Brand New Zelda U Info

Q: You showed the Zelda trailer and that's such a huge world. How is that going to be for you guys to approach as far as gameplay and story, because it's such a huge world.

With Zelda games, what we've always done is try to make them where you enter this big world of Hyrule and there's a lot to explore and discover, but because of the hardware limitations, what we've had to do is segment off each area and piece those segments together in a way that make them feel like a big world. Now, with the hardware capabilities of Wii U, we first started by saying if we can take an entire world the size of the world from Twilight Princess, and make that the size of one of the areas in the game.

Q: Do you see that as a game where people will go to complete a certain mission and they end up doing fifty things along the way?

Yeah, there may even be times where you forget what your goal is, because you are doing other things on the side. There may be times where you go in to one big one long dungeon, or you're headed for a dungeon and doing other things on the side. What we're trying to do is design it in a way where you don't have to play it for a super long time, but more matched to today's lifestyle where you can think for a little bit, and say "maybe I just want to play for a little bit today and do this one thing." and get that thing done, then take a break.

SOURCE

So much for that 'empty' world, huh, guys?

Anyway, this sounds absolutely epic. Let me have it, Nintendo.

Casual trash confirmed.

Sounds too good to be true, like the perfect game.

Sounds like The Elder Scrolls, only worse.

Sounds like a GOTY 2015/16 contender.

i am a little worried about them saying they are designing it in a way for small amounts of play time, sounds very casual.

I think they mean you can do small things in the open world and feel like you accomplished something. Which implies the exact opposite of an open world that's empty and funnels you from mission marker A to mission marker B. So it'll be like Skyrim in that regard: you can play for five minutes, do something small like discover a new area or get a new item, and feel like you made progress. So they're striving to allow players to make the most of their playtime.

well that sounds just fine actually. I do have faith in Ninty to create a stellar game, although i did not care for Skyward sword.

So not an empty, shallow world after all :D

Ah well, haters'll find something new to bitch about. Shame their "machismo" won't allow them to play possibly one of the best games this generation; it's their loss.

I, on the other hand, am so ready for this!

I bet the game gives you a journal to pick quests from with waypoints and everything.

heh, we'll see. Not really a fan of open world games but I love Zelda.

Sounds like A Link to the Past, only far more grand.

I want hidden dungeons. I don't care that much about side quest and things like that, I just want some damn secret dungeons that you don't have to complete, but just stumble upon. That was one of the biggest buzzkills of Wind Waker was finding out that basically all of that side stuff you were doing was just stuff you ended up having to do anyways, like the ghost ship. The Ghost ship should have been completely optional and it should have been a full fledged dungeon, not the boring crap it ended up being.

And just because I can do the swamp temple before the fire temple, or the water temple before the forest temple doesn't mean crap to me, It doesn't matter what order I do it in, it doesn't make it feel anymore adventurous to me, what would basically make this the greatest game of all time to me is if it had the standard zelda structure (whether or not the dungeons or in a strict order or not doesn't matter) and then have hidden dungeons and mini dungeons on the way. That is what would make a world worth exploring to me.

The "whatever order you want" thing would be pretty cool if all of the items you get are weapons and the game progresses sort of like Mega Man. I thought Link Between Worlds would have been better without it, but it can be done right.

iJustine. Why did it HAVE to be her?

Zelda hype always makes it seem like it will be the best Zelda game ever.

meh. I'll play this one too

If these "other things on the side" consist of just running around collecting rupees, then who gives a shit?

What's the news here?

Sounds meh

I was among those that were worried about a relatively empty world. Still am actually. I'm not a hater, Zelda is one of my favorite series and this is my 2nd most anticipated game at the moment.

Sure, the latest presentation was terribly executed and looked more like a tech demo than anything else. I know we can't judge the game based on that, but the fact is, they did show us nothing but a barren world.

Also, it's nothing against Nintendo at all, as a matter of fact I have more faith in them than most other devs to pull off an interesting open world. That said, most open world games are either somewhat empty, or full of repetitive shit.

At this point all we can do is wait and see.

Furthermore, nothing about the OP changes anything lol. Obviously there were going to be things to do on the side, as a matter of fact, they pretty much described every Zelda game.

Right, because we all know that Nintendo is always to be taken at their word as history has shown time and time again.

Yeah...I'm going to need to see that dense open world gameplay for myself. I don't have as much faith in Nintendo as some.

Those "other things on the side" could be stupid. So far all I've seen is an empty boring world. Talk isn't going to change my mind, let's see some video.

Actually I think it changes quite a bit, we were all a bit worried about the world being empty, but what this seems to say is that, like someone already mentioned, you can make progress with very little (a la Elder Scrolls)... aside from going about getting collectables, I dunno if any Zelda game has ever had anything particularly deep to do on the side, so I'm hoping this is different.

Besides my point wasn't about those who are simply cautious or skeptical, rather for those that will bash it no matter what comes out because, after all, trix Nintendo games are for kids :P

wow. I'm so amazed that Nintendo has come around to last gen with their open world gameplay

Sounds like my perfect game, a blend of Zelda gameplay and Elder Scrolls world.

Lol. Remember the entire 7th generation the Wii gamers were parroting that utter bullshit about hardware power not mattering and only affecting graphics and that the gameplay was totally fine?

Glad to see that emphatically rejected by Nintendo themselves. I mean it's logically obvious but fanboys need to be told by the folks they worship. Better hardware = better games ;)

It's not like the Wii couldn't run Morrowind. This has more to do with game design than hardware.

I'm all for it. Hope the world is exciting to explore.

Nintendo themselves just flat out said "because of the hardware limitations, what we've had to do is segment off each area and piece those segments together in a way that make them feel like a big world."

You don't believe them?

Uh, Twilight Princess had a tiny world, you could go across it in literally less than 5 minutes. I hope it's bigger than that.

It is clearly a combination of hardware and developer limitations. You have physical proof of Morrowind running on the Xbox. That tells me that a large, full world was possible on the Wii. Frankly, Morrowind is the only game in the entire TES series that I didn't hate, and I don't like it as much as a typical Zelda game. I can't blame Nintendo for going the more linear route with segmented areas, because that makes for a better game.

Nintendo themselves just said that it wasn't. So.... yeah.

And open world > linear Zelda ;)

Maybe. We haven't played an open world Zelda in 3D, and the 2D games are barely even the same genre as the 3D games are. I will say that linear Zelda is a whole lot better than other open world 3D games. I actually fell asleep once playing Skyrim, controller in hand. I woke up at 3 AM, and there was Skyrim on the tv. Haven't played it since.

I want it now. Give me the damn game, Nintendo!

Nothing in that text indicates that the world will be full of life. Just because you can pick flowers on your way to a dungeon doesn't mean the world is not "empty".

Making a successful open world is a fine balance and there is no guarantee that Nintendo have aced it.

I have enjoyed zelda in the past but Skyward Sword was behind the times, supremely overrated and were it called Chipmunks Sky Adventure people wouldn't have cared about it.

But the reason I am reluctant to believe Nintendo at this stage is that they seem to have an aversion when it comes to progress in Zelda. I was amazed when they'd announced they were going open world as I had often said this would have been the natural progression of the series and they had failed on that score before. Skyloft was completely useless. Nothing to explore, nothing to discover. But they are almost certainly going to stick with a formula with this which will limit the open world experience.

A number of set dungeons, pick up a special tool to progress, boss in each one, move on. One town, may as well not be there. I don't see why they have never made the adventure more free. There should be multiple towns, with multiple characters telling different stories. There should be countless undiscovered places there for you to stumble upon. Customisation. Speech as well.

They have the groundwork for a good game. It uses the inferior technology well, I like the style from what I have seen. Make the world brimming with life and discovery and they might make the best zelda for a long time.But this is virgin territory for Nintendo, and people shouldn't be counting any chickens at this stage.

They should be using all of this extra space to make hidden dungeons that are a whole lot more challenging than the "main" dungeons, with really cool rewards. It's probably going to end up being Elder Scrolls light, with boring quests like getting rats out of somebody's basement and rupees as a reward, and most of this board will eat that up and declare it the best Zelda ever.

@locopatho: yes the wii couldnt handle open worlds, thats why xenoblade was so linear oh wait a second

Meh. Stop the presses, Nintendo talks up their game. That's never led to disappointment before...

Elder scrolls lame edition.

"A single area the size of Twilight Princess"

HHHHHNNNNNNGGGGG

I knew there was going to be more to it than what was shown in the small amount of gameplay provided. They obviously skipped around in the video. Big time. It kept the video from being too long and showing things we're not supposed to see yet. This entry already looks much better than Skyward Sword. I hope they get it out next year.

No, but Windwaker was kinda sorta an illusion of what it'd be like. And it was AMAZING.

The 2D games are basically identical to the 3D, Ocarina of Time is just Link To The Past in 3D, complete with the exact same dungeons, items, structure, pacing, and Good/Bad World mechanic, so I'm not sure where you're getting that from :) Unless you mean Skyward Sword and it's motion controls, that's a good deal different.

Xenoblade is a great game but has an empty ass JRPG world. So what. Even PS2 had Dragon Quest 8. Big open fields with nothing to do aren't impressive. Gimme some actual shit to do, interactivity, and I'll be impressed.

It's fucking hilarious that Nintendo themselves said "We couldn't do open worlds on our weak hardware" and you dispute it. I think they know their own hardware dude :P

I hope not but it sounds like it ....

Sounds fantastic. An open-world can mean a lot of things, but I believe it should serve a purpose other than just being a larger space to play in. It should serve to showcase the grand scale of the journey ahead. This should be huge.

Though I don't think this series has had too many issues being grand in scale. I'm really looking forward to this Zelda like most others.

@locopatho: Wind Waker was awful (as a zelda game and I wasn't really impressed by it as a game in general). I'm very worried about this game trying to have a big overworld, I like Zelda for the puzzles and level design, not to ride around wasting time getting from place to place. You want to make me explore your giant world, then you better fill it with things I want to find. Something Wind Waker did not do.

Unfortunate. Windwaker was fucking glorious for me (and most people. Game Of The Year here and 96 on Metacritic, higher than the Last Of Us, many people's Game Of The 7th Gen)

Zelda dungeons are great but the series needs to evolve to add more than that. They can't just keep following the SNES/N64 formula.

I agree they need to fill their open world with content, and I hope you enjoy the new one more than Windwaker.

The hope is that Zelda U will combine the best elements of Zelda with the best elements of games like Elder Scrolls. Too oversimplify a bit: Elder Scrolls gives lip service to the gameplay to focus on the incredible world building, while Zelda gives lip service to the world building to focus on the gameplay.

Nintendo has a strong philosophical belief in making sure games get the gameplay right. I have no doubt that Nintendo's influence over games like Metroid Prime and Eternal Darkness is what made those games great instead of merely good or decent. I would love to see Nintendo's take on what a giant open world should be like, because the Nintendo I know would look at a game like Oblivion as largely a failure.

Unless we're talking about Majora's Mask level of openness and stuff to do, I have little interest in this game.

It'll have the same amount of stuff...in a bigger world. I have a feeling the world will be more lifeless than anything before it.