See here: http://www.gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=104845
Aonuma: “We’re making efforts regarding the total flow of the Zelda
game. So far, the basic flow of the Zelda games is you’re exploring a
field, you go to a dungeon, you conquer it and return to the field.
We’re looking at altering that traditional flow. That’s all I can
share, and I can’t say more until E3 next year.”
What you say about what Zelda Wii will become, a linear, story focused
Zelda, they already did this with Twilight Princess. And I don’t see,
why they should repeat this mistake. Besides Twilight Princess the
Zelda series never really was too story heavy.
And what you say about Super Guide is wrong as well. There was no word
yet, that Zelda Wii is going to use it (or is there?). And even if it
does, it doesn’t mean the game will become linear. Do you really
think, that Super Guide will play through the entire game for you? If
it will be used, it’s most likely just for certain puzzles or bosses.
As for the directions, there was always something in Zelda to guide
you where to go next, you don’t need a Super Guide to find the next
dungeon or whatever.
Look at Sakamoto with Metroid: Other M. While he isn’t part of the Zelda Team, that way of thinking appears to be in many Nintendo developers.
I disagree with Aonuma’s analysis of the Zelda problem. When people complain about the ‘formula’, they do not complain about the dungeons and overworld. They are complaining about the “Amazing Story!” and “OMG Plot Twists” that are polluting Zelda. For example, Twilight Princess spent the first half of the game of Link finding a cat, doing ram herding, trying to find the kids, and going on a bug scavenger hunt when in dog form. This awful story and cliched plot twists are what is turning people off, I believe. All these bad habits began in Ocarina. This is why people say to stop using the Ocarina of Time formula. They do not say stop using the NES Zelda formula.
What I hear from Zelda fans is that they want a RICHER overworld with dungeons that are not in a linear order. I hear that everywhere.
Aonuma is saying he wants to do away with the ‘frame’ of the dungeons and overworld. What I hear from fans is just the opposite. The fans seem to be complaining that the dungeons are too linear and the overworld doesn’t seem much like an overworld. I get the impression that Zelda fans want more overworld, less linearity, which means less ‘cinematic story’ a “character plots” which increase linearity.
My take on how Zelda works with the dungeons and overworld was with the “Zelda as a Crucible” post. I believe the overworld acts as the standard of the game and the non-linearity illustrates that Link is weak and cannot go everywhere… at first. So he enters unpleasant dungeons, which are not supposed to be *fun* but are supposed to be challenging, and exits the dungeon stronger than when he entered. More of the overworld can be traveled.
I always fondly remember Zelda dungeons as places of pain from Zelda I up to the 3d Zeldas. Link would go through these ‘crucibles’ because when you stepped into the sunlight again, you’d get a true feeling of accomplishment.
Modern Zelda with its dungeons feel like a conveyor belt of levels. Dungeon 1. Dungeon 2. Dungeon 3. And the Overworld feels nothing more than a road to go from one dungeon to the next. I no longer feel I am in a rich world where I can enter crucibles (dungeons) and grow myself.
The Zelda Team has been consistent in one thing: driving Zelda into the ground since Ocarina. Probability says they will continue in that fashion.
I think Aonuma is misanalyzing fans’ complaints of the formula. In Aonuma’s mind, the formula is dungeons and overworld. In fans’ minds, the formula is the cliched “story” and the linearity that it brings.
What is going to occur is that Aonuma is going to do everything the fans do not want. Any chance of non-linearity of the dungeons is gone. The overworld will be gone. In its place will be “Linear Adventure” with “Amazing Story!” and many “OMG plot twists!” Everyone will be “WTF!” Hardcore gamers will wrongly blame all of Zelda Wii’s errors on Motion Plus and ‘casual gaming’ in general.
Sorry, but I am a pessimist on Zelda: Wii. Spirit Tracks (which I consider an absolute parody of the Zelda universe with choo choo trains and Zelda the boo jumping around everywhere) is indicating where the Zelda Team wants to go.
I would love dungeons and overworld and NOTHING ELSE. No stupid cat to rescue. No dumb rams to put in the barn. No stupid ‘uncle’. No stupid children to rescue. No cinematics at all. Within ten seconds of the game, I would get my sword and pick any direction I wanted toward the horizon and off I would go. This ‘original Zelda’ approach did, indeed, convert non-gamers to Zelda fans. If it worked in 1988, it can work in 2011.
But I know the Zelda developers are licking their chops to inflict us with more “Amazing Story!” and “OMG cut scenes!”. In a game, less is more. They would be devastated by the ‘back-to-basics’ picture I described above. Why, they wouldn’t have any way to show off their GENIUS.
Every Nintendo game is being infected with “OMG Story!” developers. They infected Mario Galaxy with “OMG Story!”. They tried to infect Mario 5 and Galaxy 2 but Miyamoto put a stop to them. Metroid: Other M is “OMG Story!” on steroids. “OMG Story!” is taking a huge place in all the Zeldas since Ocarina so why wouldn’t it be in Zelda: Wii?
I guess we won’t know anything for sure until the gameplay is unveiled in some form at E3 2010.
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