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[brad-t]

The map marking as the playtester explored the map sound REALLY interesting and smart. I wonder how that was set up.

Yeah, that part stood out to me as well. The game seems really designed around organically guiding you to new points of interest without explicit directions. It's everything I ever wanted :'D

As for the cutscenes, I expect that clearing major dungeons/other milestones will unlock memories in a sequential order. That way, the story can be revealed to the player in the right order regardless of where they are in the game.

 

[13ruce]

Aonuma says Breath of the Wild has a lot of cutscenes.

Thats great honestly, seems like this game will handle the story well. Wich is not super common in open world games imo.

 

[FloweryMarston]

The map marking as the playtester explored the map sound REALLY interesting and smart. I wonder how that was set up.

Yes, i think that they took a long time to nail the development process of the game, but making this kind of playtest to create an "optimal" world where the player really goes to explore every area, rather than sticking to a certain path is great.

The other very interesting thing is that they stopped every milestone to play the game for a week and put everyone on the team on the same page. This in my opinion seems like a great idea to make a 300 team always be focused on every aspect of the game.

 

[Neoleo2143]

Yes, i think that they took a long time to nail the development process of the game, but making this kind of playtest to create an "optimal" world where the player really goes to explore every area, rather than sticking to a certain path is great.

The other very interesting thing is that they stopped every milestone to play the game for a week and put everyone on the team on the same page. This in my opinion seems like a great idea to make a 300 team always be focused on every aspect of the game.

That gives me great confidence in the balancing in this game.

 

[JershJopstin]

skyward sword hd with hd rumble would be so awesome

Now I want this badly

My thoughts exactly. It'd be perfect for showing off HD Rumble in a more traditional single player game and it wouldn't even cost much to make.

Spoiler

It's also one of my favorite Zeldas. Fight me.

 

[ReyVGM]

Y'all see this? From a GameSpot video. I assume that's an NPC fighting some baddies on the left side of the screen. Pretty neat.

The video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGWmv0m41Bc

You can see the same guys (or different ones?) doing the same on the Treehouse video too. They are the same guys shown on the Game Awards trailer.

 

[ReyVGM]

I love how many towns this game already has. Aside from Zelda II, this is the most towns we've seen in a Zelda game right?

Depends what counts as a town to you. Spirit Tracks had like 8 towns.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

To be able to play this at work and while waiting for the train next to unsavory type humans is a dream

 

[Justinian]

Y'all see this? From a GameSpot video. I assume that's an NPC fighting some baddies on the left side of the screen. Pretty neat.

The video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGWmv0m41Bc

Man, that frame rate in the battle with the guardian was pretty atrocious. Sure the rest of the game runs pretty well, but a smooth and consistent frame rate in battle is more important. Hopefully they can fix it in a patch at launch (seeing as the version being played is version 1.0.0).

 

[FloweryMarston]

That gives me great confidence in the balancing in this game.

Yup, also him saying that this zelda should be the 3d equivalent of the first one makes me so excited. I never thought that i would see aonuma say something like this lol.

 

[Charamiwa]

Man, that frame rate in the battle with the guardian was pretty atrocious. Sure the rest of the game runs pretty well, but a smooth and consistent frame rate in battle is more important. Hopefully they can fix it in a patch at launch (seeing as the version being played is version 1.0.0).

There's nothing atrocious about this framerate? The only drop I've noticed is when he gets blasted at the end, but during the fight it seemed consistent.

 

[takriel]

60fps

In two heartbeats.

 

[WordAssassin]

Yes, you can place your own markers.

You have different type of markers, the ones that you can mark while using the scope, and when, in the map, you have different categories of points of interest, so say you find a bokoblin camp that you want to visit after you finish a shrine our a specific task, you can mark it with a skull for example.

Hell yessssss

 

[Lord Ghirahim]

Any theory as to why several retailers and Nintendo distributors are calling the new Zelda amiibo "Fieldwork"?

http://www.mediamarkt.gr/el/product/_nintendo-amii-0225-fieldwork-the-legend-of-zelda-1193590.html

 

[iFirez]

Any theory as to why several retailers and Nintendo distributors are calling the new Zelda amiibo "Fieldwork"?

http://www.mediamarkt.gr/el/product/_nintendo-amii-0225-fieldwork-the-legend-of-zelda-1193590.html

That's her out and about clothing. Fieldwork, is relating to the fact she's out in the field on her own quest. We've seen her wearing a white dress (similar to the one in SS) in the trailers too so that outfit will have another name.

 

[TheMagician]

If your favourite new dude in the trailer isnt the bird guy who flies away going 'heh, heh, heh!!!', did you really see the trailer?

 

[LurkerPrime]

If your favourite new dude in the trailer isnt the bird guy who flies away going 'heh, heh, heh!!!', did you really see the trailer?

Yes.

YES!

 

[Lord Ghirahim]

That's her out and about clothing. Fieldwork, is relating to the fact she's out in the field on her own quest. We've seen her wearing a white dress (similar to the one in SS) in the trailers too so that outfit will have another name.

So, even more amiibo post-launch?

 

[iFirez]

So, even more amiibo post-launch?

It wouldn't surprise me if we got more BoTW Amiibo. Another Zelda one, another enemy type one. Maybe the Zora, Goron and Gerudo female characters we've seen as their own Amiibo too.

 

[FloweryMarston]

If your favourite new dude in the trailer isnt the bird guy who flies away going 'heh, heh, heh!!!', did you really see the trailer?

you mean falco

 

[correojon]

You have different type of markers, the ones that you can mark while using the scope, and when, in the map, you have different categories of points of interest, so say you find a bokoblin camp that you want to visit after you finish a shrine our a specific task, you can mark it with a skull for example.

This is HUGE for me. Really, this is a feature I´ve been missing in most games since I first played ALttP in the SNES. I´m afraid this game won´t be able to meet my expectations, everything seen & heard until now seems too good to be true. It just can´t. I seriously think this game has a good chance to dethrone OoT as GOAT.

 

[Lord Ghirahim]

If your favourite new dude in the trailer isnt the bird guy who flies away going 'heh, heh, heh!!!', did you really see the trailer?

Fairy tho.

 

[Bucket Mouse]

Falco is life.

 

[Yonafunu]

Another interview: http://www.gamekult.com/actu/eiji-aonuma-un-zelda-ou-lon-prend-plaisir-a-se-perdre-A172637.html


Good one too, tells how he expects this game to be the 3d equivalent of the original zelda and how they did the playtests, using different tools to see the path that the players were taking. Interesting tidbit is that ueda is friends with nintendo and sent aonuma a copy of the last guardian. nice!

Could someone maybe write up a summary? I'm hearing a lot of interesting stuff but my French isn't what it used to be.

 

[matrix-cat]

you mean falco

That ain't Falco...

 

[13ruce]

That ain't Falco...

His over over over over over over grandparent?

 

[Earthpainting]

If your favourite new dude in the trailer isnt the bird guy who flies away going 'heh, heh, heh!!!', did you really see the trailer?

While I won't deny that tales of 'heh, heh, heh!!!' shall be passed down for many generations, bird man has to contend with a clapping Goron, a spinning Great Fairy, and a doofy sandwalrus. He never stood a chance.

 

[Charamiwa]

Could someone maybe write up a summary?

Roughly:

- Open world idea came from feedback after Skyward Sword.
- Filling the world with stuff was done in an organic way, going manually through the world instead of looking at a 2D map. He says Miyamoto did the same thing with Zelda 1.
- Previous Zelda games under his supervision featured more hand holding because not knowing what to do is the worst thing that can happen, but with this game they tried to feature a new kind of way of "feeling lost". A positive one. Says the heart of the game is the loop of climbing, looking around, and paragliding.
- Says it's funny because he played Last Guardian and some of the gameplay elements reminded him of things they tried to do in BOTW too.
- Never played Dark Souls.
- Is aware that adding numbers and stats isn't always a good thing and he tried to avoid that in the past, but it was necessary for this game, especially with the loot system and exploration.
- Always argued with Miyamoto what the essence of a Zelda game was. Finally came to the conclusion with BOTW that it was a strong sense of place in a world, and the feeling of growing stronger as you play.
- What delayed the game wasn't creating the physics engine, but tweaking it for it to make sense everywhere. It was hard and required great coordination between teams.
- Lot of external playtests where they would watch where everyone go, and ask why they wanted to go to certain places. Tweaked the game accordingly.
- Monolith only worked on assets with Skyward Sword because their open world philosophy wasn't the same at the time. Now with BOTW they worked on the world too.
- Twilight Princess transitioning from GC to Wii helped them port the game to the Switch. It went a lot smoother.
- All cutscenes have voice acting. Wasn't always going to be like that, but they went for it.
- Has lot of ideas for other games, but always end up using them in Zelda games. Now he has specific ideas he refuses to put in Zelda games because he wants to do them elsewhere, but he's so busy with BOTW that he doesn't know when it'll happen.

Overall I thought it was an excellent interview, a bit different in tone than the usual PR speak.

 

[Lilo_D]

Roughly:

- Open world idea came from feedback after Skyward Sword.
- Filling the world with stuff was done in an organic way, going manually through the world instead of looking at a 2D map. He says Miyamoto did the same thing with Zelda 1.
- Previous Zelda games under his supervision featured more hand holding because not knowing what to do is the worst thing that can happen, but with this game they tried to feature a new kind of way of "feeling lost". A positive one. Says the heart of the game is the loop of climbing, looking around, and paragliding.
- Says it's funny because he played Last Guardian and some of the gameplay elements reminded him of things they tried to do in BOTW too.
- Never played Dark Souls.
- Is aware that adding numbers and stats isn't always a good thing and he tried to avoid that in the past, but it was necessary for this game, especially with the loot system and exploration.
- Always argued with Miyamoto what the essence of a Zelda game was. Finally came to the conclusion with BOTW that it was a strong sense of place in a world, and the feeling of growing stronger as you play.
- What delayed the game wasn't creating the physics engine, but tweaking it for it to make sense everywhere. It was hard and required great coordination between teams.
- Lot of external playtests where they would watch where everyone go, and ask why they wanted to go to certain places. Tweaked the game accordingly.
- Monolith only worked on assets with Skyward Sword because their open world philosophy wasn't the same at the time. Now with BOTW they worked on the world too.
- Twilight Princess transitioning from GC to Wii helped them port the game to the Switch. It went a lot smoother.
- All cutscenes have voice acting. Wasn't always going to be like that, but they went for it.
- Has lot of ideas for other games, but always end up using them in Zelda games. Now he has specific ideas he refuses to put in Zelda games because he wants to do them elsewhere, but he's so busy with BOTW that he doesn't know when it'll happen.

Overall I thought it was an excellent interview, a bit different in tone than the usual PR speak.

Great summary, Thank you very much

 

[ThanksVision]

Roughly:

- Open world idea came from feedback after Skyward Sword.
- Filling the world with stuff was done in an organic way, going manually through the world instead of looking at a 2D map. He says Miyamoto did the same thing with Zelda 1.
- Previous Zelda games under his supervision featured more hand holding because not knowing what to do is the worst thing that can happen, but with this game they tried to feature a new kind of way of "feeling lost". A positive one. Says the heart of the game is the loop of climbing, looking around, and paragliding.
- Says it's funny because he played Last Guardian and some of the gameplay elements reminded him of things they tried to do in BOTW too.
- Never played Dark Souls.
- Is aware that adding numbers and stats isn't always a good thing and he tried to avoid that in the past, but it was necessary for this game, especially with the loot system and exploration.
- Always argued with Miyamoto what the essence of a Zelda game was. Finally came to the conclusion with BOTW that it was a strong sense of place in a world, and the feeling of growing stronger as you play.
- What delayed the game wasn't creating the physics engine, but tweaking it for it to make sense everywhere. It was hard and required great coordination between teams.
- Lot of external playtests where they would watch where everyone go, and ask why they wanted to go to certain places. Tweaked the game accordingly.
- Monolith only worked on assets with Skyward Sword because their open world philosophy wasn't the same at the time. Now with BOTW they worked on the world too.
- Twilight Princess transitioning from GC to Wii helped them port the game to the Switch. It went a lot smoother.
- All cutscenes have voice acting. Wasn't always going to be like that, but they went for it.
- Has lot of ideas for other games, but always end up using them in Zelda games. Now he has specific ideas he refuses to put in Zelda games because he wants to do them elsewhere, but he's so busy with BOTW that he doesn't know when it'll happen.

Overall I thought it was an excellent interview, a bit different in tone than the usual PR speak.

Thank you!

 

[Onikaan]

Wow, I don't know how I missed it the first time but the tree house play through 2 weeks ago shows Link literally mounting a horse from the front like Legolas.

Awesome.

 

[forknknife]

Roughly:

- Open world idea came from feedback after Skyward Sword.
- Filling the world with stuff was done in an organic way, going manually through the world instead of looking at a 2D map. He says Miyamoto did the same thing with Zelda 1.
- Previous Zelda games under his supervision featured more hand holding because not knowing what to do is the worst thing that can happen, but with this game they tried to feature a new kind of way of "feeling lost". A positive one. Says the heart of the game is the loop of climbing, looking around, and paragliding.
- Says it's funny because he played Last Guardian and some of the gameplay elements reminded him of things they tried to do in BOTW too.
- Never played Dark Souls.
- Is aware that adding numbers and stats isn't always a good thing and he tried to avoid that in the past, but it was necessary for this game, especially with the loot system and exploration.
- Always argued with Miyamoto what the essence of a Zelda game was. Finally came to the conclusion with BOTW that it was a strong sense of place in a world, and the feeling of growing stronger as you play.
- What delayed the game wasn't creating the physics engine, but tweaking it for it to make sense everywhere. It was hard and required great coordination between teams.
- Lot of external playtests where they would watch where everyone go, and ask why they wanted to go to certain places. Tweaked the game accordingly.
- Monolith only worked on assets with Skyward Sword because their open world philosophy wasn't the same at the time. Now with BOTW they worked on the world too.
- Twilight Princess transitioning from GC to Wii helped them port the game to the Switch. It went a lot smoother.
- All cutscenes have voice acting. Wasn't always going to be like that, but they went for it.
- Has lot of ideas for other games, but always end up using them in Zelda games. Now he has specific ideas he refuses to put in Zelda games because he wants to do them elsewhere, but he's so busy with BOTW that he doesn't know when it'll happen.

Overall I thought it was an excellent interview, a bit different in tone than the usual PR speak.

You rule

 

[Earendil]

*snip*

Thank you for doing that. Lots of great info there!

 

[Inferno313]

If your favourite new dude in the trailer isnt the bird guy who flies away going 'heh, heh, heh!!!', did you really see the trailer?

It's all about "Here It Comes!" Goron, bruh.

 

[Skittzo0413]

It's all about "Here It Comes!" Goron, bruh.

Wait, are these all official images??? Why have I not seen them yet?

This one too:

I hadn't seen them all with the blue scarves before. That would definitely signal a connection to the Hyrule royal family.

 

[Enduin]

I hadn't seen them all with the blue scarves before. That would definitely signal a connection to the Hyrule royal family.

I think it's a safe bet to say they're

Spoiler

the Divine Beast's masters. The blue scarves and the fact that we have footage of Falco flying up to the Bird one before it's corrupted seems to point to that fact. Similarly for the Gerudo girl present in front of the inactive camel as well.

 

[FloweryMarston]

Not only the scarf, but the focus on their weapons. Almost it seems like their weapons will be a reward for the player.

 

[Onikaan]

I think it's a safe bet to say they're

Spoiler

the Divine Beast's masters. The blue scarves and the fact that we have footage of Falco flying up to the Bird one before it's corrupted seems to point to that fact. Similarly for the Gerudo girl present in front of the inactive camel as well.

Spoiler

Which would mean they're characters from your memories :'(

Sorry, I should say Falco is definitely a character from the past. But it is also safe to say the Gerudo girl is from the present, is she a beast master?

I really hope they're all in some kind of stasis. I want to interact with in the present.

 

[Skittzo0413]

I think it's a safe bet to say they're

Spoiler

the Divine Beast's masters. The blue scarves and the fact that we have footage of Falco flying up to the Bird one before it's corrupted seems to point to that fact. Similarly for the Gerudo girl present in front of the inactive camel as well.

Yeah this is what I've been assuming too. It wasn't clear that the

Spoiler

divine beasts

were connected to the royal family though, as the map (and design) seems to suggest they're connected with the Sheikah. Who, admittedly, are somewhat connected with the royal family, but the scarves indicate more of a direct connection.

Anyway, I wonder if you'll have to fight a corrupted version of each of them. Falco looks pretty antagonistic in that Life in the Ruins trailer...

 

[crooked spin]

- Has lot of ideas for other games, but always end up using them in Zelda games. Now he has specific ideas he refuses to put in Zelda games because he wants to do them elsewhere, but he's so busy with BOTW that he doesn't know when it'll happen.

While I love Aonuma as the producer of Zelda I think he deserves to work on his own original IP. Give him the budget, Nintendo!

 

[FloweryMarston]

Spoiler

Which would mean they're characters from your memories :'(

I really hope they're all in some kind of stasis. I want to interact with in the present.

I think they are spirits that will help you. At least the scene with the gerudo woman is in the present, as the main cue for the past is the master sword, but with the gerudo you are with your usual equipment of the present. The zoras you see them in the present, but the zora girl didn't show as much to indicate that.

While I love Aonuma as the producer of Zelda I think he deserves to work on his own original IP. Give him the budget, Nintendo!

I think that him trying to keep some ideas away from zelda gives the impression that he is indeed working on something new. Exciting, he is one of the best.

Roughly:

Overall I thought it was an excellent interview, a bit different in tone than the usual PR speak.

Yep, i loved this interview, while i thought the english ones (waypoint and eurogamer) were quite dry in comparison, especially since in the eurogamer they focused again on the female playable character and tried to validate their leak asking aonuma how difficult it was to coordinate the translation of the game in multiple languages.

This one showed a glimpse of "iwata asks" in my opinion, talking about how they developed the game in general, and the strategy of pausing production every once in a while to play the game for a week and put everyone on the same page. He also mentioned things like playing games from other companies (something that you rarely see from nintendo people not named sakurai) and even that they are friend with ueda. It's super meaty interview.

 

[Air]

I want that stealth/thief inspired game Aonuma!

 

[Inferno313]

Speaking of stealth, I hope there are more cloaks like the one featured in that initial trailer, and on the horse amiibo. I want to be a badass cloaked Link at all times. Everyone knows that a cloak just makes a fantasy character about 1000 times cooler.

 

[KooopaKid]

Another interview: http://www.gamekult.com/actu/eiji-aonuma-un-zelda-ou-lon-prend-plaisir-a-se-perdre-A172637.html


Good one too, tells how he expects this game to be the 3d equivalent of the original zelda and how they did the playtests, using different tools to see the path that the players were taking. Interesting tidbit is that ueda is friends with nintendo and sent aonuma a copy of the last guardian. nice!

A really great interview with very precise and interesting questions for a change.

The playtesting part is very interesting. They modified the topography of the places the players were visiting less to make them more appealing.
I wonder if other open-world studios are doing something similar.

 

[Enduin]

Speaking of stealth, I hope there are more cloaks like the one featured in that initial trailer, and on the horse amiibo. I want to be a badass cloaked Link at all times. Everyone knows that a cloak just makes a fantasy character about 1000 times cooler.

I just hope the cloaks are still in. We haven't seen it since the 2014 gameplay trailer. The fact that the horse amiibo does have it gives me hope though.

 

[Inferno313]

I just hope the cloaks are still in. We haven't seen it since the 2014 gameplay trailer. The fact that the horse amiibo does have it gives me hope though.

Yeah, I have to imagine they wouldn't take them out if that Amiibo still has one. It would make sense mechanically too, given that stealth seems to play a little bit of an aspect in this one. I imagine the gameplay aspect of wearing a cloak would decrease the chance of you being noticed when crouch-walking, or something.

 

[FloweryMarston]

I just hope the cloaks are still in. We haven't seen it since the 2014 gameplay trailer. The fact that the horse amiibo does have it gives me hope though.

We saw it at the 2015 teaser and the lanyard art of e3 2016 demo has link in that cloak. The amiibo basically guarantees it. I want that cloak man

 

[Fireblend]

Is there any good youtube video to spoil me on current story/lore theories? Reading through this thread I'm realizing I'm way out of the loop

 

[Inferno313]

I also gotta say, I'm super into the premise for this Zelda. I've always been a huge fan of "man out of his own time" type stories. Rip Van Winkle was one of my favorite classical stories as a kid. And, I even really enjoy that aspect of the second and third Captain America films. The fact that they're exploring that trope with this game is pretty exciting to me, as I'm hard-pressed to think of other games that have explored this type of narrative.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

Roughly:

- Open world idea came from feedback after Skyward Sword.
- Filling the world with stuff was done in an organic way, going manually through the world instead of looking at a 2D map. He says Miyamoto did the same thing with Zelda 1.
- Previous Zelda games under his supervision featured more hand holding because not knowing what to do is the worst thing that can happen, but with this game they tried to feature a new kind of way of "feeling lost". A positive one. Says the heart of the game is the loop of climbing, looking around, and paragliding.
- Says it's funny because he played Last Guardian and some of the gameplay elements reminded him of things they tried to do in BOTW too.
- Never played Dark Souls.
- Is aware that adding numbers and stats isn't always a good thing and he tried to avoid that in the past, but it was necessary for this game, especially with the loot system and exploration.
- Always argued with Miyamoto what the essence of a Zelda game was. Finally came to the conclusion with BOTW that it was a strong sense of place in a world, and the feeling of growing stronger as you play.
- What delayed the game wasn't creating the physics engine, but tweaking it for it to make sense everywhere. It was hard and required great coordination between teams.
- Lot of external playtests where they would watch where everyone go, and ask why they wanted to go to certain places. Tweaked the game accordingly.
- Monolith only worked on assets with Skyward Sword because their open world philosophy wasn't the same at the time. Now with BOTW they worked on the world too.
- Twilight Princess transitioning from GC to Wii helped them port the game to the Switch. It went a lot smoother.
- All cutscenes have voice acting. Wasn't always going to be like that, but they went for it.
- Has lot of ideas for other games, but always end up using them in Zelda games. Now he has specific ideas he refuses to put in Zelda games because he wants to do them elsewhere, but he's so busy with BOTW that he doesn't know when it'll happen.

Overall I thought it was an excellent interview, a bit different in tone than the usual PR speak.

I can't wait to see what Aonuma is able to do after Zelda. I'm not sure if there's a person he can hand the series of to, but this has me excited that there is an "after Zelda" for him