"Zelda: Breath of the Wild" proved to be one of the most popular and highest-rated games this past 2017, and players everywhere have been bragging off how they finished the game in just a few short hours by defying physics and overcoming long shrines by clever shrine skips.
IGN recently got the chance to interview Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma and game director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and asked them how they felt seeing some players deviously finishing their game's challenges in just short amounts of time. After all, "Zelda: Breath of the Wild" wouldn't get its high praise if it isn't near-perfect and meticulously designed.
"That was definitely one of our goals. That's totally all according to plan," Fujibayashi said. "A big theme of this game was that there should be multiple answers, multiple methods, multiple ways of doing anything. All the dungeons, we wanted to make it so that the players would be able to solve problems in any way they wanted to without us even being able to know what they would do to solve it."
Aonuma and Fujibayashi have both watched various Breath of the Wild videos, and just like in their statement, they were proud and contented with how things turned out.
When IGN asked Aonuma whether the new freedom surrounding Breath of the Wild has inspired him to do the same for future Zelda games, the game's series producer said that he thinks it's important to maintain the freedom players are currently experiencing now.
He said that he can't speak for other games, but his stance regarding the freedom and linear design of Zelda wouldn't change in the near future.
Meanwhile, Fujibayashi is already thinking of future content for the Zelda franchise, following the release of Breath of the Wild's Champions' Ballad DLC. The game director said he's feeling pretty motivated to plan and create the next content because of the overwhelming amount of appreciation and love from Zelda's players.
He added that the future is uncertain whether the new content is a continuation of Breath of the Wild or a new series altogether, since the production team is still brainstorming different ideas at the present.
