Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Legend Of Zelda - Evolution Of A Franchise

Posted by simoniker on from the two-dee-three-dee-four-dee dept.

Thanks to Nintendo Power for its transcript of "Zelda guru" Eiji Aonuma's speech at last month's GDC conference. Aonuma, who's "been doing work related to a game known as Zelda... for roughly eight years", from the N64 through the current GameCube iterations, discusses his pre-Zelda influences ("What kinds of games did suit me? Those would be Text-Based Adventures"), the "three-day system" in N64 title Majora's Mask ("[done] to make the game data more compact while still providing deep gameplay"), and the essence of the series ("Zelda is a game that values REALITY over realism.")

2 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. Reality over Realism ... by SuperRob · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This comment right here is why I love Nintendo's games. Everyone cried foul when Nintendo moved to cel-shading for the Zelda: The Wind Waker, saying that they wanted a more realistic Zelda. Some people are STILL saying that.

    As it turns out, The Wind Waker is probably the most realistic Zelda game I've played. But that has more to do with creating a world with logical rules, and then living by those rules. You can practically feel the wind swirling around you, things in distance fade out of view, but are still there (you can see FOREVER). The game may look cartoony, but it's a "real" world. It feels real, things react exactly as you'd expect.

    The problem with "photorealistic" games is that we know so much about what the real world is like, that anything that doesn't jive with our expectations is JARRING. We all immediately notice when a realistic human character doesn't look or move right. Developers have to become slaves to perfection as opposed to creating art. Complex physics, ultra-detailed textures, flawless motion capture ... it's all required, and VERY expensive!

    The new Zelda was free from those constraints. The only expectations they had to worry about was their own, and as a result, the world feels more realistic than anything I've played before, because I was able to suspend my disbelief and keep it suspended ... a rare feat in gaming today.

    1. Re:Reality over Realism ... by MilenCent · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, I loved Wind Waker too. Boat travel felt epic. And say what you want about the time it took to go places. Here's the secret: The Great Sea is much less monotonous than Hyrule Field..

      It's true. Wind Waker's overworld has more monsters, more places to visit, more secrets (including at least one significant treasure in every sector), and nifty little mini-games to do like hit barrels for rupees, feeding the fish to get your map filled in, and just checking out each sector's island.

      Hyrule field is smaller, but there's much less happening in it. It's probably Ocarina of Time's biggest flaw, unless you're in Young Link's time at night the monsters are barely worth discussing. Peahats can be scary opponents if you only have three hearts, unless you just stay the hell away from them that is. And say what you want about Ganondorf -- he cleared the Peahats and Stalchildren out of Hyrule Field. The Evil part of his alignment is regrettable, but the Lawful part has its advantages.