Nintendo has finally revealed the official map for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake on Switch 2, and surprisingly (or perhaps unsurprisingly after its big reveal), there aren't too many differences between it and the map of the original game. One of the debates I have been continually revisiting since the curtains were pulled back on Ocarina of Time's gameplay during The Legend of Zelda's 40th Anniversary Direct is whether a full-blown remake should evolve and completely transform the original game or simply polish it to make it look and feel more modern. Over the years, we have seen plenty of different examples of remakes that come from both sides of the aisle, but two of the more recent examples are The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Square Enix's Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy.
In fact, I would argue that there aren't two better recent examples out there, as, based on what we've been shown so far, the Ocarina of Time remake is one of the most faithful remakes I've ever seen, while the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy has become infamous for, in the eyes of some, taking things a bit too far. I have personally adored everything Square Enix has done with the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy up to this point, and I have a feeling I'm going to love the direction Nintendo took the original Ocarina of Time in the remake. However, the official reveal of Ocarina of Time's new map of Hyrule has me once again considering whether faithfulness or evolution is the right way to go with a remake, and I stand on that line with my thoughts because choosing either side is a divisive choice, no matter your argument.
Looking at the new Ocarina of Time map side by side with the one from the original game, the biggest thing that stands out to me is how quickly I can tell where everything is. Death Mountain is still looming over the northeastern corner of Hyrule, Zora's Domain is tucked away to the east, Lake Hylia is down south, and Gerudo Valley still stretches off toward the west. There are certainly differences if you start looking closely enough, and we've already seen that some individual locations are going to be much larger once we actually get inside them, but Nintendo hasn't used the remake as an excuse to redraw Hyrule simply because it now has the hardware to do so.
کۆنسۆڵەکان بە ڕیزبەندی دروست دابنێ.
کۆنسۆڵە هەڵبژێردراوەکان لە نزمترینەوە بۆ بەرزترین ڕێکبخە.
That's probably more important than it sounds, especially after everything else Nintendo has changed. The remake gives Link far more modern movement, including a manual jump and sprint, while the free camera alone changes how players will interact with spaces originally designed around the limitations of the Nintendo 64. Castle Town has been expanded, Kokiri Forest has more room to breathe, and even something as simple as the continuous day-night cycle means Hyrule is no longer going to operate exactly the way it did in 1998. Nintendo clearly isn't afraid to touch the original game, but the new map suggests it has also decided there are certain things it simply doesn't need to touch.
The new map still leaves one major question unanswered: whether Nintendo is being this conservative with Ocarina of Time’s dungeons too, or whether those are where the remake will finally take bigger liberties.
I actually think that's where the remake has started becoming much more interesting to me, because faithfulness isn't necessarily the same thing as refusing to change anything. Nintendo seems more interested in asking how much of the original game it can preserve while removing the limitations it was once confined to. If Kokiri Forest can be bigger without becoming a different place, there isn't much reason not to make it bigger. If Castle Town can have more streets and buildings while still looking like the Castle Town players remember, expanding it doesn't really come at the expense of anything. The map suggests Nintendo is taking that same approach to Hyrule itself, where the goal isn't to replace what was there but to finally give it the space it may have always deserved.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://gamerant.com/zelda-ocarina-of-time-remake-map-final-fantasy-7-remake-faithfulness/
