A common criticism of certain games in The Legend of Zelda series–Skyward Sword, in particular–is that there are too many things, like tutorials, that get in your way of playing. Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma is aware of this concern and is consciously trying to avoid having it come up again in the future.

“When we created Skyward Sword, I really felt the need to make sure that everyone playing the game understood it,” Aonuma told Kotaku. “But I also understand now, in hindsight, that when you go out and buy a game, you buy the game because you want to play it, and you don’t want to have any obstacles in the way. And I guess it was received as a bit of an obstacle.”

Last year’s 3DS Zelda game, A Link Between Worlds, defied many series conventions, providing players with a great deal of freedom in how to go about their quest. It also didn’t saddle players with a great deal of handholding that got in the way of playing, and it sounds as if future Zelda games will be more like that.

“In a game, it’s when you get stuck, when you want that help,” Aonuma continued. “And I kinda frontloaded all that in Skyward Sword, and it doesn’t really help to get that information when you don’t know what to do with it. So that was a real learning experience for me. So I’m going to be careful not to do that.”

Nintendo unveiled its next Zelda game last week at E3. It does not yet have a name and isn’t expected out until next year, but the Wii U game will be an open-world one and has sparked a great deal of excitement for the series. One thing that won’t change in that game, though, is the protagonist: Despite some indications that the character seen in the trailer above was someone other than Link–possibly even a female–it is, in fact, Link.

Were you bothered by how tutorial heavy the opening hours of Skyward Sword were? Are you happy that future Zelda games will continue to shy away from that? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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