Wii U Zelda: Wild speculation and excitement thread

[Ezlo's Apprentice]

Yes, yes, Skyward Sword hasn't been released and we've only had a cinematic tech demo for anything Zelda come the next Nintendo platform. But look at. What a demo it is...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arHNcSMXaBk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arHNcSMXaBk</a>

Consider me sold on high-definition gaming. The detail in the environment, on Link, with Gohma, in the lighting... It's pretty impressive. But I was never going to be one to afford the time and money for multiple home consoles each generation. Hope Wii U is within my price range...

The Wii has provided some terrific gameplay experiences, and Motion Plus-enabled Skyward Sword looks terrific, but what next once that Wii U tablet comes into play? Is it right back to button-mashing for combat or is the Wii U controller itself just another option (albeit a pricy one) and 1:1 motion-controlled Zelda will remain the standard?

Of course, Nintendo could stun us all and this will turn out to be little more than a Spaceworld 2001 moment come next year and we'll be back to Celda. Albeit 1080p Celda.

[Bidet to you sir]

ahahahaha you think this system will be in your price range, literally no one will be able to afford this, unless nintendo sells at a massive loss.

[Be_yourself]

I like how detailed the demo is, and i want to see this level of quality be used for Zelda.  But the actual graphics, whilst pretty cool don't actually get me as much as Skyward sword's do.  I was exactly the opposite until a while after SS was announced.  I'm liking the style changes, i hope that the Wii U does something more interesting with the graphics then what we saw in the tech demo.

I don't know about how we could use the Wii Us controller for Zelda.  Showing the map screen or selecting items on the touch screen could be good.

[hisak]

Entertainment Weekly, of all outlets, has a new interview with Miyamoto in which he briefly discusses Zelda for Wii U. It sounds like motion controls might have a reduced or different role in the upcoming game.

EW: We know there’s a new Mario game coming for the Wii U, New Super Mario Bros. U. Last year when the Wii U was first introduced, a standalone Zelda battle scene was created to showcase the system’s high-definition graphics. What about the Wii U intrigues you for what you could do in a Zelda game?

Miyamoto: Obviously we stared that experiment last year and used that to sort of showcase some of the HD visuals. And obviously when you look at that, you do get a positive reaction to how simply having the HD visuals in a Zelda game can really make the game look wonderful and give it sort of a high-quality feel. But one thing that’s interesting is we’re seeing how the way that tastes are broadening in video games and you have some people who prefer more casual experiences, and you have some people who prefer sort of those more in-depth experiences. Obviously, as a company that’s been making games for a very long time, we tend to be more on the deeper, longer game side of things. But really what we continue to ask ourselves as we have over the years is, “What is the most important element of Zelda if we were to try to make a Zelda game that a lot of people can play?” So we have a number of different experiments going on, and [when] we decide that we’ve found the right one of those to really help bring Zelda to a very big audience, then we’ll be happy to announce it.

EW: So you’re sort of in the R&D stage?

Miyamoto: Yeah. With the last game, Skyward Sword, that was a game where you had motion control to use your weapons and a lot of different items, and I thought that was a lot of fun, but there were some people who weren’t able to do that or didn’t like it as much and stopped playing partway through it. So we’re in the phase where we’re looking back at what’s worked very well and what has been missing and how can we evolve it further.

[JordAnime]

Playing Skyward Sword the first time was a really great experience, it was kind of like using the Nintendo 64's analog control for the first time and realizing just how control can change the way a game feels...and I'd love to see them continue in the same direction, but I also feel like it'll be mandatory for them to use the Wii U Game Pad for the next Zelda game for real-time inventory, puzzles and asymmetric gameplay moments.

I sort of feel like Skyward Sword was a big milestone for Zelda, it's the first game in the timeline and the timeline now has been revealed, so where do they go from here?

The only thing I'll say the franchise might need for its HD outing is actual voice acting; I know it's a source of contention, but I feel like it's kind of a necessity at this point.

[Be_yourself]

I actually won't be too upset if they don't include motion controls.  I really liked them in SS however in certain situations i think they were unecessary(i.e. swiming, controlling the beetle, flying etc. even firing the bow was a bit excessive, i don't think the motion controls should have gone beyond aiming the pointer in regards to that one.) 

I think the WiiU pad screen could be good if it is only used to supplement the controls.  By this i mean item select screens, maps, perhaps some stylus drawing in certain puzzles would just be more intuitive then on the tv.  A mini game or two may work, perhaps revised roal goal on the pad?  All in all, i don't think the big push needs to be made to include the unique features of the WiiU pad in every aspect of the game.

As for what i want to see in the game itself; i'd like to see nintendo keep the upgrade system, medallion system and adventure pouch system.  I'd like to see them expand upon these also, providing us with an a customiseable Link to a degree.  Not in terms of what he wears, but one could focus on upgrading the bow and carrying items that assist the bow(i.e. extra quivers, different sorts of arrows etc.) or instead focus on bombs. This sort of system could actually open up many posibilities depending on how far they were willing to explore it.

I'd like to see a much more open and less linear game, i doubt we will see it however.

[hisak]

Doesn't sound like we'll have solid details for a long time (2015 release?), but Aonuma's starting to promise things again. Multiplayer 3D Zelda could be really interesting.

[Ezlo's Apprentice]

"Complete dungeons in a certain order."

Well, that's a convention that shouldn't be too hard to rework. They tried it in SS, although opened up a massive glitch with those last three dungeons if completed in a certain order...

The question would be how they do that. Could they open up Hyrule Castle to Mario 64-type levels, making this the most dungeonised Zelda ever? Will you just be slapped in the middle of a giant map like in the original game with options North, South, East and West of you?

"Play by yourself."

Trickier to interpret this one. Could open up Four Swords with 3DS link-up functionality. Could just mean your grandma/sister/best friend is shouting "Hey! Listen!" at you a lot.

[hisak]

I think that for the dungeon thing they can either do something LoZ-esque, like you mentioned, or more of a pick-your-own-adventure version of Majora's Mask, where you get a choice to head off to one of three (fairly linear) areas, each of which end with a dungeon. Obviously the first is more appealing, but I guess the second is more likely?

"Play by yourself."

Trickier to interpret this one. Could open up Four Swords with 3DS link-up functionality. Could just mean your grandma/sister/best friend is shouting "Hey! Listen!" at you a lot.

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if it just ends up being something like the Mario Galaxy pointer or a Tingle Tuner. Wouldn't be difficult to implement either with the Gamepad though.

[Be_yourself]

In regards to multiplayer, what about Nintendo land? perhaps it is something akin to that sort of thing?

I really like that they have come out and specifically said they will make the dungeon order non-linear.  Precisely what this means will remain to be seen, however i think it has considerable promise if they include item upgrades which would allow you to grow your inventory strategically in order to progress or find new routes through the game.