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It's bandwidth killing time again!
For those of you who don't frequent game news sites (yet still care):
New Zelda screens and info from Spanish magazine
The original article w/ translated notes here.
Reactions:
- Well, it looks like it's gonna be a new Link after all. Growing older from 16? How... much further can you go? (And those are some weeird starting clothes. XP)
- 2-3x bigger than OoT = SEX =D~~~~~~
- Cuccos are back! ...Or rather, chickens at least. They're not white like the traditional Cuccos...
- How is it that Spanish magazines/sources always get these first scoops, instead of Japanese or English? o.O
- Need bigger clearer scans~~~ Edit: And there they are. lol pwned
- Woah hey! He has the Triforce mark on his hand already, like in Oracles and Adventure of Link... Must be that 16-years-old thing.
- Hmm, Link has pointy ears, but the other villagers don't. Hmmmmm...
Edit: Allow me to reiterate:
P.S. Wi-Fi online Zelda DS also = hot
Edit edit: Updated again with even bigger scans.
New Zelda screens and info from Spanish magazine
The original article w/ translated notes here.
Reactions:
- Well, it looks like it's gonna be a new Link after all. Growing older from 16? How... much further can you go? (And those are some weeird starting clothes. XP)
- 2-3x bigger than OoT = SEX =D~~~~~~
- Cuccos are back! ...Or rather, chickens at least. They're not white like the traditional Cuccos...
- How is it that Spanish magazines/sources always get these first scoops, instead of Japanese or English? o.O
- Need bigger clearer scans~~~ Edit: And there they are. lol pwned
- Woah hey! He has the Triforce mark on his hand already, like in Oracles and Adventure of Link... Must be that 16-years-old thing.
- Hmm, Link has pointy ears, but the other villagers don't. Hmmmmm...
Edit: Allow me to reiterate:
--> SEX <--
P.S. Wi-Fi online Zelda DS also = hot
Edit edit: Updated again with even bigger scans.
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Now the important part:
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!tehSEX!SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
(Did you appreciate Plushie Sheik's thong? Told you I'd do it, didn't I? :P)
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Wish I could've seen a bigger picture though, it's hard to make out the details on the embroidery ;)
I'm rather heartened by the fact that Aonuma says he's going for a shounen manga look rather than the
Meg RyanFinal Fantasy look. I just watched Bleach at anime club last night and kept imagining Link in the main character's place in this kickass sword battle. Buuut, the main characters in shounen series don't often seem to develop romantic interests...? :(</ramble mode>
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It'll be winging it's way to you via e-mail. I had thought that it'd be bigger when I saved it on my photobucket account, but alas it was not to be.
Damn, here I was hoping that there'd *finally* be some progress on the Link Zelda relationship, they've been padding that out so much more in the recent games or is that just my imagination? (Yes I'm a shipper and I do not give a damn). I was getting definite Final Fantasy vibes, now that you mention it- think it was the obligatory cute kiddies that did it. But, seeing that it's Link and a Zelda game then it's going to kick a lot more arse than Final Fantasy.
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And since when has non-FF games been devoid of cute kiddies? Wind Waker snot-nosed kid, anyone? ;)
And here's some extra exciting news for you, from someone who apparently got a preview of EGM's next issue:
"Alright I haven't read the whole article but here we go.
- No voice acting
- No GBA connectivity
- You can fish or "angle" I should say ['bout time!]
-Art of Zelda shows her weilding a sword [!!!!!!]
-Yes link is rescuing Zelda & Ganon is in the story
-No official title has been decided yet
-Combat will be different from Windwaker
-Chicken Gliding is back [XD]
-In the beginning of the game link is a "cowboy" there is also a minigame to teach you how to ride
-Tauro village impressions, great sense of realism, grand in scale
-Horseback battles will be plentiful"
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh my god, all it needs now is for Link to profess his undying love for her, fling her down onto a haystack and proceed to make sweet, sweet love until they're both unconscious and it would be my ideal
albeit pornographicgame! YAY!(That being said, I better write her 'learning how to use a sword scene' in Vagabond before the game comes out otherwise it'll lose it's edge when I do it.)
Link as a cowboy amuses me somehow, why I don't know...
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albeit pornographicgameI don't understand... Are those terms... somehow... in conflict?
;P
I wonder if Zelda will have a disguised form in this game... it would actually be refreshing if she's able to be tomboyishly ass-kicky even while remaining as a princess. SSBM nonwithstanding.
Link as a cowboy amuses me somehow, why I don't know...
I think it's the thought of a rustic cowhand being somehow skilled enough at sword-fighting and jousting to become a legendary hero. ;)
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... Well if Nintendo's going for the more 'mature' games option it would certainly be one way of handling it... XD
I agree on the tomboyish ass-kicking front, she does need to kick ass in her own right. SSBM and the final Wind Waker battle nonwithstanding. Also, she needs pants. I see her with a pretty princess outfit at first, and then shimmying down some ivy in leggings and a tunic to ride across country behind Link on his horse. Singing the theme-tune to Rawhide, of course.
(But where is this art of which the forthcoming article speaks? I'm tired of speculation!)
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...Except, of course, with not-so-80's fashions. ^^;;
Anyway, assuming that guy didn't make it all up (I'm surprised they're showing off Zelda's design so soon...?), I guess we'll be seeing *something* whenever the next EGM issue comes out. Can you imagine, there's only ~3 weeks left till E3?
And just to keep you bouncing, here's a few more new pics (http://www.gccafe.com/news/index.html#newsitemEEEuuEFyVpIQDDJgGy) from Nintendo Power. Holy crap that Balrog thing got huge. o.o
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Sorry, it really bugged me that Epona wouldn't go anywhere near water in Ocarina or MM.
And now I can see the Triforce on his hand, I completely missed it earlier...
Balrog = change of underwear. Jesus H Christ that thing is scarier than Frank the Mutant Bunny in Donny Darko!
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Painstakingly typed up by someone at the Something Awful forums:
EGM: Will this Zelda be about rescuing the princess again?
Eiji Aonuma: Yes, the story will involve Zelda, and the story will involve Ganon, but of course the plot won't be identical to those in past Legend of Zeldas.
EGM: Where does this Zelda fit in the overall series timeline?
EA: I can't really go into that, partially because I want to keep it a secret, but also because we haven't decided yet. There are some kinds of...unstable, uncertain ideas we're working on. Depending on what course we choose in terms of developtment, the final ending may change.
EGM: Is it safe to say there is some major gameplay element we still don't know about, like the sailboat in Wind Waker, that will remain secret until just before the game comes out?
bA: You're right. (laughs)
EGM: Is that why the game name still doesn't have a subtitle? Will the full name give something away?
EA: We really don't know what we're going to do with the subtitle at this point. It could work the other way around--maybe there will be some kind of mystery about the title, and somewhere in the course of the gameplay, you'll realize it's meaning.
EGM: From what we've played, the combat feels exactly like Windwaker-we noticed you can still smash shields, knock off helmets, etc. Do you have any changes planned?
EA: Remember how in Wind Waker, if the enemy comes within a certain range of Link and you press the A button at the right time, sometimes Link will do a special attack? We think that worked very well, so we're thinking about intensifying that aspect with this game. We've already added some things, like a jumping downward stab. We're going to incorporate more of those cool-looking performances and a few other changes. People are going to see that this game is pretty different from Wind Waker.
EGM: Besides combat and the graphics, how else will this game be different from Wind Waker?
EA: About the setting, in Wind Waker it was the ocean. I really cannot tell you what kind of setting we're going to adapt for this new Zelda, but I can say we are really trying to expand the sense of scale. Before, whenever we made 3D games, we shied away from using too many big objects. If they aren't necessary for specific gameplay ideas, they become a kind of obstacle. But in this game, we are trying to be more realistic. In this horse-riding battle, you can see it takes place on a huge land, even if it's mostly empty landscape. That's why we need the horse from the very begining of the game. We want people to feel that this is a huge land they're playing in, and without a horse, it's impossible for you to explore. Also, sometimes you're going to see something that's just vast, even though it's not involved in gameplay--something huge or something very tall. We want to realize that sense of awe by presenting things realistically.
[omitted some stuff about graphics]
EGM: Let's move on to things we've seen in the two video trailers you've released so far. What's with all the cats, for example?
EA: We're thinking of incorporating some ideas where Link can communicate with animals, one way or another. I can't elaborate on specifically how. But the reason you can pick up cats early in the game in Toaru Village, for example, is because we wanted people to understand you can touch the cats, you can play with them. After leaving that impression, it'll become easier for us as developers to have complex ideas afterward, where the players are willing to approach the animals.
[snip]
EGM: And that shadowy figure on our cover with his or her back to Link?
EA: Very sorry, but we'd like to keep it secret. People can take your cover as a big mystery. We're not sure when we want to break that infomation--maybe at the next E3 show in May, or maybe not. As a hint, you can also see a kind of castle in the background scenery...
[snip]
EGM: In the movie trailer and on our cover, we see a wolf howling-can you tell us anything about that? There's some speculation maybe Link is a werewolf...
EA: Hmm...sorry, confidential.
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Hands-On Report - Part One: TOARU VILLAGE
Ah, the tranquil hamlet that kicks off nearly every Zelda game. The one thing that stands out about Toaru Village (Japanese for "unspecified"--the English name is to be determined) is, like everything in this new Zelda, the sense of realism. And we aren't just talking about the graphics: townspeople go about their business, cats and chickens wander here and there (one attacking the other if they get too close), birds scatter out of the tall grass as Link approaches... The sense of scale is impressive; maybe it's just a reaction to Wind Waker's squat characters, but everything seemed taller, bigger, more spread out.
As in the last game, Link starts out without a weapon or his trademark green outfit. "If someone happened to see this scene without knowing what game it is," says Aonuma," they probably wouldn't even guess it was Link in The Legend of Zelda." Upon closer inspection, however, one detail is a dead giveaway: on the back of Link's left hand are three dark triangles--Zelda's Triforce symbol.
"Stick it to 'em"- Eventually Link gets a wooden sword and learns combat in a familiar scarecrow-bashing tutorial. As before, the L trigger locks on targets and B performs different attacks, depending on the direction of the analog stick. But if you don't lock on you can now swipe your sword as you move around, without stopping (handy for clearing tall grass, no doubt), and Link has a special coup de grace: press A for a jumping downward thrust to finish off enemies you've knocked over.
"At home on the Range"-- Another early minigame teaches the player how to ride horseback. As in previous games, you can simply push in the direction you want to go for a slow trot or hit A to apply the whip for a burst of speed. You can also see where "Cowboy Link" (Aonuma's name for our hero before he earns his green duds) gets his name--the goal here is to round up and force all the grazing animals into the barn before time runs out. It's a little tougher than you might think.
"Flying the coup"- Good news: Chicken-gliding is back! Just grab one of your fine-feathered friends, find a tall building or cliff, and jump off--Link floats slowly down, which enables him to reach areas he couldn't otherwise. This technique came in handy during our demo: a pregnant woman asked Link to retrieve a baby basket on the other side of an otherwise unscalable fence. After getting it, he slowly (move too fast and you'll be scolded) escorts her back to her home with it. What a guy!
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"Horseback Attack"- Horseback riding has an expanded role in this new Zelda--as Aonuma tells us, fast transportation is basically a requirement from the very start of the game because of larger environments. The second scene we played proved his point with a full-speed boss fight; Link chased down this big-horned baddie atop his bigger-horned steed, first slashing him to remove his armor, and then pelting him with arrows. A very cool and very challenging concept for a boss.
"Fighting The Horde"--Other mobile enemies swarmed Link, trying to distract him from his true target. Horseback combat felt smooth and natural; as always, you can lock on to targets or go into first person and aim manually, slinging arrows with X (or the R trigger for exploding bomb arrows). Link's head tracked nearby foes, and he pivots in whatever direction you point to attack with his sword. He could also dismount anytime and the enemies would circle, making passes until he knocked them off their battle-boars or killed them right in the saddle. (Aonuma told us that in the final game, Link can even steal some of the bad guy's rides.)
The scenery was lovely--rolling hills with the shadows of clouds floating past--but sparse, with only a fence now and then to break things up. Then again, most of our attention was on the enemies--seven or eight (counting thier boars) on screen at once, without a hint of slowdown.
"Steeple Chase"-- As in the earlier cattle-driving minigame, you can make Link's steed trot in any direction by pushing on the analog stick. You can also whip his horse with the A button for a boost (an action again limited to six times, with a corresponding meter that slowly regenerates). Speed is important; unless Link is moving fast enough to automatically jump over the same wooden fences the boss leaps over, he'll slam into them and stop completely. So that's three things you need to worry about : Keeping up with the boss, attacking him, and avoiding his minions.
Last but not least, I want to mention the beautiful drawing of Princess Zelda holding a sword, and three sketch drawings of Link's different emotions, assuring me that this part of the game isn't being overlooked.
DAMMIT THOSE PICTURES ARE WHAT I WANTED, FORGET THE INTERVIEW
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Have the cover and other pics from EGM too, but will wait for larger scans or whatnot.
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