Here's Why Zelda: Breath of The Wild Has Voice Acting, But Link Still Doesn't Speak
"I have these moments where I want to leave impressions on users."
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild producer Eiji Aonuma has discussed the reasoning behind using voice acting in the game, which is a first for Nintendo's beloved adventure series.
Speaking to Polygon, Aonuma said voice acting was necessary to make certain moments more impactful.
"It's really difficult to leave an impression on players with just text. It's not that I made everything voiced. But I have these moments where I want to leave impressions on users. I add voice there."
One character that won't be given a voice, however, is series protagonist Link, who will continue to be a mute avatar for the player to project themselves onto.
"If Link said something the user doesn't agree with, that relationship between the user and Link would be lost," Aonuma added, explaining the decision to keep link as a silent protagonist.
Elsewhere in the interview, Aonuma discussed Breath of the Wild's sci-fi elements, saying it was designed to be a contrast to the very natural world the game is set in.
"Link basically adventures through a ruined world. I wanted to add technology as the opposite side of that," he said. "I thought it would be interesting for Link to use technology to explore through this wild and ruined world. I figured that would add another layer to the game."
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is set to release for Wii U and NX in 2017.
During E3 2016 Aonuma revealed there are more people working on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild than any other game in Nintendo’s history. You can read a brief Q&A with Aonuma discussing how working with such a large team impacts his creative process here.
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