Which "Legend of Zelda" has the best story? Or in other words, which Zelda game has the best narrative? Excellent plot may not translate into top-notch narrative quality. A truly immersive story often requires a climax passage full of emotional tension and a clearly identifiable thematic core. Therefore, this issue has been debated among the fan community for many years. Recently, some players listed their favorite narrative masterpieces in the "Zelda" series on Reddit in the form of flashbacks.
After excluding the original "Legend of Zelda", "Triforce", "Four Swords" and other works that are more focused on gameplay, this player gave the highest honor for the best narrative to "The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass" released by Nintendo on the NDS in 2007, and the second place was "The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Falsehood" released by Nintendo in 2000 and remade in 3D in 2015. "The Mask" ("Majora's Mask"). He believes that "Phantom Hourglass" can be called a "dark variation" of "Dreamweaver Island", and that the conflicts and themes it presents "have gone beyond the scope of Link and Zelda's regular adventures." He particularly emphasized the creative passion and rich interpretation space poured into the work: "Especially the character of Rhineback, despite its comical elements, is still one of the most intriguing supporting characters in the entire series."
Players in the comment area also gave their own rankings. He regarded "Dream Weaver Island" as a narrative model. "Extremely dark and full of philosophy, this is the only work in the series that can completely reflect the real world, and its practical significance will last forever." Although I don't know exactly what he meant, the sadness in the final awakening moment of "Dream Weaver Island" did leave a deep mark on many players.
In this discussion, the two 3D open world works "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" and "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom" released by Nintendo in the Switch era did not receive much favor. Although players have praised the gameplay of these two games, most of them think that the narrative is somewhat poor. However, "Zelda Warriors: The Sealed Chronicles", a prequel story to "Tears of the Kingdom" recently released by Koei Tecmo, has received a lot of praise from players. Players who posted also commented, "This epic, painstaking, and stunning fantasy prequel made me resonate with the unknown characters in "Tears of the Kingdom" and introduced the most lovable original characters in the entire series." It ranked seventh, higher than the two orthodox sequels.
Looking at the Zelda narrative discussion in recent years, certain trends that have lasted for decades have solidified. "Dreamweaver" and "Majora's Mask" are highly praised on all major platforms; "Ocarina of Time" is often called a "classic coming-of-age fable"; although "Skyward Sword" is controversial for its gameplay, its narrative and character creation are widely recognized; "Rhythm of the Wind" is even more popular. Beyond that, audience preferences begin to diverge significantly. Which one do you like more? You may wish to leave a message in the comment area to discuss.
Here are the player’s narrative rankings:
