During an interview with Game Informer, Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma and composer Koji Kondo have touched upon the subject as to whether Nintendo should look to incorporating voice acting.
“The most important thing about the Zelda series is that the player becomes Link”, Kondo explained. “One of the challenges with full voice is that if we’re trying to convey the player’s emotion through Link, but you hear Link talking in somebody else’s voice, that creates a disconnect between you and the role that you’re taking on.”
Aonuma then continued to clarify, “If you create a game where everybody else in the game speaks but Link doesn’t, it emphasizes the fact that he is silent and draws even more attention to it.”
“Of course, this was the first time we went with fully orchestrated songs in the game, and we’ve seen what that can do to help bring the world alive and make the game that much more fun. We’re continually looking at ways that we can evolve the series. We’re not confident that we can find the right balance with full voice, so we’ll see.”
Aonuma then joked, “Everyone would be speaking Hylian, so even if you heard them speak, you wouldn’t understand them.”
Having been probed further as to his general vision for the future of The Legend of Zelda series, Aonuma stated: “I started working on the series not at the beginning but part-way through its history. I think because of that, early on I was more looking objectively at the series and how we could change small, individual elements within it, rather than looking at how the series should evolve.”
He continued, “As time has passed – particularly in the last few years – I’ve started to think a lot more about how I can take the series and really make it my own Zelda and evolve it further. As Mr. Miyamoto has allowed me to take the reins on the Zelda series, ultimately that’s what I need to do. Perhaps some people will think it’s a little bit late for me to start thinking about that, but as time goes by, that’s becoming more of a theme in how I’m approaching the series.”
Aonuma discusses potential for voice acting within Zelda series
