According to the recent interview with IGN, Aonuma said that in addition to adding more realistic control to Link via WiiMotionPlus, they hope to "alter the typical Zelda flow". He says that the current flow seems to be that you explore one field, find a dungeon, beat the dungeon, move onto the next field, find that dungeon, etc. He said that they are looking to change that.
So what exactly does that entail? Well I have no idea. Discuss.
(Sorry if old)
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Yup. I would be excited if the franchise went in an entirely different direction this time around, as I'm not a big Zelda fan but know the developers have the talent to make a great game. So it would be a win win for me.
I trust Nintendo to make something fun to play, but I will miss the current setup. I know this system has bored a lot of gamers now, with Twilight Princess being the final nail in the coffin, but I still love it and hope the next Zelda doesn't stray too far from the 'field, to dungeon, to boss, to field' formula.
I know Nintendo will come up with something kewl, they haven't let me down yet.
Eiji Aonuma, director of the Legend of Zelda franchise, has an apology to make. "The Water Temple in the Ocarina of Time was notorious for being very tough to conquer," he says. "I am most sorry that it was not easy for you to put on and take off the heavy boots; that all the time you had to visit the inventory.
"I am," he continues, genuine regret evident in his tone, "very sorry about that. I should have made it much easier to switch to the heavy boots."
His favourite among his dungeon designs so far, the Ocarina of Time's ingenious Water Temple is marred in his eyes by this slight ergonomic flaw. "Aside from the problem with the boots," he continues, "I like the Water Temple so much."
Aonuma's first job for Nintendo was the design of the intricate temples and dungeons for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and he has been director of the Zelda franchise on every title since Ocarina's 1998 release, including the latest instalment, Spirit Tracks (released on DS on 7 December in the US and 11 December in the UK). He is also working on a new Wii addition to the series.
Welcome to the dungeon
His background, however, is in the design of marionettes, not video games. "At college, I was making wooden dolls. Not simple wooden dolls, but mechanical dolls, ones that were able to play musical instruments, able to dance. I loved people seeing them and being surprised, watching them wonder how these kind of things could be done, what kind of gimmicks were inside."
From the start, he says, it was clear there would be parallels between making these dolls and designing dungeons for games. "I did an interview , and had my first encounter with [Nintendo's chief developer] Shigeru Miyamoto, who happened to love the dolls I brought. He said: 'If you want to make things like that, Nintendo might be a good place for you to work.' So that's how I decided to work for the company."
Like Miyamoto, Aonuma confesses not to play games much as relaxation. Once again, he is apologetic, penitent. "Sometimes I hear stories of other developers who play video games in their leisure time in order to remove the stresses of video game-making. I am sorry that I cannot be that kind of hardcore gamer myself. Whenever a lot of people are playing with certain software, I try to play these games because I want to know what's in them that is capturing so much attention. That's part of my job, though."
Instead, Aonuma relaxes with music: he is the leader of a 40-piece band, founded by Nintendo employees. Their name is, of course, a Zelda reference: The Wind Wakers.
He admires the Professor Layton series of puzzle games on the DS for their "interesting presentation style", but says that he is no good at "jump games" such as Mario. "I always miss the point where I should land, and I always cry out and say 'Wait a minute, is this the end of the whole story? Is there no rescue from that?'" This is, he says, the root of Ocarina of Time's auto-jump system.
Aonuma approaches games as he approached his puppets: as a craft. They are mechanical puzzles, designed to inspire wonder as they are understood and solved. "Surprise" is a word he keeps returning to. He loved the way that his dolls "surprised people", and what first drew him to Nintendo was his observation that they were "trying to surprise people with video games". His highest praise for Miyamoto is that, after 12 years, he "still comes up with ideas that really surprise me". Surprise, for Aonuma, means the wonder of discovery.
It is because he does not want to spoil the "pleasant surprise" that he is reluctant to reveal details about the forthcoming Wii version. However, he does offer a teaser about transportation for the series' protagonist, Link.
"I have an eight-year-old son myself at home, and quite recently he started playing The Phantom Hourglass for DS, because when the software first hit the market he was too young. When he started playing with the boat, I told him: 'In the next Zelda, you are going to be able to ride on the train.' He answered: 'OK, Dad, first boat, and then train? Surely next time, Link is going to fly in the sky ... '"
Aonuma pauses, grinning. "I just don't know. If many people make many speculations ... some of them might be correct. Right now, I have to refrain from commenting on anything."
Wii move
One aspect of the Wii version that Aonuma is more than happy to talk about is its control system: it will be the first Zelda title to use MotionPlus.
"With this attachment, your minute hand movements are more precisely reflected … You can feel it so naturally and so intuitively. It's not just an improvement over the movement of Link himself: the realisation of your more minute movements on the screen will expand the entire gameplay. I believe that we will be able to offer some great innovations in the new Legend of Zelda. Of course I have to refrain from giving any details, but we are contemplating altering the way the game progresses in comparison with all the past Legend of Zelda franchises." He looks apologetic again as he catches himself short of giving something away. "But I have to stop talking here."
That actually is quite intriguing. Whilst I found Twilight Princess overlong and some of the puzzles infuriating (the worst ever was the sky temple where I dropped from the ceiling in the big hall towards the end only to find I needed to get up there again to hit a switch with a hook and had to go through the whole bloody thing again to get back up there), when you actually go through all that elaborate rubbish in the Water Temple or wherever and the the thing magically does whatever like clockwork, it really is quite impressive and satisfying.
I cannot say I'm excited about another Zelda, but that interview does have me more interested!
Water Dungeon after the Spirit Temple Nah. Wonder what the new progress'll be. Maybe they'll completely phase out Hyrule Field and replace that with something different, and more storyline-important. A bit like the central Clock Town in Termina. As glorious as it continues to be when you first see Hyrule Field in OoT, or Twilight Princess, or from the bridge to Ganon's castle in Wind Waker, it does continue to be little more than a large expanse of empty land with a few trees and the occasional Moblin for you to gallop around in and take potshots at ghosts. And is always invariably a pain to trek across on foot until you get the damn horse back.
That would be mindbending. I don't even think I'd be able to handle it. I mean, way to totally break up the monotony and predictability that Zelda has become, and that's why I play Zelda, monotony and predictability.
No no, that's not what it was...why did I play Zelda again? I've forgotten why...Please don't hurt me, it's just a joke...
The thing about Zelda for me is, make it too similar (Twilight Princess) and it bores me. Make it too different (Majora's Mask) and I don't enjoy it. They have to tread a fine line between familiarity and unique-ity (so I make up words, so what? ) for me to really feel like I enjoyed it, and so far, they haven't really pulled that off in my mind.
Hopefully this new Wii one will be able to play both sides and return Zelda to being one of my favorite franchises, because right now, I'm not a big fan of the series.
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There can only be one, like in that foreign movie where there could only be one, and in the end there is only one dude left, because that was the point.
The flight thing intrigues me. I had a dream a about a year ago where Link was just standing on top of a gigantic mountain, staring over the edge. After a few seconds of silence he jumps off, face first. He's falling really quickly, and as soon as he's about to hit the ground he transforms into a bird a swoops up into the air! It was really, really epic. Maybe they'll have more animal transformations for Link--a wolf, a bird, a fish or something. Kind of like Majora's Mask.
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Hmm...maybe Zelda is going to go more open-world? You could wander around wherever (moreso than in Twilgiht Princess, with the roped-off areas), and maybe even enter dungeons you aren't even ready for yet (a la Zelda 1, come to think of it). I can sort of imagine it, and it seems pretty damn cool...if that's what they're doing. We'll just have to wait and see. Right now, I'm running the 26-day countdown until I can play Spirit Tracks.
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Well, if the game is going to "alter the flow" of normal Zelda games, there can only be a few solutions to the to this weird problem;
#1. The game will have a central hub area, like Clock Town, which Raylax already mentioned.
#2. If Kid_A's dream is somehow what the developers are thinking (which has a 1/1,000,000,000 chance of being true), this gameplay could alter the flow since you could possibly fly to different lands (Termina + Hyrule + (insert name of land/area that has been featured in a Zelda game) in one Zelda game = PURE AWESOME!!!).
#3. The game could have some non-dungeon areas that have enemies, puzzles, and bosses, etc.
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Un... The flow inside the dungeon consists of alternating between puzzles and fight-fests, as well as obtaining a special item necessary for defeating the boss of the dungeon. ...
I could go for some more of the same Then again, I am all for something different. It's funny how so many complain about Zelda changing and about it not changing...actually, that's not funny at all...kind of sad really I remember a lot of people who wouldn't play WW because it was cell shaded... I also see tons comments about trains in Zelda...I do think it could use something a little more, but I'm fine with just having a slightly less sparse looking environments. The environments need to look alive (then you could have an easy contrast in select locations). I also like the idea of a slightly more advanced (technologically advanced, anyway) world.
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