Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Y'know, I really can't do anything with a source that's just in French, so I just have it on your word, @Octane, that there won't be the same kind of dungeons Zelda has always had.

Regardless, there's still several mountaintops perpetually cloaked in clouds as well as the Shadow of the Colossus creatures that by all appearances have 'shrines' inside of them. And then there's Hyrule Castle itself, that strange island, the basin carved out of the snowy mountain, something weird in the desert, and the peak of Death Mountain.

Lol, put it on your CV.

@Octane There's aren't any copies of the original Japanese transcript of that Aonuma's response are there - assuming he didn't reply in perfect French? (Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if he knew a bit).

Given that it seems to be a French outlet performing the interview, it doesn't make much sense for them to publish the untranslated script, but... well, it'd be more useful than taxing my appalling French.

Not that I have any doubt in your translation, but it'd be interesting to know a bit around the surrounding context in which the statement was made.

EDIT: Does "Don't know what the original translation said" essentially mean "no"?

I mean, the original reply could still EXIST in that case, but it doesn't seem likely.

@Haru17 @Octane Hey guys, there most probably will be more traditional Dungeons in the game, themed or not!

Back in Summer 2016 when they showcased the Shrines at E3, they made a point to talk about the difference between Dungeons and Shrines.

The way Theresa starts the subject sounds like they planned to talk about it. They way they talk about it sounds like they have certain knowledge of the subject or had even played the Dungeons!

> Theresa: "We should also talk about the difference between Dungeons and Shrines because they're not one and the same in this game."
> Audrey: "They're not. Shrines are SUPPLEMENTARY TO DUNGEONS. I don't want to give away too much. Yeah, there are a ton of Shrines - over a hundred Shrines. There's so many. They're just gonna be a little sprinkling of things to do on your experience. But yes, there are Dungeons IN THE SENSE THAT ZELDA FANS ARE USED TO."
> Theresa: "Exactly."

Of course they might be wrong in the details, since they're just NoA reps, and not the devs. But I'm pretty confident they weren't just making that up. These "Dungeons" they're talking about could be the same "longer Shrines with bosses at the end" that Aonuma was talking about in the French interview, but at least we know that they're gonna be similar to what "Zelda fans are used to" as opposed to the short "Shrines of Trials".

EDIT: Oh my goodness, I had to edit that post so many times because I kept finding typos, plus I noticed that it was actually Theresa who started to talk about the subject! :-------D

@Moshugan Yeah, that's one of the things I remember, as well as a comment in the French interview. It seems highly irregular that they would say something incorrect given how short of a marketing cycle this game has had since the E3 2016 re-reveal.

@Haru17 Yeah! I definitely believe the Treehouse representatives had played a considerable chunk of the game at that point, so they could give explanations from genuine experience.

"Well, first of all it's going to be impossible for you to 100% complete Breath of the Wild!" I'm not sure if Aonuma means within the time limits they are discussing, or overall.

Miyamoto mentions that players decide how Link is powered up - possible branching paths or choice of quests? If so, this could mean it's impossible to fully complete the game in any one play through. I suspect they are talking about the interviewer's daily/weekly time limit but it's hard to tell.

Also, I'm pretty sure we've already seen a dungeon in the recent trailer - the scenes showing huge cogs and wheels (unless that was another shrine).

@Monkey_Balls I love Aonumas reaction at 11:21!
I think he meant that Jirard couldn't complete it in a one week time frame.
Haha, coincidentally I linked the video time signature at where the gogs and wheels you mention are shown, before reading your post carefully..

@Haru17 @Octane @Maxz Oh, and one thing I noticed from the third trailer, is that there's going to be at least two types of Shrines. The Sheikah controlled blue, intact and sealed ones that have the monk at the end, and Calamity Ganon corrupted ones that are more brownish and have Ganon's goo all over the place. You can see it at 3:01 in the third trailer.

@Maxz True, but if that's the case, then either the translator did a terrible job (and I mean making stuff up kind of terrible) or Aonuma was talking nonsense.

All I can say regarding my period of playtime with this game: Goodbye non-work life. 100%Ing this game will take me ages.

@Tyranexx That's the spirit! Ironically, the game comes right after my Spring holiday week.

I thought so too but even after watching a few times I still can't be sure.

[@ 1:45]
Jirard: "My job on YouTube has become a unique one over the years. Every week I take one video game and in less than 7 days I do my best to 100% beat it, and complete every aspect about it, and I talk about my journey. With BotW, the journey is obviously going to take me more than 7 days, but when creating such a rich world like Zelda how does it feel to finally reach the end of the journey of creating this game?"
Aonuma: "Well, first of all it's going to be impossible for you to 100% complete Breath of the Wild!"
J: "I like the challenge."
A: "Oh, yes, please! Take on the challenge!"

[@ 7:48]
A: "If you want, you can actually approach the final boss from the get-go."
J: "That's awesome."
Miyamoto: "You might be able to beat the game in one day! Well, maybe not everything."
A: "So, you're trying to do everything? Your goal is not just to beat the final boss?"
J: "I've gotta get every, single thing in this game."
A: "Yeah, that's impossible. Though, you can you go to the final boss. But if you try to beat it, you'll likely be defeated. In order to beat the boss, you'll need to make Link stronger. In order to do that you'll need to explore the world and look for items. After playing long enough you'll be experienced enough to sense when you're ready to battle the final boss. It's almost like choosing your own destiny!"
M: "How you navigate the game is really up to you. You can choose when you want to beat the game or battle the final boss. It's been a long time since we've made a game like this. You can choose how Link gets powered up. You might want to increase your stamina, or you might want to increase your hearts. Aside from that, there's such a diverse world to play in and explore with this game."

[@ 11:20 - Jirard details how he's finished every Zelda game 100%]
A: "Oh man! You may be able to complete it!" (chuckles)

I don't know... the talk of being able to choose when you complete the game - sensing when to battle the boss via experience (rather than being informed via story?) - and how to upgrade Link's abilities (deciding between stamina or hearts) makes me wonder if BotW can actually be completed 100% in one play through (if at all). It seems pretty open ended.

Regarding the shrines with Ganon's goo, maybe they are the four boss dungeons? Oh, and BotW's release date is a day after my birthday. I'm hoping the gaming Gods (well, Amazon) deliver it early...

@Monkey_Balls Hahah, well you'll have another party when it finally arrives!
I ordered from Amazon as well. The delivery takes some time, so the question is do they ship like a day before so it'll arrive on launch day or as close to it as possible, or do they ship at launch day? ;p

@Moshugan I've been using Amazon (UK) for years. They generally ship pre-orders a few days before launch. Most of my pre-orders have arrived 1-2 days before release date. Of course, now I've jinxed it, meaning my BotW order will be delayed somehow...

The real question is: Do I also keep my Switch/BotW pre-order or just stick with the Wii U version? Think I'll be contemplating that one for a while yet.

@Monkey_Balls @Octane

Speaking of slightly iffy translations, the subtitles under Jirard's video don't tell the whole story. For example, Mr. Aonuma's reply to "...how does it feel to finally reach the end of the journey of creating this game?" at 2:13 is (verbatim):

"まず、一週間で全クリは無理です（笑）"

Which should really be translated as:

"First of all, [let me say that] 100% clearing it within a week is impossible (laughs)"

Stick the above sentence into Google Translate if you're curious. It probably won't recognise the "全クリ" bit (a slightly unusual word formed by mixing the character for 'entire/whole' with the first two syllables of the English word 'clear' [à la Pokémon smooshing together 'Pocket' and 'Monsters'] to give an analogous term to what we would call "100%ing something"). However, "一週間で" is completely unambiguous. It means, "within/during a week". I'm not sure whether the translator at the event dropped that part, or whether it was dropped during the subtitling phase, but either way it should really be there. It's very explicitly stated.

EDIT: With the rest of the quotes, I don't believe there's been anything much left out. There's a bit of natural ambiguity about the time frame even without things getting lost in translation, but it's my belief that after the point that Mr. Miyamoto says "You might be able to clear the game in one day" (and then falls back on the sofa laughing), that becomes the established time frame for the rest of the conversation. Mr. Aonuma clarifies, "but you want to clear everything, not just beat the boss, right?", to which Jirard basically says "yes" and Aonuma replies "in that case it's impossible (smiles)". It's basically clarifying what Mr. Miyamoto's meant in his comment about being able to "clear" the game in a day. Beat the boss? Yes. 100% clear everything? Nope.

Long story short, the game has quite a lot of content (which we knew), and an extremely open ended structure which allows you to "approach" the boss pretty much immediately (which we knew). There's nothing in the interview to suggest that the game is in any way uncompletable (or un-100%-able), and it seems unlikely, given how the game encourages you to explore every aspect of its wide world. Demanding multiple playthroughs of an already gargantuan game seems excessive.

It's a nice interview anyway. I like how Jirard doesn't shy away from making it all soppy and emotional and stuff. Even if he thinks "synonymous" is synonymous with "renowned".

@Maxz That's some really fascinating insight! It does seem strange that the translator would drop such an important time signifier — it seemed like the entire quote was relying on it.

@Haru17 Yeah, it's... pretty poor to be honest. It's quite pivotal to the meaning of the sentence, and I can't believe the translator didn't pick up on it because it's perfectly enunciated, and also one of the most basic, common pieces of information to translate. You might well learn it... within a week of studying the language (ba-dum-tish!). But seriously, you might.

What we get instead is:

"It's going to be impossible for you to 100% complete Breath of the Wild!"

Which sounds like a pretty absolute declaration. I'm not surprised @Monkey_Balls was tempted to take it at face value.

Further muddying the waters is that the word used - "無理/muri" - doesn't necessary mean "literally impossible". It can equally mean, "absurd", "ridiculous" or "unreasonable".

So even within a week, there haven't been any concrete statements made about absolutely impossibility of the task. I suspect it is possible, but as Mr. Aonuma might have put it, probably pretty ridiculous for the average player to attempt.

Then again, people seemingly shot to level 50 in Splatoon almost overnight (it's taken me months and I'm still not there). That was pretty ridiculous, and I even recall one of the developers voicing some concern for the players who did it. So yeah, the ridiculous and the impossible are not the same thing, and among some gamers, doing the ridiculous doesn't even seem that uncommon.

And on that note, I need some sleep. Night night!

I didn't get that for a second, but that's some pretty epic wordplay. Great job

I bet when it says you can fight the boss immediately it means you need like 10 different bits of equipment to even damage him through some elaborate sequence of actions. So you can fight him immediately but you won't yet be able to bounce off the ground with the Hylian Pogo Stick and cling onto the edge of the castle using the Goron Strength Gloves before jump down with slow motion and shooting Calamity Gannon with the Monado Arrows.

@Dezzy You had me until 'Monado arrows.'

I'm sure blue-glowing fantasy weapons go back way further than Star Wars.

But anyway, I hope Link gets the power bracelets / golden gauntlets so he can just chuck those boulders around. Just imagine him playing a more physical version of Dead Man's Volley with a Hinox, or using the gauntlets in conjunction with stasis for some weird, time-bendy physics hijinks.