Zelda Producer Wants to Create "A Perfect Game"

[StewShearerOld]

Zelda Producer Wants to Create "A Perfect Game"

Longtime Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma hopes to create a game "as close to perfection as possible" so he can retire without regrets.

Some people can create a piece of art and release it the world, never looking back on the things that could have been better or different. Others, however, have trouble with this. They'll work on a painting for years and never be able to let it go, always finding something that could have been improved. There's always one more dab of paint to add or one more detail that needs correction. For Nintendo's Eiji Aonuma, the Zelda franchise is apparently his work of never-ending art.

Aonuma, who has held a major role in the series' development for more than fifteen years, recently stated in an interview that he "always makes these games with the thought that [each one] is going to be [his] last." He keeps coming back, however, always finding something he wishes he'd done differently. "Every time we finish work on a [game], I always still have regrets, wishing that we could do this or that, and end up wanting to make another Zelda game," he said.

It's a cycle he recognizes as ongoing but can't see coming to an end any time soon. "I guess that could come to a close if I finally make a perfect game," he said. The odds of that happening are something he knows to be unlikely "even if I [spend] my whole life on it." That said, he aims to "create something as close to perfection as possible not too far into the future" so he can retire without regrets. Aonuma's next attempt at perfection, A Link Between Worlds, will release to 3DS in North America on November 22nd.

Source: Nintendo Everything




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[Objectable]

http://www.court-records.net/animation/karma-badmood(b).gif
The perfect graphics, the perfect sounds, the perfect gameplay.
http://www.court-records.net/animation/karma-snap.gif
http://www.court-records.net/animation/karma-snap(b).gif
That is the von Karma way!

 

[Roofstone]

Screw perfection, if something is perfect everything after it can only be met with scorn. Cause now we have something perfect. >_<

Rant excluded: Aim high. I suppose.

 

[Covarr]

Step 1: Better-written characters. Wind Waker and Majora's Mask both got this right, but Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword went too far to define their characters by the drama surrounding them, rather than their response to said drama.

Step 2: New engine. Next Zelda game should not visibly resemble the last two mainseries games at all. Not even a little bit. Whatever you do should have a distinct style all its own.

Step 3: Music should be both dynamic and orchestrated. I don't care that these tend to be mutually exclusive goals, work 'em together anyway.

Step 4: EXPLORATION. Give us a large (but not Skyrim large) world to explore. More importantly, give us a reason to explore. Twilight Princess got it wrong by giving us a huge, but largely empty world. Wind Waker got it wrong by making exploration too mandatory and without enough variety (people get tired of the ocean). Skyward Sword got it wrong by separating out the world into separate areas too much (sky is a shitty overworld). Something as big as Twilight Princess and as lively as Majora's Mask would be great.

Step 5: Variety. Twilight Princess really screwed this one up; it was pretty dark and dreary all the way through, and at times it just became tedious as a result. When the tone of your game is mostly lighthearted, the sad and scary moments stand out more and are more meaningful.

P.S. Thanks

P.P.S. Don't be afraid to goof off. Wind Waker, Majora's Mask, and especially Link's Awakening all had moments of extraordinary silliness, and they were better for it. The game doesn't need to be a spoof, but it's okay not to take yourself so seriously now and again.

 

[sethisjimmy]

This is interesting, because while I don't consider any Zelda game to be anywhere near perfection, a lot of people do in fact consider Ocarina of Time to be a perfect game. Lttp as well has been almost as highly rated. So in a sense, he should be able to retire happy now.

 

[RandV80]

I've always thought a 'perfect' Zelda game would look something like a combination of Shadow of the Colossus' open world and boss fights combined with Zelda's people, puzzles, dungeons, and collectables.

 

[saxman234]

Step 1: Better-written characters. Wind Waker and Majora's Mask both got this right, but Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword went too far to define their characters by the drama surrounding them, rather than their response to said drama.

Step 2: New engine. Next Zelda game should not visibly resemble the last two mainseries games at all. Not even a little bit. Whatever you do should have a distinct style all its own.

Step 3: Music should be both dynamic and orchestrated. I don't care that these tend to be mutually exclusive goals, work 'em together anyway.

Step 4: EXPLORATION. Give us a large (but not Skyrim large) world to explore. More importantly, give us a reason to explore. Twilight Princess got it wrong by giving us a huge, but largely empty world. Wind Waker got it wrong by making exploration too mandatory and without enough variety (people get tired of the ocean). Skyward Sword got it wrong by separating out the world into separate areas too much (sky is a shitty overworld). Something as big as Twilight Princess and as lively as Majora's Mask would be great.

Step 5: Variety. Twilight Princess really screwed this one up; it was pretty dark and dreary all the way through, and at times it just became tedious as a result. When the tone of your game is mostly lighthearted, the sad and scary moments stand out more and are more meaningful.

P.S. Thanks

P.P.S. Don't be afraid to goof off. Wind Waker, Majora's Mask, and especially Link's Awakening all had moments of extraordinary silliness, and they were better for it. The game doesn't need to be a spoof, but it's okay not to take yourself so seriously now and again.

All of this would make a pretty close to perfect zelda game. Mother 3 (Earthbound japan only sequel) is probably the most sad game I have played (in a fricken amazing way), and it is because most of it is lighthearted, silly and funny, so the sad/terrifying/depressing parts really pop out and really have an effect on the player. If zelda games could create that amount of emotions that a gba game with 2d sprites can while giving the players some more deep exploration (and meaningful) exporation, then it would be a perfect zelda game for me.

P.S. everyone should experience Mother 3, the fan-made translation mod is perfect if you can get the rom (which is very easy to do). Or watch a lets play, but playing it yourself is even better.

 

[Gizmo1990]

And I want 10 Billion pounds and a weekend with Scarlett Johansson but that's not going to happen either. There simply is no such thing as the perfect game and there never will be.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Afraid you've been beaten to the punch on the whole perfection thing mate. A perfect game was released back in 2009 by the name of Persona 4. Sorry about that.

I can't really picture "Zelda" and "perfect game" fitting together for some reason. It's a bit overdone at this point.

The only Zelda game I really liked was Twilight Princess. What? I liked how it was dark it was and wolves are cool. Get on my level.

 

[Flutterguy]

A perfect game is not possible. Everyone wants a different experience, emotions and gameplay.

If he means he's planning to do a new approach to gamemaking where rather then worrying about lowest common denominator he makes it more challenging, entertaining and well written then anything to date, well good for him. Somehow I imagine a 'perfect' game to have very casual gameplay and ALOT of cutscenes with a recycled story and co-op options.

As opposed to a game which is very challenging, tells a story with gameplay, gives many options, and is single player to avoid breaking immersion. My perfect game.

 

[Fox12]

But... we already have Ocarina of Time and Majoras Mask. You want something "perfect?" Do something completely new. It's like the idiots say they want to honor Tolkien by creating a great masterpiece. Then they just redo what Tolkien did. If you want to honor Tolkien then do something completely different. Zelda has already reached its zenith. If you want to create something genre defining then don't just follow in the footsteps of giants, tread new ground.

 

[Guffe]

I have enjoyed Zelda for a long time!
And I have liked almost everyone of the games.
But a perfect game? I hope that one will never be created, it means you'd have to stop gaming since nothing will ever live up to that anymore.
But please make a goo next Zelda game

 

[JagermanXcell]

Afraid you've been beaten to the punch on the whole perfection thing mate. A perfect game was released back in 2009 by the name of Persona 4. Sorry about that.

Beat me to it...

OT:
He did said NEAR-perfect, cause cmon saying "I want to make something PEEEEEEEERFECT" is silly and makes people laugh at you. But go ahead and reach for the stars I guess, or you can always just give Majora's Mask the HD remake it deserves, fix some minor complaints and *BOOM* near perfection right there, die happy baby, die happy.
*drops the microphone like a boss*

Or try something new... like I said reach for the stars.

 

[xPixelatedx]

Perfect? If you mean everyone loves it in the end, then NO, that's not possible because one person's perfect game is another person's shit game. Example, I don't like Wind Waker. If you make another Wind Waker-like game, that will be perfect for people who enjoy that. I like the old style Zeldas, and if you make one like that, it will be perfect for me and people like me, but tedious to WW people who didn't like those Zelda's to begin with. You cannot win on all fronts, and you never will. Thinking you can is the same dumb attitude that has homogenized most of gaming this last gen.

I remember Reggie saying he thinks Skyward Sword is the best video game ever made, EVER.
Well Reggi, I bought and played Skyward Sword. Not only was it far from perfect, this is the first Zelda game that was so utterly vile and offensive, I couldn't even get past the intro. To this day my save file is still at that spot, with 45mins in. I don't think it will ever budge because so far that was 45 minutes of pure agony.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

Hm. A perfect game that wouldn't leave a taste of "I could have done this better" would be a game that is as good as it gets on all of its aspects and sides.

That would mean that this game should have the best graphics seen up to that point. To modern standards that would include things like tesselation,dx11 type of lighting system,hi res textures,etc...
It should also have the best audio up to what is doable,like hi fi 24bit/48khz audio resolution,7.1 surround sound.
It would have to have absolute controls customization so each player can adjust the controls to be his/her own best way to play it.
It would have to have the most intriguing / emotional story,a beautiful world,high quality voice overs and an option to turn them completly off for people who don't want voiceovers,to be feature full,to have a large amount of content,to have smart gameplay design,to not treat players like they are dumb but at the same time neither requiring a Game Guide to be finished...

I'm afraid he is not up to the task.
WiiU is too weak for a game on it to have the best graphics,while the game disc will have enough room available for high quality audio I'm highly believing that Nintendo won't be doing that because they are afraid of moving forward,(they just catched up with the industry standard of having actual musicians perform and recording their play on a studio with Mario Galaxy while everyone else was doing it for years),controls customization and button bindings are an unknown thing for Nintendo,and lastly they are too stingy to put their hands on their pockets and hire a proffesional writer to do the job.
Heck,they even reuse the same old sound compositions on their new games,so they won't have to pay a musician to write new music for them.

 

[NoeL]

Somehow I imagine a 'perfect' game to have very casual gameplay and ALOT of cutscenes with a recycled story and co-op options.

Um, wot?

Anyway, I'd like to see him make a perfect game too. I'd also like to see a game where you play as Zelda(/Sheik maybe?) but I'm sceptical Nintendo (or any other large Japanese studio) could do it without turning it into another Other M. And of course, a Majora's Mask remake would be awesome, but it shouldn't be like their other remakes that are nothing more than a new coat of paint - give it a new engine, a unique art style (rather than recycling assets from OoT), more detailed environment (make it look like Skyrim or something, with boulders and pebbles etc. instead of the harsh cliff faces that were done due to technical constraints). Make it something fresh and special.

 

[Sean951]

Hm. A perfect game that wouldn't leave a taste of "I could have done this better" would be a game that is as good as it gets on all of its aspects and sides.

That would mean that this game should have the best graphics seen up to that point. To modern standards that would include things like tesselation,dx11 type of lighting system,hi res textures,etc...
It should also have the best audio up to what is doable,like hi fi 24bit/48khz audio resolution,7.1 surround sound.
It would have to have absolute controls customization so each player can adjust the controls to be his/her own best way to play it.
It would have to have the most intriguing / emotional story,a beautiful world,high quality voice overs and an option to turn them completly off for people who don't want voiceovers,to be feature full,to have a large amount of content,to have smart gameplay design,to not treat players like they are dumb but at the same time neither requiring a Game Guide to be finished...

I'm afraid he is not up to the task.
WiiU is too weak for a game on it to have the best graphics,while the game disc will have enough room available for high quality audio I'm highly believing that Nintendo won't be doing that because they are afraid of moving forward,(they just catched up with the industry standard of having actual musicians perform and recording their play on a studio with Mario Galaxy while everyone else was doing it for years),controls customization and button bindings are an unknown thing for Nintendo,and lastly they are too stingy to put their hands on their pockets and hire a proffesional writer to do the job.
Heck,they even reuse the same old sound compositions on their new games,so they won't have to pay a musician to write new music for them.

You started out so well, but then you went on to the graphics and controls. I imagine that to him, the perfect game is one where he doesn't see something that he would change, which wouldn't include controls (i.e. they designed the Wii-U gamepad FOR the new Zelda) or likely graphics, since the aesthetic that Zelda games tend to go for is rarely photo-realism. The closest they got was Twilight Princess, but that's an outlier. We might not consider it perfect (I probably would... I have a freaking Triforce tat) but that wouldn't matter to him, the "artist" who made it.

 

[Kittyhawk]

Nice, but perfection can't be gained. Besides that we don't want another Crimson Dragon or The Last Guardian, taking ages to get to us all to play.

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

You need two things:

- A relentless Devil May Cry 3 combat system.
- A minimum of 5 orgasms experienced per minute.

So far, gaming has achieved only one of those standards for me.