New Zelda game will be less linear according to director

Link

Eiji Aonuma (The man incharge of the Legend of Zelda franchise) recently had an interview withKotaku. He expressed his concerns about the use of tutorials in Skyward Sword being too much of an overload for some players. He goes on to say that he wanted everyone who played the game to understand it, however he says that he plans to pull back on that with future titles.

Hopefully this kind of thinking leads to even more diverse gameplay experiences in the series moving forward, as this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen Aonuma express these concerns. Three months ago he had this to say to the Official Nintedo Magazine:

The recent Zelda games have been rather linear, as I thought players didn’t like getting lost, wondering what to do, or where to go. However, I’ve come to question this ‘traditional’ approach as I felt that we couldn’t gain the sense of wonder that existed in the original Legend of Zelda, in which you made unexpected encounters and where what used to be impossible would suddenly become possible. We will, of course, continue to question and reconsider the approaches we have taken in the past without any reservations.

I liked what he was saying at E3 about having one open, vast world to explore where a lot of the puzzle solving is about trying to reach places and what to do when you get there. Sounds cool.

i think it's a good thing. Link Between Worlds wasn't linear and that's why people liked it

Pretty stoked.

Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword were pretty good but the series deserves better than to be different iterations of the same game over and over.

A Link Between Worlds showed (ironically, being a direct sequel and half remake) a willingness to rethink the series and benighted from.

Wow looks like someone at Nintendo finally realizes a lot of Zelda fans grew up. Now if only this kind of thinking could expand through the company.

i really hope so

I'm cautiously optimistic. ALBW was a step in the right direction, so I'm willing to believe that they are attempting this, however, I still find it somewhat hard to believe they'll move as far away from the more recent Zelda titles are they are claiming. They'll certainly be "less" linear with this than they where with Skyward Sword and other 3D Zelda's, but I struggle to believe it'll be completely open for players choice.

It's good to hear him address these things, but really, someone who is so clueless about such basic fundamentals as to what makes Zelda so fun should not be at the helm of its design. What he's done to the series has nigh ruined it. Getting lost? That's a huge part of the fun. Wondering what to do, where to go......Christ Aonuma.....it's a game. What the hell do you think people want to play it for? To be held by the hand on a fucking guided tour? That he even has to come out and say what Cpt. Obvious would after all this time tells me he has no place directing this series, especially since Zelda games drop so seldom and by the time all lessons are learnt it'll be 2050.

Games like Zelda need to make it a point NOT to help the player. Hell, it's far worse: SS actually went out of its way to ruin puzzle solutions. Why put in puzzles at all if this be the case? And if a tutorial is absolutely needed, introduce the player to a game mechanic only once, then file it under a section that's easy to look up that's available with the touch of the Start button. Anyone too stupid to be still left helpless with such a system doesn't deserve to play anyway. I'd really prefer Miyamoto to come back as the director. Here's to hoping the new one addresses these faults. I'm still hesitant on the pacing though as he's not said anything about this.

The only risk of having a huge open world is that it could feel empty.

I had that feeling often when i was playing Twilight Princess.

Let's hope that will not be the case here.

So what! It does nothing to make the game better.

@MirkoS77: I think they got the message with Link Between Worlds

I'm glad to hear that as one of my favorite aspects of Zelda one is how you are just thrown into this world to discover things.

Not sure if this is a good thing or bad thing. An open world game that consistently exciting seems hard to pull off.

Its amazing to me that he is just coming to this realization. It seems that the Nintendo higher-ups have created some kind of un-creative bubble where safety lies and progress dies. Dont get me wrong it's certainly not just Nintendo, however I do believe they are the worst about this kind of thing.

What I wouldnt give for a Zelda game that is serious, more emotionally engaging, the puzzles can stay (however, Im not a fan) more like a souls game Ithink with an interesting story.

The dark, creepy aspect of Zelda has always worked for it. We need more of that and less kid gloves. Give me a link that takes an arrow to the neck for his beloved Zelda, but still keeps fighting against the evil desert wizard, with all odds stacked against him. Not a Link that flies around on a cartoon bird and has a cliche, gay-anime-villain as an antagonist.