None
While Skyward Sword has continued the tradition of a voiceless Link, series director Eiji Aonuma sounds like he may be changing his tune for the series’ future. In an interview with Game Informer, Aonuma shows an attitude far more open to voice acting than Nintendo has been in the past. As for why there aren’t voices in the latest Zelda, Aonuma gives perhaps the clearest answer from Nintendo yet. Link being silent is a given, since players are supposed to identify with him and project their own emotions to the character, but what of the other characters in the game? “If you create a game where everybody else in the game speaks but Link doesn’t, it emphasizes the fact that he is silent and draws even more attention to it,” Aonuma said. “Of course, this was the first time we went with fully orchestrated songs in the game, and we’ve seen what that can do to help bring the world alive and make the game that much more fun. We’re continually looking at ways that we can evolve the series. We’re not confident that we can find the right balance with full voice, so we’ll see.” 
Of course, after witnessing Nintendo’s attempt to add voice acting to Metroid with Other M, perhaps keeping the Zelda series silent isn’t such a bad idea after all. By Scott Nichols |