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Breath of the Wild Aonuma Interview on BotW (Fan reaction, DLC, final boss, future)

Ninja

Well well well
Joined
Jul 5, 2017
Hey all. Saw this interview on a Nintendo website and thought this was interesting:

Aonuma gives his take on fan reaction to game, final boss, the future of Zelda, and DLC. Below are some excerpts from the article.

Aonuma on DLC said:
On the next DLC…

…On the other hand on the next DLC we will tell stories about the champions in the game, to discover some of their backgrounds. What made me happy is the reaction of people. Many players have become fans of some of the champions, and it’s really nice. And then we will add the Amiibo as we go along.

Aonuma on next Zelda said:
On the next Zelda…

No, you will not get a scoop! Sorry, my dear friend [laughs]. We have no plans for a future Zelda, we are still far from all this unfortunately for you. Today, I’m at a stage where I’m trying to gather a number of ideas for a sequel, but I cannot do it alone. It’s a lot of work that will have to be done over a long period of time, and we’re still far from having planned anything. Leave us a little time…

Aonuma on reaction to game and fan service said:
On the reaction to the game…

Excellent obviously. But I realise that during these four months I have not stopped working on the DLC, so we kept our nose to the grindstone and we never felt like our work was done and that it was time for us to review it. One thing is for sure: for the last four months, we have focused on the player’s feelings, analysing their feedback and possibly changing via the DLC what they did not like. That said, we are still very cautious with fan-service, because too much fan-service can make the game tasteless. What I enjoyed during these four months was seeing the players and the sometimes unique and unexpected ways in which they play our game. Because the truth is we designed a game by saying that they were going to play as we wanted, or at least we knew how they were going to play. But when you see on YouTube how some people use the content we’ve created, we’re extremely surprised. We really did not expect that type of use.

Aonuma on final boss difficulty said:
On those who didn’t enjoy the final fight in Breath of the Wild…

You know, it’s very difficult to harmonise the fight against a last boss because we have this desire that whatever the level of the players, they could reach the end of the adventure. And if you put a level of difficulty that is too high on this last boss, there are some who will never be able to finish it and it will lead to frustration too. So the balance is really very hard to find. We indeed prefer to lower the level of difficulty so that everyone can enjoy the end. And going back to Expert mode, it will be much more difficult, it will be a lot more challenging for those who want it. And then, keep in mind that Zelda is not just an adventure that will end with the fight against Ganon. For us, this final fight is just a way of finishing the game. The real end of the game is when you really get to the end of the adventure, having completed all the quests and discovered the secrets of the game. But we noted the complaints on that point too.

Interesting stuff. Looks like the DLC will tells stories about the Champions and their backgrounds. Resurrection looks highly unlikely now.

Not shocked about the next Zelda being lightyears away. Hopefully in the meantime we will get more DLC to keep us occupied.

Your thoughts?
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
I understand the need to make the game accessible to even the most incompetent players but...did they have to go THIS far? I would expect Ganon to be insanely easy if you went above and beyond, doing all the shrines, getting maxed gear, going in with 20+ hearty dishes and with your trusty AP, attack boosted Guardian Battleaxe++ with damage reaching over 200....but he shouldn't be that easy just for doing the basic stuff (Divine Beasts + MS).
 

Ninja

Well well well
Joined
Jul 5, 2017
Right, I expected to die many times fighting Calamity Ganon, however only fell twice in battle due to my stupidity. The first time bum-rushing him in his golden state, and the other not healing properly and jumping right into his spear. Once I beat him, I was worried that I'd be going into the last phase of the fight with half health, only to realize that you are virtually unkillable. I wouldn't have minded the fight if we got some amazing action packed, emotional finale cut-scene, but I was a little disappointed in what we got. I would have loved a multiple phase final battle like TP had.

Seeing that the next Zelda is lightyears away, that doesn't really motivate me to spend the extra and get a Switch. It's likely that Zelda Switch will be released alongside of the next generation console, 2023 perhaps? Who knows at this point. I'm hoping that they have a dedicated team for BotW DLC, and the next Zelda game. If they would expand and add some richness to BotW, I'd be pretty content.

$20 for the season pass over the course of many DLC updates would be a steal, however, if they add more in-depth installments and dungeons, would they charge extra? Should be a poll, I wouldn't mind shelling out the money if it's worth it, but I don't want a sub-par effort on adding story, or extra lore to the game.
 
Joined
Jun 14, 2011
I'm hoping that they have a dedicated team for BotW DLC, and the next Zelda game. If they would expand and add some richness to BotW, I'd be pretty content.

$20 for the season pass over the course of many DLC updates would be a steal, however, if they add more in-depth installments and dungeons, would they charge extra? Should be a poll, I wouldn't mind shelling out the money if it's worth it, but I don't want a sub-par effort on adding story, or extra lore to the game.

I really hope Nintendo doesn't just keep adding to BotW until the next big Zelda. For me, the game is above average at best and even with the recent DLC it's still no better than it was before. I'm not kidding when I say I started playing the game again, then got bored with it again within 2 days.

Don't get me wrong I do see benefits to DLC if done right, but with BotW I'm not sure it really adds much to the game, or at least it doesn't add much that caters to all players. I like the new armour/headgears and the warp medalion is pretty handy, but for the Master Sword Trials and Hero Mode, I don't have the patience for because I don't enjoy the game that much as it is and for being a Zelda fan since he early Zelda titles, that's a first.

I'm hoping the next DLC will be more interesting and engaging with it's focus on story, but after that I don't see how you could keep adding stuff without making a completely new game. In the meantime I'd rather have filler Zelda games like remakes and smaller titles until the next big Zelda than having to keep going back to the same medicore game for a price that may not be worth it.

I digress though, I'm clearly in a minority who have distaste for this game and I'm sure lots and lots of fans love BotW and it's DLC, but with a highly likely big gap between the next big Zelda title, I'm sure people will eventually want to play something different while we wait and I just don't think you can achieve that with more DLC.
 
Joined
Jun 7, 2017
Assuming that the next Zelda game will be built open-world using the same basic physics engine as BotW ... I would expect that Nin and the devs continue to use BotW's DLC stuff to start tweaking the UI, physics, trying out dungeons, etc. BotW is the perfect "testing ground" for introducing the new concepts, ideas and content that will most likely end up in whatever the next Zelda game is.

Aonuma is who he is, but has at least hinted that while Nintendo (he, and his team(s)) have a vision for the future of this game, they do care what the fans think ... and should strive to find a balance between "what they want" and "fan service". I'm hopeful that this will happen, though by the time the next one comes out, I'll be over 50 yrs old, and may not even end up playing it.
 
Two things.

1. Aonuma citing HD Rumble as somehing he wants to explore brings back Samus PTSD style memories of Skyward Sword gimmick levels. I can imagine Link in Zelda Switch havibg three small goddess orbs that spin in his hand to tell him things, like David Bowie had in Labyrinth... Which would be ****ing awful.

2. After only 4 months the Switch is already one of Nintendo's most successful consoles when compared to their previous releases... Gee Aonuma don't you THINK you should MAYBE make the next Zelda game a little bit FASTER, y'know, BEFORE Nintendo's NEXT console comes out which will probably have HD Rumble too, so citing it for the Switch is kind of POINTLESS hype?!
 
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DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Aonuma is who he is, but has at least hinted that while Nintendo (he, and his team(s)) have a vision for the future of this game, they do care what the fans think ... and should strive to find a balance between "what they want" and "fan service". I'm hopeful that this will happen, though by the time the next one comes out, I'll be over 50 yrs old, and may not even end up playing it.

What are you talking about? He's constantly said he's went to the fans for direction on BOTW not only in Japan, but he also had his co-workers get English feedback and report it back to him....which means that, more than likely, someone visited GameFAQs and was feeding that drivel back to Aonuma....kinda ****ing terrifying when you think about it.
 

Link Floyd

ᵒⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ʳᵘⁿ
Joined
Sep 23, 2014
Gee Aonuma don't you THINK you should MAYBE make the next Zelda game a little bit FASTER, y'know, BEFORE Nintendo's NEXT console comes out which will probably have HD Rumble too, so citing it for the Switch is kind of POINTLESS hype?!

This.

The article gets me pretty hyped for the DLC, but the comment about Ganon was stupid. Final bosses shouldn't be easy for the sake of the player. It's a game. You go from thing to thing, and each time it gets harder. The dungeons are all available for you in any order you wish to do them in, but they're still varying degrees of difficult so it's challenging and rewarding.

When you have an enemy in the overworld that's stronger than the final boss, that's not a good thing. It takes away the purpose of having a final boss.
 

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