New Zelda on the block?

[barryween]

LOZ link to the future.

Yes links gets fire arms and motorcycle.

That was just an idea they had over at gamesradar. So dont believe that.

 

[barryween]

[

I like the idea of Steampunk LoZ. But I have another idea.

In this there would be voice actors, and Link would talk, but VERY little. He would mostly respond with one or two words, if nods and gestures don't express his meaning very well.

Spoiler

In my idea, Link and Ganondorf are friends at first. They grew up as childhood friends in the same village, where they fought with wooden swords, pretending to be like the great warriors of Hyrule's past. When the boys are 10, Ganon returns to his homeland to become King of the Gerudo. (Most of link's childhood will be gameplay in which you can play as both Link AND Ganon.
At the same time, Link becomes a Page under one of the Knights of Hyrule castle. It is then when he first meets Princess Zelda. She is a wild little girl, with a quiet distaste for the royal life, and wishes to see outside the court of her father, and meet the REAL people of Hyrule, not pompous overweight nobles who talk about nothing.
Two years later(12 yr old Link), Link is a Squire, and is given his own sword and shield. Princess Zelda, blossoming into womanhood, runs away from the castle, or attempts to. One night, when Link is returning sleepily to his room after a midnight trip to the bathroom (or castle kitchens or w/e) he hears a rustling and muffled squeals of frustration. He looks up one of the walls and sees Zelda caught on a decorative spike(because castles ALWAYS have
decorative spikes), by her dress, about 10 feet(3 meters) up in the air.
Link, being the kind, quiet boy he is offers his help. Zelda tells him to catch her as she slides out of her dress. Underneath her dress, she is wearing tight clothing, almost exactly what Sheik wears. He catches her, rather ungracefully, as she knocks him down on his ass as he catches her. Zelda thanks Link and asks him to come with her into Hyrule Field, and elaborates that he is not her bodyguard or anything, she doesn't need to be protected, she's just never been outside the castle before and needs someone to show her the way. Link accepts of course, having no other choice with her being the princess and all, and they begin to sneak past the guards (actual gameplay). Once they make it to the castle gate, they sneak through the town and reach Hyrule Field.
After that, it flashes to the Gerudo Plains, an arid grassland in which you play as Ganon, as he trains for the role he has to fulfill as King. In this section, Ganon slowly learns of the corruption that is the Hyrule government. A King and his nobility stuffing themselves while in the Gerudo Nation, his people have to travel to simply find water to grow food and live. As part of the Gerudo custom. Ganon must travel into the Ancient tomb(The first actual dungeon of the game, he already has a Gerudan blade, which looks something like a scimitar) of his ancestors to claim the Sword of Gerudon(the first Gerudo king), a relic that has been passed through generation of the Royal Family.
In said tomb, there are trials that test Ganon's wit, strength, and judgement, skills needed by a good leader. Once he reaches the room in which the sword stays, he is met by his father; and elderly but muscled Gerudo nearing the end of his life. Ganon says that he must claim the sword, but his father denies his request. And so, by Gerudo custom, Ganondorf must kill his father to become Gerudo King.(This would be a Boss Fight)
He defeats his father, who before he is killed, congratulates his son, says he is proud of him, and gives him some sound advice "Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it." Ganon slays his father and claims the Sword.
It then flashes to Link and Zelda sitting on top of a hill, Zelda thanking Link for helping her get outside. Then back to Ganon, placing his father's body to the grave prepared for him.
As he walks outside he sees a shooting star. Link and Zelda see the same star. They all three, with inner voices overlapping, make the same wish. I wish to be with you again.

Well? What do you think?

That is freaking sweet!

 

[Finnboghi]

1. Give all the characters voice actors. Including Link!
2. Make Ganon alot more evil! Kidnapping a single person over and over again isnt what I would call evil. He needs to start thinking bigger. Along the ways of becoming the next Napoleon Boneparte.
3. Make Zelda alot more atractive. I dont know a single real life person that finds Zelda attractive. If she actualy was as hot as Link thinks her to be it would be a great incentive to go and save her.
4. Make the game alot more mature. Give enemie's blood when you stab them. And instead of them falling to the ground and exploding into dust there bodies should just be left there, only until you leave the room though. Also, tits! Add tits! Im not saying they should put nudity in the game. But it would definately improve the experience if along the way Link was distracted from his adventure by some big-busted women. And things of the sort.
5. Quit being so dungeon reliant. Dungeons are fine here and there. But its boring when the main part of a game is nothing but dungeons.


6. Alternatively, I once heard a rumor that the next LoZ would be set in the future. I think thats a great idea! Giving Link a sword with electricity running down it to make it burning hot. Allowing the sword to cut through almost everything. Giving Link gadgets that acted like magic would be cool. Freezing time, or moving objects with the flick of a hand. It would all be awesome!

1. Voice acting would be great, but not for Link. There's something hilarious about how unintelligent he appears because he can't speak.
2. Yes. Some real violence, real danger real evil.
3. Possibly. Though that might make things a tad awkward.
4a) Blood would kick ass. Then again so would actually detaching limbs and such. I kind of like the exploding though, especially with the sword twirling of Twilight Princess. It's very satisfying when you get it just right.
4b) Did you never meet the bartender in Twilight Princess? She was pretty busty, if a tad creepy. But some more curvy girls would add some spice.
5. I'm pretty down with that. Dungeons can get repetitive after a while, and having an entire level before a level is arduous at times. Some more variety would definitely spice things up.
6. This was an April Fool's joke put on by IGN in 2006. Granted it did look cool. Especially with Epona being a wicked bike.

Also, Mookie Madness, that is the greatest Zelda plot ever.

 

[MrEco]

I like the idea of Steampunk LoZ. But I have another idea.

In this there would be voice actors, and Link would talk, but VERY little. He would mostly respond with one or two words, if nods and gestures don't express his meaning very well.

Spoiler

In my idea, Link and Ganondorf are friends at first. They grew up as childhood friends in the same village, where they fought with wooden swords, pretending to be like the great warriors of Hyrule's past. When the boys are 10, Ganon returns to his homeland to become King of the Gerudo. (Most of link's childhood will be gameplay in which you can play as both Link AND Ganon.
At the same time, Link becomes a Page under one of the Knights of Hyrule castle. It is then when he first meets Princess Zelda. She is a wild little girl, with a quiet distaste for the royal life, and wishes to see outside the court of her father, and meet the REAL people of Hyrule, not pompous overweight nobles who talk about nothing.
Two years later(12 yr old Link), Link is a Squire, and is given his own sword and shield. Princess Zelda, blossoming into womanhood, runs away from the castle, or attempts to. One night, when Link is returning sleepily to his room after a midnight trip to the bathroom (or castle kitchens or w/e) he hears a rustling and muffled squeals of frustration. He looks up one of the walls and sees Zelda caught on a decorative spike(because castles ALWAYS have decorative spikes), by her dress, about 10 feet(3 meters) up in the air.
Link, being the kind, quiet boy he is offers his help. Zelda tells him to catch her as she slides out of her dress. Underneath her dress, she is wearing tight clothing, almost exactly what Sheik wears. He catches her, rather ungracefully, as she knocks him down on his ass as he catches her. Zelda thanks Link and asks him to come with her into Hyrule Field, and elaborates that he is not her bodyguard or anything, she doesn't need to be protected, she's just never been outside the castle before and needs someone to show her the way. Link accepts of course, having no other choice with her being the princess and all, and they begin to sneak past the guards (actual gameplay). Once they make it to the castle gate, they sneak through the town and reach Hyrule Field.
After that, it flashes to the Gerudo Plains, an arid grassland in which you play as Ganon, as he trains for the role he has to fulfill as King. In this section, Ganon slowly learns of the corruption that is the Hyrule government. A King and his nobility stuffing themselves while in the Gerudo Nation, his people have to travel to simply find water to grow food and live. As part of the Gerudo custom. Ganon must travel into the Ancient tomb(The first actual dungeon of the game, he already has a Gerudan blade, which looks something like a scimitar) of his ancestors to claim the Sword of Gerudon(the first Gerudo king), a relic that has been passed through generation of the Royal Family.
In said tomb, there are trials that test Ganon's wit, strength, and judgement, skills needed by a good leader. Once he reaches the room in which the sword stays, he is met by his father; and elderly but muscled Gerudo nearing the end of his life. Ganon says that he must claim the sword, but his father denies his request. And so, by Gerudo custom, Ganondorf must kill his father to become Gerudo King.(This would be a Boss Fight)
He defeats his father, who before he is killed, congratulates his son, says he is proud of him, and gives him some sound advice "Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it." Ganon slays his father and claims the Sword.
It then flashes to Link and Zelda sitting on top of a hill, Zelda thanking Link for helping her get outside. Then back to Ganon, placing his father's body to the grave prepared for him.
As he walks outside he sees a shooting star. Link and Zelda see the same star. They all three, with inner voices overlapping, make the same wish. I wish to be with you again.

Well? What do you think?

F**KING SWEEEEET!!

 

[DreamKing]

I want to play a LoZ game where you only get to control Link during the last part of the game to kill Gannon. Who would you be playing as before that? TINGLE. Of course you'd get help from your trusty Navi.
Oh man.
This game would be so annoying, only I would play it.

They did. It's called Tingle's Rose Colored Rupee Land, or something similar. The premise of the game was to collect Rupees in the hopes of becoming a fairy. The game was never released outside Japan.

 

[Mookie_Magnus]

That is freaking sweet!

Wow, Thanks.

F**KING SWEEEEET!!

Seriously, Thank you. I had no idea I was so good at coming up with stuff like that. You guys have reaffirmed my writer's spark. I should probably copy that and save it on my computer.

View the post vvvv

Spoiler

In my idea, Link and Ganondorf are friends at first. They grew up as childhood friends in the same village, where they fought with wooden swords, pretending to be like the great warriors of Hyrule's past. When the boys are 10, Ganon returns to his homeland to become King of the Gerudo. (Most of link's childhood will be gameplay in which you can play as both Link AND Ganon.
At the same time, Link becomes a Page under one of the Knights of Hyrule castle. It is then when he first meets Princess Zelda. She is a wild little girl, with a quiet distaste for the royal life, and wishes to see outside the court of her father, and meet the REAL people of Hyrule, not pompous overweight nobles who talk about nothing.
Two years later (12 yr old Link), Link is a Squire, and is given his own sword and shield. Princess Zelda, blossoming into womanhood, runs away from the castle, or attempts to. One night, when Link is returning sleepily to his room after a midnight trip to the bathroom (or castle kitchens or w/e) he hears a rustling and muffled squeals of frustration. He looks up one of the walls and sees Zelda caught on a decorative spike (because castles ALWAYS have decorative spikes), by her dress, about 10 feet (3 meters) up in the air.
Link, being the kind, quiet boy he is offers his help. Zelda tells him to catch her as she slides out of her dress. Underneath her dress, she is wearing tight clothing, almost exactly what Sheik wears. He catches her, rather ungracefully, as she knocks him down on his ass as he catches her. Zelda thanks Link and asks him to come with her into Hyrule Field, and elaborates that he is not her bodyguard or anything, she doesn't need to be protected, she's just never been outside the castle before and needs someone to show her the way. Link accepts of course, having no other choice with her being the princess and all, and they begin to sneak past the guards (actual gameplay). Once they make it to the castle gate, they sneak through the town and reach Hyrule Field.
After that, it flashes to the Gerudo Plains, arid grassland in which you play as Ganon, as he trains for the role he has to fulfill as King. In this section, Ganon slowly learns of the corruption that is the Hyrule government. A King and his nobility stuffing themselves while in the Gerudo Nation, his people have to travel to simply find water to grow food and live. As part of the Gerudo custom, Ganon must travel into the Ancient tomb (The first actual dungeon of the game, he already has a Gerudan blade, which looks something like a scimitar) of his ancestors to claim the Sword of Gerudon (the first Gerudo king), a relic that has been passed through generation of the Royal Family.
In said tomb, there are trials that test Ganon's wit, strength, and judgment, skills needed by a good leader. Once he reaches the room in which the sword stays, he is met by his father; and elderly but muscled Gerudo nearing the end of his life. Ganon says that he must claim the sword, but his father denies his request. And so, by Gerudo custom, Ganondorf must kill his father to become Gerudo King.(This would be a Boss Fight)
He defeats his father, who before he is killed, congratulates his son, says he is proud of him, and gives him some sound advice "Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it." Ganon slays his father and claims the Sword.
It then flashes to Link and Zelda sitting on top of a hill, Zelda thanking Link for helping her get outside. Then back to Ganon, placing his father's body to the grave prepared for him.
As he walks outside he sees a shooting star. Link and Zelda see the same star. They all three, with inner voices overlapping, make the same wish. ?I wish to be with you again.?

 

[MrEco]

Look at changes made to thread's cover before posting!

 

[peachy_keen]

Tits aren't immature. They're mindless ways to attract an audience.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Eh, not sure the whole theme of them being 'childhood freinds' hasn't been done to death. No offense intended, it sounds more like the plot of a manga-drama. I like the idea of Hylian corruption, and Ganon killing his own father definatly though. I'd write my own but i'm lazy :\

 

[Ridley200]

*sigh* hows about this... It's called The LEGEND of Zelda for a reason, why don't they do like Majora's Mask, and have the LEGEND be Ocarina of Time. So that would make Link the (as seen in MM) hero of LEGEND and thus let him go do something else. Like save... the king or visicount of some other nation, hell even kill Ganondorf, but DON'T save anyone, just... stop him starting a war or something. It could even have a Zelda-type princess, but make her more like Elika in PoP, or a more frequent Shiek. (and with the elika reference, i don't mean make her a side-kick, but just... there more often to do random scripted event, like save Link with magic, then bugger off)
ALSO having Link get told in the opening movie, "You're the hero of everything, lol. Go save stuff" kinda gets rid of character development. Maybe have some LEGEND of a great hero (such as the OoT Link. different person, ala Wind Waker), and Link aspires to be him, along with probably many others, and hell have him fail a few times to shake his confidence. Then, at the end, triforce glows in his hand,
"blah blah courage, you weren't meant to be the hero, but deus ex machina said you should be, now go kill Ganon (who needs to be even bigger and more powerful then the end of OoT, coz frankly, TP was pussy ganon) with these pwnsome powers we bestow upon you (like Fierce Diety, but equivilant to what Ganon gets) for being a stand up chap who killed temple bosses and helped old ladies cross the street (side quests, ka-ching)"

That and extra stuff, like a more interesting map, doesn't have to be bigger, just, more things to do and use rupees for. Voice acting is a maybe, as long as Link remains mute. And in response to the tits idea... ... ... it's a maybe. As long as they don't turn Zelda character into some huge breasted bimbo. She still should be able to pass off being a dude...

 

[Mookie_Magnus]

Eh, not sure the whole theme of them being 'childhood freinds' hasn't been done to death. No offense intended, it sounds more like the plot of a manga-drama. I like the idea of Hylian corruption, and Ganon killing his own father definatly though. I'd write my own but i'm lazy :\

I appreciate the constructive criticism, but them being childhood friends made sense in my mind. Probably because I had other stuff in mind that extends my quick summary of the first part. In fact, that was just the Opening Sequence, before the really juicy stuff happens.

 

[Social Pariah]

A tremendously gory Zelda game would be awesome, but adding busty women would be the worst possible move. Ever.

 

[hopeneverdies]

An indie developer is planning to release a sequel to ph for free download on the wii. When its released if it all, its going to look really good. Plans to put voice acting on everyone except link, elements for weapons and armor and boots. Coop play with Tetra where you can switch between the two. An expanded hidden skill list with some really cool ones. The wind waker makes a return. From what it sounds like and what ive read its almost like a better Majoras Mask, minus the time limit.
Here's the link (hee hee) http://www.forgottenphoenix.envy.nu

 

[K_Dub]

1. Everyone talks, except Link (God knows that'd be awful)
2. More quests for the open-world map. The formula of going from Point A to Point B is gettin' kinda old.
3. No more of the Link getting some kind of special power thing. How 'bout a straight up quest where Link is just tryin' to save Zelda? No masks or wolf transformations. Just a rescue.
4. Make Ganon more bad-ass. A Ganon that isn't afraid to choke a *****. Let's see him slaughter several guards in a single motion!
5. How about a story that revolves more around the Triforce. In Ocarina of Time we were told that the Triforce is some kind of epic, cosmic power. So let's take advantage of that epic, cosmic power and make a story around it! Don't just use the symbol as some kind of tattoo.
6. Keep the clever gadgets and dungeons. That part of the formula works. It's what make a Zelda game a Zelda game.
7. If the Triforce is gonna come in play some how, how about some epic, grand-scale battles? Twilight Princess had the right idea with the final boss battle. Why not work with that?
8. As far as the story goes, why not mix it up? Link is one of the guards for the royal Hyrule family. One day, Ganon busts down the doors just ragdollin' anyone that stands up to him. Link meets up with Ganon, they have a one-on-one duel and seem fairly matched until Ganon jumps back, holds a blade to Zelda's neck, and threatens to crush Link's best friend's head with his foot unless Link does what he says. And so, Link goes on some adventure searchin' for whatever Ganon wants him to find. Blah Blah Blah Triforce Blah Blah Antient Society Blah Blah Blah.
9. Just for shits and giggles, Tingle is Ganon's right hand man. I dunno, brain fart.
(EDIT)
10. Shit, forgot something. Emotions. I wanna see Link with emotions, not just standing there with that blank smile. I wanna see him punch a wall in frustration, laugh at a joke or when someone does something stupid. Maybe even cry if the moment is right.

 

[Neflame]

Hmm... Being the LoZ fan that I am, part of me cannot ignore this thread.

Anyway....

Personally, I find Ganon to be a perfectly acceptable villain the way he is. He's the more conservative bad guy rather than on the overly evil level of baddies like, say Sauron. Ganon's method of being evil is a more rational one: take over and instigate a new regime by making certain adjustments. Things like higher taxes, a more involved military presence, etc are more Ganon's line than the usual "murder the crap out of villagers for no apparent reason" thing. I always like to think that he's building to a more sinister plot that never gets realized because Link keeps killing him.

And if there are any Nintendo employees reading this, I beg you to read closely here: MOVE ON. We've been timelocked in the same era of Hyrule for too long! Make the next one take place AFTER Zelda 2. Introduce a new baddie, hell maybe even a brand new version of Link. You know what? Make him a pirate. Not like the Phantom Hourglass pirates, no, a proper pirate. Or at least something to break the usual mold.

Oh, one more thing: The games need wenches. More tavern wenches, hell more taverns in general. Yea, more taverns and more chesty wenches. Just to add more to the medieval fantasy of the series.

And yes, more voice acting. Hell, proper voice acting would be a good place to start. Except with Link. Leave him a mute.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Sonic has always basically been on rails.

Wha.... what?? The only "real" Sonic game that came close to being on rails was Sonic 3. Go back and play S1, S2, S&K, and SCD and tell me that these games are on rails and are all about speed (ignore SCD for the latter). Those games were full of multiple paths and puzzles.

This pisses me off to no end when all the reviewers keep saying "Oh, Sonic is basically all about speed and going really fast." This can be seen the best in the reviews of Sonic Unleashed where they praised the day time levels as being Classic Sonic (TM). No, no they weren't. They were on-rails blinding rollercoasters. There wasn't a single part of that game that was Classic Sonic (TM).

look, sonic was as on rails as most other 2d platformers. you moved mostly in one direction, and the entire idea was that the game was at it's most fun when you were going really fast.

All platformers were basically on rails. sure, there might have been multiple paths and the occasional puzzle, but at the end of the day they all got you to the same place, only some routes were faster or harder than others. Mario has always had exploration elements, rewarding you with different level exits and fun challenges in return for willingness to explore. This is why the mario formula works in full 3d, while the sonic formula doesn't. The sonic series is not so much branching paths as it is about a whole bunch of intertwining routes that you choose based on which will get you to the end quickest. the 3d equivalent of this would be Secret rings.

sonic unleashed was not like this, primarily because it exchanged the reflex based platforming of classic sonic (tm) with the trial and error pattern memorization of an arcade title that wants to milk you for quarters. Just because it's 2d doesn't mean it's what fans want.

damn that was off topic. sorry.

I like the idea of Steampunk LoZ. But I have another idea.

In this there would be voice actors, and Link would talk, but VERY little. He would mostly respond with one or two words, if nods and gestures don't express his meaning very well.

Spoiler

In my idea, Link and Ganondorf are friends at first. They grew up as childhood friends in the same village, where they fought with wooden swords, pretending to be like the great warriors of Hyrule's past. When the boys are 10, Ganon returns to his homeland to become King of the Gerudo. (Most of link's childhood will be gameplay in which you can play as both Link AND Ganon.
At the same time, Link becomes a Page under one of the Knights of Hyrule castle. It is then when he first meets Princess Zelda. She is a wild little girl, with a quiet distaste for the royal life, and wishes to see outside the court of her father, and meet the REAL people of Hyrule, not pompous overweight nobles who talk about nothing.
Two years later(12 yr old Link), Link is a Squire, and is given his own sword and shield. Princess Zelda, blossoming into womanhood, runs away from the castle, or attempts to. One night, when Link is returning sleepily to his room after a midnight trip to the bathroom (or castle kitchens or w/e) he hears a rustling and muffled squeals of frustration. He looks up one of the walls and sees Zelda caught on a decorative spike(because castles ALWAYS have decorative spikes), by her dress, about 10 feet(3 meters) up in the air.
Link, being the kind, quiet boy he is offers his help. Zelda tells him to catch her as she slides out of her dress. Underneath her dress, she is wearing tight clothing, almost exactly what Sheik wears. He catches her, rather ungracefully, as she knocks him down on his ass as he catches her. Zelda thanks Link and asks him to come with her into Hyrule Field, and elaborates that he is not her bodyguard or anything, she doesn't need to be protected, she's just never been outside the castle before and needs someone to show her the way. Link accepts of course, having no other choice with her being the princess and all, and they begin to sneak past the guards (actual gameplay). Once they make it to the castle gate, they sneak through the town and reach Hyrule Field.
After that, it flashes to the Gerudo Plains, an arid grassland in which you play as Ganon, as he trains for the role he has to fulfill as King. In this section, Ganon slowly learns of the corruption that is the Hyrule government. A King and his nobility stuffing themselves while in the Gerudo Nation, his people have to travel to simply find water to grow food and live. As part of the Gerudo custom. Ganon must travel into the Ancient tomb(The first actual dungeon of the game, he already has a Gerudan blade, which looks something like a scimitar) of his ancestors to claim the Sword of Gerudon(the first Gerudo king), a relic that has been passed through generation of the Royal Family.
In said tomb, there are trials that test Ganon's wit, strength, and judgement, skills needed by a good leader. Once he reaches the room in which the sword stays, he is met by his father; and elderly but muscled Gerudo nearing the end of his life. Ganon says that he must claim the sword, but his father denies his request. And so, by Gerudo custom, Ganondorf must kill his father to become Gerudo King.(This would be a Boss Fight)
He defeats his father, who before he is killed, congratulates his son, says he is proud of him, and gives him some sound advice "Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it." Ganon slays his father and claims the Sword.
It then flashes to Link and Zelda sitting on top of a hill, Zelda thanking Link for helping her get outside. Then back to Ganon, placing his father's body to the grave prepared for him.
As he walks outside he sees a shooting star. Link and Zelda see the same star. They all three, with inner voices overlapping, make the same wish. I wish to be with you again.

Well? What do you think?

that... actually sounds like a fairly interesting plot. little bit along the lines of a fanfiction, but it could be potentially workable.

I actually gave the whole future zelda thing a bit of thought, and I came up with a scenario where it could feasibly work. (no laser swords or any of that bullshit for link though, a bit steampunk, but nothing horrifically jarring.)

Spoiler

The game would open with an epic battle between the hyrulian army, comprising all of the various hyrulian races and commanded by princess zelda, and Gannondorf's moblin militia. As the two armies clash in the plains, link and gannondorf square off in front of the castle gates. They charge forward and their swords clash. As they both leap back, the game transitions seamlessly from cutscene to gameplay (and the game's first boss fight).
After the player defeats Gannondorf, the villain sinks to his knees, apparently slain. Link then casts out twelve clearly magical stones, which float magically around gannon in a circle. The stones then glow brightly, and form a generic seal of light, trapping gannon. Link lunges forward to deliver the finishing blow, through the head windwaker style, but gannon suddenly flashes an evil grin, and there is a sudden flash of bright red light. link is frozen in midair as tendrils of dark crimson energy spiral upwards and encase the lower half of his body. The tendrils then turn slowly to stone, as does the rest of link's body. The stones then fall to the ground, and Gannondorf rises to his feet, laughing maliciously. This is shown from link's view in first person perspective, as blackness slowly encroaches on his vision from all sides.
Various snippets of action flash on the screen after the fade to black, showing the hyllian army being beaten back, moblins storming hyrule castle, Zelda locked in a dark room, crying, and gannondorf using the twelve stones to get his hands on a very familiar triangular artifact.
The screen then cuts back to the statue of link, and shows a time lapse style scene of the rubble from the battle being cleared away, then the borders of the town being extended past the statue, and, finally the town being modernized. When the town reaches the level of the late industrial revolution, the time lapse stops, and the words "120 years later" appear onscreen.
Seams of red light then begin to appear on the statue, until it finally breaks open, and link drops to the ground. He gets up and dusts himself off, then looks around dazedly, clearly bewildered by the (relatively) advanced civilization that has sprung up around him.
Suddenly, a girl lets out a scream in a nearby alleyway. Link, being the helpful, heroic guy that he is, rushes over to investigate and help. When he arrives on the scene, he discovers a beautiful, blonde, dark skinned girl, dressed in garb not ulike that of the sheika, being attacked by a group of bokoblins decked out in armor that looks suspiciously like that worn by hyrulian soldiers. The player once again takes over to fight them and defeats them handilly (assuming he/she doesn't suck at zelda). The girl thanks link profusely for helping her, and asks if link would be willing to help her get out of town. link then makes his way through the back alleys of the town, occasionally fighting moblin guards and solving basic puzzles. This segment serves as the tutorial for the game.
After link gets through the town gate, however, he finds himself surrounded by a large mob of Moblins. Just as things look their bleakest, the moblins all drop into a deep bow, and you hear footsteps coming from behind Link. The mysterious, though obviously very important man coming through the gates then speaks.
"There you are. You had your dear mother worried sick, you know. This is no way for a princess to behave. And you! How dare you aid my daughter in her troublemaking. I should have you put to death for your insolence, now turn and face me."
Link twirls to face the man, and is shocked to find himself facing Gannondorf, dressed in kingly robes and a crown. Gannondorf also has a shocked look on his face.
"You? This can't be right. I thought that when I encased you in stone it would have broken the cycle..."
Link stares at him menacingly, while Gannondorf stands there calmly, thinking. After a long silence, Gannondorf again speaks.
"I suppose I should have expected this... Take the princess to her room, and bring the boy to my quarters. I want to speak to him in private."
The moblins drag the two off towards the castle. Cut to Link in the throne room, facing gannondorf, who is sitting on the throne, with a very depressed and inexplicably young looking zelda in the throne next to him.
"I think by now you've figured out what's happened in your absense. I won the battle those many years ago, and took the lovely princess as my bride. I then obtained the triforce, and with it's power have become immortal, as has Zelda."
Link glares at him angrily.
"It's understandable that you are angry, boy, but know that I had reason to do what I did to you. You see, before the last battle, I discovered a disturbing truth about the two of us. You see, since ancient times, we have been locked in an endless cycle of reincarnation, destined to battle again and again for the fate of hyrule, with the outcome the same every time. I realized that if you were to be kept alive, but unable to fight against me, that the cycle could be broken. So I used magic from an ancient civilization to encase you in stone, and freed us both from the chains of destiny."
Link is taken aback by this news, and some of the anger leaves his face.
"Link, for the first time in the many thousands of years we have fought, I'm offering you a way out. Submit to me, become my knight, and you shall be forever freed of the cycle that has trapped you since the dawn of time. I'll even give you the hand of my daughter, Tetra."
Link shakes his head defiantly. Gannondorf slams his fists on the arms of his throne and shouts.
"You really have no other choice, boy. I've already won, you see, the kingdom is mine. This is your last chance. Join me, or be cast back into stone, this time for eternity."
Link thinks for a moment, then reluctantly nods his head. Gannondorf smiles.
"Very good, I knew you'd see it my way. Everybody does eventually," he turns to zelda, "isn't that right, sweety."
She doesn't respond, but her face contorts into a grimace, as though she is remembering a really terrible memory.

gannondorf then goes on to explain that the remarkable advancements made in the 120 years since link was turned to stone are based on the technology of an ancient civilization, excavated from ruins strewn about hyrule. Noting that link seems to be extremely good at getting through dungeons, he tells link that his duties as a knight will be to go to the depths of the ruins and find all of the lost technology from the ancient civilization.

From this point on, link is sent to various dungeons throughout hyrule, which he clears in classic zelda style. A few of the dungeon tools would be steampunk in design, but it would mostly be classic magical zelda fare. Each dungeon is in an area that will be familiar to fans of the series, such as the zora river or death mountain, but all of them have been hit in a bad way by gannondorf's expansion. As link delves into the dugeons, however, he discovers that each one contains one of the magic stones, and that by touching them he can be sent back in time, temporarilly, to the event that ruined each area. He can then change the course of history, to only his knowledge, thus improving each area upon his return and allowing him to fight back secretly against Gannondorf.
Over the course of links adventures it is revealed that the phenomena in hyrule that people thought to be magic is in fact the most advanced technology of the ancient civilization, who were the ancestors to all the people of hyrule, and that the supposed godesses of the hyrulian religion are in fact extremely advanced AI implanted in the sacred realm, which was in fact a supercomputer. Each of the three pieces of the triforce served as an access terminal for the sacred realm, and the three pieces were each held by the ancient incarnations of gannondorf, link, and zelda respectively. It is then revealed that some crazy love triangle shit went down between them, and that they were all killed when gannondorf went into a jealous rage and tried to take over the world to compensate. Because the three triforce terminals were designed to keep their guardians immortal, when they died their brainwaves were stored in the sacred realm. Every hundred years or so their brainwaves are sent out as pulses, and three unlucky hyrulian kids (who are going to be born into conditions similar to the childhoods experienced by the original 3) are transformed in the womb into reincarnations of link, zelda, and gannondorf.

anyhow, link goes on for a while like that, going into dungeons and slowly fixing the past, while getting more exposition about his fucked up destiny, until his eleventh fix allows a massive resistance movement to be formed. Because gannondorf was present at the event that prevented this in the past, he becomes aware of what link has been doing. When link returns to the castle he is immediately thrown into the dungeon, where he discovers that the final stone is hidden somewhere in the castle. Tetra then comes down to rescue him, and they escape the castle together through the sewers. It is at this point that link and the player are faced with a choice. Link can rally the resistance, head back into the castle, defeat gannondorf, claim the last stone, and set things right once and for all. However, by doing this, he will erase Tetra, whom he has fallen for, from existance. Because of this, Link has the alternate option of going back to Gannondorf's side and helping him destroy the resistance once and for all.

well, what do you think? I realize zelda in a future setting could potentially be very bad, but this would definately shake up the established formula without totally changing it.

Lol ... it sounds like that Awful... awfule ... god awful Jackie Chan/Jet Li movie 'The Forbidden Kingdom" .... in fact ... exactly like it X.x

I thought you were going for originality? <.<

Why not a continuation of the Twilight Princess storyline, much like how Zelda 2 followed on from the Original back on the nes .. Ganon's dead.

Because he's been fucking around with the dimensions has created temporal rifts. An outside enemy force comes to invade Hyrule, believing the nation is planning to use some sort of weapon against them.

So .. lets call them ... Thaneks <.< I know .. shitty name ... but that's unimportant.

These Thaneks (actually scratch that .. it reminds me too much like Daleks <.<) Thanecians ... there we go ... The Thanecian Expeditionary Force sends out a belligerent enemy force to Hyrule (albeit morally decent people, but believe that Hyrule is up to no good ...) ...

Thus Link must battle the Thanecian Army as well as repair the temporal shifts that ganon created ...

The problem is as he closes these shifts, and wipes out Thanecian expansionists ... he realises that one of Ganon's old buddied back when he was alive (like his Cabinet Minister or some bullshit like that) wants to bring him back from the dead via changing past event .. and he is also the cause of the Thanecians thinking that Hyrule is a bad egg, in hopes that by them invading Hyrule ... he can secretly formulate his plans and keep Link and the Hylian guard busy.

Eventually the two exhausted Hylian and Thanecian armies unite to destroy Ganon's buddy's - army of mercenaries ...

And Link has to go through the last Space-Time rift portal inorder to chase down Ganon's old buddy ... (gah ... Im sick of saying all that ... lets just call him .... Fred.... okay I'm bad at names <.<)

So Link slays Fred ... only to realise he's 20 years in the past and Ganon is alerted to what happens to him in the future by Fred, thus seeks out to kill Link's Family in order so that it may never happen.

Link .. defeats the young ganon driving him off ... but as he flees Ganon launches an arrow at Link's father in which Link dives in the way of and is mortally struck down .... Link dies and is buried .... and his father and mother eventually die of grief anyways (explains why Link has no family) ....

And Baby Link is given to a shepherd who raises him .. yadda yadda yadda which links with the start of Twilight Princess basically <.<

 

[Dommyboy]

Majora's mask is nowhere like Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess.

I found it to be the darkest of all the Zelda games but it was still really good.