Well, here's what is set in stone thus far:
-all scenarios from new game to epilogue
-all spells removed from the game(deal with it
)
-10
usable items replace the spells
-5 sub quest items
-all 7 visions
-8 dungeons(new mini dungeon added to get the Magic Key)
-Day to Night cycles(already was programming into the old version of QoC, just never shown)[not just some black overlay either]
-control scheme
-Leveling Up(level up system is more akin to the FDS Zelda II rather than the NES Zelda II, google it)
Items both usable and sub quest in order of appearance in game:
Eternal Lantern
Bombs
Hookshot
Mirror
Empty Bottle
Power Gloves
Ancient Hammer
Water of Life(becomes another empty bottle)
Cane of Somaria
Magic Raft
Fire Rod
Mirror Shield
Pegasus Boots
Flute
Mystic Branch
Cross of Truth
Thunder Medallion
Since the items replace various spells, I tried to give them original Zelda or Zelda-esc names:
"Fire Rod" replaces the "Fire" spell
"Thunder Medallion" replaces the "Thunder" spell
"Cross of Truth" replaces "Cross"
"Pegasus Boots" replaces "Winged Boots"
"Mirror Shield" replaces the "Reflect" spell
"Hookshot" replaces the "Jump" spell(and innate ability to jump from Zelda II)
and so on.
The scenarios are written in a very linear but natural fashion. Zelda II is perhaps the second most linear Zelda game I have ever played, the first being Minish Cap. As I was writing the scenarios, I realized that the linearity had to be kept, but needed to seem like it was natural. I think I have accomplished that very nicely. I made it more linear than it originally was, but their is still a sense of open-ended-ness if you explore without going through the motions.
Spoilers below
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New linear plot:
Cannot leave starting area - Northwest Hyrule - until Parapa Temple(yes, I called them by the original "temple" word...stupid Nintendo of NA censored that word)is beaten.
Cannot enter Death Mountain(remember Bagu from Zelda II to get the bridge to appear?) until you have the Power Gloves.
Like Zelda II, you still need the raft to go to the other continent.
Once you are in the new continent, the progression opens up quite a bit, though the recommended path will be presented to the player.
Maze Island Temple will be accessible right away but a miniquest should be completed first to get the necessary Mirror Shield for the dungeon.
In order to reach the Temple on the Sea, the Pegasus Boots are required from the Maze Island Temple.
Obviously you get the Flute from the Temple on the Sea which is necessary for the River Demon and Three-Rock Temple.
The Cross of Truth is semi-necessary but makes the Valley of Death gauntlet run much much easier.
Magic Key is mandatory and has its own mini-dungeon.
Thunder Medallion is necessary for the final boss before the showdown with Shadow Link.
Final showdown with Shadow Link is near complete as far as how the battle will progress:
Link will fight shadows of previous bosses from Legend of Zelda(Zelda I) in a very similar fashion to the Nightmares on Link's Awakening. Once all the shadows are beaten, a voice calls out(the old man guarding the Triforce of Courage) giving commendation to Link for facing his fears and nightmares he received as a child(reference to Legend of Zelda since Link was a child during those events as dictated by Nintendo) but he must face his greatest fear of all and prove his courage. The voice fades away, the room goes completely dark, and the red eyes of Shadow Link appear from under Link.
The final battle would be kinda a combination of Zelda II Shadow Link battle and the final battle with Ganon in LttP.
Torches must be lit to expose Shadow Link, else the player will just keep getting hurt. Different that the Ganon fight in LttP, the light won't stun Shadow Link, just present him as a target. As the fight progresses, Shadow Link increases his aggressiveness and begins to leave himself open to more attacks from Link, but also throws out more attacks himself.
As far as level progression is concerned, I think I came up with a nice idea(it's going into the game
). Instead of numbers shown on the HUD for levels of attack,life, and magic, here is what happens:
All stats can be seen in the menu at any time, however, how they are shown is different.
"Life" is replaced with the tunic icon. As you gain levels, your tunic will change colors from green to blue to red(Link is supposed to have mgaic equipment when he starts his journey per the original manual). This represents an in-game/off menu presentation of how advanced your defense is with the Red Tunic being the final level. In the menu, it will be the tunic icon and a number beside it.
"Magic" is simply replaced by increasing the magic bar. No more hunting down damned Magic Vials. As you level up your Magic stat, your magic bar increases. Since there are no spells, each item that requires magic will use a static amount. To combat this, you will need to increase your magic maximum by leveling your Magic stat. The word "Magic" and a number representing it will be shown in the menu.
"Attack" will be replaced by a sword icon. In a very similar fashion to the tunic, as you gain levels in attack, your sword will evolve(it is a "magic sword" per the original manual). Nothing fancy, just changes in color like LttP.
Heart Pieces:
-You increase your life bar by finding heart pieces. Unlike regular Zelda games, each piece increases your health by 2 and each container increase by 8.
-Each of the six bosses drops a full container that is 6 x 8 = 48
-Starting life bar is 24 so max amount with only bosses is 48+24 =72
-at this time, 96 is the maximum determined health, thus , 12 heart pieces are scattered through out Hyrule
96 health might seem low as it represents 12 hearts if compared to regular Zelda games(A heart = 8 life or 1 bar).
However, due to the nature of leveling your defense, many enemies will eventually only do 1 point of damage.
Another wall of text...Just severely paraphrasing what is in the design document. The design document is much more professionally laid out and easy to follow. Take note that everything in the document is not here in this post. 26+ pages is alot to paraphrase.
:3