While the original Hyrule Warriors title wasn’t too special outside of it simply existing, later titles were able to push what both the gameplay and story could be, and the success of that has been noted. Just as important, in the case of The Legend of Zelda Tears Of The Kingdom, it was able to utilize the “vagueness” of the game’s story to expand upon certain characters. Age of Imprisonment is a canon addition to TOTK’s story, and through it, the teams at Nintendo and Koei Tecmo were able to expand upon who the sages were that helped save Hyrule from Ganon.
For those who wonder why the initial game didn’t do this themselves, director Hidemaro Fujibayashi explained this in a chat with 4Gamer:
“In Tears of the Kingdom there was a central theme running through the main story, and the Sages are depicted with their faces hidden by masks and without names. If we had shown their personalities and faces, the story would have naturally grown too much, so there were many things we intentionally held back. That’s why I’m truly happy that the Sages have been more carefully picked up upon here in the Imprisoning War.”
That makes sense, honestly, as the original game’s story was about having Link learn what Zelda was going through and getting glimpses into the past world, including who Rauru and Sonia were and how they helped Zelda. Expanding upon the Sages would’ve made the “flashbacks” a bit “much,” and dragged things down.
Meanwhile, Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment was able to focus its entire game on the “Imprisoning War,” and showed just how important each Sage was in the battles to come, including how they got their titles and masks. Sometimes, timing is everything.
Source: 4Gamer
