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, Wakai, Takizawa, Dohta and Fujibayashi discuss the key features they would love for players to take notice of when playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom:
Zelda Devs on the Key Features they Want Players to take Notice of:
Hajime Wakai: “For me it’s the expression of realism in the game. For example, the sense of distance created as a player moves away from a nearby sound and it becomes increasingly hazy and echoey, disappearing into other ambient sounds. Ever since the previous title, we’ve been developing our games to provide a surround-sound experience, and you can enjoy it with headphones or stereo speakers. We hope you’ll notice these details. I heard some of our development staff saying, “Just chilling by the sea makes me feel relaxed… I wish I could listen to that sound forever…”. We hope you’ll have fun playing around and finding your own way to enjoy the game’s sound, like in this example.”
Satoru Takizawa: “As for the design and art for the core elements of this title, such as the new civilisation, the motifs have been completely redesigned from those of the previous title, which were inspired by ancient Japanese culture. At the same time, all our designers have focused on once again building completely original, supernatural imagery, while creating a mysterious atmosphere that’s existed in Japan since ancient times. We’d like you to take time to enjoy your adventure in this new and different world that’s filled with this somewhat mysterious yet refreshing energy. And please look forward to a Hyrule that’s both familiar and changed since the previous game, including its expanded new world. Also, don’t forget to check out new characters and enemies, as well as how familiar faces have changed and grown. We hope you’ll enjoy interacting with various elements created around the theme of “hands” that we discussed earlier in the interview.”
Takuhiro Dohta: “As was the case with the previous game, the best case scenario would be for players to start playing at the same time, and when they get together later, they realise that they don’t know what each other is talking about because each of them is experiencing something completely different. Even though they’re enjoying the same game, they’re taking different routes, doing different things in their own ways, and when they ask each other how far they’ve got, each learns for the first time about what the other is playing. I hope there’ll be conversations between players like, “I never knew there was such a thing!” or “I didn’t know there was such a place!” again in this title.”
Hidemaro Fujibayashi: “In the early stages of development on this title, we received comments from fans saying that they wished they could forget everything about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and play it for the first time again. The feeling you get when the game starts and the world opens up, the moment you’re about to embark on an epic adventure, the encounters with powerful enemies, and the excitement when you reach the ending. In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, we’ve tried our best to ensure players can experience those feelings as much as or more than in previous titles. I’m confident fans will recapture that same feeling, and hope you’ll look forward to that.”
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 5.
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)
