Eiji Aonuma: Zelda is "Very Complex and Multi-Faceted" in Breath of the Wild

[Lizzy Finnegan]

Eiji Aonuma: Zelda is "Very Complex and Multi-Faceted" in Breath of the Wild

In a lengthy interview, Eiji Aonuma talks Breath of the Wild and what you can expect from Hyrule's princess.

Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-18-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-boss-eiji-aonuma-on-the-large-extra-burden-of-moving-to-nintendo-switch] has published a lengthy interview with Eiji Aonuma, discussing Zelda: Breath of the Wild for both Wii U and Switch. It's a great interview, discussing the decision to develop for both the Wii U and Switch, the game's place on the Zelda timeline (without actually giving anything away), and the importance of making Breath of the Wild a Switch launch title.


But the interview also touched on one scene in particular from the trailer released during Nintendo's Switch event [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/169262-Breath-of-the-Wild-is-a-Switch-Launch-Title#&gid=gallery_6799&pid=1] earlier this month, in which Princess Zelda is shown crying. As Eurogamer points out in the question, reaction was predictably split on this scene, with some happy that the princess was showing emotion and others criticizing it, saying it makes her appear weak. To that, Aonuma gave the following response:

"Regarding how Princess Zelda is portrayed in the trailer, obviously everyone has their own ideas of exactly how they would expect a female character to act or behave. What I would particularly like to emphasise is that the scene of her crying in the trailer is just one scene from the game - within the trailer itself it forms a dramatic high point, but that shouldn't be taken too much out of context.

Princess Zelda as she appears in the game as a whole is very complex and multi-faceted, and it's not as if she's crying all the time in the game [laughs], so I would ask fans not to read too much into just that one scene from the trailer, and to please play the game and appreciate Zelda as she is in all her aspects."

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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will launch on both the Wii U and Nintendo Switch on March 3. You can learn about some of the differences between the two versions here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/169306-Zelda-Breath-of-the-Wild-Switch-and-Wii-U-differences-explained#&gid=gallery_6815&pid=1].



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[Combustion Kevin]

Is she also a strong independent fish that don't need no bicycle?

 

[rosac]

Wait people are complaining about Zelda crying?

As in the princess who sees her kingdom routinely wrecked with loads of people murdered?

ok then.

 

[BX3]

Wait people are complaining about Zelda crying?

As in the princess who sees her kingdom routinely wrecked with loads of people murdered?

ok then.

Yeah, it's weird isn't it? Everywhere I've gone it's the most beloved part of the trailer, with the only point of contention being which language did it the best (Italian. The answer is the Italian ver.). Surprising to hear there's enough people that disliked it where Nintendo has to go out of their way to address it.

 

[LysanderNemoinis]

Yeah, the last time Nintendo made a character complex and multi-faceted, we got Metroid: Other M. For the love of God, someone stop letting Nintendo write stories. Let someone else handle that who actually knows what the hell they're doing.

 

[hamsterkilla]

Yeah, the last time Nintendo made a character complex and multi-faceted, we got Metroid: Other M. For the love of God, someone stop letting Nintendo write stories. Let someone else handle that who actually knows what the hell they're doing.

I agree that Other M was utter crap when it came to making Samus "Complex", but in their defense Nintendo didn't make that game or write it. I like to think it was Team Ninja (Even though the original writer for Metroid Prime was involved) was the reason for the crap that was Other M.

OT: Yea, I didn't see the scene as making her appear weak, it's totally out of context and I'll keep my pitch fork ready for after I play it. Now if they do make her like that... I will cry in a very similar way to Zelda.

 

[BarkBarker]

Developer of game insists character of franchise he has large control in is a deep character......well that settles it then. I have not seen nor heard of anyone stirring up shit about any crying scene or nothing. Weird.

I agree that Other M was utter crap when it came to making Samus "Complex", but in their defense Nintendo didn't make that game or write it. I like to think it was Team Ninja (Even though the original writer for Metroid Prime was involved) was the reason for the crap that was Other M.

As far as I know it, Team Ninja gameplay wise was handcuffed by the nonsensical desires of Yoshio Sakamoto, the co-creator of the Metroid series. He also had much control over the story and script, so Other M suffers because of his either mismanagement or hilariously twisted perceptions of reality. Seriously, do some googling into deeper explanations of Other M and you'll see a lot of allusions to an abusive relationship between Samus and Adam. It BETTER be mismanaged, hate to have such a person be in charge of the franchise.

 

[SixWingedAsura]

Developer of game insists character of franchise he has large control in is a deep character......well that settles it then. I have not seen nor heard of anyone stirring up shit about any crying scene or nothing. Weird.

Might be a pre-emptive thing; knowing how certain groups are, the scene of someone crying (a very human emotion) might trigger some people to scream cries of "misogyny" and "patriarchy." Mind, even a pre-emptive attempt is bound to fail, but that might possibly be why he mentioned it.

 

[Fox12]

Jesus, the salt in this thread is palpable.

I'll probably grab this on the WiiU. It looks pretty good. Hopefully it's dual audio.

It's kinda funny, because something like this is suzpposed to inspire confidence in the game. I on the other hand lose confidence, makes it sound like they are trying too hard.

Seriously Nintendo, Interwebz Feminists are unpleasible and don't matter. Just ignore them, even if they are really loud and annoying at times.

Yes, because "multi-faceted character" translates to "feminist" apparently. The character should be flat and uninteresting instead.

 

[MHR]

Is there still gameplay? Ok, it's just the way these types of things make it sound, it's like the gameplay doesn't matter and it's all cutscenes to them. Thought maybe they over focus-tested it and made a visual novel.

Who cares if Zelda cries? As long as they don't pull another Other M, it's gonna be fine.

Breath of the wild is looking to be interesting. Too bad I'm not buying a console.

 

[BX3]

Jesus, the salt in this thread is palpable.

I'll probably grab this on the WiiU. It looks pretty good. Hopefully it's dual audio.

Yeah, Escapist is kind of a salt mine these days. Seems like we still haven't recovered from that dark period we had a while back.

OT: I'm personally hoping that they just go all out and spring for multi-audio. A lot of the other languages are surprisingly dope.