Currently the Nintendo World 2011 event is held in Japan showcasing the Nintendo 3DS. I guess most of you have already seen the news including the footage of Ocarina of Time 3D. There are some screenshots and informations about the title.
First of all, the looks. While the models and textures have been updated and all sprite based graphics are gone, the game looks very close and true to the original. So, I guess my theory still holds that they use the original game as a base, where they just replace everything with prettier models and textures. But it looks like they've put quite some work into the new models, especially if you look at King Dodongo, who gained some mass and details like a tongue. What I don't like is the total absence of anti-aliasing, I thought the 3DS would be more powerful than that. It really looks unappealing in these screenshots. But there's also some video material with some sequences from the game including Shiek playing the harp, Darunia dancing or a Great Fairy (3D boobs), in motion it looks much better. The worst thing in my eyes is the water, it looks terrible, but this might be deceiving.
The demo of the game features three savegames as a starting point, Kokiri Forest, the Deku Tree dungeon and the Gohma boss battle. The touchscreen is intensively used as a menu, where you select your items, talk to Navi and change the view mode. First person view now supports the gyro feature of the 3DS meaning if you turn the system physically the view will change accordingly - very nice. But I have to admit that I'm not a fan of the touch buttons, because I normally avoid touching the screen with my fingers, I always use the stylus. But it looks like this the new standard for DS games, the 3D screen will be utilized for the action while the touch screen serves as a menu or for additional buttons. In Super Street Fighter IV 3D for example you can assign special moves and combos to four fields on the touch screen. Well, since the menu is active all the time you can now easily switch between tunics and boots while playing the game. I guess, you just have to select the equipment menu and touch the items.
However, Ocarina of Time 3D won't be a launch title for the Nintendo 3DS. A release date isn't confirmed yet, but it probably should join the lineup soon after the release. Sadly, there's no info on any additions like Master Quest or new content like a bonus dungeon.
Next to some additional content I'm actually curios if they'll fix the second Deku Nut Capacity upgrade, that you can only get if you show the Mask of Truth at the Forest Stage BEFORE ever touching the Master Sword, which is easy to miss. I hope they fix this, so you can get the upgrade later as well. It's not the most important thing for this remake, but it would be nice to have a version of Ocarina withouth any missables. Other possibilities for improvements would be saving and starting from any entrance and text speed control like in most of the later Zelda games, but there's no word on that.
Well, I personally am relieved that Ocarina isn't a launch title. I usually don't buy video game systems at their launch and in case of Nintendo it's always a wise decision to wait as long as possible. For example early versions of the Wii had some flaws like the cords or the lenses. And Nintendo likes to release new versions of their handhelds all the time, there probably will be a Nintendo 3DS Lite/SP/whatever next year and so on. So depending on how much or little the remake of Ocarina of Time 3D has to offer, I might be waiting for some time until I'll buy a 3DS. And nothing really from the Nintendo World demonstration got me excited for now.
Some links and sources:
Andriasang: Ocarina of Time 3D Impressions
Andriasang: Ocarina of Time 3D Screenshots
Andriasang: 3DS Launch Lineup
Zelda Universe: Ocarina of Time 3DS - More Details
ZeldaInformer: Ocarina of Time 3D Screenshots Compared to the Original Release
First of all, the looks. While the models and textures have been updated and all sprite based graphics are gone, the game looks very close and true to the original. So, I guess my theory still holds that they use the original game as a base, where they just replace everything with prettier models and textures. But it looks like they've put quite some work into the new models, especially if you look at King Dodongo, who gained some mass and details like a tongue. What I don't like is the total absence of anti-aliasing, I thought the 3DS would be more powerful than that. It really looks unappealing in these screenshots. But there's also some video material with some sequences from the game including Shiek playing the harp, Darunia dancing or a Great Fairy (3D boobs), in motion it looks much better. The worst thing in my eyes is the water, it looks terrible, but this might be deceiving.
The demo of the game features three savegames as a starting point, Kokiri Forest, the Deku Tree dungeon and the Gohma boss battle. The touchscreen is intensively used as a menu, where you select your items, talk to Navi and change the view mode. First person view now supports the gyro feature of the 3DS meaning if you turn the system physically the view will change accordingly - very nice. But I have to admit that I'm not a fan of the touch buttons, because I normally avoid touching the screen with my fingers, I always use the stylus. But it looks like this the new standard for DS games, the 3D screen will be utilized for the action while the touch screen serves as a menu or for additional buttons. In Super Street Fighter IV 3D for example you can assign special moves and combos to four fields on the touch screen. Well, since the menu is active all the time you can now easily switch between tunics and boots while playing the game. I guess, you just have to select the equipment menu and touch the items.
However, Ocarina of Time 3D won't be a launch title for the Nintendo 3DS. A release date isn't confirmed yet, but it probably should join the lineup soon after the release. Sadly, there's no info on any additions like Master Quest or new content like a bonus dungeon.
Next to some additional content I'm actually curios if they'll fix the second Deku Nut Capacity upgrade, that you can only get if you show the Mask of Truth at the Forest Stage BEFORE ever touching the Master Sword, which is easy to miss. I hope they fix this, so you can get the upgrade later as well. It's not the most important thing for this remake, but it would be nice to have a version of Ocarina withouth any missables. Other possibilities for improvements would be saving and starting from any entrance and text speed control like in most of the later Zelda games, but there's no word on that.
Well, I personally am relieved that Ocarina isn't a launch title. I usually don't buy video game systems at their launch and in case of Nintendo it's always a wise decision to wait as long as possible. For example early versions of the Wii had some flaws like the cords or the lenses. And Nintendo likes to release new versions of their handhelds all the time, there probably will be a Nintendo 3DS Lite/SP/whatever next year and so on. So depending on how much or little the remake of Ocarina of Time 3D has to offer, I might be waiting for some time until I'll buy a 3DS. And nothing really from the Nintendo World demonstration got me excited for now.
Some links and sources:
Andriasang: Ocarina of Time 3D Impressions
Andriasang: Ocarina of Time 3D Screenshots
Andriasang: 3DS Launch Lineup
Zelda Universe: Ocarina of Time 3DS - More Details
ZeldaInformer: Ocarina of Time 3D Screenshots Compared to the Original Release
What do you mean when saying that there will be no sprite based graphics anymore? Can you give me an example? I can't think of any 2D model in the original game.
ReplyDeleteAnd if we want more details and information, I guess there's no other way than waiting till this year's E3. OoT will be released after E3, so we'll get a lot of information about the game there :)
Lots of things in the game were simple 2D graphics. For example parts of the bushes or fences, backgrounds, some of the items lying around like Hearts or Deku Nuts were sprite based graphics. Here, look at that screenshot:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda06/Characters/Koume.jpg (it's from MM, but it's the same in OoT)
You can clearly see, that the bush is made from multiple 2D graphics, if you look at one of them from the side (like in the screenshot), you will clearly see, that it's just a mere sheet. If you look closely, you will notice many things like this. It was a common method during the N64 days (for example in Mario Kart all racers were sprites). And of course you can't have any of this on the 3DS, it would just look terrible.