Aonuma once again says new Zelda is in the works, gameplay more important than story

Fans have started to translate the many, many pages of Hyrule Historia. There are two specific, noteworthy excerpts at the end of the book.

First, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma commented on the completion of Skyward Sword’s development and how Nintendo is receiving feedback from players. They’ll be using this as “energy for the next voyage.”

Aonuma then stated that “to tell the truth, we’ve already set sail in a new voyage.” He could be referring to the new Zelda project that is in development for the 3DS.

“The long sailing time of creating Skyward Sword, a game to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Zelda series, has just come to an end. The voices of those who’ve played it from around the world reach us. We hear their admiration comments, and their criticism too. All those voices become energy for the next voyage. Well, to tell the truth, we’ve already set sail in a new voyage.”

Aonuma also reminded fans that Nintendo will always be more concerned with creating engaging gameplay for Zelda titles rather than focusing on the story elements.

“Chapter 2, ‘The Full History of Hyrule,’ arranges the series in chronological order so it’s easier to understand, but from the very beginning, Zelda games have been developed with the top priority of focusing on the game mechanics rather than the story. For example, in Ocarina of Time, the first installment of the series I was involved in, the main theme was how to create a game with pleasant controls in a 3D world. Or in the DS game, Phantom Hourglass, the focus was having comfortable stylus controls. Finally, in the most recent game, Skyward Sword, we focused on an easy way to swing the sword using the Wii motion plus.”