Eiji Aonuma Says Zelda Will Have A Wide Range Of Emotions In Breath of the Wild

This month, Game Informer has featured a large article on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In the article, producer Eiji Aonuma has shared some commentary on various aspects of the game. [Thanks, NintendoEverything.]

First off, Aonuma confirmed that Breath of the Wild does in fact take place after Ocarina of Time in the series’ chronology, and also gave a little insight as to how the team approached the game’s story:

“Because we wanted to redefine the whole process, I didn’t want to be chained up by the idea that we had to think about the past titles. But then again, I know there are a lot of fans who are interested, and who are knowledgeable in the Zelda franchise and the history. So by adding little elements here and there, we wanted to give the fans the opportunity to say, ‘Oh, I saw this. Maybe this is how it expands the story,’ or give little hints here and there.”

Next, Aonuma spoke a little about Zelda’s character in Breath of the Wild, saying that she will have the ability of express a wide range of emotion.

“I don’t want to get too deep into it, but I do want you to know that Zelda does have a lot of emotions and expressions, and for the trailer we chose one that was very extreme. Once you start playing Breath of the Wild, I want you to explore and see these different sides of Zelda, different emotions that she evokes.”

Lastly, Aonuma hinted at an element of Breath of the Wild’s storyline that he was able to implement 20 years after first coming up with the idea. The Zelda producer didn’t go into much detail, but he did say it would help make the game’s story more cohesive.

“In order to create more of a cohesive storyline, we added this element in there that will make it a bit more streamlined for every player. This is something I can’t reveal right now, but when you play you will find out. This idea that I am talking about is actually something I came up with when I first started developing the games. I have been harvesting this idea for 20-plus years.”

To see the full article, you can check it out in this month’s issue of Game Informer.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will release for the Wii U and the Nintendo Switch on March 3, 2017.