Topic: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Revealed, Releasing November 20

[Shaymin]

We can finally see what happened in the century before Breath of the Wild.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/54857/hyrule-warriors-age-of-calamity-revealed-releasing-november-20

A new Hyrule Warriors game is going to tell the story of the Great Calamity later this year.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is now available for preorder with a launch date of November 20. Designed to tell the story of the events that led to the state of Hyrule in Breath of the Wild, this new adventure is developed by Koei Tecmo in association with Nintendo.

Link, Zelda, "and more" are listed as playable in the game, including the four Champions from Breath of the Wild. Preordering the game digitally will unlock the "Lucky Ladle" weapon.

The standalone trailer indicates more information about the game will be available on September 26.

[Khushrenada]

So, this seems to be the big holiday game with that Nov. 20 slot. Not sure what to think about this. On the one hand, the setting does make sense for a Warriors game (although the ending is kind of tragic for many of the characters involved) but I also feel it was kind of done well enough in the story and cutscenes of BotW as you explore the aftermath of the calamity to fill in the blanks.

[Adrock]

Even with playable Urbosa,

[Ian Sane]

There's the usual problem with a prequel where you know the end of the story already.  Spoiler: the good guys lose.

This seems like the exact sort of game that a company makes when they realize they need something for the holidays and still have enough time to get something ready.  Omega Force can pretty much make Musou games in their sleep and this looks like it reuses tons of assets from Breath of the Wild.  I did like Hyrule Warriors.  That introduced me to Musou and those games are good dumb videogame fun.

But it really does feel like after a strong start with the Switch, Nintendo has fallen into their old routine of infrequent releases.  A Musou game is a good compliment to a strong lineup, not a high profile game in itself.  The Switch benefits a lot from attracting decent third party support (which is a very good thing) and from Nintendo being able to recycle Wii U games that are "new" to most Switch owners.  But shouldn't Nintendo have figured out this release schedule stuff by now?  They've effectively run out of Wii U ports and the competition is starting a new console generation.  This was the time to fix this problem and I feel like they've not taken that seriously because the Switch was so successful.  Hey, didn't Nintendo rest on their laurels and not improve their deficiencies that LAST time they had a successful console?

[Khushrenada]

Even with playable Urbosa,

Damn. I can't Honk! twice in an hour!

This seems like the exact sort of game that a company makes when they realize they need something for the holidays and still have enough time to get something ready. 

The fact that there was little gameplay footage shown did give me a vibe that this was still hurriedly being constructed which seemed suspiciously like it was quickly being made to add something else to the release schedule. But it could be they've had this trailer ready for a long time and the death of Directs this year means they just finally decided to release it into the wild now. Unsure what is a more accurate explanation.

But it really does feel like after a strong start with the Switch, Nintendo has fallen into their old routine of infrequent releases.  A Musou game is a good compliment to a strong lineup, not a high profile game in itself.  The Switch benefits a lot from attracting decent third party support (which is a very good thing) and from Nintendo being able to recycle Wii U games that are "new" to most Switch owners.  But shouldn't Nintendo have figured out this release schedule stuff by now?  They've effectively run out of Wii U ports and the competition is starting a new console generation.  This was the time to fix this problem and I feel like they've not taken that seriously because the Switch was so successful.  Hey, didn't Nintendo rest on their laurels and not improve their deficiencies that LAST time they had a successful console?

Ok, ok. Hit the brakes, Mr. Negativity. I know it's probably been hard the last few years since there's been very little to critique Nintendo on since they've done very well with how they've handled the Switch while also changing leadership positions in Japan and America during this period as well. But even though 2020 has been rather disappointing in new software offered, I do think Nintendo gets a bit of a pass in this regard because Covid-19 has likely disrupted a lot of plans and schedules and was not something that could be planned for. To say it is just them resting on their laurels is pretty disingenuous and shows a bias on your part to not consider another huge factor like that.

When you look at the games Nintendo has released and scheduled from the Switch release to start of 2020, they've done very well with how they've supported the console. The porting we are seeing now is an unfortunate result of trying to fill the schedule and keep up their Switch output that they've had within this sudden crunch of delayed projects. And it is not like the new consoles from the competition are exactly stacked. They've got plenty of stuff coming out later into the next year because a lot of titles aren't ready for those systems either. I haven't heard of any specific title that gamers are super-pumped about at launch for one of those systems. So, its not like the competition is suddenly coming in hot to take away Switch momentum. I'm willing to wait and see how 2021 plays to get some perspective on how Nintendo handles Switch's success.

[M.K.Ultra]

I guess it's time for me to finally get around to playing my unopened copy of Hyrule Warriors.

[nickmitch]

Haven't play Hyrule Warriors, so this will give me an excuse.  I'm actually pretty interested in this one, even if we all know the story.  Just seems like a good romp.

[broodwars]

Wow, I didn't think Nintendo could possibly find a way to make Breath of the Wild's story any more inconsequential and boring. They sure proved me wrong.

[Luigi Dude]

But it really does feel like after a strong start with the Switch, Nintendo has fallen into their old routine of infrequent releases.  A Musou game is a good compliment to a strong lineup, not a high profile game in itself.  The Switch benefits a lot from attracting decent third party support (which is a very good thing) and from Nintendo being able to recycle Wii U games that are "new" to most Switch owners.  But shouldn't Nintendo have figured out this release schedule stuff by now?  They've effectively run out of Wii U ports and the competition is starting a new console generation.  This was the time to fix this problem and I feel like they've not taken that seriously because the Switch was so successful.  Hey, didn't Nintendo rest on their laurels and not improve their deficiencies that LAST time they had a successful console?

So having to delay everything several months because of a once in a 100 year pandemic is resting laurels now?  It's one thing to complain about Nintendo forcing motion controls during the Wii era, but now you're literally complaining that Nintendo didn't force its employees to endanger their own lives last Spring just so they'd have more to show this fall.

Seriously, look at the movie industry.  Everything that wasn't either already finished or closed to finished has gotten delayed until 2021.  Just being forced to stop production a few months, doesn't mean it's a clear few month delay either.  There's still rules in place to limit the amount of time and people that can be around each other, as well as other safety precautions that have to be made as well.  All of this can cause things to take longer to produce as well.  So not only was development on major projects outright halted for 2-3 months, but current production is slower then it was before covid as well.  So for some of the larger projects, it's very realistic that covid pushed them back at least 6 months because of the outright delay, and the slowing of development after.

I mean there's a reason Nintendo has not only stopped doing traditional Directs, but even puts a disclaimer outright saying Covid has caused delay before their recent mini-Directs as well.

[Order.RSS]

Huh, interesting to see somewhat mixed responses here! Expected a lot of hype, haha.
I haven't played any Musou/Warriors games before so can't really comment constructively, but I'm over the Moon with this announcement. Really hope the game will be great, I'm tempted to order it right away but maybe waiting on reviews is the smarter move.

Breath of the Wild is fantastic and I love these characters. Hope we get to play as Zelda and the Champions, which seems to be the case. Art style looks perfect too. Do these Musou games usually have co-op?

Did not in a million years expect them to pull another trip to BOTW-Hyrule out their back pockets and release it within two months. Crazy how this didn't leak at all, yet entire Xboxes get leaked nowadays haha.

[Khushrenada]

Seriously, look at the movie industry.  Everything that wasn't either already finished or closed to finished has gotten delayed until 2021.  Just being forced to stop production a few months, doesn't mean it's a clear few month delay either.  There's still rules in place to limit the amount of time and people that can be around each other, as well as other safety precautions that have to be made as well.  All of this can cause things to take longer to produce as well.  So not only was development on major projects outright halted for 2-3 months, but current production is slower then it was before covid as well.  So for some of the larger projects, it's very realistic that covid pushed them back at least 6 months because of the outright delay, and the slowing of development after.

Nope. You're wrong!!! The reason we haven't seen any Marvel movies this year is because Marvel is resting on their laurels after breaking box office records with Endgame. That and the fact that they still can't get their scheduling together. You'd think they'd have learned the lessons after the Inhumans debacle but here we are. Hurp de durp de durp!!

[Khushrenada]

Breath of the Wild is fantastic and I love these characters. Hope we get to play as Zelda and the Champions, which seems to be the case. Art style looks perfect too. Do these Musou games usually have co-op?

Footage or the website seems to indicate all Champions and Zelda will be playable. Co-op is just limited to local 2 player co-op.

[stevey]

I'm hyped

Hopefully this wasn't supposed to be a 35th anniversary 2021 game being rushed to fill 2020. Or that BoTW2 was delayed from 2021 to 2022 and they're canning Zelda's 35th anniversary all together. /negative thoughts

[Cool Uncle Vince]

I liked Hyrule Warriors a lot, but I wasn't a huge fan of how it focused so much on clearing & controlling rooms. I'm eager to see if this one has that mechanic.

Still, my 6YO son is excited for it.  He's interested in Breath of the Wild but finds the exploration & item-switching a bit overwhelming for his age.  This new Hyrule Warriors should be more his speed.

[Enner]

Mm, the tragedy story. I'm excited.

Wow, I didn't think Nintendo could possibly find a way to make Breath of the Wild's story any more inconsequential and boring. They sure proved me wrong.

How many Zelda games/years until Nintendo breaks ya off completely. Or are we still in a bitter end mentality.

[broodwars]

Wow, I didn't think Nintendo could possibly find a way to make Breath of the Wild's story any more inconsequential and boring. They sure proved me wrong.

How many Zelda games/years until Nintendo breaks ya off completely. Or are we still in a bitter end mentality.

Well, this isn't a Zelda game (however much the stockholders would like to claim otherwise), so Nintendo currently sits at 2 terrible Zelda games in a row (not counting the handheld games) with Skyward Sword & Breath of the Wild. If Breath of the Wild 2 isn't a dramatic improvement in dungeon design and writing, that might just do it.

I have hopes for that one. Breath of the Wild was one big empty sandbox full of interesting mechanics. It was a big open world full of things to do ironically without anything of meaning to do. I couldn't have cared less if Ganon had destroyed what little remained of that world. I had no emotional connection to it. Playing through that game was just going through the Open World Checklist. I hope that Nintendo takes those interesting mechanics and actually builds a game around them with Breath of the Wild's sequel.

[John Kreese]

...Nintendo currently sits at 2 terrible Zelda games in a row (not counting the handheld games) with Skyward Sword & Breath of the Wild.

(Note: I'm not arguing so much as conversing here, so take my thoughts with the grainiest of salts.)

I understand and totally relate to the phenomenon of just not getting why a game is highly regarded, but calling BOTW "terrible" is pretty bonkers. Battlefield V is terrible - so terrible that (IMO) the word should only ever apply to it for all eternity.

I'm absolutely with you on Skyward Sword, however: I still feel like I was robbed of a Zelda milestone (first game in the timeline!) simply because the stupid gimmick controls made battle impossible. I don't use a shield. Ever. The thing might as well be a frisbee. I quit the second I realized you HAD to block in order to beat certain enemies. Man, I'm still p***ed about that.

[Stratos]

Looks cool. I'm excited to see who they all add as playable characters, as there were a lot in the last game. Aside from the champions and Zelda I can guess at a few. Young Impa may even be in the trailer, someone is kneeling next to Link and Zelda before the King (or possibly one of the shrine monks). The King of Red Lions could also be playable with some callbacks to Wind Waker. Hetsu will probably also appear as a fun/joke character (if cuccos, Tingle, and Epona could be playable in the last one its easy to imagine here).

It will probably have a good deal of DLC, especially if it was rushed as this buys the developers time to add on content with the Covid-related delays.

I'll wait for a discount considering you can get the last one for very cheap now and I've yet to finish the previous game.

[Luigi Dude]

I did enjoy the first Hyrule Warriors even if it got pretty repetitive after a while.  I'm kind of tempted to get this just to play as Zelda going full vengeful goddess on her way to Hyrule Castle at the end.

Of course I do wonder if they might throw in a few things that might foreshadow some of Breath of the Wild 2's story.  Maybe one of the levels might take place in a new area that will be in Breath of the Wild 2, complete with some of the new enemies that game will have as well.  Maybe the reason Link and Zelda are exploring that cave that leads them to Ganondorfs corpse in the Breath of the Wild 2 trailer is because of something that gets hinted at in this game.

I'm certainly keeping an eye on this titles since I think it could have the potential to have more going for it then we might think.  Especially if the Zelda team is indeed working even closer this time with the developers.