The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been available to play on the Nintendo Switch for nearly 2 months now. Since then, The Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma has discussed multiple topics related to the game and the series as a whole in interviews. Unsurprisingly, one of the topics has been about traditional, classic Zelda gameplay. Aonuma has commented about the matter previously, but in an interview with RTL Nieuws that was translated by Nintendo Everything, he elaborated a little more about the matter.
Aonuma said that “it’s difficult to say anything about the future. That being said: thanks to previous Zelda games, a game like Tears of the Kingdom now exists. This game originated from the ideas that we had in the past. We always try to create something that offers more than previous titles. In that respect, we really aren’t concerned with our older games anymore. We prefer to look to the future”.
Thanks to Greatsong1 for the news tip!
I dont like 3d Zelda games. I dont see it as an improvement. I just see it as another openworld crafting game with Zelda
3D Zelda > 2D Zelda objectively
He is right. Classic 3D Zelda was begging to feel repetitive, derivative and dated.
I started feeling that way about Botw pretty quickly into playing it which is impressive it was able to bore me of its new direction in the course of one game.
Speak for yourself, Botw had the largest on-going playerbase of any Zelda game for 6 years until the sequel came out
I love BotW and TotK I don’t have a strong desire to see “traditional Zelda return. (My favorite Zelda game for the record is ALttP) but I also think that the formula started in BotW has kinda been fully realized. What I am hoping for in the future is a marrying of the traditional style the the new BotW/TotK gameplay.
I hope classic Zelda gameplay never returns. a link between worlds was a huge step in the wrong direction and it ruined Zelda in ultimate by making her less hot. Botw/Totk on the other hand were huge steps in the right direction and if they made a new Zelda with the good stuff from tears of the kingdom and an improved art style like Hyrule warriors (I know that game isn’t canon), they’d really be on to something.
Speak for yourself. LttP Zelda is far more attractive to me than TP Zelda. She’s honestly my least favorite Zelda design. No. That’s not honest enough. Honestly, the overall TP design is bleh. If not for the damn good story, I would list it as my least favorite Zelda.
Pedophile.
TP Zelda is easily the prettiest version of the character, far more than Attlp/ALBW Zelda
For me, the prettiest would eventually be SS Zelda in her Goddess outfit. (I’m a sucker for that nose of hers.) Before then, I just had a favorite design which was her LttP design. (It’s mainly her outfit.) If we EVER get a Queen Zelda, instead of a princess, her design should be a combination of the LttP & Hyrule Warriors designs.
Jeeze, this is one of the dumbest comments I’ve ever read. Yowza.
If you were referring to Infinite Trigger’s dumb comment, there’s hope for you yet.
Yea I rate Legend of Zelda games based on how hot Zelda is. Dorks.
Again, pedophile.
While I enjoyed breath and tears I would love Zelda to return to the way it was. There are way to many open world crafting games now. look how boring Ubisoft games have gone. Can’t see why they can’t do both. And make a traditional game then make a open world game later. The problem with the open world formula is it destroys the story for me. The story is to few and far between all the side content.
The reality that Aonuma didn’t want to explicitly state is that Zelda is not going to go back to how it was anytime soon – and one look at the sales of their most recent titles vs older titles in the series will tell you why that is. I do love the new formula, but I also love the old formula with the more linear gameplay structure, and smaller, more hand-crafted worlds with more puzzle-orientated adventuring. But for now, that’s going to live on through ports, remakes and remasters of the old games rather than anything new.
I love em all, but I don’t want the old desigb formula back. What I want, and what I wish more people would ask about, is the story and themes of the old games to be returned to.
OoT’s dungeons and proto-open-world are not what made it great, and MM proves that by digging into the weirdness and personality of the world. The #1 problem with BotW/TotK is that it’s so F’ing PG and sunny. Go to Kakariko in OoT — it’s a Lovecraft story. The struggle of the Gorons is visceral and pressing. If you don’t feel immediate need to help Nabooru, you don’t have a soul.
But, tbh, the only character to come even close to that in BotW for me is Riju, and then finding out more of Sidon’s motivation in TotK. Zelda is obviously their focus, but you don’t get enough direct interaction, just seeing things in the past. I wish pre-Calamity Hyrule had been the dark age that OoT implies happened, because that is the most interesting tidbit of history any of the games bring up and seeing it would be incredible.
Zelda is like minecraft mixed with elder scrolls now. It does not make me happy.
Pretty much exactly. Feels much more generic now.
Depressing, but not really surprising. Sales are what matter after all. I’ll be honest, I’m not a big BotW fan and I strongly dislike the direction its taken the series, not to mention the lore. TotK is definitely an improvement over BotW but I still find myself struggling to find the motivation to progress in it. I preferred the heavier narrative-focus past games had, as well as the puzzles and dungeons being more interesting. Currently, Zelda just lacks the charm and feeling that it used to have, it feels more like it’s trying to copy other games now. Not to mention the annoying focus on non-linearity. I don’t want a sandbox, I want at least some structure.
Its the other way around, Its modern Open World games that are trying to copy BotW.
And BotW actually had more story/lore content into it that most previous games except Majora’s Mask.
The classic 3D Zelda formula was starting to get stale even before Skyward Sword came out, as the flaws of that design were starting to become more obvious to critics and gamers since Wind Waker. That’s why Nintendo changed the direction of the series with BotW