Comment on I just saw the Ocarina of Time Remake glimpse at Nintendo Direct 6.9.2026
Uruanna@lemmy.world 3 days agoThere’s a shit ton of “environmental storytelling” that Zelda games love to throw and never explain; OoT has plenty of that. Just any change to the Shadow Temple would send people wild. It’s always been hard to expect Nintendo to actually do anything about any of it because they never ever do, but this being a full remake similar to FF7 is giving a lot of hope.
petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 days ago
Oh, I’m fully aware.
This right here:
is what I mean by “Zelda doesn’t care about it’s plot.” Nintendo has almost always been more interested in gameplay first, and maybe experiential storytelling second. ‘Experiential’ being the kind that you, the player, tell along with Link, in the sense that ‘you’ literally are him.
Actually, I would relate Zelda’s environmental storytelling to the kind of beach seashell collecting that Miyamoto has always wanted Zelda to feel like, where it’s more about the feeling of discovery than it is the specific implications of it all. Not to say those implications are never taken seriously.
That said, I am salivating a bit at the thought of what they might be doing for the Forest Temple. That place has so much atmosphere, and atmosphere is something Zelda has always really, really well.
Uruanna@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Yeah, but the fact that Nintendo (can’t remember if it was Miyamoto orr Aonuma) lamented that younger TotK players didn’t know how important Rauru is, and this reveal that it’s not a 1 to 1 remake after all, is what’s sending the fandom into heavy hopium that this time, for sure, Nintendo will do what they’ve never done before and actually push the story. The tapestry presentation can certainly be read as supporting this expectation, too.
petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 days ago
Uh, Zelda’s always done the tapestry thing though, haven’t they? 'Cause they like being presented as old myths.
I do think it’s possible, though. I don’t want what I’m saying to be read as pessimism: Skyward Sword cared about its storyline kind of a lot, and while BotW and TotK don’t put it in your face all the time, I mean, they added voice actors. For the very first time, Zelda has voices.
And it’s not like OoT isn’t enamored with Hyrule’s dark past. If they’re going to expand on anything, it’ll almost certainly be that.
It’s worth waiting to see some actual gameplay, I think. I can’t really say what my expectations are because we haven’t even seen anything.
Uruanna@lemmy.world 3 days ago
I can only think of Wind Waker and BotW, also a bit of stained glass action in Minish Cap. Most of that was just for the intro, to set up the state of the world, and then nothing (beside the Calamity tapestry in BotW). I suppose this tapestry might be the same thing, it just reprises the opening narration from a voice that might turn out to be no one in particular.
Zelda games do have a story of course, but they always come up with new elements for the backstory that they then completely abandon. Very rough “pillars” have stuck, like the Goddesses, Sacred Realm, Hylia, but the actual world building elements to make a real kingdom beyond just basic fantasy setting, actual “historical” events like Majora, the Dark Interlopers, Lorule, the Minish - you’re lucky if you see it mentioned in the next Hyrule Historia. They make a new Zelda game, they come up with a new tribe and a new ancient power that becomes the new mechanic, and when the game is done, you never see that again. Maybe you see an Easter egg in Breath of the Wild, at most.
Most of OoT was almost entirely vibes though, no context for anything. The Forest Temple was literally made for Hyrule Castle material but then cut out and pasted into its own temple, and bam, new place with its own vibe and you’re free to come up with your own backstory - because Nintendo sure won’t do it.
But yeah, the brand new world redesign (entirely judging by Link’s bed being completely redone and not at all like the OG) makes me think we’ll see more about places like the Shadow and Forest Temples. Not sure they’ll put as much love to actually cement and explain the connection between OoT Rauru and TotK Rauru, actually expand the world’s history beyond just what we saw in the OG, but surely we’ll see a bigger castle town, more inhabited places in the overworld, all that with a bit more information on local cultures like the Sheikah, actually literally anything about the Hyrulean civil war and Ganondorf’s involvement, and so on and I’m huffing hopium again.