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Legend of Zelda Wii U Gameplay Demo

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qizah

Unconfirmed Member
The scale and scope of the game reminds me of Xenoblade. If you can see it in the distance, you can go there.

That combined with the fact that you're free to go to whichever dungeon you choose has me super excited.

It's pretty funny people are complaining about textures and emptiness in the world. I didn't know you could easily tell what the textures look like from an off TV demo, nor did I realize this is representative of the final product.

Jokes, I fully expected those kinds of complaints to show up here, despite how utterly stupid they are.
 

DeaviL

Banned
What's with all this "empty world" BS?
Why would they reveal all of the new enemies, stuff to do, etc in the middle of development?

Should've just made one of those typical "gameplay" trailers and called it a day,
people will always find something to harp on.
 

Zero²

Member
Well if they actually make different kind of interesting places for us to look at and discover, I dont really mind them being kinda empty of itens or "meaningful" content. Kinda like Xenoblade for the Wii was.
Interesting to see all this complaints tho, I dont remember all this bitching when S-E showed the new FFXV.
Which looked amazing, even if I still dont like Noctis :p
 

Alienous

Member
I know right? This is awesome. Just like in real life. Not every single tiny spot has to have a "meaning". No, scratch that, a huge terrain where nothing happens actually HAS a meaning. It gives you the urge to explore and the feeling that you are in a real place, not made by some developer who tries to keep gamers "busy" all the time because some have short attention spans.

It also reminds me of Shadow of Colossus a bit, so that's good.

Shadow of the Colossus felt purposefully barren. 'These are the forbidden lands, and life doesn't really survive here'.

When I see Zelda Wii U's 'barren-ness' it doesn't seem quite so deliberate or purposeful. And I certainly didn't get the impression from this:

cdWYOwj.gif


that they were going for a barren world.

The newest footage is missing a sense of vitality. Maybe if the apples were growing on the trees, and Link went up and plucked one, it would have aided in giving the world a sense of living. It just seems so static.
 
Watching it made me want to go and explore the Sussex Downs, which I'm going to do right after I've posted this.

The problem for me is that watching the video didn't make me want to go off and explore it. There's little in the way of interesting landmarks and everything just feels meaningless and filler. That first teaser they showed looks great, and I was itching to pick up the controller and go explore, but if that location is a special case and not representative of the whole overworld, then I'll be disappointed.
 

Peltz

Member
It doesn't matter why. It just matters that it is.

Hopefully it will change, but the world looks empty in this footage, IMO.

I don't mind some sparse areas if there are also some dense areas too.

As it is, the part with the wild horses gave me goosebumps and I sort of hate that they showed it. I would've loved to stumble upon that myself!

So, I don't mind them not showing much.
 
Also notice that there is an island here. And the distance is quite large (probably the same as the distance traveled in the demo).

Maybe there are ships or boats for travel?

map5oqa22.jpg

I actually expect the transportation to get easier as you play the game. You probably start with Epona, then get a boat to travel through the canals and finally get a bird for flying.
 
I don't mind some sparse areas if there are also some dense areas too.

As it is, the part with the wild horses gave me goosebumps and I sort of hate that they showed it. I would've loved to stumble upon that myself!

So, I don't mind them not showing much.

xvdxzk.gif


Something about seeing this in gif form changed how I felt about the demo.
 
What's with all this "empty world" BS?
Why would they reveal all of the new enemies, stuff to do, etc in the middle of development?

Should've just made one of those typical "gameplay" trailers and called it a day,
people will always find something to harp on.

I agree that people should not expect GTA5 level of detail from Zelda, but for now the empty looking world is a legitimate concern (Until Nintendo shows more).

The demo was not very exciting from a pure gameplay perspective either. Waypoint mechanics, horse riding, etc. People have seen it.
 
Neither does a house that's still under construction.

Don't you remember ALBW ? That didn't look lived in too.

And Zelda U is basically a MSX game, just look at that one texture there in the off screen footage that has been compressed to hell by YouTube.

Clearly.





/s
 

DeaviL

Banned
I agree that people should not expect GTA5 level of detail from Zelda, but for now the empty looking world is a legitimate concern (Until Nintendo shows more).

The demo was not very exciting from a pure gameplay perspective either. Waypoint mechanics, horse riding, etc. People have seen it.

People kept crying for footage, Nintendo gave it.
I wonder why you'd expect a finished game a year beforehand.

The empty world would be a concern if we
1. weren't a year before release
2. Knew that they weren't purposefully avoiding areas that would reveal too much (chances are that's why the footage kept cutting away)
 

Alienous

Member
xvdxzk.gif


Something about seeing this in gif form changed how I felt about the demo.

It isn't "something". It's the fact that the grass is swaying, and life (the horses) is reacting to you, and the world seems alive. It's pretty much the only part of the footage where the world seems alive.

We need to see something direct feed, because maybe in HD we'll be able to see insects and small animals, or the subtle swaying of the grass, in the other parts of the footage.
 

Nanashrew

Banned
Maybe Nintendo felt the need to prove a point that "hey, this is running on Wii U hardware and this is a huge world you can explore." They're use of waypoints was to convey the sense of scale that we all so desperately wanted and demanded to see. We got what we asked for in a conservative way and many are not so excited. I'm excited though, I liked what I saw and interested in how they will handle this.

Remember that Nintendo doesn't normally do this. They actually showed off a big name title of theirs for a western award show that is not E3.
 

Kathian

Banned
I wonder where went the flowers, butterflies and pine trees in the new build?
Hope the final game resemble more the first gif. I also need to see in-game water.

Miyamoto also commented that some of the trees had apples when he last saw them; they still do and you can eat them but not in this demo. So the question is whether its somewhat seasonal.
 

Tuck

Member
I wonder where went the flowers, butterflies and pine trees in the new build?
Hope the final game resemble more the first gif. I also need to see in-game water.

Different part of the map, different part of the day.

Do wish we say that area they showed last time.
 

Zero²

Member
Miyamoto also commented that some of the trees had apples when he last saw them; they still do and you can eat them but not in this demo. So the question is whether its somewhat seasonal.
Yeah I thought that too, maybe you have the Rod of Seasons on this game! :D
 

Celine

Member
I know right? This is awesome. Just like in real life. Not every single tiny spot has to have a "meaning". No, scratch that, a huge terrain where nothing happens actually HAS a meaning. It gives you the urge to explore and the feeling that you are in a real place, not made by some developer who tries to keep gamers "busy" all the time because some have short attention spans.

It also reminds me of Shadow of Colossus a bit, so that's good.
Wise words.

SS overworld was relatively dense but at the same time it felt more like an expanded dungeon.
 

Palculator

Unconfirmed Member
do you have to move the Pad to aim your arrows?

Probably not. They just try to justify the gamepad any way they can and I'd expect the right stick to be an option. Though I have to admit, for some shootbangs on the Vita the gyro-aiming can help if you need to be precise. So, quick turns I do with the right stick and low-sensitive aiming with the gyro. I was skeptical too but it works nice.
 
I wonder where went the flowers, butterflies and pine trees in the new build?
Hope the final game resemble more the first gif. I also need to see in-game water.
It's just a different area. ;) And it's compressed & off-screen, you can't see insects at this quality.

You also can't see the fruits in the trees that Miyamoto mentioned. And you can eat them.



If you look at this gif, you can see different kind of flora:
kejygc.gif
 

Kiru

Member
I see Link using the right hand for the sword, I hope optional wii remote + nunchuck controls are in.
 
People kept crying for footage, Nintendo gave it.
I wonder why you'd expect a finished game a year beforehand.

The empty world would be a concern if we
1. weren't a year before release
2. Knew that they weren't purposefully avoiding areas that would reveal too much (chances are that's why the footage kept cutting away)

I know I didn't cry for footage. If you have nothing exciting to show (That comes close to your trailers...), wait for E3. Doing a weird offscreen demo is typically Nintendo. They should take a look at R* to see how you can build hype for an open world game.
 
Shadow of the Colossus felt purposefully barren. 'These are the forbidden lands, and life doesn't really survive here'.

When I see Zelda Wii U's 'barren-ness' it doesn't seem quite so deliberate or purposeful. And I certainly didn't get the impression from this:

cdWYOwj.gif


that they were going for a barren world.

The newest footage is missing a sense of vitality. Maybe if the apples were growing on the trees, and Link went up and plucked one, it would have aided in giving the world a sense of living. It just seems so static.

Still looks okay, but this certainly is a downgrade for now. They better get their shit together.
 

Nanashrew

Banned
If we get a raft it'll be kinda cool and a throwback to the first Zelda.

Strangely, eating food would be a first for a 3D Zelda game. There are apples in TP though but you can't eat them. They're taking stuff that were only ever applied in 2D Zelda games and putting them in this. One big example is the puzzle like terrain that Aonuma keeps bringing up in interviews and how you can approach things.
 

Palculator

Unconfirmed Member
I know right? This is awesome. Just like in real life. Not every single tiny spot has to have a "meaning". No, scratch that, a huge terrain where nothing happens actually HAS a meaning. It gives you the urge to explore and the feeling that you are in a real place, not made by some developer who tries to keep gamers "busy" all the time because some have short attention spans.

It also reminds me of Shadow of Colossus a bit, so that's good.

This is exactly what people should be remembering. Shadow of the Colossus' world felt fucking great to just ride through and aside from the colossi, all you could do was fetch those fruits or geckos.

They're probably not going for a world that's this barren and lifeless, but I'd like to remind people that emptiness does not imply badness. If all this does is have Wind Waker style encounters, maybe some treasures buried, random outposts, maybe some rupee-gates to ride through and some collectibles between towns / dungeons I'd be fine with it.
 

thefro

Member
Still looks okay, but this certainly is a downgrade for now. They better get their shit together.

I think the area for E3 was probably polished for that reveal, whereas what we saw at the TGAs is literally a work in progress.

I also think they probably flipped some programming switches to turn off a lot of the random stuff that will happen in the completed game that they're not ready to reveal yet (enemies spawning, different animals, random events, etc).
 
Going from scripted trailer to real gameplay and still looking as good is not a downgrade, but i wasn't expecting a sensible comment from you anyway.

Well, people sure have been trying hard to sell the E3 footage as the real thing though.

I think the area for E3 was probably polished for that reveal, whereas what we saw at the TGAs is literally a work in progress.

I also think they probably flipped some programming switches to turn off a lot of the random stuff that will happen in the completed game that they're not ready to reveal yet (enemies spawning, different animals, random events, etc).

It's most likely a 2016 game, so hopefully they'll polish up the rest.
 
Well, people sure have been trying hard to sell the E3 footage as the real thing though.
It's the same, just a different scenery.

- You can't see the insects because of the video quality.
- It's not day, the sun isn't high, so you don't see the traversing shadows of the clouds.
- It's not windy, so the grass isn't moving on it's own.
- There is no morning fog because it's evening.
- You can't see flowers due to video quality (or because it's a different area)
- Direct feed vs. Off Screen

That's what makes the E3 thing "alive".
 

OmegaDL50

Member
When I see games like The Witcher 3, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Final Fantasy XV, Xenoblade X, and now then newest Zelda game for Wii U. It shows me that developers instead of making super pretty linear corridor games are now more focused to bring attention to free exploration without totally abandoning level design.

While I know some people take the trend of open world games having a false dichotomy of being empty with nothing to do, however if we go back to the older Zelda titles in the series such as Zelda 1, Links Awakening, and even A Link to the Past, they managed to have a balance of open exploration with many hidden secrets and solid dungeon design. I don't see why Zelda U can't achieve the same balance in this regard.

Of course not every single game is suited for open worlds, such games that use small arenas and linear paths such as Bayonetta, Dark Souls, The Last of Us, and more combat focused action titles to provide an additional challenge of needing to be conscious of the limited area to fight in when surrounded by enemies, but in regards to RPGs and Adventure titles, I prefer the large open worlds to give a sense of scope to the world, like in Darksiders, Okami, Dragon Quest VIII, or Xenoblade.
 
I think the area for E3 was probably polished for that reveal, whereas what we saw at the TGAs is literally a work in progress.

I also think they probably flipped some programming switches to turn off a lot of the random stuff that will happen in the completed game that they're not ready to reveal yet (enemies spawning, different animals, random events, etc).

Don´t feed the troll.

Btw. did no one else see the big goat on the cliff? ;)
 
Well, people sure have been trying hard to sell the E3 footage as the real thing though.

It's most likely a 2016 game, so hopefully they'll polish up the rest.

What part of it wasn't real? It was an in-engine trailer. Even the horse vaulting thing at the end that SO MANY people said wasn't possible, despite Aonuma saying it was, ACTUALLY IS POSSIBLE
 

Lernaean

Banned
Well, people sure have been trying hard to sell the E3 footage as the real thing though.

The E3 footage was running in engine, with assets from the game but the cameras, direction and action was scripted. It was a proof of concept for the final game. There were subtle details in the demo too, like bugs etc, but we just couldn't see them because off screen.
 
If the gamepad is just a map, I wonder if there are other controller options..

Wiimote needs to be in, even if the enemie strategies aren't designed around motion combat...
Although, I unfortunately think that from now on, regardless of controller options, most 1st party titles will force the pad on to you and not start the game without it (like Pikmin, which was super annoying).
 
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