The most recent issue of Nintendo Dream magazine features an interview with Koei Tecmo producer Yosuke Hayashi regarding Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. The interview has been translated thanks to PushDustin , can can be read below.
– Hayashi wanted players to enjoy playing through the story, as AoC is the first Musou game with an emphasis on story
– for creating the concepts of the 4 Champions, the team listed concepts for the Zelda team
– none of these concepts were shot down.
– the fighting style of the Champions was inspired by some of their battle scenes in Breath of the Wild
– Revali’s playstyle was inspired by the weapons they left Link
– the diaries/memories in BoTW also helped guide the team in creating the concepts
– the Zelda team was helpful in adjusting Koei Tecmo’s concepts and getting the feeling of the Champions right
– Daruk was originally slower, as it’s common to have a heavy character in Musou games
– this didn’t feel right for the character though, so they decided to add the Magma attacks mid-development
– the Paraglider for Daruk was difficult to get right
– each character originally used the same paraglider, but they changed this to make things better suited to each person
– with Mipha, the team started off with her weapon as a base, and then added her special abilities to it
– the team wanted the 4 Champions to be easy to pick up and play
– for the Trident, Mipha was made before Link’s Trident move set
– It was important to make every character true to the source materia
– the concept for Revali was flight, and it took the team several times to get this right
– the Sheikah items can be used in mid-air as well, and is different than using it on the ground
– Urbosa’s special action is being able to charge lightning, and the team jokes it like charging a smartphone
– Impa’s feeling was “Tricky”, Zelda was “Magician”, and both Link and Urbosa were “Orthodox”
– Urbosa’s playstyle is probably the most straight forward of the 4 Champions
– Urbosa is very popular in North Americ
– Hestu was one of the first characters decided and the whole team was for his inclusion
– the theme was for Hestu to use Koroks and to dance
– the team had issues with Hestu’s size, which is why they decided to make his head semitransparent to aid the player
– Maz Koshia was decided at the very start of development to represent the 120 Monks in BoTW
– since Maz Koshia was the final boss of the DLC, the team felt he would be the most memorable
– the team felt that Hestu and Maz Koshia would appear naturally during the events 100 years prior to BoTW
– for Maz Koshia’s moveset, the team used the idea of having the gimmicks inside the shrines as his basis
– getting the voice for Maz Koshia was tough, and they worked closely with the Zelda team to ensure he was still mysterious
What do you think of the game?
You can see our review here