Zelda Director Vows to Cut Down on Tutorials

Steven Bogos

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Jan 17, 2013
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Zelda Director Vows to Cut Down on Tutorials


Nintendo's Eiji Aonuma says the upcoming Zelda Wii U title will cut down on the hand-holding.

"Hey, listen!" is a catchphrase that every Zelda fan will know, as that annoying little fairy has since come to represent the iconic over-eagerness of the series to hold the player's hand. The Wii's Skyward Sword in particular was criticized for its long, cut-scene heavy tutorials at the beginning of the game. Zelda series director Eiji Aonuma has acknowledged the problem, and vows to cut down on it for the upcoming Wii U Zelda title.

"When we created Skyward Sword, I really felt the need to make sure that everyone playing the game understood it. But I also understand now, in hindsight, that when you go out and buy a game, you buy the game because you want to play it, and you don't want to have any obstacles in the way," Aonuma told Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/zelda-boss-promises-to-stop-overdoing-tutorials-1591975741].

"I kinda frontloaded all that in Skyward Sword, and it doesn't really help to get that information when you don't know what to do with it," he continued, adding "So that was a real learning experience for me. So I'm going to be careful not to do that."

In 3DS's The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Aonuma solved this problem with the implementation of "Hint Ghosts": completely optional advice-dispensers that would pop up and give you help if you asked.

As I didn't even know these ghosts existed until I had already finished the game, I would say it was a pretty effective solution.

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/zelda-boss-promises-to-stop-overdoing-tutorials-1591975741]

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ShirowShirow

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Oct 14, 2010
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This is a good thing.

After spending thirty minutes being babysat ten times in a row playing whatever game It was I was playing it was INCREDIBLY refreshing for me to play Kid Icarus: Uprising and it was just "NO OPENING CUTSCENE. NO TUTORIAL. GO GO GO."

I'd rather learn by play then learn to play. Just give me an open area to start in and I'll teach myself the quirks of this particular title; there's no need to spend fifteen seconds explaining that the A button is jump and I can use it to get up ledges when one of the first things I'll do in a new game is press the A button to see what happens.
 

hickwarrior

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Nov 7, 2007
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ShirowShirow said:
This is a good thing.

After spending thirty minutes being babysat ten times in a row playing whatever game It was I was playing it was INCREDIBLY refreshing for me to play Kid Icarus: Uprising and it was just "NO OPENING CUTSCENE. NO TUTORIAL. GO GO GO."

I'd rather learn by play then learn to play. Just give me an open area to start in and I'll teach myself the quirks of this particular title; there's no need to spend fifteen seconds explaining that the A button is jump and I can use it to get up ledges when one of the first things I'll do in a new game is press the A button to see what happens.
Oh, for me it opened up with a tutorial video.

Other than that, you're spot on with kid icarus: uprising. If you wanna move forward without letting the characters finish, go ahead. Nothing's stopping you.

I think monster hunter should allow that as well, instead of having to skip through text that barely explain how to survive in its world.
 

major_chaos

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Feb 3, 2011
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This is actuly the first thing that has me interested in this new Zelda. The series has been on a path of steadily more long, boring, mandatory intro sequences since OOT, and finally reaching the point where the opening of Skyward Sword was so arduous that I had no desire to keep playing by the time I fucking finally got to a dungeon.
 

Uriel_Hayabusa

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I didn't like Skyward Sword, but the excessive handholding was only a fairly minor problem for me in the grand scheme of things: the ridiculous amount of padding, nonexistent overworld and (in places) horrendous controls and forgettable dungeouns are what really sunk that game for me.

Still, I had a good time with A Link Between Worlds (though not as much as many others) so if nothing else I'll be cautiously optimistic that Zelda U will at the very least be fun.
 

Scarim Coral

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So does that mean the next companion in the next LoZ is going to be useful for once? I mean what else are they good for other than sprouting out hints and tuturial nonsense? (Well ok Midna was part of the mechanic of Link wolf form).
 

bluegate

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So... does this also mean that there are no more;

- scenes of doors opening when pulling a lever;
- scenes of link picking up a 5 or 10 piece rupee stating that is indeed a rupee;
- scenes of link picking up ammo;
- scenes of link picking up a random collectable, stating what it is, although we already have 10 of said collectable;
- sidekicks telling you the solution to a puzzle only 15 seconds after entering a room?
 

Vivi22

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bluegate said:
So... does this also mean that there are no more;

- scenes of doors opening when pulling a lever;
- scenes of link picking up a 5 or 10 piece rupee stating that is indeed a rupee;
- scenes of link picking up ammo;
- scenes of link picking up a random collectable, stating what it is, although we already have 10 of said collectable;
- sidekicks telling you the solution to a puzzle only 15 seconds after entering a room?
God there really are so many wastes of time in Zelda games. Part of me would probably miss that bit of music that plays when you find something interesting, but I wouldn't miss it that much.

And thank god they'll be dialing back the tutorials. It probably won't affect me since I don't have, nor do I ever plan to buy, a Wii U, but the last Zelda game I tried to play through was Twilight Princess (console Zelda to specify) and the tutorial for that was insufferable. I somehow managed to get through it without tossing the game in the garbage, but then I was met with the wolf form bullshit and just stopped playing after a couple of dungeons. If they weren't the company that just brought us Link Between Worlds I'd swear they didn't know how to make a Zelda game any more.
 

Mirrorknight

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*Watches cutscene that shows chest appearing in next room*
*gets trademark "Secret Found" sound*
*Camera actually goes from the chest, and pans back to Link, showing exactly where to go to get it*
Fi: Master, there's an 87% chance that a chest has appeared...
Me: YES, FI, I GET IT, FI. I ACTUALLY KNOW FOR A FREAKING FACT THAT THERE IS INDEED A CHEST IN THE NEXT ROOM, FI. WHICH MAKES ME WONDER WHY THE HELL YOU DON'T SHUT IT AND STAY IN THE GODDESS DAMNED SWORD UNTIL YOU NEED TO DO YOUR STUPID LITTLE DANCE, FI.

Hells. I never thought I'd miss the fairy.
 

Geisterkarle

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Dec 27, 2010
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Interesting, that "everyone" wants these Tutorials out of the game!
Many people complained about Witcher 2, where your first step into the game is fighting against multiple enemies with barely any hints how to fight!
What do you want? :)

Also slightly on-topic: I remember seeing some screenshots of a remake of Metroid from people, that were stuck, because there are no arrows, that point to the next exit or that you can curl yourself into a ball and so on ... anyone with a link to those screens?
 

Hero of Lime

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While I love Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, I can't deny their long intro sequences are too long and dull. It was nice that A Link Between Worlds pretty much had no tutorials, Link wakes up and the game starts, no fluff or long cutscenes.
 

Guitarmasterx7

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I don't particularly remember the intro to skyward sword but i know i was gritting my teeth through it by the end. I do recall twilight princess having a ridiculously long intro sequence though.
 

Random Argument Man

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I managed to tough out Twilight Princess intro because at least they gave you some amount of gameplay. Skyward Sword killed the game before I even had the chance to move the cursor.

I remember when games just started with no tutorials and gives you no hint on how to control the damn game. Was it fun to play Resident evil 2 & 3 and Silent Hill 2 or what?!
 

Shoggoth2588

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Awesome! As much as I enjoyed Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, I hated the first hour or two wherein you're just stuck in the starting town being talked at and, taught. Another reason this downplaying-of-tutorials is a good thing: It points to Zelda U not forcing motion controls on players! I wanted to like Skyward Sword but every time I swung the sword or, used an item like the sling-shot or, beetle I would have to re-calibrate the wii-mote. It got ridiculous...disappointed there wasn't a patch, remake, etc on the U like how TP got the Wii version and, GC version.
 

xyrafhoan

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Guitarmasterx7 said:
I don't particularly remember the intro to skyward sword but i know i was gritting my teeth through it by the end. I do recall twilight princess having a ridiculously long intro sequence though.
The worst offense in Skyward Sword is the skydiving tutorial, I think. It's a needlessly difficult technique that requires precise controller tilting, and there are so few instances in the game that require you to use such a technique. But you have to land in the middle of a small circle at the very beginning and it's extremely tedious and finicky due to unskippable cutscenes upon each failure. At least with the race beforehand, you fly your Loftwing on a semi-regular basis, though it controls horribly no matter what you do or how good you get at the controls.

Honestly the way new items are introduced in a dungeon are the ideal tutorial. They introduce the mechanics in a gradual way until you're considered to be a "master" by the time you reach the boss, and they don't need anything more than a brief text box explanation when you first open up the chest. There's no need to lock you into a cutscene to berate you every time you fail.
 

Zeckt

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That companion you get in skyward sword who constantly goes on about your batteries constantly breaking the 4th wall about it and with its boring way of telling you advice completely ruined any enjoyment for me. I can't even stomach playing the game and regret wasting my money. In all my years of gaming, THAT thing was the most annoying.

It took all the wonder and joy out of zelda.
 

ryo02

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Mirrorknight said:
*Watches cutscene that shows chest appearing in next room*
*gets trademark "Secret Found" sound*
*Camera actually goes from the chest, and pans back to Link, showing exactly where to go to get it*
Fi: Master, there's an 87% chance that a chest has appeared...
Me: YES, FI, I GET IT, FI. I ACTUALLY KNOW FOR A FREAKING FACT THAT THERE IS INDEED A CHEST IN THE NEXT ROOM, FI. WHICH MAKES ME WONDER WHY THE HELL YOU DON'T SHUT IT AND STAY IN THE GODDESS DAMNED SWORD UNTIL YOU NEED TO DO YOUR STUPID LITTLE DANCE, FI.

Hells. I never thought I'd miss the fairy.
could not agree more I mean I don't hate Fi as a character but bloody hell a lot of the time she just repeats stuff you all ready know or were shown/told all ready.

why do they even bother giving you the option to ask her for advice if they just shove it in your face right away?.