In case anyone was wondering if Breath of the Wild was a one-off experiment...

Aonuma States That Open World Zelda Will Be The Standard From Now

(I'm at work so i can't read it right now...)

@Zero

Sounds like BotW is the new standard! Outside of the inevitable 6-year dev cycle, I can't complain about that, although I do hope we get the occasional top-down Zelda as well.

@TriforceBun

I would be fine with a sequel that used largely the same assets (majors' mask style), but has more interesting and involved side quests and more to chew on for the main quest. And add plenty of new enemies and a new kind of destination to seek out so things feel less predictable.

Yeah, I'm hoping they reuse assets and stuff from this game and make a sequel within less than 5-6 years. The comment Zero linked to is just a tweet to one quick question so I don't know what else they said on the subject (I also feel like they said the same thing after Link Between Worlds, or maybe it's just what I figured), but I hope they're still going to experiment with the formula and try different things. I'm personally hoping for a 3D game modeled after Zelda 1.

On the subject of enemies to add, I think it'd be funny if they added Like-Likes and they could eat weapons in addition to shields. That would probably tick people off though...!

@Zero

Good.

@Mop it up

I would definitely welcome more enemy varieties besides standard centaurs, pig guys, bats, wizards, and blobs. Like-Likes would be great.

The potential for more Zelda 1 enemies is high. Ghoma, Dodongo, any dragon enemy... those would be welcome additions. Heck, even Zelda 2 enemies would be cool.

Yeah they could TOTALLY reuse assets to create a new game quicker, although it'd still take a ton of work.

I wonder if I'd even want two Zelda games this huge per generation though. HMM. Ask me again in a year or two.

Oh, I feel totally the opposite as you guys. Making Breath of the Wild 2 would make this one feel way less special. I want them to take another 6 years and do something weird.

@Secret_Tunnel I agree. Hold us over with an extensive DLC expansion for BOTW in a year or two. Just give us some new enemies and quests and gear and stuff. Fill out the parts of the map that right now just have Korok seeds to reward players. Make it worthwhile to trek across this Hyrule again and I'll gladly pay $30-40. Then give us the next giant open-world Zelda at the end of the generation, and have minimal overlap between it and BOTW in terms of assets. And why not give it a dual release alongside Switch 2? Worked out pretty well for Switch.

And if we get a nice little Link Between Worlds-esque top-down game in between, you won't hear me complain.

@Secret_Tunnel Reusing assets doesn't mean Breath of the Wild 2. See: Majora's Mask.

I'm at the end of the game now and just about ready to take on Ganon. By my count, I think I have 112-116 shrines. Can't recall how many Korok Seeds I've found, but the only things I can expand still are my weapon slots. I have no side-quests or shrine quests left in my queue. I know of a shrine in the Gerudo region, something to do with sand seal racing, but other than that I have NO IDEA what else I've missed. I've further explored some regions I didn't spend much time in before, and re-wandered around shrine-void regions of my map. Nothing. I suppose I should redo my count after I get the one I know of, but not sure what the best way to track down these last stragglers. Any suggestions?

@Zero

I hope that's a general statement moreso than 'Zelda will be exactly like this from now on'. I'd hate to think this means the new-style dungeons stay put. Or that we can't get a little bit more progression structure back into the game.

I still think a BotW/OoT hybrid would go down a treat. Ignore what Kris says.

@autokymatic

Have you got all of Kass's shrines? There's a diary that gives you all of his locations.

Eh, I don't really see any need for them to re-invent the wheel again with the next Zelda game, especially since I see plenty of room for improving/refining what they've achieved with BotW. I say keep the engine/art-style/gameplay/etc. in tact for at least another game, and focus on the content side of things and go crazy with it. I'd rather have another Zelda game in ~3 years that further exercises the potential that this type of 3D Zelda game can offer.

@autokymatic

The last 4 or 5 took me quite a while to find. I was sure I'd find one in a certain region that I didn't explore a ton of, and also had plenty of empty space on the map, but there wasn't one there as it turned out. Just keep trying...you'll come across them eventually.

@Shadowlink

The thing for me is, it's clear where most of the development focus of BotW was and what got the most attention. I feel like a sequel with an increased emphasis on storytelling, quest design, dungeons and world-building -- while sticking with BotW's open-world framework and rules set -- could not only be better than BotW, but a lot better. That potential has me really excited for the series going forward, because BotW was the shot-in-the-arm it really needed and there's a lot there to build off of.

@Shadowlink

Here's what I'm willing to say: I'm down for 2 or 3 optional long-form, underground dungeons incorporated into a similarly sized overworld in the next game. Moreso if it's one that reuses assets from BotW.

If, for instance, the only way to get the Hylian Shield was to go through a standard dungeon and fight a unique boss, I think that would be a pretty cool addition to the game. You don't have to have that shield, but it'd be a good prize for completing a dungeon like that. Maybe you could include that whirlwind boomerang or something in the other dungeon. Something useful but not required.

What I wouldn't want to see is a significant reduction in the size of the overworld to accommodate a bunch of required dungeons. At that point, we might as well just go back to the OoT formula again.

@Zero
Damn.

Well please include Dungeons IN the overworld while you're at it. Pleeeeeease.

More music.

Underwater.

Then you'll really have the perfect perfect Zelda game. BOTW is damn close though!

@kriswright

IGNORE!

No I wouldn't be arguing for a significant reduction in overworld size either. It's nice and meaty, and I don't want to lose that. I think we just quibble a little on what to fill it with and how to progress.

@Shadowlink

Yeah. I think we have slightly different ideas about how we measure story progress - and you clearly like dungeons more than I do - but we both like Zelda games of both OoT and BotW varieties. So anything on the spectrum between those two will probably still be a game we'd both like. I think I'd just favor something slightly closer to BotW, as it is, than you would. But that's no big deal.

A Majora's Mask type sequel could be one of my favorite games EVER. It'd need the emotion of that game though.

The thing I really miss and I think could be taken to the next level with shrine quests is back when every Zelda had some "gimmick", like time manipulation or the light / dark world, etc.

Hmm, maybe one of the new powers could be some time-related thing that moves certain items / areas / etc. in time. Hey we need to get to that thing deep under water *goes back in time to when there was no lake here* I dunno, something that would play out like the light / dark or time stuff in LTTP, OOT / Majora's Mask, etc. those always had the coolest puzzles designed around their gimmicks.

No way could they do that for an entire BOTW-sized world though. It'd have to have limitations I guess.

@kriswright

BTW, (not pushing!) have you had a chance to think about giving Majora's Mask a crack yet?

The time mechanic takes a bit to wrap your head around, but in terms of world structure I'd be interested to see what you think. The overworld 'dungeon leadup' (so to speak) is quite strong.

@Shadowlink

It's weird. I'm very close to retiring from gaming altogether. Seriously. But one thing I did think about was picking up the remake of Majoras Mask, first, since I'm still interested in it and would like to fill that gap in my Zelda knowledge.

Maybe I will.