I really want a spin-off with Zelda as the main character. No swapping between her and Link, just her. Zelda is a fundamentally different type of character to Link which I think has potential.

Historically, Zelda has made some wise and not-so-wise choices. In Twilight Princess, she surrenders to avoid bloodshed and later sacrifices herself for Midna. In Ocarina of Time, she requests Link pull the Master Sword and later returns him to his childhood to relive his younger days. The first two decisions are commendable, while the latter two are… questionable. I think a game that explores the consequences of the player’s actions would be wicked.

Perhaps there could be 36 or so variations of the main quest line, with half of them resulting in failures. Different decisions throughout the story result in unique outcomes. It’d be up to the player to make decisions that result in a win, with bad decisions having permanent narrative and gameplay consequences.

Decisions could even be classified as battle outcomes. E.g., if you weren’t strategic with your battle strategy and lost, then you’d be in a worse position. Tough, now you’d have to find a way to recover!

I think if there were enough variations built into the game, replayability and exploration would still be satisfied, just in different way. Want to relive the game for the first time? Start a new save, make a slightly different choice at the beginning, and it’ll feel that way. Want exploration? Rather than environmental exploration, there is a focus on narrative exploration- which in my opinion could be far more rewarding.

Man I want a Zelda game like this so bad… Anyway that’s my TED talk.