IMO, Nintendo devs and PR work too hard to cultivate the image that they are not influenced by outside media including other games. In another interview, Aonuma denied BOTW being influenced by Studio Ghibli works after an interviewer asked about similarities between the two. IIRC Aunoma did say there were general anime influences but declined any specifics.
I will say that Elden Ring came out way too late in the game's development cycle to meaningfully influence it. I'm sure some of the devs played it because of course they did, but I don't really bat an eye at the idea that Elden Ring wasn't a big source of inspiration for TotK.
The development timelines were pretty much in tandem. Elden Ring came out last year, unless the Zelda Team had some hidden early access from From Soft there was no way they knew what that game was like.
I can buy it, sure. The game came out feeling very fresh, but also very insulated. And Nintendo has a history of resisting even the perception of following the industry.
I honestly wish they would get over it. There's nothing wrong with lifting good ideas that weren't your own. Like, they didn't put an L1 button on the Gamecube controller - why? It's the most obvious thing in the world. And it took them 15 years to put buttons under the sticks. And they still don't have extremely normal, industry standard options in many of their games, like button mapping and full axis options.
They could stand to get out of their bubble now and then, and especially to stop being too stubborn and proud to admit that anyone else ever had a good idea.
I honestly wish they would get over it. There's nothing wrong with lifting good ideas that weren't your own. Like, they didn't put an L1 button on the Gamecube controller - why? It's the most obvious thing in the world. And it took them 15 years to put buttons under the sticks. And they still don't have extremely normal, industry standard options in many of their games, like button mapping and full axis options.
They could stand to get out of their bubble now and then, and especially to stop being too stubborn and proud to admit that anyone else ever had a good idea.
Yeah, with TOTK, this approach is completely obvious.
In terms of BotW, I could see how open world games that came out before it started development might have influenced it a bit - Skyrim, for example. Even if BotW came out very unique still. Just in the broadest "we're making our first open world game" sense.
TotK though… it's Nintendo going all in and evolving BotW in ways no one expected and even further away from the rest of the industry, and doubling down on what made BotW so unique and acclaimed. Like while we were debating how to make a better story and how to integrate old dungeons for 6 years, I don't think anyone predicted the four core abilities TOTK would be based around until they were shown. It's kind of funny looking back, and comes off as missing the forest for the trees.
We were arguing how a sequel could improve BotW's perceived "weaknesses," while Nintendo was developing a game that doubled down and even bettered its strengths. I can see how that's more exciting and creatively fulfulling for the devs.
In terms of BotW, I could see how open world games that came out before it started development might have influenced it a bit - Skyrim, for example. Even if BotW came out very unique still. Just in the broadest "we're making our first open world game" sense.
TotK though… it's Nintendo going all in and evolving BotW in ways no one expected and even further away from the rest of the industry, and doubling down on what made BotW so unique and acclaimed. Like while we were debating how to make a better story and how to integrate old dungeons for 6 years, I don't think anyone predicted the four core abilities TOTK would be based around until they were shown. It's kind of funny looking back, and comes off as missing the forest for the trees.
We were arguing how a sequel could improve BotW's perceived "weaknesses," while Nintendo was developing a game that doubled down and even bettered its strengths. I can see how that's more exciting and creatively fulfulling for the devs.
Correct! I LOVE Nintendo, but at the very least they should at least release controllers that would be beneficial towards 3rd party releases on their consoles. The Wii is a whole other monster, but thinking back to the Gamecube era (specifically sports games), Madden, Tony Hawk, etc, were unnecessarily more complicated to control with respect to their PS2 and XBOX releases.
The towers don't mark anything on your map. They just show rivers, hills, etc. You still have to find everything with your own eyes.
????
Where did you get the impression that simply because they wanted to do their own thing, they thought everyone else doesn't have a good idea? Are they badmouthing their fellow developers or something?
Well yeah obviously ER couldn't have influenced TOTK since they came out 1 year apart which is almost no time to analyse and copy anything into the game. TOTK was essentially finished last year anyway so the time to do all that is next to impossible
Last edited:
No one should take inspiration from Fallout 4. No one ...
That's true though.
Elden Ring only came out a year prior to TOTK so whatever influence that game could have had on TOTK would be minimal given that by that point the game was content complete and in the polishing phase.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8YiTIURqcE
Like yea the Ghibli influence is undeniable as it pertains to the art direction and multiple themes.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fPz7kGduT4
That doesn't mean the team downplays the influences. Just that they don't go "This is our sole influence."
That's not true. Anouma was super open about the fact that during the development of BOTW he and the team used games like Far Cry, The Witcher 3, and Skyrim for research and how that inspired them. THey don't ever say "THIS is the main driving influence." And it shows, because BOTW/TOTK are an almagamation of different influences instead of, well something like Demon's Souls or DS1 where it's clear that Berserk was the driving force behind the art direction.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8YiTIURqcE
Like yea the Ghibli influence is undeniable as it pertains to the art direction and multiple themes.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fPz7kGduT4
That doesn't mean the team downplays the influences. Just that they don't go "This is our sole influence."
They don't have to. Very clear where they got the idea of towers that have some function involving the map. Same with the fact that Skyrim not only inspired a lot of their design but also directly inspired the ideas for the house mechanic despite it being so different. Inspiration=/=clone. As they put it, they saw ideas, vibed with them, and put their own spin on it to fit BOTW/TOTK.
You can tell Nintendo don't follow the crowd when they didn't let you pet the dogs again
Every other game throws a big prompt to pet the dogs, even if it's a game without dogs and an alien species has to act as a dog for the purpose
Every other game throws a big prompt to pet the dogs, even if it's a game without dogs and an alien species has to act as a dog for the purpose
I love this video by Matthewmatosis. It explains that not being able to pet the dogs was an intentional design decision.
View: https://youtu.be/pl9G4voWfDQ
I think the way the question is framed naturally generates that response. They wouldn't play Elden Ring in awe then lift ideas straight from there and put them in Zelda.
But for sure they see what's happening in the industry, what's popular, what works, what sells. Someone does, guaranteed 100%
But for sure they see what's happening in the industry, what's popular, what works, what sells. Someone does, guaranteed 100%
You can definitely tell, it's the reason it feel so fresh compared ti other games:).
They take inspiration from outside the gaming sphere and they innovate this way I think(I remember another interview saying more or less this:)).
On the other hand those original concepts are blueprints for so many other games and that's also cool(it's the reason we have ER:)).
At this point I think the similarities with Ghibli's work are more about specific tropes:).
They take inspiration from outside the gaming sphere and they innovate this way I think(I remember another interview saying more or less this:)).
On the other hand those original concepts are blueprints for so many other games and that's also cool(it's the reason we have ER:)).
At this point I think the similarities with Ghibli's work are more about specific tropes:).
Interesting take from them considering how they mention a lot of the BoTW dev team was inspired by Minecart and Skyrim, and they brought a little of those ideas to the game.
Also, I do not think Elden Ring was inspired by BoTW, Miyazaki mentioned that it was inspired by a combination of different open would games. But I never recall him saying BoTW directly influenced anything in the game.
Also, I do not think Elden Ring was inspired by BoTW, Miyazaki mentioned that it was inspired by a combination of different open would games. But I never recall him saying BoTW directly influenced anything in the game.
No, they'd never be so rude. But come on, read between the lines. I don't mean they think everyone else's ideas are bad. I mean, they're incredibly stubborn about copying good ideas, and even more so about being seen as following a trend rather than innovating.
It's a strength and a weakness. It's great that they're so creative, and they're my favorite video game company by a mile. But it's so frustrating to watch them dig in their heels about the most obvious things that the rest of the industry is standardizing and taking for granted.
Nintendo Everything kinda sucks, huh? First that FF9 stuff and now this (and a lot of other things I've seen in the past). Seems like a leap to make this statement:
I feel like something was lost in translation and they were specifically talking about Elden Ring and/or copying exact mechanics because explain this: https://gamerant.com/breath-of-the-wild-2-devs-playing-red-dead-redemption-2/
I think ER was out too late:).
He heard young devs were playing RDR2 it's a little different phrasing I feel:).
Miyazaki stated he personally was influenced by couple of masterpieces(iirc:)) BOTW and TES, so directors have not problem saying these kind of thing I wouldn't look to hard into it:).
I don't think there's anything Zelda could genuinely take from ER to "improve" anyway. Outside of, what, enemy variety? Which wouldn't even be a specific "oh they did it because Elden Ring did it" thing, it'd be just a general improvement.
Similar to how Elden Ring being less guided by dots on a map and more by curiosity and level design wasn't necessarily BotW "influence" but just the most natural way to make an open world souls. The games are just vastly different.
Similar to how Elden Ring being less guided by dots on a map and more by curiosity and level design wasn't necessarily BotW "influence" but just the most natural way to make an open world souls. The games are just vastly different.
this is exactly what i was thinking lol
TOTK is such a bizarre sequel to play, because it LOVES everything about the first game sometimes even to a fault (like the upgrading of the inventory is quite literally the same) ...TOTK really is literally marching to its own drum like Souls game do.
most devs would put a mechanic to fix weapons, or a blacksmith, or weapons just take muuch longer to break, but nope, in TOTK they break even faster lol, fusing is such a stroke of genius, it doesnt even "fix" the "problem" of botw, it literally quadruples down to the survival elements of botw to the point where weapons are more like swappable ammo now.
yeahh...they're not that reliable, the Zelda team has often cited inspirations such as Skyrim for BOTW and RDR2 for TOTK makes a lot of sense given the timing, i never got the feel they were in their own bubble is obvious they pay attention to whats happening, maybe not as much as a typical western dev, but they do.
BOTW/TOTK to me felt like games that were developed by someone with their finger on the pulse but still with more than enough vision to not just imitate.
A far cry from the nintendo that told western consultants to "stop describing online console features by comparing them to xbox live or PSN because we've never used that".
A far cry from the nintendo that told western consultants to "stop describing online console features by comparing them to xbox live or PSN because we've never used that".
but what TOTK would have lifted from Elden Ring that it wasn't already present in BOTW?
Yeah, it always feels weird to read interviews by Nintendo developers because it doesn't matter how good you are, in pre-production you are going to see other products and other things that are going to influence you. They push really hard this above the shoulder type of thing of "we are not influenced by anything and all ideas are our own" that's really weird and puts me off honestly.
Even if they had, I would never use them to be honest. There are so many better traversal options than horses in TotK.
Yea for me was fast travel to a tower, use it and just fly to a location
Can't be the only one to attach ball and chain to my horse carmageddon style:).
Love torrent but my totk fully accessorized horse is my new favorite… golem head, trampoline and blades for korok deliveries cutting grass and chaos:)
Lol the only limit for this game is your imagination:)
Love torrent but my totk fully accessorized horse is my new favorite… golem head, trampoline and blades for korok deliveries cutting grass and chaos:)
Lol the only limit for this game is your imagination:)
Is there anything in Totk that makes it ressemble Elden Ring? Both games feels very different imo
I remember an interview where they said the staff for botw was comprised more of younger developers with new ideas for Zelda.
Is it a stretch to say that even if Aonuma is too proud to look to his peers for inspiration, others in his team did?
Is it a stretch to say that even if Aonuma is too proud to look to his peers for inspiration, others in his team did?
More at Nintendo Everything: https://nintendoeverything.com/zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-original-ideas-elden-ring/
Too proud for others ideas…. Yet put Ubisoft Towers in BotW come on now…
This is just mythmaking
This thread is about Tears of the Kingdom. Nintendo has already mentioned in the past how they got inspiration from other games to make Breath of the Wild.
TOTK (and the formula) would stand for a lot of improvements, even if it's still an exceptional game. but my question is, if stuff has really transferred from Elden Ring to TOTK, what is it? I don't think there's anything that it wasn't in BOTW already.
I'm not suggesting they lifted anything from Elden Ring. Like I said, it came out too late for it to be a meaningful influence.