The Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma has been on an interview spree presumably because he was in the USA for The Game Awards 2023. In a new interview with IGN, Aonuma was asked about those fans who have expressed a desire for a more traditional Zelda experience than the open world adventures we have had with Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Aonuma says that he understands that people enjoy nostalgia, but questions whether it is simply just that.
It’s interesting to hear you say that because one of the discussions that I’ve seen among Zelda fans is some of them saying, “Gosh, I miss the more traditional linear Zelda of the past.” And I’m wondering, how do you feel about that given the direction of the series toward a very free-form, open-ended kind of design?
Aonuma: Well, I do think we as people have a tendency to want the thing that we don’t currently have, and there’s a bit of a grass is greener mentality. But I also think that with the freedom players have in the more recent games in the series…there still is a set path, it just happens to be the path that they chose. So I think that that is one thing I kind of like to remind myself about the current games that we’re making.
But also, it’s interesting when I hear people say those things because I am wondering, “Why do you want to go back to a type of game where you’re more limited or more restricted in the types of things or ways you can play?” But I do understand that desire that we have for nostalgia, and so I can also understand it from that aspect.
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