That person is an editor of Famitsu magazine. In the newest issue of the magazine that came out on June 7th, he wrote a one-page editorial on Zelda's change. Since Zelda has become quite a bit more anticipated since its E3 and this editor was, of course, there to experience it, he weighs in on what kind of impact he thinks the style might have. While it is not, of course, in any way a survey of how the Japanese public view the new Zelda, I think it's an interesting perspective to take. (Please note the editor's name is not translated, as I don't want him to become the recipient of biting hatred from disappointed Zelda fans.)
He starts by talking about E3 and its role in gaming trends. Not only is it the place where many of the biggest games get their time in the spotlight before released, but a highlight of the directions and paths the industry might take in the future, as well as what games might act as the leader up that pathway. He acknowledges that there were many good games for each console that showcased interesting trends and a bright future for gaming with quality to be had for all, but here the editor diverges in thinking Zelda is set apart from the rest.
About four years ago when discussing Dragon Quest with the developers, the editor reminisces that in 1998 Dragon Quest was taking a distinctly different path from those of other games. The developers said that when you see a mountain or village icon on the map, or other such "icons" that denote what it is in the world that they want you to be able to imagine what the mountain or village looks like from the outside. Our editor now offers that the more realistic the representation of whatever it is, be it a character, place or enemy, the less room gamers have to imagine what only they can imagine, to fill in the details. The more the game helps along your imagination, the more personality-imbued it seems to become and a more personal reception of the game becomes possible. However, ever since games moved on to 3D, not just gameplay, but the ability to display worlds and particularly, people, in 3D, they have gained an added avenue towards realism. Therefore, developers have been working for years in improving the realism in a game, in particular the movements and body detail of the characters. As hardware gets more powerful, gamers demand more and the realism gets more and more believable. However, the editor notes that until recently, not many games have focused on the face, despite it being the most important part of the body for expression.
Motion capturing has become extremely widespread in order to make character's movement increasingly realistic, and while there are games that accomplish great things with this (the editor mentions DOA Extreme Volleyball and Capcom's Red Dead Revolver as examples) there is only one reality. The more and more you try to make games that mimic that one reality, the less and the less they will differ from each other, he argues. And pretty soon, you'll have nearly all characters from all sorts of games moving and appearing not very different from anyone else in the most opposite of genres. The editor gives an example of the myriad soccer games that appeared in Japan to take advantage of the World Cup fever. Great amounts of attention have gone into making them realistically move and react with detail down to the stitching of their clothes, but their faces remain pretty static. For the appeal of playing with something that denotes disappointment and euphoria at such a high level as the World Cup, these games don't concentrate on offering the gamer players who react with emotion and personality to the events of the game. And that, ironically enough, is the very opposite of realistic.
Enter Zelda. Here the editor acknowledges that the face has been by far the most concentrated area in which the graphics style will be geared towards in the game. Link's eyes have been enlarged more than necessary and the super-deformed style allows his face to be large and obvious, in a way the editor agrees is largely reminiscent of anime. By concentrating on this, the editor argues, it allows our imagination to run wild. For instance, he gives the example that when you pick something in the inventory Link pushes in his hand into his back pocket and rummages around for the item. While playing at E3, the editor actually made a mistake of doing the same once this happened. The world had been so convincing through Link's actions that he had found himself thinking he was Link and mimicking his well-animated character animations unconsciously. He gives another example of when Link climbs a box, first trying to raise his left leg over the top and then flailing while trying to prompt himself up, the expression he has communicating a sense of resentment to his small size.
Though it has less detail than the other games at E3, it is tied to Dragon Quest in that it allows the player to fill in other details and connect with the game by suggesting actions, expressions and places rather than showing them. (In other words the detail you see in Link's face when you can see it translates into interpreting detail when you can't and a more one-on-one connection with the game and characters.) It is not real in the sense that polygonal games have achieved for, but it is a type of ironic realism that makes the game squarely differ from all those around it. The editor believes that this new Zelda's graphical style could spark a revolution towards artists and designers being enlightened around this personality-conducive, imagination-based graphical approach that he thinks separates Zelda not only from the rest of the realism-intensive games but the other cell-shading games as well.
Mouais, je pensais que la section était destinée à la programation et autres discussions sur le bump et compagnie, là je trouve que ça mélange un peu trop les divers sujets...
Normal, c'est un magazine créé pour parler de la NES (famicom au Japon pour Family Computer).
C'est une contraction de Famicom Tsûshin, comme les japonais aiment bien le faire... Le nom complet n'est resté que quelques numéros.
Homon : son influence est un peu exagérée... Parce que même si les sept premiers jeux NGC ont reçu six gold et un platinum, ça n'a pas poussé la console à se vendre. Disons que comme il sort toutes les semaines, et qu'il teste une quantité invraisemblable de jeux, il est devenu incontournable.
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