Zelda Galaxy

Watch this interview with Aonuma at Gamespot.

One of the most interesting comments here, is that you will travel between the "sky loft" and the lands of Hyrule multiple times during the game. Initially it sounded like that Link will descend at the beginning of the game and that's it. But in this interview it sounded more like the familiar two worlds concept, which is totally overused in the series. A Link to the Past did it, Ocarina of Time did it, both Oracle games did it and even Four Swords Adventures and Twilight Princess did it to a lesser extent. It's nothing that we need to do again. And I can't map my mind around, how the sky world and the below overworld would interact with each other and why Link would need to travel between them.



Then I began to fear that the sky world could be more like the observatory from Super Mario Galaxy. Actually the fear began with the screenshots and demo videos with the very beautiful landscape in the background. My question was, if you would be able to fully travel through these landscapes. I already said in my last post, that I want the game to have a free and open overworld ready for exploration. But judging from all the Zelda games after The Wind Waker, the changes for this are very slim. I don't believe anymore, that the Zelda team is able to pull it off. The changes are higher, that they devided the overworld into areas, pretty much like in the Nintendo DS Zeldas. But instead of travelling between these areas with a boat or a train, you will ascend back to the sky and from there you will "select" another area to descend to. Some of these areas will be dungeons disguised as overworld areas, pretty much like the forest from the demo, which is basically a typical 3D Zelda forest area but with dungeon elements, like the forest levels from the Four Swords games. Four Swords is a good example, because travelling between the worlds this way would be no different from the level selection in the Four Swords games, just more cinematic and with an observatory level like in Mario Galaxy.

Of course this would suck hard. There's nothing more important than the overworld and this is the worst thing, they could possibly do. So, I really hope, that my concerns about this will be layed down soon, when they talk more about the game.

Skyward Sword: Back to Basics

Watch the Iwata Asks Interview about Skyward Sword from the E3, in case you haven't yet. Their message at the end is the important one.

"Back to basics". That's the best approach of making a Zelda game they could possibly come up with. It's the first five Zelda games including Ocarina of Time, that are the magical ones. These are the games everyone remembers.

Essentially I see two things, that are very important when you want to go "back to basics", or back to the roots. One is the combat and it seems like Skyward Sword is going to deliver here. The demo at the E3 looks like tons of fun and everyone, who has played it, says the swordplay feels great. There are these nasty Dekubabas on the middle of the road and you can totally avoid them, but no one wants to, because they want to hit something with their sword. It's that much fun. I guess, in this category the game will really shine.



I was actually shocked, when Aonuma said, that he didn't want to utilize MotionPlus at first. That's like saying, that he doesn't want Link to use a sword at all. "It's much more fun to run away from enemies, so in this new Zelda game Link won't have a sword." I'm not overstating here, that's what they partially did in the Nintendo DS Zelda games, where you've been constantly running away from invincible enemies, which could kill you with one hit. That wasn't fun at all. Well, it seems like Miyamoto pushed Aonuma and the game in the right direction, much appreciated. He also pushed this new art style, you can say what you want, but without the new art style and MotionPlus this game would be just Twilight Princess 2.

The second important issue, when they want to go back to the basics, is freedom and exploration. A continuous, connected overworld, which can be explored freely in a non-linear fashion like in the first Zelda game. It's what I've been praying since I opened this blog and longer. A linear game design, where everything guides you and holds your hand, is absolutely boring. It's missing all these interesting choices you can make and the experience of exploring the fantasy world of Hyrule all by yourself, discovering it's secrets. You should be able to play the dungeons in different orders. You should be able to visit the very dangerous areas, where the later dungeons reside, early in the game, so that you're basically running into trials, that are still too challenging for you. You have to test for yourself, where your boundaries are, and not let the game protect you from everything. Let the player run into a place, where he will probably get killed by the monsters. At least that way the game leaves an impression. If you remember how it was to play the older Zelda games as a kid, you would have all these interesting stories that you had shared with your friends, who also played the game. Like that you found the hidden Ice Rod near Lake Hylia in A Link to the Past or that you died the first time running into the Redeads in Ocarina of Time and that you were scared to return to the graveyard because of that. Or you would talk about, that you found Level 8 in the first Zelda game just by accident very early in the game. These exciting experiences were created by a less linear game design, which you don't get that in newer games like Twilight Princess, where every single part of the game is linear and guided. If you now talk about video games today, the main question is always "how far are you into the game?" and this question covers everything there's to talk about. Because everyone is having the exact same experiences while playing the game and this is boring. Only by getting rid of linearity you can achieve a much more interesting experience for Zelda games.

The demo again looks very promising here, because it seems to be very open. The player isn't told, where he has to go. There's this forest area and he can explore it for himself, trying everything out on his way. Eventually he will find the way to the scorpion boss. It looks like fun and I really hope the entire game is designed in a similar open fashion. However, I'm concerned it won't be, but more about that in my next post.

A Beautiful View

Isn't this screenshot just stunning? The colors, the art style, everything. A lot of Zelda fans, including me, wanted a realistic looking Zelda game on the Wii. So, the initial disappointment about Skyward Sword was big. However, there are so many games today with dark and realistic looks, so do we really want a "Gears of Zelda"? I'm not sure, what I want, I just know that the above picture is very beautiful.

So beautiful, that I decided to update the looks of my blog here using it as a background motive. I wanted to change the style of the blog a while now, because in the old design the white font on gradient background was quite hard to read. However, I'm not finished yet and there will be a lot of tuning and experimenting going on with the visuals of this blog. And there probably will be a new blog logo. But I'm trying to keep everything simple this time.

Also, the last four months on this blog have been very silent due to the lack of interesting news. With Skyward Sword announced this is going to change. The more I hear about this game, the more I like about it.

Ocarina of Time for 3DS

This is probably ten times more exciting than Skyward Sword. (Btw, using "SS" as an acronym is actually quite awkward. :D) Well, I've always been saying, that an Ocarina of Time re-release for the Nintendo DS would be boring and pointless and won't be happening, but of course the 3DS changes everything. With the analog stick and Hyrule in full 3D it's going to be probably the most exciting re-release in the Zelda series. I hope it's a 3DS launch title. I also hope it includes Master Quest as an optional difficulty level, as well as some new content like extra dungeons. And I hope, there will be a Majora's Mask 3DS re-release at some point, too.

Edit: According to Aonuma switching the boots will be easier this time. :D

Holding the Sword Skyward

Like last year Nintendo opened this year's E3 press conference with their biggest title. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.



The facts: It uses a new art style. And it focuses heavily on MotionPlus, like it should. You can roll bombs, there's a whip and a new beetle item, which is basically the evolution of the seagulls from The Wind Waker or the hawks from Twilight Princess. And it's entirely playable at E3.

My reaction is kind of mixed. I'm not disappointed, but I'm also not too much excited. I'm not too sure about the comic looks, I thought the Twilight Princess look was very beautiful. But on the other hand the above screens TOTALLY reminds of old Zelda artwork for the NES games.



And the details are there, for example the shooting a heart with an arrow to pin it down was genious. But overall you have the feeling, that it's a step back from Twilight Princess and on the same time not as iconic as the look of The Wind Waker.

The MotionPlus demonstration was totally fucked up, but I guess it works way better in the actual game, since it works like Wii Sports Resort and Wii Sports Resort works fine. Well, most of it is what you expected, which means the Wii Sports Resort sword play and archery mechanics are used in Zelda. Of course the sword play looks much more fun than in Wii Sports, since there isn't this annoying blocking by pressing B mechanic. It's like sword play should be and I'm excited for that. The bow seems to works fine without having to switch the hand, well, I played Wii Sports Archery already in the Zelda style, because I was too lazy to switch the hands. And it's actually not a big problem, it feels just a little unfamiliar at first. One of the coolest mechanics was the sword beam by holding the sword skyward. Nice idea. The biggest surprise for me was that this was the only MotionPlus game Nintendo showed. That's really disappointing, but at least Zelda is going to be awesome when it comes to controls.

We can't say more at the moment, if it focuses MotionPlus combat and offers a much more open world than the last bunch of Zelda games did, I guess then it will be a good game. It also seems, that it doesn't focus on some major gimmick like "wolf", "boat" or "train", which is definitely a good thing. The focus is on the MotionPlus action. However, I guess pretty much no one has the feeling, that this Zelda game is going to surpass Ocarina of Time. I don't know if it's just the art style or if it's because they haven't shown us anything that let's you think, that this game is going to be epic.

Well, it's coming out somewhen 2011, too bad, I was rooting for a holiday 2010 release.

Your Last Chance to Write Some Idiotic Zelda Wii Rumors

E3 starts in three weeks and the newest Zelda game will probably be shown there. So, this is your last chance to pretend that you have some insightful inside information from Nintendo about the game. Because you're the champ. And whoever posted the rumors from Januar at 2ch came up with some new stuff:

• Link will be replacing the bow and arrow with a crossbow.
• Game is all but finished. Putting on final touches.
• There will be a playable demo at E3.
• Time travel does occur and it happens through the use of a new blade. (not the master sword)
• Link's hometown is much bigger than in previous titles.
• There will be several "Majora's Mask" esque sidequests.
• Character interaction will be more involving than in any previous title.
• The dungeon field dungeon method is changed, and one of the changes confirms straight dungeon to dungeon portion of the game.
• The current name of the girl in the picture is Adelle.
• Combat is extremely fluent and innovative. No previous Wii title can give you a good example of it's unique style.
• The game relies heavily on sword combat versus other items.
• There will be less items, but they will be used more frequently.
• There will be another main weapon added for an alternative combat style.
• The game will feature significant portions of flight.

Source: ZeldaInformer

Of course, of course... this MUST be real, since it sounds so authentic. But like I said before, everyone can come up with that. The crossbow idea probably comes from the fact, that Wii Sports Resort esque archery would require to switch Nunchuk and Wiimote during the game and that of course would suck (unless you simply hold the bow with your right hand). That the numbers of items is less, but every item is more frequently used, is a trend in the Nintendo DS Zelda games. If Nintendo focuses on items, that utilize MotionPlus (much like items that utilize the touchscreen in the DS Zeldas), then this might be likely. So, this idea also doesn't come out of nowhere. Another main weapon is mentioned, but why not just say what kind weapon? Is it a spear or something? If he knows that much, why not spill it? This is where the rub is, all this unspecific information. If you want to do write some good and believable fake rumors, always be specific, never say stuff like the above.

The easiest thing you can do in order to increase your credibility is just mentioning some known facts, like that the game uses MotionPlus, that Aonuma's son would like to see Link fly and that the dungeon and field formula will somehow change. Of course you don't say anything speficic, just add a dumb example like the dungeon to dungeon idea (seriously...?). And then add some stuff the fanboys would love to hear, mention "Majora's Mask" and "sidequest" in the same sentence and talk about bigger environments with more interaction. And how epic the game will be. The final boss will be Vaati and Ganondorf, both wearing Majora's Mask!! W00T!!! And of course there's absolutely NO chance at all, that this massive game comes out this year, 2012 at the earliest, as a Wii HD title! Because it's common knowledge that Nintendo will announce the Wii HD this year at E3. For some reasons they didn't do this last year or 2008, but better late than never. (For everyone, who didn't get it, that was sarcasm, there won't be a Wii HD and you can expect Zelda Wii for the end of 2010. ^^)

Seriously, why even bother with these rumors now? In three weeks we will all know, what the real deal looks and plays like.

The Link Con

A couple of days ago the long anticipated LOST finale aired. Though it was somehow disappointing for many people including me, it's good to know, that the main characters have something to do after their story on LOST is over. As a pre-E3 reveal, Sawyer will star as Link in the upcoming Zelda game for Wii:



Son of a bitch! I guess they have to replace Zelda with Juliet, if they want him to do anything heroic. Well, check out the source for more LOST characters in the role of video game characters (I like the Hurley & Ben one).

Source: Examiner.com