Over here, reader! There is a 30 minute interview with Aonuma. Let’s hear what he has to say!
And to think that what was originally A Link to the Past can now be created on a PC so easily by one person speaks to how far we’ve come.
And to think that if we had all these monkeys in a room typing furiously that we would eventually get the works of Shakespeare. Thanks to the Internet, we know this not to be true.
And what of paper and pencil? Anyone can draw like Leonardo. Or can they?
Aonuma is so full of it. ANYONE could make a video game back in the 80s and early 90s. It is production values that made game making away from a one person activity.
I don’t think Aonuma knows much about game making at all. Even with LTTP, it is clear there is talent involved. Anyone can make a LTTP game, but not everyone has the talent to do so.
With Nintendo focusing on the hardware/software integration, they are abandoning quality and talent in their games. Their games have been so terrible since they started going hardware/software integration.
With A Link to the Past, the sense of dimension that we gave in that game was kind of faked, because we did it through applying shading and things like that, so there wasn’t actual height, it was simulated height. But now we have the ability – especially as we create more and more 3D Zelda games, we have more skill, we also have more flexibility with the hardware – to give it actual dimension.
Actual dimension? This guy is nuts. Even the 3d games use simulated dimension unless someone’s TV actually extended outward into the wall. All video games are simulated.
There is NO SUCH THING as ‘fake 3d’ or ‘real 3d’ in the context of the gamer. Even the ‘real 3d’ is just as fake as the ‘fake 3d’.
You’re using a 2 dimensional screen. Everything coming out of it will be ‘fake 3d’. Dammit. This interview has just started, and Aonuma has already pissed me off.
Jason: That’s awesome. Just on a personal note, I know from running the Zelda Universe message boards that The Wind Waker gets a lot of criticism. I personally believe that it is the most beautiful Zelda game, and it’s the reason why I’m sitting in this room. It’s my personal favorite. It got me into the series. I just wanted to tell you that I think it was a fantastic decision. It’s a great design.
Aonuma: Thank you. [laughs]
The interviewer admits that Wii U users don’t like the Wind Waker either. Instead of confronting Aonuma with this, the interviewer sides AGAINST the gamers.
I think the project that reflects our reaction to fan opinion is probably Twilight Princess. The incentive for us to create that different version of the Zelda universe was certainly as a result of The Wind Waker criticism that we received. Fans were saying that it wasn’t what they were looking for, it wasn’t what they were hoping for, so that’s why we went with this different graphic presentation. So I think that’s probably the one, the biggest change that we made.
I still remember eight years ago at E3 when we ran that first video of Twilight Princess. It was received very well; there was a standing ovation! So I still remember that moment very well.
So why not continue the art style or direction that people were excited about?
This question is not asked. The interview just goes on as if people’s excitement doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is whether or not Aonuma is excited.
I certainly have the fans in mind when I’m creating something, and I want to create something that will make them happy, but it’s my creative responsibility to also give them something they didn’t know they wanted.
‘They didn’t know they wanted’ is code language for ‘doing whatever the hell I want’. Seriously.
If I just took the opinions of fans, I’m just gathering information, I’m not creating my own ideas.
When has Aonuma ever created his own idea? Has the man ever had a creative moment in his life? He steals trains from a book he read from his son, he borrows everything in Zelda from Ocarina of Time or a prior title, or he looks for other games to copy like Skyrim. This is just code language for ‘FU players, I make Zelda games for myself and not for you.’
But even more than that I really value the emotional experience that people have, and as a creator it’s very important for me to leave an impression, and I’d like to hear what those impressions are.
But there is no emotional experience. I fall asleep playing Aonuma Zelda. The only emotional experience I get is why did I pay $50 for game where I do nothing but solve puzzles and listen to rambling from terribly designed NPCs?
So when I choose not to buy the game, then Aonuma chooses not to listen to anything because I am not having an ’emotional experience’ by choosing to not buy the game.
See how this all works to Aonuma (and Nintendo) giving themselves license to do whatever they want?
What DOES make Nintendo not design a game for themselves? I used to think sales, but Nintendo doesn’t seem to care about poor sales anymore.
I think you probably know this one – Robin Williams. He was such a huge fan he named his daughter Zelda. So, when we did the recording for the commercial, I met him and he is in fact a huge Zelda fan, and I was very flattered and very proud.
You know Zelda is terrible when it has fans like Robin Williams. Seriously. Aonuma is out of the loop if he thinks this puts Zelda in a positive light. It doesn’t.
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