Zelda: Skyward Sword details from the latest Iwata Asks – cinematics, orchestrated music, more
The sixth volume of the Iwata Asks interviews featuring Zelda: Skyward Sword has gone live. The discussion focuses on a variety of topics, including the game’s cinematics and orchestrated music. The information comes from Shigeki Yoshida, Hajime Wakai, Naoki Mori, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, Eiji Aonuma, and Satoru Iwata.
– Fujibayashi thought of a script that would roughly fit the framework of the game
– He then proposed the script to Aonuma
– Staff decided to tell the story of the Master Sword’s origin early on
– Talk began about how Skyward Sword would be the first story in the series
– Team wondered about involving the birth of Hyrule
– Floating island in the sky also raised questions about how it got there
– Started to knit together different elements, but this created contradictions
– Roughly two years ago, the staff were required to consider a number of elements at once, including the system, stages, and game fields
– Mori, Yoshida, and the cinematic scene staff were joining the team, so they needed to make the hakogaki soon
– Hakogaki: rough synopsis of the essential points of the script
– Because there was little time remaining, Fujibayashi siad he didn’t feel well, stayed home, and wrote for a full day
– Fujibayashi locked himself away, did nothing but write the synopsis from morning to evening
– Aonuma said the synopsis was fine after he read it
– Fujibayashi expected Aonuma to have a number of criticisms, but he actually seemed very understanding
– Aonuma acted this way because the key elements were there
– Aonuma wanted Fujibayashi to make The Legend of Zelda in line with what he thought it should be like; just didn’t want contradictions
– Mori was in charge of writing the dialogue based on the synopsis
– Mori often heard “That hasn’t been decided clearly yet”, which made his job tough
– Mori began creating the scenes even though he had to think about the fact that what he made could be wasted later on
– After Mori made the script, Yoshida and other staff drew storyboards and the motion designers made animation for the storyboards with 3D models
– This isn’t entirely smooth since everyone has their own opinion
– Sound added in after the visuals were finished
– Some things had to be redone since the sound needed to match up perfectly and the timing changed
– 79 cinematics made
– Over 120 minutes for cinematics
– Team decided to count the number rather than the amount of time and set the number last time in Twilight Princess as the standard
– Cinematics were organized (ex: three files for number 30 – 30-1, 30-2, 30-3)
– Fujibayashi was intent on including the scene at the beginning of the game in which Zelda jumps down from Skyloft toward Link as he is flying on Loftwing, and Link panics and tries to catch her
– Fujibayashi hoped to portray all of Zelda’s personality in that scene
– Fujibayashi describes Zelda as bright, lively, emotional, and impulsive
– Aonuma felt that the scene was too long
– Aonuma disliked how cinematic scenes were running one after the other, and players would just want to play the game
– Aonuma got hung up on how it was like a love-dovey romance scene and wondered, “Are we really going to go this direction in The Legend of Zelda?”
– Fujibayashi: For that lovey-dovey scene, it was someone else wanted to put it in. So I said, “We’ll think about it,” and we disbanded and shaved away other parts.
– Aonuma and Fujibayashi are happy that the scene was included in the end
– The scene connects to the dormitory material
– Aonuma believed it was important to make the player feel like they really want to help Zelda
– Mori and his subteam paid special attention to making the players want to save Zelda when writing the dialogue
– Important for Zelda to care for Link from the start more than ever before since they’re childhood friends
– There are a number of near misses throughout the game, player should feel even more strongly that you want to help her
– The team thought about where Zelda is and what she’s doing while Link is adventuring, even if you can’t see her
– Zelda isn’t a princess from start to finish, which is a first in the series
– Zelda is a normal girl, becomes a messenger of the Goddess partway through
– You find out how Zelda becomes a legend in the end
– Zelda is heavily featured even though she’s not a princess
– Mori couldn’t settle on an expression for Zelda in the final scene in Ocarina of Time
– He asked about adding another expression for eyes, but they said it was impossible due to hardware constraints
– Mori was frustrated to the very end and has wanted Zelda to have more vivid facial expressions ever since
– Fujibayashi purposely left some places blank while writing the synopsis so Mori could fill them in
– Zelda is slightly mischievous
– Zelda pushes Link off Skyloft to emphasize that personality (early scene in the game)
– Also done to show how they were up in the sky
– She did it three times because you can only repeat the same gag three times
– Mori put in Link’s reaction for this scene, but but when Miyamoto saw that he said, “Why is Link so surprised?” and “This is normal on Skyloft, right?”
– Mori thought, “Yes, I guess he’s right.”
– It’d be strange to stay calm when pushed off Skyloft, even if it’s happened before
– Mori thought about how he should make it look; Miyamoto thought of a reason for why Link would be surprised when pushed off
– The team fixed up the beginning numerous times
– The number of times Zelda pushes Link off of Skyloft was cut to two
– Miyamoto views the game from the perspective of a first-time player
– This was the first time EAD in Kyoto used an orchestra
– Twilight Princess had some orchestral music, though it was done by the Tokyo Software Development Department like Mario Galaxy
– Tokyo Software Development Department was put in charge of some music for cinematic scenes
– They also made arrangements relating to recording the orchestra
– Staff doubled due to the cinematic scenes
– Without the music in the cinematic scenes, they could have gone on with a smaller staff
– It was tough making music for all 120 minutes of cinematics
– Cinematics rapidly came together towards the end
– Aonuma wasn’t thinking about using an orchestra, but after someone wasked at a roundtable at E3 2010 if the music would have orchestrated music, Miyamoto said that they’d think about it since an orchestra suits the series
– When Aonuma returned to Japan, Wakai asked if the music would be orchestrated; Aonuma said he didn’t think so
– With Twilight Princess, they recorded one track with an orchestra and it was a lot of work
– Aonuma wasn’t sure they could do it for the whole game due to schedule constraints
– Miyamoto essentially demanded that they use an orchestra
– Aonuma: That’s right. That all connected to the orchestra this time. We had him be present for the actual recording, and he was saying in a heartfelt way, “I knew an orchestra was right for The Legend of Zelda!”
– This led to the Symphony Concert
– Aonuma was excited with the concert; he heard many people cry as they listened to music from the series
– Aonuma: I was listening from the side of the stage, but it touched a special place in my heart such as I’d never felt before. Just listening to the orchestra, it gradually came over me. Then all that I had experienced in the game welled up within me.
– Tears were brought to Kondo’s eyes and he apparently teared up during rehearsal
– Staff was in a tired spell in February; listening to a preview of the orchestral music boosted their motivation
– Characters sing, and they also sing during cinematic scenes
– All of the characters have their own thematic sound
– Sound changed along with the background music
– Fujibayashi’s first description of Ghirahim was that he is a narcissist with a personality like a snake
– Fujibayashi was surprised by the images the team made; he would slither out his tongue
– Team made him creepy right down to the details
– There are sometimes three options for the messages you can choose from when talking to characters
– The team paid attention to make the game playable even for five/nine-year-olds
