More About Zelda: Skyward Sword

[mark_asphodel]

My most excellent spouse said last night that one of the reasons he loves the Zelda series is because it sends the message that humanity is fucked.

He was quite serious; the opening sequence to The Wind Waker makes that one perfectly clear.  The people waited in vain for a hero who did not come.  Sucks to be them.  No matter what a particular incarnation of Link and Zelda manage to do, at some point the forces governing the universe call a reboot and they and all the planet go through the wringer once more, with feeling.

This is also part of what draws me to Kaga-era Fire Emblem; the first five games act as installments in one long planet-wide struggle, and the ones that come chronologically last (FE2 and FE3) both end with the promise that at some later date, things are going straight back to hell.  Every victory of humans over The Bad Stuff is a temporary reprieve, not because God is a bastard but because humans are so damned good at initiating their own destruction.  (I'd love to know how the ending to Tear Ring Saga goes!)

Anyway, I could forgive a lot of FE13 (even her-- maybe) if the "turbulent era" of its setting is actually some kind of post-apocalyptic world where the shiny heroes of old didn't come at all or actually failed.  That would be a nice change of pace.

Comments

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

Nintendo, the epitome of family gaming! LOL.

[amielleon]

I remember when FE9 came out there was a lot of anticipation about how it was like FE4. In terms of theme, it's not quite like FE4, but after the GBA games it's certainly closer (in this respect -- not so for many others!). After Elibe* and Magvel and their ridiculous eras of peace punctuated only by dragons and dark gods, it is worth noting that Tellius's issues were caused by the inherent problems of sentient life. You see that same promise in the secret ending of FE10 -- that global war comes again -- although it's painted in a much more optimistic light.

*There was Zephiel in FE6, but his ideals were not presented as inherently sympathetic within the presentation. The idea was raised, and then softly patted on the head until it sat down.

Maybe it's a sign of the times. I have a feeling it has a great deal to do with FE becoming mainstream.

Would you like hipster cred with that?

(Forgive the edit(s). I had this halfway written up on my phone at work, and then I didn't want to finish it on said phone. And then my syntax ate itself or something. I am not totally sure how I wrote up something so incredibly word salad-y.)

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

I have a feeling it has a great deal to do with FE becoming mainstream.

Mmm, I think it also had a lot to do with Kaga not being around for anything after FE5. He had a particular vision, and he left and took that vision, interconnected world and all, to TRS, and suddenly we're in GBA land and things are just... different.

[amielleon]

There's a matter of the man behind the vision -- and then there's also the matter of fidelity to the vision.

I think, given Zephiel in FE6, Nintendo had a certain amount of faithfulness to what Kaga had made. It is never the same as the creator itself, of course.

[kyusil.livejournal.com]

I guess there is supposed to be a canonical timeline now, but I always liked to look at the Zelda series as literally a series of legends. They all share common attributes, but are all told in a different way or by a different storyteller (hence the Art Shift between games). So Hyrule repeatedly going to hell would be more of a recurring theme than a literal event; after all, your hero and princess need something to restore. But with more of the games being actually tied together chronologically, it's harder to go by that theory.

That FE13 theory would be an interesting way to go. I mean, I'm not really one for making things dark for the sake of making them dark, but I'd like to see changes in the FE formula as much as anybody. I still think FE13-land is somehow Archanea, though >>

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

But with more of the games being actually tied together chronologically, it's harder to go by that theory.

A lot of the in-game references in the last couple of games, or at least the "major" console games, lock them in as interconnected. Wind Waker was pretty explicit about its world being the future of OoT's Hyrule, from what I remember. And Skyward Sword already seems to be hinting at something much larger in scope that a self-contained story. It's telegraphing that, whatever legends Link and the other humans know, they're incomplete and possibly wrong.

I still think FE13-land is somehow Archanea, though

I'm holding out hope for future!Valencia, myself. A tiny bit of hope, but hope nonetheless.

[raphiael]

I keep hearing stuff about people hoping it's somehow Magvel. I just kind of sit in my little corner and repeat the whole "new world" tagline, and pretend I heard nothing else.

More Valencia would be lovely, though *^*