What can Breath of the Wild 2 inherit from Skyward Sword? - The Lakitu Sachet
First point: there are not, as we have written several times, two three-dimensional titles of The Legend of Zelda as different as Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild. The second was born almost in antithesis to the first: open, free, an episode in which the story resides mainly in what happens, not in what is told. Skyward Sword is linear, cunicular, proposes a stratified (in time and space) and fragmented Hyrule, in which it is impossible to get lost: it is also a title in which everyone - substantially - has lived the same experience, listened to the same story in the same order .
Second point: the director of both projects is Hidemaro Fujibayashi, of whom we talked in depth in this old episode of La Bustina di Lakitu. It seems absurd that a single individual could have sculpted two such different works, in genesis and execution, but that's exactly how it went.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2: Link and Zelda explore a cave together. Third point, which is a comment on the two previous premises. The Legend of Zelda brand is at the apical point of its existence: if in the past it had already reached these levels of prestige, in particular on NES (1986) and Nintendo 64 (1998), at the same time it had not even touched the numbers reached by Breath of the Wild. The 2017 masterpiece will soon exceed twenty-five million copies sold: no The Legend of Zelda had ever exceeded ten (including remakes and adaptations, none had reached fifteen). For this reason, when launching Skyward Sword HD, Nintendo highlighted the points of contact between the 2011 game and Breath of the Wild: some are forced, but there are indeed some common game design cells. Cells introduced in Skyward Sword, which were then transplanted and defined some mechanics of Breath of the Wild.
Temporal powers and environmental events
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2: Link's "cursed" arm could grant him temporal manipulation powers. Before talking about the sequel, let's remember the main similarities between Breath of the Wild and Skyward Sword (which we had detailed in this special). Essentially, there are some elements of game design that, placed in a different context, allowed to generate the masterpiece of 2017. We refer above all to the strength bar, a key feature both in limiting movement and in communicating the growth of one's power: It was introduced in Skyward Sword, where it made the experience more rhythmic and adrenaline-pumping, and is found at the very core of Breath of the Wild. There are also the objects and weapons that wear out (and that can be repaired and improved by collecting materials around), and the lighthouses that signal a certain position: two other concepts that, in an open world setting, have flourished like none - or few - they could have foreseen.It is as if Fujibayashi wanted to claim the goodness of certain insights he had in Skyward Sword, applying them in a different, more ambitious and contemporary context. Since it happened with Breath of the Wild, there's no reason why it shouldn't happen again with its sequel: and Skyward Sword still has plenty of elements to explore.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2: Link manipulates these spheres in space and time. First of all, let's talk about a certainty: the powers linked to the manipulation of time. And we are not necessarily referring to a dual world like that of Ocarina of Time, where the same lands can be explored, with related interactions and consequences, seven years later. In Skyward Sword there is only one portal to go back to the past, and it involves only one area, but it is fundamental for the story and for solving some puzzles: it represents a much more practical and limited approach to the question, which does not characterize the whole adventure.
As for Breath of the Wild 2, in the latest trailer we see Link who, presumably exploiting the abilities of the new blessed / cursed / magical arm, blocks a spiked sphere and sends it back (in the time, not only in space), hitting some enemies on the way. At the end of the video there is a drop that reforms after having exploded and, probably following a similar logic, Link is "sucked" into a wall, returning to occupy - presumably - the position recently abandoned.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2: Link's strange power, which allows him to cross even stone walls. It is possible, if not even probable, a return to an Ocarina of Time-style duality: in the trailer, in the section where there is the character with long hair, the morphology of Hyrule is very different. You can see numerous flying islands, and even the architecture exhibits constructions different from those we are used to, with monoliths and rocky pillars absent in the other "dimension", the one with the tied-up Link and the blue tunic. We still have to understand if it is two different eras, as some suppose, or a pre and post awakening Hyrule of the skeletal creature (or any other cataclysmic event).
Speaking of events, also in this case Breath of the Wild could take inspiration from Skyward Sword. In the 2011 game, due to the very nature of the level design - linear and rich in backtracking - it was impossible not to rely on situations that altered the interpretation of a certain area. Breath of the Wild, on the other hand, presented wonderful atmospheric and meteorological variations, but hardly exploited events that gave a new interpretation to an area. Even after the downing of a colossus, the threatened area did not show major changes: we mention, for example, the interruption of rain in the region of the Zora. It is one of the reasons why many have perceived the story of Breath of the Wild as relegated to the past (that of the Champions, of the first fight against Calamity): Link's actions actually had little impact on the present.
Islands and birds
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: Link is thrown exactly like in Skyward Sword. And we come to the most interesting topic, to what could become the strongest link between Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild 2: the sections set in flight. As we've already written, in the parts of the trailer where Link (?) Has long hair, Hyrule is filled with floating islands. Not only that: the Hero - or whoever he is - glides in the exact same position as Link in Skyward Sword, when he prepares to call his Solcanubi.We are ready to bet that, from this point of view, Breath of the Wild 2 will explode this mechanic, in a way at least equal to how the predecessor had exalted, deepened and justified the vigor bar. By replaying Skyward Sword we realized, also due to technological limitations, of how much the passage between heaven and earth was only hinted at: when you throw yourself towards the surface there is a clear detachment (and it could not have been otherwise), but also in the sky it is possible to land - without interruption - only on the smaller islands.
It is not allowed, for example, to jump directly from your Solcanubi towards Oltrenuvola: or rather, it is an action that is often performed, but it is syncopated by an annoying interruption. The programmers were very good at making the landing area coincide with the drop point, but it doesn't happen in real time, there is a clear transition between the sky and Oltrenuvola.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2: the new clouds of the game, which look like whipped cream. Here, in Breath of the Wild 2 all this will not happen. Link will be able to throw himself from any position, to any island, without any loading ... and it will be a fantastic feeling, which we have wanted several times in playing Skyward Sword. Think of that mechanics, so free and disconnected from the ground, applied to a huge, open world, dotted with floating islands: a dream. And Nintendo knows this well, because if the appearance of Breath of the Wild 2 is similar to the original, there is one detail in which it is not at all: the clouds. Beautiful, dense and soft, they seem to be made of whipped cream: they can be crossed at night, surrounded by a starry sky. And they will surely turn black and menacing during a raging storm.
So we come to our last hypothesis, which concerns the mount. If Breath of the Wild 2 is as "aerial" as we imagine, and as the trailer suggests, Link will have a way, presumably an animal, to quickly navigate the clouds: maybe not right away, because the openings that a similar mechanic would grant in an open world are numerous, but it is unlikely that an epigone / heir of the Solcanubi will not appear.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD: will there be a mount similar to the Solcanubi in Breath of the Wild 2? Given the link between heaven and earth, which this time will not be cut down by interruptions, it could also be an animal as capable of running on a meadow as of flying among the clouds: the alternatives are many, and there is no need to suggest them. Dragons, wyverns, griffins ... winged horses. To be able to run and take flight - without any transition - would be truly beautiful.
Replaying The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD revealed how convinced Fujibayashi was, and satisfied, with certain insights he had in that work. He didn't verbally claim them, but certain bulbs planted in Skyward Sword actually sprouted and grew in Breath of the Wild, as if the open world - and the greatest technological possibilities - had provided him with the necessary lifeblood to find full fulfillment. As we explained in the course of the article, there are many reasons to believe that the same process could also mark the sequel to Breath of the Wild, between Solcanubi (or dragons, or winged horses) and temporal alterations. We will find out in 2022 ...
Have you noticed any errors?
