Game Developers Conference... and the Zelda Rant

After browsing through the colossal list of different sessions, I think I’d like to look at Eiji Aonuma’s Reflections on Zelda for this task, mainly because Zelda is a popular and important franchise in the industry that other developers can learn from and also because I have my own reflections to add upon finishing Twilight Princess.

Aonuma begins by talking about the issues the franchise faced after the cel-shaded style used in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. This style sent the franchise in a “gamer drift” due to it inadvertently sending the message that the title was aimed for a much younger audience. This was reflected in unsatisfying sales numbers and it was clear that the series needed to cater towards a specifically different market if it was to be successful.

The Zelda team came to the decision of a creating a realistic Zelda that would cater to a wider and more adult market and would also satisfy long term hardcore fans of the series. This decision was met with concern from Shigeru Miyamoto and he suggested that it would need to have aspects that varied from Ocarina of Time to keep the series fresh. He suggested being able to swing the sword whilst on horseback as a starting point, something fans had long since speculated upon. The introduction of the wolf transformation was also used to provide fresh and varied gameplay.

In my opinion, neither element is a particularly drastic change to the franchise. Twilight Princess feels very much like a remake of Ocarina of Time to cater for the dedicated harcore fan base that were disappointed with The Wind Waker. Due to it being a launch title for the Wii, the game was also introduced to the casual gamers enabling it to reach a vast market, a pretty nifty sales tactic which has been clearly successful.

The problem arises with the game itself. I was heavily disappointed with Twilight Princess in many areas and I think it fails to live up to what the team were trying to achieve. In short, I found the game painfully easy, each boss boiled down to being a simplistic puzzle that required no skill and there was never a sense of inherent danger or threat which totally cheapened the epic feel the game was trying to achieve. The usually frustratingly devilish Zelda puzzles seemed to have been simplified and were far too obvious. I felt the art style was far less consistent than that of Wind Waker, with blurry textures and overused effects such as bloom spoiling the overall feel.

I think that the art style in terms of character design has led to an emotional detachment from the characters. Link’s new look, although supposedly more “realistic” than his cartoony Wind Waker iteration, seems empty and lifeless like a doll. It calls to mind the Uncanny Valley robotics theory which revolves around the idea of humans having an emotionally negative response to robots or non human entities that are “almost human”, for example, scary Barbie dolls and almost life-like shop mannequins. The new Link is actually less human than his cartoony counterpart, WW Link’s cartoon appearance leaves more room for interpretation and draws greater emotional sympathy from the gamer.

Which one's the most "realistic"?

Other problems with the visual style can be seen right from the start, with the opening video showing Link riding across the plains on horseback as the sun sets. Random sunbeams arch down at near vertical angles over him when the sun is at the horizon line and as he rides to the edge of a cliff, it drops away at an unnatural angular gradient and the ground’s grass texture stretches down after it. Stuff like this is unacceptable in AAA titles, especially Zelda, one of the most venerable and best loved franchises in the industry. Maybe my expectations were way too high after all the hype, but I just can’t help feel disappointed with it.

Well… I’ve really gone off on a tangent there, and although I think I could keep going on about this forever, the rant is finally over. I feel much better now!