The Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma recently participated in an interview with Game Informer to celebrate the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom which is another fine adventure to get immersed in. One of the questions put to Aonuma was the view that Ocarina of Time created the blueprint for 3D Zelda adventures until the arrival of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in 2017 for Wii U and Nintendo Switch. Aonuma agreed to that particular point, saying the acclaimed Ocarina of Time “did kind of create a format for a number of titles in the franchise that came after it. But in some ways, that was a little bit restricting for us.” They then “arrived at Breath of the Wild and the new type of more open play and freedom that it affords. Yeah, I think it’s correct to say that it has created a new kind of format for the series to proceed from.”
On that note, I think a lot of people share the viewpoint that Ocarina of Time was kind of the starting point for one era of Zelda games, laying the foundation for the several titles that came after it. Do you see Breath of the Wild as establishing the new blueprint or foundation of the next several Zelda games for years to come?
EA: With Ocarina of Time, I think it’s correct to say that it did kind of create a format for a number of titles in the franchise that came after it. But in some ways, that was a little bit restricting for us. While we always aim to give the player freedoms of certain kinds, there were certain things that format didn’t really afford in giving people freedom. Of course, the series continued to evolve after Ocarina of Time, but I think it’s also fair to say now that we’ve arrived at Breath of the Wild and the new type of more open play and freedom that it affords. Yeah, I think it’s correct to say that it has created a new kind of format for the series to proceed from.
Of course he will continue it, it would be stupid if he didn’t
But.., i like more linear zelda games :( i dont like too look search for route or item. Botw and totk is great, ok. But for me is best zelda still “twilight princess”! (I play and beat every zelda game, i start on gameboy, later i very like zelda 2 nes, minish cap od advance and in last decade i most like link between worlds on 3ds)
They will make other smaller Zelda’s in the vein of Link’s awakening. Stay smiling my guy. All is well.
F=ma.
Must be cool working at Nintendo. Last game before tears was the remake of links awakening and that shipped 6.08 million copies. Tears in 3 days sold 10 million. As you know since you work there Nintendo is a business out to make a profit. With sales numbers like these there is absolutely no reason or indication they will make smaller Zelda games like you state. Especially if they continue with the one device system.
I’m fine with this tbh.TotK has massivlely improved upon BotW, especially when it comes to story and dungeon design. It’s honestly already in my top 3 Zelda games, and I’m not even at the final boss yet.
I think if they continue to build upon these improvements, as well as maybe adding some classic Zelda items (like the hookshot for example) they can continue to make open ended games, but also make the experience more appealing to people who prefer to OoT style of game. TotK was a major step in the right direction anyway imo.
It’s hard for me to place where Tears of the Kingdom is in my Zelda rankings this early on (other than to say definitely above BotW, honestly it makes BotW feel like a prototype for it) but I expect my preference for Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword may still hold. I just prefer the more linear gameplay and the puzzle-solving mechanics in those games. But I acknowledge it would make no sense for them to go back to that type of game given the popularity of the open-world games, and with TotK knocking it out of the park, I am content with this direction for the series. I am hopeful they will find more ways of blending what is great about the earlier games in the series with what is great about BotW and TotK in the future.
Sales dictate the future of the Legend of Zelda series.
I’ve felt like TotK has been aiming for a more middle ground between BotW and the OoT format, at least with the early game feeling a bit more guided, even if that guiding was more hard nudges than full on roadblocks. I’m on board with them continuing to refine that. At the same time I think it’d be good to occasionally still make an OoT format game for those who prefer it. Just like how Mario still has new games in the various formats that series has used over the years. The variety of options is a strength that these long running series can make use of.
Makes sense. Even Dark Souls evolved into Elden Ring.
One day the format will come back. Maybe “The New Legend of Zelda” series?
I sense a trilogy forming
He needs ti work on the dungeons. The Fire Temple was a pain to navigate for me. I would even prever the hated Water Temple over this. Aside of that, I agree with Aonuma about the Style of the new Zelda games.
As someone who played OoT when it was new, it never was a good game. It was a rehash of ALttP’s story but told in a worse way and used the Mario 64 engine in a worse way. To me, the only good 3D Zelda game in that format was Twilight Princess. I adore BotW and hope all future Zelda games stick with this format.
I counter that. I played OoT for the first time on the Gamecube. I got it when I pre-ordered Wind Waker. See, WW was the first 3D Zelda game I was going to buy and play at home. I really wasn’t expecting much because well… let’s face it, the Gamecube made N64 games look and feel outdated. But… I was wrong. I enjoyed the game a lot.
The only thing that this has me excited for, is that we are that much closer to a full fledge remake of Ocarina of time.
A remake of OoT definitely needs Hyrule to get a redesign. Since there is plenty of decades & centuries between games, you can alter certain parts of Ocarina’s story without it breaking the overall canon of other games, too.
Not exactly surprising, since he more or less already said that after BotW’s release, but still slightly disappointing to see confirmed once again with such a strong stance.
It’s not that I think the BotW formula was bad by any means. Quite the opposite. If anything, TotK demonstrates how much potential there was still left in it. It’s just that each formula of Zelda games has its strengths and weaknesses, and I do think there’s things you can really only do in a linear Zelda game. You know, for all the things people hated about Skyward Sword, I still think it was the game with the strongest dungeons in the entire series.
Really hope they’ll find some way for linear Zelda and open Zelda to coexist, but my fear is that this will only be the case via the occasional remake of a classic Zelda game.
More power to Oceanhorn and Kaze Emanuar, to pick up where Skyward Sword dropped off.
And just watch Iizuka make the same excuse for Sonic Frontiers 2, just to rip off of LOZ more instead of making an Adventure series game.
I might end up separating myself from the series then, if this is how it will continue being. I’m completely fine with the series trying out different styles and switching up the formula but not settling on one. I liked BOTW and TOTK but it’s not why I enjoyed the series. I really only cared about TOTK because BOTW felt like is was lacking a lot of potential to actually be a zelda game in terms of story. This is becoming a money maker for them and unfortunately, this also just felt like they’re just adding on to the previous games because I’m getting the feeling another sequel will be coming out. I don’t want to pay another $70 for this experience (I’m not saying this is DLC, but it still feels too similar to BOTW to warrant another $60-$70 to play this no matter if there was a 6 year buffer.. Don’t get me wrong. I know BOTW is more in line with the original Zelda ideology, I just feel like they hit their stride with Oot formula, just like how Super mario 64 paved the way for Mario Galaxy and Odyssey. I don’t get why they don’t just make spinoffs like with Mario. Mario has RPGs, sports, etc, then their typical platforming games, a flag based and power star/shine/moon based game.
I get Zelda is too big to split off but if they really wanted to create a Zelda timeline, then make games that completely ignore or overly complicate it, they could create spinoffs of Zelda that contain vague lore references but don’t specifically fit in the timeline mess they created and actually serves to answer the alternate timelines that the fallen hero line created.
Regardless of my wants, the BOTW formula doesn’t do it for me. I missed it when most if not every item you got was important to proceeding in the game and you’d wonder and gasp at the things you’d get, rather than having it all dumped on you in the beginning of the game or have it all shown to you in the trailer. Sure there are other abilities in the game that I wont spoil but those are rarely used. I also don’t like opening chests in BOTW/TOTK because you end up getting the same things over and over, and these games seem to like telling its story retrospectively in the form of memories and I really dislike that. I’ll be down for any other zelda game but if it’s another BOTW-like then I’ll just watch someone else play it, or watch the cutscenes on youtube or something.
I absolutely hate open world games. My favorite Zelda is Minnish Cap. Thats the kind of Zelda game I would play. I wont play Totk because I wont like it at all. I dont like Botw either.
Ive bee playing the Zelda games since A Link to the Past and I could not be happier, they are free to evolve the franchise while still respecting the past, all the things we love about Zelda are still there, they’re just presented to us in a new way and with bew content and context. I love it.
I’m gonna keep my score at a 9/10. I love the overall game but I do recognize two things that are shortcomings for me: breakable weapons are still a thing with no way to repair the ones you like & apparently memories are still being used to tell the backstory of certain characters. It’s a shame they didn’t make Zelda actually playable for her story segments. It’s just another thing Witcher 3 did well (you got to actually play as Ciri at certain points in the story) & that these two latest Zelda games coulda got from it. (Repairing weapons being another. You find plenty of flint which coulda been used to repair stuff.) Fix these issues & the next game that follows this foundation could actually be a perfect 10 for me. (Again, haven’t got to any of the dungeons/”dungeons” yet.)
Honestly, I’d like to see them reuse this Hyrule again but in a different time period, so they can give drastic changes to some locations so you know it’s a different time period. BUT leave enough unchanged so you know (and will recognize) your still in the same Hyrule. I mean, you don’t hear too many people complaining about having to explore New York City (AGAIN) in the Spider-Man games. If a world is big enough, you can easily make it work as the setting in countless games. Just have different locations as important main story spots & have something different about that area. A good example would be maybe Gerudo Desert somehow becomes fertile in a different time period & some new location is now somehow a desert. Maybe Death Mountain becomes inactive & turns into a snow location. (I mean, not every location with a volcano is rocky terrain. Some do have forests, after all. Like Hawaii. Especially Hawaii, actually. ) Maybe one of the locations becomes flooded. There are some locations that are low enough to suffer massive floods & can become new lakes. With the reveal of the Depths in TotK, maybe a few areas of Hyrule collapse & buries a large part of the underground, allowing those areas on the surface to become a sea if those areas suffer enough rain.
That’s great. How ever they really need to work on what makez Zelda such a rich mythology. I feel like these games are still a bit lacking In some key Zelda areas. Such as temples/dungeons, the many many races, species and monsters, classic items (which seem to just be replaced by armor sets) and bringing back more classic boss battles. I feel like they can take the best of botw/totk and could still combine it with the best of MM, SS, OOT and TP. Of course the current games are amazing, but they could still could benefit from things in previous games.