Dear Reader:
The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes - info on story, communication, game length and more
Coming from a Kotaku interview with director Hiromasa Shikata...
“It starts with [Zelda producer Eiji] Aonuma. Once he did Four Swords, he wanted to revisit multiplayer at some point. I thought, ‘wow, this multiplayer thing has appeal to it. And then of course when we were working on Link Between Worlds, Mr. Aonuma and I were both commenting on how we both wanted to experiment with some multiplayer action, and that’s really where this project gets its start.”
- multiplayer was not considered for A Link Between Worlds
- story takes place in a kingdom that is obsessed with fashion
- within the kingdom there’s an event, and as a result of that the king sends out a notification asking for heroes to assemble
- the king is a firm believer in this legend, in this prophecy that exists within their kingdom
- this legend talks of three heroes that come together to form a totem
- the true hero of legend is described as someone with these long sideburns, a particular hair style and long ears
On chat icons:
“I think with these, for example, you can just be sitting there hitting the one icon that you want: ‘Hey, we have to get in a totem here, totem here,’ or ‘Use that item, use that item, use that item,’ or ‘Hey, come here, come here,’ whatever it is. For those people who are in the mood to do so, they will cooperate, and sometimes maybe they’re not going to be listening to you, no matter how many times you send out the same message.
I think we’re seeing a really unique form of communication in that because it can be a little difficult using just eight icons to communicate some complicated ideas. When you’re able to—through your choice, and which panel, and what timing, and what order you’re selecting them in—be like, ‘Wow, I actually made my point,’ you feel pretty happy when the person does what you just asked them to do.
But on the other side, the person who’s like watching you hit all these different icons and goes, ‘Oh wait, I think he wants me to come over here, use this thing to do that thing,’ and you go over and you do it and it works, there’s a sense of satisfaction on both sides that you’re not gonna see in a game that has maybe a regular voice-chat implementation.
I really think, again, that satisfaction you get time and time again when you’re able to communicate effectively on both sides, from conveying the information and receiving the information, the more you are able to succeed at doing that, and as you progress in the game based on that, it really really heightens that sense of satisfaction, and really matches the sense of cooperation we’re trying to focus on in this game.”
- no overworld map
- there's a castle, a town, and a colisseum battle mode
- the health bar is shared between all 3 characters because the dev team thought that idea was better for the game
- you can save at any time and the game automatically saves if someone drops out
On gameplay length:
“Myself I’d like to say maybe an hour a day, an hour and a half to two hours a day, with three people playing together, there’s probably about a month’s worth of gameplay there. But there are a lot of extra elements and things you can do in this game. If you’re a completionist, you’re gonna be playing for a long time.”