Aonuma talks realistic Zelda

By Tom Bramwell Published 27 June, 2005

And why there's no voice acting.

Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma has spoken of the difficulty in using "realistic graphics" for the basis of the series' latest GameCube instalment, Twilight Princess, and explained why there will be no voiced dialogue in the game.

Speaking to Wired News at E3, he said: "When you shift to realistic graphics, you can't fool the player any more. It no longer makes sense to have the player swing a sword with their left hand, killing an enemy that's on his right."

And there are a number of creative reasons that it still doesn't make sense to include the work of voice actors, he said. "When the player is reading text on the screen, they're inserting a part of themselves, their imagination, into the reading. They fill out the world. But with fully spoken dialogue, everything about the character becomes fixed in place, and you lose a bit of that imaginative aspect."

However, he added, Nintendo has "some ideas" about how to use vocals in a new and interesting manner, although nothing's been finalised yet.

Aonuma also said that the game's sense of realistic visuals would carry through to other elements of the game - like the physics. "You have to be able to feel the weight of Link's sword as he swings it," he told Wired News.

Although Aonuma wouldn't say much else about the game, he was prepared to say that one of his other projects - a Nintendo DS Zelda title - would make use of the stylus. Although we could probably have worked that out for ourselves.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is due out on the Cube later this year. You can read what we made of its E3 showing here, and the full Wired News article, which also quizzes other noted Japanese designers, can be found here.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (36) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • tpfkanep #1 7 years ago

    I hate voice acting in my games. It slows the action down. Thank the gods that some games allow you to switch it off completely. Realism is not that important. I play games to escape realism. Other than some sports and racing games, I prefer games to have their own unique worlds, creatures, rules, laws of physics, look, feel, etc.

  • Blerk #2 7 years ago

    no voiced dialogue in the game

    \o/ -o- \o/

    Yyyyyyyyyyyyes!

    /punches air

  • captain-future #3 7 years ago

    yoyo, they gave this reason for all games without "voice acting". while I can see their point that when you read a text you probably will fill in your own personality - think about the voice style of Link in Wind Waker - you would subconciously fill in the voice of a boy...

    yet it's just a lame excuse for "solly oul disc is just too small to suppolt voice acting and we spale the time fol othel thing like left-handed light-standing enemies killing...

    Zelda is the only game that doesn't get problems with this - the excellent Sphinx was reviewed to death because of the missing voice acting...

  • Wash #4 7 years ago

    See, for me Voice acting is a good thing. I mean fair enough if you have an RPG and you've created the character from scratch, then i dont really need a voice actor for the main characters voice, cos hes me effectively.

    I think it adds alot to a character.

    Anywho... realistic graphics :S

  • #5 7 years ago

    yeah voice acting is great when done well, but do we really want to ruin zelda by putting it in?

    zelda never has voice acting, it's just part of the series now.

  • tpfkanep #6 7 years ago

    --yet it's just a lame excuse for "solly oul disc is just too small to suppolt voice acting and we spale the time fol othel thing like left-handed light-standing enemies killing... --
    Ignorant prick. Have you no respect for ppl of a different culture?

  • Razz #7 7 years ago

    Voice acing a good thing? Nah... it depends on the game. GTA:SA, yep! works a treat! Zelda, no mate... not at all.

  • Teeth #8 7 years ago

    For me voice acting is a real turn-off.

    1. It takes too long, as mentioned.
    2. It's rarely any good whatsoever.
    3. As mentioned in the article, you have less room for the player's imagination.

    I really hate it when it can't be turned off or subbed.

    edit - tpfkanep: don't feed the trolls :)
    Edited by 1 at 27/06/05 @ 11:01

  • ClansOfIntrigue #9 7 years ago

    I'm glad there's no real voices, because then we won't have to suffer some whiny american brat dubbing Link into English when we get it over here (FFX, I'm looking at you).

    Rant: publishers, when I play a Japanese game I want to hear the original Japanese voices with English subtitles, just like I would when I watch a Japanese film. Why do I never get that option?

  • Wash #10 7 years ago

    Voice acting is good.. when time is taken with it.

    Rpgs - bioware have proven time and again high production voice acting works well, even Fable has good vocal shennanigans.

    I'm not saying Zelda should have it, but voice acting is a good thing.

    I cant think of one genre where well produced voice acting hasnt added to the game.

    shenmue 2, where on the DC with japanese voices and english subs i believe to ave been much better than the dubbed xbox version... my memory might be playing tricks tho.
    Edited by 1 at 27/06/05 @ 11:03

  • Teeth #11 7 years ago

    Yes, that's also a good point, I prefer to hear the original language in the voice acting if it must be in there. Also I wish if they're going to localise the voice acting to the EU they'd do the English in British English, it really frustrates when you have to wait for a release cos they're localising, but then just get lumped with American voices and American spelling - i.e. they've clearly not done any UK localisation at all.

    Having said all I have already, I can't imagine Resident Evil 4 for example with text instead of voice acting.

  • markypants #12 7 years ago

    Glad there is no voice acting... Because it is always crap. Beyond Good & Evil is the only game that I can say I appreciated the voice acting.

    M

  • rinoaMW #13 7 years ago

    "--yet it's just a lame excuse for "solly oul disc is just too small to suppolt voice acting and we spale the time fol othel thing like left-handed light-standing enemies killing... --
    Ignorant prick. Have you no respect for ppl of a different culture? "

    I agree with you tpfkanep.... captain-future is a stereotyping racist bastard, and im suprised others on this forum havern't picked up on it... if it was meant as a joke, then it was in very poor taste....He should be banned from playing any games from japan forever.

    in reguards to the article tho, i can see Eiji Aonuma's point about using voices in his game, the zelda series has never had to deal with giving Link a voice and it never has to, he really doesnt need to justify the lack of voice in Z:TP...so far it looks great, and as long as it plays as well as all the others, then it will be an instant hit to zelda fans and non-zelda fans alike.

    roll on release :)
    Edited by 1 at 27/06/05 @ 11:19

  • deaner #14 7 years ago

    The switch to realism worked well in Final Fantasy VIII... I don't see why it can't in Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

    They are two different kinds of quasi-role-playing-games, but they both held onto anime style visuals long after the natural switch-point.

    I like voice acting in RPG's - if only because Nippon never *quite* translates and characters have some surreal outbursts. But it's not really a necessity, especially in an action (rather than dialogue) driven title.

  • #15 7 years ago

    'Glad there is no voice acting... Because it is always crap. Beyond Good & Evil is the only game that I can say I appreciated the voice acting. '

    way to contradict your point there! :D

  • deaner #16 7 years ago

    I used to love the voice (and physical) acting on Resident Evil.

    "Jill? Wesker? What happend to Jill and Wesker?"

  • StixxUK #17 7 years ago

    Voice acting: sometimes good, sometimes bad.

    Not wanted by me in Zelda.

  • linksdad #18 7 years ago

    The only people that do good voice acting tend to be disney and pixar, end of.
    This is probably due to the voices being recorded then the action made to fit the voice rather than the other way round.
    Some games with 'better' voice acting are still let down in places, which to me totally suspends the immersion. Look at EQ2 for example where they have over 900million hours of voice overs, most of them are weak, all of them ultimately boring as you read the subtitle and click next to get on with it. There seem to be a couple of companies specialising in game voice overs and you can recognise the actors accross multiple games, even though they are not very good actors.
    Some of the blame has to be placed squarely with the developers and their plain terrible scripts. Even Olivier would have trouble delivering some of the lines and sound even half convincing.

  • Zomoniac #19 7 years ago

    I thought Max Payne 2 had great voice acting. As did Half-Life 2. And Resident Evil 4. And for the most part, the Halo games. And Toonstruck, The Curse Of Monkey Island, Jak & Daxter, Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3 and sometimes Shenmue. It swung quickly between great and terrible.

  • onyxbox #20 7 years ago

    Sonic was great until he started to talk.

  • Tweakmonkey #21 7 years ago

    Sonic talks? Oh dear...

  • Feanor #22 7 years ago

    "I hate voice acting in my games. It slows the action down. Thank the gods that some games allow you to switch it off completely."

    Yeah, voice acting ruined Half Life 2, Resident Evil 4, Devil May Cry 3 and Xenosaga 1 & 2. Umm, I mean the voice acting was good to great in all those games and really added to the experience.
    Edited by 1 at 27/06/05 @ 14:17

  • the_angry_monkey #23 7 years ago

    Little Big Adventure was fully voice acted and I felt it added some depth to the game. I usually dislike silent dialogues - though link usually has good actions so you know his mood anyway. Never-the-less I think that skippable voice acting would be a bonus for those of us who like that kind of thing :D

  • Teeth #24 7 years ago

    LBA was wicked :) Loved that game :)

  • a8a #25 7 years ago

    Resident Evil 4

    Feanor, what are you smoking? The voice acting in Resident Evil 4 (and all other Resident Evil games!) is WOEFUL. Thats not to say anything bad about the game, which is fantastic. In fact, I wouldnt even say the game shouldnt have voice acting - its part of the cheesy charm. But to say that the voice acting is good is just plain wrong.

  • smelly #26 7 years ago

    "Sonic talks? Oh dear... "

    Where have you been the last decade? :-)

  • #27 7 years ago

    no voiced dialogue in the game

    \o/ -o- \o/

    Yyyyyyyyyyyyes!

    /punches air

    err, you really like Zelda then?

    :o)

  • Shadar #28 7 years ago

    To the few who groan about the lack of voice work: Aren't you happy that Nintendo are paying attention to incidential detail such as proper collision detection, great animation and ensuring that a series of games that have always been anything but realistic make the transition instead of hiring Gackt to do Link's Voice, and Otsuka Chihiro to do Zelda?

    Very few games have good voice acting, and most have terrible scripts. The Zelda games aren't exactly known for their natural, flowing dialogues. This isn't Kevin Smith writing the exchanges here: they're supposed to fill roles in the context of the game and convey information about the game world.

    I don't want the game to ruin my often troubled immersion by instructing me verbally to click the A-button, and that I can assign various items to the X and Y-buttons via the menu system. And if Jade Empire is an example of great voice acting, I actually want to have the option of switching off voices in my games from now on.

  • ProfessorLesser #29 7 years ago

    Oh my god cpt. future, die.

    EDIT: Oh yeah, the topic. Hm, well, on the whole I like voice acting, I would say, but I would NEVER vocalise a Zelda game. I thought Link showed too much expression in Wind Waker (Gods, I hated that game for its bitter betrayal). The only emotions adult Link should convey are angry, hateful, justice-driven vengence (how many people can help mentally shaking down and thinking "RIGHT, young-sonny-me-lad, now you are FOR IT, mate!" when he does this?), and the characteristic Zelda-surprise. Happiness is only acceptable for Young Link. And WW put me right off'f him...

    I like the voice acting in Tales of Symphonia. What? Yeah there's better, but that statement is on a par with 'I like anime/manga style artwork.' Yeah on some (Western) levels its kinda shoddy (almost), but that doesn't matter BECAUSE, Mr. Future, I can appreciate cultural transition.
    Edited by 2 at 27/06/05 @ 17:42

  • Teeth #30 7 years ago

    " Oh my god cpt. future, die. "

    wait... people are still listening to him?

    /realises Teeth is becoming annoying and boring

    /changes record

  • Feanor #31 7 years ago

    The voice acting in RE 4 is fine. You must be getting the voice acting confused with the deliberately cheesy script. They're not the same thing.

  • ProfessorLesser #32 7 years ago

    Nah Teeth I just got here and that was the first thing I saw!

    As for 'listening'... well, I'm sure you can see the sarcastic comment lining up in my brain already.

    ^_^

  • a8a #33 7 years ago

    Nah, I'm not getting them mixed up - the script is cheesy deliberately, yes, and that probably has some effect on the voice actors (in that it makes it pretty hard to deliver a convincing performance) - but one way or another, the voice acting is not good.

  • Genji #34 7 years ago

    Why is it not good? Did they mispronounce words or something?

  • Pike #35 7 years ago

    Well considering how fucking awwful the voice acting in every Japanese game I've played has been I guess this is a good thing.

  • linksdad #36 7 years ago

    LBA(2?) was indeed wicked, but the voice acting was by about 5 different people and my god did they grate on me by half way through the game. One of the guys had a great voice initially, sounded like he had worked on cartoons or something, but after I had heard 7 incarnations of his voice he just annoyed me intensely, sounding like he was struggling to get the last few letters out of a sentance without running out of breath.
    Totally agree about the bad script given to a good actor, the end performance is going to be bad no matter how good the actor is.

  • ekko #37 7 years ago

    Couldn't give an arse about voice acting, although if Ninty did it I'm sure they would do it great.

    As for feeling the weight of the sword, I hope he means metaphoically as I'm a bit of weakling.

  • jlaakso #38 7 years ago

    Bad voice acting can really let a game down, but it isn't a real problem compared to dialogue t h a t . . i s . . d i s p l a y e d . . t o o . . s l o w l y without an option to make it appear faster and skip, if replaying. (Ocarina of Time, for instance.)