New Zelda details

[Dingo Chavez]

By IGN.cube

A flood of all-new information on The Legend of Zelda came pouring through the Internet this morning, thanks to Spanish games publication Hobby Consolas. Fans of the Zelda series have faced an arduous wait for details, since Nintendo has kept most everything concerning the game a guarded secret. Apart from an aesthetic makeover, most gamers could only speculate as to what elements would separate this new Zelda from previous titles in the series.

The new report points to several key aspects which should pull the new Zelda ahead of its older brethren. For starters, The Legend of Zelda for GameCube promises some 70 hours of gameplay spread across a world eclipsing that of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. In fact, the new adventure sports a gameworld two to three times larger than the classic Nintendo 64 title. With such a massive play area, Link will need serious transportation. As seen in previous trailers, Link will once again call on a loyal steed to carry him around Hyrule.

That chunk of information seemed obvious given the official trailers. It was also easy to guess combat on horseback would play a significant role in the game, but now it's confirmed thanks to recent reports. Gamers can fully expect spectacular horse battles. Whether gamers will fight bosses on horseback remains uncertain, but it seems likely. According to the publication, this new information comes from three separate game demos shown to the writer of the article. Link sports a new farmer's outfit in one of the demos, which takes place at the beginning of the game in Tauro Village. At this point in the game Link is said to be 16 years old. But according to the report, Link will mature during the course of the adventure. Whether this means he will simply "grow up" in terms of character or age physically remains unknown...it could be both. But the direct Spanish tranlsation of a passage in the article states that "although Link will be an adult at the start of the adventure, he will also mature little by little, over the passage of time."

From screens printed in the magazine, the new outfit looks to blend "peasant" clothes of different cultures to achieve an altogether unique style. These same screens show the Triforce emblazoned on Link's left hand. Cool indeed. Link himself looks different from any other Zelda title. Eiji Aonuma wanted Link to sport a manga-inspired look, partly because the Link shown in the Space World 2000 looked like a lifeless puppet. Link and other characters still look more realistic, especially considering the visual style employed in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, only with slightly exaggerated facial features. It's an interesting blend of realism and fantasy.

According to the report, Taoru Village looked huge and boasted several zones. It also acted as a tutorial of sorts, much like Kikiri Village in The Ocarina of Time. Eiji Aonuma designed the tutorial as a fun, seamless experience so fans of the series and newcomers alike wouldn't get bored or frustrated with it. In one instance, Link needs to help a pregnant women carry heavy objects into her house as a way of teaching players specific skills. Another demo has Link on horseback herding cows into a ranch. This mini-game has a time limit, so players need to guide Link quickly to achieve the goal.

Yet another demo, arguably the coolest, saw Link battle a horde of armored minions while riding his horse. The article stated a player could choose between Link's sword and bow to take down the enemy riders. Apparently, Link's bow no longer boasts infinite range, so players need to move in for the kill with both weapons. Players will also need to dodge long-range and short-range attacks from enemy riders, making room for strategic battles. The battlefield featured in the demo seemed massive, according to the publication, with ample room for each rider to maneuver his horse, or bore, whichever the case.

Unlike the aesthetic elements, controlling Link will feel familiar to anyone who has played the last two games in the series. Jumping will be automatic, for example, and gamers will once again use "Z targeting" to lock on enemies. Only now, of course, the GameCube controller's L trigger replaces the N64's Z trigger. Unfortunately, there's no new info regarding the game's story or title, since Eiji Aounuma wants to save all the "big" surprises for the Electronic Entertainment Exp next month. Well, Aonuma did let something slip. He said the reason they chose to go with realistic, transparent water as opposed to the type seen in The Wind Waker, is that it simply makes the world more beautiful and also opens up a new "subaquatic" world. A new, underwater temple, perhaps?

And there you have it folks, new information. Such a rare thing these days.

Here's a link for some scans (sorry, it's the best I found): http://www.jeux-france.com/news9652_de-nouveaux-scans-pour-zelda.html

Sounds good, but I still miss the Wind Wakers artstyle. It spoiled me so...

Mr. T is on vacation... fool!

[Lechimp]

I thought the wind waker style was a nice change of pace, but I don't know if I would want that in every zelda game. Then again, even though the graphics in the new zelda game are really detailed, it seems like they just did it to get more sales. Plus the new Zelda game just sounds like Ocarina of Time 2.0, which I guess doesn't bother me that much since I liked Ocarina of Time, and if the ultra realistic art style convinces more people to buy gamecubes, that's fine with me.

[manny_c44]

The graphics are a kind of sad turn, and so far it doesn't seem one bit original...it will sell extraordinarily well.

[baconian]

I'll be getting it anyway, that's for sure. 70 hours? byebye world.

[manny_c44]

I bet 35 hours of the game will be based on the concept of flute playing.

[baconian]

hey don't knock it. I spent many an hour messing with my ocarina when I was a lad.

[Khobbs]

I think that it is a pity really that Zelda is not on PC...

[Roderick]

Hey, leave us Gamecube owners alone. This is one of the few titles we still get that has the world drooling over us, instead of vice versa.

I don't mind the visual style, which looks nice and watercoloury. I don't mind that the gameplay is more of the same, because 5 years after it's release I played Ocarina for the first time and the dungeon-design still amazed me. What I would mind is if they'd still have a world that, albeit bigger, would be just as shallow as every Zelda world has been up to now. You know, people only apathetically saying just one sentence and repeating it, no real interesting character-interaction... Windwaker had two or three instances where an NPC asked you something and you were presented with a choice. You had to pick the right one to proceed.

I'd like to see some dialogue trees and well written dialogue. That'd make the whole Zelda world SO much more interesting. Now it always feels so hollow.

[Kolzig]

Oh man, I should really get a gamecube someday.

I sometimes make a list of all the games I'd buy for it, but it always grows too long and I throw away the whole list.

[Chris]

Oh man, I should really get a gamecube someday.

I sometimes make a list of all the games I'd buy for it, but it always grows too long and I throw away the whole list.

IT'S SO CHEAP

[Spaff]

i cant beleive they took a backwards turn on the windwaker graphic style

they finally got it right with that and now link just looks like fucking peter pan again.

jesus christ.... i wont be bothering tbh.

just play the minnish cap instead.

[Dingo Chavez]

New trailer: http://www.zelda.com/universe/game/legendzelda/trailer.jsp

Screenshots: http://www.zelda.com/universe/game/legendzelda/shots.jsp

Artwork (for us people who like having illustrations on our computers): http://www.zelda.com/universe/game/legendzelda/artwork.jsp

"Twilight Princess", not quite as catchy as "Emotions of Link In Those Darker Days of Hyrule With Nothing To Show For It Except The Master Sword And Maybe A Kiss From Zelda" but whatever. What's the deal with the alien on Werewolf Link's back? A special new friend? or Ganondorf!

[JimmyTheFish]

I never heard anyone complain about the art style till Ron Gilbert did. It has its own visual style that looks darn good. And they are really gutsy about calling it The Twilight Princess. Wanda and the Collosus gots nothing on them.

[Bc9b]

It really doesn't look that unoriginal to me. Some of the enemies look really inspired. The first look that Ron got so mad about was bland enough to warrant mehs, but it's looking a lot better.

[netmonkey]

Although there's been a lot of comments on the graphics, I like the fact that there's some really surreal things going on like the monsters coming out of windwaker-styled tunnels and that female(?) cat that rides the wolf link...

[Roderick]

It looks a lot more interesting qua gameplay now. That little creepy gnome is great! The nightly scenes look super with their washed out colour. All this makes me pine so much for a narratively deep and haunting tale. That would be so great, to have world-class, deep writing in the world of Zelda. I already know I'm going to be disappointed by again meeting only uni-sentenced NPC's in a world where character interaction is a joke

[netmonkey]

The characters move their mouths in the trailer, too. I'm going to speculate that It'll be a talkie this time.

[Chris]

The characters move their mouths in the trailer, too. I'm going to speculate that It'll be a talkie this time.

It won't. Miyamoto forbade it. The director of the game thinks it might be cool to have voice recording for short words like "Oh" and "Yeah" but even that is not definite.

[jokemaster]

ZELDA PWNZ AAAALLLL!

seriously, did you see that bitch at the end of Wind Waker

[Roderick]

Or they could use something similar to Sims-speak, where you could read a sentence and hear appropriate gibberish mumbling.

[JimmyTheFish]

Grow a pair of balls. Were you embarrased to play Katamari Damacy? How about Beyond Good and Evil? No, no, fuck gameplay, I need a game starring Rock Hardchest as he destroys hoards of zombie robot nazis.

[manny_c44]

Or they could use something similar to Sims-speak, where you could read a sentence and hear appropriate gibberish mumbling.

Oh my I hope not. WORST TREND EV4r.

I hope it's like in Wind Waker where you walk into that creepy boat/shop and a disfigured muppet says "Thaurnnnk Yuuu!" when you're done buying his wares. BEST TrEnd Evar!

[Roderick]

You did NOT just insult the great Beedle?!

[jokemaster]

Were you embarrased to play Katamari Damacy? How about Beyond Good and Evil? No, no, fuck gameplay, I need a game starring Rock Hardchest as he destroys hoards of zombie robot nazis.

I love you. That was exactly my opinion when WW came out

[JimmyTheFish]

Again, you're fucking wrong. You totally missed my point and you obviously have no idea of my interests or what I'm going on about.

You're telling me to grow some balls for a game that's trying to be ballsy, compared to games that are way more ideal and honest in their style and presentation. And then you tell me that I would probably not be embarassed to play a real fake-ballsy game, which I'm assuming is along the stupid lines of Max Payne.

Why don't you stop contradicting yourself in your attack, you spoon-fed cunt, and make some fucking sense. You don't even know who I am to assume what my personality says and doesn't say beyond the message I wrote. So concentrate on that, you dipshit, and pull your father's dick out of your ass before you get pregnant with his stupidity.

Calm down. Take a deep breath. Don't judge a game by a screenshot. Don't judge a game by a graphical style. Be secure enough in your masculinity that you can play a game that might be "cute" looking.