24 replies to this topic

[Irene]

I just don't like her name or her hair.

[CUD]

...How? Literally nothing changes. All Nintendo has to do is allow you to pick your gender when you pick your name. Sure they could have a proper character customization thing, but having any changes to the story would be completely optional depending on how it is written (for example: in Twilight princess Telma's flirting will work though a little scandalous, but the scene where Link and Mayor Bo share knowing glances while Ilia yells at them would work better if the mayor and Ilia's genders were reversed). But literally 95% of all Zelda games' stories work just as well as is if you pretend Link was female.

 

Maybe you can have a story where Link and Linkle are fraternal twins and the one you choose becomes the hero while the other takes on NPC roles throughout the story. (Imagine a conversation between Link and Linkle)

 

I agree that nothing changes. I was responding to Hunter's suggestion for playing as both characters or incorporating co op into the game. Having optional genders will change very little but including two playable characters in a 3D LoZ game seems like a more difficult task.

[Hunter]

A game with both of them would be interesting but seems like a considerably more difficult concept to pull off so I'm not so sure they'd go that route.

 

 

 

Well why is Link male in LoZ games when it doesn't affect the gameplay or plot? Why not just say he's gender neutral or gender fluid elf-kin? Gender is very rarely a decision that affects gameplay and story, it's purely a design choice that the developers are free to make and that doesn't make it a novelty just because it's different. I mean, if Link being male was never a novelty then why is it suddenly a novelty when Link is a female?

 

I haven't played Skyward Sword which I hear there is a bit more characterisation given to Link but other than that I don't recall Link having much of a personality and since Link isn't the same character in each game the character from one game doesn't even make a difference to a new Link. So since Link doesn't have much of a character I'm not so sure that a female Link would be so different other than appearance, furthermore what difference is there really to a female Link and Linkle? Since Link changes from game to game so can the character of Linkle.

 

I wouldn't even say that a game with Linkle as the protagonist where she doesn't have a sword would ruin the game, definitely different but I can't see how that alone could ruin it.

 

Well what would changing the gender of Link achieve? He has always been male so why change him to female? This is why it comes across as nothing more than a novelty. Giving an option is different though because more choices are always better than less choices.

 

The difference between a female Link and Linkle is that they seem to be two separate characters.

 

Also Linkle with no sword would be dumb, are we gonna have the Master Crossbow?

[CUD]

Well what would changing the gender of Link achieve? He has always been male so why change him to female? This is why it comes across as nothing more than a novelty. Giving an option is different though because more choices are always better than less choices.

 

The difference between a female Link and Linkle is that they seem to be two separate characters.

 

Also Linkle with no sword would be dumb, are we gonna have the Master Crossbow?

 

Link isn't just one character though. I think Waller covered it in their post:

 

Linkle being the protagonist of a mainline Zelda =/= Linkle being Link.

 

Either way, Link as a character is not defined by his gender, so I don't know what your problem is here. It's not the same situation as in, say, Mario suddenly turning into a woman, because Mario in every game is the same entity while most Zelda games have a different Link.

 

 

Since Link is a different character in each game it's not changing the character but rather introducing a new one that's a different gender. It doesn't really need to achieve anything, does it? I wouldn't think it needs to achieve anything just like Link being male doesn't achieve anything, it's just a design choice. Is it a novelty in a game like Infamous First Light where you play as a female character instead of male as in previous games? No because it's a new character and a new story.

 

Giving an option would be good but I don't see your point with "more choices is better than less choices" when only being able to play as a female character is the same amount of choice we had before.

 

I'm not so sure that a crossbow would be worse than a sword, different sure but they could pull still pull it off.

[NintendoReport]

I just don't like her name or her hair.

 

Would be nice to see some customization options in a main line zelda entry.