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Eiji Aonouma Interview

via Zelda Domain:

When you think of Zelda normally you think Myiamoto. Well, Aonouma and Kondo have played big roles. Before there speeches on thursday Game Daily had a chance to sit down and talk with them.

What will you be talking about during the Zelda: Twilight Princess port-mort?I plan on speaking to the audience about how developing Twilight Princess will affect how I work on future Zelda titles.I plan on speaking to the audience about how developing Twilight Princess will affect how I work on future Zelda titles.I plan on speaking to the audience about how developing Twilight Princess will affect how I work on future Zelda titles.I plan on speaking to the audience about how developing Twilight Princess will affect how I work on future Zelda titles.What would you say those effects would be?

I plan on speaking to the audience about how developing Twilight Princess will affect how I work on future Zelda titles.When developing for Wii because it was a new hardware system … there were various things we needed to take into consideration, and we’ll speak more specifically about that tomorrow.

[Laughs] I guess we’ll have to attend your session.Artists are never happy with their work. Musicians always want to go back and change parts of recorded songs, writers always want to go back and change their work — Is there anything in Twilight Princess you want to go back and change?Yes, you’re exactly right. It’s true because with Twilight Princess, we were developing a version for Gamecube and for Wii, I left feeling I could have done more for both of the projects. You have two different hardware systems — I could have customized them to suit either one of them better. There just wasn’t time for that.Yes, you’re exactly right. It’s true because with Twilight Princess, we were developing a version for Gamecube and for Wii, I left feeling I could have done more for both of the projects. You have two different hardware systems — I could have customized them to suit either one of them better. There just wasn’t time for that.What would you have done differently for the Wii version of Twilight Princess?Yes, you’re exactly right. It’s true because with Twilight Princess, we were developing a version for Gamecube and for Wii, I left feeling I could have done more for both of the projects. You have two different hardware systems — I could have customized them to suit either one of them better. There just wasn’t time for that.One example would be with regard to the pointer. We spend a lot of time trying to perfect that and how it worked in the game and that was about all the time we had to do — if we had a longer deadline we probably would have more mini-games that took advantage of that feature.

Yes, you’re exactly right. It’s true because with Twilight Princess, we were developing a version for Gamecube and for Wii, I left feeling I could have done more for both of the projects. You have two different hardware systems — I could have customized them to suit either one of them better. There just wasn’t time for that.One example would be with regard to the pointer. We spend a lot of time trying to perfect that and how it worked in the game and that was about all the time we had to do — if we had a longer deadline we probably would have more mini-games that took advantage of that feature.Is the Wii revolutionizing gaming?

Oh definitely, every time I work on a game I feel like I’m having a conversation with the Wii … it felt like the hardware was really speaking to me and all of its many features. So, it’s definitely revolutionizing gaming.

That sounds like a sculptor, they say that before they sculpt a piece of wood, the wood tells them what form to take. Do you see it like that?

If you put it that way I sound like a real artist. The more I develop for the Wii, the more the possibilities became clear to me. So in that sense, maybe …

What was your real-world inspiration behind Twilight Princess? Any forms of entertainment? Or is it more about staying true to the Zelda legend?

It’s not as though a movie or specific scene from a movie influenced me … it may have, subconsciously. It’s just the core essence of Link that continues to inspire me.

Most recognize certain game characters, even if they’ve never played games. Generally that’s Mario, Master Chief and Link. Why does Link and the Zelda games have such a broad appeal?

Master Chief?

From Halo.

Ah, Halo.

I feel that Zelda appeals on so many levels, and it has that essence from when Miyamoto-san created it, way back in the day. Um, and Miyamoto-san’s always speaking about entertainment, games aren’t just about playing, it’s more about feeling and that’s why Zelda has the appeal it does.

Some people say Zelda just rehashes the same story over and over again. Why is that? Or do you even agree with that?

Our main emphasis in creating a Zelda game isn’t the story, it’s the experience. It’s kind of a tool in which the player experiences the environment … so I don’t know if I really believe that the story is really the same, but for us the story isn’t the most important part of the game.

I have this friend who always runs around yelling, “I love Link!” and we always laugh about it. But she was wondering why we have this legendary character, Link, but then you can rename him whatever you want — which seems a little … random. Why not just let Link, be Link?

The playable character of Link … that’s actually why we decided to name him Link because he he links the player to the game.

There’s always the argument between which is better — cartoony Link or the more realistic Link? Who wins?

That’s a tough question. When I look at the toon-shaded Link, I look at him as my son. When I see the more realistic Link — that’s who I want to be, that’s the man I want to be.

How did the whole darker, more realistic Link work in Twilight Princess. Did it come off like you wanted? Would you do it again?

When we were trying to come up with this kinda cool Link — it went through several iterations — it’s a combination of Miyamoto-san’s Link, the staff’s version of Link and my vision of a cool link. I think they were able to produce a very effective visual representation of this cool Link. So, moving forward they would like to use it.

So speaking of that — what’s next for Link?

We introduced the cool Link in Twilight Princess and that story ended but there are other features of his character that we’d like to focus in on … so you can look forward to something…

What, like a Midna spin-off?

[Laughs] Midna’s fate revealed itself in the Twilight Princess, so I guess that will be up to your imagination. In Twilight Princess, the cool Link — you know, the one in the green, is one that I’m very fond of, but I was really really happy with the cowboy Link … so maybe he can do something with that…

I hear you’re a big cooking aficionado — when will we see the cooking game?

I don’t know about a game specifically about cooking because, you know, I’ve still got Zelda on my plate, so I’ve actually thought about it before — adding a cooking element to Zelda. So that’d be a definite possibility.

 Source: GameDaily

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