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The Legend of Zelda: Type A or Type B?


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Poll: Type A or B

Is The Legend of Zelda a Type A or Type B Quest.

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#1 Professor Bedwetter

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Posted 28 March 2021 - 11:06 PM

As we all know, Quests are divided into two types: Type A and Type B.

If you have forgotten the definitions, here they are.

A Type A Quest is defined as “a quest ehich emphasies graphics, puzzles, great story-lines, and very low difficulty."

A Type B Quest is defined as "a challenge quest."

With this in mind, I posit the question: Is The Legend of Zelda, also known as Zelda 1, a Type a or Type B quest?

So yeah, please vote and lets discuss.
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#2 Professor Bedwetter

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Posted 28 March 2021 - 11:32 PM

I voted for Type B, Zelda 1 is a prototype B if you will. It's not necessarily a challenge, but I feel like it is a more combat focused game
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#3 Russ

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Posted 28 March 2021 - 11:36 PM

It's a bit hard to say given that a lot of its systems and ideas are immature, so to speak, but it has some puzzle elements to it and generally looks decent graphically. The combat, while somewhat tricky, isn't too over the top either. Thus, judging from the laws of blood typing, I think it's a type AB quest and so can receive blood donations from any other quests.



#4 Mitchfork

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Posted 28 March 2021 - 11:48 PM

I feel like, compared to the NES games of its time and earlier, Zelda 1 was easier.  Compare to like, Castlevania - released in the same year and way more technically demanding.  While I don't think Zelda benefited from a lot of super smart level design (it had to walk so other games could run), it does have a gentle curve with only a couple of harsh spikes. 

 

The fact that it doesn't have a score system at all is also a statement of intent I think - this is not a game that gives you any feedback that you're playing better or worse than anyone else.  It is much more combat-focused than later Zelda games but also contains a huge number of ways to self-select challenge - for example, thorough exploration can get you the White Sword and Blue Ring before any major dungeons, which really reduces the difficulty.


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#5 Evan20000

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Posted 29 March 2021 - 12:22 AM

Blue Wizzrobes and Blue Darknuts are the only enemies that are threatening after you get the blue tunic. The game starts tough, but the difficulty is an informational barrier, not necessarily an execution one. Once you know to farm the blue ring and get the overworld hearts, it becomes trivial for a large chunk of the game. By the time you get to Ganon, he's so afraid of how strong you've become he can't even bring himself to show his face.

The game doesn't sledgehammer your scrotum enough in comparison to other NES games of its time, like Mitch said.


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#6 Moosh

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Posted 29 March 2021 - 02:03 AM

Relative to other Zelda games Zelda 1 may feel type B, but relative to NES games of the time, it's type A as fuck.

 

Also cool that we're all just adopting the James terminology now. Free real estate.


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#7 SkyLizardGirl

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Posted 29 March 2021 - 02:58 AM

Type A quest - to B quest is my answer..

 

(-Easy near beginning, .. much harder Middle & Hardest nearer to end.)

 

So lol, i did not vote.

 

'Link's Awakening'  is an example of easy to hard game-play.

 

I guess 'you could' say that about ALTTP and ALBW.

 

Twilight was like that also. >Level-7 was a pain in that one, at my very first time playing it.


Edited by SkyLizardGirl, 29 March 2021 - 03:11 AM.


#8 P-Tux7

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Posted 29 March 2021 - 04:06 AM

First Quest: Type A

2nd Quest: Type B

 

The 2nd quest is technically more "puzzley" than the 1st, but the few puzzles 1st had seemed to make sense more than 2nd's, which consisted of trying everything. Both overworlds, however, have a lot of "try everything" puzzles except for the location of Level 7, Level 8, and Spectacle Rock, which are given hints.

 

I also think the combat is a bit messed up by so many bosses and Wizzrobes being immune to everything but the sword (and bombs in Wizzrobes' case). This strength should only apply to armored enemies like Darknuts. It would have given the Wand and Red Candle some use given how late they are in the game, and also given money more purpose by letting you use arrows in more situations. If this had happened, the bosses probably would have needed more HP, but I think that's fair.


Edited by P-Tux7, 29 March 2021 - 04:10 AM.

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#9 Rambly

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Posted 29 March 2021 - 12:44 PM

I voted for Type B, Zelda 1 is a prototype B if you will. It's not necessarily a challenge, but I feel like it is a more combat focused game

It's hard to say whether or not Zelda 1 is really more "combat focused" or "puzzle focused", given that dichotomy wasn't as strongly defined (and what a puzzle-focused Zelda looked like wasn't strongly defined either). You could argue that, compared to almost everything else out on home consoles at the time, Zelda was actually pretty puzzle focused. (Computers were a little different, given adventure games were a more dominant genre there...)
 

The fact that it doesn't have a score system at all is also a statement of intent I think - this is not a game that gives you any feedback that you're playing better or worse than anyone else. It is much more combat-focused than later Zelda games but also contains a huge number of ways to self-select challenge - for example, thorough exploration can get you the White Sword and Blue Ring before any major dungeons, which really reduces the difficulty.

That's a pretty fair point. A Link to the Past is almost definitively "Type A", but it functions pretty similarly -- the game is actually pretty hard if you don't take many of its safety items.  If we're using A Link to the Past as a yardstick, then Zelda 1 looks pretty similar in what it expects from the player, honestly.  The main reason Zelda 1 has a reputation for being harder is because things like heart pieces, bottles, fairies etc. exist in ALTTP and they're fairly easy to find.  That, and A Link to the Past is nowhere near as cryptic.

 

I do have to wonder why quests have to look bad to fit into the Type B mold, though.  Most of the "Type A" characteristics are pretty fully compatible with challenge quests...


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#10 Mani Kanina

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Posted 29 March 2021 - 06:03 PM

Zelda 1 has a dungeon shaped like the letter A but not any dungeon shaped like the letter B, checkmate atheists type B players.


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#11 SkyLizardGirl

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Posted 29 March 2021 - 06:25 PM

I'll add one more little thing..*

 

SMB1 NES is quite hard and so is The Legend of Zelda NES at the time as sequels kinda toned this down a bit with all

the new features that came later on.

 

Idk what you'd consider Type A and B really.  People in the 80's would run circles around players

nowadays 'that need' to be guided by the hand through tutorials and 'how to' at the beginning of games.

 

My game is hard but even it takes picky players by the hand, guides them and hands out hints and clues so players do not get sidetracked.

 

Cryptic is always good, as long as you know all new controls.

 

My boyfriend is hardcore Nintendo and says, he doesn't want to know anything about the game, he just wants to pick it up and play it and 'learn everything himself' by throughly playing, calling people that need tutorials, clues and hints weak new age players. 

He also hates spoilers before playing games.

I've never really been that way, as i always take what i can to proceed forward in games themselves.


Edited by SkyLizardGirl, 29 March 2021 - 06:29 PM.


#12 Tabletpillow

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Posted 29 March 2021 - 08:43 PM

I'd say neither, but if I had to choose it would probably be the first.

I don't think the game was supposed to be hard. If the focus was mainly on difficulty then I would think the whole idea and layout would be different with a larger focus on combat.

But there's more than just combat in Zelda 1. Mainly exploration and navigation. It's much less hard and more like it's supposed to be a confusing time sinker.

The reason why I wouldn't say the first option either is that it isn't necessarily easy either, and the story and puzzles are bare minimal. Zelda 1 is not only about combat, but also navigation. And that combat doesn't mean it's meant to be a hard game.

Looking into the future of Zelda, we can see how it has definitely shifted to the first option with more focus on story and puzzles, it may hint that perhaps that was the type of game design the developers had in mind when they made the first Zelda. So I'm going to have to pick Type A for the first game, but there's a lot more to it.


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#13 Haylee

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Posted 30 March 2021 - 10:08 PM

mm type a, my favorite frozen grocery store food.

 

 

 

 

tbh I've never understood the notion that "being challenging" and "looking pretty and having a good story" have to be mutually exclusive.

 

 

puyo exists


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#14 Rambly

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Posted 31 March 2021 - 01:33 AM

tbh I've never understood the notion that "being challenging" and "looking pretty and having a good story" have to be mutually exclusive

ymmv but i think demon's souls / dark souls are pretty gorgeous, have some pretty great lore, and are of course fairly challenging



#15 SkyLizardGirl

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Posted 31 March 2021 - 01:38 AM

Can we have more Types that are better than A and B?

 

Like Type  C

Type D

Type E

Type S

 

Ranks?

etc.*


Edited by SkyLizardGirl, 31 March 2021 - 01:38 AM.

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