Aonuma’s Goal is to Eliminate the Formula in Zelda U, Let the Player Define Their Experience

Eiji Aonuma seems to have a very clear vision for what Zelda U will become. While he wanted to talk more about Hyrule Warriors, interviewers were clever enough to sneak in Zelda U questions based around what is being done with Hyrule Warriors, which is giving us a few cryptic answers for us to dissect.

Will we see hints about the new Zelda coming to Wii U in Hyrule Warriors? Is Hyrule Warriors a test bed for some of the action mechanics that will appear in the next Zelda?

[Eiji Aonuma] “In the trailer I talked about the idea of the open world and how we’re going to really bring it to life in the next installment of the series. With Hyrule Warriors, it’s not a huge open world, but it’s a large area with battles taking place all the time. Link has to figure out what his strategy is, what his part is going to be, and how he is going to take over as many of these areas as possible. In that sense, it’s unlike the traditional Zelda titles where there is a process – a flow you have to follow. You start at A, you go to B, you get the key kind of thing. My goal is to eliminate that sort of formula and make it more of, as in with Hyrule Warriors, this large space where you have to figure out what your experience is going to be within that space. You define it.”

Source: GameInformer