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Originally Posted by Jinjonator
Ok, pointing out how this gender option would affect other Zelda games is absolutely meaningless, because we aren't talking about other Zelda games, because the option for a female Link doesn't exist in other Zelda games, so let's make this simple: stop bringing up how a female Link would detract from other games that don't include the feature or how certain scenes in those other games would be different, and explain how the option for a female Link is going to detract from the game that actually includes a female Link. Because right now, your argument literally makes as much sense as me saying "Super Mario World shouldn't include the Double Mario power-up, because it wouldn't have worked in Super Mario Bros and they would've had to change Super Mario Bros." How will female Link detract, not from Ocarina of Time, not from Skyward Sword, not from Wind Waker, but from this game? I'm genuinely curious to know what your reasoning is, but so far, again, you've only explained how the feature wouldn't work in every other Zelda game except the one it's in.
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The writers have three choices for the story of this game, given a female character option.
1. Write the story from a purely gender-neutral perspective.
2. Write the story from the perspective of one of the two genders, and simply flip pronouns for the other without paying any regard to how much sense it makes.
3. Write two very different variations of the same story for both genders.
I'll start by reiterating that I am all for number 3. If Nintendo goes that extra distance and does this, I have no complaints. This is the same route that Persona 3 Portable took, and it was a much better game for it. With that said, I really don't think Nintendo is going to go the extra mile with this one, it's going to exponentially increase the amount of work the writers and localization team have to do and I'm not entirely confident they'd be willing to make that happen. Feel free to pose some counter-arguments to this because I really want to believe that Nintendo WOULD do this.
1 simply limits creativity. They wouldn't be able to create potentially really interesting characters that interact with the protagonist differently. As mentioned before, Groose is an example of a beloved character who just wouldn't be as fun if he were written to accommodate for a gender-neutral script. I'm not saying every game NEEDS characters like that, but to restrict the writing to accommodate for that is unnecessary. Furthermore, it limits Link's OWN interactions with other characters by making him far more of an avatar and less of a character of his own. The problem isn't that they can't write a good story that's gender neutral, the problem is that there's more potential for interesting interactions from both Link and NPC's if it isn't gender neutral.
I shouldn't have to explain why I don't want number 2 to be the case, but it'll result in a game where one gender is blatantly superior to the other.
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Originally Posted by Esteban Colberto
Of course Link is an avatar for the player. The developers have constantly said as much. He simply has affectations of personality so you know whose boots you, as the player, are getting into. An avatar doesn't have to be a blank slate. He's not a stick-man, he's a courageous elf-boy warrior, and the point is you're supposed to want to be and feel like you *are that*. If he's your idea of a fully-formed character I suggest you read a novel. About Groose... even assuming he wouldn't act that way with a girl, there's no reason why they couldn't write new characters just as compelling (and hopefully moreso, Groose is vastly overrated in my opinion). It worked for Mass Effect.
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Link has some aspects of an avatar, and some aspects of a character of his own. He's not purely one or the other and I don't expect that to ever be the case. I've already said that he works well as a character you can project yourself onto, but that has to do with his relatability, not his lack of character. I don't know when I gave you the impression that I think he's a fully-formed character, but he's a lot more of a character than most avatar characters and I want him to stay that way. It's difficult to relate to a character like Pokemon Trainer Red because he's a complete blank slate. It's not difficult to relate to Link, because he has plenty of personality beyond being easy to project yourself onto.
Sure, they could write new compelling characters from a gender-neutral standpoint, but they'd be unable to write compelling characters from a gender-specific standpoint. Without the option, both are possible.
Also, this isn't completely relevant, but it's worth noting that the folks at Nintendo have stated that Ocarina of Time is a story about growing up. It's not just about being a cool action hero like you say, it's about experiencing what Link does through his perspective. Link is a tool used to explore the central themes of whatever game he's currently in. In OOT, this means growing into an adult and taking responsibility (among many other examples, not properly understanding Ruto's proposal as a child and then discovering that he's actually hurt her as an adult).