So how far in the future are we talking about, Aonuma? And at what cost?
Hundreds of people toiled for four years to bring us this game. Monolith was called upon to help with the open world design. It's probably the biggest game Nintendo has ever put out.
* Near 400 names credited. Not including entire companies.
* 100+ Nintendo in-house staff
* 100~ SRD, Monolith, Mario Club Nintendo of America, Nintendo of Europe
* 100+ Outsource companies
I've already been playing for what feels like far too long and I've barely scratched the surface; I just installed the Parental Controls app on my phone just so that I can track my play time because I'm pretty sure I've already dropped more than 15 hours into it and I'm only up to the first village. The surface is barely scratched. And yet I feel no pressure to go any faster because every inch of this world is a blast.
Where does Zelda go from here? How do you top this? I'm a little delirious from almost nonstop gaming now but I struggle to imagine what they could possibly do to surpass this. Like Ocarina of Time before it, I think we might be waiting another 20 years before we get an entry that can convincingly turn the page and declare itself the new king.