The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U/NX March 2017)

[Squirrel Emperor]

The New Zelda Might Not Have Puzzles You Expect

Schreier: I just have to slip in one question that a lot of people are wondering—Mr. Aonuma, you've talked a lot about changing traditions and shifting away from the series formulas. Can you give me one example of a tradition that people are familiar with in Zelda that you've changed in a big way for the new Zelda that you're working on for next year?

Aonuma: So you know we've talked a little bit today about the puzzle-solving element in Zelda, and how that's kinda taken a different shape in Hyrule Warriors. But I think people have come to just assume that puzzle-solving will exist in a Zelda game, and I kinda wanna change that, maybe turn it on its ear.

As a player progresses through any game, they're making choices. They're making hopefully logical choices to progress them in the game. And when I hear 'puzzle solving' I think of like moving blocks so that a door opens or something like that. But I feel like making those logical choices and taking information that you received previously and making decisions based on that can also be a sort of puzzle-solving. So I wanna kinda rethink or maybe reconstruct the idea of puzzle-solving within the Zelda universe.

Eiji Aonuma Wants Zelda U to Give Players More Freedom to ‘Choose Their Path the Story Takes’

Eiji Aonuma: The impact of the player character on the environment that has been, and really, having the player experience the impact, is something that is consistent through all versions of the Zelda games, but I want to continue to have players experience that and even build upon that experience. In traditional Zelda games there is kind of an order in which you do things. You can’t do 3 until you do 1 and 2 for example. But with the new Zelda game, I really want to open the opportunities up for the players to really make an impact on their environment and to give them a little more freedom to choose their path the story takes.

 

[yeah_93]

The New Zelda Might Not Have Puzzles You Expect



Eiji Aonuma Wants Zelda U to Give Players More Freedom to ‘Choose Their Path the Story Takes’

I'd welcome more complicated and varied puzzles. Zelda hasn't disappointed in that regard, but it'd be good to see a new, bolder direction.

As for the "choose the path of the story" bit, that might be a tad less exciting, because it'll probably mean "choices" which lead to different endings, and I wouldn't like that in a Zelda. But who knows.

 

[yeah_93]

At least in Zelda games.

 

[Squirrel Emperor]

Zelda Boss Promises To Stop Overdoing Tutorials

Schreier: So in Skyward Sword, a few years ago, I think that a lot of people loved that game—I enjoyed that game quite a bit—but one of the biggest criticisms or complaints was that it took a very long time to actually jump into the gameplay because there were a lot of tutorials and a lot of introduction and cut-scenes in the beginning. Then Link Between Worlds came along and you just jumped in right away. So I wonder, when planning for future games, are you going to go more towards that Link Between Worlds approach or Skyward Sword, or something in between? How do you feel about intros and tutorials these days?

Aonuma: Yes. When we created Skyward Sword, I really felt the need to make sure that everyone playing the game understood it. But I also understand now, in hindsight, that when you go out and buy a game, you buy the game because you want to play it, and you don't want to have any obstacles in the way. And I guess it was received as a bit of an obstacle. In a game, it's when you get stuck, when you want that help. And I kinda frontloaded all that in Skyward Sword, and it doesn't really help to get that information when you don't know what to do with it. So that was a real learning experience for me. So I'm going to be careful not to do that.

This Zelda is shaping up to being a good one. They're saying all the right things.

 

[Azuardo]

Has the potential to be the best 3D Zelda in many years...or even ever.

One thing I want to know is: where exactly do the guys at Nintendo get their feedback? I mean, I know fans (me included) have complained about tutorials and other things in Zelda for a long time (linearity is another, which they're addressing), but it's not like I've ever had the chance to tell Nintendo my thoughts personally. I wish I knew where Nintendo got its feedback, as I'd love to tell them more of what I want. I know they do Club Nintendo surveys for some games now and again, but I don't recall doing one for Skyward Sword, and that can't be their only source. But I'm glad it's getting to them either way.

 

[yeah_93]

Hope it doesn't end up being all talk.

 

[Squirrel Emperor]

Aonuma on Multiplayer

Game Informer: In a previous Nintendo Direct presentation, you outlined a few pillars of the Zelda series you wanted to rethink. One was taking dungeons out of order, which saw fruition in Link Between Worlds, and the other pillar you mentioned wanting to rethink was playing Zelda by yourself. Is Hyrule Warriors a step in that direction? Are we going to have to multiplayer in the next Zelda?

Aonuma:The two-player functionality of Hyrule Warriors is actually something that has traditionally been done in the Dynasty Warriors series, but they’ve changed because of the hardware and the second screen on your GamePad. Instead of having a splitscreen on the television, you have one-player playing on the television and one on the GamePad. When I was talking back about making Zelda more than just a single-player experience? That’s something you will see in the future, maybe next year.

Aonuma on if Link is a Boy or Girl

Kotaku: There was a lot of talk about the main character of the trailer—is it Link, is it not Link, is it a boy, is it a girl? One of the big questions that it got people talking about is: Would we ever be able to play as a female hero in a Zelda game? Is that something you've ever thought about, or something you're considering?

Aonuma: The main character isn't actually Link—it's the player. Of course we have to have a main character in the story, so Link is that main character. But I don't want him to be like a superhero. I want him to represent any player, have that possibility. So that's why I don't really know if we need or want to define it so clearly.

Aonuma on Playable Female Characters

Aonuma: Is it that simple—that creating a female character means bringing more female users into the world?

Schreier: I guess what I mean is, when I'm playing and I see a man—in response to what you said about Link being a representation for the player, and the player being the main character—when a man is playing, he can feel more represented by the player character than a woman playing might.

Aonuma: So there are actually many female characters you can play as in Hyrule Warriors. We've introduced Midna, we've introduced Princess Zelda, and Impa as well. So if that connection needs to be there—I'm not saying that it does—let's see what happens with Hyrule Warriors, if as a result of there being more female protagonists, more women pick up the game, I'm all for it, so I've decided to see what happens with this title.

Schreier: So I know that you can play as Zelda and Midna in Hyrule Warriors. A lot of people have been looking at that and saying, 'Hey, I would love a game where I could play as Zelda, or Sheik'—have you ever thought about making a game where you get to play as Zelda and Sheik as the main character or hero?

Aonuma: I mentioned this earlier, but there are female characters in Hyrule Warriors, and I'd like to see what the result is of people actually being able to do all these things they want to, and if we get the results that in fact do say if people are given the opportunity to play as a female character, then more people will start playing, my ultimate goal is to have as many people as possible enjoy a game so I'd like to see what happens with Hyrule Warriors.

Aonuma on Voice Acting

Kotaku: You've talked a lot about shaking up the series traditions, and kinda changing things for Zelda in some big ways. For either Hyrule Warriors or future Zelda games like the one you just announced, would you ever consider giving Link voice acting and a personality?

Aonuma: Actually the voice issue is a little bit tricky. We could just make him talk, we could just give him a voice and have him speak, but does that add to how fun the game is? Does that add to the experience? It might actually just make it the same as a lot of other games. By not having him talk, it kinda lowers the hurdle for the player to really feel attached to Link, so that's something that I'm still having to think about.

 

[yeah_93]

http://mmgn.com/wiiu/articles--mr-aonuma-talks-the-size-of-zelda-wii-u-world

MMGN: This is the first truly open world in a Zelda game — you showed how Zelda has progressed since the NES in terms of map layout and movement — so in the biggest world yet, how “big” can we expect?

Mr. Aonuma: "In terms of the scale of the new Zelda world on Wii U, I always think of Kyoto as my base.

Do you know Kyoto?"

So, what do you think? is he saying the world is as big as Kyoto? Is it a cryptic statement? Is he trolling?

 

[Squirrel Emperor]

Could have misunderstood the question.

Really don't know what he means by that. Perhaps he means how Kyoto is structured? I don't think he literally means Zelda U will be as big as Kyoto.

 

[darkbahamut]

I'm genuinely more excited for this than I was for Skyward Sword (which I was only excited for mere months before it was released), and I think this will really justify a Wii U purchase in more ways than many people seem to think.

Having said that, I do hope that Nintendo avoid a slow start, like in the previous 3D games (TP and SS took way too long to get going), and throw us into a dungeon within the first 30 minutes of the game. That's was one of the many plus points of the original game and OoT, and this was done recently with ALBW, so this shouldn't be too much to ask.

 

[Squirrel Emperor]

The official description from the Japanese hub page says that there will be a new nemesis.

I imagine Ganon will still be in it though.

 

[yeah_93]

I saw that. I hope it's a cool villain, Ganon doesn't need to be there.

 

[Squirrel Emperor]

Another GameXplain trailer analysis video.

 

[Squirrel Emperor]

This was shown at the Game Awards.

 

[Azuardo]

Wish it was direct feed.

Looks barren and has a lot of targets to meet if it wants to use open world well, but I won't dwell on it - it's still likely less than a year till release, so still a long way to go.

 

[yeah_93]

Come on Nintendo, release the footage without Miyamoto and Aonuma. I want to see the game in its full glory. So far it looks awesome, I hope I can immerse myself in the world.

 

[Azuardo]

I'm gonna think of it as a tease. Just get the idea of what's the gameplay gonna be like. I expected more of Zelda news in 2015 to be honest. The game awards took me by surprise.

I thought the same actually - I'm treating the video as a bonus, a special treat. I thought they would be keeping this under wraps till E3, so didn't expect any new footage till then. Definitely nice to see something, but do hope that barren world gets improved. That was one of TP's major problems.

 

[Squirrel Emperor]

It was a surprise to me cause Nintendo usually doesn't show off games like this until closer to release or in a Nintendo Direct. Definitely a treat I think. Zelda I think is E3 material so Geoff scored big on this one. If this were the VGAs on Spike, Nintendo probably wouldn't have shown it due to Spike's demographic and last year(and previous years) disasters.

It was nice to see things a bit more fair and balanced this time. Gives me hope.

 

[LeonBlade]

Looked like a fun game, too bad I don't plan on getting a Wii U.

 

[LeonBlade]

I'm going to be dead straight: It's really your loss. You're going to miss a lot.

There are a few games that I would get a Wii U for, but it doesn't justify the cost for me right now. Perhaps in the future!