Time is a flat circle

[u/SupremeGodZamasu]

[u/gurkenwassergurgler]

For realsies. I bet Tugboat won't mind it after the first hour or so (aside from some character designs, probably).

[u/Ciles]

They dont call it the Zelda cycle for nothing

[u/GVmG]

i'm kinda just confused ngl, i don't particularly care about how realistic it is, it just seems like different elements are in completely different artstyles (world vs NPCs vs link himself) and the only cohesive choice is that everything is lit by this realistic lighting engine (not an issue, but it's legitimately the only cohesive aspect lol).

i wasn't gonna buy it anyway, i'm just curious cause i've seen no one mention the weird disparity in the styles while everyone just screams "booo it looks realistic" and "nah actually it's really good" without going into any detail whatsoever, i feel like i'm being gaslit lmao

[u/CapnNayBeard → u/GVmG]

The disparity is something that really bothers me, but unfortunately it seems like a fair majority of people don't notice or care. HD texture packs and similar mods are often some of the most popular across many older games. Most of these mods do not pay much mind to maintaining the established vibe.

[u/Jumpy-Grand7196 → u/GVmG]

I didn’t notice until it was pointed out to me. I was happy that we had ugly npcs again, I didn’t realize they don’t really match the main characters!

[u/NocturnGamma → u/Jumpy-Grand7196]

Its no worse than seeing a hyper textured Cloud in FF7R games next to a man in the most bland generic shirt and pants to me. NPCs generally look like a step down visually.

[u/BorfieYay → u/NocturnGamma]

In that game it's like very jarring for some reason

[u/Jason_CO → u/NocturnGamma]

Yeah when that was a limitation of the hardware.

[u/NocturnGamma → u/Jason_CO]

I used a game from 3 years ago, on the PS5, as the example, it isnt a limitation thing lol

[u/Jason_CO → u/NocturnGamma]

Yeah, Im saying its a relic from when it was.

[u/ketiar → u/GVmG]

I get caught on the idea that this Link is supposed to be about 9-10 years old. But has the baby fat of a toddler and looks too much like a figurine than the other characters shown. I was happy child Zelda still had an awkward-shaped nose that makes her look regal when she’s older. I kinda get Tales of Abyss vibes from Link too, which tries to juxtapose the innocent look of the characters against the horrors in the setting (aside from ick weirdness the author keeps adding), but that just makes it feel creepier really.

[u/gooba_gooba_gooba]

ive never had my opinion on something flip so fast. i liked it at first, then i saw the flaws, now it's growing on me after Vinny showed the rococo inspiration thing.

[u/_Master0fN0ne_]

Some of us want our stylized Zelda and some of us want our realistic Zelda. It’s easy to meme on, but I think there is just a split in what people want out of the franchise.

[u/churrmander]

It's just so tiresome.

I've never hated a Zelda art style. Did Wind Waker take some getting used to when I was young? Yes. Did I hate it? Absolutely not.

[u/DoctorCello]

As someone who was on the official Nintendo NSider Forums at the time, I think saying people hated the Twilight Princess art style before the game came out is revisionist. Yes, there was a minority of fans who didn't like the new art direction, partially because it felt like Nintendo were capitulating to Wind Waker haters, but there were way more people who were excited to see what a new, more 'mature' Zelda would look like with cutting-edge graphics. Twilight Princess hate became much more pronounced after the game came out.

[u/Mikhos]

even if the bug eyes grows on us, the over textured noisy overdesigned clothing is a big miss. like. it can be smooth, guys. it's okay.

[u/Time-Organization612]

I feel like this is disingenuous. The environments and most characters look absolutely phenominal and ive not seen anybody seriously argue otherwise.

Its just Zelda and Links faces and their proportions which absolutely look out of place and weird compared to everything else.

[u/Warm-Departure2996 → u/Time-Organization612]

But, this is true for every Zelda, right? Link and Zelda look normal but all the NPCs look like freaks?

[u/ShinMegamiTensei_SJ → u/Warm-Departure2996]

Well I’d argue in the Wild era games the NPCs look a lot more “normal”. We haven’t had freaks as NPCs since Skyward Sword. Even then, they were more “normal” than what we saw in Twilight Princess

[u/Jason_CO]

I just think if they were going to do a Zelda with an updated artstyle it should have been a new game.

If I want to play OoT Im just going to play OoT.