Breath of the Wild will have Voice Acting

At this year's E3, Nintendo offered us a heaping helping of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and there were no shortage of people who were happy with that--which is good, because that was pretty much ALL they had to offer. Still, for such an ambitious Zelda game, one that breaks so much convention and very likely will be Nintendo's first attempt at a 'sandbox' title, one day seems hardly sufficient to cover everything... and in fact, in an interview with Polygon, Zelda producer and guru Eiji Aonuma had even MORE to share, even after the E3 lights have faded into dark.

Apparently, in a first for the series, The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild will have true, actual voice acting. Not all the time, and not for every character, but occasionally, you're going to hear voices in English.

"It’s really difficult to leave an impression on players with just text. It’s not that I made everything voiced. But I have these moments where I want to leave impressions on users. I add voice there."

Also: don't worry. The nightmare scenario you're imagining is not going to pass.

"If Link said something the user doesn’t agree with, that relationship between the user and Link would be lost. That’s why I chose not to go with that."

So while this game still might become the Wii U's version of Metroid: Other M, it won't be because Link is given a whiny voice that can't emote for the life of it. But either way, the addition of voice acting was already hinted in the game in the trailer, when a feminine voice (perhaps Zelda?) urges him to get up. So we can expect more of that, but still, the addition of... words in a Zelda game is going to be, um... jarring, for a lot of people, I feel. Perhaps moreso than the open world or dress-up, which at least kind of resembles Wind Waker and Twilight Princess.

Anyway. The interview is worth a read if you're interested, but in the meantime, feel free to mull on the voices... perhaps we'll finally get to hear Tingle emote full sentences? Ah, a boy can dream.