Zelda News: Offical Skyward Sword Opening Demo in English + Interview

Remember that opening demo I posted a while back in German? The official English version is now online!

I've also included an interview that was released a few minutes after I initially posted this article with a lot of new information...

The offical version does have a few minor changes from the leaked one. The Zelda 25th Anaversery Logo appears directly after the Imprisioned instead of fading to the next scene. Fi only says Link's name once and Zelda's sining is more in-sync. There's also a longer transition to the scene that end's Link's dream at the end.

As the press copies of the game were just sent out today, I'm sure there will be many more frequent updates. I'll try to be on top of as many as I can as fast as I can!

Along with the unofficial releases, the Japanese Skyward Sword Website updates every Thursday with the American site updating with the same info on Saturday. This week should be a preview of the desert area and the Temple of Time... I'm really excited for that!

Edit: Here's an Interview from Iwata just released today!

- Volcano game field included because they wanted an area that had ups and downs to provide a wide variety of gameplay
- A mountain was an obvious choice for this
- This is in contrast to the forest field that is a flat plane
- Volcano chosen over a mountain since it offers new ideas for gameplay
- Tominaga thought about combining the Stamina Dash with ups and downs
- He believed he could make something fun based around slopes
- Scramble up steep mountain slopes with dash
- Wanted players to be able to look down from up on high
- Link can climb up at a good pace
- Previous mountains in Zelda games had to be a zigzag, so it took awhile to climb up high
- Tominga hopes players enjoy the scenery as they make their way up
- Lava bubbles up in the dungeons and the game field
- Lava goes up and down in some places
- Have to empty the lava in some areas to progress
- Oyama tried numerous effects for when Link falls into lava
- It’s not as serious as Link falling into the lava as in Twilight Princess, but not as comical as in Wind Waker
- It was similar to Twilight Princess early on, but the staff told Oyama, “This time isn’t like that” and “It doesn’t feel right”
- Tried to make it look like Link was hot rather than being in pain
- Key item at the volcano is the bomb
- Bomb is the first item you get in the volcano game field
- Bombs will explode if you’re not careful
- Enemies will roll down a hill once they’re defeated rather than explode
- Bokoblins fire arrows at you or throw rocks
- They say “Foogyah” once they’ve found you, so you know they’ve found you
- It looks like they’re grinning when the Bokoblins trample on you
- They aren’t really, it just looks that way
- Bokoblins can react in surprising ways
- Dev. team gave the Bokoblins a touch of humanity
- There are different types of Bokoblins
- Bokoblins in the forst are primitive-looking
- Bokoblins in the desert are in a slightly different style with surprisingly modernish weapons
- One walks around with a lattern
- Another has a sword crackling with electricity
- If his attack gets blocked, it shocks him and he can’t move for awhile
- Different groups created for each field – forest, volcano, desert
- Bokoblins are in every game field
- They shout “Neeaahh!” as they come down off the ropes
- Link can swing his sword in any direction, so the team came up with as much variation in enemy movement as possible
- Bokoblins appointed to be Link’s opponent in sword battles
- Oyama believes the enemies in this game have really evolved
- When fighting Ghirahim, you need to look at his anticipatory movements and dodge, block, parry with your sword
- Shield Attack: when it looks like an enemy will beat you, hold out your left hand and attack with the shield
- If you don’t do it right, the Shield gauge goes down
- Made this way since Link would be too strong otherwise
- Because Link doesn’t talk, Fi was necessary to represent Link’s emotions and explain the world of the game
- Fi acts as a sidekick, but she is a character with personality
- Team made it so when you first entered a new field, Fi would explain the area, such as what kind of place it was and offer warnings
- Emphasis that Link isn’t alone on his journey
- Events occur that make you realize how important Fi is to Link
- Oyama asked to work on connecting elements because when each area was taking shape, Fujibayashi noticed that the connections between various areas weren’t very good
- “gang leader system”: when Fujibayashi couldn’t handle all the work or when things were beyond his ability, he appointed “gang leaders” to polish it up
- Fi’s messages focusing on each area were written by planners, so differences in Fi’s verbal mannerisms arose
- Oyama appointed as a gang leader to handle dungeon entrances
- When you first enter the volcano dungeon, there’s an effect like a wall of heat hitting you
- That effect is only seen the first time you enter; otherwise it’s the “tump-tump-tump” atmosphere from the original Zelda
- A great deal of effort was put into dungeon entrances; frames were adjusted even slightly
- The next time you go to the volcano, the Bow is the featured item rather than Bombs
- Shoot enemies far away
- Have to advance while protecting a certain character the next time around in this area
- Bokoblins with bows/arrows also show up
- They will fight back if Link shoots an arrow
- You’ll know where the good places to hide are since it’s your second time around
- A lot of effort put into Ghirahim as well to realize new gameplay using MotionPlus
- Tominaga put in as much effort into Ghirahim as into the Bokoblins
- Some enemies will respond in ways you never imagined
- Team slipped in some low-key elements to make gameplay comfortable
- If you cut Chuchu horizontally, they divide up and down; they divide left/right if you slice vertically
- If they divide into upper/lower halves, they just fall back together
- If they divide into left and right halves, they become two separate Chuchus
- Players may fight the Chuchus difficult to defeat
- Cut them horizontally so they split into upper/lower halves in midair; before they rejoin, vertically slash them to finish them off
Link Catching on Fire is done for a comical effect, similar to situations in The Wind Waker
Running up steep hills in bursts gives you a chance to stop and enjoy the scenerey, was an intended effect.
Bokoblins are designed to have different reactions depending on what item you have equiped
An example of this you can see in the footage when Link uses his slingshot on the ones holding boulders
Bokoblin may have been one of the first enemies created for the game
Bokoblins are intended to fight with primitive weapons in the forest, but more advanced ones in the desert
Shield meter was created to balance the effectiveness of the Shield Bash move, and to naturally add a bit of risk in using the shield to defend
Even if you don't know the pattern of the enemies yet, Fi will give you a hint
Bow and Arrow designed to work with the new vertical depth
The Blob enemy is referred to as a ChuChu, though this may not be what the English translation ultimately says

Source: http://nintendoeverything.com

Happy Halloween everyone!

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