Echoes of Wisdom’s Developers Held a Story Writing “Boot Camp,” Discuss Challenges in Making Zelda the Hero

In the latest entry of Nintendo’s Ask the Developer, Zelda series Producer Eiji Aonuma, Grezzo director Satoshi Terada, and Echoes of Wisdom game director Tomomi Sano answered questions about the newest Zelda title. Previous entries covered topics such as Echoes of Wisdom‘s origin as a Zelda dungeon maker and Tomomi Sano taking up the mantle as Zelda‘s first female director.

Here, the developers discuss their decision to make Princess Zelda the protagonist and the challenges of crafting a story befitting the princess of Hyrule. Crafting the right set of circumstances that would require Princess Zelda to take on the role of hero this time proved more difficult than expected. The interview proceeded as follows:

A lot of things have come out of the relationship between Link and Zelda. Since it seems like there are a lot of things to consider with Princess Zelda as the main character, what went into the story’s development?

 

Aonuma: Well, first it was difficult to find a motive to send Princess Zelda on an adventure. In Link’s case, he is destined to be a hero, so if there are monsters, he sets out on a journey to defeat them, and that makes sense. But in the case of Princess Zelda, as she is royalty, we needed to carefully craft the setting of why she really needs to leave her castle when there are people around her who can fight.

 

Terada: But the more we thought about it, the harder it was to come up with a convincing enough reason for Princess Zelda to leave for an adventure. (Laughs)

 

Aonuma: Just having monsters roaming around Hyrule wouldn’t be enough to motivate Princess Zelda to directly fight them. We tried brainstorming all sorts of ideas for what kind of situation would necessitate that the princess take matters into her own hands.

 

Terada: One staff member, as if Princess Zelda were his own child, said, “We can’t send the princess on an adventure yet. I’d go instead under these circumstances!” (Laughs)

 

Aonuma: So we eventually decided that the setting of this game would involve lots of large, mysterious rifts appearing in Hyrule. We had to come up with something that wasn’t a monster but something that would make a princess think, “This is bad! I have to do something!” A princess is a daughter of the rulers of a country. So I thought that the motivation to fight is that the world of Hyrule is being destroyed and changed.

While the concept of making Zelda the playable character may seem like a no-brainer, writing that idea into a believable story that is consistent with established lore proved difficult in execution. If the threat is a monster, well, Hyrule already has Link and the Royal Guard to tackle such matters. So, the problem had to be something that couldn’t be solved by clubbing it with a weapon.

On the topic of Rifts, Sano and Terada explain:

Sano: Even after we decided to make rifts a part of the game’s setting, the design was still a challenge.

The story is that inside the rifts lies the Still World, where people and things go when they’re swallowed up. No one has ever seen a place like that. It’s easy to say, “The ground cracked, and below that is a world of void.” But the designers from Grezzo who had to develop those ideas into visuals were scratching their heads with questions like, “How does the rift expand?” “How deep does it go?” And, “How do we show the transition between the game field and the world of void?” (Laughs)

 

Terada: And, since they appear in various places around Hyrule, they need to be able to be placed anywhere, including on the ground, on top of buildings, on water, or in lava, etc. We had to keep in mind that the placements of rifts could change based on level design or that the rifts could appear or disappear at any time at different points in the story. It was extremely difficult to create something visually new under such restrictions.

Sharing the almost parent-like protective attitude of the aforementioned developer, Aonuma added:

Aonuma: I didn’t want to depict anything too cruel in a world where the main protagonist isn’t a fighter per se, but I still needed to deliver a sense of danger approaching Hyrule. It was quite challenging to create that.

Sano and Terado then shared some of the challenges they face in developing character motivations and deciding how Link would fit into a Zelda-centered story.

Sano: We also had a hard time developing the scene in which the king is swallowed by a rift, which is one of Princess Zelda’s biggest motivations for setting out on her journey.

 

Terada: Though creating the initial world setting was difficult, we also thought about what role Link would play in the game. What would happen to the sword if the gameplay focused on echoes? Can this character even exist in this game? The Legend of Zelda series has a grand historical lineage. How should I put it? How far should we delve into the lore of the Legend of Zelda?

The interview then shifted gears a bit to discuss the balancing act of introducing new concepts while maintaining the feeling of a Zelda game. They also dive into the “boot camp” that helped Grezzo write a story that maintained the “grand historical lineage” of Zelda lore.

There is certainly a history of Hyrule that ties the entire series together. If you take too many liberties, you have to be careful whether it’s still Legend of Zelda-like.

Aonuma: Right, it’s very difficult to balance how much to add or change. At first, we were intentionally leaving any parts that might delve into Hyrule’s history vague, but partway through, we just couldn’t find a way forward that way… So, around last summer, we decided to hold a boot camp and work out the story there.

 

Terada: It truly was a boot camp, indeed.

 

Aonuma: Even there, Grezzo didn’t offer any in-depth suggestions about the story at first. So, I went back to the hotel, quickly wrote a script that would work, and brought it with me the next day. Then, we all contributed various elements that often occur in the Legend of Zelda series to the script. Using this method, we eventually completed the game’s story.

Sano: Over a few sessions, we spent nine days at the boot camps in total, working from morning until night. (Laughs)

 

Aonuma: These days, even for us, it’s not easy to touch on the lore of the Legend of Zelda series. When you address the history of the Legend of Zelda, you naturally have to be conscious of how things have been expressed previously in the series. But when we think about a new game, we need to think about new developments while being mindful of the past games in the series, so the scope of what you can do becomes increasingly narrow if you think in the same way every time. On top of that, because the series has been running for a long time, players are interested in its history and lore. So, when we’ve adopted a game plot that was not in line with the other games in the series because we prioritized the gameplay, we’ve been told by our fans that it didn’t make sense. We realized that even if the developers didn’t intend to make nonsensical changes, players could interpret otherwise.

 

I see. So, the developers need to take those kinds of player reactions into consideration when creating a story.

 

Aonuma: Even with this title, we had no intention of establishing any new theories in the series’ lore. Link goes on an adventure every time and experiences many things. But Princess Zelda has always had to take a step back in the Legend of Zelda series. But this time, Princess Zelda is on her own adventure, so the story takes on a different perspective than before. I think that’s why we were able to create something new in terms of the story as well.

Fans should be relieved to know that such care and attention has been given towards Echoes of Wisdom‘s story in a series that traditionally prioritizes gameplay. The developers weren’t content with making Zelda the main character just for the sake of it. They put in the extra effort to ensure that Echoes of Wisdom justifies its existence by giving Zelda a befitting reason to take on the leading role. And if early reviews are any indicator, that nine day boot camp paid off.

The Legend of Zelda:Echoes of Wisdom is available right now! Be on the lookout for special deals when you grab your copy.

So, tell us what you think. Does the story have to explain why Zelda is the playable character? What other challenges might developers face when putting a new character in the spotlight of a long-running series like The Legend of Zelda? What do you look most forward to seeing in Echoes of Wisdom? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Nintendo

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