1. Nintendo specifically said that they want Zelda Wii U to bring Zelda too a big audience. Zelda games sell the most in North America (NA). NA gamers tend to like games with realistic graphics opposed to cartoony graphics, hence why Twilight Princess (TP) sold a lot more than Skyward Sword (SS). If they want the game to sell well, they should make NA the targeted audience, and make the graphics realistic or semi realistic.
I feel like this point is outdated. Toward the middle-to-end of last gen consoles, more artistic and whimsical styles (and comic-book-ish) have been preferred over realistic styles, and often they are artistic models merged with realistic surroundings. Borderlands, Bayonetta, Enslaved, Bioshock Infinite, Darksiders/II, Okami, Muramasa, Persona, Prince of Persia, Final Fantasy 13, No More Heroes/II, Catherine, and so on are only a FEW of the examples. Realistic styles seem to be reserved for shooters in most cases, and more and more games are taking to the artistic trend.
Twilight Princess didn't sell soley because it was "realistic" (which is really isn't realistic aside from some architectural designs), it's biggest selling point was that it was OoT 2.0, and TWW and SS clearly aren't. OoT is very,
very anime styled, not realistic. TP is anime-styled with realistic (somewhat) textures and lighting. OoT is quite vibrant, and visually, the only things they really have in common are character models styles (OoT not having melon-headed NPCs). That said, I feel like "Western gamers liek teh realz bro" is a terrible excuse to adopt realistic styles. Zelda may sell more in the west, but that doesn't warrant abandoning or stifling creativity to conform to what is currently popular. Zelda's unique styles have always been and should always be timeless.
2. It been 7 years since a realistic looking Zelda, It’s time for a change and to go back to a more realistic looking Zelda style. I don’t mind the cartoony art style (I loved the way Wind Waker looked), but do you really want the Zelda franchize to stay cartoony forever? Plus, Wind Waker (WW) is being remade on the Wii U, so why have two cartoony Zelda games on the Wii U? Why not mix it up a bit, and give Zelda Wii U a more realistic and darker art style to contrast WW Wii U. Every Zelda game released after TP has been cartoony, that is three original games over 7 years. As I said before, there is nothing wrong with the cartoony art style, but it’s time for change. It’s only fair to go back to a more realistic looking Zelda, and the Wii U is the perfect opportunity for this. There should be balance.
I can't disagree with you here, however, I wouldn't say SS is cartoony. The Wind Waker is cartoony, and Skyward Sword is more anime-meets-classical art. The styles are vastly different and lumping them together in one "cartoony" category is an injustice to the series and the creativity of the designers.
Again, TP wasn't realistic aside from a few textures and lighting (and SOME architecture), but the realistic-meets-anime style is something Nintendo could definitely revisit and improve on. The tech demo is a clear example of how this can be done. In it, Link looks far more "cartoony" than he did in Twilight Princess, but the realistic textures with the more artistic colors are pleasing to the eye. Not much can be said for the world design since all we saw was the cathedral-like setting, but it was designed to look "realistic", and it was pretty. It was another example of how realism and artistic styles can be refreshing and beautiful when merged together.
3. Zelda Wii U is on the Wii U, a next gen console, it has the power to run games with HD and really good graphics, it would be a waste of the console not to push the next Zelda game with a more realistic art style. This is the perfect opportunity for them to make a Zelda game with really really good graphics. SS and WW’s art style had smoothe textures while TP's art style on the other hand, allowed for far more detail in it’s textures and allows for the lighting to be more dynamic. Overall TP’s art style allows for better graphics, and more detail than art style’s from the cell shaded Zelda games. With the Wii U, if they went with a cartoony art style, that would be holding the console back and not allowing it to demonstrate it’s potential. Realistic art styles tend to demonstrate graphics better than cartoony ones. It would be rather lazy of them to give Zelda Wii U a cartoony art style opposed to challenging/utilizing the console with a more realistic one. The Wii U's graphical capabilities shouldn't be wasted.
I cannot agree with you. Realistic style ≠ more or less detail. Artistic styles can have just as much, more, or less detail depending on the designers' choices. There is a ton of realistic art that is simplistic and lacking in detail, and there is a ton of whimsical/fantasy art that is overflowing with detail. To say that detail is dependent on the level of realism is a laughable statement. To imply that embracing a more artistic style over a realistic one is a "waste" of HD capabilities is an ignorant and crude statement, and Bioshock Infinite is a visually-great game to support my point.
4. The reason SS had a cartoony art style was because TP’s realistic graphics pushed the GC/Wii to the limit, Nintendo couldn’t make a Zelda with better graphics than TP on the Wii. So instead of them giving SS realistic graphics, they decided to take it’s visuals in a different direction, giving it a more cartoony look (they also said they used this to emphasize enemies weak spots to help with the motion control). Now with the Wii U, Nintendo actually has the graphical power to make a Zelda game that looks better than TP, so why use SS’s art style on the Wii U?[/B]
The great thing about Nintendo is that they have always been able to make up for what they lack in power with creative presentation. Just because they now have a console capable of HD graphics doesn't mean that they should abandon that creative design. The Wind Waker would have been a miserable failure of a game if it had "realistic" styles, because TEH FEELZ of the game couldn't be expressed in any other style, not even SS's style.
Despite my arguments against these points, I am
not against a realistic style. I just feel the reasons listed were ridiculous for a Zelda game. I would
prefer to see an artistic/realistic
hybrid like the tech demo that leans more toward realism or OoT3D that leans more toward anime, but complete realism could also be captivating. Nintendo is creative, and their designers' creativity is not limited to cartoony styles. Adapting such a style for any of the reasons the OP listed is not acceptable. There needs to be an inherent need for it. Aonuma's statement in a recent interview is something I think more fans need to think about:
"The thing about Zelda is we want everything to be unique, whether it’s the graphical presentation or the gameplay. It has to be something you can’t see anywhere else. We wouldn’t want it to be ultra-realistic because you can see that elsewhere. But I can’t say that it’s going to be cartoony-realistic like you mentioned, the fantastic presentation that we’ve already done in the past. It will be something new." -Eiji Aonuma