Aonuma: We are Trying to Incorporate an Open World (in Zelda U)

Eiji Aonuma supposedly pays very close attention to the desires fans put out there for the future of the series. While he obviously won’t tell what areas of the web he pays attention to, the fact remains that he is aware of widespread desires for certain aspects of the series. In this example, he is aware people really desire Zelda to be more open-world minded.

Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker were very open worlds, while Skyward Sword was very closed. Is there a chance we’ll see that openness again?

Aonuma: I think the most open-world Zelda we’ve had so far has been Wind Waker, just because you were able to sail the ocean and go all over the islands. When creating a game, we look at what is the core, kernel gameplay. You try to construct the game around that, and making that core mechanic the easiest to access.

For

Skyward Sword, that kind of narrowed, focused world helped us with that, but at the same time it meant you didn’t have that wide-open world to explore. We’ve heard the complaint about lack of openness from a lot of fans. As we’re deciding what the core gameplay mechanic was, we have that open-world desire at the forefront of our minds, and we’re trying to figure out how to incorporate that as well.

What could this mean? Well, it could be taken in several different ways. On one hand, he knows people desire such a thing in the series, and that

The Wind Waker is the closest he has personally come to a truly open world. At the same time, he recognizes that The Wind Waker isn’t open enough. In many ways, he really opened up the world in A Link Between Worlds by allowing any dungeon order, adding in mini dungeons, and all that jazz. He is encouraging exploration and experimentation in the overworld. That’s a very welcome sight.

What this means for Zelda U is obviously totally up the air. Will we be allowed to go anywhere we want within reason? What will the travel mechanic be..? Horse? Bird? Train? Boat? A combination of them all? I always felt

Spirit Tracks was a nice feel if they also allowed you to ride a horse anywhere you want. That way the Train = fast travel to specific points and the horse is used for exploration. I don’t know what this means for the future of the franchise, but I am happy he is choosing this specific element as a focus for A Link Between Worlds and Zelda U.

Source: Mashable