i still don't get it when people say smallgame devs having AA budgets would unleash their creativity bc i just take for granted if they did they'd just end up making Zelda. nobody knows why, nobody wants them to. it doesn't matter what kind of thing they were making before. all of a sudden they move as though in a dream or like one of the possessed dwarfs from dwarf fortress. and after a while away from human society they come back with "zelda but cartoonier" "push the block onto the switch" "light torches with the fire rod" and everyone else just looks at each other in silence as if witnessing a truth that is too terrible to name.
It's because Zelda is the Master Game. It is the Game to End All Games. Any attempts at innovating game design that empowers the player and challenges their skills and wits, if given enough opportunity, will evolve into Legend of Zelda. There is no avoiding this.
