I have been a Zelda fan for a very long time. Part of the reason I even stuck with gaming to this day is because of the excellence provided by the Zelda series. This is why it bothers me that fortunes seemed have turned south for the franchise (IMO).
When Ocarina was being developed, it was a new foray into 3D. With that in mind, young employees were dimensionally forced to implement new ideas into the series. NEW developments was the name of the game. After TLOZ: Wind Waker, Eiji Aonuma wanted to work on a different series, yet Miyamoto convinced him to stay. As a result, Zelda became increasingly more puzzle focused after every entry. In comparison to OOT's open world, Twilight Princess' was probably larger, yet more hollow...if that makes sense. There was more space but less to do within it.
I was reading the "Development" section for both OOT and SS on the respective Wikipedia pages and I noticed something:
- For OOT, Aonuma developed the dungeons, but only has one sentenced dedicated to his efforts.
- Miyamoto was the producer in addition to being a director with 3 others including Aonuma.
- For SS, there was a back and forth struggle throughout the entire process of the game's development, evidenced by Aonuma refusing to work on Wii Motion Plus support for months, until Miyamoto finalized making it the Standard method of function.
- Now, Aonuma is the producer and there is only one director, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, who has not directed a non-handheld Zelda before.
To make it short, the team working behind Zelda needs a break. Without team vacations inside Nintendo, we never would've received the Metroid Prime series. Once that break ended, we saw what happened with the franchise later (Other M only reached half the sales of MP3: Corruption). Fujibayashi debuting in a console-director role may be a good thing originality-wise, or it could blur the focus of what Zelda should be like.
Burnout happens in every profession, so I think after Skyward Sword comes out, it is time to put the focus back on the 'experience' of Zelda as opposed to 'features' (Wolf Link, Trains, Boats, Extended Fetch Quests). With the graphical strength at the disposal of Wii-U, graphics can be saved for last on the list of new Zelda priorities.
Leatherhat on July 6th, 2012 3pm. Vita sales:"3 mil for COD 2 mil for AC. Maybe more. " thehusbo on July 6th, 2012 5pm. Vita sales:"5 mil for COD 2.2 mil for AC."