Information On The New Zelda Game

Pictures

Game Info:

- The story begins with Link as an adult (he is 16 years old in this game and will grow up as the game progresses)

- The village that appears in the pics is the first area in the game (as Kokiri Village in OoT)

- Controls are similar to those of OoT and Wind Waker

- The game's extension is 2 to 3 times bigger than Ocarina of Time

- The adventure can last up to 70 hours

- Horse battles will be a main part of the game

- Eiji Aonuma says: "Making the water trasparent in this new Zelda as opossed to Wind Waker will allow us to give a realistic and more beautiful feel to the game and also open the game to a new subaquactic world"

- Z targetting found in OoT is again used (with the L button in the GC's controller)

- Jumping is again automatic

- Eiji Aonuma wants the graphical style to be close to manga-style (he thinks that the Link found in the SpaceWorld 2000 demo looked like a puppet and lacked personality)"

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The writer of the artical played with three diferent demos,

In the first demo, the writer played in Toaru Village, and he says that it looks to be the first zone of the game since the demo were a tutorial of the game. Aonuma's intention with this tutorial is making it fun to play, so the noobs of the series learn the basic controls quickly at the same time that experienced players have fun doing several actions. For example, we'll have to help a pregnant woman to carry some heavy stuff to her house. (Yep. This game is clearly more mature ^^)

The second demo happens in the ranch and it shows a mini-game. We'll have to ride the horse and guide all the cows to the stall in a limited time. The writer says that it is incredibly fun!

The last demo, and the most impresive of all, acording with the writer, was a horse battle scene. In that demo he had to fight a big enemy with armor, riding a boar (armored too) and a group of minions. There are two ways to defeat him: with the sword or with the bow. But we have to bee near enough to hit him (looks like the arrows won't have infinite range anymore) and get close to him, at the same time we dodge the minion's attacks. The writer says it is really intense! He also sayd that the battlefield was huge, what made him to ask Aonuma how big the game is going to be. Aonuma said that the game is going to be two or three times bigger than OOT. Maybe even more. And they're trying the game to last 70 hours!

In this demo, there was also a new kind of horse battle: a joust! (Well... more or less. We won't use a spear, but the sword) This joust will be on a stone brigde over a canyon with beautiful looks.

Now to finish, in the last page of the article, they show a square with information of the next Zelda for NDS. Aonuma says that the concept will be quite different from the one in "Four Swords Adventures", though the interaction between characters will be similar. And another important thing: It will have on-line modes with the Wi-Fi of the handheld! He also says that it will use the touch screen and the double screen.

Magazine Translation:

The Magazine Translation:

Originally posted by Hands-on with the new Zelda and interview with Eiji Aonuma in Hobby Consolas nº 164



WE'VE ALREADY TRIED IT!!


<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>LINK INVITES YOU TO A MAGICAL GAME


Despite being months away from launch, I've managed to 'sneek' into Nintendo's offices to try, exclusively, the new 'Zelda' issue, one of the best known RPG sagas in the console world. I also had the honour to talk about the title with Eiji Aounuma, the person in charge of supervising the project, as was the case with the previous 'Wind Waker'. If you want to know why it's going to become one of the best games of all time, read this extense article. (Extense would be incorrect, since the stupid DTP experts cut off half the interview and repeated another portion)

IT ALL HAPPENED IN THE OFFICES NINTENDO HAVE IN KYOTO (JAPAN)

There I had the inmense privilege to play a few games of the new Zelda. And I'm still trying to recover from the shock! I can assure you that tihs game will become a real classic. But anyway, I'm going to come back down to Earth now, to describe my experience with this beauty. The story behind the adventure is still a true mistery and according to Eiji Aonuma, the genious behind the project, until this year's E3 in May, they won't be revealing a lot about it. However, Aonuma did reveal a very important thing: "For the first time in the saga, the game will start off with Link as an adult, 16 years old, to be exact". As you will remember, in every iteration of the saga our friendly heroe began as a young boy and as the adventure progressed, he'd get older.</span>

CUTOFF The next part starts off with a mention about demos, probably being what the writer played, suggesting that he wasn't able to play a very advanced build, but rather a few pre-selected missions.

The first of these demos, which took place in Toaru's Village was some sort of tutorial, which leads me to believe this will be the first area we will visit in the game. Aditionally, Aonuma's intention is that this tutorial feels as natural as possible and that whoever plays it may learn the basic controls fairly quickly (which will be very similar to those in Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker), while enjoying completing the tasks at hand. For example, one of them consisted in helping a pregnant woman carry heavy items to her house, which could accustom the player to the analogue stick. Toaru was divided in various different areas, it's size was considerably large and it was also inhabited by many people with whom we could talk.

THE SECOND DEMO I TRIED took place in a large ranch, and it was some sort of minigame in which Link would ride a horse in order to guide the cows to their stable in a limited ammount of time. I had such a good time trying! Even so, the part of the game that most impressed me was the following one. It was a frenetic battle on horse against a huge enemy and his minions. The guy had a very nice armor and rode a huge boar. To defeat him, Link had to shoot arrows at him or attack him with the sword, but to do so required to get close enough and to avoid his minions' attacks. It was incredible! The battlefield where the action tool place was huge and made me wonder how big the landscapes in the finished game would be. Aonuma's response was clear: "The size of the game will be three or four times bigger than Ocarina of Time, maybe more, and we're trying to make the adventure last around 70 hours". And keeping in mind that the world in Ocarina of Time was already enormous, I can't imagine how big this one will be!

To finish, I also had the opportunity to play another part of the game, very short, in which Link had to duel another rival on horseback, like the old medieval jousts. The battle took place on a narrow bridge built on a canyon, a very remarkable place. In fact, and despite the actual state of the latest Zelda, the graphics department looked truely sensational. In this sense, Aonuma-San revelead something interesting: " I don't want the game to look as real as if it where CG, but to have a similar feel to japanese manga comics".

Anyway, after seeing the enthusiasm of Aonuma and his crew, it's impossible for them to not make a remarkable game. Zelda fans can sleep well.

<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>More:


EIJI AONUMA: A great talent

This man may not be as famous as Shigeru Miyamoto, but thanks to his excellent work in Majora's Mask and The Wind Waker, he's slowly but surely crafting a great future. His best work of art, though, is still to come. Believe me if I telly you that this new Zelda will be a very special game.

THE REFERENCES: The Wind Waker

The design, control system and other aspects of the new Zelda will be inspired in this wonderful RPG. Aonuma and his team have the backing of a lot of experience, especially because they created The Wind Waker, which had a cell-shaded graphical presentation which made it look very similar to cartoons. One of the aspects which didn't like Aonuma-San was that the water wasn't transparent, which they intend on correcting in this new Zelda. ¿And why would they want that water to be trasnparent? Because, as Aonuma himself told me, "making transparent water will allow us to present a nicer graphical appearance, as well as open the game to a new subaquatic world".

(Aonuma also told me he wishes to make another Zelda game with the Wind Waker's graphics engine)

FROM PAPER TO THE CONSOLE: Some great designs

In order to create the characters which will appear in the game (and believe me, there won't be few, I can assure you that), Nintendo has put their best artists to work. And as you can see by looking at the drawings, the characters and enemies will look stunning, and, why not, more mature and realistic than usual. Aditionally, each character will have a very specific personality, and will react in different ways to our actions. The animations will also be fantastic and, again, very natural. Attention is being given to every single detail.

THE REFERENCES: Ocarina of Time

This adventure, considered by many as the best of the series, will also clearly influence the new Zelda. The first of Link's adventures on the N64 is considered as one of the best RPGs in history. It was the first venture into the 3D world of the saga, and both the graphical department as the gameplay department benefited from it. One of the features that the new Zelda will see return is the control system (revolutionary at the time) that Ocarina of Time included. There will be a button (in this case the L trigger) which, while pressed, will allow us to face our enemies head-on while in combat, very useful in such circumstances.

(Link will once again jump automatically when a specific situation demands so (like running on to the edge of a platform, for example) just as in Ocarina of Time

A MORE MATURE STYLE: Graphics with personality

If you look back a few years, you will surely remember the first images of the Gamecube Zelda back in Nintendo's Spaceworld in 2000, which served as a demonstration of the technical abilities of the hardware. Since that day, the whole world has begged Nintendo to make a Zelda game with graphics as good as those, which in part will be realised in this new episode. I say in part because Aonuma thinks that those characters "looked like puppets without personality. I prefer our new look, closer to the manga style". And the truth is that seeing the results, we've got to hand it to him.

THE FUTURE OF THE SAGA: Zelda DS

Thanks to the new possibilities Nintendo DS offers, this version will be unique. Upon asking him about this version of the game, Aonuma told me that initially, the concept of Zelda DS will be entirely different to that of the Gamecube version. Zelda DS's concept will be closer to that of Zelda Four Swords Adventures of the Gamecube, and will allow various player to play simultaneously thanks to the built-in WiFi technology. The game will also make good use of the second screen and the touch screen. When I asked him about the connectivity between both versions, Aonuma replied that "to make a connection between two games you must design both games with a common nexus. And that's pretty difficult to achieve. If I find a great idea to interconnect both versions I'll do it, but so far, nothing's planned". Well, it seems Aonuma-San wasn't very optimistic about this, but given that this game's launch is still relatively far away, he has time to think of something. One way or another, this game will surely be magnificent.</span>

Thanks to GR3G2K of SCARZ for the scans and the magazine translation.
 
It says "up to" 70 hours, and as with virtually any decent adventure or RPG, it will probably end being whether or not you do things like side quests, item collection etc. Square claimed 70 hours for Chrono Trigger, which I'd believe if you get all the endings and New Game+ a full complement of prism and pendant box gear, for example...
 
This game seems to be coming along nicely--I've seen the pics elsewhere. As far as the play time, I'd guess it will take about 15 hours to complete. You know a game is going to be short when they say it will last a long time. Tales of Symphonia for example says on the box that it has 80 hours of gameplay, when it can easily be beaten in 25 hours the first playthrough.
 
Uncle. I think Wind Waker's been the only Zelda game so far that has a direct relative in it... Gramma... And Ocarina of Time mentioned that particular Link's mother... if only in passing.
 
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