Z-Target vs Free Camera

Remember Ocarina of Time, where it introduced the awesomely useful Z-Target? And I’m pretty sure everyone’s played a game where the camera is adjustable. Now, a couple of days ago, I had a little argument with my brother on how the Z-Target is better.

And he didn’t quite agree.

Apparently, the Z-Target was just plain annoying, and kept snapping back to bad places, and you had to go through a whole lot of trouble to use it.

So, I thought, IT'S ON!

Me:

Z-Target was possibly one of the most revolutionary concepts in all of gaming – introduced by Zelda: Ocarina of Time, it was part of the reason why the combat in Ocarina of Time worked out so well. And then, after Ocarina of Time, people actually got a better idea of how combat in games like Zelda should work – they’re all variations of the Z-Target!

Onto explaining how it works – basically, you hold Z … and that’s it. It targets the enemy just like that. You can strafe around the enemy with ease, simply by pushing the Control Stick in a direction and pressing A. Just repeat that, and you’ll be sitting pretty in all Zelda battles, making stuff a lot less complicated, compared to games where you run and the camera snaps to bad positions. Also, the camera is always focused on the enemy, so the before mentioned dodging is easy to do. Basically, every aspect of combat is streamlined so everything comes out naturally and intuitively – that’s what Z-Target is all about.

Brother:

How the hell is Z-Target useful? It might have been great ten years ago, but face it, it’s problematic. Even if you are Z-Targeting, the targeting will drop out when you need to be further away from the enemy. And what happened to the skill and prowess you had to master Free Camera battle systems? Z-Target can be a starter for casual gamers, but the true skill lies in Free Camera, where everything isn’t done for you.

Free Camera is also pretty explanatory – you can adjust the camera as you like it to be, and that’s it. It’s complete freedom in how you use it – not like the Z-Target, where it’s strictly set out for you to use it in one particular way. Also, with Z-Target, when you want to sprint away, (in Skyward Sword) the camera moves awkwardly between sprinting and Z-Targeting. Z-Target is for beginners – Free Camera systems are for the truly skilled, and it’s just better.


So who do you think is right?