That Hypothetical Zelda Game
Entry posted by Zox Tomana
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Here's a semi-coherent storyline that I shouldn't be thinking about, but am and need to get it out of my head.
Open: Link and Zelda are far away from Hyrule in Labrynna for, diplomatic purposes. A dark force related to the ancient power of Veran has awoken in the land and the Mayor has asked for help from the Princess and the Hero. Just before they can meet with the Mayor, one of this epoch's Six Sages appears, gravely injured, to report that Ganondorf has (finally) given up on the idea of gathering the Triforce in order to subjugate Hyrule and more sensibly launched a full-scale military assault from the Gerudo Desert, the Gerudo tribe supplemented by the dark creatures that normally appear wherever Ganondorf happens to be. After sweeping across the country, the desert tribes have captured the Castle and eliminated all organized resistance to their reign, his last act being the execution of the other five Sages. Ganondorf now sits as King on the Hylian throne.
The Mayor of Labrynna, shocked at the news, immediately asks about the people. The dying Sage assures them that the people of Hyrule seem to be in no harm. As long as they submit, they go about their daily lives, albeit with a lot of Gerudo women around enforcing harsh laws. The Mayor continues that Zelda and Link must of course go back to Hyrule and set things aright, if it is even possible, but regrets that he cannot send any soldier of Labrynna along due to the power in the North. Here, the player could make a decision to skip part of the storyline and go back to Hyrule, leaving the Labrynnan's to themselves. If they choose to leave, scenes in the later parts of the game would indicate that there was a massacre in Labrynna, followed by the simple disappearance of Holodrum from the map. If the player chooses to help Labrynna, they will be helped back to and ashore in Hyrule by Labrynnan soldiers once they make the return trip there.
So the player helps Labrynna, but as they defeat this shadow of Veran, word comes that Holodrum has fallen under darkness. Holodrum is on the way back to Hyrule and the player can choose to either stop save this other land, or continue on to Hyrule. Choosing to continue on will cause you to hear later that Holodrum has vanished from the map and that the soldiers of Labrynna are on constant patrol to keep monsters emerging from the void out of their country's lands. Helping Holodrum will gain you help getting back into Hyrule and allow for the establishing of a military foothold on the coast of Hyrule that expands as you hit certain milestones in the game.
Labrynna would have the classic three opening training dungeons, and Holodrum would have six more. You wouldn't always gain an item from each dungeon, but instead get upgrades for the ones you have at that moment, maybe a new sword, a new shield. Items from these lands would be focused on basic combat and survival, the idea being to make things in Hyrule be a little easier.
Once back in Hyrule, however long it takes you to get there, you have four dungeons to crawl. The first three take you after the Three Spells (Din's Fire, Farore's Wind, Nayru's Love) and the fourth is your first attempt at Hyrule Castle. This is where you Holodrum and Labrynna friends come in handy: they attack the castle and make it easier for you to sneak in without you being noticed turning into a very bad situation very quickly. They can also lay claim to such places as Kakariko in order to protect the citizens there. But, no matter whether you help Holodrum or Labrynna, you only get so far in the Castle. As you approach the area of the Castle where Ganondorf is (throne room if you didn't help either country or only helped one country, an area of the battlements if you helped both) a dark figure appears and attacks you. This figure turns out to be creature created in Termina (you later find out) with the ability to do some Time manipulation. Acting without direction, it decides to not annihilate you, but throws you far into the future where Hyrule is ruled by a descendant of Ganondorf.
This Hyrule is a land whose development has been advanced somewhat. Still medieval on the surface, their weaponry and technology has been refined by a combination of Hylian and Gerudo thought, supplemented by darker magic. Castle Town has become Castle City, the old Castle now being a large fortress that dominates the place. Zelda and Link are captured by a resistance cell in the city and taken to a place on the coast as far away from the expanding Gerudo Desert as possible. When who they are comes to light, they learn that Ganondorf's time-creature has been used to solidify the rule of the Dark Kings ever since their attempt to bring down Ganondorf I, though now it destroys people instead of sending them to other parts of Time like it was rumored to have done to Link and Zelda. The resistance has finally learned of the creature's origin and how to either bring it under their control or to destroy it.
The duo are sent to Termina, which seems to be stopped in Time, though anyone who enters the zone from outside is unaffected (perhaps instead we explain their immunity to Zelda being the dormant Sage of Time?). There are the four dungeons of Termina as before, though as you beat each one in order to destroy the sources of the time-creature's power, the land becomes increasingly warped. By the time you get to the last dungeon, you have to deal with some areas being frozen (easy), active (medium), actually pieces of the far part (dangerous because the last dungeon would be Stone Tower, and the tribe possibly living there back then was possibly not peaceful). I think it would be neat if the last Termina boss was a possessed Majora, and your defeat of it allowed the tribe to seal the creature in a mask, setting up the events that created Majora's Mask. With Termina liberated, you return with the power to subdue the time-creature.
You first fight your way through to Hyrule Fortress, and then out to the lands of the Gerudo where you finally capture the creature. Zelda, only partly awake as the Sage of Time, is able to use the power of the creature to send herself and Link back to their proper time. So begins the last leg of the journey. First you have to get OUT of the land of the Gerudo, but you then go straight for Hyrule Castle. If there was a siege when you left, it has now expanded and the player is able to enter the castle directly. If not, the player has to get in a different way than the last path they took. No Time powers from Zelda as she wants to save her energy for the defeat of this present epoch's time-creature. They encounter is, and Zelda's part in the battle involves countering the creature's magical ability + some physical attacks, while Link's job is to both attack the creature and defeat enemies that try to interfere with Zelda's spellcasting.
Then ensues the final fight with Ganondorf and tadaaa, the day is saved.
The idea of ocean exploration would probably be opened up as a post-game reward with spare bosses out there to find. Also, a mechanic to allow you to replay dungeons and visit the other epoch and replay its dungeons could be unlocked where Zelda can use, say, a crystal taken from the time-creature on its defeat to let you "relive your experiences." If the player didn't help Holodrum or Labrynna earlier, they could take the time now, though Labrynna's dungeons would be expanded to six, and Holodrum would be a kind of Master Quest series of levels. In these lands, the "relive" power would expand to "experience what could have been" since there are two options for this area.
So, how does it sound now?
I really should be studying.
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