Tankardofale wrote:The problem with Zelda is every game is the same - 8 dungeons, princess, Ganon, heart containers, yada yada. Give me some variety, some plot. I'll go Final Fantasy.
Yeah there are a lot of similarities between most of Zelda games (because the formula works, dangit!) but at least one notable exception?
Majora's Mask: 4 dungeons, no princess, no Ganon, ridiculous amount of side quests.
Aside from that there is something new in every game, maybe not always plot-wise (Windwaker had a pretty big plot deviation, not to mention the art style), but usually gameplay-wise. At the least it's far less homogenous than Pokemon.
To be honest, I feel that most FF plots are pretty similar too. Big evil threat to the world, crystals, same monsters, airships, some kind of summoning thing, (steam/cyber)-punk The big difference is game mechanics (but those seem to cycle a bit) and the setting. The setting mostly is the thing that changes a lot.
Personally, I think one of the benefits of most franchises is to have the same or similar setting between games. You don't need any explanation to understand what's going on with the Mushroom Kingdom or Hyrule, or why your character is the destined hero, because it's been explained already, you can then focus on other things in the game.
Final Fantasy on the other hand has a new world each time with a new history, and if you want that, great. Me? It just means I'll care less about the world and the people in it because it's unfamiliar. In effect, the stakes are higher when you're trying to save Hyrule than when you're trying to save {insert new nation here}.
Not that Final Fantasy games aren't awesome, they are, they'll just never be Zelda for me because every FF game is a new investment but every Zelda game just adds to the ongoing story.
I mean what would Harry Potter have been if it instead were seven different books about seven different, destined, magically inclined children in seven different, mystical, magical worlds just a step askance from our own mundane one? Not nearly as much to sneeze about.
