Aonuma/Hayashi/Koinuma talk Hyrule Warriors – original characters, scrapped dungeon with traditional Zelda-like puzzle-solving, more
In a recent interview with Zelda Dungeon, Hyrule Warriors supervisor Eiji Aonuma and producers Yosuke Hayashi and Hisashi Koinuma discussed more about the new Wii U Game. Topics include original characters for the roster, a scrapped dungeon with traditional Zelda-like puzzle-solving elements, and more.
As usual, you can find the comments below. Be sure to check out Zelda Dungeon’s full piece here as well.
On whether Hyrule Warriors has a direct connection with the story in other games in the series…
Yosuke Hayashi: Even more than a spin-off, some might consider Majora’s Mask kind of a spin-off of the series. Hyrule Warriors to us, it doesn’t belong as part of the Zelda Timeline that most speak about. We consider it a celebration of the history of Zelda. What we’re trying to achieve is giving players an experience that is something that they’ve always wanted to do with the Zelda characters that they’ve come to know and love, and within that, also include a story as well.
On any plans to introduce characters not a part of the Zelda world…
Hayashi: So in Hyrule Warriors, there is inevitably going to be a connection to the Legend of Zelda world. So because of that connection we have characters like Midna that appear, and Link, and Princess Zelda. As part of this world, there are also original characters that will be introduced soon. I’m hoping everybody is looking forward to seeing them.
On the difficulty in games…
Aonuma: Yes, and I mean that by not specifically making enemies harder or easier to take down. As developers we certainly have to think about context in which people are playing and the lifestyle that most people live. I think now it’s harder for people to carve out large chunks of time to sit and play a game for hour-long stretches. I think we always think about the playability of a game, and when I say playability, I don’t mean the difficulty level necessarily, but just the amount of time they invest in one sitting, or how easy it is to pick up and then put down and then continue later. I’m always thinking about, again not specifically about difficulty, but also about making it possible for players to continue playing, given the demands of their day.
Hisashi Koinuma: As a developer of the Dynasty Warriors games, we certainly do take into consideration the different lifestyles that people have. That’s why we include things like difficulty settings so that there are certainly options for people who want to really get into the game and deep dive, and spend significant periods of time playing, but we also need an entry point that is more accessible to casual users. So when we developed the game we certainly tried to put those in place.
On whether Tingle will be in the game…
Hayashia: I really like Tingle. I’ve played all of the Tingle games.
Aonuma: I heard a lot recently that American’s don’t like Tingle.
On any ideas that were abandoned…
Hayashi: Zelda has a long story, its got a long history. There is certainly many many things that we could have put into the game. As I’ve mentioned before, the team is full of Zelda fans that all have ideas of what should be included. I don’t have any specific instances, but I’m sure that among the team members there are great ideas that we couldn’t bring to fruition.
Aonuma: Early on, there was actually a version that had a dungeon in it that had more traditional Zelda like puzzle solving elements to it. After looking at that piece and that stage, and realizing that it was so far away from what a Dynasty Warriors game is, they decided to eliminate that.
On how the decision was reached to make Zelda playable…
Hayashi: One of the main basic concepts of the Dynasty Warriors series is that you have a large roster of players to play as. The same is true with Hyrule Warriors. Initially our thoughts were that Link and Zelda had to be playable characters. From there, again, Zelda has such a long history, there are so many vibrant characters in the Zelda universe that we could have chosen from. So we took ideas from the team and we listened to opinions of fans. We definitely did our research. Another thing that we thought about was is which player would be fun to play as. You probably saw on the show floor, the roster. There are many many open spaces. Those will be filled in and we’re hoping that you are looking forward to see them. I think there will be some in there that you will be surprised.
