2. Overarching, Cause-And-Effect Puzzle Solving
NintendoSpeaking of Eiji Aonuma: in response to the E3 buzz around the new game, hes said that puzzle-solving a classic Zelda element will take on a different form in next year's release. This means a definite departure, although hopefully not abandonment from pushing blocks around to open new doors. In addition to the classic puzzles we all love to hate (Wind Wakers Private Oasis, for one thing), Zelda Wii U will hopefully hinge upon the bigger picture of the game that were going to be playing, something to which Aonuma has alluded. Rather than having isolated puzzles to progress through dungeons, Zelda U is headed in the direction of puzzles whose solutions are based on choices that we make and information that we are given early on that affect the decisions we have to make at later points in the game. What this does is widen the world for players, because it looks like it will minimise the kind of hand-holding that recent titles have been playing up. With puzzles like these, its not about finding the switch to lift bars from the door, its about considering the elements of the world and story weve seen so far, and then figuring out our way based on that; effectively, puzzle-solving will become about the macro rather than the micro. That said, theres nothing wrong with a good block-pushing puzzle, but most of us are well-practiced with the formula at this point, and with change always comes challenge.