A Fistful of Rupees Vol. 1 : Link's bastard son?

I originally posted this on The BS Zelda Homepage forum, but it's mostly blog-esque anyway so I'm reposting it here. I do intend to continue this series, and I've already got multiple drafts in varying stages of completion, but I'll only post when I've got something as intricate as this to publish.

This is the first in my new series of articles and exploratory debates that I call A Fistful of Rupees. As you can tell, it's inspired by Behind the Rupees, but I've got a few of my own twists, and I'm going to try to avoid covering any topics that they have already done an incredible job on. I doubt I could bring anything new to the table, and so I am instead focusing on topics that they have overlooked or not thought important enough. Anyway, on with the show.

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A Fistful of Rupees Vol. I : Link's bastard son? A fresh look at the upcoming Wind Waker-lookalike, Wiki.

Every Zelda site under the sun is focussing on Zelda 2005 right now. However, The BS Zelda Homepage has always been different, so I decided I ought to start this series with something unique. Other Zelda sites have mentioned it in their news, but not really *examined* it, which is what I am now going to do.



Now look at these two logos... you'd say both were concept art for the same game, wouldn't you? It even has the same curly wave things. That's just going too far already, right?

But wait, there's more! When I first saw the Wiki screenshots I immediately thought "WOW! Wind Waker II!" Even though there's never been a direct sequel to any game in the series, except in the case of AST, that was still my initial thought.

What's in a name?

What does Wiki mean anyway? Well, it's got nothing to do with the latest internet trend, editable-by-all web content. If they're using the dictionary definition, Wiki is derived from wiki-wiki, a Hawaiian bastardisation of the English "quickly quickly". By choosing a Hawaiian-derived name, this seems to indicate an islandy theme. Yet another slap in the face for The Wind Waker.

A non-Zelda Zelda game?!? Well, yes.



Unfortunately IGN gave away the answer as to which was which, but without that caption how would you know? IGN made a good comparison, you've even got the yellow child on one side and the yellow dog on the other. Very well chosen screenshots. Now we all know "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" but to me this is a bit too close to the bone.

Spot the Difference



Which is Link? Um, er, um, darn, they both look so alike, I can't tell. Did Link change his clothes between photo shoots? Wait, this is taken with the DX Pictobox, right? Let's take a closer look at Link... and, er, "Link II".

Now this is just plain silly. The hair, the eyes, the blue, the orange highlights (albeit a different shade, orange is *still* orange), the wisp of a nose, heck, even the eyebrows are identical. It's like they edited the ISO or something. Laughably, RuliGames alludes to it being an expansion pack spinoff!

Who the heck is Webzen?

Now, why would a company do something that's so obviously legally dangerous? In a word, publicity.
Ever heard of Webzen? No? They're a big Korean MMO developer. MU Online? No? It's a current Webzen MMO. Ever heard of All Points Bulletin? No? It's an upcoming Webzen MMO. And the list, no doubt, could go on. But have you heard of Wiki? Oh, yes. See? The system works.

So because their games are otherwise unknown they are looking for ways to make headlines and get noticed.

""The number of variables are in the tens of thousands," said Webzen representative Choi Hyun-woo in an interview with Korean newspaper JoongAng Daily, "We are still in the middle of developing the game, which will begin closed testing services in December." Now they spew this crap about there being thousands of character customisations possible, but it seems rather ironic that of all those "infinite" combinations the one they chose to create to show us was a dead-ringer for Link. You can't tell me that the Wiki hero is *not* Link... and it looks like Nintendo won't have a bar of it either. It's not open fighting yet, no-one's thrown any punches, they're still in their corners and the bell has yet to ring. Nintendo merely said they were taking "natural steps", but even so, that's fighting talk. We know what those steps will be. Better worded, sure, but they might as well come right out and say "Leave our Link well alone, don't make us bankrupt your sorry thieving asses!!!"

But this is all good as far as Webzen is concerned! As long as they can tread this thin line between "dangerous allusions" and "direct ripoffs" they will make a mint. So far, they are still on the trapese, but at any minute they could tumble like the City of Heroes' creators did. But why? Why risk it all, risk everything you've programmed and planned over months, all for what? Who's gonna buy this game? Well, everyone. Or, at least, the fanboys, and we all know that's where the motherload of sales lie for this particular gem.

OMG its liek ww but wit way hella better gfx n stuf! it r0x0rs!!1!

When Zelda 2005 was announced some fanboys cried because they preferred WW's style, and wrote 50-page pledges to Nintendo about how the cel-shaded style was the best representation of Link's vulnerability and so on. Mindless crap. Who do they think they are?!? Only Miyamoto and Anouma have any say on core Zelda content. Capcom writes some stuff but no doubt it has the hand of Miyamoto upon it too. Miyamoto invented Zelda, plain and simple, then Anouma expanded upon it (or, some would say, wrecked it), and they don't need 12-year-old fanboys telling them what to do for the next game! The graphics are planned around the game's story and features, not the other way around! If they'd kept with the kiddie style we could never see a "serious" Zelda like OOT or Zelda 2005 again. That sort of serious mood and combat and plotline wouldn't fit WW's hawaiian holiday graphics.
If this game had come up on a gaming site without Link being featured, people would have talked about the visual style being unique and maybe someone would have twigged to the fact that it was reminiscent of WW, but most would have said, "meh, gimme WW any day over THIS crap. WW looks better IMO!" It would have just been yet another upstart MMO trying to play with the big boys (Everquest, Ultima, etc.). But by including this ripoff character (let's call him "Liki") Webzen has irreversibly planted the seed in the collective subconscious. People's attitude towards the game are now different from what they might have been. A certain percentage will say "I hate them they're robbing Nintendo blind!" (one ZFGCer's wording was "Zelda's been voilated!") but a large proportion will actually want to play the game. Heck, even *I* want to try it, merely because of its Zelda ripoff nature. Nothing else really, I can't think of one good reason to try it besides that.

Now it's one thing for a game to be strikingly similar to another and ride on the fame of its usually superior predecessors (Crash Bandicoot, Croc, Spyro, Ty, Scaler, etc. etc. etc.), but this is different. Their entire marketing strategy and so on is centered around the Wind Waker style. Love it, hate it, WW is here to stay, and so it appeals to two groups, those looking for more and wishing there was a WW sequel, and those who can't/won't afford a 'Cube just to try the game.

Previous cash-ins

A few games in the past have tried to cash in on the latest Zelda at the time, but usually only gameplay-wise. The only one to really try to be a graphics clone was Crusader of Centy for the SEGA Genesis.



Crusader of Centy cashed in on A Link to the Past mainly because Genesis owners were looking on in envy, and we all know unhappy fanboys hurt sales! However it had its own storyline and hero and gameplay mechanics; the only real inspiration was a vague LTTP-ish graphical angle and colouration style, and the insides of houses and dungeons didn't feature Zelda's bizarre "see all walls at once" camera angle. It was clearly an inspired game, but it took the vague idea and ran with it. Wiki ran, but, despite its name's speed-related origins, it sure didn't run far! Wiki is riding on one huge fan wave here.

The tides of fame

The fame waves are steadily rising. The "I miss WW! I hate the 2005 style!" crowd may well latch onto it when released. Through their tears, as if in a vision, a game rises from the ashes. It's not Wind Waker II, sure, but it's better than nothing which is exactly what they've got right now.

But as waves rise, so too they crash down. And it seems Wiki's will be crashing sooner than intended, but not necessarily due to the threatened lawsuit on the horizon. Crusader of Centy cashed in while LTTP was still the hot topic, but as for the current period with Wind Waker, the focus has shifted to the new bad-ass Link of Zelda 2005. Will Zelda fans want to go back to the "kiddie" style again after drooling over the new game's videos and such? Or should Webzen have announced this game a year ago? I know it takes time to design a game, but even before Zelda 2005's appearance they'd already waited dangerously long to show off their cash-in; and in the meantime Zelda 2005 suddenly springs up. It not only takes the cake but also steals the show, the scene, first base, first prize, the oversize cardboard cheque, the sports car, and the bikini babe on its hood.

Zelda 2005 has blasted into the gaming community after the lull that was (like it or not) known as The Wind Waker, and has potentially made the Zelda license stronger than it has ever been in its two decades of existence. So, what now? What slice of the pie is left for Wiki when it's been outmoded by the cooler graphical style? Will the WW-lovin' fanboys be enough to pull in the sales they want, or will the ones who have already given up on WW and changed their focus to Zelda 2005's graphics turn their noses up at it as a ripoff of their "lost love"?

But even if the style being superceded doesn't affect *sales*, there's still the ongoing gameplay "coolness" to consider. They need to keep gamers hooked, because we all know the money's in the subscriptions when it comes to a MMO. When people actually play it, will they leave the hi-res textured beaches of Wiki bare merely because when they actually get to try it the gameplay's not Zelda enough for them? According to the joys of Translator English it's a "FPS MMO", rather than "click, wait, click, wait" like the majority of money-spinners. So it sounds like the gameplay will be Zelda-ish enough to swing it, but even so it's not like they can get away with featuring the Hookshot and Boomerang and other Zelda "trademark" items such as we expect to see in a Zelda game.

It's one thing to buy a one-off game (like WW itself), find you don't like it, chuck it in the closet but still get it out to play once in a while... but Wiki's not like that. It will have signup fees, so whatever money you put into it before you decide you don't like it is lost forever (unless they have some sort of creit redemption system). And so there'll no doubt be dozens of Zelda fans bemoaning how awful the gameplay is and how they prepaid for a 3-year discounted subscription and so on. And they'll never go back, because they can't, that'd cost more money, and even if they could still continue with their unused subscription credits all the other players would have hugely higher levels by then and so they'd never catch up. Whereas a single-payment game, whether online or offline, can be picked up later. Hey, just 'cause it sucks you can still play it if you're bored, it's "free" anyway. Whereas looking at that Wiki box in the closet and remembering how much hard cash you essentially poured down the gurgler over those months that you played it may make players loathe the game even more than the average

Not to say the fact it's an MMO alone will kill it, but if it is an un-Zelda MMO then Zelda fanboys will likely leave and not return because they probably want Zelda graphics and gameplay together or no Zelda at all. So all Webzen's design efforts and monthly improvements may actually result in a loss of profitability.

The future?

What lies ahead for Wiki? Stormy seas that rock the boat and capsize it, sending it to a watery grave, or gentle waves, perfect for all-day surfing? Will Zelda fansites add side sections for it as a reluctant "cousin" of the Zelda series, or will it be cancelled and demoted to an "other games" page beside the infamous crappiness of the CD-i games as merely a side note? Only time, and potential Nintendo lawsuits, will tell. In closing, I think things shall become very interesting in these next few monts. You can find more about Wiki at these sites. —Garrett

News sites:
IGN Cube: Nintendo on Possible Copyright Violation, the news update that started it all!
RuliWeb news article (Korean) with some very good comparisons and hi-res screens.
Gamasutra (Korean) with some users' thoughts on the matter.
Game Meca (English!) with more info and details
Chosun's coverage (Korean) with some more thoughts.

Forum threads:
Zelda Fan Game Community: "Zelda has been violated!"
Zelda Elements discussion
the old BS Zelda forum thread (404'ed!)