Tri Force Heroes’ Online Multiplayer Detailed, Flexible Match-Making Available

Fans have been a bit concerned with how they will find teammates in Tri Force Heroes. While we’ve already heard that the game will include both local and online play, we still weren’t completely clear on the details. Director Hiromasa Shikata recently cleared up some of the confusion in an interview with IGN. In the interview, he explained how Tri Force Heroes will feature local, regional, and world online play, and he explained how flexible the match-making will be when filling out your team.

When asked about match-making in Tri Force Heroes, Shikata explained exactly how online multiplayer will work:

“IGN: Let’s talk about Zelda: Tri Force Heroes’ approach to online. Can you play with friends? Will people who don’t have friends that want to play online available be matchmade into a game?

Shikata: When you’re getting ready to play online, the first thing you’ll see is [an option to] play with friends or anyone. You will have people in your friends list. I don’t know the exact wording; I apologize. If you choose anyone or within my region or whatever it might be…then you could be playing with other folks who have made the same selection on their systems. This is a three-player cooperative game, but if only two of you are playing, you could also have two friends match up with a third person that wasn’t your friend.

Even if you go online and you choose to play with friends, and unfortunately none of them are available or what not, from there you can play with folks who you don’t know but are ready to play.”

He also reiterated what happens when a teammate drops out during a game:

“IGN: What happens if someone drops out of a game?

Shikata: Well, if someone drops out – due to a technical issue or accidentally leaving the game – basically, the game ends and you go to a game over screen or a game end screen. Your game data is saved to that point.”

Shikata was then asked about the technical challenges in implementing this system:

“IGN: That reminds me of similar system in other games. A match will end if someone drops out. I’m just curious; is it just harder technically to have a system where someone could drop out and maybe you could find someone else to bring into that experience?

Shikata: That idea is really difficult from a player’s standpoint, because you’re coming into a situation like, “Okay, where are we at? What dungeon are we in? Do I have the right equipment, what’s going on?” It just seems like it would be a very difficult thing for players to do. If someone does drop out again, you’ll go, you’ll save your data, but you can jump right back to the lobby and you’ll just grab another person, you can go right back in.”

These explanations put to rest a few of the issues that fans had with the game’s online multiplayer. It’s good to hear that two friends can quickly and easily get matched up with a third teammate. It seems like the Tri Force Heroes team is fighting to make the game as seamless and painless as possible.

Source: IGN

Related Content:

• Tri Force Heroes Walkthrough
• Everything We Know About Tri Force Heroes
• Tri Force Heroes Game Index
• Tri Force Heroes Zelda Wiki Page