Official game trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rPxiXXxftE

The art style looks great, but I'd like to know more about the story and gameplay. Of course I'm also really curious as to how this ties in to the next Nintendo console.

ps Chopping trees, shooting animals, starting wildfires... Link is evil

Holy shit, for once, I have scarcely anything bad to say.

Looks like the world will be pretty wide and open-ended, the soundtrack sounds great, and Link's wielding a number of tools that've never been in a Zelda game before. He's also wearing a proper suit of steel armor in a couple scenes!

Well, okay, Link's hanglider could stand to be larger, just looks like he's holding a small awning over himself!

Not that I'm actually going to buy it, or anything; after the Wii, kind of made a deal with myself that I'd never buy another Nintendo console ever again, but if Nintendo can make a comeback with the pending home console - e.g., better selection of games, I may have to reconsider.

The Wii, I must've only played about only 20 games for the thing, and only about 14 of them did I actually even bother to finish.

I haven't finished a single Zelda game since Majora's Mask, back in 2000, or whenever it was first released. I played the first hour or two of both Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, and I said, "No. Just, no."

That's what life in the wild is all about, living off the land!

http://time.com/4365659/zelda-breath-of-the-wild/

"you can venture into Breath of the Wild‘s more than 100 dungeons (called “shrines”) in whatever order you like"
nice move, Nintendo!

"All told, Nintendo says Breath of the Wild is 12 times the size of Twilight Princess"
Impressive...

"There’s even a temperature gauge you’ll need to keep tabs on, donning warmer clothes to survive colder environments and vice versa."
Finally... always thought it was weird when Link goes to freezing conditions and does not shiver.

"how players are going to be able to have the same experience on the Wii U and NX versions—a point confirmed by Aonuma during the presentation—if the NX is truly something “unique and different.” "
Indeed...

Overall, looks like the most promising game Nintendo has made in a long time.

http://i.imgur.com/AoPotNH.gif
Link land surfing

Very nice. I've seen enough. Time for media blackout.

excellent

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.ph … count=2210

Kinda do want this, but then I remembered that this is Nintendo and to get everything from the game, I need to buy bloody Amiibo's, so I think I'm gonna skip again. Even if this looks finally a Zelda game that we should have gotten after Majora's Mask. Game that changes how what we think of Zelda games and so on.

Perhaps Nintendo will get their heads from their arses and let us non-Amiibo-people buy the DLC just like that, and get access to the dungeons, and extra things like Twilight Princess wolf running around with ya. But we all know that won't happen.

Excellent point. On the one hand it's totally lame what Nintendo is doing, on the other hand if I were Nintendo I would probably do the same thing
I don't think not having a wolf running with you will ruin the game, but yeah, I want a pet wolf too! If Nintendo were smart, they would eventually release a Game of the Year edition with all the extras but no Amiibo necessary. I said *if*...

Good to hear others agree with me... kind of. I don't really think Link should be female, but as I said previously, it would be nice to have a female protagonist. Heck, it would be nice to be able to play *any* character other than the same Link over and over and over...

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-new- … ade-2016-6

"Nintendo told GameSpot earlier this week that players will not be able to play as a woman in this game."

Nintendo already suckered me into buying the Twilight Princess/Amibo bundle, so bring on the pet wolf.  I can't imagine the Wii U version will be as good as the NX one though, but I'm going to hold my purchase until I see some comparisons between them.

Am I being shallow if I said that this game, while it may be impressing everyone, is still running on the damn Wind Waker engine from 2002/2003? Enough of this cartoony, flashy Zelda. So many fans have been calling for a top-down or OOT style experience again on a console that can finally do the graphics right. Sad because this style of play recaptures what made the original Hyrule Fantasy and established The Zelda standard.

Yeah, I'd like to see female main char, or even female version of Link, as I don't think the canon prophecies instantly say that Link's incarnations are always male.

I can't think of a reason why Link couldn't be female given the setup. I'd also like it for variety. This game looks totally gorgeous. But I didn't find myself itching to play it while watching. I'm not sold yet but that's probably because it looks like the world is still waiting to be filled. And no doubt it will be by the time it gets released.

Well, I say I'm not sold but who am I kidding? I'll buy it regardless. But yeah, looks really pretty.

I think many of us are this way. Honestly, it's been so long since I've been excited about a game developed by Nintendo (Fire Emblem doesn't count, since it was developed by Intelligent Systems
I'm guessing most of us that have loved Zelda will purchase this, although I too want to know the differences between the Wii U and NX. Hate to say this, but so few games for the Wii U, I don't want to purchase a system just to play one game.

I'm not so sure about the whole 100 dungeons and any order thing. Even at the small number in Link Between Worlds it showed just how boring the dungeon design was without any theming around tools. I'm afraid of small boring repeated caves with just rupees at the deepest level just to pad out the world map. Kinda like the Pirate Strongholds in Wind Waker.

Part of me is just assuming that I will play this on the NX (not that I don't have a Wii U - I do, and I love it and wouldn't trade it for any number of the majority type of games I saw at E3 this year on the popular platforms).  THAT SAID, I'm a little leery still of what the NX actually IS.  They keep indicating it's something completely new, and with the way tech is going I'm a bit wary of that.  What if it's very close in power level to a Wii U but a portable/console crossover... STREAMING box?  If it's a choice between a physical copy of the game and not actually owning it?  Definitely grabbing the Wii U version.  NX is just such an unknown at this point.  Not really sure what to think about it at all.

That said, if it IS just a new, more powerful console, I'm sure I'll be getting that version of the game.  If nothing for the Wii U interests you, I don't see any reason not to just plan on getting that version too.

Oh, and for the record I'm pulling for the rumored shared-OS-two-pieces-of-hardware with shared games possibility for the NX.  Especially if they go with "cartridges" (flash cards?) again that work between both.  Unpopular opinion, but I LOVE my Vita/Vita TV combo for the games that I play on it.  At home?  Play on the TV.  On the go?  Pull the cart out and play in the waiting room waiting for an oil change.  Everyone craps all over the Vita TV, but I really like the concept and would love it if Nintendo did something similar.   Full disclosure: I also love the Turbo Grafx 16/Turbo Express and GBA/Gamecube Adapter combos which were also not the biggest successes.

No offense to anyone here, but I'm getting tired of gender politics in video games. I'll bet everyone else is tired of it to, because you probably don't want to have this discussion!

Yeah, it'd be cool if you had a CHOICE of male versus female characters - being able to choose between a male or female character, in, say, Legend of Mana didn't really add or subtract anything from the game, it was a purely aesthetic thing,

but I'm getting tired of male characters being edged out for female characters to appease the "You Go Girl!" demographic.

Also: Female characters being hyper-competent and male characters being whiny, incompetent, useless, cowardly sods.

The argument I keep hearing is that women and girls deserve to have strong characters to look up to, too; but if you're an adult, isn't it rather...I don't know...immature to treat a fictional character as a role model? And if it's not, well, where the hell are the characters I'm supposed to look up to, if all the male characters are getting edged out, or being treated like idiots?

I think the reason you should be able to play as different characters (male and female) is not because that character should be a "role model" but because it adds new dimensions. You're right, in some games such as Dark Souls it makes no difference at all if you're male or female. In other games, games where characters have storylines, it can make a huge difference. You don't think it's a bit stale playing as Link, essentially the same character, for over 10 games straight? I do. For example, in Twilight Princess, I cared for Midna. I wanted to destroy Zant. Those two characters had gravitas. Link... who cares? Now it was great playing as a wolf, but Link himself? I honestly didn't care if he died or not. Strange as it may sound, if Link had ended up sacrificing himself for all of Hyrule or whatever, I would have been "OK, fine, whatever. So, what's Midna doing now?" If you want to look at a game that does a superb job of whether you play as a male or female, look at Dragon Age and Mass Effect. In both of those games, the overall story is the same, but there are nice changes that you will find playing as male or female. By the way, this makes the games far more replayable. As for all "male characters getting edged out" I really don't know where you get that from. The vast majority of games still have male leads. What characters would you say are "being treated like idiots"?

All other turmoil aside, this Breath of the Wild trailer somehow reminds me of Xenoblade.

For the record, I don't have any problem playing as a female character, so long as it's not part of some socio-political agenda (feminism or other forms of political correctness); too bad with indie games, it often is. I just hate how pandery that stuff gets.

That said, kind of skeeved out that I'm shoehorned into a female protagonist role for Hatoful Boyfriend. I thought I was the one who was supposed to be the Hatoful Boyfriend?

Link has always been meant to be a representation of the player themselves; that's why he was designed to look somewhat androgynous; he's still a boy, so he can still appeal to male players, but he's somewhat androgynous, so he can appeal to female players. After all, would it really be the Legend of Zelda anymore, if you all of a sudden played as a character who was incredibly different from Link? Then again, do I really care what the guy looks or sounds like, so long as the game is fun?

Zelda's not as stale as Mario is.

If you want a Zelda game with a female, non-white protagonist, you can always learn how to code, and make a game yourself.

Speaking about coding, programming, and game development, I'm actually tossing around a couple (2) game ideas myself (you'll learn what they are if they actually see fruition), but I'm afraid I'm gonna get run into the ground for not being politically correct enough, and not catering to an SJW agenda. And what I mean by that is, I don't really feel like making a character editor part of the game; protagonist is probably gonna be white, male, and straight, because guess what I am? (Hint: Those 3 words that precede "Because.")

Indeed, but like with the aforementioned Legend of Mana, you have the CHOICE to be one or the other.

That's gonna be it's own topic, in and of itself. Really don't wanna derail THIS topic any more than it has been.

P.S. If you want to play a Legend of Zelda-like game with a "Female Link," try Ittle Dew: https://www.gog.com/game/ittle_dew

Dew looks more like a surfer-bro than a female, but whatever. #CANON FEMALE PROTAGONIST LOLZOMG. Also, the fairy character reminds me of Ratbert from the old Dilbert comic strips.

It's also on sale, FTC (for the cheaps).

If you want to see another top-down Zelda style game that looks like it would've been at home on the GBA, let me recommend Anodyne: https://www.gog.com/game/anodyne (Also on sale); played and finished this game sometime this Winter, clocked about 5.5 hours, and then clocked another 6 hours in the post-game. Loved every friggin' minute of it! The protagonist is male, though; I swear, those heteronormative cis-gendered pigs just think everything has to be about THEM, don't they?!

Japanese reactions: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.ph … stcount=39

It's interesting no one is comparing the game to GTA3 at all. It's nice to see grass lighting on fire like in Far Cry 2 but I want to see more destruction, especially by enemies. I want to see towns or tree forts or whatever large built structures obliterated by laser beams or pure physicality in real-time. I hope the guardians can become a serious stalker enemy like cops in GTA3 or rebel fighters in humvees in Far Cry 2.

The only thing implemented that I don't like is the infinite bombs. Maybe that is only for the demo?

Good recap of game: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.ph … ostcount=1

Based on one of the longer (30 minutes) demo videos I saw, it seems like they fully intend the bombs to be infinite (with a charge time between bombs).

Breath of the Wild looks good, but not THAT good

Nope, you play as the girl, as in millions of other Japanese dating games. It's kind of odd that Japan, of all countries, is the most forward-thinking when it comes to this kind of stuff.

I'm surprised they kept the title untouched in English though, because it doesn't work at all.
"Hato" is Japanese for pigeon, and "hatoful" is a play on words on "heartful" which is a Japanese English word meaning something like "heartwarming".
It's obvious from the Japanese title that the boyfriend is not the protagonist, but I don't blame you for not being able to infer that from the English title.

Totally missing the point again, as usual. Well done.

Winter Wolves is an indie studio based in Italy that makes awesome dating games/graphic novels.  Sometimes male protagonist, sometimes female, sometimes you choose, sometimes both.

http://www.winterwolves.com/

The NX version of the game may end up looking significantly better than the WiiU version.  Unless I'm mistaken, the only footage we've seen is on the current generation Nintendo console.

I made a thread for all the sex representation in games - http://soundtrackcentral.com/forums/vie … 974#p83974

Am I just being shallow then? No one is annoyed that the game still look/runs/ like Wind Waker?

Haven't fans been longing for an OOT/Spaceworld 2000 demo since those days?!

You're entitled to your own opinions of course. Personally, I think the game looks great! I really enjoyed Wind Waker, and this Breath doesn't look the same in my eyes.

It's undeniable that Nintendo has been using the backbone of Wind Waker onto every future Zelda game since Wind Waker. I don't know, this just seems extremely lazy to me not to build from the ground up after 15 years of using the same thing and truly make it look like a fresh new Zelda. Every Zelda after WW has had such a cartoony feel.

Do you have evidence for this, or are you merely making things up? If this is true, please provide a link (no pun intended, but I'll take it

If I was a gaming company WHY would I build from the ground up every single time?? Seems like a waste of time and money to me. Ultimately you may simply not like the art style, but I'm hopeful that Breath will be the Zelda game that Nintendo has always envisioned. Heck, I'm old enough to remember playing the original Zelda, and this is the first Zelda game that really looks like it might capture that same magic. We'll wait and see...

While it clearly uses a cel shaded look, it's definitely more advanced that Wind Waker's and the gameplay looks substantially evolved as well.  That said, I loved the look of Wind Waker and think that it has aged far better than Twilight Princess.  Breath of the Wild has a certain otherworldly quality to it as if a Ghibli film and a Fumito Ueda game had a baby.  And it's gorgeous.

Come on, man. Just look at how this game moves. The combat and the way the enemies scamper away. You can at least date it back to TP if you can't already see this. That's evidence enough. If you can't make that observation, I can't help you. Either way, OOT looked more realistic but I don't think Miyamoto & Co. wants to do anymore even remote gritty realism fans were obsessed with during OOT and the Spaceworld 2000 demo era. Oh well.

Sorry, but "just looking" at it is really not "evidence enough" to claim that "It's undeniable that Nintendo has been using the backbone of Wind Waker onto every future Zelda game". In fact, if I had to take bets, I would bet you are wrong. Still, you're certainly entitled to not like the art style of the game. I think you're in the minority here, but nothing wrong with that.

Then everybody's drinking the red potion. Again, I love the ideas behind this game but this game has a tired backbone of a toon Link engine. Go watch some footage of older games since you're just blind to it. If you don't care simply say so but this game moves like every console Zelda game since Wind Waker and I really don't think footage of WW, TP and SS would deny this game looks and feels the same outside of the open world created for it.

Here's Aonuma saying they used Wind Waker as a heavy influence. WW was already reused for TP but they made the game look dark and so many thought the game was realistic looking though the physics and realism were far better on the N64 for OOT and MM.

http://www.gamnesia.com/news/aonuma-say … sion-of-th

Wait, are talking GAME ENGINE or art direction?  Because those two things are not the same.  From all the interviews I've read, Twilight Princess runs on the same ENGINE as Wind Waker without a cel shaded coat of paint over the top of it.  While I assume that Skyward Sword has some of its roots in the same engine, Link's actual control and the way the world moves and you interact with it feels different there than it did in Wind Waker.  All of the videos I've seen from this game look to be a step even farther away from the Gamecube titles (though technically yes, they might still be using the same code as a framework deep down underneath somewhere in the same way that Ocarina of Time was technically running on the same engine as Super Mario 64).

Nintendo comparing Breath with the original

https://topics.nintendo.co.jp/c/article … 45a6d.html

I think Breath may be breathtaking (see what I did there but for me, I don't think any game will ever truly recapture the magic of the original Zelda. It was after all the original Zelda! Although honestly, this comes close (I think I've mentioned this before): http://www.shopflashbackgames.com/legen … p-185.html

These will probably be fighting words, but I honestly don't think the original Zelda has held up unless you played it back in the day. I tired playing it for the first time a few years ago and all I wanted to do what was Link to the Past instead since it was the first Zelda I played. Often times nostalgia makes one overlook/influences your choices an awful lot and sometimes it doesn't. For example the original Metroid was pretty groundbreaking and is still important but I can easily admit it's aged kind of poorly despite loving the franchise.

However, by the same token, I do the same thing with the original Tomb Raider. I think the original PS1 Tomb Raider is still perfect but when I talked to a younger co-worker he had a lot of issues with it (controls, etc.) compared to the PS2 remake, which I thought was awful and nitpicked to death,

Anyway, sry. I'm not anything particularly original.

I actually disagree, I think the original Zelda is one of the least outdated games on the NES. Sure it has all the vague hints and things, but it controls well, and doesn't feel limited like a lot of NES games do.