User:Locke/Sandbox
BotW Timeline Quotes
Waypoint: And where does this Zelda fit on the series’ timeline, in its chronology, split as that is into three separate yet connected branches?
- Aonuma: I wouldn’t say that it obviously fits into any one part of the timeline, but if you play the game, you’ll be able to work out where it fits. As you probably saw in the trailer, the most recent trailer, there’s a woman’s voice, and she says: “The history of the royal family of Hyrule is also the history of the Calamity Ganon.” And as you know, the Zelda series, up until now, is a history of repeated attacks by Ganon. So, there’s food for thought there. I don’t want to say anything more as I’d like players to work it out for themselves, to play the game and see what they think.[1]
Let's start with the latest Breath of the Wild trailer. I think fans loved what they saw. There were several familiar characters and faces - fans spotted the Deku Tree, for example, and the Koroks. There's continued speculation on where the game might fit within the timeline that we know. Can you expand upon that? Are people on the right track with theories that it follows Wind Waker?
- Aonuma: So... in the trailer there was a sort of Wind Waker-esque element, and to a degree you could say that the animation and the art style have some influences from Wind Waker, so I can see why people would draw those connections.
- But with Breath of the Wild, one thing I'm really keen to emphasise is that a big part of the appeal of the game is surprise, unexpected encounters, so I want fans to experience surprise and to experience an element of the unexpected - I feel if I spoke too much about that kind of thing, it might spoil things for people, so I'd rather not touch on that too deeply.[2]
Already people have been surprised by what this version of the Zelda series has already brought. Skyward Sword really set down the idea that each version of Link and Zelda were new incarnations of original characters, but with Breath of the Wild, the beginning seems like an attempt to sort of disrupt this and surprise the player by having a Link who's already a hero and has awoken 100 years later. Was it a conscious decision to disrupt the formula and what fans might be expecting?
- Aonuma: The fact that Link has been asleep for 100 years is a particularly important part of this story. It's true that this is kind of a technique in a way - a storytelling technique - that we'd like to use this time so everyone can relate to that in his or her own way, and players can discover the importance of that point as they play through the game. How exactly that plays into the story as a whole... well, it's very important, so as you can probably understand I can't really say much more about it at this stage.[3]
Jeuxvideo.com : Breath of the Wild includes elements of The Wind Waker such as Koroks, tree seeds ... Deku what extent the world of the Wild Breath of Wind Waker and are they related?
- Eiji Aonuma : I'll be very frank with you, for each Zelda that we realized, we always resumed Zelda elements to refresh the past in the new episodes. As you can see for yourself, in Breath of the Wild we used a graphic style that is very close to animation. It has therefore been assumed that it would be much simpler to take up graphic elements and assets from Wind Waker, rather than from other episodes. It is actually a graphic point of view that the two are very similar, but if you talk about the scenario, to be honest, there is no particular connection between these two games. Graphically, it was much simpler for us to work on the basics of the graphical elements of Wind Waker.[4]
Jeuxvideo.com : Skyward Sword, the latest installment of the series was at the very beginning of the chronology of the history of Hyrule. Where do you find this episode?
- I can not yet answer this question because I want players to discover some elements of the game on their own, but you have some clues when you see that in the game there is the voice of a young person Woman who tells you that the world you are in has suffered many battles against Ganon. You can imagine roughly what period it is.[5]
BotW Prerelease Videos
- Shrine of Trials Gameplay Part 1/4
- Exploration Gameplay
- Introduction
- The NES Connection
- Shrine of Trials Gameplay Part 2/4
- Shrine of Trials Gameplay Part 3/4
- Shrine of Trials Gameplay Part 4/4
- Beyond the Plateau Gameplay (TODO watch for prerelease naming differences)
- Hunting and Gathering Gameplay (TODO watch for prerelease naming differences)
- Weapons and Combat Gameplay (TODO watch for prerelease naming differences)
- amiibo Gameplay (TODO watch for prerelease naming differences)
- Life in the Ruins (TGA)
- Let's Play (TGA)
Red Links
Adventure Mode
- Adventure Map
- Rewards Map
- Master Quest Map
A History in Quotes
This is an interesting idea I had a while ago. As I'm going through the HH and putting together the Timeline pages, I'll compile the quotes I come across here, with the intention of telling the complete Zelda story using nothing but quotes from the games (and maybe manuals, and maaaaybe developer quotes).
"Before time began, before spirits and life existed...
Three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule...
Din, the goddess of power...
Nayru, the goddess of wisdom...
Farore, the goddess of courage...
Din...
With her strong flaming arms, she cultivated the land and created the red earth.
Nayru...
Poured her wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world.
Farore...
With her rich soul, produced all life forms who would uphold the law.
The three great goddesses, their labors completed, departed for the heavens.
And golden sacred triangles remained at the point where the goddesses left the world.
Since then, the sacred triangles have become the basis of our world's providence.
And, the resting place of the triangles has become the Sacred Realm."
"One dark, fateful day, the earth cracked wide and malevolent forces rushed forth from the fissure.
They mounted a brutal assault upon the surface people, driving the land into deep despair...
They burnt forests to ash, choked the land's sweet springs, and murdered without hesitation.
They did all this in their lust to take the ultimate power protected by Her Grace, the goddess.
The power she guarded was without equal.
Handed down by gods of old, this power gave its holder the means to make any desire a reality.
Such was the might of the ultimate power that the old ones placed it in the care of the goddess.
To prevent this great power from falling into the hands of the evil swarming the lands...
the goddess gathered the surviving humans on an outcropping of earth.
She sent it skyward, beyond the reach of the demonic hordes. Beyond even the clouds.
With the humans safe, the goddess joined forces with the land dwellers and fought the evil forces, sealing them away.
At last, peace was restored to the surface."
"The old gods created a supreme power that gave anyone who possessed it the ability to shape reality and fulfill any desire. They called it the Triforce. In his thirst to make the world his own, Demise readied a massive army of monsters for war. He sought to take the Triforce for himself by force. The goddess feared for her people. She used her power to send both them and the Triforce into the sky on a slice of earth she cut away from the land. This floating rock became the new home of our people. In time, it came to be known as Skyloft.
After a long and fierce battle, the goddess, Hylia, succeeded in sealing away Demise.
However, soon after the demon king was imprisoned, it became clear that the seal would not hold long against his fearsome power. Hylia had suffered grave injuries in her battle with the demon king. She knew that if he broke free again, there would be no stopping him.
And if the demon king were to free himself, it would mean the end of the world for all beings of this land.
In order to put an end to the demon king, Hylia devised two separate plans and set them both into motion.
First, she created Fi. She made the spirit that resides in your sword to serve a single purpose: to assist her chosen hero on his mission. Her second plan...was to abandon her divine form and transfer her soul to the body of a mortal.
...She made this sacrifice, as you have likely guessed, so that the supreme power created by the old gods could one day be used. For while the supreme power of the Triforce was created by gods, all of its power can never be wielded by one.
Knowing this power was her last and only hope, the goddess gave up her divine powers and her immortal form."