The way it was always described before the IA you linked was that it was very briefly Zelda Gaiden and then Aonuma was able to convince Miyamoto very early into development to do a new game instead of an expansion, which is where the one year challenge came in. 

Though you're correct, it WAS a necessity - IF Aonuma wanted to get the game done on time. But it could've been done should Aonuma have chosen to. Before the IA I recall it always  being described that they chose to reuse assets to save time,not because gun to their head they had to, if you get what I'm saying. Remember this is the same guy who said that they worked on TP for two consoles at once when the likely scenario was that it was ported by a small group in the last year, not remade with two consoles in mind. He's known for embellishing quite a bit and rewriting history a bit tooz

For what it's worth, not only are you right about the rewrites, but he also mentions in the interview that his memory is fuzzy because it was so long ago, so I can definitely see him pulling a George Lucas and...evolving...the story as time went on. Still, this is the version I personally recall, and not just from the interview, so it's the one that's my personal headcannon.

Oh, whoops, I missed that, sorry, haha.

Hey, whatever works lol. I don't personally care which way is which, they're both almost splitting hairs so whichever one you wanna go with is pretty much just as correct since we'll never know the true, definitive answer knowing Nintendo and especially Aonuma. I mean Aonuma couldn't even remember to release Zelda U in 2015!

Jokes aside, yeah, it's a somewhat similar situation to MM that we're in, except that TFH did it by choice instead of because of a time crunch (well, seemingly), on top of other differences in scenario that aren't as noteworthy. Either way, the game sounds pretty good for fans of the FS saga, which is good. I'm glad they're doing things to add replayability to the games too, as they've always been one and done outside of MM for me; the costumes seem to help that a tad but not likely too much. Even then the hub seems pointless so they're giving and taking. So, really, every Zelda game! But I digress

Well, shit. Guess I'll have to play online with strangers to get the best experience from this game. Playing with the "dolls" or whatever on single player sounds like a poor experience.

Also, not terrible reviews. About what you would expect for this type of game. I'd say.

And so it's confirmed to belong in the timeline and even has a definite position, is canon and has the same status as the other so-called 'mainline' games named LoZ. I can't call that a spin-off, the name did say it all, thank you very much. I'm not saying anyone can't recognize 'importance', or group them into primary and secondary, but this is a main game nonetheless.

I'll see if I can get the game today. Even though I don't like the look and concept of it, it's still a Zelda game; got to keep my collection up to date.

As long as Aonuma is in charge, things will get only worse.

You were right. This is a mainline game and that's sad. Sad day for the Zelda franchise when the best they can come out it's this.

The only thing that offends me is the praise that mental lazyness gets. They fact that the only thing they can do is Link dressed as Zelda is truly sad.

Those reviews are mixed 75% isn't bad but it is not Zelda... too many spin off and games on 3DS - needed more foces on new IPs I guess

I'm pretty sure they shoehorned this title into the timeline after the fact.  That's because pretty much every single LoZ game has to go in there somewhere now.  If defining a mainline game as one that fits onto the timeline, then there really wont be any future LoZ spinoffs.
Nintendo is simply making contradictions by trying to appease fans who want an elaborate layout of when everything happens in the LoZ universe.