The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii-U, Switch) 2017

[Carbo]

Let's look at the bullet points then.

* A gigantic enemy chases Link across the map.

* A bunch of destructible environment is leveled in it's wake.

* Link jumps off of Epona and engages into battle, using weapons in conjunction.

The first point should be expected now that it's open world. At this point, anything can happen.

The second point makes a lot of sense when Aonuma mentioned that the puzzles "begin" when you decide where to go. A path might become blocked off for you, in order for it to be required of you to seek out a different one, such as the part where the bridge got destroyed. After that, Link would have to seek out a different path to get to his destination.

The third is one that I'm surprised has not been done before in a Zelda game as it feels like a natural evolution to the combat.

So the only counterpoint is that the game has slowed down and dynamic camera angles, something which most certainly was made through debug angles for this presentation.

Aonuma ain't one to bullshit and the chances of this being a mistranslation aren't likely. Everything speaks to it being true.

[KrazyBean]

http://mmgn.com/wiiu/news--that-was-link-in-zelda-wii-u-trailer-aonuma

 

It's Link.

 

BOOOOOOOOO. I wanted to play as Zelda

[Autosaver]

...well why the fuck didn't he just say so back in the actual conference? o_o

He said it was a joke that it wasn't Link. A joke got the internet all crazy o.o

[Blacklightning]

Huh? What on earth does that have to do with the E3 footage being actual gameplay?

[KrazyBean]

If you want a playable female character in future Zelda games, let your voices be heard.

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/06/12/want-play-female-character-legend-zelda-let-nintendo-know/

[Marcello]

Let's look at the bullet points then.

* A gigantic enemy chases Link across the map.

* A bunch of destructible environment is leveled in it's wake.

* Link jumps off of Epona and engages into battle, using weapons in conjunction.

The first point should be expected now that it's open world. At this point, anything can happen.

The second point makes a lot of sense when Aonuma mentioned that the puzzles "begin" when you decide where to go. A path might become blocked off for you, in order for it to be required of you to seek out a different one, such as the part where the bridge got destroyed. After that, Link would have to seek out a different path to get to his destination.

The third is one that I'm surprised has not been done before in a Zelda game as it feels like a natural evolution to the combat.

So the only counterpoint is that the game has slowed down and dynamic camera angles, something which most certainly was made through debug angles for this presentation.

Aonuma ain't one to bullshit and the chances of this being a mistranslation aren't likely. Everything speaks to it being true.

I haven't watched the trailer, but couldn't the slowing down be something similar to the mechanic in MGSV where when you get caught time slows down for a few moments so you can fix the mistake? Like here it would be to make aiming easier while in the air.

[Carbo]

I haven't watched the trailer, but couldn't the slowing down be something similar to the mechanic in MGSV where when you get caught time slows down for a few moments so you can fix the mistake? Like here it would be to make aiming easier while in the air.

Seems possible, as jumping off of Epona in order to fire while in mid-air seems realistically rather unachievable. If everything went into slow motion while doing so it'd make things more manageable.

[Gabz Girl]

Yeah I knew it was a guy along. He does look very androgynous here I will admit, but something as drastically different as making Link a girl would've been pointed out straight away. And it wasn't! So Aonuma was just joking. =P

[Celestia]

It'd be really, really cool if destructible environments were a thing in the actual game. I kinda sorta doubt it, but you never know. I could see the slow motion bit (minus camera angles) being a gameplay mechanic for leaping off Epona into a battle, though. I hope so, anyway.

 

In other news, there's a GameExplain analysis for the teaser. There's (unsurprisingly) a lot of interesting little details are in that wide shot of the game's world. Also, I hadn't noticed the similarities between the monster/robot Link fights and the arrow he uses at the end. Not sure how I didn't make the connection there.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADv9KmOcETY

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Well here is something that's interesting, but will proably annoy some of you slightly

http://www.gonintendo.com/s/230997-aonuma-doesn-t-pay-attention-to-sales-when-making-new-zelda-games

 

Aonuma doesn't pay attention to sales when making new Zelda games

Jun 14, 2014 by RawmeatCowboy

Coming from a GenGame interview with Mr. Aonuma...

GG: Two years ago you showed the tech-demo for Zelda. It had more of a Twilight Princess look and Hyrule Warriors has somewhat carried that same design. Twilight Princess though was one of the most traditional games, but it was also one of the most successful games. Does a game’s success, in terms of sales numbers, does that affect the type of Zelda game that you personally like to create?

Eiji Aonuma: I don’t look back. (laughs)

I always want to create something unique, and the reason for that is not just because it makes for a more fun game experience once the game is completed, but as a creator it also makes things more interesting for my team and myself. Images and expressions and all of those things, in order to make those unique, we don’t start with a plan that is set in stone from the beginning, it’s definitely an evolution. We may have a basic concept in the beginning, but as we are working through those concepts, they are going to evolve, they are going to change. So that’s how that particular tech demo you saw early on has evolved to what you saw in the trailer.

http://www.gengame.net/2014/06/eiji-aonuma-i-dont-look-back-at-sales-figures-when-creating-a-new-zelda-game/

[Sami]

I dunno what's annoying about it. Sounds reasonable to me.

[PSI Wind]

Anouma seems to be like Kamiya where as long as the game he made is enjoyed by people it doesn't matter how much it sells. Of course, Zelda sells WAY more than Kamiya's games but, details.

[Diogenes]

Yeah I consider that a good thing.

[JezMM]

Yeah makes sense to me.  Not enough people realise how gradual and evolving video games are during their development.  When something is different from the last thing seen, people tend to imagine the developers as saying "okay we're done with that" and throwing it in the bin, but they actually probably continued working on it, found challenges, and solved them with solutions that lead to the changes you see before you.  Naturally, the current art style will be a mixture of both pure solutions in terms of clarity of the game to the player's eyes, and those solutions inspiring the artists and designers in terms of the less game-to-player-communication-focused visual direction.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

well here is something interesting

http://www.gengame.net/2014/06/eiji-aonuma-wants-zelda-u-to-give-players-more-freedom-to-choose-their-path-the-story-takes/

 

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

By Ben Lamoreux, June 15, 2014 8

As part of our E3 coverage, the Zelda Dungeon/GenGAME staff got the opportunity to interview Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma, and we’ve posted a few teasers from that interview over the past few days. The full interview will be available at Zelda Dungeon soon, but we’ve got one last teaser for you today. We know Zelda U will give players a lot of freedom in terms of exploration, but does that freedom extend to the story as well?

 

Ben Lamoreux: Majora’s Mask has always been one of my favorite Zelda games and one of my favorite games overall. One of the things I liked about it is that more so than any other Zelda game and a lot of the games at the time, your actions can directly influence the events of the story and change how the characters around you act. Can we see something like that return on a larger scale in Zelda Wii U or future Zelda titles?

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.

From Aonuma’s answer, I gathered that the main story will stay largely the same, but you’ll be able to discover parts of it ‘out of order,’ so to speak, not necessarily confined to a rigid schedule of reaching plot points. Skyward Sword offered different endings for a few sidequests, and perhaps we could see the same idea implemented in Zelda U as well. How would you like to see Nintendo handle the story progression in Zelda U? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, and keep your eyes peeled on Zelda Dungeon for the full interview.

[Sami]

I hope the story is a major part of the game, so he's definitely saying the right things.

[Brad]

#VoiceActingForZelda2015

 

come on Nintendo you know you wanna just leave Link silent <333

[Marcello]

I think the story will take a back seat this time around. I'm sure it'll be around, but I think for the most part it'll be about exploration and the story will come from that.

[Jolt_TH]

I'm thinking they really might do something along the veins of A Link between Worlds, where you can do the dungeons. In pretty much any order, with a couple of "sets" o dungeons that you have to complete before you can access the next set. Like how you have to do the gale shrine and tower of Hera before you can access Lorule, but you can do them in any order.

[VO.SUPER]

I hope in place of an overarching story, we get a huge focus on the individual people of this world and how they are dealing with the upcoming evil. Majora still is my crowning example of doing side quests right.

[Sami]

My dream game would have very little overarching plot and make up for it with enough attention to detail and ambiguity in the world and lore that it spawns entire compendiums and videos by fans as a large effort by the community to piece together the "true" story of every character and location in the game.

 

A more traditional overarching story would be easier though, and I don't really know if I trust the Zelda team to deliver on the above in a meaningful way seeing as how they arguably haven't done so since Majora's Mask. I think Wind Waker did a good job of the latter, though, despite not being perfect. 

 

My dream Zelda is a lighthearted Souls game.

[Candescence]

My dream game would have very little overarching plot and make up for it with enough attention to detail and ambiguity in the world and lore that it spawns entire compendiums and videos by fans as a large effort by the community to piece together the "true" story of every character and location in the game.

 

A more traditional overarching story would be easier though, and I don't really know if I trust the Zelda team to deliver on the above in a meaningful way seeing as how they arguably haven't done so since Majora's Mask. I think Wind Waker did a good job of the latter, though, despite not being perfect. 

 

My dream Zelda is a lighthearted Souls game.

lol

 

But really, a lot more games need to take after Souls in terms of narrative conveyance, not just Zelda. Though Souls itself wouldn't have hurt to have some form of dialogue interaction, just standing around waiting for someone to finish all their dialogue and then exhausting all of their lines by continuously pressing A is kinda dull, you wouldn't even need to give the player voice acting for it.

[Sami]

lol

 

But really, a lot more games need to take after Souls in terms of narrative conveyance, not just Zelda. Though Souls itself wouldn't have hurt to have some form of dialogue interaction, just standing around waiting for someone to finish all their dialogue and then exhausting all of their lines by continuously pressing A is kinda dull, you wouldn't even need to give the player voice acting for it.

 

Some kind of branching dialogue system that affects the NPC's speech and actions later on would be really cool, yeah. I'd like that.

[Candescence]

Some kind of branching dialogue system that affects the NPC's speech and actions later on would be really cool, yeah. I'd like that.

Having a real-time dialogue wheel might also have been nice, but that would've required an additional button (which can't be done because there isn't one) or doubling up with the gesture button (pressing select to switch between dialogue and gestures wouldn't have been so bad, I think), but aside from NPC conversations, it might've given players more communication options for online. Which would've been better than those bloody carvings, which you can't even get in DkSII until the Iron bloody Keep. VERY GOOD VERY GOOD VERY GOOD

[VO.SUPER]

My dream game would have very little overarching plot and make up for it with enough attention to detail and ambiguity in the world and lore that it spawns entire compendiums and videos by fans as a large effort by the community to piece together the "true" story of every character and location in the game.

 

A more traditional overarching story would be easier though, and I don't really know if I trust the Zelda team to deliver on the above in a meaningful way seeing as how they arguably haven't done so since Majora's Mask. I think Wind Waker did a good job of the latter, though, despite not being perfect. 

 

My dream Zelda is a lighthearted Souls game.

 

MM's overarching story wasn't that good on it's own. If you pretty much ignored most of the sidequests and alternate character dialogue, the story was good, but not amazing. It really is the world that sells you on the story as a whole.