Bill Trinen Dumps Even More Skyward Sword Tidbits, Talks Localization, Timeline, New Races

Bill Trinen’s really making the media rounds lately. A few days ago we reported on his interview with GameSpot over at Zelda Informer, but now he’s got a much longer, much beefier discussion over at GameTrailers. This interview’s so large it’s broken up into three parts, which go into details about the game’s localization process, timeline placement, as well as features like new and old races and locations.

Like Miyamoto and Aonuma, Bill’s reporting that even he hasn’t quite finished the game yet – and this interview’s definitely coming straight out of Comic Con so he’s had a couple months to do so since E3. Real testament to the game’s scale – which is refreshing since previously we’d heard it described as dense and compact.

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• Skyward Sword is being targeted for a worldwide release, meaning the story is changing while the script is being written. We saw this with Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess, but Majora’s Mask for example was already released in Japan while localization was underway. The finer details are still subject to change, but the overall story is set and finished.
• Fans love connections between games, so Nintendo tries to create and preserve connections for the sake of these players. The Wind Waker and its sequels all share obvious connections, and Skyward Sword really focuses on the creation of the Master Sword and the events of Ocarina of Time.
• Nintendo wants to avoid releasing a timeline in order to prevent themselves from getting locked in to a single version of the story, which could limit future titles.
• The official timeline document details NCL’s “vision” for the franchise.
• Skyward Sword is one of the highest-quality Zelda games. It’s “got a lot of heart” and really “paints a beautiful portrait” of the characters, which is something fans loved in Majora’s Mask and Wind Waker.
• It’s a very expansive Zelda game in terms of size and new gameplay.
• Motion Plus isn’t a gimmick, it’s the heart and soul of the game.
• Lots of stuff planned for the 25th year of the franchise, including the gold Wii Remote Plus, the Zelda Symphony concerts, and more unannounced stuff to come.
• Skyward Sword really shakes up the formula by blending the dungeon exploration and puzzle solving into the overworld. Structurally speaking, travel between the surface and Skyloft as well as the Siren World are going to create a lot of fresh experiences.
• Bill hasn’t finished the game yet, but he thinks it’s safe to say it’s one of his favorite Zelda games.
• The Zelda Wii U demo was mostly designed to showcase what the hardware can do, not so much a test of what Zelda will be like.
• The people of Skyloft have a special connection to birds, and everyone has their own bird.
• The Skyloft people know nothing about anything below the clouds. Their entire world is what’s up in the sky.
• Zelda “falls down” below the clouds in the beginning.
• The game’s story proceeds through a series of mysteries: why is Zelda down here, what’s the history of this world, why can’t you ever catch up to Zelda, etc.
• As an early story, it’s a great intro game to the series for new players.
• Phi is a tentative name for the spirit of the Skyward Sword. She’s not the sword per se but is a spirit housed within it.
• Ghirahim is definitely a creepy villain. One of the big mysteries is why he’s after Zelda.
• Skyward Sword features a varied cast of both old and new races. We’ve seen some of the new ones already. A solid blend of new and old elements, such as places.
• It’s a mystery whether the place you’re exploring is Hyrule, and this will be explained in the game.

Source: GameTrailers