NeoFirst Story and Plot Tracker

[ShadowTiger]

Oddly enough, the word "Neo" Doesn't even provide the imagery for a futuristic setting. :p It's just an alternative to the story. It presently has an excellent story brewing, if straighforward. It's nothing deeply profound, but it'll certainly do.

[_L_]

See also neo-classical.

[_L_]

In order to lengthen the post-L2 game a bit, I've decided upon the following:

* In order to enter the Temple of Light, you need the Silver Arrows.
* In order to get the Silver Arrows (which are in a basement area of the East Palace), you must collect any two of the four Elements.
* You recieve very few hints about the locations of any of these items.

[ShadowTiger]

In order to lengthen the post-L2 game a bit, I've decided upon the following:

* In order to enter the Temple of Light, you need the Silver Arrows.
* In order to get the Silver Arrows (which are in a basement area of the East Palace), you must collect any two of the four Elements.
* You recieve very few hints about the locations of any of these items.

Certainly possible, but, ...

• To enter the Temple of Light, *why* would we need the Silver Arrows? It's just already open. It'll have gates in it similar to Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, that you must open with the corresponding element. The Temple of Light will have SHADOW gates in it, rather than Light gates. So technically you'd need a "dark" arrow of some sort to open them. Besides, the temple is in a state of relative ruin. The door would be busted wide open with the temple mostly ransacked with a myriad of player-impeding holes in it. You could probably just walk right in, and not get very far until you find a single open Shadow Gate leading to the Temple of Shadows equivalent of the Temple of Light. This has already been established in the grand scheme of NeoFirst.
• Okay, so, in terms of getting four elements; What "barrier" is present that forces the player to gather four, and not all of them? Why four and not, say, three? What says "You should have at LEAST four?" What difference would four make? They seem more optional than mandatory, and more a test of relative strength for the player rather than some means to break an energy barrier. Just curios.
• From the designs you had placed in the quest, wasn't the Eastern Palace already scavenged through and through? Would the Silver Arrows be in their original location, or in a new one? In ALTTP, we got the Bow and Arrows, I believe, so I can certainly see how they can match up in ALTTP and NeoFirst.
• Why so few hints? Just to make the player ask around on the forums? o.o

[Majora]

@ShadowTiger's last bullet point:

Well, games nowadays (Zelda games mainly) have A LOT of hints so that the lpayer, for the most part, has to think moderately to very little (with the exception of dungeon puzzles)

Remember how in Zelda 1 you received almost no hints? A few in the overworld, and, on average, less than 1 per dungeon? Well, NeoFirst should mimick that aspect, in order to have a game:

A) Worthy of 2.5
B) Worthy of the Title "The Legend of Zelda"

My $0.02

[_L_]

To enter the Temple of Light, *why* would we need the Silver Arrows? It's just already open. It'll have gates in it similar to Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, that you must open with the corresponding element. The Temple of Light will have SHADOW gates in it, rather than Light gates. So technically you'd need a "dark" arrow of some sort to open them. Besides, the temple is in a state of relative ruin. The door would be busted wide open with the temple mostly ransacked with a myriad of player-impeding holes in it. You could probably just walk right in, and not get very far until you find a single open Shadow Gate leading to the Temple of Shadows equivalent of the Temple of Light. This has already been established in the grand scheme of NeoFirst.

Ahem...

After playing Four Swords Adventures, I've decided that only the Chaos->Light portals will be Mirrors, and the Light->Chaos portals will be Moon Portals. In order to open Moon Portals, you need arrows tipped with "moon metal", or silver. In order to open Mirrors (which are covered in blobs of black Chaos) you need arrows tipped with the divine Golden Power.

The above refers to some pre-established notions about the Sacred/Dark/Chaos realm, and entry thereof. LttP's Magic Mirror takes you out of the realm, and FSA's Moon Portals draw you into the realm.

I was under the impression that you get the Golden Arrows in the Temple of Shadows/Chaos, and use them to return to the Temple of Light.

Okay, so, in terms of getting four elements; What "barrier" is present that forces the player to gather four, and not all of them?

You misread: there's a maximum of four, and you need only two. But anyway, basically there's two paths to the silver arrow room.
The left path has a Spring door and Summer door in parallel, which both lead to an Autumn door and Winter door in parallel.
The right path has a Winter door and Summer door in parallel, which both lead to an Autumn door and Spring door in parallel. So, any set of two elements will allow you to get the arrows.
The door's visual designs and colours (which match those of the "Season Blocks" in Forest Temple), in addition to scattered hints about the four elements here and there, and Zelda's order to find the silver arrows (after you return with the Triforce of Power), are your only direct hints.

From the designs you had placed in the quest, wasn't the Eastern Palace already scavenged through and through? Would the Silver Arrows be in their original location, or in a new one? In ALTTP, we got the Bow and Arrows, I believe, so I can certainly see how they can match up in ALTTP and NeoFirst.

The ground floor of the palace has been cleaned out by Zelda's guards. But downstairs there are still some traps and beasties behind locked doors.

[_L_]

Something I'm not too sure of, though, is whether or not this would come across as being too arbitrary. Maybe I should reduce the requirement to one element?

[The_Amaster]

Nah, lots of quests, both official and ZC are filled with arbitrary stuff. Without it the games would be much more, ummmm, how to put it. Boring.

[_L_]

As you know, Link's first weapon is nothing more than a stick, and he begins the game with no equipment. Surely Zelda, who has at least a few armed guards at her disposal, would be able to provide the Hero with something more substantial?

So, here's how it goes: when Link meets Zelda for the first time, he has access to various treasure chests in the East Palace, which contain:
* Magic Ring L1
* Worn-out Glove
* The first Bomb Bag
He also gets the L2 sword after talking to Zelda.

However, after leaving the East Palace... a gang of Lynels confront Link, and in cutscene, demand that he hand over the sword and all of his rupees. Link, being at this point a little wet-behind-the-ears, obliges. It's only after they've left that he realises that he could've just killed them with the sword. "Darn!"

(He can get the L2 sword back by invading the Lynel's lair, which is a decrepit Hyrule Castle.)

[ShadowTiger]

It's only after they've left that he realises that he could've just killed them with the sword. "Darn!"

This made me laugh. I wonder what TLOZ-related incident could prompt Link's cowardice? Perhaps they shouldn't even ask him for his weaponry. They should simply ambush him. They're Lynels, after all! They're lion-people! DEX scores are at LEAST 17 based on racial modifications!! I think they could ambush him fairly efficiently, wouldn't you agree? o.o

The Lynel treasure hordes may as well contain a good supply of Rupees as well. Perhaps you could even give them in to Zelda's kingdom for a tribute and receive a health upgrade (HC or HCP, whatever you want.) as a reward?