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At the begining, Link is this cowboy living in a small rural community Toaru village-not in Hyrule. Hyrule does exist, but it's a long way away. Actually, they raise cows in Toaru to sell to the kingdom of Hyrule. The two places have a freindly relationship with one another.

There are several other villages, and every year the kingdom of Hyrule gathers them all together for a kind of festival where all the villages can communicate with each other. Each year, the chief of the village is suppose to attend the festival, but this year, the chief orders this young man (Link) to go instead.

On the way to the festival, Link is going to encounter some kind of accident, which eventually leads him to the main adventure.

EGM: Will this Zelda be about rescuing the princess again?
Eiji Aonuma: Yes, the story will involve Zelda, and the story will involve Ganon, but of course the plot won't be identical to (those in) past Legend of Zeldas.

EGM: Where does this Zelda fit in the overall series timeline?
Eiji Aonuma: I can't really go into that, partially because I want to keep it a secret, but also because we haven't decided yet. There are some kinds of...unstable, uncertain ideas we're working on. Depending on what course we choose in terms of developtment, the final ending may change.

EGM: Is it safe to say there is some major gameplay element we still don't know about, like the sailboat in Windwaker, that will remain secret until just before the game comes out?
Eiji Aonuma:You're right. (laughs)

EGM: Is that why the game name still doesn't have a subtitle? Will the full name give something away? Eiji Aonuma: We really don't know what we're going to do with the subtitle at this point. (It could work the other way around)-maybe there will be some kind of mystery about the title, and somewhere in the course of the gameplay, you'll realize it's meaning.

EGM: From what we've played, the combat feels exactly like Windwaker-we noticed you can still smash shields, knock off helmets,etc. Do you have any changes planned?
Eiji Aonuma:(Remember ho) in Windwaker, if the enemy comes within a certain range of Link and you press the A button (at the right time), sometimes Link will do a special attack? We think that worked very well, so we're thinking about intensifying that aspect with this game. We've already added some things, like a jumping downward stab. We're going to incorporate more of those cool-looking performances (and a few other changes). People are going to see that this game is pretty different from Windwaker.

* " Eventually Link gets a wooden sword and learns combat in a familiar scarecrow-bashing tutorial "
* Chicken gliding is back, and it looks just as silly as I'd imagined it would, in a" realistic" Zelda.

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