Posted by Ulm on Nov 2, 2007 twenty five past eleven am
One thing in defense of Zelda's dungeon level design:
Initially, I was put off at the "can't save here" aspect of Zelda's dungeon's in 'Link to the Past', the first Zelda I ever finished (all of 3 years ago). However, the more I've thought about it and played other Zelda games, I realized that it's really pretty interesting how the mechanic plays out.
Yes, you cannot save inside dungeons. However, the level designs are such that once you complete a section of the dungeon, there is always a permanent shortcut path created that gives easy access from the beginning of the dungeon to your current location. Think of it as a dungeon save checkpoint more than anything else.
All Zelda games (that I've played) since LTTP have done this. Sometimes the shortcut is hidden, but it's there. Phantom Hourglass actually goes one better by creating a portal from the beginning of the dungeon to the boss door, if you lose the boss battle.
Personally, I think it is an elegant solution to balance saving progress within a dungeon, while not allowing a player to save every 5 seconds. It also eliminates the need for multiple save files, since all progress is permanently saved to the main player profile.
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Posted by Ulm on Nov 2, 2007 twenty five past eleven am
Initially, I was put off at the "can't save here" aspect of Zelda's dungeon's in 'Link to the Past', the first Zelda I ever finished (all of 3 years ago). However, the more I've thought about it and played other Zelda games, I realized that it's really pretty interesting how the mechanic plays out.
Yes, you cannot save inside dungeons. However, the level designs are such that once you complete a section of the dungeon, there is always a permanent shortcut path created that gives easy access from the beginning of the dungeon to your current location. Think of it as a dungeon save checkpoint more than anything else.
All Zelda games (that I've played) since LTTP have done this. Sometimes the shortcut is hidden, but it's there. Phantom Hourglass actually goes one better by creating a portal from the beginning of the dungeon to the boss door, if you lose the boss battle.
Personally, I think it is an elegant solution to balance saving progress within a dungeon, while not allowing a player to save every 5 seconds. It also eliminates the need for multiple save files, since all progress is permanently saved to the main player profile.