A few goodies from Aonuma's interview with ONM. Interesting stuff about meeting fans' expectations, top-down perspective, and linear vs. open game worlds. I bolded the important stuff.
"ONM: Congratulations on creating one of the best adventure games ever made and our 3DS game of 2013. Is it a relief that it has been accepted so well?
EA: That's nice of you to say that. I was really glad to hear that so many people were enjoying our game and to see the numerous positive posts on Miiverse saying how much fun they were having.
ONM: Dedicated gamers must be extremely hard to impress these days as they have such high expectations of new releases, particularly when they are from a series as universally renowned as The Legend Of Zelda. Do you find it difficult to make innovations when you feel such pressure to deliver a game the fans will like?
EA: For Zelda, I think innovating is precisely what we need to do to meet the expectations of our fans. We will, of course, continue to question and reconsider the approaches we have taken in the past without any reservations.
[...]
ONM: What did you learn from making this game? Can you use any of these ideas in future titles? For example, the Merge (with walls) ability is amazing and it would be a shame if it was never used again.
EA: I think the top-down view made the ability to enter the wall really interesting. Also, in this game, I feel we've found a new direction in regards to the potential use of the good old top-down view for Zelda. It's the kind of point we will take in good consideration when thinking about the next Zelda game.
ONM: It's interesting that you chose to go down an alternative storyline path with this game. Does the story idea come first, or do you begin with the gameplay ideas?
EA: The recent Zelda games have been rather linear, as I thought players didn't like getting lost, wondering what to do, or where to go. However, I've come to question this 'traditional' approach as I felt that we couldn't gain the sense of wonder that existed in the original Legend Of Zelda, in which you made unexpected encounters and where what used to be impossible would suddenly become possible."
Source: Zelda Informer
