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neokad · 4 years

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The Legend of Zelda - The Wind Waker! (HD Turbo Championship Edition)

Hi everybody!

As I plan to revisit many Zelda games I haven't played in years (or at all!) in the upcoming months, I finished what used to be one of the most controversial titles in the series for the second time, and the first in four years! And to my shock considering what I've heard about this adventure over time, I fell in love with it all over again 💗

I'd actually like to start this humble review with this analogy: What surprised me the most while replaying this game, is how its overall structure and world are. I feel like the best way to describe this game is like this: A perfectly balanced mix - as all things should be - between a classic Zelda quest, and the much more revolutionary Breath of the Wild. Now, I gotta say, it may be strange to some people to compare an older title to a newer one to describe it, but I promise it'll at least somewhat make sense at the end of this review... I hope O_O

But hey, we might as well review the plot early as usual! Well, there honestly isn't a lot to this story as usual for most Zelda games, but it is pretty solid regardless. Basically, as the ambient intro of the game teaches you, the ancient land of Hyrule got flooded by the gods, as Ganondorf tried to conquer the land with no Hero opposing him. And ever since that event, the world has been flooded with the Great Sea, only leaving many small islands and some people behind to rebuild the world. And so, many years after this happened, we find this game’s Link on his 12th birthday, wearing the “Hero of Time’’s clothes for the occasion as a longheld tradition. BUT, as this supposed happy day happens, his sister Aryll gets kidnapped by a giant flying bird to the Forsaken Fortress - as many other young girls. Naturally, Link tries to go save her with the help of Tetra - another young girl that escaped captivity thanks to her crew of pirates. With the help of her companions and their ship, Link sets out for the fortress, but as he is clearly underpowered, he gets demolished there by none other than Ganondorf, and washes up ashore, unconscious on Windfall Island, greeted by... a talking red boat! And this same boat tells him he must collect the Three Pearls of the Gods in order to gain access to the Master Sword, to finally save the kidnapped girls! This is not the whole plot of course, as I’m hiding some actual plot twists from you, the reader, buuuut I will say that while it’s not the most developed tale out there, it’s well done! But I feel like what drives this the most is certainly the art style and the characters themselves. See, I firmly believe this game has the best Link in the ENTIRE SERIES, no questions asked! He’s expressive, funny, endearing and he just looks so dang adorable! Part of his charm is definitively thanks to the situations he’s put in, but I think it’s mostly because of the game’s artstyle. IT’S BEAUTIFUL

Yes, granted, it’s not nearly as detailed as many games you’ve probably played, but the cartoony style they chose for Wind Waker really makes the locales pop out, and made the slapstick in the game that much more endearing! Plus, some of those shots just look, well, breathtaking really.

Speaking of character expressions and slapstick, I also believe Wind Waker possesses a very memorable set of NPCs as well! Be it the employee in the battleship game with his twofaced personality, or anyone involved in the many sidequests all over the islands, I’ve built lots of memories just traveling all around the sea, reading and delivering letters, just to get to know those people more! And it turned out that a good chunk of them gave me a good time!

Well, let’s talk about those travels, shall we? Wind Waker got (in?)famous over the years for having sailing. Lots of it. And especially in the original Gamecube version, it made travelling slow and boring to some as a result. Basically, you needed to constantly change the direction of the wind in order to travel as quickly as you could. Suffice to say, switching the wind’s directions this often got irksome pretty quickly : P Thankfully, the HD port on the Wii U does give you an optional Fast Sail in a side quest! As early as the second island in the game! Which means that those who found the sailing unbearable in the original will have a better experience ^^ But regardless, there’s a lot of sailing in this game, which is what replaces running/rolling around on the overworld. And instead of having different regions, they’re all replaced by 49 islands of different sizes and importance! And this is where my BOTW comparison will shine~ I think this game is pretty close in spirit to Breath of the Wild in some ways. Sure, unlike in that game, you’re locked to a certain sequence of items/dungeon/progression, just like a classic Zelda experience! BUT! Wind Waker also allows you to explore 40+ non-important islands, and sailing between them in anticipation of what you might find there is suuuuch a good feeling! Plus, there’s many treasure chests to loot (both major and minor) while you’re travelling on the big blue. Due to how much you can find in your way off the main quest - while being far away from the suggested path the game wants you to do at the moment - gives this game a very open feeling despite still having a linear quest to it! And I think this element of discovery and exploration in a linear format - coupled with the great visuals and ambience the sailing offered - made this game so, so, so much fun to play <3

But what about the gameplay and dungeons themselves? Well thankfully, they’re both quite good as well! What I like most is how much of an improvement swordplay got compared to Ocarina of Time. Not only are the enemies generally more diversified in strategies and design, Link also received many new moves to his arsenal, and those made combat so much more intense and exciting! Though it did make the game very easy overall thanks to having so many options... alongside you not taking very much damage for most of the game :P Still, the dungeons made up for this! They’re quite fun and pretty well paced, and each offer some quite nice ambience as well! Although I will say that the late part of the game has two dungeons with pretty similar concept, which while fun in their own right, did feel a little uninspired despite them having clever puzzles :/ On a semi unrelated note, the intro sequence at the Forsaken Fortress has you playing a stealth sequence, and you coming back to it later while able to defend yourself was a high point for me!

I do want to leave a quick note about the music, and honestly? It’s pretty great as well! Like I pointed out earlier, the dungeons create some very fitting atmosphere, but as soon as you’re outside them, many of the main islands have some very pretty, energetic music that is PERFECT for a Zelda game (especially Dragon Roost Island), and the Great Sea theme is very adventurous and grandiose, which motivates you even more to set out and explore! Though it’s somewhat strange that many smaller locations have no music at all, which makes sense to be fair, since those islands are usually pretty small from the outside ^^

Overall? I expected to only like this game, but I ended up adoring it! The Wind Waker is a marvelous journey that leaves a lot open to the player about how they approach the game, while still giving you enough of a compass to never be lost! And a competent story with charming characters and great music certainly help to make that adventure all the more memorable! Though I suggest you all should play the HD version if you can, since it has the fast sail and better looks. BUT, it also heavily tones down the infamous lategame Triforce fetch quest. (While it did not make much sense story-wise since you could just do spoiler without it before, I didn’t find it all that bad in the HD version since you can do some of it before having completed all other dungeons in the game ^^ But yes, HD or not, this is a grand adventure! Play it! 9/10

#zelda #wind waker #review #neokad #gaming

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attackingstarfish · 6 years

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Just finished LoZ: Wind Waker...

I normally never post, but I recently wrapped up Wind Waker HD (Yes, I’m late to the party), and it is so far removed from the usual Zelda fare that I just had to compile my thoughts. And if I’m compiling my thoughts, I might as well yell them into the void.

You will have to show me physical proof that Wind Waker is not Ocarina of Time from the Opposite Dimension, where windows are the primary means of entering your house and people worship at the altar of Hello Games, because despite me being almost exactly as satisfied with Wind Waker HD as I was with Ocarina of Time 3D, the greatest sources of joy are flipped with the biggest annoyances between the two games.

Yay!

Breath of the Wild had won me over in part because the entire world felt cohesive; you could go anywhere on the map without having to encounter a single loading screen, and I had no idea Wind Waker did the same thing. The Great Sea is a vast trove of trees, pirates, and treasure, with the occasional giant squid attack or salutation from the Flying Dutchman. Each of the 49 segments contains an island that is often unique in purpose, and you’re very rarely sent to a specific island for a specific item by a specific character. Instead, the entire overworld becomes open to you as soon as you grab your sail on Windfall Island, and you have a literal sea of knowledge before you as the 49 fish that serve as your guidebook to the game take their places.

A couple of islands start off closed, unable to be reached until you get the Iron Boots or the Bow or the Hulk Hogan suplex manual, but that’s it as far as what you can’t reach, and the squares of ocean containing even these islands can be reached as early as any other zone, fish and all. The fish are easy to spot, splashing around near their respective region’s landmass, and to reward taking to initiative to explore, a surprising amount of what they tell you can be put to use immediately, like the location of the all-new extra-fast wind-changing sail the remake’s added to speed up travel. Good thing, too, because there’s a point where travel time stops being buildup and becomes padding, especially when you have to dance a round of Hands Up every time you want to change direction. Later in the game, when you’re better equipped, you could stop by one of those islands you couldn’t figure out earlier on, and figure out what to do with just one more trip around the border. Nothing pops up on your map to indicate that suddenly you’re able to access anything new, and your boat doesn’t wonder whether the eastmost pillar on island A7 has met any nice hookshot targets lately. The game trusts that you can navigate the uses for your gear yourself, which I value. Fewer tutorials, more expectations.

Even the story serves the game’s hands-off attitude. Ocarina starts with Link going into the Deku Tree to purge it of some unspecified evil (What exactly does Gohma do in there, anyway?) before coming out to be told of his fate to kill a man he has never met before and become Hyrule’s savior. Link takes up the mantle in that game only because the gods who have not and will never make a proper appearance want him to do it. Meanwhile, Wind Waker opens with Link putting on the green tunic to make his grandmother happy for a day, right before his sister, who clearly adores him, gets kidnapped by a giant bird, and he teams up with pirates to sneak into a fortress and rescue her but instead gets bitch-slapped by Ganondorf, who turns out to own the place and the bird. In addition to being awesome because pirates kick ass, Link’s introduction to the man who wants him dead feels a lot more natural here, and Ganondorf doesn’t even come into the plot for real until the second half of the game. Link’s got a sister to save, and everything he’ll do to accomplish that goal will demonstrate him to be worthy of the Master Sword, which itself seems to prefer this organic sort of journey, seeing as the Link who set out to get the Master Sword from the beginning ended up locked in solitary confinement by the thing while it allowed the man it was created to kill to instead take over the world. Evidently the Master Sword is a strong, independent blade beholden to no one who can’t think for themselves, and anyone who disagrees can spend some quality time with the nice old man who loves to talk and talk and talk and talk.

The characters in Wind Waker feel more on the dynamic side than Ocarina’s. At first I was a bit surprised that i felt that way considering Ocarina had you view two very different versions of Hyrule, but Ocarina’s characters either don’t change in personality much between time periods or don’t make an appearance in one of the two at all. Talon’s still lazy in the future, the carpenters are still idiots, the Lake Hylia scientist is still mad, the Kokiri of course don’t change at all, you see none of the Zoras after their caves are frozen over, etc. Not to mention Ganondorf, who doesn’t get much beyond “evil Gerudo thief king who wants to take over the world because of reasons,” even if he gets a bit further than many movie/game villains and is able to demonstrate exactly what he’d do while in charge and why he’s so dangerous. Wind Waker, meanwhile, has even a fair few one-off characters with their own tiny arcs. Mila goes from stuck-up rich kid to poor as dirt and struggling to adapt, so out of her element that she resorts to stealing money from her new boss until Link catches her and helps her stay true to herself in the future. Maggie’s father starts out so desperate for Link to save his daughter that he will annoyingly stop you in your tracks every time he so much as glimpses you and repeat his pleas for help, but after Maggie is returned home and he strikes it rich through no deed of his own, he decides everyone else is beneath him and starts bitching at Link, the Rito postman, and anyone who thinks repeatedly boasting about your own fabulous wealth makes for poor dinner conversation. Even Ganondorf himself is given more than a simple desire to take over Hyrule this time around, as his belief that the rest of the kingdom deserves to suffer the way the Gerudo suffered in the desert is brought to light.

Boo!

Part of the reason I liked the dungeons in Ocarina of Time so much is that they had a way of coming full circle at the end, or even a smaller full circle in the middle. You’d come across something at the beginning, go “Huh, that looks cool,” then move on. An hour later, BOOM, payoff, and likely in a way you didn’t even expect. The web serving as the floor in the Deku Tree and the blue stone head at the back of Dodongo’s Cavern come to mind. Plus, there were often open rooms that allowed you to get a handle on where everything else was relative to you, and gaze upon areas you’ll visit once you find the Hookshot or Hover Boots. Wind Waker’s dungeons are the antithesis of the rest of the game, they’re cramped and, for the first half of the game, overly linear. Dragon Roost never musters up much more challenge than “kill enemy in front of you, go through door in front of you, repeat,” a far cry from the wall-climbing around the first half of the Deku Tree. Re-hydrating the bombs to get into the place is arguably as clever as you get with it, which for me is the perfect representation of the amount of thought that went into everything surrounding the dungeons vs. the amount of thought that went into the dungeons. And aside from those spinning leaf wheels in Forbidden Woods that wouldn’t know what a wind was if they were fired for incompetence and forced to spend the rest of their lives at its mercy, this is best illustrated during the teamwork-based dungeons with Medli and Makar toward the end of the game .

Considering how often you have to switch between characters to set up a Mirror Shield reflect or to hit a switch or to plant a seed or because you got hit fucking once, it would’ve been nice not to have to do half the Macarena every time you want to switch to your companion’s viewpoint. It also would’ve been nice if the controls of your partners didn’t make me want to offer them to the Floormasters. That said, Medli wasn’t awful. Yes, her flight was a bit hard to direct, there was no way to halt her Link-bearing glide without throwing her, and the number of times you had to hop on the Wind Waker was a pain, but the irritation was diminished when lot of her roles involved standing still and shining light while you played as the character the game actually put work into handling. Plus, my wave of enthusiasm from the first moment I walked under a spotlight while carrying her and saw the light reflect lasted me quite a ways into the dungeon, so my memories of the Earth Temple are okay enough.

On the other hand, Makar. (I still call him Oaki, which should indicate how memorable Makar’s character is) When flying with Medli, all that was required was good aim when leaping off any ledge you were leaving, whether she was on her own or supporting Link. Makar has to fly in patterns more complex than straight lines, so naturally his controls are twice as stupid. You have to repeatedly press A to fly, speeding up or slowing down your button presses to increase or decrease the amount of lift as you go. Button mashing as a recurring mechanic, yay. Its imprecise nature becomes worse when the vertical nature of the dungeon’s biggest room has Makar rack up a ton of momentum from the amount of rising and falling he’ll be doing, leaving you struggling to adjust your frequency to keep up, with aerial endurance that makes you wonder how the Korok seed-spreading ritual has not led them to extinction by mass drowning. Fortunately, there’s a giant fan you can activate at the bottom of the room to blow yourself upward and kill any chance you have at forward progress. You’d think that being able to coast to the top of everything would be a good thing, but being in the fan’s range of “anywhere” causes Makar to eschew any direction that isn’t straight up (as his flight meter drains!), when running out of flight power has the same effect but downwards. If that wind catches you while you’re trying to cross the room, you’re left to watch as Makar is frozen in place while his energy drains to zero, wait for the fan to stop, fall several stories to the bottom of the room, and walk about two feet toward where you want to go before the fan activates again and restarts the cycle. And that’s assuming one of the many flying enemies doesn’t brush Makar and throw the camera back behind a Link who’s attempting to keep calm by doing the wave.

The combat took some getting used to. Ocarina’s combat was fine; it was easy to tell what you were in range to hit, and timing your swings properly could get shield-wielding enemies like Stalfos in a loop where continually accurate shots would finish them in seconds. In Wind Waker, Link’s attacks don’t reach quite as far as his sword would indicate; you’d think the gods would make sure their magical evil-smiting blade is most capable at the end that goes in the King of Evil, but I guess not. “Just The Tip” is a no-no with these monsters, so it’s either impale them in full or let them dominate you.

Meanwhile, you have two options for your targeting system, and they both suck. You either hold down L as long as you want to keep an enemy targeted, which before long will cause your left index finger to rebel against its draconian master, or press the button once to start targeting and press it again to target a different enemy, leaving you with no way to stop targeting the enemies and put an arrow in the switch. This wasn’t that big a deal in Ocarina, since Link had a wider vertical range with the bow and there were never many enemies hounding you when there was another immediate objective to complete, but in Wind Waker, you can expect a rainbow of respawning Chu’s to ambush you around the clock. It sours a lot of dungeons and dungeon-themed areas for me. That’s why the Wind Waker experience was so surprising; the dungeons were a slog to get through and felt less like a collection of clever puzzle ideas suiting each region’s theme and more like an obligation to throw in because it’s Zelda, yet everything surrounding them felt engaging and intriguing enough to make me want to keep playing and find out what happened to everyone.

(Tower of the Gods was pretty cool, too.)

#legend of zelda #wind waker #zelda wind waker #link #zelda

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vengerturtle · 7 years

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Wind Waker is such a charming game, I ADORE that art style. I played it before I knew how badly people crapped on it when it came out but I had SO MUCH FUN with that game, I played it with my grandma and we had a blast. The HD version improves it a lot too, I love it still so much.

It’s actually one of the games that made me realize I prefer stylized art to “realistic” art in games (and other things). I feel like it ages a lot better too.

#blah blah

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repeatsfate · 7 years

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A, K, R!!

vidya games!

K – game you’re most looking forward to?

at the moment it’s super mario odyssey and pokemon ultra sun and moon! and, uh… my inner 12 year old is rearing her ugly head to force me to admit i’m also pretty hyped for sonic forces, oops. lOOK IT LOOKS FUN, OKAY…

i’m looking forward to fe musou too but also i’m pretty neutral on it– everything they’ve revealed has been super incredible so far and i’m looking forward to maining my birb, but i’m more interested in the confirmed fe16 and i’m looking forward to hearing more about that when the time comes.

R – most underrated game?

hmmmm… while xenoblade chronicles itself would certainly fit the bill despite shulk being a giant meme now, i think i’ll take it a step further and go on to say xenoblade chronicles x deserves a bit more love than it got–

despite the very real flaws with the game and some aspects of the story, a thing that draws me to it aside from the ‘if you can see it, you can go to it’ MASSIVE open world and setting on a foreign planet was just how human its supporting cast and even minor npcs are. the game does an excellent job of portraying raw humanity in both ends of the spectrum– where there are heroes, there are people even in man’s most desperate hour that took that second chance as an excuse to be horrible, horrible people. the encounter of alien life goes as swimmingly as you expect, with the remaining fragments of humanity split on how to deal with these new beings in their midst. some choose to try and form alliances and bonds, the others shun and fear the outsiders– many quests actually revolve around the racism in what’s supposed to be a safe haven for the aliens pledging themselves to humanity’s side. the conflict taking up the last leg of the game is one born of human grief and the sting of loss– and when you really get into the motivations behind it it’s so easy to understand why the person did what they did but also acknowledge yeah no you did bad buddy you gotta pay for it now. i just???? it’s so good????

the planet and creatures that make up the game’s setting are imaginative and beautiful, i honestly love just booting it up and wandering. sometimes it’s scary as all heck because OH GOD GIANT MONSTER OUT OF NOWHERE but also… that just adds to the immersion and feeling like you’re a tiny fish in a big, big sea… and when you’re strong enough to stand up to those monsters it’s the most satisfying thing in the world.

the musical direction is honestly up to taste- i personally adore xcx’s soundtrack, but those not a huge fan of hiroyuki sawano’s works might find it lacking. here’s a personal favourite!

point is, it’s super fun, i want to do an araceli run sometime if i can ever be arsed to go back on my wii u or it gets a switch port, and a verse would be fun to play around with… i’m not a huge jrpg person, but i really really like xcx. also, fans of matthew mercer– he’s in this one, too! he plays lao huang, one of my all time favourite characters tbh

point is it is flawed, yes, but it’s also a very solid jrpg that i had fun sinking hours into and i’d totally do so again

A – favourite game of all time?

my top fave game of all time? easy! it’s the legend of zelda: wind waker!

it wins in both nostalgia points and a critical eye as i’ve gotten older– as a little kid, it was the first game i ever actually beat all by myself! the gamecube was the first home console i ever got to own– for a while i lived with my granny, who wasn’t very big on gaming if that makes sense? and then after moving back in with my mom she got me one for christmas and a friend lent me wind waker after i tried playing it at his house and repeatedly got stuck in the forsaken fortress. the excitement of finally making it past that and seeing this big, bright, beautiful world and story unfold before me has stuck with me to this day?? idk how to explain it i just. wind waker was an important game in my childhood, and i’ve played through it a loooooot– mostly i’ve noticed it was during times of stress or particular loneliness. everyone has that one game that’s been there™ for them during times of duress, and wind waker has always been mine.

okay i’m read more-ing the rest of this because i… went on for a WHILE. which is also why i answered it last oops. tl;dr there are many reasons why i love this game and it’s still my fave even now that i’m nearly 23.

as an adult, i’ve found that from a technical standpoint the game holds up really well, too– even without the hd remake on the wii u wind waker is still a very beautiful, stylistic game; a major benefit to having taken the art in a more cartoony direction is that it prevents the game from aging too much; if you were to look at the vanilla gamecube edition now, it still holds up amazingly! (meanwhile, i find that while twilight princess is still lovely, the more realistic art direction tends to date it a little. i could look at the original and just know the era it was made in, whereas if i never saw wind waker before, i would question it.)

the textures are rather blurry, sure, but that was a product of the time– hypatia on tumblr actually produced a mod with hd textures for roms of the gamecube version– check out these comparasion shots of the then-work in progress mod versus the original textures… and then here’s a few polished shots of the mod with a few extra effects dolphin/ishiiruka can provide. in short, the original wind waker is a very, very beautiful game and age has done very little to tarnish that even with the remake’s updated graphics.

but obviously graphics don’t make or break a game, though proper presentation is important– wind waker’s story also resonates with me deeply in various aspects. as an older sister, the initial quest to set out and rescue your younger sibling in danger caught my attention and held it fast; they do a very good job of making you feel attached to aryll, and the scene where she is kidnapped always tugs at my heartstrings every time i see it. watching this young boy who lived the world’s most quiet little life on a tiny island suddenly get swept up into this grand, big adventure to rescue someone dear to him and becoming an actual hero – despite having no relation to oot link whatsoever! – is the quintessential coming of age story that most people can relate to, and watching that change as the game plays out is always really sweet???

it was nice watching link’s development through his little actions: the backing away from helmaroc king when he first storms the fortress and then confident staring it down the second time and then giving it what for– aside from ganondorf himself that’s my favourite boss in the game if only because of those moments of development. link’s not just some kid from outset in over his head anymore– he’s a hero who overcame the trials of the goddesses himself in the name of protecting his baby sister, and he will not fail again. and then, after he could easily just throw in the towel and take his sister home because he accomplished what he set out to do, link goes on and sees it through to the end anyways because restoring order to the world is the right thing to do– there’s no legacy of knights looming over his head like several of his other incarnations. there’s no grand kingdom, there are only desolate little islands. there’s a princess, but… he barely knows her. hell, she didn’t even know she was a princess until that moment.

the story also touches on themes of death and the ends of eras… but also ends on a note of hope and new beginnings– clinging to the past only leads to ruin, and we must create opportunities for ourselves and the world to grow. hyrule is actually completely washed away by the end, and ganondorf goes with it– unless we assume breath of the wild is in the adult timeline, that’s it. he’s gone FOREVER in the subsequent games, with bellum and malledeus taking his place as the main villain. the kingdom link and tetra found is called new hyrule, but that’s all they share in significance– it’s their own land, just like the king said. that final scene of wind waker with the king always got to me– that message of hope is so poignant and powerful, i just. i don’t know how to put it into words, but it’s a scene i love dearly.

then there’s the music and cast of characters, and even quests and gameplay? i know the sailing could get tedious but i always liked it; it was relaxing to me just watching the virtual waves and listening to that beautiful score?? the characters are all bright and unique and fun– they’ve got their own little lives and you can impact them in so many different ways and things definitely change once you do?? like starting windfall vs windfall after you do a few sidequests or even turn on the ferris wheel and lighthouse again feel so different? it’s a neat little detail i’ve always found!!

…i really need to stop rambling about wind waker now i actually dozed off a bit typing this post, oops.

#long post;#◈▏▐ ❛ ɪ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ sᴀᴛɪsғʏ ʏᴏᴜ / ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜsᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʀᴜᴛʜ. ❜ ― ( latrocinari )#◈▏▐ ❛ ᴄʜɪɪ ɪs sᴘᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ. ❜ ― ( ooc )#◈▏▐ ❛ ᴡᴇ'ʀᴇ ɴᴏᴛ ᴅᴏɴᴇ ʏᴇᴛ. ❜ ― ( meme )

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gwydionae · 7 years

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I Love Zelda Games

I’m a bit Zelda crazy at the moment (not that that has ever not been a thing - Link has been my avatar most of my internet going life for a reason lol), but at times like these, I tend to make lists. Because I love lists! So, because I have been lethargic all day and I could, here are 35 random Zelda facts about me. Feel free to ignore (or even steal if you’d like lol).

Games Played: The Legend of Zelda, The Adventures of Link, A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening (original and DX), Ocarina of Time (original and HD), Majora's Mask, Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Minish Cap, Skyward Sword, A Link Between Worlds, Breath of the Wild, Four Swords Anniversary

Games Beaten: Link's Awakening (original and DX), Ocarina of Time (original and HD), Twilight Princess, Minish Cap, Skyward Sword, A Link Between Worlds, Breath of the Wild, Four Swords Anniversary

First Game Played: The Legend of Zelda (I was always terrible - I watched my brother more than I played myself)

Favorite Handheld: Link's Awakening (yes, that includes BotW - I adore this game)

Favorite Overall: Ocarina of Time (cliche, I know, but it genuinely feels like the best Zelda package, even if individual aspects are better in other games)

Most Underrated: Minish Cap (I swear I never hear people talk about this one and I don’t know why)

Favorite In-Game Art Style (2D): Minish Cap (this game is so pretty you guys)

Favorite In-Game Art Style (3D): Skyward Sword (THIS GAME IS SO PRETTY YOU GUYS)

Favorite Story: Ocarina of Time (simple but satisfying; heroic but melancholy)

Favorite Gameplay: Breath of the Wild

Favorite Mechanic: Climbing/Paragliding (Breath of the Wild)

Least Favorite Mechanic: Stealth/Timed Events

Favorite Common Weapon (sans Master Sword): Hookshot/Clawshot/Longshot/etc

Favorite Unique Weapon: Spinner (Twilight Princess)

Favorite Soundtrack: Twilight Princess

Most Underrated Soundtrack: Link's Awakening

Favorite Song: Gerudo Valley (Ocarina of Time) (this was so hard to narrow down... so many could go here honestly)

Favorite Cast: Skyward Sword

Favorite Character Designs: Breath of the Wild

Favorite Design of Link: Oracle of Ages/Seasons

Favorite Design of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (et al)

Favorite Design of Ganon: Twilight Princess (Ganondorf)

Favorite Race: Zora

Favorite Link: Skyward Sword (oh gosh he’s such a cutie in this one lol)

Favorite Zelda: Ocarina of Time (one word: Sheik)

Favorite Ganon: Ocarina of Time (I just really loved how he played into the story)

Favorite Overall Character: Midna (Twilight Princess) (excuse me while I cry)

Favorite Non-Companion NPC: Marin (Link's Awakening) (EXCUSE ME WHILE I CRY)

Scariest Overworld Enemy (as a kid): Redeads (Ocarina of Time) (...I don’t think I can properly explain how terrified I was of these)

Scariest Overworld Enemy (now): Guardians (Breath of the Wild) (*piano music intensifies* NOOOOOOOO)

Favorite Boss (sans Ganon): Stallord (Twilight Princess)

Most Disappointing Boss: "final boss" (Breath of the Wild) (exact spoilers withheld)

Most Hated Boss: The Imprisoned (Skyward Sword) (FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF)

Favorite Ganon Battle: Twilight Princess (SWORD FIGHT. ON HORSEBACK)

Favorite Ending: Ocarina of Time (another hard one, but OoT won out <3)

(...I was really bored today but too tired to actually do anything thanks to going to sleep too late and my nephews waking me up way too early lol.)

#the legend of zelda #i love these games you guys #i know there are a few really popular ones i've left out #but i have my reasons #didn't want to go into them though as this was a mostly positive post #didn't want to feel like i was attacking any game #so if i couldn't think of anything good to say about something #i didn't post anything negative #because who needs that #nobody that's who

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stonetalus · 7 years

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thoughts on Breath of the Wild (pre-completion)

This game is phenomenal. I think it’s absolutely worthy of the high praise it’s been getting. I’m fairly new to the Zelda series (haven’t beat a single game, but played three of them) and I gotta say I’m blown away. With that outta the way I’m gonna block the rest of my thoughts into sections like usual - also this is going to have spoilers! Be warned.

GRAPHICS -

I absolutely ADORE the art direction of this game. I was surprised and kind of disappointed to see that Nintendo was still going to go with the intense lighting of Wind Waker HD plus a relatively simple style at first, but first impressions aren’t always the same as experiencing it. I think I judged the visuals a little too quickly because this has some of the best visuals I’ve seen. The environments are extremely varied and distinguished, but it feels less like Nintendo was checking off things from a list like “sand area - check, ice area - check,” or what have you - it feels like they made a living world. All the different climates/environments you find yourself in have their similarities, but they all feature varied architecture, land features, and creatures that make them feel like an actual place. Of course I might be exaggerating a bit, but I really enjoy seeing how people might have adapted to live in these areas - like how it’s visually implied the Gerudo making their city’s walls out of clay in the cliffs nearby, or how the people on the Plateau carved massive structures from the stone. I LOVE that. Breath of the Wild’s open world is new, massive, and it feels lived in, and the details I mentioned just drive that “lived in” feeling home.

MUSIC -

Breath of the Wild really surprised me here! I was expecting some serviceable Adventure Music, but instead I got a fantastic blend of musical styles, some traditional, and some experimental. At the beginning of the game, you’re listening to what you expect out of a Zelda game (big grand orchestral music), but later on you hear orchestral crossed with electronic music, you hear music that’s mainly percussion, or maybe something that’s laden with brass instruments which break up the sections of the world you’re in really nicely. The music really adds to the feel of this game and I think playing without sound on is a disservice. The music in Breath of the Wild adds so much more to the emotional beats of the story. Hearing hints of past Zelda tracks in the music of the world reflects the idea of memory (both your memory and Link’s lack of memory that is) since it’s recognizable, but you can tell there’s been so much change that you perhaps weren’t expecting. Oh another thing I really enjoyed was music as a sense of contrast. For example, most of the time while you’re out in the world you don’t hear much of anything instead having environmental ambient noise filling your ears, which evokes a feeling of loneliness in some ways, but upon reaching a town, riding a horse, or even fighting you get this reminder that you’re not the only person in this world and there are forces looking to help or hinder your quest. I love the divide the silence and music brings. Anyway, the music is GREAT.

GAMEPLAY -

Again, I was surprised. I didn’t know what exactly to expect since I tended to avoid trailers for this game and I haven’t had much experience with the Zelda series as a whole, but I feel like whatever notions I had of Breath of the Wild before playing were completely unlike the game itself. When I saw that the game was going to be open world and that its map was massive, I feared the worst and thought the lack of experience with open worlds such as this and map size would act as a detriment to the experience. It wasn’t. The environment doesn’t feel like a chore to traverse, it feels like an adventure (pardon the cliche). I really love the movement mechanics and I think being able to climb on nearly everything adds a lot to the overall experience. Being able to see something in the distance and being able to go to it immediately is such a refreshing thing to me. The only limits you have on traversing what’s ahead of you are really are all under your control. If you don’t have enough stamina to climb a mountain, then you can solve that. If you don’t have the equipment to take on a massive beast, then you can solve that too. It’s all very much player-centric. That player responsibility carries on in the combat, too. Every fight is defined by how you approach it. If you go into a pack of bokoblins with a tree branch and the best intentions, you’re probably going to see the Game Over screen often. Or you could start a fire and burn the dry grass surrounding that pack with that very branch. It’s all very open ended. I’ve never felt like a game over was unfair in this game due to the game’s focus on player responsibility. This game also isn’t hand-holdy - it definitely extends that hand to you early on - but you don’t have to accept it. You, of course, have to do SOME amounts of tutorial things here and there, but the game respects your intelligence and also understands that sometimes concepts are better learned when experienced than when told about. I really have one heck of a time when playing this game.

STORY -

Like the music and the graphics, the story is familiar, but different. I haven’t come close to seeing all of it, but so far I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find it’s far more than “Mighty Hero Defeats the Bad Guy.” Of course that’s still a major part of the story, but BotW has built on that concept a little more. There’s a strong motif of memory and how things have changed, a bit of nature vs machinery, a hint of teamwork making the dream work, and a lot more. The story feels less overt (?) in that it’s not being shoved in your face the whole time. The story’s taken the back seat of the player’s metaphorical car. The game’s telling you where to go and why, but it’s up to the player to decide how. Much of the fun I’m having when it comes to the story is hearing my friends’ stories about how they tackled a certain quest. I think the gameplay really makes it so that this is both the game’s written story and the player’s own experiences as they journey on. I can’t wait to see what’s next in the narrative.

CLOSING THOUGHTS -

I haven’t beaten the game yet and I’m not really close to beating it either, so my thoughts aren’t necessarily representative of the game as a whole. However, I feel that nothing’s going to change much as I continue. This game is so solid that I can’t imagine something changing how I feel about it drastically. Breath of the Wild is one of the best games I’ve ever played. It feels like a grand step in the right direction for Nintendo as every part of the experience feels perfected and polished and I really recommend it. This is clearly a game that has something for everyone, and for that I commend the developers.

#breath of the wild #the legend of zelda #nintendo #video game review

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infraredpenguin · 7 years

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First Impressions - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

It’s usually a good sign when you sit down to play a game at 2 in the morning just to get a quick taste, only to look up and see it’s daylight outside. That’s exactly what happened last night when I first experienced the latest entry in the legendary Zelda franchise. Before I continue, I should probably say that I am playing Breath of the Wild on the Wii U, so I can’t speak to performance on that console.

Right out of the gate, I was actually pretty pissed off. Why? Well, because the Wii U gamepad has a persistent notification to switch to playing solely on its screen, and this notification is constantly fading in and out. I have a hard time dealing with stuff in the periphery of my vision, so this was extremely aggravating at first. I tried finding ways of turning off the screen or making use of my Wii Pro controllers, only for nothing to help alleviate this frankly idiotic flaw.

Thankfully, after an hour of playtime, I was so enthralled I completely forgot about my gamepad’s screen.

I will say, however, that I’m sick of companies fucking with their customer-base, doing shit like Nintendo has done here, essentially gutting the Wii U version of the game (a game they were definitely selling Wii U hopes on before) to promote their new console. They definitely had map and inventory functionality on the Wii U gamepad before, as well as examples of this kind of stuff in other games like Wind Waker and Twilight Princess HD. The gutting of these features for parity with the Switch, is shameful and insulting, but I digress.

Breath of the Wild is a fantastic game, and the degradation of what could have been doesn’t change that. So, here are a few major impressions I’ve had with the game so far:

1. The world is beautiful and awe-inspiring. From the art style to the sheer, terrifying scope of it, this is a world that begs you to explore it, and BotW has provided a multitude of reasons to do so. You’re really not forced into doing anything you don’t want to. Even the starting region, the Great Plateau, despite having a critical path to it prior to opening up the rest of Hyrule, gives you a staggering amount of leeway in terms of approaching your objectives and satisfying your explorative urges. Being a huge explorer-type, myself, I am legitimately fearful of what this game is going to do to my psyche... How will I escape from the lure of the wild?

2. The lack of handholding is refreshing and well executed. With minimal guidance that you almost have to seek out yourself, the game expects you to figure things out. The ways in which different objects react to each other, how Link behaves using different tools, and other elements such as the surprisingly engaging cooking system, all encourage the player to explore in some way or another. Death is a constant companion, or at least the threat of it is if you plan on being truly adventurous. Thankfully, all of this is backed up by a surprisingly robust save system for a Zelda game, ensuring you never lose too much progress and allowing you to dictate the flow of your experience.

3. Combat is dynamic and satisfying, but ‘ho boy, the controls for this game are a battle in and of themselves. Simply put, controlling Link with the Wii U gamepad feels kind of janky, and this is coming from someone who actually quite likes the gamepad. I’ve never felt as clumsy playing the Zelda HD remakes or Xenoblade Chronicles X or any other of a multitude of Wii U games I love as I do playing Breath of the Wild. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something just feels off, feels slightly unresponsive, and nowhere was this more apparent than in the fight against a hidden boss enemy in the starting area.

Beating this stony adversary felt like it required some arcane contortion of my hands, trying to juggle the Z-lock with the camera and jumping, running, and attacking. I blame a great deal of this on the binding of jump and run, diametrically opposed to one another on the X and B buttons. Now sure, once I went into the options and swapped them so jump was set to B and cancel/run set to X, things started falling into place a little better. Just picture trying to fight something by attacking with Y while dodge is either on B or X. One of those configurations is more natural for your thumb, plain and simple.

Unfortunately, even after some hours, I’m still not 100% in love with the control scheme. Using the wrong attack or accessing the wrong quick inventory isn’t exactly routine, but it happens often enough. Ultimately, it forces me to wonder why in the hell you can swap controls between 2 specific buttons but can’t reconfigure everything to your liking. This is nothing new with games, and is just one more way that developers disrespect their audience (especially disabled gamers, but that’s a topic for another day). There’s just no reason for it to be this way when it could be so much better.

4. That being said, there’s so much in this game to love that the janky controls are a comparatively minor concern. Once you leave the Great Plateau for the wider world it’s hard not to feel unbridled excitement for what’s waiting for you out there. This game has so far captured my sense of wonder and adventure better than any open world game I’ve played before (and I’ve played a ton). The best part is how much direct agency you have as a player, and the best example of that is in this game’s version of Ubisoft’s ICONIC™ Map Towers.

Rather than literally every other game with some form or another of a tower wot fills out your map, the Sheikah Towers expect you to do all the hard work. Sure, you climb them and it fills out your map, but only visually by drawing in some actual details into an otherwise featureless dark expanse. It reveals no Points of Interest, no objectives, and perhaps just as important, no other map towers!

Instead, you are expected to either wander aimlessly (a perfectly valid pursuit), or bring out your Sheikah Slate’s scope function, and cast your gaze all around the majestic world surrounding you from your lofty vantage. And if you do see something interesting in the distance, you simply place a marker pin from the scope and can then choose to convert that pin into different stamps on your map for future reference.

You don’t even have to be at a dedicated tower to do this!

I found myself exploring a ruined building at the top of a tall hill, thought it had a clear perspective on the surrounding locale, and decided to take out my scope for some marking right then and there. I sought out visible Sheikah Towers and marked them, as well as nearby Shrines and marked those too. I even saw some imposing foes in the distance and slapped down some skulls for future reference. The Sheikah Scope makes it a painless, and above all else, a satisfying experience.

Breath of the Wild is one of the only open world games in recent memory that actually trusts its players to their own agency, and it is infinitely better for it.

5. Right now, my favorite part of the game is easily discovering my little Korok buddies in the environment? Why, you ask? Because they are adorable, obviously... In all seriousness though, the fact that you have to keep your eye out for strangeness in your travels and solve a few mini-puzzles here and there makes them one of the best incentives for active exploration I’ve seen in a game. There may be some patterns to watch out for, but I’ve discovered at least 10 different ways for these forest fairies to manifest in the world, and I’m sure I’ll stumble across many more. I managed to find 15 of the little scamps before leaving the confines of the Great Plateau, and it was tempting to look for more!

So there you have it, my initial impressions of the latest Zelda game. Obviously it’s not perfect by any means, but I do think it has the potential to be the greatest expression of what an open world game can be if we stop trying to make everything painfully obvious.

I can’t wait to see the rest of this enormous world and how the story plays out, but who knows how long that will take...

#first impressions #the legend of zelda: breath of the wild #zelda #breath of the wild #nintendo #wii u #the legend of zelda

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vohskyfire · 7 years

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Countdown to Breath of the Wild: Twilight Princess HD

And thus, another 3D Zelda game conquered. Time to write a small lil review on it.

I remember when Twilight Princess was first announced. Probably one of the most look forward to video games ever made. Based on that trailer from E3 2006 alone, where they not only showed that trailer, but revealled that it would end up being a launch title for the then new Nintendo Wii system. I think to this day it’s one of those moments in E3 history that will forever be remembered.

Why do I say that? Well last time I talked about how some people were turned away from Wind Waker because of the cartoony graphics, and not being the ‘realistic Zelda title’ people wanted since OoT broke that mold. (In actuality they wanted Adult Link back)

Regardless though, I was excited when I first saw Twilight Princess. I thought to myself “This could very well be one of the most epic Zelda games ever made.” It was the very reason why I wanted the Wii at first (Besides the new Smash Bros) and I knew that it would be one of my all time favorite Zelda titles.

After replaying the HD port on the Wii U, what do I think of the game eleven years after it’s original release?

Well...it’s still one of my absolute favorite Zelda titles.

No seriously, I mean that. In terms of rankings when it comes to the 3D Zelda titles? It ranks high up there dude. Probably above Wind Waker, but JUST shy of Skyward Sword/Majora’s Mask for my favorite title. (I’ll get to Skyward Sword soon)

Now then, back to Twilight Princess.

The game is without a doubt one of the more darker and mature Zelda titles out there. The opening, while admittedly can be somewhat of a drag to go through, does the job that it’s mean to do. Set things up that things are supposedly peaceful in Hyrule this time around. But as we know, that peace can’t last. If it did, we wouldn’t have a game to talk about here would we?

Twilight Princess’ slow start, to me, pays off. The game teaches you how to play it in the opening with both human, and wolf, forms of Link. With Human Link he plays pretty much the same as he did before from OoT,MM, and WW. Wolf Link to me was a bold move for Nintendo to do given the fact that most people aren’t exactly fond of gimmicks in a Zelda game. Though if you ask me? The Wolf form of Link is useful. Very useful, in fact without it you wouldn’t be able to find any of the secrets in the game.

Plus, we also have Midna, probably one of the best companion characters ever, riding on your back and helping you out through the dungeons so that’s a plus.

Now it’s no secret, Twilight Princess dungeons can be hard. Very hard, the first time around. Course when you eventually do get the hang of it, you are able to find your way through the dungeons without much of a complaint. (Though I swear, The Ice Mansion can go fuck right off at times.)

As per most Zelda games, TP is full of puzzles. Some pretty easy to figure out, some annoyingly frustrating to figure out. Especially in the third dungeon that is, of course, a fucking water temple. (What is it with Zelda titles having crappy ass water temples?)

Besides puzzles though, what separates this title from the others?

Well, while Wind Waker DID give us some forms of cutscenes, Twilight Princess was the first of the main Zelda titles that actually took advantage of them to help tell the story. And some of them are just bloody fucking epic.

Case in point, when Link returns to Kakariko Village after it was attacked by King Bublin and his cronies. You chase them out of town, then to the field, and then proceed to have a horse back riding duel with the guy not only in the field, but on a fucking bridge.

That. Is still one of the coolest fucking things in any Zelda title, ever.

Oh I should probably mention, TP is full of great boss fights. Not one of them felt like they were badly designed. And by that, I mean none of them had some cheap gimmicks to them.

Now is the game PERFECT?

No. Far from it in fact.

Don’t get me wrong, I adore TP. but some things about it can drag. Especially in the early parts of the game when you’re seeking the Tears of Light during the Wolf Link sections. The worst offender of course being the ones by Lake Hylia. (Again, WATER themes)

There’s also some weird glitches that can kinda throw off the game’s more epic moments. Such as the final fight you have with Ganondorf in a one on one fight with swords to the death. Buuuut you can easily take your fishing rod out, cast it, and distract him long enough to do some damage.

Regardless of some of its flaws, of which there are very few of, Twilight Princess is a fantastic fantastic video game. It plays well, has a team member that you think at first will be an annoying companion but turns out to be one of the best characters in the series, and has some of the most epic moments in the entire series.

11 years later, and it’s still one of my favorite Zelda titles.

9.7/10

Onward to the finale! Skyward Sword, HOO!

#Countdown to Breath of the Wild #twilight princess #Legend of Zelda #Review #Zelda #Link #Twili Midna #Midna #Ganondorf

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