TP info in GI

This month's Game Informer magazine had an interesting article in which they interviewed various translators to inform readers on the intricate processes involved in localization. One of the interviewees just happened to be Nintendo's own Bill Trinen. In his responses, he seems to have made a few minor hints about the upcoming Zelda title. The following are the questions and Trinen's answer's to said questions:

GI: Could you outline how the localization process works? Are you involved during all stages of development, or do you come in more towards the end for translation and tweaking the cultural references?

Trinen: Our involvement in the process really varies quite a bit, depending on which team we're working with. When it comes to Twilight Princess, we have a fantastic relationship with Eiji Aonuma and his team, and we workd very closely with them. Nate and I helped put together all of the trailers we've released so far, and we've been in close communication with them on a number of differen levels since before the game was first unveiled at E3 two years ago.

GI: Could you describe any examples of when this process went differently than normal?

Trinen: To be honest I don't know that we have anything that could really qualify as normal anymore. With Twilight Princess, the depth of the story and its connection to past games means that not only does it have twice as much text as Wind Waker, but it includes a fair number of legacy terms that originate in past games, so consistency is a big focus there. We've also been given the oppurtunity to provide a lot of input on everything from play control to difficulty to character design, so over time our role has grown from simply localizing the Zelda games to almost being a branch of the development team itself.

GI: What are some names, situations, jokes, pop culture references that are commonly changed between North American and other territory's releases?

Trinen: There isn't anything that as a rule gets changed when coming to North America. We look at everything within the context of the game and the target audience. The ESRB has, in a sense, made those decisions easier, because we're able to look at content within the context of what we expect the game's raing to be. With Twilight Princess, we expect the game to get a T rating because of the more realistic graphics, so because of that you may see scenes and situations in that game that wouldn't have fit in a game like the Wind Waker.

Well, nothing to specific. But Trinen does sound pretty confident that we have the first T-rated Zelda, and potentially some more graphic seens to fit the bill.
He also clearly states that there is much more dialogue and story based dialogue, and a lot of references to older titles ala "Legacy terms."

I'm really intrigued by that second response. It seems that this game is heavily story-based, and I wonder whether "twice as much text as Wind Waker" is exaggerating or not. This hints at a longer length.

I wonder what games it's connected to? I would imagine them to be OoT and WW.

Originally Posted by WinderWake

Wowzers!! Twice as much text? Depth to the story and connections to past Zelda games? That's seriously good news!! I have been hoping for a deep story in a Zelda game for a while, would it be to much to dream of a story that can compete with the Final Fantasies?

Also shocked about TP getting a "T" rating.

I've been thinking that TP will have the most in-depth story of any Zelda game. With Link turning into a wolf I just envision this game to be full of depth. Enough to rival FF in terms of story? I don't know. We'll have to wait and see.

And what does "legacy terms" mean?

Yeah, the "twice as much text than tWW" really gets my juices flowing. It's also nice to see such a concern with this title in the context of previous zelda games.

yeah... TP is probably going to be one of the best games ever made, I'm quite happy to be able to live in such a time.

Originally Posted by WinderWake

Lol! That cracked me up.

I feel the same way though. I kinda did a little belly dance just a minute ago when I read this.

Now all we need is for this game to finally come out lol.

And once again, what does "legacy terms" mean?

Well, I think 'legacy term' means also nostalgic references - like at the 2005 E3 demo, one of the characters says the phrase, 'It's a secret to everyone,' which players might recognize as a direct quote from the NES Legend of Zelda.

It's stuff like that that makes me smile a lot.

Legacy Terms are most likely direct references in termination... you know, "Master Sword", "royal family", "Deku Tree", etc.

I'm not so shocked at the 'T' rating.

With Twilight Princess, the depth of the story and its connection to past games means that not only does it have twice as much text as Wind Waker, but it includes a fair number of legacy terms that originate in past games, so consistency is a big focus there.

My hype for this game practically doubled just now. And it wasn't small to begin with.

Twice as much text! Story with depth and strong connections to the other games! Consistency between the games!

I really hope TP ties together the stories of OoT, MM, and TWW, dealing with elements from all three of them, resulting in the greatest quadrilogy ever.

Great interview.

Possibly the greatest Twilight Princess interview of 2006. And I'm not exaggerating a bit.

A deep story? Twice as much text as WW? Connections to past games? Nintendo anticipating a T rating?

Sorry, I have to go change my clothes because I just wet myself.

Oh! good things to hear. My twilight madness is disappearing, yay!

Twice as much as WW!!! T Rating!!!... i´m not as surprised. In a game of this scale, it would be ridiculous not to hear this. But it´s really hyping to hear, though! meh!!!

I don't really care too much about the ratings part of the interview. Wouldn't care if it was a T, G or R rated game. The amount of violence has never been the contributing factor as to what makes Zelda great.

I do, however, like the bit about twice as much text and relationships between the other games. More text usually means more things to do, bigger story, etc. Beaut. I also find it interesting how this game will try to tie in other games of the series (of course there's going to be OoT for starters). Good show good show.

A lot of text works just fine for me, I'm always the one carefully reading through the dialogues. Just skipping past all the text is not my style.

Sounds interesting though, this game is certainly going to be quite different from the other Zelda games.

My hype for this game was slowly deminishing do to all the waiting, but now it's double what it ever was.

Twice as much text, references to older games, that's the most wonderful video game related news I've heard in months

Just hearing that the game will feature twice as much text as Wind Waker says that the game is likely to be the most epic game to date in the Zelda franchise.
I'm hoping that this means that the storyline this time won't be so linear, and much more complex.

Other Zelda game storylines, as I said, were very linear, i.e, Collect three pendants, free seven maidens/Fin three pearsl, find Triforce shards, etc.

I'm also intrigued by the mention of alluding to past Zleda games, and, I beieve that the Legacy Terms won't only hint to quotes and things like the Royal family and master sword, but rather allude to entire games.
I would love to play through the game, and meet people who talk of the Legend of the Hero of Time, and his plight, and then later on in the game, perhaps in a a seaside town, hear the locals talk of the Hero of Winds, and his voyages.

Things and references like that would make me very happy.

twice as much text is a good sign, it possibly shows that this game will feature a strong story with alot of emotions, maybe also that random characters may say different things everytime that ye speak to them.

*got back from having a seizure*

8DDDDDDDDDDDDD Oh, my God, oh, my God...that interview, like everyone has said, has just doubled my anticipation. I CAN'T WAIT. D:

*rocks back and forth*

i dont want TP to be rated T or else i might not be able to play it!

T is only 13 or older right? Thats not bad,most of the gaming population is 16-21 on an ign survey. ANywhay if your younger than that just show her why its T,we know its not because of gore and sexual theme,haha.

Originally Posted by joeyholler51

i dont want TP to be rated T or else i might not be able to play it!

T means teen. However, having had somewhat overprotective parents I think I can see where your problem comes from. How old are you, anyways? If you're 13+ simply tell your parents that 'T' means teen, if they see it at all. If that's not good enough turn in over and point out that although it (very likely) says violence, it's not any worse then any of the previous Zelda games, and that it doesn't have blood, swearing, mature themes, or anything like that in it. (Also based on guesses.) In essence if it does get a Teen rating it'll be similar to Smash Bros. Melee, were you allowed to play that game? If so just point out that it has the exact same rating for the exact same reason.

Glad to see i've brightened everyone's day

Anyway, as to the rating issue, it is likely only rated T because it is graphically more realistic, darker, and has a more mature core to it. Mature doesn't mean it's full of gushing blood and full frontal nudity and every-other-word F-bombs. Have you ever seen an R rated movie with very little swearing (no F word at all), no graphic violence, no nudity and maybe a bit of a sexual overtone and wondered why it got an R rating? It's because it had a mature theme that might have a negative psychological impression on kids if they were to see it.