@posh said:

I mean, I agree that FPS is basically a case of punctuated equilibrium, where there is little significant change for extended periods, then something comes along and changes the whole paradigm, then it's back to everything copying that for a while. DOOM then a bunch of DOOM clones, Quake then a bunch of Quake clones, Half-Life 1 and 2 were harder to clone but people did it to an extent, or at least everybody was making singleplayer FPSs with a story and more realistic environment for a bit. Halo was the template for console shooters in a lot of ways, until Modern Warfare replaced it.

But I think Zelda as a series is just as stagnant as FPS as a genre and character action as a genre. And even worse, while FPS can't really apply lessons from other genres very well to itself, Zelda could be taking improvements from other games within the fantasy action adventure thing genre (Dark Souls, Darksiders, Okami, etc.), but kinda isn't.

I thought Twilight Princess felt like a rehash of several elements from earlier games, but aside from that I completely agree. I didn't love Skyward Sword but I thought it was pretty solid and felt different from earlier titles.

Agree with you. Even though Skyward Sword failed to meet my expectations when I first tried to play it in 2011 (both my standards being to high and parts of the game being absolute shit). Now that I know what to expect, I'm enjoying it way more, except the desert because fuck that place.

A new zelda game every few years is perfectly fine, if it was every year I would be annoyed.

This

And this

Yeah I dunno. There's more innovation from one zelda to the next than most long-running franchises I can think of.

I think Nintendo milks all their series equally so I don't think anyone should get singled out. Though the Mario character gets milked the most due to him being everywhere. As for Zelda specifically it's hard to say. With the Exception of Links Awakening DX for my gameboy colour and Twilight Princess I have never enjoyed a Zelda game. So I'm looking forward to seeing this new 3DS game if it will bring that enjoyment back for me.

I just have console fatigue. I love Zelda but I'm tired of my limited choice of controls. If they ever start making Zelda for PC, I'll buy them all and catch up on the Zelda games I haven't been able to play yet.

The method of traversal and the gadgets may change, but the overall formula hasn't changed at all since OoT. It'd be like watching a series of films where the set pieces and actors change, but the plot is exactly the same every time.

one thing you have to consider is the type of people who post here, most of which are likely passionate gamers who have likely played a lot of game by the time they join the forum. Most people get tired of the same formulas once they've seen them a few times. It's easy to mix up your own feelings for what you believe a series is doing.

Zelda has definitely lost its' freshness to me, but I've been playing the series for two decades and I've played probably over a 1000 different video games in my life. I'm not sure any game series wouldn't lose some of its' appeal me over that time period. If I were just starting out gaming, I'm sure I'd think Zelda is pretty dang great because it still is. Where once it might have been a 5/5 series every iteration, I don't think objectively it's any worse than a 4/5 now. The competition however for it is much better than used to be which I think makes it feel "less special" than it used to if you know what I mean.

@slag:

I like my ATHF reference better :P.