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[vinnygambini]

Please. Aonouma is clearly hinting that there will be a standalone game for Zelda where one can also play as Sheik.

Spoiler

Believe

 

[Graphics Horse]

Still confused on why he was holding the bow in his left hand if it was Link. Thank god people can stop speculating on who it is now though.

might have wiimote control option, I thought it was weird people bringing that up since it's been the standard for wii games.

 

[Busaiku]

Still confused on why he was holding the bow in his left hand if it was Link. Thank god people can stop speculating on who it is now though.

Link is right handed in Skyward Sword.

 

[papercan55]

I hope this confusion won't delay the game?
everything in the trailer was amazing yet people still had to joke about something.
I just hope they don't take those photoshopped images to heart and start redesigning link.

 

[Lotto]

I laughed.

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

 

[Ushojax]

Either way, it's a much more androgynous Link than we've had in any game prior. Lighter facial features, skinnier frame - it's a less masculine take on the character, which is a cool move.

Is it any more androgynous than this?

Link has been a slyph-like young man in every single game.

 

[aly]

Some people on gaming side are way too hostile towards discussions that involve sexuality, gender, and race.
Seeing so many people be bothered by the idea of a female Link is rather sad.

Female Link has always just been dumb to me.Let Link be Link. I just want to be Zelda

 

[Booty Patrol]

It seems Aonuma is going for the more androgynous look to better fit with "anyone can be link" style of story telling.

Ch, if he actually wanted that he should let us pick the gender or something.

 

[Papercuts]

So we had people doing insane analysis over the waist, eyebrows, and handedness for nothing. Not surprised.

 

[dampflokfreund]

Why did no one ask him if he shows more footage at Treehouse?

 

[SenorArdilla]

A lot of gamers are now questioning their sexuality.

 

[HawthorneKitty]

I don't see the contradiction.

 

[ramyeon]

Some people on gaming side are way too hostile towards discussions that involve sexuality, gender, and race.
Seeing so many people be bothered by the idea of a female Link is rather sad.

It works the other way 'round too. Anyone in the last thread who said they hoped Link was still male and the playable character was grilled for being a misogynist.

 

[mentallyinept]

Yeah, I saw this one coming.

The speculation was fun while it lasted.

 

[Garcia]

Bawwww... Would've been cool to have a heroine.

At least this puts things to rest.

 

[RMS Gigantic]

Another contradiction occurs between this story and what he said in the Game Informer interview he had earlier that day:

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2014/06/11/is-link-a-girl-in-zelda-on-wii-u.aspx

He was wholly aware of the fan speculation then, but made no effort to stop them; in fact, he quite enjoyed reading them, expressed a desire to see it continue, and said that the development team might be able to learn from them:

Another interesting comment I've heard, quite frequently actually, is that, "Oh Link's a woman. Link is female now."

Game Informer said that he brought this topic up all his own, so he seems to have been rather well aware of the speculation at this point.


And in response to the interviewer remarking that hooded Link riding the horse in the middle of the field first made him think that it was Zelda:

That might be something that consciously we kind of did, but not to say anything specific – I am not saying anything specific – but, I am hoping people continue to comment, and I will continue to follow the fan comments and reactions to the trailer. I am certainly curious, and I am sure there are things we as developers can glean.

Beyond that, there's this post of mine in the thread about the original remark, where I conclude that the designers seem to have deliberately made Link look vastly more biologically female than any Link iteration had before. This thing has led me to effort justification bias that acts as my single biggest factor in questioning the MMGN article.

 

[Booty Patrol]

It works the other way 'round too. Anyone in the last thread who said they hoped Link was still male and the playable character was grilled for being a misogynist.

No, this didn't happen at all.

 

[ponpo]

 

[Gentle Rodriguez]

Is it any more androgynous than this?

Yes, how is that even a question? It's not even close.

 

[Vermillion]

To think, I was almost convinced that it was a female Link, lol.

 

[Crayolan]

Like I said, there's no way that Link was a female. I really don't understand how anyone could assume he was a girl, especially before Aonuma's statement.

 

[Hermii]

So we had people doing insane analysis over the waist, eyebrows, and handedness for nothing. Not surprised.

If they never dismissed the speculation it might have risen to joakim mogren level insanity

 

[Galactic Fork]

Oh come off it.
Good idea. I'll respond to it with the usual:

It's Nintendo and Nintendo likes to operate in the land of precedent.

They could do a lot of things, but they decide to stick to tradition.

Hopefully Aonuma is thinking just enough outside of the box that we can get playable genders...if Link really is just a representation of the player.

It bugs me that he says things like "I don't want people to get hung up on the way Link looks because ultimately Link represents the player in the game" but doesn't offer a character creation... If his looks don't matter, then let us decide what he (or if we choose, she) looks like?

 

[Trigonometrize.]

They Mulan'd Link before he could even express his femine side. RIP Linka 2014-2014

But seriously, if you have a beef with someone for being relieved that a male character across tens of games for twenty five years isn't arbitrarily being made into a female you're just silly.

 

[co1onel]

Link is right handed in Skyward Sword.

Link holds the bow in his right hand in Skyward Sword, as he has in every Zelda game besides twilight princess wii which is an exception because that game was just completely flipped.

 

[JB-the-Hunter]

They always talk about how Link is supposed to be a projection of yourself into the game, I don't see why they can't just make a male and female character and you choose at the start of the game.

Good idea. I'll respond to it with the usual:

It's Nintendo and Nintendo likes to operate in the land of precedent.

They could do a lot of things, but they decide to stick to tradition.

Hopefully Aonuma is thinking just enough outside of the box that we can get playable genders...if Link really is just a representation of the player.

C'mon people, Link is a long established character. He's Mario. He's Sonic. He's Ryu. He's Samus. He's not just some generic avatar and he shouldn't be reduced to one.

 

[aspiegamer]

A lot of gamers are now questioning their sexuality.

You make it sound like that's bad for some reason! This shouldn't exactly be new for anyone with an ongoing relationship with Japanese media content, anyway.

Thank god...

Seriously?

don't let him crush your dreams guys, it's not up to him. we'll always have deviantart

That's the spirit! Internet gonna internet.

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

 

[Paracelsus]

Yeah but can he jump?

 

[Mushroomer25]

Is it any more androgynous than this?



Link has been a slyph-like young man in every single game.

At least in terms of facial features, yes.

 

[ZoddGutts]

Eh, would have hoped you were given the choice to pick Link's gender.

 

[Frodo]

Will always be female to me.

 

[vinnygambini]

dead

 

[w1gglyjones]

Having a playable Zelda is better than picking Link's gender.

 

[munchie64]

Ok so where are all the people saying it was 100% a female and that it wasn't even up for discussion?

 

[Not]

I already vented all my disappointment in the last thread, so I'll just repeat my comments.

Apparently the "no one said for sure that was actually Link" was just a "that was Link, huh? Are you sure?" sarcastic comment from Aonuma. Bummer.

We can all agree that Link is visibly more feminine. I wonder what the decision was behind the design. Aonuma's comments lead me to support the androgynous player character theory more and more, that the appearance shouldn't matter, and regardless of the player's gender, you can pretend to be Link.

Still wish you could choose like in Pokemon though.

 

[Hatchtag]

I don't really believe this much, honestly. It's so contradictory. Something's up I think.

 

[ramyeon]

No, this didn't happen at all.

It sure seemed that way to me.

I have no real opinion either way, beyond the fact that I never questioned Link's gender in the trailer. Link has always been androgynous and elf-like in the past so it didn't seem odd to me.

If they did make Link female I'd be fine with it, but I can't see it happening because although Link is reincarnated in the canon he has become as good as a single character or icon as Samus, Mario, Bowser or Peach for Nintendo and a huge chunk of Nintendo fans.

 

[Galactic Fork]

C'mon people, Link is a long established character. He's Mario. He's Sonic. He's Ryu. He's Samus. He's not just some generic avatar and he shouldn't be reduced to one.

He is not a character, he's lots of different people in different time periods and time lines. Different parents, different childhoods... He's not Mario, or Sonic. He is Legion!

 

[MisterHero]

I was going to say it took me a couple days to get around to the possility of Link's role being assigned to a female character. However, now I'll just say I'm relieved. They celebrated Zelda's 25th Anniversary with Link as the face of the series. Not standing by that just feels wrong.

That doesn't mean I won't thoroughly enjoy every character in Hyrule Warriors though. Nor would I object to creating a brand new Heroine with her own [Mainline?] game. Just don't mess with Link, please.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

Now prepare for the Ubisoft-esque backlash.

 

[Madness]

It seems Aonuma is going for the more androgynous look to better fit with "anyone can be link" style of story telling. I think this is a great way, but I can also see Link still having characteristics of past Zelda titles.

Or they wanted to try a slightly different style of Link? I remember reading on another forum that someone said it had to be a girl because of the long braided hair. Clearly people haven't really heard of long braided hair long being used in East Asian countries, especially back in the day. Remember, most of these Links are always different generations and slight variations.

 

[Partition]

I don't see the contradiction.

But my intent in saying that was humour. You know, you have to show Link when you create a trailer for a Zelda announcement.

"Rather, the more we change it, the more I get fired up. Having someone think 'Huh? Is this Zelda?!' at first, then 'Oh, it is Zelda,' is what we're going for. Something that wouldn't make it matter whether Link or Princess Zelda appear in it or not. Something where it wouldn't even matter if Zelda is actually a princess, or not."

Sure, the statements were months apart, but it is strange how he kind of blew off what he said previously.

 

[Brainfreeze]

Either way, it's a much more androgynous Link than we've had in any game prior. Lighter facial features, skinnier frame - it's a less masculine take on the character, which is a cool move.

Pretty much this. I mentioned it in another thread, but the cool part about his design to me was that his gender wasn't immediately obvious, allowing the speculation. Ignoring gender roles and expectations, regardless of what Link's gender ended up being, is more interesting to me than if he had just been a girl. So good on them for that, though it's not exactly a first for the series either.

Glad the speculation ended before people got even more attached to the idea though. There's already going to be so much disappointment.

 

[RMS Gigantic]

At least in terms of facial features, yes.

Well beyond facial features.

 

[Graphics Horse]

hello sausage

 

[bon]

People really thought he was a girl? Didn't we go through this when Hyrule Warriors was announced too?

Link is a very cute pretty boy, has been since at least Ocarina of Time. Nothin' wrong with that.

 

[RMS Gigantic]

hello sausage

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

Over 2,300 posts gone to waste.