The interview that came out when it was new just clicked for me. They compared it heavily with the original Legend of Zelda on the NES. I didn't get it at the time, but you just made me think. It's the same elevator pitch (Link goes on adventure, solves puzzles, fights Gannon, yadda yadda), but for modern hardware, and absolutely nothing else. They just set out to make the best game they could with that premise, and ignored almost all the conventions that have popped up since.