Aonuma on moving away from Zelda hand-holding, not ruining the legacy of A Link to the Past and more
Coming from a Polygon interview with Eiji Aonuma...
"This is actually the first time I've ever been able to be in front of fans and speak the way I did today. It was kind of crazy, the way I would say one little thing and get this huge reaction from people. It really made me realize that man, the fans here are so passionate. I think they're even more passionate than the fans in Japan."
On A Link Between Worlds' goals and not hand-holding so much
"We wanted to make it a game where it would be fun to get stuck and be lost. I think that one thing all game developers worry about when they're putting something into a game is, 'Will people notice it? Will people realize what they're supposed to do?' And we kind of have a bad habit of hand-holding, trying to make things easier for everyone, but more and more, I start to think that that kind of isn't actually that fun.
There's actually one area in the game where I fought for three days with my director over whether we should have a hint in there or not. As a result, after the end of that we actually decided to take it out. So if that part of the game is too difficult, it's my fault. But it's fine — it'll be fine!"
On using A Link to the Past as a base
"But we could've made this game, or a game, without having Link to the Past as a base, because we have the ability to go into the walls, and then contrasting that with the top-down view, that was basically the kernel of the game — that mechanic, and then those two contrasting camera views."
On potentially ruining people's memories of A Link to the Past with A Link Between Worlds, sort of akin to the Star Wars situation
"On the topic of Star Wars, I was one of the people who felt that way about the new films as well. So I think there's always this phenomenon where things in the past always end up getting viewed more favorably. So I think even with me, if I had thought back to what I thought of Link to the Past and said, 'All right, since we're making a new game in that world, a sequel to that [game], Link to the Past was like this so this new game has to be like that' — I don't think that would've matched fans' expectations, either. But I think, more than being a sequel, A Link Between Worlds, it's not really a sequel so much as I think it's a new title. And I have confidence that when people play it, they will feel it's more like they've played a new title.
We used a lot of the base material from Link to the Past, setting it in that same world to kind of deepen the entire experience. Because that would make it easier for people to get into, and easier for people to understand, but there's also a lot of stuff in it that's completely different. So it could've just been its own game — I mean, it is its own game."
Link
"This is actually the first time I've ever been able to be in front of fans and speak the way I did today. It was kind of crazy, the way I would say one little thing and get this huge reaction from people. It really made me realize that man, the fans here are so passionate. I think they're even more passionate than the fans in Japan."
On A Link Between Worlds' goals and not hand-holding so much
"We wanted to make it a game where it would be fun to get stuck and be lost. I think that one thing all game developers worry about when they're putting something into a game is, 'Will people notice it? Will people realize what they're supposed to do?' And we kind of have a bad habit of hand-holding, trying to make things easier for everyone, but more and more, I start to think that that kind of isn't actually that fun.
There's actually one area in the game where I fought for three days with my director over whether we should have a hint in there or not. As a result, after the end of that we actually decided to take it out. So if that part of the game is too difficult, it's my fault. But it's fine — it'll be fine!"
On using A Link to the Past as a base
"But we could've made this game, or a game, without having Link to the Past as a base, because we have the ability to go into the walls, and then contrasting that with the top-down view, that was basically the kernel of the game — that mechanic, and then those two contrasting camera views."
On potentially ruining people's memories of A Link to the Past with A Link Between Worlds, sort of akin to the Star Wars situation
"On the topic of Star Wars, I was one of the people who felt that way about the new films as well. So I think there's always this phenomenon where things in the past always end up getting viewed more favorably. So I think even with me, if I had thought back to what I thought of Link to the Past and said, 'All right, since we're making a new game in that world, a sequel to that [game], Link to the Past was like this so this new game has to be like that' — I don't think that would've matched fans' expectations, either. But I think, more than being a sequel, A Link Between Worlds, it's not really a sequel so much as I think it's a new title. And I have confidence that when people play it, they will feel it's more like they've played a new title.
We used a lot of the base material from Link to the Past, setting it in that same world to kind of deepen the entire experience. Because that would make it easier for people to get into, and easier for people to understand, but there's also a lot of stuff in it that's completely different. So it could've just been its own game — I mean, it is its own game."
Link
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