Before reading this, please note that I was, indeed, rather intoxicated at the time of writing.I was at first sad to find the new Zelda not to use the toon-shading style of the WW, but I was frankly amazed when I saw some of the screenshots. This not only is what most people seem to want from Zelda, it
builds on their mental image as well. Has anyone seen the replies at
Slashdot? Read some of the post and you´ll really see what I mean. After the arguments for toon-shading engine, it seemed to me like good games and games that apeal to the mainstream crowd in a major way are like two opposites, constantly struggling to overcome each other, But this has proven to me that EAD truly know how to produce the hype without bastardising their games.
The trailer, however, puts me off a little bit. Although the character models are spectacular, many of the textures on the ground look overly bland and generic. The score is worse, and belongs to some crappy fantasy-action or space-opera movie. I´ve said it before, and I´ll say it again: music in games has the natural ability to outdo its counterpart in movies. Screw this Conan crap, we deserve Kondo. Obviously, it is an early movie, but it still doesn´t impress me as much as I would like.
I think there´s a good chance the horse will be the major theme in this Zelda... so much emphasis was placed on it in the trailer. I just hope they don´t overdo it again. At the roundtable, Miyamoto mentioned an effort to keep the puzzles in the new game more original. One of my main gripes with WW is the fact that I felt that I´d essentially completed most of the puzzles while I was playing the game. Either that, or the new ones were so simple they felt more like a small jump on an obstacle course than anything else: their only purpose was to momentarily slow you down.
Has anyone else noticed that in the trailer, durning a built-up in the music and when Link brings his sword above his head, full cliché battle-cry sort of thing, there is absolutely no attempt to give him any sort of facial animation? Perhaps this was done on purpose, as a final example of toon-shading´s ability to produce much more than cheap and corny atmosephere playing on emotions invoked by primal instincts (ala Resident Evil), but much richer experiences demonstrating the ability to show rich and convincing emotion via a simpler outlet.
Honestly though, the fact that most if not all of the footage is someone actually playing game gives me the impression that once again, I´ll continue to play a game well past I´ve finished it, obtaining
virtuosity in its mechanics. Simply because of the amazing Fresco-blend of art and technology use to create it; strangely blurred and not yet entirely consistant or coherrent, but providing an image that has not yet been depicted anywhere else; I will play this game.
Topic: Realistic Zelda! (Read 9370 times)
