Zelda Producer: We Have to be More Careful With Zelda's Artstyle

[Terramax]

I wouldn't say gaming is in it's puberty stage, but a lot of gamers have an aversion to anything "kiddy" and kiddy games are synonymous with anything that includes more than 5 colors. Ironically enough this very mentality has lead to the whole "dark and gritty" phase.
If it's not black, grey, and brown, with only a hint of a single color of your choice, then it's not mature. Considering how WW came out right after the mature Zelda titles OoT and Majora's Mask, it's no surprise that everyone wanted Zelda to take the dark route.

I'm glad WW showed up when it did. It was to remind people that Zelda was also a fun light hearted adventure games. I also appreciate Skyward Sword. Because after Twilight Princess, people wanted Zelda to turn down that same path again.

Thing is, even in the land of the rising sun, where cute is, and has always been, the in-thing, people protested about the art style in Wind Waker.

This draws me to conclude that it's not about 'western gamer's preference for gritty games', but more due to that Nintendo fans HATE anything remotely different from the same record being played.

 

[Micalas]

Why is this guy hating on the best Zelda game since OOT? The art-style was amazing and it's the reason the visuals still hold up today. The characters were great, the atmosphere was great. It was just all around a great game. What the hell?

Guess I'll never see something like this then...

Spoiler

Wow that artwork is great.

 

[Dragonbums]

Why is this guy hating on the best Zelda game since OOT? The art-style was amazing and it's the reason the visuals still hold up today. The characters were great, the atmosphere was great. It was just all around a great game. What the hell?

Dude, this guy MADE the game.

He's not hating on it. He's just talking about being not doing anything way drastic with the art style. An understandable perspective since the first thing people whine their tits about when a new Zelda game is announced is that the art style sucks.

 

[Dragonbums]

I wouldn't say gaming is in it's puberty stage, but a lot of gamers have an aversion to anything "kiddy" and kiddy games are synonymous with anything that includes more than 5 colors. Ironically enough this very mentality has lead to the whole "dark and gritty" phase.
If it's not black, grey, and brown, with only a hint of a single color of your choice, then it's not mature. Considering how WW came out right after the mature Zelda titles OoT and Majora's Mask, it's no surprise that everyone wanted Zelda to take the dark route.

I'm glad WW showed up when it did. It was to remind people that Zelda was also a fun light hearted adventure games. I also appreciate Skyward Sword. Because after Twilight Princess, people wanted Zelda to turn down that same path again.

Thing is, even in the land of the rising sun, where cute is, and has always been, the in-thing, people protested about the art style in Wind Waker.

This draws me to conclude that it's not about 'western gamer's preference for gritty games', but more due to that Nintendo fans HATE anything remotely different from the same record being played.

Art style is subjective though. It has nothing to do with game mechanics.

As some other people brought up it may or may not have something to do with their tech demo involving Zelda that the game turned out nothing like.

Honestly, I think it's because things like aesthetics rely on art, and not many people who play videogames have any knowledge nor appreciation of design.
You can tell who those people are. If someone doesn't like Twilight princess, they talk specifically about what they didn't like ranging from color scheme to certain aesthetic choices. Then you have people who don't like it because it's too "dark".

I'm fairly certain if Rockstar made the design choice to make their next GTA game more in line with their promotional illustrations instead of realistic it would garner the same results.

 

[Covarr]

Don't you dare apologize for The Wind Waker. It's still the best looking Zelda game, and arguably the best in the series period (based on clever dungeons and puzzles, well-polished combat, and a more interesting story than the franchise usually gets).

P.S. Thanks

Story and gameplay wouldn't necessarily have been hurt by a less cartoony style. It felt like a game for children. Which, those of us who grew up with the series clearly aren't. Alternatively, the ultra realism takes away some of its spirit. A healthy medium would be nice to reach.

I'd argue that the story would be hurt by cutting back on the art style. The characters were more expressive than they've been in any Zelda game before or since, and the art style meshed well with the overall tone of the story. Not to mention, it was still prettier even than their latest and greatest, Skyward Sword.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Arnoxthe1]

I'm just gonna add my "I think Windwaker sucked." opinion on top of the pile and also say that Twilight Princess had a lot of potential. Maybe you guys should give that a relook. Or better yet, just ignore the whole issue altogether and do a serious examination of OoT and MM.

 

[Brian Tams]

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. Don't you DARE get away from cel-shading. Both Wind Waker and Skyward Sword looked amazing with their cel-shaded graphics. How dare you piss on the style!

 

[Roxas1359]

*heart breaks*
Hearing this about what is one of my favorite Zelda games makes me really sad. I loved the personality and visuals of Wind Waker a lot. Out of all the Zeldas, except probably Majora's Mask, I replay Wind Waker the most.
See, the graphics and everything aged well, and the only real problem with the HD remake was that the bloom was a bit too much and just needed to be toned down a bit.

Really though I get the feeling that he's trying to appease all the fans of Zelda, but one should never try to appease everyone because it is impossible. People will find faults in anything, and trying to appease to everyone only leads to disaster sadly.

 

[Fox12]

People weren't pissed with you for trying a new artstyle Nintendo. They were pissed because you showed one thing and delivered another.

The initial trailer looked something like this (albeit with music):

What we got was this:


Don't get me wrong, I think Wind Waker was a masterpiece with an innovative art style and world, but you can't pull a heel face turn like that and not expect repercussions. Yes, I understand it was a tech demo to show of the Game Cube, but it still builds certain expectations in peoples minds. It's a marketing problem more than a development problem. In any case, I would love to see a more innovative Zelda. After all, Ocarina already perfected the classic formula. Please, feel free to bring me something new, like Majoras Mask. Just make sure to market it right.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

This sounds like an excuse to keep the series as vanilla as possible to me.

 

[Billy D Williams]

Say what now? I mean besides arguably Skyward Sword Wind Waker is the best looking Zelda to date!

God, I just hate when people don't like something just because its unordinary :\

 

[Lightknight]

Don't you dare apologize for The Wind Waker. It's still the best looking Zelda game, and arguably the best in the series period (based on clever dungeons and puzzles, well-polished combat, and a more interesting story than the franchise usually gets).

P.S. Thanks

Story and gameplay wouldn't necessarily have been hurt by a less cartoony style. It felt like a game for children. Which, those of us who grew up with the series clearly aren't. Alternatively, the ultra realism takes away some of its spirit. A healthy medium would be nice to reach.

I'd argue that the story would be hurt by cutting back on the art style. The characters were more expressive than they've been in any Zelda game before or since, and the art style meshed well with the overall tone of the story. Not to mention, it was still prettier even than their latest and greatest, Skyward Sword.

P.S. Thanks

Well, finding a healthy balance between cartoony and realistic doesn't mean that expressiveness is lost.

But let's be clear, this is something extremely personal and subjective. This is literally us discussing what kind of art is "better". My only contribution here isn't which is "better", because no such conclusion can be made, but it is instead that the aggregate of gamers that play these kinds of games are in their 30's. Too cartoony and you alienate a lot of them, too realistic and you compromise the spirit of the series. You don't have to be cartoony to be expressive. Skyward Sword just wasn't as vibrant, that's true of a lot of the things they do. Hell, their bloom filter really toned down the colors of the original in this remake. So even with the same style we wouldn't necessarily see similar vibrancy.

Realistic games, like Uncharted 2/3, Bioshock Infinite, etc have extremely colorful/pretty scenes. Pretty and expressive isn't exclusive to cartoony.

 

[Narfo]

Hang on, wait for it...
And there it goes: the echo of millions of gamers screaming "WHAT THE FUCK" when they read this, traveling around the world, for the eighteenth time.

Seriously? One of the people who brought one of the most beloved games with a unique art style actually APOLOGIZING for it?
Either he's on some serious shit, is being paid off, has gone crazy, was in an accident that lowered his IQ, or is just plain ignorant.
No matter what the reason, there is no excuse for bringing something good into the world and then later claiming it was bad.
Bull-fucking-shit.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Why is this guy hating on the best Zelda game since OOT? The art-style was amazing and it's the reason the visuals still hold up today. The characters were great, the atmosphere was great. It was just all around a great game. What the hell?

Guess I'll never see something like this then...

Spoiler

Wow that artwork is great.

I would've put a link to the artist if I could remember their deviantART username. But the artist has more of this concept lying around, and I thought it was genuinely awesome. If rule 63 would ever work it would be best with Link, the story never said it has to be a dude, just result in a higher pitched 'yahh' anyway.

 

[Hero of Lime]

I've already commented here, but I don't see why most of the people here are taking Aonuma's wording as "I hated the Wind Waker style!" Now, I will say, he should focus on making the game he and his team wants to make as opposed to what the fans think. He shouldn't be apologizing in any way, but I don't think he doing that with his statement in the first place.

Bottom line, Aonuma does not hate the Wind Waker style, he just understands what a new art style can do to Zelda fans. It's lame that some Zelda fans get angry when a new game is shown off that does not meet their specifications. It's annoying, but detractors are always the loudest, most Zelda fans dance with joy seeing a new Zelda game. Simply put, he wouldn't have remade Wind Waker if he hated the game, or its style. I'm really not following the logic a lot of people here are thinking.

 

[Sean951]

So long as the art style fits the story of the game, I'm down. I disliked the cel shading initially, but after I actually got around to playing the game, I consider it perfect for the nature of the game. Twilight Princess had a darker story literally involving light/dark (well, twilight) and the art direction worked. I still think coming out of Ordon and seeing the Wall of Twilight is one of my favorite moments in Zelda gaming. Skyward Sword was a little too bright at times, but I thought their method of getting around the draw distance was ingenious.