I'm relieved to hear this. It's good that he thinks that way, and that most likely our message came across with Skyward Sword being like that. From a story and plot perspective, it fitted perfectly to have Fi guide us around all the time, analysing and stating the obvious, but from gameplay perspective, and from a gamer's point of view in general, Fi's "hand-holding" can mainly be seen as negative. Miymoto has often stated, I believe, that when creating a new game, he tries to put gameplay over story. He tries to evolve a story out of the gameplay mechanic they have determined, and tries to see what kind of story best fits the gameplay they have determined upon.

Personally, it's very satisfying being stuck on a puzzle or a section for hours..days even, and then finally figuring out how to progress all by yourself

I know nowadays it's always so tempting to look at walkthroughs online, as it's the easiest thing to do unfortunately.

I think, that after all the experimentations Nintendo may (or may not) have done with the series, they're just about done experimenting. They tried side-scroller, they've changed settings drastically, they've done touch screen only, motion-controls, sub-plot, all the way to, basically, "hand-holding". From now on, it's gonna be smooth sailing. It's gonna be hit after hit I can imagine. They have heard their fans speak, and they know what we want (for the most part). They expanded their horizons, especially now that Miyamoto has passed the torch onto Aonuma.

Ironic how Miyamoto started off with games being merciless (SMB, LoZ), and recently creating more and more easy games (at least games containing a ton of hints and solutions). I guess as the market spread, he's gotten soft, and realized the full potential of his franchises, so he wanted to get everyone involved. Fortunately, he's achieved that, and fortunately, they realize they need to get back to the roots sooner than ever.

I wonder if it's Miyamoto ("the director") who Aonuma fought with for three days to take away that certain hint I can imagine it is, since they're going through a "modification process" at the moment.