Longtime Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma has been on the press circuit recently to promote the new entry Echoes of Wisdom, but he also discussed the design philosophy of the Zelda series in general.
Speaking with Washington Post reporter Gene Park recentlyAonuma shared a rather interesting fact, mentioning how his teams always prioritize playing with stories that are then used as a vessel. Here is exactly what he had to say:
Eiji Aonuma: “I’ve never made a game where you think about the story first and then you get into the gameplay. First when you think about the gameplay, what you try to think about after that is how you can get the players to understand that game.
“The story is used as a vessel because it has a beginning and an end, and the player moves through it. I think it would actually be kind of hard to do the reverse and start with the story and then try to match the gameplay mechanics to it.”
If you look back at the Zelda series, the games are balanced with thoughtful mechanics and puzzles and a world (filled with all kinds of exciting landmarks and NPCs) that help build the narrative.
Recently, in a separate interview, Nintendo explained the thought process behind the menu system in Echoes of Wisdom.
