What was the point of Wolf Link's scent ability?

[MegaHiro91]

More specifically, what was the point of having him only be able to learn one smell at a time and then have to forget the other? Because learning a new smell serves no other purpose than to lead you to where you immediately need to go, and you will never need the previous smell ever again, so why not just let us keep all of them? Or just not give us the option to keep the old one? I mean the game asks you if you wanna learn the new and forget the old, but unlike a game like Pokémon where there is actual strategy to a choice like this... you won't be able to progress unless you agree anyway. Or can you? I have never actually tried to beat Twilight Princess without learning the new smells. If you know where you are supposed to go, can you move the plot forward still?

Either way, whether you can or not, it strikes me as an odd mechanic why you can only know one smell at once. I mean real dogs/wolves don't work like that.

 

[Aziamuth]

I... don't remember, right now, but it may have been just a poorly executed way of progressing the plot?

 

[MegaHiro91]

I... don't remember, right now, but it may have been just a poorly executed way of progressing the plot?

Yeah I mean, they could have just added the new one to your "collection" and said: Congratulations, you just learned a new smell.

 

[Yousef's iconYousef]

To smell stuff.

 

[Tonberry]

Twilight Princess is full of garbage half-baked ideas, the smell stuff was probably the same. They wanted you to get an epic ”Danananaaa new item Get” moment as a wolf too so they added it as a weird ”item” since it fits with the whole heightened sense thing, since dogs can’t speak and ask for directions.

I’ve never given it much thought but you’re right in that it feels pretty pointless.

 

[Elwiwi]

The whole wolf mechanic was poorly done

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

I think its kinda cute. I think Twilight Princess needed more dev time instead of trying to port it on the Wii

 

[MistHunter]

I recalled when a friend, liked a lot The Legend of Zelda - The Twilight Princess. And I liked more The Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past. Played both.
There is a precedent here.
Maybe it is annoying, but it was a very interesting mechanic.

Looking on the brighter side...
Wolf Link has more functions than Bunny Link.
It can bark, can sing, can smell, can dig (and can dog), can focus and attack.
Instead of a "functional" Wolf Link, and instead of a "jumpy" Bunny Link in Twilight Princess...
I can imagine, there is two different directions here.

If Link's next (inner) animal is something like a horse, a frog or even a cat (Toon Link, in this case), imagination is to be tested...

What's next could be happening...?
I'm just waiting to see it... And be amazed with the result.

 

[MegaHiro91]

Twilight Princess is full of garbage half-baked ideas, the smell stuff was probably the same. They wanted you to get an epic ”Danananaaa new item Get” moment as a wolf too so they added it as a weird ”item” since it fits with the whole heightened sense thing, since dogs can’t speak and ask for directions.

I’ve never given it much thought but you’re right in that it feels pretty pointless.

I mean you can have your danananaaa moment just fine, I just don't get the idea of forgetting one smell in favor of a new one.

That said, what other half-baked ideas did it have?

Post automatically merged: 17 minutes ago

The whole wolf mechanic was poorly done

I don't know if I'd go that far, but I also could've done fine with a Twilight Princess that was just as better Ocarina of Time without the wolf.

Post automatically merged: 13 minutes ago

What's next could be happening...?
I'm just waiting to see it... And be amazed with the result.

I just want them to be gone with the open world BotW/TotK formula and go back to the linear design. Do that, and they can do whatever they want for all I care.

 

[Tonberry]

I mean you can have your danananaaa moment just fine, I just don't get the idea of forgetting one smell in favor of a new one.

That said, what other half-baked ideas did it have?

Not sure half-baked ideas were the right term, sorry, but it always felt to me like it has a bunch of elements that feel sort of haphazardly conceived and thrown in with not too much planning, instead of actually meaningful.

Bridge collecting, those forced shadow beast fights, the items in general, bug collecting, ghost collecting. It’s just a game with a lot of back-and-forth which feels like it’s just there to elongate the game instead of elevating it, sort of.

It’s also got these weird one-off moments that, while not bad, kind of makes it feel empty, like the cowboy shootout town. That Master Sword statue minigame could’ve just been a cool cutscene to give it more oomph rather than an annoying hurdle.