Topic: Aonuma Reveals New Skyward Sword Details

[NWR_pap64]

Skyward Sword will be about the creation of the Master Sword, and Ganon will not be its main antagonist.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/27256

Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma confirmed several new details about The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword in an interview with Nintendo Power.

When asked about the story in Skyward Sword, Aonuma mentions that while past Zelda stories were about Link finding the Master Sword, this story will deal with its creation. "This time around, it’s more centered on the creation of the Master Sword–the way it was born, so to speak" Aonuma said.  "Link kind of forges it along the way.  It’s more centered on that, which is a different pattern than we have had in a lot of ways."

Aonuma then further confirms that the Zelda in this game isn't a princess, but states that she and Link have a great relationship. Regarding her new look, Aonuma stated that "One of the things that I said before was that she is supposed to be Link’s childhood friend, so we tried to give her a design that made her feel sort of relatable and have that warmth to her."

Skyward Sword will feature a harp, which Aonuma details in the interview. "This time around, the harp comes into Link’s hands during the course of the game and is used to help the player find something important.  You actually need to play the harp to use it, so to speak.  The design is the same as the harp that Sheik has in Ocarina of Time."

He further confirms this by stating that "Yes, the harp is sort of the central instrument hat you’ll see this time.  With a lot of previous Zelda games it has been about inputting specific notes to compose things.  Given the nature of what a harp is, and the fact that it’s an instrument that one strums, this time we’re using the Wii MotionPlus to really make it based on the rhythm of strumming to get across the musical element."

The interview then touches upon Lord Ghirahim, Skyward Sword's main antagonist. Aonuma explains that he was created in contrast to Ganon, a character that is very masculine and powerful. "Someone who is a little bit mysterious and kind of makes people think, 'well, I don’t really know what to make of this somewhat terrifying character.'  That was sort of my goal in making a character like Ghirahm, and that’s basically why I did that" he said to the publication.

Aonuma was then asked about Skyward Sword's place in the Zelda timeline, stating that it does indeed come before Ocarina of Time, meaning Ganon won't make an appearance since the story doesn't deal directly with the Triforce.

Finally, Aonuma was asked about the birds seen in the flying race demo at E3. He explained that since Link lives in a world in the skies, the birds are essential in traveling to various places around the world.

[Flipster]

Sounds like it's the first mainstream Legend of Zelda game since Majora's Mask that is very unique to the series in terms of the story setup. All I'm waiting for is a pre-order bonus and I'm there : )

[AV]

At least the harp will be different, so far its coming together and I'm starting to get hyped.

[Caliban]

I really didn't like the rhythm based instrument playing in Spirit Tracks, so I'm kind of apprehensive about this harp thing.

[broodwars]

Ugh...Nintendo, the musical instrument thing in Zelda is so played out...did we really need another game with one as the focus?  Oh well...I hope it's at least fast and easy to use, as that was a big complaint of mine with Wind Waker (sailing was just so tedious because every minor correction you wanted to make with the Wind, you had to pull the damn baton out again and spend 30 seconds fixing it).  Well, not having Ganon is a step in the right direction.  I'm still very much "wait and see" with this game, though.

[Sonny]

For a company that usually keeps their mouths closed most of the time, they seem to not shut up with Skyward Sword since E3. There seems to be too much reveling info and it's starting to annoy me that instead of gameplay stuff, it's story. A lot of minispoilers.

[King of Twitch]

Motion Puss harp, that will be fun. I wonder why they couldn't show any of this stuff off at E3.

[Luigi Dude]

For a company that usually keeps their mouths closed most of the time, they seem to not shut up with Skyward Sword since E3. There seems to be too much reveling info and it's starting to annoy me that instead of gameplay stuff, it's story. A lot of minispoilers.

Most of the stuff Aonuma said in the interview is about things that have already been revealed.  The Harp isn't completely new information since the GDC trailer back in March shows Link with a Harp item as one of his items.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKUn5ESdK4s

It's between the 23-25 second mark so it's easy for a lot of people to miss.  But this trailer was when we technically first learned Link would have a Harp.

Also Ganon not being in the game has been something we've known for over a year now since back at E3 2010 they revealed the game would take place before Ocarina of Time which made it 100% impossible for Ganon to be the villain of Skyward Sword since he doesn't even exist yet in the timeline.  (yeah I know "lol Zelda timeline" but OoT being the game about Ganons first rise to power is one of the few things in the so called timeline that will remain consistent.)

[Ceric]

Slight Side track if OoT is suppose to be Ganon's first appearance timeline wise that sort of supports the original 2 actually being the last of the last in the timeline.

Anyways,  Think about the destruction and world changing effect a Symphony could have in Hyrule...

[Ian Sane]

Also Ganon not being in the game has been something we've known for over a year now since back at E3 2010 they revealed the game would take place before Ocarina of Time which made it 100% impossible for Ganon to be the villain of Skyward Sword since he doesn't even exist yet in the timeline.  (yeah I know "lol Zelda timeline" but OoT being the game about Ganons first rise to power is one of the few things in the so called timeline that will remain consistent.)

Sorry but I have to say "lol Zelda timeline" on that one.  What's to stop Nintendo from just retconning things so that Ganon makes his first appearance in this game?  The Zelda timeline is full of holes anyway.  Nintendo doesn't give a **** about stories and is incapable of making a decent one.  Logically I get what you're saying but that logic only applies to competent and coherent story structure.  This is the company that thought fish evolving into birds in an ocean world made sense.  Coherence does not apply so we can't eliminate Ganon's appearance entirely on the basis that it wouldn't make sense.

[Stogi]

Well the fact that they said Ganon won't be in the game should "eliminate Ganon's appearance".

[UltimatePartyBear]

My two favorite Zelda games are Ganon free, and I don't think it's a coincidence.  It lets the developers break from tradition and get creative.  Or maybe it would be better to say it's a sign of breaking from tradition.  Anyway, I have high hopes for this one.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Well the fact that they said Ganon won't be in the game should "eliminate Ganon's appearance".

What about Ganondorf? Aonuma could be playing with everyone's heads. Or there could be a descendent. But really no "Ganon" may just mean no Pig Ganon.  Ganon is still one of my favorite villains, it is no coincidence for me my favorite Zelda titles had Ganondorf or Ganon in them.

Really I don't care either way as long as the game shakes up things a little bit, which it seems to be doing.

This is the company that thought fish evolving into birds in an ocean world made sense

I forgot that fantasy games need to be solely based in science and logic. You mean Goombas won't evolve wings in the span of a couple of games? Unheard of. The fact is that the last few Zelda games story has taken on more of a role and they fit together a bit better, at least when it comes to the 3D Zeldas. Ganondorf didn't take power until OOT, that was pretty clearly spelled out in the game.The fact is that NIntendo has been taking the story a bit more seriously since OOT, and I think even the divergent timeline was confirmed for Wind Waker and TP. It just gets messy with some of the handheld and the SNES/NES games. Not to say that everything fits perfectly but it fits enough to where Ganon not being in Skyward is quite obvious, there may be a "form" for the evil that sets into motion the events that culminate to Ganon in the future but that is it. I Just hope the game has a bit more free reign for its story like Wind Waker had, which really helped establish Ganondorf as a complex villain.