A portion of a USGamer interview with Eiji Aonuma...

USGamer: Thank you very much for meeting with us. Have you been able to take any time off since Wind Waker HD's development closed?

Eiji Aonuma: No, we've had no sort of break. A Link Between Worlds is going into the final stages and we're working hard. Even when I get home, I'm getting home late. I want some vacation. I want some time off.

USG: So it hasn't just been your memories and your instincts that have helped shape the changes in the remake -- it's been the team's? How comprehensive would you say that the overhaul to the game has been?

EA: To answer your first question, yeah, it's absolutely the entire team. It's a very common topic of conversation for us to sit around and say, "Did we really do it that way? Is that how it used to be?"

As far as how comprehensive our remake of this game is, for myself, I played the entire game from beginning to end, and any time I found something that interrupted the flow of play, or if there was a stumbling point or anything like that, we made an effort to see what we could do to remove that obstacle or to smooth out that stumbling point. Again, we went from the beginning of the game all the way to the very end.

USG: When I've told people about my experience with the first-person mode in the game, they've said, "Well, Mr. Aonuma has spoken about how he's been inspired by Skyrim." Was this one of those things you pulled away from playing games like Skyrim, and can we expect to see this kind of inspiration – maybe some of these elements – in future Zelda games?

EA: I just wanted to say, I've been a bit surprised by the focus on my comments about Skyrim. I started playing Skyrim because the name was so close to "Skyward Sword" and I wanted to see what that was about. [laughs] I didn't pick it up because it was popular or because it was getting good reviews or anything like that. I just wanted to take a look at it. "Oh, okay, this is what this game's about. There are some things in here that are sort of Zelda-esque and maybe some things that aren't."

But there was no inspiration taken from Skyrim. It didn't impact what I was thinking about for future Zelda titles. I'm always thinking about, "Okay, next time, what are we going to do with the next one?" As a producer, whenever I can find more time to play games, I'm taking that free time to go out and play other games just to play them and see what's out there.

As far as whether or not those are inspiring me or influencing my decisions, I guess it's probably the same way as when I talk to young developers or new people on our staff, or when I read interviews with other people saying, "Yeah, this game was influenced by my experience playing Zelda as a kid." Or, "Zelda really impacted my design decisions going forward." I think the problem with that is that everything you play influences what you're thinking, but I'm not looking at other games to try and find inspiration. If it happens, it's a natural process.