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[Green Mamba]

This is in line with most Zeldas except the first. In fact games like SS offer more freedom than MM or OoT, which is probably the most "linear" of them all. The second act of the game usually opens up to an (almost) non linear path. I think people overlooked that in SS because the game is the first to have 3 acts (as far as I remember). I can't recall the DS games that much though.

Basically, I think calling the games "linear" is not deserved, and it seems the very first truly non-linear Zelda, since Zelda NES, is this new game.

SS's third act is nonlinear in the traditional sense, but it is over much quicker than the first two acts and does not represent as major of a section of the game.

Speaking purely in dungeon order (which is where the discussion began and where most of a Zelda game's meat is), ALBW is the first Zelda since OOT that is built to allow you to complete dungeons in more than one order (and the first since MM that allowed you period). The dungeons of TWW, TMC, TP, PH, ST, and SS all have to be completed in the game's decided order, second act or not.

Usually, with the second act, it begins akin to OOT and ALttP's, in the sense that they say "you have to complete a bunch of dungeons now" and then they list where they all are, but in truth, you have to complete them in a certain order. In this sense (and the sense that Shikata was speaking), the Zeldas absolutely have become more linear than they used to be, ALBW now notwithstanding.

 

[drspeedy]

You forgot one:

 

[Effect]

The thought of Nintendo taking people off a Zelda game to work on Nintendo Land makes my stomach turn.

Nintendo Land and the Zelda game in Nintendo Land is a lot of fun though.

 

[Palette Swap]

SS's third act is nonlinear in the traditional sense, but it is over much quicker than the first two acts and does not represent as major of a section of the game.

Speaking purely in dungeon order (which is where the discussion began and where most of a Zelda game's meat is), ALBW is the first Zelda since OOT that is built to allow you to complete dungeons in more than one order (and the first since MM that allowed you period). The dungeons of TWW, TMC, TP, PH, ST, and SS all have to be completed in the game's decided order, second act or not.

Usually, with the second act, it begins akin to OOT and ALttP's, in the sense that they say "you have to complete a bunch of dungeons now" and then they list where they all are, but in truth, you have to complete them in a certain order. In this sense (and the sense that Shikata was speaking), the Zeldas absolutely have become more linear than they used to be, ALBW now notwithstanding.

While I absolutely agree with your overall point and find LTTP has a visionary open world charm most of its successors lacked, your statement is not completely accurate in the sense that in the second part LTTP actually numbers the dungeons.

I started replaying LTTP Sunday afternoon and stopped at the first dark world dungeon. It was the only dungeon on the map and had a number next to it.

Sorry for the nitpicking though. What I took away from that afternoon was that LTTP is still incredibly modern and that I definitely didn't get that feeling of openness in recent entries. I distinctly remember buying it day one 20 years ago and being totally overwhelmed by the scope and possibilities.

That's why I'm very excited about ALBW (receiving it tomorrow).

 

[Green Mamba]

While I absolutely agree with your overall point and find LTTP has a visionary open world charm most of its successors lacked, your statement is not completely accurate in the sense that in the second part LTTP actually numbers the dungeons.

I started replaying LTTP Sunday afternoon and stopped at the first dark world dungeon. It was the only dungeon on the map and had a number next to it.

Sorry for the nitpicking though. What I took away from that afternoon was that LTTP is still incredibly modern and that I definitely didn't get that feeling of openness in recent entries. I distinctly remember buying it day one 20 years ago and being totally overwhelmed by the scope and possibilities.

That's why I'm very excited about ALBW (receiving it tomorrow).

I mentioned this in my previous post--the first Dark World dungeon has to be done first, but after completing it, all six of the rest are marked on your map and you are roughly allowed to do them in nearly any order you choose.

 

[Timeaisis]

While I absolutely agree with your overall point and find LTTP has a visionary open world charm most of its successors lacked, your statement is not completely accurate in the sense that in the second part LTTP actually numbers the dungeons.

I started replaying LTTP Sunday afternoon and stopped at the first dark world dungeon. It was the only dungeon on the map and had a number next to it.

Sorry for the nitpicking though. What I took away from that afternoon was that LTTP is still incredibly modern and that I definitely didn't get that feeling of openness in recent entries. I distinctly remember buying it day one 20 years ago and being totally overwhelmed by the scope and possibilities.

That's why I'm very excited about ALBW (receiving it tomorrow).

I think people recall the open-ness of LTTP because of the fact that literally the entire map is open from the beginning of the game. While I believe a few Dark World dungeons are do-able in different orders, you really have to know where to look and get the right items in order to open them up -- and make effort to do so. The "non-linearity" of LTTP that people recall, in my opinion, is just due to the fact that the possibilities of where to go at any given time (even the beginning of the game) are pretty overwhelming, which contrasts with more recent entries -- WW doesn't allow any directional sailing until you get to

Spoiler

Outset

-- SS obviously has the hub structure, etc.

 

[Tiktaalik]

This interview made me realize that I don't actually really get the name "Link to the Past" What is that a reference to? "A Link Between Words" is a more apt name for the first game too. The Japanese name, "Triforce of the Gods" also makes more sense.

 

[Gleethor]

This interview made me realize that I don't actually really get the name "Link to the Past" What is that a reference to? "A Link Between Words" is a more apt name for the first game too. The Japanese name, "Triforce of the Gods" also makes more sense.

Pretty sure it's a reference to ALttP taking place prior to the original LoZ.

 

[Albo]

A nintendo site that go's posted a breakdown if anyone's interested

- development was rough, as the dev team was split to work on Wii U projects
- Miyamoto is very impressed with the game, telling Iwata that 'This Zelda game is good!'
- Aonuma mentioned that Miyamoto never told the dev team those comments!
- the project first was discussed after completion of Spirit Tracks
- there were 3 people on the dev team for a whole year
- this is when the idea for the wall-merge mechanic came up
- the original idea wasn't to follow A Link to the Past
- Miyamoto wasn't keen on the game idea at first
- Miyamoto said it felt like an idea that was 20 years old, but not as a compliment
- Shikata came up with the wall-merge idea
- Shikata was extremely determined to include this idea in the game
- a prototype for the idea was thrown together in just one day
- the prototype paved the way for all sorts of unique gameplay/puzzle ideas
- as already discussed, the prototype used an overhead angle view and Spirit Tracks' Link
- the team then disbanded to work on Wii U games, with Shikata fearing the project would never see the light of day
- the departing dev team members left notes to tell other devs how great the idea was
- Aonuma wanted to release a new 3DS Zelda by 2013's end to make fans happy
- Aonuma quietly revived work on A Link Between Worlds without the core dev team
- Nov. 2011 is when development really started, which was just after Skyward Sword's dev came to an end
- Tominaga put together some ideas for a dungeon with the wall mechanic
- he was so confident in the idea that he told Miyamoto he could make 50 more dungeons that used the mechanic
- Miyamoto wasn't impressed again, but finally offered a hint to base the game off of A Link to the Past
- Aonuma also had the same suggestion
- the idea to switch the camera to a side-view from the overhead view when in wall-merge mode came earlier in development
- the team was skeptical of taking a remake approach with A Link to the Past
- Aonuma decided to show what he meant by doing a prototype in 3 days
- Miyamoto saw all these ideas together and finally gave the game the go-ahead
- the top-down view took a lot of trial and eror
- the dev team faked the look by angling everything in the game to make it look intereting from above
- Mouri wanted to do the game in 60fps and insisted on it
- they decided at the true start of the project to do 60fps
- the team believes this makes for much smoother music
- the item touch screen management was something Aonuma wanted to do with Ocarina of Time 3D
- the fact that that game was 30FPS meant they couldn't implement that idea
- the team used ideas of height to factor in 3D visuals
- development of the Tower of Hera took a long time
- the team wanted to really show off the 3D visuals with this dungeon
- the dev team felt the idea of hitting springs with hammers to launch up floors in the dungeon was really something special
- the design of dungeons also allowed for more activity to take place outside dungeon walls
- Iwata was originally unsure of the idea, but was convinced when he saw the E3 demo
- the topic of how Link looked when merged with walls was a big topic of discussion
- the team wanted to express that Link was being painted on walls, rather than entering them
- this merging idea gave birth to Yuga, who was used as an explanation as to how Link could accomplish this
- Takahashi-san drew an avant-garde Link at first
- this idea was tossed aside when the team took a more mural approach
- Link could originally jump when wall-merged, but the team took that out to keep from confusing gamers
- There was talk of naming the game The New Legend of Zelda
- the team was afraid that the name would have people thinking the game was a remake
- a game concept was rethinking Zelda conventions, but it wasn't always like that
- Shikata hears from friends that play Zelda and get stuck, which he feels is a big problem for the series
- Shikata worried about allowing players to tackle dungeons in any order
- this also caused problems during development
- talk first went to discussing the ability to buy all sorts of items at the shop
- Aonuma says a personal hobby lead to the rental/purchase system
- the team wanted players to rent items cheap, but want to keep collecting rupees to buy items outright
- the team mulled over ideas for how rentals should work, even thinking that items might have to be returned the next day in-game
- the system they came up with adds tension, because you don't want to lose your rental items when fighting
- the team also wanted to make it very easy for players to get around the game world, which lead to warps/portals
- the team worked very hard on implementing the contrasting worlds with this game
- you can use play coins to pay a ghost for in-game hints
- the team really hopes new players come in with the series' changes
- some younger devs were very taken aback by changes this game made to the Zelda series, wondering if Nintendo could actually get away with these ideas
- there are baseball and cucco mini-games
- the cucco mini-game is so tough in advanced mode that no one in the Mario Club test team could beat it

 

[Coolwhip]

"As soon as we started the presentation, I could clearly see Miyamoto-san's facial expression rapidly darkening. I thought, "This is bad..." And then at the end he said, "This sounds like an idea that's 20 years old," that was the killing blow. We were down on the floor."

Haha, damn. Miyamoto sounds like a boss.

 

[Coolwhip]

That was a great read. I never realised that there were so many hurdles and struggles during the development of Zelda games. It must be a challenging job, especially with overlord Miyamoto striking fear into people.

 

[mcw]

I love these features.

Maomo: I'm Maomo. I was the planner on this game.
Iwata: So, you were the planner? Was it hard planning things?
Maomo: Yes, it was very hard! (laughs)
Shibata: Miyamoto-san would come by our office every day and spit on us! (laughs)
Maomo: Yes, Miyamoto-san was very harsh sometimes. (laughs)
Shibata: When I first presented the idea for the game, Miyamoto-san listened to my pitch, then handed me a sword and told me that I should cut off my own head.
Maomo: Oh, yes, I remember that! (laughs)
Iwata: Wow, that does sound something Miyamoto would say! Did you take his advice?
Shibata: Yes, I cut off my head that evening. (laughs)

 

[Tom_Cody]

Shikata Another one is a minigame with cuccos. It's easy at first, but the difficulty gradually increases. I couldn't clear the highest level. I don't think anyone on the staff did. I suppose after release only a few people in the world will...
Iwata You made it that challenging?!
Mouri I asked Mario Club, and no one could clear the hardest level

Holy shit, Mario Club could not clear the hardest level? This must be impossible then.

Just leaving this here for anyone who checks this thread in the future. Here is an explaination of the final cucco challenge:

http://touriantourist.blogspot.de/2013/12/someone-beat-99999-seconds-in-cucco-run.html