This all the way!

These are two wildly different approaches and should not be crossed IMO. I love both franchises but that does not mean I want them to end up being the same thing.

Other games have done the same and had a continuing story, just look at Half-Life.

Also, I'm not sure how the addition of voiced dialog would make less memorable characters, considering all the dialog from OoT is just a jumbled mess in my memory right now.

But then I'm an auditory and kinesthetic learner, so that may have something to do with it. :shrug:

You're missing the point. The Hero of Time isn't the same person in any sort of similar time over multiple games. Half-Life is set within a certain time frame and based around the same events, The Legend of Zelda is not.

That doesn't matter? Because they could change it.

Which would change the whole point of the Legend of Zelda so much that it may as well be a new game, and not a Zelda game. I'm all for interesting gameplay, but the Hero of Time and Link(s) is what makes it Zelda. Then you get Darksiders, which is fun but pales in comparison to LoZ. I don't know what the appeal is of taking a series that is about telling stories, with a common thread and trying to turn it into Mass Effect or something.

Because every game tells almost the exact same story with few variations?

Sounds like countless other popular game series. Not to mention Zelda had never really had much of a story to begin with, it's not a strong selling point for the series. The games share a general premise, which can be said for so many games it's not even funny.


Dungeons and the overworld, which are the meat of the Zelda experience, are different from game to game. Majora's Mask was set in the parallel Termina, with a three day cycle that changed things up quite a bit. Wind Waker's overworld was in stark contrast to the Hyrule Fields of most other games. Twilight Princess boasted the most involved story of the series, as well as combat on horseback and the ability to transform into wolf form. Skyward Sword introduces an even more in-depth story (which, being a prequel, is directly connected to Ocarina of Time) than TP, Skyloft (and flight) and 1:1 swordplay.

I just don't see how Zelda is the "same game every time" much more than most other games out there, even titles that aren't part of the same series. It's all been done to death, we're playing essentially the same thing every time. The only thing that Zelda is doing differently is using the character and location names. Nintendo has dropped the ball on a great many things the past few years, but they receive far too much criticism for "rehashing" their games.