– Nintendo previously made Zelda games by making small areas and connecting them together
– For Breath of the Wild, the team first had to figure out what needed to be placed on the map
– Groups were created out of the over 300 devs to work on specific sections of the world
– Game Informer’s demo starts at Serenne Stable
– Yammo runs this place
– Link can rest in bed and restore health here
– Stable also lets you store horses, meet with merchants, NPCs
– Stables are located throughout the world
– Each one is run by a distinct character
– You can spend rupees on a more expensive bed, giving you an extra heart the next morning
– These hearts are yellow and can’t be recovered if you’re hit in combat
– Spending time by fires in the world passes time
– Dynamic weather system in the game, with the world reacting as a result
– Ex: when it starts raining, NPCs outside the stable quickly go inside
– Beedle is back to sell you goods
– Have to be careful during a thunderstorm, since your metal items can attract thunder
– Metal weapons and shields can be discarded or thrown at enemies
– Link can get killed by lightning
– Difficulty dips/spikes depending on where you are, since you can go around it and avoid it until you’re stronger
– Over 100 Shrines
– You can find an item that identifies Shrines
– Discover a Shrine for it to be a fast-travel point
– Shrines also give a Spirit Orb
– Trade in orbs for unknown items
– Dedicated team handled animal A.I.
– Bears, wolves, deer move through the snow
– You can get overwhelmed by enemies quickly
– Link can keep multiple horses at a time
– Affection/loyalty important with horses
– Feed and take care of horses to raise their stats
– Can call horses over to you, but horses need to be within a certain proximity to be called
– Horses can be killed by enemies
– Aonuma “wanted players to choose their own path”, so no companion character in this game
– Stamina meter encopasses sprinting, paragliding, climbing
– Meter can be upgraded, but Nintendo won’t say how
– Different shields have different speeds and level of control for snowboarding
– Can mine rocks which can be solid for rupees or used for crafting
– Can place stamps to mark areas of interest
– 100 of these symbols can be used on the map, including sword, shield, bow and arrow, pot, star, chest, skull, leaf, diamond
– Every style of weapon has a unique set of animations and feel different
– No invincible weapons in the game, Nintendo says
– Zelda can get mad at you and scold you
– Players can see the ending without seeing everything from the story
– A certain element was added in the game to make for a more cohesive storyline
New dungeon

– Nintendo took Game Informer directly to a dungeon
– This dungeon is constantly moving
– Game Informer says “Link must manipulate the entire enormous mechanism through his own ingenuity”
– Players can skip dungeons if they want and go straight to Calamity Ganon
– The substance known as malice covers the dungeon
– Link gets hurt if he touches it
– Can be destroyed by finding and attacking each pocket of malice’s eyeball
– Sheikah Slate serves as Link’s map, binoculars, more
– Use the slate in the dungeon to see a 3D model, tilt the entire dungeon from here
– Doing so slides blocks into place and opens up angles you can use to paraglide to new locations
– Voice tells you that you need to access terminals with the slate across the dungeon, marked on your map
– All bombs in the game are remote and don’t blow up on a timer
– Simpler approach with dungeons in Breath of the WIld
– Game Informer didn’t see the familiar chest opening animation and signature music
– Never found a signature Zelda item or compass
– Wind Blight Ganon is the dungeon boss here
– Voice tells you, “It’s one of Ganon’s own. It plays dirty.”
– Wind Blight Ganon is a huge monster, has no face, gun-like arm
– Wind Blight Ganon can create tornadoes and will fire large spikes

Sobre las mazmorras:

Let's talk about the dungeon that GI described. They didn't say it was simpler, they said that Nintendo took a simpler approach to designing the dungeon. First, the dungeons are smaller and less confusing, which means they're not mean to be large maze type dungeons. But stay with me here, he makes it very clear that the elements of what makes a Zelda dungeon a dungeon are very much there. First, there -is- a map "item", it's just not an item, it's a place in the dungeon you have to find to place your Slate into, to "download" the map before you can access it. Secondly, there is no compass item because there's no need for one to point out where the boss room is. Like much of BotW's design, they want the ultimate objective to be clear, so you can see where you need to go from the start. The trick is figuring out how to get there, and to do so you need to naturally path your way through the puzzles and various parts of the dungeon to gain access to your objective. In this case it's an opening at the top, and the solutions are wind based, leading you to an outside area at the top where you fight the boss. Open air battle. So much for "no themes", "all look same", "mechanical assets", or whatever. Lol.

They also mention that Aonuma points out that they are putting a lot of effort into making sure the -approach- to the dungeons are unique and fun as well, so getting into the dungeon feels as fun or more fun than the dungeon itself.

Sobre Zelda:

Aonuma talks about Zelda as a character and how reactive she is in the game. He says she has a lot of different emotions in the game and you can discover different sides of her. She will also get mad at you and scold you rather than being passive. But he also says that players might completely miss out on these details depending on what they choose to ignore in the game. Sounds like there's going to be some extensive time spent with an AI Zelda at least.