda games have upgrades that are often unnecessary, like do I ever need to carry 50 bombs, no. Do I really need 4 health potions, no. Well in my game there will be a totally crazy dynamic difficulty system that is unlike anything done before which will make every reward matter.

Difficulty scaling and end game rewards.

Follow me on this one cause it may seem strange at first as it will make you rethink how difficulty is presented in games. In most every game you gain skills and abilities as the game goes on to make combat easier. In many games mainly RPGs the gear increases allow you to battle enemies who scale up with you or who could never be beaten before, that is good implementation of difficulty.

In Zelda games and other action adventure games the more you excel at the game the easier it gets. The more you explore the more upgrades for items you get, the more gear you find that allows you to take more damage and the more heart pieces you gain. But the game never gets harder, your reward for being great at the game is easy mode. That never made sense to me, I don’t want the game to get easier, I want to be able to use what I earn to good use.

So I would create a dynamic difficulty system that adjusts the game in various ways, it rewards high level play with new high level gameplay scenarios. Some items are optional to find like the ice rod I mentioned earlier, if you find that item the game adds enemies that now require the use of the ice rod to defeat. Enemies appear on fire requiring the rod to drop their shield. Get an upgrade for the bow that allows for quicker firing and the game adds more situations where there are multiple flying enemies that can be brought down with this new upgrade. Get better armor and longer health, the game throws tougher mixes of enemies at you, not to frustrate the player but to provide better battles consistently from start to finish.

I do not view it as the game getting harder the more extras you find, I see the new gameplay scenarios as a huge reward. Reward the players with enjoyable situations to play, that is so much better than being able to kill everyone in one hit.

The game will have standard difficulty modes as well, a super easy casual mode that will make puzzles super easy and battles a breeze. The normal mode will be what I normally describe. Once you beat the game you get the hard 2nd quest, I loved the first Zelda’s second quest so I am bringing it back. Same game world and story but locations of items, dungeons and enemies are remixed and made tougher.

Also I want a big reward for 100% the game. Once again most games give you something stupid that makes no sense. You mastered the game here is the ultimate weapon… Uhh I just mastered the game why would i need that? Instead once you get everything you gain access to a secret dungeon, the ultimate dungeon, making use of every single item and upgrade in the game. The toughest test in the entire game. Reward the player with actual game content not pointless items.

Dungeons, items, and puzzles

For the most part the formulas for Zelda dungeons are fine, the structure of them would be similar just more complex. Lets start with the more linear dungeon design we have been getting in the last few Zelda games. Dungeons used to be actual mazes with multiple paths and optional items to find. I want that back. Dungeons will not have a clear path, exploration and experimentation will be required to get through.

Puzzles will be more complex than the recent Zelda games which have been becoming more and more simple. A good puzzle  multiple steps, if you stay with the one step puzzles you are mostly doing a glorified switch puzzle. For instance many zelda games now have puzzles where all you do is use an item on an object and a door opens, that is a one step puzzle, not much thinking is required. A good puzzles would have you perform an action that creates a certain condition where an item can be used on an object, two step puzzle. The best ones are puzzles where the entire dungeon is a puzzle, for instance the infamous water temple. I want a whole game of two steps or more puzzles.

On top of traditional zelda items I want items that open up huge puzzle opportunity. Something like a portal device, it may need to be limited in some way as having portals in such a huge game could break it, would be a great dungeon item. My example would use magnetic boots and the hookshot you found in previous dungeons in a dungeon that you can manipulate with a new item. I wish I could draw what I am thinking like rag so bear with me here. Imagine a dungeon that takes place in a cube that has layers of smaller cubes in it. As you walk into the outer layer you notice that there are doorways and passages on the ceiling and the walls. As you proceed into the dungeon each layer has paths on all four sides of the cube as well.

Entering this dungeon you already have the magnetic boots and hookshot which allows you to attach yourself to the walls or ceiling. Use the hookshot to attach to the ceiling then activate the boots to stick to the ceiling the entire camera rotates and now you are walking on the ceiling. Still certain paths dont fit with the next layer, say a doorway leading into a wall, the cube needs to be rotated.  Once you reach the center you battle the mini boss and get the dungeon item which is a smaller cube which allows you to twist and turn the entire dungeon as you so choose.  The rest of the dungeon becomes figuring out how to orient the various layers to access the path that gets you the dungeon key and leads you to the boss.

An example of how this would work: We are in a room the middle of the dungeon. Above you is a doorway with two wood pillars clearly waiting to be lit to open the door. The right wall has an open wall but it is covered by a wall cause the outer layer is out of place. You use the cube item to adjust the outer layer to find an open path but it is still on the right wall so you need to find a way to attach yourself to that wall. There is a hookshot point on the left wall and it too has a hole for a doorway, so you attach to the left, activate your boots to stick to the floor, rotate the room twice so that the left wall is now on the right hole. Go through the now open doorway to a room with a flame at the center. You then need to work your way so you can line up a shot with your arrows to light them on fire and hit the two torches on the ceiling of the other room which will take some twists and turns of both rooms.  There will also be some advanced secrets in dungeons that you may miss, for instance in this dungeon there maybe a path you dont notice unless you rotate two layers at the same time and in the middle of them turning you may notice a path open for only a short moment. You would need to position yourself above the opening and release the magnetic boots at the right moment to fall into the secret room.

Enemies will make use of the dungeon mechanics and item as well. In this dungeon imagine statue like enemies that are attached to the ground which has a rotatable base which it uses to present a shielded side toward the player while it fires blasts at you. So rotating a layer is a simple way to get to a new position to hit the enemies weak spot. Well as the dungeons go on the enemy get smarter, rotate around and the statue will rotate on its base to continuously show you the shielded side. So now you can use a hookshot hold the statue in place as you rotate around it. But later there will be other enemies that will pull off the hooks you use to anchor the statue in place requiring you to dispatch of them first.

The boss will make use of every skill you learned in the dungeon. It will require rotating of the stage, using the boots to attach to various sides, using hookshot to anchor down the  boss and moving from wall to wall. It may include  other item uses as well. I haven’t thought of what the boss what look like but it would be tough and not strictly follow the three stage fight most  Zelda bosses follow. I want it to be a thinking mans Dark Souls boss fight.

That is just one example of a dungeon, I want them all to be as complex and have unique mechanics within. I would say there would be 10-12 main dungeons in the game with many smaller ones littered throughout the game world.

Crazy epic scenarios and mini games

I want this game to have gigantic epic in scale battles in between dungeons. Every Zelda game is just you alone, exploring a world and every once in a while getting into a scripted action sequence but they are very small in scale. It does not feel like the rest of the world is doing anything. Here I want a war to be going on between the kingdom and whatever forces of darkness is invading. I want fake link to be in the middle of some large scale battles. He would ride in on his horse, defend key points, lead troops into battles. It would play out like a strategy mini game all while using the games combat system.

But I want it to be crazier than that, lets say a dragon shows up and starts to torch your troops. So how do you take down the dragon, well depending the side quests you have beaten you may have many options. Perhaps you have your own flying giant eagle which you can ride up to the dragon to jump off and land on it so you can stab the creature. But you fall right off when you land on the dragon, if you could only magnetize your boots to stick to him. Well some of the armaments in the battle have large metal parts, you hook one and fly up in the air on the eagle, get close to the dragon and hook the metal to its scales. Now you can jump and land on the dragon allowing you to stick to it no matter what moves it does in the air. You can shoot at it with your bow, stab it, use bombs, whatever does the most damage. The dragon will do anything it can to get you off even slamming into the sides of mountains to get you off.  If you don’t have an eagle you can use huge dragon slaying arrows on the ground to bring the beast down. Or maybe you discovered a beast taming item in your adventures which allows you to tame the dragon and fly it yourself to burn down the enemy forces.

I want that level of unpredictability and “holy shit I can do what?!” moments throughout the game. So many games feel like they hold back. I can’t tell you how many games I play where I am thinking to myself “wouldn’t it be great if an giant enemy bursts through the wall right now”. I want the unexpected, there is nothing worse than a game that never surprises the player.

I am a huge fan of mini games, I think they should be required in any open world action adventure game. I have not really thought that much one what mini games I would include but there would be all kinds. Racing, aiming, platforming, puzzle solving mini games. Of course fishing. I want them to be deep and fun to play. I also would make use of dungeons that have been completed. Why waste that space, if you reenter a dungeon there is some form of time trial, or combat missions to get through. It could take smaller chunks of the dungeon and turn them into a skill based mini game with different tiers of rewards depending on how well you perform.

So there you have it, that is my vision for this epic game that will never happen. These examples are rough as I literally came up with them while taking a shower a few hours ago, it serves to give an example of what the game would be like. It is my dream game, it is what I hope every new Zelda is, or every new fantasy open world game becomes. To many games just focus on combat and not puzzles, or are too puzzle focused and don’t care about combat. Some games are too open without well designed areas, some games have well designed areas but are not that open. I want the best of all mixed into the ultimate action adventure game.

And because editing does not work on my browser I meant Gran Turismo 2, not GTA 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z804zPdM_2o

My dream game would be Endless Ocean but in a fantasy world with all sorts of mythical sea creatures. You would be a Merman/woman marine biologist charting the seas, life and geography. It would be a mostly peaceful game based on amazing discoveries and beauty. But you would have a trident to spear some sharks. In every other way it would play like Endless Ocean 2, but there would be DLC, new areas, creatures etc.

A new Chrono game.

That is all.

Justice League created by Rocksteady games. You can go all over the DC universe and switch between each Justice League member.

If the entire DC Universe is too big just have a game where each character has a different campaign in their respective city: Gotham for Batman, Star City for Green Arrow, Keystone and Central city for The Flash etc.