With just days to go before the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo has published a brand-new instalment of their “Ask the Developer” interview series. This time around the interview was all about Tears of the Kingdom and had the likes of Eiji Aonuma answering the many questions that were out before him and other members of the development team.
During the interview, Fujibayashi and Takizawa were asked about the difficulties in trying to differentiate between The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom:
Zelda Devs on trying to Differentiate between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom:
Hidemaro Fujibayashi: “Not in the slightest… There were many instances, even later on in development, where we struggled to differentiate the two. It was a constant and difficult process where we and the development team continued to mull over and discuss until we all came to an agreement.”
Satoru Takizawa: “We often experienced strong déjà vu, particularly in the early stages, and we thought it was imperative to transform how the game felt as much as we could. We worked hard with that thought in mind, but once we got to a certain point in development, we were able to identify areas that would lose their appeal if we changed them.”
Hidemaro Fujibayashi: “We started to think positively by calling what we decided not to change ‘the Great Mundanity.'”
Satoru Takizawa: “By the end, the definition of this ‘Great Mundanity’ became clear, so even if a team member approached us about a déjà vu feeling, we felt more comfortable asking them to intentionally keep something unchanged.”
For the full interview, why not click here to check out Ask the Developer Vol. 9, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Chapter 1.
Ask the Developer | The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Participating Developers)
- Eiji Aonuma | Senior Officer, Entertainment Planning & Development Division (Producer)
- Hidemaro Fujibayashi | Entertainment Planning & Development Department, Production Group No.3 (Director)
- Takuhiro Dohta | Entertainment Planning & Development Department, Programming Management Group (Technical Director)
- Satoru Takizawa | Entertainment Planning & Development Department, Design Management Group (Art Director)
- Hajime Wakai | Entertainment Planning & Development Department, Sound Management Group (Sound Director)
