“Jason: Along that lines, though, we obviously do have a very active user base that likes to voice a lot of their opinions about the Zelda series. They may not know whether or not you guys look at what they say – which I would love to believe that you do, because we care. And I’m just wondering: what is the largest change, or the most important change, that you’ve made to the Zelda series as a whole because of feedback from fans?
Aonuma: Hmm… I think the project that reflects our reaction to fan opinion is probably Twilight Princess. The incentive for us to create that different version of the Zelda universe was certainly as a result of The Wind Waker criticism that we received. Fans were saying that it wasn’t what they were looking for, it wasn’t what they were hoping for, so that’s why we went with this different graphic presentation. So I think that’s probably the one, the biggest change that we made.
I still remember eight years ago at E3 when we ran that first video of Twilight Princess. It was received very well; there was a standing ovation! So I still remember that moment very well.”
So now we have Aonuma readily admitting people went against Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess was done as a result. He even admits the positive reaction from that decision. And yet we’re getting Wind Waker again now, in spite of that.
Of course the interviewers let this slide by, and being Zelda fans themselves I wouldn’t have expected them to take him to task. But a completely honest follow up could have been “So, if you made changes to Zelda based on the poor reaction to Wind Waker, and these changes were received positively, then why are you going back on those changes now?” I would love to see how he responds to that. Honestly, wouldn’t be surprised if he casually answered “Because Zelda is mine. I gave you what you wanted once, now it’s my turn to have what I want.”
You just can’t make this up.
Game A gets criticized. So Game B is made as a response. Game B gets praised. Result? Make more of Game A.
Either Aonuma is irrational or he wishes to make games for himself. There is no other option.