Fans Should Expect "Something New" With Zelda Wii U, Says Eiji Aonuma

Can't wait to play this. I'm so excited

Hoooooo boy, I just got the first real pangs of want tonight 😄

" I think the base of our secret sauce has always been Ocarina of Time." one of his best quotes yet. Classic

I love how Ocarina of time is their 'secret sauce'! Hahaha!

Hopefully this means voice acting. It's time to bring Zelda into the 21st century.

Link is the Dragonborn?

All i hear is rumors, vague news... i just want the official name of Zelda U :/

He mentions Skyward Sword, eh? Does that mean Zelda U is infact a Wii U game?!?!

Sounds great, I'd lost my buzz for the new Zelda a bit! But more like this and I'll soon be boarding the hype train!!

"But this time, the change in flavour will be like going from Japanese food to Western style food. "

I'm not sure I like the sound of that.

So I guess this confirms there will be no voice acting if they are just working on text for the game now. Which I'm completely fine with, btw.

I should hope so! I'm still debating whether I'm going to to get Star Zero or not, cuz I don't want a SF64 clone. I hope he really does try to make it different. If he does, I will be really excited.

So much tease! More than my gif even. But honestly its just about 3 years late.

"Perhaps, players will be surprised"
Nope, nope, with all the respect to the legend Aounuma is, but after all this wait I expect the new Zelda to surprise me at least a little, no "perhaps"!

@abbyhitter The internet would have a meltdown if the voice of Link or Zelda do not match each and every person's exact expectations. In fact, it would explode if any character was not exact to their own interpretations regardless of how small the character's role maybe.

I'm actually so happy that we know literally nothing outside of the short clips they've shown us. While I think it's time a name and release date is revealed soon, I think keeping discrete details to a minimum is so rare these days.

I'd love for this to be an enormous surprise when it finally arrives and for us to be wowed by it.

Also, please break the formula of beating 3 dungeons, something climatic and Earth-shattering happens, and then beating 5 more dungeons after that. ALttP, OoT, TP, and SS did that.

@abbyhitter I hope it doesn't

"I think the base of our secret sauce has always been Ocarina of Time."

Which was nothing more than a rip-off/remake of A Link to the Past.
Man, I really hate Aonuma! He seriously needs to step away from the Zelda Series completely

Finally - some news about Zelda Wii U, even if it is very minor. I suspect we may get a few little bits like this over the next few months and then boom...massive E3 reveal and Nintendo steals the show.

Maybe we will find out ganon is links father. Link! I am your father. Nooooo

Definitely getting a Witcher/Xenoblade vibe from the "Western" comments. That's understandable, I never think of Zelda when I think JRPG.

Well at least Nintendo haven't forgotten about it.

"But this time, the change in flavour will be like going from Japanese food to Western style food"

Potentially a very revealing comment. Or it could just be a completely throwaway analogy. Time will tell. I'm not expecting to see anything substantial on Zelda until E3.
Back into the hype-bunker!

I hope there's no voice acting

This is very exciting news! I'm anxious to see how this "something new" comes into play.

Also the analogy comparing Japanese food to Western food has me intrigued. Maybe they are catering to Western audiences more with this release.

Whatever the case is, I'm just excited that the "Zelda formula" is getting shaken up again.

I like this approach. Imho Zelda is one of the series that made the best transition from 2D to 3D but then it kinda got stale in terms of gameplay. A very, very nice kind of stale. So I am ready for some changes. And I am sure Nintendo will deliver an open world with an unprecedented level of polish for the industry.

But this time, the change in flavour will be like going from Japanese food to Western style food.

Sounds good to me for a change! Though I still love OOT.

It's funny, the one comment that purely showed hate towards seems to hate everything else as well. I guess that's what they call an "Internet troll"

@pandarino Wholeheartedly agree. There has been a serious lack in innovation regarding gameplay and structure mechanics in the 3D games. Sure they've introduced odds and ends here or there, but the basic mechanics formula hasn't changed much.

Regardless of whatever the ''base'' from Ocarina of Time exactly entails for Aonuma and the rest of the team, I'm happy they're moving away from whatever it is and trying something fundamentally new. It sounds interesting on paper and hopefully will translate well in the final product.

@Maxz I know it's a joke, but that's a narrow view of western food there.

I really want voice acting, I don't think that mute universe is acceptable anymore!

Please don't be skyrim with Link.

That "western" flavor he mentioned could be great and it could be not-so-great. For instance, if Link has spoken dialogue it will kill one of his most enduring (and endearing) qualities: the ability of the player to subconsciously imprint their own words/ideas/values onto him as their avatar.

The scale of the world obviously looks to be epic, and I can't wait for that. A Zelda game with the scale of a Skyrim or Dragon Age? Yes, please. HOWEVER, just like Link himself Zelda games have always incorporated their own unique quirks and eccentric characters which are decidedly different from most Western-made fare. I believe it would be a grave mistake to alter that formula too much; there's a reason the Zelda series is as revered as it is, and most of it is related to its fundamental differences from Western-made third-person RPGs.

I've little doubt the final product will blow us all away; but while change and experimentation are necessary and good, I just hope that Nintendo has the wisdom not to allow the Zelda series to change its core identity and personality that have made it what it is.

@Gold_Ranger just because ALttP and OoT both had sages and a 'light' and a 'dark' world (read as similarities) doesn't make OoT a ripoff/remake version of ALttP.

The narratives of the game are quite different. Not to mention different enemy types and npc races.

We should expect something "new"... like a new console along side with it? lol

@abbyhitter you seem to dislike all of the Zelda conventions. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you just don't like Legend of Zelda Games?

@ikki5 Oh I hope not! That's what I've been fearing for a while now.

So has anyone read the Famitsu article or a translation? Did he say anything about the name, date or platform? All he ever seems to call it is "the new Zelda", he never even calls it "Zelda U".

If there isn't any voice acting in a home console game in 2016, or maybe 2017, then that's just wrong. Maybe on a handheld that might be ok, but 3 year old Kid Icarus: Uprising on 3DS was fully voice acted and had a wonderful cast. I can't imagine how different that game would seem w/o it, but it certainly wouldn't be as funny if you had to try to read all of those comments while trying to fly around and shoot. It isn't just abut voices or no voices - it's about game flow. When there is text on the screen you have to read it, and almost nothing else can be going on in the game. When you have voice acting people can be walking or fighting while they are talking. It's much more immersive to hear peoele speak than to stop and read.

And I'm fine, and I think most people would be as well, if Link dind't speak. I've spent 135 hours playing XCX and I'm fine w/o my character saying a word, everybody else talks enough. But Liny and Tatsuo would be 2 dimensional w/o speech, and Vandham would be 1 dimensional.

Not saying it's make or break, but if I'm borderline then speech could be a factor if I get it or not.

@LinkSword Yes, I'm sorry, it wasn't in great taste.

But equally, it shouldn't be overlooked that dietary issues are one of the greatest issues facing 'The West' in general.

Though perhaps making slightly tasteless jokes isn't the best way of drawing attention to it, let alone doing something about it.

It's a massively sweeping generalisation I've made for the sake of a crass bit of 'humour', and even I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I mean, it's a point worth addressing and being honest about the fact that we in the West do really need to sort our diets out though (in GENERAL, 'The West' is too big a region to make anything but general comments), but... admittedly one that could be made in a less puerile way...

EDIT: I've taken it down. On re-reading, it does seem... almost vindictive, which not what I was aiming for. I think if you're going to make a serious point about the effects of diet on a large scale, then tasteless jokes and sweeping generalisations probably aren't the best the way of doing it. You just end up writing something that's neither funny, nor effective at making its point seriously. So, sorry about that.

Give me a large Hyrule to explore, a solid art style, quirky characters, and a lot of item puzzling, and I'm happy. I hope there's not a substantial amount of voice acting, but it won't turn me off to the game if it's there.

I generally hate voice acting in video games because it is almost never good unless it's being self-referentially silly (see, e.g. Kid Icarus: Uprising; Codename STEAM). I don't mind it for the occasionally short phrase or noise (see, Fire Emblem: Awakening; Battle Commands in XCX) to help give color or trigger an in-game action. But one thing you get from Xenoblade Chronices (and to a lesser extent XCX) is that the already mediocre writing becomes a bigger problem when voiced by mediocre actors and performed by a set of polygons. When I'm reading, the actors in my head are always good, even if the writing isn't.

I'd be okay with voice acting for everyone but Link, but it certainly isn't a make or break thing for me. I do hope that, whatever is the Western flavor they're going for, they keep the charm and wit of the series instead of going for bleaker stuff with more serious overtones.

Extreme need. And if its like Skyward Sword in any way that's AWESOME.

@rjejr I would much rather actually be playing an action scene than watch it played out in a cutscene with voice acting and when exposition or character development is needed read the text on screen. Some games I like voice acting in and some it isn't necessary, which I feel is the case with Zelda. Playing TPHD has reminded me how much personality can be achieved without voices

Just please don't turn Zelda into something different. It doesn't need to change. Overworld, dungeons, special items, creative bosses... Zelda doesn't need to change or become skyrim or any other games. Keep it Zelda... Please.

I'm just ready for a Nintendo Direct to detail the game and stuff... I'm tired of information being dripped here and there every odd month... I want full details, and soon.

As to voice acting, which keeps coming up... I have a solution! Give everyone in the game voice actors except for Link! Make that part of his character! He is mute! He is brave despite having no ability to speak. The silent hero. His actions speak louder than words ever could. I would be cool with that.

@FragRed
Too true, it could be worse than the last Metroid game. Simply put, if you ask three different Zelda fans how he should sound you would likely get three different answers. Easy answer would be to get the guy who grunts for him to do it, but honestly there is so much more to it when it comes to voicing(tone, depth etc.). Best bet is to keep him silent and the majority happy as we will fill in the blanks with our imagination. And honestly, one's voice is only a small part of communication. Personally, I loved the body language Link displayed in Twilight Princess. Especially the first time he got Ooccoo. That face was perfect.

That only shows that Zelda U was never really intended to launch last year, he's still doing the texts! And another revelation, there will be probably no voice, as usual.

"The base of our secret sauce...", "the change in flavour", "going from japanese food to western style food...". This pretty much confirms it. The new Zelda will be a cooking game. Name? "TLOZ: Pies from the past".

It looks like they are going full ELDER SCROLLS... That comment about Western flavor pretty much confirms it. And the fact that monolith software is helping with the game and has said in the past that they want to be the Japanese Bethesda it all makes sense.

Wow, this is quite a statement. It really excites me to, because Ocarina of Time is my all time favorite game

@Maxz i didnt even read the comment but put it back up. You have the right to make a statement or joke as long as its not something extreme like a racial slur. Everybody is so "offended" nowadays. "Im offended! That offended me!" maybe its cuz im from Boston where we are overly loud and crass anyways, but this politically correct generation is so infuriating. Toughen up, people.

My serious interpretation of the 'Western Flavour' comment (health concerns aside), it that it DOES refer the game being at least a little more 'Open Worldy' than previous titles, though to what extent I'm not sure.

Mr. Aonuma has spoken in the past about wanting to expand upon ALBW's degree of freedom the player could have over their path, and we've also heard comments about being able to travel to any part of the map you could see (clearly there has to be a limit to this though - Zelda U will likely be big, but not infinitely big).

I'm generally glad that the team are letting themselves think freely and creatively about the game, although slightly concerned that if too much structure is taken away, then the narrative and general flow of the game might suffer. I still want to be 'taken' on an adventure, rather than be randomly thrown into the middle of one. There are pitfalls to the open world template, and being too focused on enabling 'player freedom' can actually become a game design restriction in itself.

So we'll see. I'm certainly interested to find out.

@ach if thats the case then maybe you didnt understand the article. They are moving AWAY from your favorite game's influence

@Vegaphil "Playing TPHD has reminded me how much personality can be achieved without voices"

I think a lot can be done w/o voices. Silent movies were all the rage for years and years. But how many people want to watch silent movies today? I can go 3-5 hours for an indie game w/o voices, and Mario games and other twitch games don't need voices, or text dialogue for that matter, but if I'm playing a story driven game that's 30-40 hours long I don't want to have to read all of that, I want the people to talk to me.

Blame this guy in Starfox Adventures. This game is 14 years old, FOURTEEN YEARS. That's a long time in gaming years. But I doubt I would even remember who he was if not for his voice acting. And Starfox Adventures is a similar game genre to the Zelda series, mostly one guy wondering around solving puzzles. Fox doesn't talk that much, but the other people do. That's what I expect in 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWJDAbA5xU4

This guy was great too. I doubt I would remember him either if not for his voice. He's only in the game briefly, but he's memorable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj16Qt7UOZ4

Did I mention that was 2002?

I feel like that after they showed us that last gameplay footage they had to scrap a lot of ideas and start over, hence the delay. They had a good base game when they showed us footage, but I don't think they were decided on story and dungeons and such yet.

I thought the base of your secret sauce formula was ALttP?

Anyway, most Zelda games have something that set them apart.

I do look forward to this...as long as it is absolutely, positively nothing at all like Skyward Sword.

@OorWullie
Me either

@DiscoGentleman Hylian?

The only thing worse than no voice acting is made up languages. If you are going to pay somebody to speak, do it in a language we can understand. All those squiggly voices that sound like Okami make me cringe. And Nintendo seems to use them a lot. The guy in the alley in Splatoon spoke that way, so I never talked to him. Like nails on a chalkboard.

I hope that he is talking about more freedom and exploration rather than anything like voice acting.

I would prefer Link gets text again over voice acting. To me it's a happy medium. Fans won't ***** about his voice, but it'll give us more insight into his personality.

As for Western flavor, it is clear to me now. Link must gain the sacred pieces of frying pan, chef's hat, apron and spatula and embark on his most ambitious adventure yet!

Ladies and Gentlemen please give a big round of applause to The Legend of Zelda: Kakariko Fried Cuckoo!

I thought I was the only one who wanted voice acting in Zelda. The series have stalled in the 90's for some reason. SS had this annoying bibib and veryyyyy slow speech bubbles. The presentation needs some modernisation too. The 3DS game introduced some good ideas, even though I didn't like some aspects of it. I really look forward to the next game.

Zelda U is def coming to NX, and we'll see the next trailer at the NX announcement. I hope I'm wrong.

Anyway. Hoping this means a soft customization of Link not too much unlike what the new FE games do...including gender picking.

@Maxz

About being able to travel to any part of the map.

It's been rumored that the map may be spherical instead of flat.

@LetsGoRetro Yeah, that was another issue I was tussling with. Was the comment actually objectionable, or was it simply making an (uncomfortable) point worth making that some people simply didn't want to acknowledge?

Eventually, I decided that it didn't really work either as a joke or as a serious comment, which was the why I took it down. Arguably, it might have qualified as 'black humour' - which has it's place - but only really if you've judged the audience properly. And on a public forum, that's almost impossible to do. Also, I wasn't really intending to make a vindictive comment in the first place, so it didn't sit well with me.

Basically the comment alluded to including various health concerns surrounding the 'Western Pattern Diet' being used as primary gameplay mechanics in the new Zelda game. I'm sure there are better ways of making the same joke, but mine arguably came a little close to the nerve.

I stand by my right to post prickly or uncomfortable comments, but I also stand by other people's rights to point out what they what they don't like about then, and if I happen to find myself actually agreeing with them, then I'll likely use my right (or at least, ability) to remove the comment.

I'm happy to say, "hmm... yeah, I probably misjudged that", and take down something that I don't think has much value. I don't believe I owe anyone a grovelling apology, but I don't really want to stand by and bullishly defend a comment that even I'm not completely happy with either.

It's an interesting (if controversial) topic though, and worth discussing.

@rjejr Funny you bring up Starfox Adventures, I think no voice acting would have improved that game. I hope we don't remember the new Zelda for rubbish voice acting

I hope it won't have the generic name of Zelda U. When are we going to learn what it's name is?

New Zelda games always seem to bring new things to the table and mix things up. They should be able to keep the Zelda magic in the new game without it being more of the same.

@Vegaphil If by no voice acting you mean no Tricky then the whole world is probably in agreement with you.

OTOH my kids grew up w/ Tricky and that game and he's like their own personal meme generator. Wouldn't be the same without him. Or his overly annoying voice and catch phrases.

Of course before there was Tricky I had Baby Sinclair. He would't be as fun w/o voice acting either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNR4hKbSH7I

It's just not the same w/o a voice.

@belmont If you thought you were the only one who wanted voice acting in Zelda, then surely the conclusion you must have reached as to why Zelda DOESN'T contain voice acting was that "nobody wants it - nobody except me".

Even when not interpretting your comment annoyingly literally (sorry), we still reach the conclusion (which is more-or-less backed up by the comments) that the majority of people don't want voice acting in Zelda.

Which then begs the question, "why would the Zelda team invest significant time and money in adding something to the game people that don't appear to want?".

I think that might be a more significant reason why large-scale voice acting doesn't feature than Nintendo simply being behind the times or the series having 'stalled in the 90s'.

Mmmmm, secret sauce.

Looks like the game is in the final stage of development - Hopefully it will be ready to announce at E3. If it has an open world like XCX I'll scream as a Damn fangirl.

I love Ocarina of Time, but was it really something new? I always saw it like a Link to the Past in three dimensions with the Z-lock to make it even more "2Dplayable" , it generously took from the third game. Actually, I tried all the Zelda (except the Wii and DS ones) and they all come from the same mold. (who's pretty good)

If they only stay away from the N64 heritage, it won't be "new". (and what will be removed from the formula? Z-lock?)

@Gold_Ranger @Tempestryke @RupeeClock Right!

@FragRed Totally agree. Just Look at Metroid. It's the best example. And please, i don't want to start another debat about other m. Zelda is even bigger than metroid. Give a voice to any NPC is one thing but give a voice to Link ... 10% will be happy while the other 90% will say that the voice acting is horrible, that its personality is not what it should be and so on. But still, something should be done. I wonder however, even if link never had a voice, he's still making some sound when he jump, attack and get hurts. Maybe someone with a voice that fits these sounds would be appropriate. ... just maybe ...

@FragRed Totally agree. Just Look at Metroid. It's the best example. And please, i don't want to start another debat about other m. Zelda is even bigger than metroid. Give a voice to any NPC is one thing but give a voice to Link ... 10% will be happy while the other 90% will say that the voice acting is horrible, that its personality is not what it should be and so on. But still, something should be done. I wonder however, even if link never had a voice, he's still making some sound when he jump, attack and get hurts. Maybe someone with a voice that fits these sounds would be appropriate. ... just maybe ...

A switch to a "...western style..." I interpret that into a bunch of QTEs and link will be armed with an assault rifle.

@Tempestryke he doesn't really have a personality, he just does whatever anyone tells him to do and kills it.

@Blastcorp64 Wouldn't Eastern style be being armed with little girls and giant swords?

@rjejr I also think it's funny you bring up Star Fox Adventures as a game that wouldn't be the same without voice acting in the same forum you claim a distaste for made up video game languages making you angry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ch0A3Yd5pE

Literally the opening cut scene of Star Fox Adventures has characters speaking a made up language. haha. Like 30 seconds in.

Instead of saying that a series needs to be brought into the modern era, why don't you say that YOU want the game to be a certain way to make YOU happy. Because you obviously decide on a game by game basis what and what not to like.

Don't hide your opinions behind claims that the industry should be at a certain point by now and anything not up to snuff is a step behind.

I agree with you on Kid Icarus for 3DS, they did a fantastic job with voice acting, but that was a rail shooter and needed you to be paying attention to the action 100%. Comparing that game to Zelda is like comparing Uncharted to Zelda. They are different, and do not demand the exact same standards to be a beautiful and engrossing package.

If this is going to be a leap like the one between A Link To The Past and Ocarina Of Time... well, that's a bold statement. Also, the development is nearing completion, which means at E3 we're finally getting the game's full subtitle. What are we betting on? The Legend Of Zelda: The Scrolls Beyond?

I haven't been a fan of the Zelda's he's be the lead producer on so I won't expect much from this really. He's taken the franchise into weird directions.

@earthboundlink I'm with him/her. You and a lot of people around here seem very fond of the idea that what makes Zelda good is the lack of things. Lack of voice acting, lack of surprise goals, lack of gender options... it's not! What makes Zelda good is the exploration, the puzzle-based dungeons and bosses, the memorable levels, the way the gameplay changes unexpectedly when you get new tools... these things feel great, are HARD to do right and are basically unique to the series nowadays (or at least unrivalled). The other things you hold so deep to the heart are just RESTRICTIONS on what this series can be. Let them go!

Sounds ominous. He might mean we're going from burgers made with Kobe beef to a 'lean finely textured beef' burger.

There's a strong insinuation here that Zelda U is in the end stage of development!

"When we did Skyward Sword for the Wii, at the end stages of development, I was in charge of the characters' dialogue and the in-game text. And, now as well, it's like it was then. I had to work on text today, too."

Maybe it's an FPS in a contemporary setting...

@gerebris #53 "That only shows that Zelda U was never really intended to launch last year, he's still doing the texts!"

That's actually a very good point. I wonder what's the deal with that. Maybe they've just done so many changes that it warrants a review of the script?

I hope it isn't too new...

@pabloff9 I disagree with your characterization of my position.

I dislike voice acting in all games because I find it's just not very good, and reading to me is more immersive than hearing some clown actor who couldn't get a real movie gig reading mostly mediocre-at-best writing. This same phenomenon is why when books are made into movies, the people who read the books like the books better than the movies.

Also, I'm 100% in favor of gender options. I don't think I would want a fully customizable character because that would do away with the series mascot, but gender options is okay since Link is already pretty androgynous.

I don't know what "lack of surprise goals" means, but it sounds like something I would be in favor of.

I'm just saying that when someone says, "Zelda should be completely different from everything it has ever done," maybe the problem isn't the franchise itself. Maybe you just don't like the franchise. It's like saying, "I really would like kung fu movies better if they were set in the American old west and the protagonist was a pistol-toting cowboy." You just prefer a different kind of movie. That's perfectly fine, but it's no reason to pretend like the movie you really want is a kung fu movie.

Reasonable people can differ on what makes a Zelda game a Zelda game. But at some point, if you change enough things about the game, it's not a Zelda game anymore. You end up with a "Star Fox Adventures" type creation, which was a perfectly enjoyable game about dinosaurs that inexplicably featured Fox McCloud.

You're casting me like I just want new iterations of Ocarina of Time with better graphics. I am 100% in favor of evolutions in the Zelda series (except for full voice acting, which I dislike in all games of almost any franchise unless it is intentionally campy).

Let me describe for you my demands in a new Zelda game: I want a game featuring Link in which I explore a fantastical land full of interesting characters and dangerous enemies/obstacles. I want to discover the land's secrets through clever use of my character's abilities, while gaining new items and abilities which I can also use in clever ways to open up more of the land to explore.

Oh, and no voice acting unless it's for minor "umph" and "Hyaaaahh!" noises. I mean, is it that hard to read, people?

@earthboundlink Your statement about my not liking The Legend of Zelda is far from the truth. I think it's time for Zelda games to do something new and different that shakes up the formula. ALBW's approach with being able to do dungeons in any order was really good. I would love something like that in Zelda U. Your views on voice acting is very archaic. It breathes new life into characters and helps flesh out the storyline.

@Gobelee So you basically proved my point. After 30 seconds of nonsense languages the game developers realized made up languages are useless so they switched to English for the rest of the game. If Starfox Adventures had been made up languages the entire game I would not have liked it as much and my kids would not have played it as many times as they did.

And I always find it truly hysterically funny when people tell me my opinion on a subject doesn't matter, but then tell me how their opinion is correct.

You don't like voice acting in games, fine, that's your choice, I'm not going to tell you not to play them, or to play them. Play what you want, and I'll play what I want. I never tell people what to play or what not to play, that's entirely up to them.

And I never compared Zelda to Kid Icarus, that was just a really good game on a handheld that had voice acting, when I said I didn't think handheld games needed voice acting, they just went the extra mile. But now that they did, playing Kid Icarus w/o the voice acting just wouldn't be the same.

Zelda and Uncharted are certainly similar games. 3rd person, solo protagonist, puzzles to solve. I'd say they are both squarely in the "adventure" genre. In fact the 1st Uncharted is very similar to a Zelda game, you play most of the middle of the game on your own solving puzzles. It's Zelda w/ a jump button. And guns. The 2nd and 3rd Uncharted games are much more what I would call "interactive movies" than adventure games. It probably wouldn't make sense for Zelda to progress that far into interactive cut scenes and set pieces, that isn't what Zelda is about. But the few times when Link does talk to another character on his adventure, it would be really nice if the character actually "spoke" back.

Why pay people to write dialog, pay people to speak the dialog, pay people to animate the characters and others to create a great musical score, when you aren't going to have the people speak a language the player understands? I don't get it.

This scene from TP may be good as it is, but I think it could be so much better if the words on the screen matched what is coming out of their mouths. Having them make 2 or 3 nonsense noises when there are 2 or 3 sentences on the screen is distracting. They should at least make enough noises to match up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oja9CY4qZ-A

Have you ever seen The Dark Crystal? Similar plot line to a Zelda game. I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much w/ the occasional weird noise instead of spoken dialogue. Not that there aren't weird noises, the elders sing in an ancient tongue, and that works, but mostly it's in english.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j679RgrnPVE

I certainly hope they do something different, as much as I like some Zelda games (zelda 2, link's awakening, link to the past, OoT, ww), they've been far too repetitive imo as of late, probably because they keep rehashing OoT and '3 hits on boss using new weapon to win' (similar to mario's 3 jump on boss / mini boss seen from smb3, though thankfully some games did change that up). Too formulaic and stale and repetitious in my mind, changing it up would breathe life into it (mario galaxy 2 bosses come to mind, of the little I've played of it)

@abbyhitter Well that's fine. Zelda should move forward. We both agree on that, albeit we may differ in the directions we would want it to go.

You and I will probably never agree on voice acting, but it's unfair to argue that my position is "archaic." If voices were always better than text then books would be a dead medium, and no one would ever say "the book was better." I simply find text more immersive than mediocre acting. In my experience, for every Kid Icarus: Uprising, there is a Riki from XBC or a Tricky from SFA.

@earthboundlink "I mean, is it that hard to read, people?"

Have you played XCX? Yes, sometimes it is very hard to read. Half the stuff I don't even read, I just send my kid up to the tv to tell me what it says. Thankfully the game - like XC before it - is voiced acted enough that I don't need to read everything to follow the story line.

I am glad you brought up reading books though. My guess is a lot of people who prefer books over movies and tv are probably the ones who shun voice acting. The ones who would rather watch then read probably prefer voice acting. Not a 100% correlation, but a strong one I'd bet. And if you really prefer no voice acting in any games then you wouldn't be leading the charge to have it added to Zelda.

Oh, and if you think Riki is bad then you must not have played XCX, he's an Oscar winner compared to Tatsuo. There's just no defending Tricky. Or the entire voice cast of Arc Rise Fantasia, the worst voice acted game I've ever heard.

@abbyhitter Archaic, maybe. But in the same way books are archaic. And many people - though it beggars belief - still like books.

The long and the short of it is that, archaic or not, the majority of people don't seem to want full-scale voice acting in Zelda. You may want it, and that's fine, but you find yourself in the rather awkward position of arguing that Nintendo should invest significant recourses in adding something to the series that most people would rather not have.

@chiefeagle02 YES!! YES!! YES!! PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE, YES!!!!!

@Maxz Most people? Nintendo Life =/= most people. Voice acting is long overdue in Zelda games. Cutscenes with dialogue need voices. They always have. I don't want hardware limitations of the past to hold back the evolution of Zelda games. Just because past Zelda games couldn't pull it off, doesn't mean Zelda U can't.

Would love it if the game had voice acting. For some people it breaks the immersion, but I find that it enforces it. I would not have enjoyed Xenoblade (or its sequel) as much as I did if it didn't have its excellent voice acting.

Also, why are people so afraid that it would get terrible voice acting? Did Xenoblade, X and Awakening/Fates have terrible voice acting? Zelda has been known for quality, Nintendo would /not/ hire mediocre voice actors, especially for a franchise as big as Zelda.

And yes, Xenoblade and Zelda are very different types of games, but they're both incredibly story driven. However, I do agree that Link himself should never, ever get actual voice acting (except for the grunts he makes).

Anyway, I doubt that's what he meant by the Westernized approach. Probably just referring to the open-world itself.

I hope so. I've been getting a bit bored of this series in recent times.

Although I still want to check out Majora's Mask sometime.

@abbyhitter If you can find a better sample than Nintendo Life, then please use it in your argument, but currently my statement has some evidence while yours has zero.

You've got a fine selection of meaty-sounding assertions, but all they boil down to is a collection of preferences and opinions that are missing "I think" before them.

"Voice acting is long overdue in Zelda games"

"Cutscenes with dialogue NEED voices"

"It breaths new life into the characters and helps flesh out the story"

Etc.

@Captain_Gonru Didn't the color have Oracle of Ages and Seasons as exclusives?

@WhiteTrashGuy: I don't think you realize that Monolith Soft helped with Skyward Sword and ALBW as well as AC:NL, Pikmin 3, and Splatoon. It's not a new thing for them to help Nintendo develop games. The comment on "Bethesda of the East" is open to a few thousand interpretations, but an easy one is "we want to make large scale RPG's of a high pedigree in our own interpretation of the genre". Monolith Soft is more "Western" in style than Square-Enix, but their games are still have very different approach to game design. I can tell you, we aren't waiting on The Zelder Scrolls to come out, but I large scale marrying of the original Zelda and ALBW in terms of progression (with some differences, but comparable), Skyward Sword and Wind Waker in terms of map exploration (with potential parallels to Shadow of the Colossus' map exploration, but with enemies). Going off of the footage and information so far, that should be close, although the game is subject to change.

@Maxz Nintendo Life is not even 1% of everyone who plays Zelda games. How's that? Take this for example. If you're watching the new Captain America movie, you want to hear voices from the characters. When you're watching cutscene videos in video games, you want to hear voices from the character. That's the same principle here. NES, SNES, and N64 were not able to provide full voice acting for their Zelda games. Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword were able, but the developers decided not to include it.

Aonuma says that we can expect something completely new with Zelda U. My opinion is for voice acting. Why are you arguing with me and saying that it should not be included? You can't change my mind, and I can't change your mind. It's rather pointless to sit here and argue about it.

@rjejr lol, yeah the text in XBX is legitimately hard to read, but the fix for that is easier than hiring actors. Just roll your crazy complicated developer mouse up to the text editing field and pick a size larger than 8pt. Seriously, the text in that game is WAY too small.

Also, yes Tatsu is terrible. And frankly, the constant alternating exasperated and wistful tones in Elma's voice are annoying too. The best characters, in my opinion, are my avatar, who says nothing outside of battle, and the NPCs who talk in text.

I just think its very nearly impossible to pull off serious voice acting in games. With rare exceptions, gaming companies can't afford top shelf actors or writers. At this point, the models cannot be as carefully blocked and synced as they can in CG movies. Then you've got the challenges of translating it across continents. In my experience, it's more expensive and the final product just never comes together well enough to make it better than the much cheaper and easier option of using text.

The interesting thing about Kid Icarus: Uprising, is that most of the talking happens while you're playing. So the issue of the blocking and syncing of the models is not a problem. In fact, they synced the discussion more with the gameplay, which is neat. Like, an object is headed toward you, and Pit or Palutena will comment on it, having the conversation act as an actual gameplay element. This works when the game is on-rails and the developer knows what the player will do. It's an interesting take incorporating voice acting as an actual gameplay element, and it mitigates some of the annoyances I described earlier. It also could get annoying and distracting at times, but they gave you the option to turn it off.

So it's not that voice acting could never be good in video games, it's just that I find it rarely is, and I would rather the developer spend the money they would have spent on actors by just hiring better writers and investing more in localization (see, e.g., Mario & Luigi games).

Obviously not everyone that has ever played Zelda games reads the NL comments but a poll on the site about the voice acting may be a good idea (to some extend). I am not so sure that the minority is those who want voice acting. The problem with the dialogue with me with the previous games was that it showed way slow (a common problem in older games of this kind) Sorry @Maxz if it sound annoying.

I still think that Zelda needs some kind of modernization. I don't like to give an example because I am not sure what changes are needed (although I like the transition of Metal Gear and of Final Fantasy to some extend). Maybe something plot-wise...

@rjejr @earthboundlink I don't think the analogy for Book vs Movie works for Video Game Text vs Video Game Voice. Books have descriptions of the scenery, the characters, and events in high detail, along with actual dialogue. With video games, the text is all dialogue, so it is literally a difference between reading and listening as the scene is still unfolding visually in front of you.

I think the solution is a midpoint. Whenever you talk to NPCs in-game, these can probably remain text. But the cut-scenes do need voice acting. It definitely breaks the immersion when the scene has to freeze as you wait for the player to push A to advance to the next text bubble (i.e. shocked-Link face with the text "NOOOO!" where its paused at the shocked face until you hit A). It is kind of like a midpoint between comics and videos. It could definitely work if that was the style they were aiming for, but I don't think that's the case.

This is EXACTLY what I wanted to hear! This could be it, this could be nintendo's turnaround moment, finally!!!

Pick the wrong voice actor and it could kill a game. If they made the wrong choices you could end up with something as corny as house of the dead or resident evil in terms of dialogue. And if you have to redo certain sections because you're stuck, you don't want to keep hearing the same voices over and over again.

Finally we hear something about the game even if its a tiny blurb. So looking forward to this!

Oh man, even this little tidbit has me pretty stoked! Keep it coming, Nintendo!

@earthboundlink "but they gave you the option to turn it off."

That's all I ask. If you are hiring people to say "godble gibble dibidby gook" like Spyke in Splatoon, have him/her speak english, and put an option that says "Voices" - On/Off in the menu. It's not like I'm opposed to reading either. Given the option I will almost always read when I can listen to Japanese. For reasons I've never fully understood, Japanese voice actors almost always seem 10x better than American. So I suppose you could say I prefer to read the text, and also not understand what is being said, as long as I know it's a real language. Though good English voice acting is preferred. Almost every language has a similar spoken tempo. You can't have 3 sentences on screen in English and the Japanese actor says - "oy vei". Spyke is actually pretty close, but that Okami speak kills me worse than Tatsuo. Or even Tricky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIxKBrSVi64

And the thing about Kid Icaurs, there is a ton of humor in what they say, and you are right, it's almost a part of the soundtrack. But can you imagine trying to read all of that while you were playing? I can't. And if it all took place before and after actually playing w/ just maybe slides people would just skip it all. Really wish it would get a Wii U port. Or a sequel. Or both, like Bayonetta.

@Shadowkiller97 Comparing books and video games may not be a great analogy, but I still think people who would rather read a book than watch a movie are more inclined to rather read text than listen to bad voice acting. I prefer bad voice acting and bad movies to reading.

I'm excited! But also annoyed.. I get tired of OoT being the base gameplay reference.

@WiltonRoots Right now Link has a "universal" voice. Enter in the voice acting domain and Link will not be the same for every player on the Earth, unlike Mario.

Get ready for... The NEW Legend of Zelda, now with more Doritos and Mountain Dew lol

@OorWullie The best games are ones who are Japanese but are inspired by western style or vice versa.

Western style, open world, RPG, this definitely screams Elder Scrolls.

@rjejr I never championed my opinion, I said you are using something to try and prove your point that does the exact opposite. One of the worst examples of voice acting in video game history.

That is like me trying to convince you reading is still fun by quoting Twilight.

@abbyhitter He does suggest they're going from Japanese style to Western style!

I hope they're doing voice acting. And I really want a more open world. Maybe a dialog system with some slight branching paths?!

@abbyhitter "When you're watching cutscene videos in video games, you want to hear voices from the character"

No I don't! Otherwise we wouldn't be having this argument! These are the kind of sweeping assertions I'm objecting to! This is why I'm butting heads with you, but don't have as much of a problem holding near opposite opinions to @rjejr and @belmont . They're generally managing to explain themselves without phrasing their opinions as if they constitute fact.

It would be interesting, as @belmont suggests, to have some sort of poll to gain some more concrete data (although that obviously still wouldn't paint the whole picture), but it does seem that most people don't want full blown voice acting in Zelda.

At the end of the day, you want one thing, and I (and I think most people) want another. You're right that we're unlikely to change each other's minds, and similarly, neither of us alone are likely to change the minds of Mr. Aonuma and his team. I think if there were large scale support for the idea, it might gain some traction, but that doesn't seem to be the case. As such - for the foreseeable future at least - it looks like full-scale voice acting is unlikely. Which I'm understandably quite happy about.

Having said all that I am SOMEWHAT open to persuasion on the whole topic. I recently played through Detective Pikachu, and a large part of its appeal was the brilliant voice acting and animation, which really made the game what it was. That was right for that game (I'm pretty sure it was a core part of the game's conception), and it wouldn't have been nearly as funny or enjoyable without it. However, even there, the main character was so wishy-washy, useless, and generally 'vanilla' that I wanted to walk him off a cliff (sadly the game doesn't feature any cliffs). Compare that to Link, who barely even has a name, and you have a very different story. Link has enough personality to like him (mainly due to excellent eye-brow animations), but not enough to hate him (which I fear would be the case with voice acting). I certainly empathise way more with Link than I do to Tim Goodman (or any voiced protagonist I can think of).

So I'm not completely allergic to voice acting on principle, and I actually find @Shadowkiller97 's preposition reasonably compelling. There are many degrees of voicing between the current mute-world, and voicing every line of dialogue, and while my gut feeling is to keep things the way they are, I'm not completely deaf to persuasion. Providing the points are balanced and well made.

Anyway, sorry for the wall of text.

@abbyhitter No no. That would ruin Zelda.

_{Calm down. -Morpheel}

I'm happy with no voice acting, because I can read.

@Rexx one of the few things NOT leaked from Nintendo lol. Seems Zelda U and the NX of course have all Nintendos security as it should be.

@WhiteTrashGuy @WhiteTrashGuy When was it said Monolith was helping with Zelda U?

@rjejr Cleary you never had a good imagination as a kid. You wouldn't like Banjo or Yooka-Laylee.

@LUIGITORNADO They only people who say Zelda U is coming to NX is the stupid "fans" it's a fan made Myth. You guys are the same ones who were so dead set on Pokémon Z being a thing when Gamefreak never once said anything remotely about a Pokémon Z lol. Telling you Zelda U will stay Wii U exclusive.

I'm so excited for this! The only thing I want till release is a title! The more mystery for me the better!

@Yellowkoopa Only with the bow from what we've seen.

@DeltaPeng Bosses in Ocarina wasn't 3 hits...Phantom Ganon wasn't...Morpha in the Water Temple wasn't (can't remember the bosses name) Volvagia wasn't...Bongo Bongo wasn't. ..Twin Rova wasn't and Ganondorf wasn't and Ganon sure wasn't 3 hits lol.

@rjejr I would rather watch movies then read a book but I don't want voice acting in Zelda. Link is me not some random guy.

There are certain exceptions for voice actors in gaming. If the voice actor has done voice acting in the past and they have a massive fanbases then okay it works. For example Kevin Connroy as Batman works cause he is Batman lol. Mark Hamill as Joker cause HE IS JOKER lol. But bringing in someone that nobody has heard of before to take on the voice of a Character people love is almost always going to end badly...

@rjejr
The cinematic team on the Zelda games has been getting better all the time. Some of the timing and humor and pacing in TP is really good, but in Skyward Sword they improved the pacing and especially the camera and staging, and acting. I'd really like to see that matched with solid voice acting.

I can't help but be concerned that an english translation might fall short, however. Nintendo has good reason to fear the same after the backlash against Other M had the voice acting swept into the complaints. And that was the first big serious franchise and character they chanced with voice acting and cinematics. (Mario works great with little phrases, but it stops there)

I'd love to have Midna voice acted by someone talented. What a great character. All the characters in Skyward Sword would be fun to hear as well. Even Link in that one, but I wouldn't expect or really want to have him speak. I think most who want voice acting would be fine with at least one main Zelda game without a speaking voice for Link.

Concerns about other characters like Zelda speaking just aren't an issue. Zelda has been completely different in most of the games. Which I have enjoyed. I'd want her to sound different and true to each incarnation (same with Link, who has had a different "voice" through grunts and shouts already). So I'm not worried there.

Prehaps Nintendo should hedge their bets by hiring some big famous actors in some roles.

As long it doesn't stray from what has made the Zelda series so endeared by people like me for all of these years I am okay with whatever direction they end up taking the game in. Knowing them I have no doubt it will be an amazing game because they haven't yet disappointed me once with a Zelda game and I have played nearly all of them although it would be nice to have a bit of a reinvention into the gameplay mechanics and because of that his statements have me excited to see a proper reveal, hopefully at E3!

@Dpishere If Nintendo makes a big announcement video in the E3 timeframe and the new Zelda is not shown there will be worldwide riots. You can count on it.

The big question is whether it will target an NX console along with the Wii U. I'd love to see it on a more powerful system if that's possible, but really, I don't think I'll care that much if it's Wii U only. I just want to play it!

The hype is building! I can't wait to see what new changes they've brought to the Zelda series. I hope it's something awesome like what they did with Paper Mario or Mario Party, or how they brought a new dimension to their 3D platformers with Super Mario 3D World. I hate it when all they do to their games is make them 'next gen'. If that's all they did, then all we'd have would be snoozefests like the new Smash Bros or Mariokart 8...

@aaronsullivan I wouldn't mind if it receives a NX port but since I don't plan on purchasing one for a few years after release the Wii U is definitely where I will be enjoying this game. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the port has features unavailable on the Wii U but as long as the core game is the same it wouldn't bother me and really at this point I will be more surprised to hear that it isn't coming out for the NX thanks to all of these rumors, but if it helps the system sell then I am all for it! One thing is for sure and that is the fact that we will all likely be pleased with the final product!

@Nin-Stream It's been a looong time since I played OoT, I thought it was a masterpiece. I feel like most Zelda games afterward tried too hard/much to copy the same gameplay approach though, so even while it may not be exactly, 3 hits with the new weapon, it most often ends up being 'use the new weapon x number of times, rinse and repeat'. Glad they had variety within OoT (which is probably why within that game itself, I felt like the approach worked and wasn't stale), but TP and SS feeling very similar, I couldn't get myself to complete the games. For me it felt like it dragged sometimes, either the puzzle solving elements or adventuring, where I felt the pacing of OoT was better done. I did play them in different phases of my life though, I'm less for patience and grinding / exploring nowadays (generally speaking in regards to games and RPG's) than when I had more free time with it

This game is not going to disappoint.

Zelda games never do.

@Thumbsofsteel Well, to be honest, I wouldn't mind. Really, it would be sad to see Nintendo's biggest Zelda game fail because of a failed console.

This November is going to be amazing! I do hope they use gyro aiming for the bow and keep the gamepad as a map/inventory hub. I swear I'm pretty much ruined on older zelda games because of that feature.

I , like many Zelda fans love OoT but I think Aonuma needs to acknowledge that the Zelda series has evolved beyond that game as great as it was. There are many games in the Zelda series that out OoT'ed OoT. Windwaker, TP and Skyward Sword come to mind. Majora's Mask is still a great game tonally (and even though there are less dungeons I had more fun with them) Also ALBW did a remarkable job of giving the zelda series a fresh coat of paint in a similar house.

Anouma is the biggest %$#F tease out there. He is giving all gamers blue balls with his cryptic quotes and lack of new footage. It's sad how a simple quote gets us so excited.......and I'm sporting a Zelda woody right now.

@earthboundlink Really? Have you ever played Mass Effect? Uncharted? The Witcher? All of those games have Hollywood quality voice acting.

@Goob I agree, in fact the characters just making weird sounds just breaks the immersion for me, no matter how interesting they might be.

So this means it's gonna be more like a Western RPG (Witcher, Skyrim) than a Japanese RPG?

I hope it's not New Super Mario Bros kind of "new".

@NinjaWaddleDee
This is a Nintendo site, most of the people don´t seem to play other games than Nintendo's.

My prediction: you will be able to shoot baddies in the knee.and billions of procedurally-generated side quests.

More western... so, censorship and strict political correctness to make all the SJWs happy?

Sorry, that's the first thing that comes to my cynical mind.
I'm glad it's finally making a change, hopefully for the better.

I hope he didn't mean that literally, and that it still feels very Japanese (and crazy for that). Don't make it to western-flavored!

No voice acting please. Boo to voice acting.
I prefer Zelda to like a book

Well the text quote hopefully means ZeldaU characters still talk in a gibberish language while we read dialogue. Screw voice acted scenes, it slows a game down and there's a high chance the chosen actors could suck.

I'll take text I could read quickly over the millionth American voice actor that pronounces things completely weird.

"Hello Zalda, come to Kay Kay Rico and we'll talk about the gahrons"

@Gobelee @Maxz Since you mentioned me -

I think you would need 2 polls.

Poll 1 - people who normally play home console versions of Zelda games, to see if voice acting should be added to the Zelda series.

Poll 2 - people who don't normally play the Zelda games, if they would be more interested if Zelda had voice acting.

My guess would be people who have always enjoyed and played the Zelda games might like it to continue to be voice free. Maybe half for arguments sake. People who don't play Zelda but play the Witcher and Elder Scrolls games might be more inclined to try Zelda if it had voice acting.

The question for Nintendo becomes - are we just making games for our loyal fan base, or are we trying to make our games more modern to broaden our audience? You have to weigh the costs and benefits, do you lose more people then you gain by adding voice acting?

I'd guess that few Zelda fans would not buy it if voice acting was added, even fewer if an option existed in the settings menu to turn voices on or off. I also think more people than that would try out the Zelda game if voice acting was added.

It isn't all about my own personal opinion, it's about moving forward and keeping the series alive by growing the fanbase.

No voices - no new players, some stop
Add voices - same players keep players, more players are added

So we can have a poll, but it needs to ask the right questions to the right people, "voice acting - yes or no" isn't going to cover it.

@Nin-Stream No idea where that comment about my childhood came from. I'm pretty sure I did have a very good imagination as a kid, I spent a lot of time playing w/ Legos - actual Legos that you built w/, not those models kids get today - I wrote stories, made my own comic books and super hero teams, played with clay, Lincoln Logs, outside in the dirt. Back then pretty much all we had was our imaginations before videogames and cable tv came along and stole everyone's creativity away.

I never played any of the Banjo games but they look good, and I'm really looking forward to Yooka-Laylee as it looks like an HD version of Jak and Daxter, which just happens to be my all time favorite game.

And if you read my comments you would also see where I said not all games need voice acting -

"I can go 3-5 hours for an indie game w/o voices, and Mario games and other twitch games don't need voices, or text dialogue for that matter, but if I'm playing a story driven game that's 30-40 hours long I don't want to have to read all of that, I want the people to talk to me."

Ok, other comment: "Link is me not some random guy."

I already said Link didn't have to talk, nobody expects Link to talk. We all get that. Probably 90% of the people who want voice acting in Zelda would be fine with a mute protagonist, happens all the time in gaming.

"And I'm fine, and I think most people would be as well, if Link dind't speak. I've spent 135 hours playing XCX and I'm fine w/o my character saying a word, everybody else talks enough. But Liny and Tatsuo would be 2 dimensional w/o speech, and Vandham would be 1 dimensional."

It's as if you are replying to me w/o actually reading my comments first.

@aaronsullivan "they improved the pacing and especially the camera and staging, and acting."

Well, that was pretty easy for them to do, everybody was sleep walking thru molasses so everybody was the same.

I really did not like Skyward Sword. I know what they were going for and it was very artistic, but after TP I just coudln't get into it at all. (TP being my first ever Zelda game, and even that I felt was too slow.) I've always said SS was a beautiful lullaby, a bedtime story meant to put children to sleep, and at that it succeeded. But I don't need to watch a picture of a baby sleeping for 12 hours while I listen to Brahm's Lullaby, no matter how cute the baby nor how classic the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXcGORjWte8

You know, it's very likely I'd have liked it more if there was speech. Everybody seems to like Grouse, but I really don't remember him. Sword guy was cool, but he's not memorable to me either. Not that I need voice acting, Sephiroth is the greatest videogame character of all time and he didn't speak, but he had the best videogame music of all time as his theme song. One Winged Angel is his voice. (Singing begins at 1:10)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgf1D3pjKaE

If you watch those 2 videos back-to-back you'll see my point about Skyward Sword, even if you don't agree with it. I'm a headbanger, what can I say?

I am looking forward to Zelda U though. I enjoy exploring. And if while exploring on horseback I'll be chased by giant robot attack laser thingies, so much the better. But I doubt I'll remember a single character after it's over if there isn't voice acting. Not for Link though, I won't be able to enjoy the game over the sound of a million fanboy's cursing.

@rjejr It's a good point. Of course, I'm precious about preserving things I value in the franchise, especially in an age when some of them are becoming rarer in video games in general. But I'm not everyone, and people like me aren't everyone either. There may be untapped markets we're not taking into account. Games clearly need to be made to gain new fans as well as please old ones.

It would be an awful lot of work putting such a survey together, but you're absolutely right about how to do it properly.

@Maxz Sorry, it just struck a nerve with me because I tend to be a "say what's on my mind" type of guy (as long as it's not INTENTIONALLY offensive, for example, I would never go up to an overweight person and say "Hey fat boy!" and justify it as "I just say what's on my mind, oh well!"). But, I feel that over the last 20 years, something has happened to people where they are almost LOOKING to be offended by something. That can lead to just as many problems as being offensive.

There is someone I know on social media, who has a missing relative. And this is the exchange I witnessed:

"I can't stand the way this person talks about my missing relative. I pray nothing ever happens to his son or someone he loves"

This is obviously the person saying, you don't handle this sensitive issue properly and I hope you wouldn't do that if it happened to someone you love.

The person (who is offended by EVERYTHING) went on a tirade about how their son had just been threatened. I just honestly can't stand people who stand around looking to pick everything apart and find a way to find it offensive.

Ah well, carry on.

Some great stuff he said... but just a lot of words to say really nothing new at all. But I CAN'T WAIT for this game!!!