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FEATURE
GAMES
Aside from graphical
upgrades, what does a
more high-powered console
bring to the Zelda experience?
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the
Wild
can be played for a very long time. You
could spend a lot of time searching a particular
section of a massive area. I believe it is great that
you could take the game with you anywhere.
There are various games, including little five-
minute ones as well as dungeon captures that
you would want to sit back and work on for some
time. There are different ways to enjoy the game
at all times, in any way you like.
Who is your favourite character addition to
Breath of theWild
?
I can’t tell you in too much detail because
I don’t want to give away anything… but my
favourite is a warrior that has a lot to do with
the story of the Gerudo People. He is a dignified
and sophisticated character. You will know which
one I’m talking about once you come across the
character in the game.
Eating in games isn't uncommon – what led
to its implementation in
Breath of theWild
? Is
there a cultural difference in the value of
eating between Japan and the west?
The word ‘Wild’ is in the subtitle and
‘survival’ is one of the main concepts of this
game. We thought this would be an
unprecedented Zelda title if players
could have a lot of
freedom, and even find their
own way of recovering the
hearts on this vast land.
One of the developmental
directions was breaking
conventions.
I don’t think there are any
cultural differences in the way
‘eating’ is perceived by Japanese
and western cultures. When you’re
hungry, you want to have a delicious
meal, and that should be the same for
everyone.
We consulted the American team and the
European team to help us understand the kind of
food that is appreciated in other countries. They
checked the images of the food as we developed.
Please look forward to seeing which kinds of
meals appear in the game.
What's the secret to a good Zelda puzzle?
I think interesting puzzles can be designed
based on experiments that you would have done
in science class as a child. I don’t know if you
learn the same things in other countries, but
we grew up doing experiments with magnets,
fire, ice, etc. It’s best to base the puzzles on
something that anyone could understand.
Much has been made of the enormous size of
Breath of theWild
. Can you talk about some
of the challenges involved in creating a Zelda
game of such unprecedented scale? How do
you keep players focused in an open-world
game of this magnitude?
We really had to think about how to ensure
a balance in the degree of details in the game
experience. You may think we would have
to include a whole lot of things and various
eye-catching landscape features to keep things
interesting in such vast space. However, we
maintained a good balance in the level of details.
The entire production team played the
actual game many times to ensure a smooth,
balanced gameplay. We were all very careful in
understanding what exactly we were creating,
and what had to be done next in order to make
the game even better.
There are areas where we want you to
view from afar, areas where we want you
to search, areas that appear dodgy… we
designed the landscaping, tricks and
placement of enemies in each of these
areas so that players could instinctively
work out what to do. We look forward
to having you play the game and sense the
messages hidden in our design.
1
The Legend of Zelda:
Twilight Princess
8.3 million
2
The Legend of Zelda:
Ocarina of Time
7.6 million
3
The Legend of Zelda
6.5 million
units
4
The Legend of Zelda:
A Link to the Past
4.6 million
5
The Legend of Zelda:
Skyward Sword
3.6 million
6
The Legend of Zelda:
Majora’s Mask
3.6 million
7
The Legend of Zelda: A
Link BetweenWorlds
2.9 million
the global
numbers game
•
The Legend
of Zelda:
Breath of the
Wild
is out now
One of the
characteristics of
this title is that it's up
to the player how the
game progresses
ZELDA