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[Spieler Eins]

If you want the boring, WRPG inspired kind of maps without meaningful content, but shitty quests in it, Nintendo already has Xenoblade for you anyway. No need to ruin Zelda because of redundant marketing trends, like slapping the open world buzzword on everything, as if it is the equivalent for being amazing (which it isn't).

 

[Ramenman]

Well, that could mean just about anything.

Exactly. It doesn't mean "less open" or "more open" (and by the way those two things don't really mean anything at all either )

 

[C.Olimar788]

Good, because most open world games are awful. I would hate to see a Skyrim-esque Zelda.

 

[eddfromtheriver]

I have a bad feeling about this... kinda sounds like a cop-out to me...

 

[Molemitts]

True, which is why I used the phrase 'played with the idea'. I fully agree with you, it was half implemented and was not as effective as it should have been. Part of me wonders why they closed off the ground world areas and didn't interconnect the sky and world. Perhaps it was technical limitations.



I hope the whole world is a dungeon. Where the lines are so blurred between dungeons and the world that dungeons like the Forest Temple are in fact just a forest you visit in the world. No separate area or loading times, it's just there.

I think reason the ground areas were closed off and the tried to make the sky a big part of traveling was to create a compromise between Wind Waker fans and fans of more traditional Zelda games. Although the sky was way to empty compares to Wind wakers ocean.

The idea of the whole world being a dungeon is great! Creating a fin line between dungeon and overworld could benefit the Zelda series greatly.

 

[Meesh]

I might be sorta mostly a little ok in a positively passive agressive way about this?

 

[Fbh]

Good. I'm not really a fan of open world games.

I hope that despite having a more open design it will still end up being a more focused experience. I still preffer the "10 fun dungeons" design over the open world "1000 mediocre thing to do!" design that tends to describe most open world games

 

[makingmusic476]

This could be great, if he means something like "our open world will be slightly smaller and feel more hand crafted compared to the larger, blender worlds of other games".

Or it could be the beginning of walking back on promises. Skyward Sword has made me wary of Anouma's words.

 

[brandonh83]

I have a bad feeling about this... kinda sounds like a cop-out to me...

We already saw a really large environment at E3. I'm sure the environments in the game are going to be quite large, it's just that it sounds as though they don't want them to be pointlessly large and without purpose to contradict the game design philosophy of the series. It's not a cop-out, he's just further elaborating that it's not going to be the same kind of open world found in other games.

 

[Enforced]

I'm ok with this. Im more excited about the gameplay they going to show.

 

[Qurupeke]

I'm not sure what to make of it. It may be a good thing, I guess...

 

[FryHole]

I would assume this news ties into his reveal line about how the puzzles start the moment you decide where you want to go. As in, it's not just a case of going wherever you want by holding forward on the analogue stock til you get there.

 

[shinobi602]

Disappointing for me, but I'm still excited.

 

[entremet]

I never understood the love for Open World. I think Dark Souls did a great job, but for many it's just tons of dead space. See Elder Scrolls. Sometimes too much realism is not good.

 

[-Horizon-]

As long as Link is a girl I'm fine with whatever Aonuma

Spoiler

 

[wcoreysmith]

Disappointing for me, but I'm still excited.

How? What has disappointed you?

He essentially said nothing.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

So it will be a Zelda game then.

Ha exactly what I thought.

 

[batteryLeakage]

Good. Open world games are almost always soulless turds, and there's no way Nintendo could come close to pulling it off first try. It's one of the main reasons I had low expectations for Zelda U, my fears are now lessened.

Agreed. I hate how open-world has become a trend of bigger and bigger environments with nothing interesting to do in them. I'd much rather have a more directed experience. I'd like to see them experiment with something a bit less linear, but not something massive and tedious like every Bethesda game.

 

[Razzer]

Edit: Fitting your own comments in like a quote zzz.

 

[hemo memo]

So it will be a Zelda game then.

Yep, pretty much.

 

[Monster Zero]

If you want the boring, WRPG inspired kind of maps without meaningful content, but shitty quests in it, Nintendo already has Xenoblade for you anyway. No need to ruin Zelda because of redundant marketing trends, like slapping the open world buzzword on everything, as if it is the equivalent for being amazing (which it isn't).

Where the did this come from?

 

[Mr-Joker]

Eh just as long the Zelda series doesn't copy Skyrim or the souls series I will be fine what Nintendo does for Zelda U.

Personally I got a feeling that I am going to love it.

I'm very worried they're going to fuck up dungeons again after everyone loved LBW's halfassed easy dungeons.

Same, the item rental system was a terrible idea and ruin the dungeons and basically made Link Between Word a blur.

 

[Firemind]

So it will be a Zelda game then.

How disappointing.

 

[shinobi602]

How? What has disappointed you?

He essentially said nothing.

I was hoping for a fully open world.

 

[Ithil]

Sounds like it'll be open world in the vein of Wind Waker/Skyshit Sword, e.g. a very wide & open hub world that you use to get to all the isolated, scripted areas.

"Skyshit sword"? Am I on youtube?

 

[LegendofLex]

There are parts of Zelda 1's exploration gameplay that are worse than any Zelda game. Burning down every tree and blowing up every wall in a given map square on the off chance there's a secret there isn't fun exploration in the slightest, it's tedious busy-work.

I agree. But, at the same time, signposting basically every secret in the game with obvious item cues also isn't fun. I'm hoping this new game makes clever use of the always-available map to reward players who find anomalies in the game world and figure out how to access them.

Aonuma's issue with LoZ seems to revolve more around the idea that powerful enemies that roam the world should pressure inexperienced players to either improve or find new or more powerful tools that help them survive. So he makes the enemies all revolve around a "strategy" that's easy to exploit, rather than skill and quick reflexes. I think this is where a lot of the "too easy" complaints stem from.

The enemy difficulty in the original game was a convenient way of turning players back from areas they aren't ready for yet, without arbitrarily blocking progress in that direction. This hasn't been true of any Zelda in recent years - instead, they've thrown up walls that you cannot cross without X item from Y dungeon (or watching Z cutscene).

 

[brandonh83]

How disappointing.

I know. The horror. God is not here today, priest.

 

[Boy Wander]

Another quote to fuel discussion....

"In the original Legend of Zelda, there was no clear way to lead the character to his goal. The player was trusted to find it by themselves. As game worlds became more complex, we had to point players in the right direction. Consequently progress becomes more linear. To recreate an experience similar to the original, the world needs to have a simple structure that players can understand intuitively. We need to make each part of the world real and connected so it doesn't look fake. We also need a game map that depicts the world as it is. The gamepad is very effective for this. Innovations in this game are only possible due to Wii U hardware"

 

[Molemitts]

"Skyshit sword"? Am I on youtube?

Yeah, Shitward Sword would have been better.

 

[Mihael Mello Keehl]

Okay... me first

 

[Diprosalic]

thank god.

"normal" open world = shite.

 

[abstract alien]

Good

 

[The Boat]

Story reasons mainly. No one from Skyloft had ever been to the ground world, it was undiscovered territory and he goes to find Zelda. That was his sole mission. He was on a set path; running amok wouldn't have made much sense. Sure, the context of the story may have been built around this overall design direction, but they (story and design) worked together very well, and the environments that you visit were still pretty big and had plenty of secrets.

I liked slowly "unlocking" each area as the game went on, and by the end you've got a pretty sizable game world. I thought it was a wonderfully designed game.

It's mostly because connecting the sky and the land seamlessly would allow you to land wherever you want.
The ability to fly basically forced them to separate the areas instead of making them connected.

There's not that big a difference between SS and other 3D Zeldas openness and linearity, in other Zeldas most areas are locked until you get to the point in the story where you are supposed to go there. SS does the same, but since levels are separated people are left with the impression the game is much more linear, when in fact, there's only a small difference and it mostly rests between the separation of overworld and underworld.

 

[Volotaire]

Another quote to fuel discussion....

"In the original Legend of Zelda, there was no clear way to lead the character to his goal. The player was trusted to find it by themselves. As game worlds became more complex, we had to point players in the right direction. Consequently progress becomes more linear. To recreate an experience similar to the original, the world needs to have a simple structure that players can understand intuitively. We need to make each part of the world real and connected so it doesn't look fake. We also need a game map that depicts the world as it is. The gamepad is very effective for this. Innovations in this game are only possible due to Wii U hardware"

Hmm. The gamepad might be be this super map item that highlights or finds points of interest. Connected suggests to me a great transport system like Ocarina of Time or Dark Souls.

BY2K, add this to the OP.

 

[BY2K]

Another quote to fuel discussion....

"In the original Legend of Zelda, there was no clear way to lead the character to his goal. The player was trusted to find it by themselves. As game worlds became more complex, we had to point players in the right direction. Consequently progress becomes more linear. To recreate an experience similar to the original, the world needs to have a simple structure that players can understand intuitively. We need to make each part of the world real and connected so it doesn't look fake. We also need a game map that depicts the world as it is. The gamepad is very effective for this. Innovations in this game are only possible due to Wii U hardware"

See, he doesn't want progression to be linear, my theory might be on the mark! (Maybe.)

 

[Cosmozone]

Sounds a bit like there will be puzzles in the overworld like in Skyward Sword (Lanaryu Desert).

 

[batteryLeakage]

If you want the boring, WRPG inspired kind of maps without meaningful content, but shitty quests in it, Nintendo already has Xenoblade for you anyway. No need to ruin Zelda because of redundant marketing trends, like slapping the open world buzzword on everything, as if it is the equivalent for being amazing (which it isn't).

Agreed. I don't understand the hype that these open-world type games get but people seem to eat them up. "It has a map the size of North America, I could walk for days and see nothing fap fap fap"

 

[Hiltz]

I am excited for this game but also somewhat concerned. I mean, in Twilight Princess, Wind Waker and Skyward Sword, Nintendo tried new things, but also ended up with limitations on each respective world's field environments. Skyward Sword's limitations were pretty glaring despite how they tried to add more puzzle-solving to the field environments. We'll have to just wait and see if Aonuma and his staff can deliver on their vision without having to compromise as much as they had to in past Zelda titles.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

I'm hoping that the structure is that you can explore all of the "regions" at any time that each have one or more main dungeon(s), as well as their own unique NPCs and minigames and minidungeons in them that you can find on your own. Once you have the ability/items/know-how to get to the dungeon itself, there begins some kind of pre-dungeon quest that leads up to that, where you can leave at any time and resume later if you want to go do something else.



I'm hoping the structure is not:

[enter Castle Town]

Townsperson suddenly craning their neck towards you: WELL I GOTTA SAY, I can't get my goods to Goron City anymore after those fiendish Bokoblins set up on their outposts on the Western Road!

QUEST INVOLUNTARILY ACCEPTED: Destroy Bokoblin outposts [0/4]

[destroys 4 Bokoblin outposts]

TSCTNTY: I heard about what you did, adventurer! I'm already raking in the Rupees so fast, I sure wouldn't mind sparing some for the hero that saved my business!

[100 Rupees received]

 

[Kyuur]

Wind Waker but with land traversal and I'll be happy.

 

[Pro from Dover]

I would imagine it'll be something like how A Link Between Worlds is "Open World."

That's what I'm hoping for. I dig how ALBW has something new around the corner all the time and once those corners are turned, if you go back later, there would be something new there again. Now it will be total seamless 3D environment and not top-down screen to screen.
I also wish for the the world to be a sphere. A big ol' open sphere of a world that makes Mario Galaxy feel like less of a man.
Who wants to finally see some dungeon screenshots?

 

[JinjoUnchained]

This is nothing new if you paid attention to the game's reveal at E3. Aonuma said that the game was inspired by the original Legend of Zelda for NES. That game is "open world" in the sense that you technically can access most of the map from the beginning, but half of the challenge is figuring out how to get to different areas. That's different from modern "open world" games were most locations are instantly unlocked and easily accessed.

This is the kind of game that Zelda fans have been asking for. It's good to hear Aonuma confirm that this is an old school, not a modern "open world game".

 

[Deku Tree]

I expect Wind Waker on land with open world "travel anywhere" to perform loot grinding gameplay

Spoiler

including FTP "Kim Kardashian: Hollywood" style micro transactions

.

 

[dark_inferno]

So he confirms that new Zelda game is basically like old Zelda games.

 

[FlashbladeGAF]

So he confirms that new Zelda game is basically like old Zelda games.

Nintendo... ahead of it's time even back then.

People have a hard time now going back and playing original Zelda and Metroid.

Be cool to see their experience put to good use in refining that open exploration gameplay

 

[Mango The Magician]

Remember how in Wind Waker you can go anywhere and enter almost every island from any direction? Well there you go, that's what I think Zelda U will essentially be. I just hope that in their pursuit of non-linearity and openness that the story and dungeon design doesn't suffer.

 

[Servbot24]

I'm hoping the structure is not:

[enter Castle Town]

Townsperson suddenly craning their neck towards you: WELL I GOTTA SAY, I can't get my goods to Goron City anymore after those fiendish Bokoblins set up on their outposts on the Western Road!

QUEST INVOLUNTARILY ACCEPTED: Destroy Bokoblin outposts [0/4]

[destroys 4 Bokoblin outposts]

TSCTNTY: I heard about what you did, adventurer! I'm already raking in the Rupees so fast, I sure wouldn't mind sparing some for the hero that saved my business!

[100 Rupees received]

Watching Witcher 3 footage kinda depressed me for this very reason

 

[Pegosaurus]

can we still go to those mountains though?

Spoiler

still day 1

 

[The Elite]

Well, hopefully it won't be like the recent trend of open-world games that don't need to be open world, like Watch Dogs and Infamous 3.

How would I have experienced all of those great car chases in Watch Dogs without open world?

Also, aren't most Zelda games open world?

 

[Palette Swap]

"In the original Legend of Zelda, there was no clear way to lead the character to his goal. The player was trusted to find it by themselves. As game worlds became more complex, we had to point players in the right direction. Consequently progress becomes more linear. To recreate an experience similar to the original, the world needs to have a simple structure that players can understand intuitively. We need to make each part of the world real and connected so it doesn't look fake. We also need a game map that depicts the world as it is. The gamepad is very effective for this. Innovations in this game are only possible due to Wii U hardware"

Design-wise, add a map to the first Dark Souls and you should have a similar result. Not that I'd complain, DaS has the best world design philosophy in forever.