ZELDA! Thoughts?

So, any thoughts on it? Do you like the artstyle?

OPEN WORLD. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCKKKKKKK!!!!!

I was hoping a bit for it to look like the tech demo but knew that was an unrealistic expectation. I think it looks beautiful actually. I've finally resigned myself to the fact that Zelda's always going to be bright and colorful. It's a series that appeals to families and the younger demographic, and as much as us veteran gamers would like it to take on aesthetics similar to The Witcher or Skyrim, it's just not going to happen anytime soon, if ever. Besides, the animation, explosions, and effects really bring it to life in such a stylized fashion.

I was expecting a 15 min gameplay demos though, not just a 1 min trailer but at least it showed gameplay. The world looks HUGE and it seems Nintendo has heard the outcry and criticisms from SS being so linear and hub-like. This is the right direction to go: a huge, lush overworld that looks to afford the player to go where they want. I hope there's numerous towns littered about and of course, Hyrule castle.

And please Nintendo, fix the pacing at the start. Start this game off with a bang. PLEASE. Don't make me run errands for the first few hours. It's the one thing that's killed Zeldas in the past.

The only thing: 2015? Sure. I find that very hard to believe so much so that I........don't believe it. Still, looking mighty hopeful and to be taking the series back on the right track; openworld and exploration.

sigh of relief when its not Toon Link Wind Waker style...I don't mind it as its more Skyward Sword style. With this I hope with this simpler (than tech demo) style they are able to make the world more populated rather than barren like other 3D LoZ games. Its gonna be a late 2015 title - US holiday time title..they claim, this was worked alongside with Wind Waker HD remake http://nintendoeverything.com/aonuma-elaborates-on-the-ideas-zelda-wii-u-will-include-from-wind-waker-hd-benefits-of-developing-multiple-games-at-once/ ...so it's been be a few of years in the making already.

this and mario kart8 look next gen to me....

smash bros sometimes does...the backgrounds mess it up sometimes

xenonlade X needs more polish...its like in between right now. sometimes it does

Looks incredible

I'm definitely curious about who this blonde haired person is. At first I thought it was a female, but then I concluded that it was Link after all. However, it makes me wonder why he's not wearing the green tunic before obtaining both bow and sword (you can see the scabbard on the horse), why he's covering his head with a robe, why the monster is after him, and why he holds his bow with his left hand, like Zelda. Aside from the Wii version of Twilight Princess, Link always holds the bow with his right hand whereas Zelda in Wind Waker and Twilight Princess holds it with her left hand. Small detail, but intriguing nonetheless.

Guys, that's a girl and that horse isn't epona.

I don't know if it's link or not, but yeah...

Anyway, i'm disappointed because they showed so little.

@ANIMEguy10034 Link's son/daughter...which means he finally did the deed with Zelda. :P

@superbuuman: Now that you've mentioned it... this new Link does share some facial features with Skyward Sword's Link and Zelda. Hmmm.....

Very impressive IMO. Not exactly the style I wanted, but still beautiful. I just wish they showed off more footage instead of the 50 second teaser that really showed very little....

Besides not having that twilight princess realistic graphics, everything else seems to be exactly what I wanted in terms of having an open world and making the world look as lively as possible...

Side note: Link always had a feminine look about him. I think the person in that trailer is Link, just at a much younger age (Probably 12-15?) compared to the much older looking Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword Link...

can it beat ocarina of time?

Seriously -- this promises to be exactly what Zelda needs.

The past few console iterations have been fantastic Zeldas but nothing huge in the grand scope of gaming.

A Link Between Worlds was more than a great Zelda -- it was a wonderful piece of gaming entertainment.

This game's reveal trailer was tantalizing by general gaming standards -- it didn't need to be Zelda to appeal.

Japanese. They always tend to be very overly effeminate in their art.

I'm a lifelong Zelda fan but skyward sword almost ruined the franchise for me. I hated it that much. I have faith in this new one but I'm being much more catious with this one

If they're using the NES Zeldas for inspiration, they should implement the difficulty of the first games as well. Break our balls Nintendo. We didn't need our hands held in the eighties, we don't need our hands held now.

@MirkoS77: agreed. Though those you played long ago as kids have grown we can't count on that entertainment to mature. Same reason there are no R rated Star Wars films. The Zelda series appeals to kids, but doesn't completely forget about those who have grown up with it.

looks fantastic for me

My mouth went agape when I saw the game. Graphically, it reminds me of The Witcher 3, but with brighter colors. One of the things I didn't like about Skyrim was how ugly everything was, so this art style is more than welcome. I know a lot of people were hoping for a style similar to the tech demo from 2011, but I recall Aonuma saying something about the Skyward Sword style being just right. I wish I could find the article. Anyway, I wasn't expecting it to look like Twilight Princess. Hell, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect and then BAM!

I can understand the 2015 release date. Depending on how big the world is(and it looks huge), there is going to be a f**kton of debugging to do. With Ocarina of Time, testers spent weeks running Epona around in Hyrule Field looking for bugs. With a larger, more robust Zelda, debugging is probably the stuff of nightmares.

I'm very interested in the idea of going out and finding the dungeons with limited, if any, hand holding. 2015 looks like it's going to be an awesome year.

thats definately link in the trailer. link has not always worn traditional garb at the start of every game. in TP and WW i think he started out wearing something else (cant remember about SS). the content we saw may be planned to be close to the start of the game...or it could just be a test level of some sorts.

as is the usual with a new zelda reveal it just brings up some questions.

how are dungeons and puzzles going to be integrated into the overworld? will there be restrictions in terms of "you need item X to navigate this part and it will also be needed for the dungeon ahead" but you can get item X at any time? maybe even integrate more POP tyle level puzzles and make link more agile (which would break with zelda tradition but it would make the overworld that bit more enjoyable to explore). could an asssins creed type navigation, where you can climb mountains and such like, be on the cards?

how will difficulty be managed? if its possible to run into boss type creates on the overworld then how will that be dealt with? will it be a case of the player gets 9 hearts at the start of the game and thats it for the whole game? maybe itll get filed under tough....you took on a boss with just 3 hearts and the wrong item...not the smartest thing to do (i somehow doubt this). maybe itll have a skyrim/oblivion type system where the more dungeons you complete and the more hearts you have the more difficult the enemies become and new types of enemies appear on the overworld. the new enemies that appear will be based on the items you currently have in your inventory.

I'm really disappointed with the artstyle. I was hoping that it would be just like the tech demo.

It really frustrates me how Nintendo keeps teasing us with an amazing tech demo with realistic graphics and then completely changes it to cartoony graphics. They did it on GameCube and now they did it again. If they are not going to deliver the realisitc graphics then they should not get our hopes up by showing it off in tech demos only to have the actual game use cartoony graphics instead.

Considering that Skyward Sword was so terrible and this game does not have the dark graphics and atmosphere that I want, my hype for this game is not very high at the moment.

I like the art style. It looks detailed enough without going for the photorealism crap that is devouring the industry today. I also have no problem with the colors. Almost every other game out there is bland and drab and dark and black and white. While many people like it, its good that there is alternatives to this. Its getting kinda old that all these games are the same.

Oh! and apparently that might not have been link in the trailer.

http://www.gamrreview.com/news/91599/zelda-creator-teases-that-may-not-have-been-link-in-e3-2014-trailer/

Which basically confirms it's not Link, they wouldn't even tease that if it was Link.

To me, especially with the hair, this character looked more like Zelda than Link (specifically Skyward Sword's Zelda), which is why I jumped to the conclusion that the character was a girl. It was also sorta backed up by the fact that "she" is shown using a Bow and not a Sword, which reminds me of the end of both Wind Waker and Twilight Princess when Zelda uses a bow to fire light arrows at Ganondorf to help you in the fight.

However to look again It's a little harder to tell, there are actually elements of BOTH Link and Zelda from Skyward Sword in the design, so it's looking likely that the character is an early decedent of these two, possibly even there own child, which would also make sense as to why it's not Link.

All I know is if they can pull off a true open world ( and that means living, not lots of empty space) but keep the polish that usually comes with a Nintendo game, this will be one of the best games ever made.

As long as they make the story engaging and don't mess the controls up too much, it definitely may turn into one of the best games this generation. And I hope whoever creates the story aspect of Zelda actually creates a well-told story, giving it lore for characters, area, and races (Maybe Metroid Prime-esque?) instead of creating a game with races and characters who really don't have much background besides simply existing in the world. Most Zelda games leave question marks on some of the events that happens in them. Examples would be OoT shadow temple that kept hinting about Hyrules bloody and dark past or the great war that left Link without parents (I think the only thing mentioned about Links parents was that his father being a knight of Hyrule. Probably wrong though). Or MM's Ikana and Garos has little known information about them.

In other words, I like for this Zelda game to be thorough about explaining the more quest involved characters history and the events that are mentioned throughout the game. Don't just mention something that occurred in the past, elaborate on it....

I love the art style, if it holds up that well, color me impressed. The details were top notch and now is simply the time to try and gleam gameplay details from this trailer, Nintendo is notorious for showing major gameplay elements that easily overlooked in trailers.

With this simpler style visuals they (Aonuma) better have more people in or a livelier Hyrule...otherwise it means the Wii U is really freaking weak ass sauce or they are just incompetent/lazy.

Initially I was disappointed with the graphics, but it's looking like the game will be native 1080p like Wind Waker hd. Which is AMAZING

I think it's going to be an incredible looking game, I admit i was bummed at first it's not a dark Zelda but i'm over it, it looks like the perfect art style for Wii U's hardware.

Well if they can do 1080p without cutting stuff/details out, great!...if 1080p comes with less detail/stuff, then I'd rather 720p with more stuff/details. :) Darker Zelda would have been great..but this one is okay. :)

Looks to have the potential.

I must say, this reveal is a relief and Nintendo's choice to begin the gameplay trailer by showing a vast, large, lush over world is really telling that they want to let us know that the series is going back to what people want. Non-linearity and exploration is the main thing that trailer screams. I'm just curious as to how large it's going to end up being, and I'm with you in the hopes they really capatilize on the openness. Have little mini-dungeons hidden away, etc.

One thing I do hope for is to see a return to the old method of progression. While the "buy your items" idea in ALBW was an interesting concept, in execution it tended to rob a lot of the satisfaction, anticipation, and wonder out of getting from place to place.

@ANIMEguy10034: I think its the goddess hylia

I don't know about that. I mean, Super Mario 3D World wasn't even 1080p and Wii U Zelda is vastly more detailed and technically impressive. If it does turn out 1080p by some form of technical wizardry, AWESOME! Also, Nintendo should consider technology sharing with 3rd parties, to help them get the most out of the hardware. With 3rd parties all but absent from the Wii U, that could get some back on board. Nintendo managed to pull an amazing looking open world game with an excellent draw distance, so they could show other developers how they pulled it off - what they did with the CPU, GPU, memory management, provide source code examples, and etc.

"It's a rumour," he told MMGN. "Actually that comment I made jokingly. It's not that I said that it wasn't Link. It's that I never said that it was Link. It's not really the same thing, but I can understand how it could be taken that way.

"It seems like it has kind of taken off where people are saying 'oh it's a female character' and it just kind of grew. But my intent in saying that was humour. You know, you have to show Link when you create a trailer for a Zelda announcement."

Zelda is always 30fps though, mario is 60fps.

I think they can easily pull off 1080p 30fps from what we saw, it looked great but details were lost in the distance and the textures weren't high res. It wouldn't be a technical miracle.. in fact if it's 720p there are many games on Wii u already doing more.

I'm sure they have something like that already, similar to Sony's ICE team that's always working on improving dev kits, and i'm sure Nintendo's first party share details all the time with exclusive 3rd party developers.

@Chozofication: All valid points. We'll know for certain as we inch into 2015. Dat wait...

I'm still hoping they show more this week but they probably won't... >_>

I was positively astounded by the open-world landscape as Link and Epona silently looked on, but once the spasmodic robo-spider rushed on the scene, I was turned off. Link jumping into the air with a matrix slow-mo wasn't personally enticing to me, either. I enjoyed the visuals as a whole.

I've never been a Nintendo fanatic, but I think I'll finally play a Zelda game. This looks really vibrant and I like the overall art style.

I want

Ah they will show in future Nintendo Directs. :)

Why?

The open world is a little bit disappointing to me, because there really aren't many open world games that I like. I'm willing to give it a try, though. I just hope that the main content doesn't suffer from enormous amounts of side content, and that the game doesn't just become a list of tasks to check off with fast travel between destinations.

I don't think Aonuma is looking at other games in the open-world genre as a guide. Judging from his development style and how he introduced the game in the teaser, he probably started from the concept of a world you can access freely and tried to figure out how a modern Zelda game can take advantage of that.

A Link Between Worlds already has this structure, so this will probably be the next evolution of that. Hopefully they can figure out how to fix the lack of difficulty curve that LBW suffers from.

Well, they could fix it by going back to a linear structure. I'm not sure how you address it otherwise.

Make it like Dark Souls. You can go anywhere, and if you're good enough, you can make some progress through more difficult areas. If you're not good enough yet, you keep exploring till you find a place you can handle, then find a new weapon or upgrade there that will help you get through the part you couldn't handle before.

It doesn't need to be punishingly difficult or anything, but this is one really good way to handle it. LBW does a little bit of this, but it's only in an area or two. The whole game needs to be designed around it for it to work well.

Maybe they could do that, but the Zelda series doesn't have the ability to level up that you typically see in games that go that route. Sure, you can collect heart containers and upgrade your sword and armor, but I would prefer to play a story-driven, linear game. I'd rather not stumble up to what is meant to be the third dungeon and get through it thinking "Wow, this game is a lot harder than the previous Zeldas!" only to then go to the easiest dungeon and breeze through it in 15 minutes.

I agree with this. That would be really deflating.

I can't imagine how they're going to handle this, but I hope it works out for the best.

Ummmm.....you guys have to remember that you're still gonna need certain items in order to get access to certain areas of the game. That's always been apart of the Zelda formula (At least going by consoles games). So I doubt you're gonna be able to waltz right on in through dungeons that were meant to be played later down the line. That and I doubt Nintendo will make it that easy to just jump into any point of the storyline...

And you don't really need a leveling system, just make it in a way where its possible (but highly difficult) to kill certain monsters but items acquire through the game makes it progressively easier to deal with them oppose to just going in with just sword and shield...

Link Between Worlds has an item shop that lets you rent items and play the dungeons in whatever order you like. It's hard telling how Nintendo will approach this new title and whether they will make the game linear or not.

@YearoftheSnake5: I remember reading a supposed rumor that a guy saw it and said it was more like Wind Waker, and it is basically a matured wind waker style big expressive eyes and all.

I haven't played Link between worlds yet (though I was being very specific when I said console zelda games as in N64, GC, and Wii, the 3-D games since they never strayed outside of being linear) so I couldn't say anything about it. But what Link to the Past on SNES had going for it probably would've proved me wrong anyways since you can practically do most of its dungeons in any particular order...