#its definitely one of my favorites (majoras mask and skyward sword are up there with it)

[cyanide-sippy-cup]

HAPPY ZELDA-VERSARRY!!

I actually wanna get a few things out of the way first. I made these for when the game first came out, but just never finished them so I decided I'd post it for the anniversary. Second, IGNORE LINK IN THE SECOND IMAGE DONT LOOK AT HIM JUST FOCUS ON KOHGA.

Bonus:

Bonus bonus:

[thegeminisage]

legend of zelda games organized by season:

disclaimer obviously this is subjective etc etc also this is not a complete list some games either i didn’t play or they don’t have a season in my mind and heart. sorry. games are sorted first by season and then chronologically

SPRING:

skyward sword (2011) - this feels like an obvious choice. a game of new beginnings. yes, i know it had pumpkins. and to be utterly truthful my fondest memories of playing this game are from one autumn where i happened to wake up early every day and play it while it was still cool (windows open) and feel the air gradually heat up around me as the day went on. that said spring weather is very similar, and in its soul this game is about LIFE.

breath of the wild (2017) - while i considered slotting this one into winter because it is the end of all things (and so QUIET), i feel the spirit of exploration and cleansing/revival here fits a springtime rating even more. truthfully it could fit very well into either, but this game came out in the spring and i remember, very vividly, how the game made me feel alive when i was grieving. a spring from me, ultimately, and i’m quite satisfied with that

SUMMER:

link’s awakening (1993, 2019) - this game takes place on an island! of course it’s summery! it also has all the wistful, bittersweet nostalgia of the end of summer - knowing the game’s ending going in is like knowing autumn and (yuck!) winter are on their way. link and marin have a summer romance that, like many summer romances, must eventually be left behind when one person has to go home.

ocarina of time (1998) - i don’t have a great justification for this: ocarina of time is my favorite zelda game and summer is my favorite season. that said, there is also a bittersweetness about its ending which evokes a similar feeling that link’s awakening does, and something of childhood in the spirit of summer. i have many fond memories of sitting on the floor in front of the tv as a kid whiling away the hours with both of the n64 zeldas, unconcerned by bedtime or homework. good enough for me.

oracle of seasons (2001) - so this one is a bit funny because how do you sort a game that is LITERALLY about all 4 seasons...i played with the idea of putting it in autumn, tbh, because of the general palette and because when i think of the turning of seasons autumn is always the first one to come to mind, but din is definitely a summer girl AND theres pirates, so summer it is - if only barely.

wind waker (2003) - again, the primary kneejerk reaction to this is that it’s all on islands, hence! summery. but there’s also the fact that link essentially spends the entire game metaphorically taking a vacation/going on a cruise. the runner-up season for this one is winter, because of the water element and the buried secrets of the old submerged hyrule, but given the general aesthetic i firmly believe summer fits better

AUTUMN:

a link to the past (1992) - it’s hard to rate this one because technically i’ve never made it to the end, but something about the general aura and color palette SCREAMS “autumn” to me. pink link in the red mail? the dark world? the light world is quite springlike, i know, but even there you have the extremely autumnal forest to get lost in.

majora’s mask (2000) - the ULTIMATE halloween game in the series, to which only twilight princess can come in as a close second. this game is goth as fuck. as i said, i have memories of playing both n64 games primarily in the summer, but that association CANNOT overcome the sheer overwhelming october vibes of this game. the death, the undead, the coming doom (winter), the BEN DROWNED urban legends/arg...unparalleled vibes and impossible to place anywhere else

twilight princess (2006) - this game is also goth as fuck. as i said it is the only one in the series that can compete on even ground with mm’s sheer vibes, and it only loses by a slight margin on account of mm is LITERALLY about the apocalypse which you can see happen onscreen repeatedly. twilight and autumn go hand-in-hand, as autumn is the twilight of the year, and the golden hue of everything in the game is a perfect autumnal vibe. the dark and moody story combined with the twilight world sections AND the entire subplot about pumpkin soup (and an entire village farming pumpkins...) place it firmly in the realm of SPOOK, which makes it an autumn game without question.

a link between worlds (2013) - alttp vibes BASS BOOSTED. all that purple and orange/brown/gold, the story about a ruined lorule and the au versions of link and zelda being their “darker” selves, COMBINED WITH the cozy little spaces like the milk bar...actually now that i think about it this game being so closely linked to alttp is probably what subconsciously helped me decide on alttp’s season because the vibes here are so powerful.

WINTER:

oracle of ages (2001) - this one was easy. handheld games are so nice to play when you’re snuggled up in bed, first of all, and also the discovery of something old and buried and dead of COURSE evokes the vibes of winter. i also feel we dont discuss the fact that the original purpose of the tower was to guide ambi’s lover back from sea and he didn't return - because, as we learn in ooa, HE IS DEAD (or undead whatever) which is why it should always come second!!! i always felt her grief was a large part of why veran was able to sway her towards evil and in that context grief feels like such an icy dead emotion that it simply MUST be a winter game.

the minish cap (2005) - so, i’ll be honest, this one could slot equally well into spring or winter. but something about it feels cold! not bitter-cold, but crisp-cold. again, handhelds are wonderful to play snuggled up in bed, and the game always felt very cozy to me...not to mention that dark hyrule castle and its statues always evoked a kind of vibe about it that makes me think of the statues in the everlasting winter of narnia...but of course link’s smallness and connection with the thriving nature of the picori is very springlike, too. in the end, my decision was motivated by not wanting to have only one game in the winter category! very tough one.

IN conclusion, the zelda series is full of largely summer and autumn vibes (and quite a few have winter sub-vibes...) but it DOES take occasional departures from that which are always a delight. also, i welcome differing opinions on the seasons of games that are here or even the games that are not here. thank you for coming to my ted talk

[wickedcriminal]

spsppspsspps its ya boy back with the random loz questions IN ALL THE GAMES YOUVE PLAYED or even ones you havent WHAT is your favorite boss/mini boss?

OKIE SO

I have SO many bosses/minibosses I love so I'm going to split it between gameplay and cinematics

Gameplay

For this section my favorite boss goes to Majora from Majora's Mask!! That guy is SO HARD and ALL OVER THE PLACE but you know what?? I wouldn't have a boss any other way. Screw all the 'time it perfectly and press A' strategies, let me find my own openings and smack him with whatever i have in my inventory!! Of course I was SUPER YOUNG when I first played Majora and always got SO PISSED OFF at his fight because I just COULDN'T beat him, so I finished the mask collection for the moon children and accidentally discovered the Fierce Diety's Mask AND I WIPED THE FLOOR WITH MAJORA AND FELT SO GOOD ABOUT IT NOW THAT'S WHAT I CAN AN UNFAIR FIGHT (AFFECTIONATE)

As for favorite miniboss, this one is much more difficult! Twilight Princess has some brilliant minibosses like the Darknut and Iron Hammer, but King Bulblin takes the cake for me. All of his fights!! I especially liked the fight on the Bridge of Eldin (saving Colin and then rearing Epona up with some triumphant music was SO GOOD) in general I really enjoy chasing him around on my horse and jabbing at him, the jousting on the bridge was SO cool, and fighting him one on one was really satisfying. All around, really great miniboss.

Cinematic

This one is a HARD one. Mostly my choices for favorite boss consists of final bosses and they're all so wicked cool to me. On this list is Ganondorf from both Twilight Princess and Wind Waker (WICKED COOL), Malladus from Spirit Tracks (the music and the use of both Zelda and Link put this one extremely high) and Calamity Ganon from BOTW (literally the only downside to this fight is that it feels too samey to the other Blights).

All in all, I narrowed this one down to a hard tie between Dark Beast Ganon and Demise. Dark Beast Ganon has earned a reputation for being stupid easy, but come on. Don't tell me the combination of music, cutscenes, giant malice pig design, Zelda's voice in the background, the bow of light, riding a horse-- ITS SO SICK OKAY I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I EAT THAT UP!! On the other hand there's Demise. He's Demise. He's probably one of the single coolest villains in the franchise. Not only does he look scary, but the STAGE,, the whole endless plane of water, the lightning storm-- SKYWARD LIGHTNING STRIKES ARE SO COOL??? And the way he walks toward you super menacingly and you duel it out magic sword to magic sword. And his LINES!! The curse of Demise ending off the fight... ooughgh the chills. In the Wise Words of Megamind, it's all about;

As for minibosses, I really REALLY love Naydra as a miniboss. I know it doesn't fight back, which makes it stupid easy, but the entire point is that you're trying to save it. The eerie music was wonderful, paired with the dragon's malice design: and my FAVORITE part is that it isn't even hinted at, you you have literally stumble upon it. I first found Naydra while I was looking for gems and exploring up the mountain casually. The poor thing gave me a heart attack.

.

For our honorable mentions, I have to talk about koloktos skyward sword because I just ADORE how fun that boss is; i love the way you can just,, TEAR IT APART AND BEAT IT WITH ITS OWN LIMBS

Also Igos du Ikana was always a memorable boss for me when I played Majora's Mask as a kid, he's so funny!

Lastly, I really liked Bellumbeck from Phantom Hourglass. That game has got some REALLY good underrated moments and I definitely consider Bellumbeck to be one of them

[auspiciousotter]

The M6 as Zelda games

(Moving some stuff over from my Insta and here is the first of my headcanons)

Asra- Majora’s Mask

I was tempted to give this one to Julian because: dark, edgy, fan favorite, but after some thought I liked this one better for Asra.

The game deals with grief and loss, and the different ways people handle it. Asra is someone who has dealt with a lot of loss in his life, and maybe doesn’t have the best way of processing it? (Like glad I’m alive again but bro…)

The game itself starts with Link searching for his dear friend, much like Asra searching for MC.

Julian- Twilight Princess

Of course I still had to give him an edgy game, he’s an edgy boi XD

This game deals with duality as its theme, in particular, the idea of light/dark and how that relates to good/evil. Darkness is shown as not being inherently evil, but like light, having the capacity for both.

This is something that I think Julian struggles with, the idea that he is tainted by darkness, but still a good person who deserves good things, especially when transformed into birblian (cough like wolf link cough)

Nadia- Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity

I was tempted to do Breath of the Wild, because I felt like Nadia had a lot in common with that Zelda, but she’s not really the focus of that game. Thankfully there was a spin off that explored it more!

Let’s see, we have a this princess who is interested in technology, wants to prove herself but feels she isn’t being taken seriously by her family, and is overcome by guilt for not being able to save the world around her.

She also has that sort of commanding presence Urbosa has. (and they're both gorgeous)

Muriel- Breath of the Wild

Okay so, this is kinda the closest we get to just simple living Link. He can just wander the world, maybe build a house, pick up chickens, pet some dogs. And if you use an amiibo, you can even get a wolf companion so...

Also, it’s up to the player how involved they want to be with the story, how much they want to engage and help other people, but connecting with others does ultimately make the final battle easier. It’s not quite the same lesson as it is with Muriel, but it’s sorta close.

Look I just want this poor man to be able to have a nice relaxing life okay, and this one was very set your own pace.

Portia- Wind Waker

Probably the easiest choice.

Adventure? Check. Pirates? Double Check! Cute as can be? ALL OF THE CHECKS!

Also it’s canonical that Portia would go to any lengths to protect her brother so if he had gotten kidnapped by a giant bird, you can bet she’s gonna go kick some fowl butt.

Lucio- Ripened Tingle’s Balloon Trip of Love

Okay hear me out!

For those who don’t know (because this was not released in NA or Europe) this story is about a middle age man who gets transported to this fairy tale world in which he’s the main character, and the goal is to woo all sorts of maidens and dance with one at the ball. He totally believes that he’s more important than he is, but most people actually find him disgusting. Also he has a troupe of equally incompetent companions (cough courtiers cough)

In all games, Tingle is considered spoiled, immature, and a disappointment to his parent. Also in Wind Waker he basically forces slave labor….

Lucio (but for realsies)- Skyward Sword

Specifically I think he has a lot in common with Groose.

He thinks he’s the main character, the hero who’s gonna save the day and get the girl. Is definitely a bully and gets away with it too.

In the end, he changes character, becoming less full of himself, taking a backseat to the real hero (MC). He helps in the ways he can, and ends up being crucial to beating evil, but not in the lead role he’d imagined for himself.

(He also has a lot of that Midna from TP energy in having a selfish agenda, but after receiving kindness learns to care more, but Julian already claimed that game)

[jadagul]

discoursedrome

I feel like the 3d zeldas had some good puzzles, but in general yeah, 3d puzzles are vastly harder to do well. I think part of the issue is that 3d lends itself to movement systems that are easy to 'cheat', so 'organic' puzzles of the crate-pushing variety are harder to do. to its credit botw just embraced this and let you golf yourself past obstacles stupidly

Yeah, I think there are two things going on.

One is that, as you say, it's harder to make 3D puzzles. It's definitely possible! Even Skyward Sword, which scores extremely low on my "real puzzles" metric, has a couple.

The other is that I think there's a long-term trend in video games away from mazes and puzzles and towards setpieces.

So like, Skyward Sword is almost all setpieces. You enter a room, figure out the gimmick, reach the exit, and then get a Golden Sun-style artificial shortcut so you don't have to navigate it again. But OoT and Majora's Mask had real, serious puzzles. And Wind Waker and TP were somewhere in the middle.

(One reason for this, I think: puzzles are hard! Like, the thing in OoT that is most clearly a whole-dungeon puzzle is the Water Temple. And the most common least-favorite-dungeon in OoT is...?)

---

And you can see the same pattern in, like, pokemon. In Gen 1 you have three straightforward fight gauntlets (Brock, Misty, and Giovanni), two mazes (Erika, Koga), one gimmick maze (Sabrina) and two straight-up gimmicks (Surge, Blaine). Victory road is a puzzle maze.

Gens 2-4 have the same sort of thing, but increasingly gimmicky. But each gym will have, like, one gimmick, and then you need to navigate a maze or solve a puzzle with that gimmick. (The psychic gym in Gen 3 stands out as really clearly a puzzle in this context.)

In Sword and Shield, the gyms are just gimmicks. Arguably the ice/sand one is also a maze, but only sorta. The others are mostly "here's some random minigame that you just have to beat X times in a row". There's no real solving that has to happen.

And yeah, some of that is probably attributable to the 2d/3d split, but I think it's also just a preference people have developed.

---

Coming back to Final Fantasy, you can see this in the jokes about FFXIII being a "hallway simulator". In early FF games, dungeons were sprawling things with mazes and false turns and trying to figure out which way to go was a big part of the challenge. (And doing that without running out of resources.)

Modern games have changed that in two ways. (Well, "modern"; I am playing FFX right now, not FFXV. I should maybe say 200x games.) One is that they're a lot less focused on attrition; you get way more free and easy recovery in FFX than you do in earlier games.

And second, they move away from the exploration/maze aspect; you are rarely confused about where to go. FFX dungeons have "wrong turns" but they're generally either "a short dead-end hallway with a treasure chest at the end" or "a metaphorical sign saying 'come back after you've hit the switch'".

You can even see this, really dramatically, between KH1 and KH2. KH1 has puzzles and exploration and mazes and dead ends. In KH2 you go forward to the next set piece fight.

[gascon-en-exil]

Ranking Zelda Water Dungeons

@thehylianbatman asked for this, and I’ve been sitting on this idea for something like two years now so I figured it’s a good a time as any to pull it out. Water dungeons in The Legend of Zelda have collectively garnered a bad reputation, with some of them among gaming’s most standout representatives of all the annoyances that come with Down the Drain levels. Because I like to be contrary watery environmental aesthetics are typically among my favorites however I have a particular fondness for many of these dungeons, and so I’m giving them a bit of time in the limelight (while also acknowledging that some of them nonetheless really are terrible, even if they’re pretty). Also note that I have not replayed any of these games to make this list, so I’ll be going entirely from memory. While that’s hardly the most accurate way to do something like this, it’ll be helpful in gauging which dungeons leave the most lasting impressions.

First off, a list of dungeons I will be excluding from this ranking because they don’t meet my personal requirements for what constitutes a water dungeon.

Any mini-dungeon, ex. Pirate’s Fortress from Majora’s Mask or the water-based shrines in Breath of the Wild

Dungeons where the name and/or location is suggestive of a watery theme but the experience itself fails to deliver, ex. the Palace on the Sea from The Adventure of Link, Catfish’s Maw from Link’s Awakening, the Ocean Temple from Spirit Tracks

Dancing Dragon Dungeon from Oracle of Seasons, because a waterfall entrance and some short swimming segments do not a water dungeon make.

The Tower of the Gods from Wind Waker, because only the first floor is even partially water-based and it’s just the tide going in and out which is both uninteresting and rather frustrating to play around. I thought about including it, but it would be very low if I had.

Skyview Temple from Skyward Sword, as its swimming segments are also brief and come more in the odd return visit for a midgame fetch quest than for the initial run through.

Now for the ones that made the cut:

#13. Water Temple (Triforce Heroes)

This one just barely made the list, and my decision to include it in the end is mostly on account of the novelty factor. Of the three stage select-style Zelda games, Triforce Heroes is the only one with any notable water levels and even dedicates a full world to the theme. It’s too bad that I can only really count the last level in that world as a dungeon, because this Water Temple is just a knockoff of the Swamp Palace from A Link Between Worlds adjusted for three Links. There are tektites and octoroks and you play around with water levels and this game’s iteration of the hookshot before fighting a version of the OG water dungeon boss Arrghus. Much of TH feels like a quirky theme park version of a Zelda game, and unfortunately this particular example does little to elevate the concept and as a result feels uninspired. The rest of the Riverside world fares better, especially in its use of the new water rod item, but its last level is a dungeon only because it has to be.

#12. Jabu-Jabu’s Belly (Oracle of Ages)

If I had to choose one dungeon as an example of what people tend to hate about this group on the whole, it would be this one. Less infamous though it may be coming from a handheld title rather than one of the 3D games, this version of a dungeon inside a giant fish suffers precisely because it is not 3D, or more specifically not Ocarina of Time. It combines aspects of both of OoT’s water dungeons and fails at each of them because of the limitations of the game’s format; the unpleasant environs of being inside a digestive tract don’t come across well on the Game Boy Color, and raising and lowering the water level is harder to visualize in only two dimensions. Combine this with bland visuals that make it easy to get lost, a dungeon item that’s only a length upgrade of an item you already have (also like OoT’s Water Temple), a droning musical track, and the less fluid swimming controls that come with OoA’s mermaid suit “upgrade,” and there’s not much saving this one. The boss is sort of fun I suppose, but it’s a bioelectric aquatic monster...hmm, now where have I seen that before.... 

#11. Swamp Palace (A Link Between Worlds)

I did want this one higher, but it’s so short. That’s true of all but two of the Lorule dungeons really, with them being streamlined and in many cases more thematically pronounced rehashes of the Dark World dungeons from A Link to the Past, but because the original Swamp Palace is already solid (see below) this one just doesn’t have much to do. It adds some raft puzzles and marginally more complex changes to the water level, but that’s about it. The boss is also almost identical, which isn’t saying much because “monster with a single eye that is also its weak point” describes most of the bosses on this list, but here it’s just Arrghus again. I will say that I was grateful for how short this dungeon is in my single run of this game’s Hero Mode, because it holds the valuable defense-boosting Blue Mail. Imagine the developer trolling that would have been leaving it where it had been in LttP: in this game’s equivalent of the Ice Palace.

#10.  Lakebed Temple (Twilight Princess)

As the first 3D entry on this list I suspect this may be a bit surprising, but I have to say I’ve never liked Lakebed much. A big part of that is how there’s relatively little water inside the dungeon despite it being on, you know, a lake bed. It’s a shame too, because Twilight Princess has the second-best underwater controls of the 3D games and even underwater bombs. Have fun using them in maybe three rooms. It’s also an uninspired experience beyond that, with drab visuals - despite its reputation for being gritty and brown TP can do good visuals, just not here - a music track that’s more atmospheric cave music than identifiable melody, a structure that resembles what would come from welding the two tower climbs of Ocarina of Time’s Fire Temple to the central structure of its Water Temple, and a tedious backtracking segment in the middle if you want to get all the chests (and all the stamps in the HD remake) which of course I do because 100% completion. Redirecting multiple currents and using them to flood the central room is admittedly neat, but I can’t give Lakebed too much credit for what the clawshot does to distinguish itself from the standard hookshot when much of the difference here comes down to hanging from slowly rotating platforms. Whee. Morpheel is also a joke, initially a riff on OoT’s Morpha that looks genuinely impressive when its leviathan main body emerges for the second phase...and then dies in a minute while posing next to no threat to the player as it swims around aimlessly. The frog mini-boss leaves more of an impression for striking an odd balance between goofy and gross...but why is a giant frog at the (partially dry) bottom of a lake? Gah.

#9. Angler’s Tunnel (Link’s Awakening)

Easily nabs the award for best glow-up in a remake, and indeed this ranking owes itself mostly to the Switch version. The original deserves some praise for being the second water dungeon in the series while not copying too much from the first, and it’s the only one on this list where Link can’t swim at all until he acquires the dungeon item meaning for the first half he’s got to avoid water like it’s lava. Still, the remake massively ups the aquatic ambiance between the cool blue lighting and environmental pieces and the remixed music (with bits of the original Game Boy chip tune left in, as with most of the soundtrack). It also buffs the boss so it dies in thirty seconds instead of five - go marginally threatening Angler Fish! Less than half of the dungeons in Link’s Awakening have traditional themes, instead preferring such odd motifs as bottles and keys and amateur demolition, but Angler’s Tunnel is one of the few that does so I’m happy to see that the development team for the Switch version really leaned into that distinction.

#8. Divine Beast Vah Ruta (Breath of the Wild)

I struggled considerably with ranking this one, and even now I’m still not satisfied. On the one hand this ought to be easy; everyone knows that the Divine Beasts are a low point of Breath of the Wild, small and monotonous with few enemies and similar boss fights and puzzles that are only slightly beefed-up versions of those found in shrines. On the other though BotW more than any previous game blurs the definition of a dungeon with its multitudinous shrines, lengthy (or not) quests leading up to the entrance of each Divine Beast, and Hyrule Castle providing an open-world dungeon experience like no other. In this regard Ruta is easily the best of the Beasts, as the sequence of events leading up to it involve a mostly linear narrative and geographical progression (helped by Ruta drenching the area in constant rain and preventing Link from climbing over everything like usual) that organically follows from the story progression near the start of the game and concludes with a thrilling mini-game in which Link rides Sidon smashing ice blocks and shooting targets mid-air after being launched from the top of a waterfall - and also forever blessing the internet with more gay shark cocks than it could have ever needed or wanted. Ruta’s interior has a few points in its favor as well; the obligatory dungeon movement mechanism only shifts the aim of the water spraying from the elephant’s trunk which is less disorienting than the equivalent mechanics in the other Beasts, and Link has a rune (Cryonis) naturally attuned to water/ice puzzles which somewhat makes up for BotW’s bizarre lack of underwater swimming. So yeah, lots of pros and cons and Link the DP’ing fish fucker bottom, so I’ll have to settle for sticking this one just below the middle.

#7.  Jabu-Jabu’s Belly (Ocarina of Time)

It seems strange how everyone accepted it at the time, but Ocarina of Time’s initial trio of dungeons keep the training wheels firmly on. All of them are fairly short and straightforward, none of them have locked doors, and the first two are as aesthetically generic for their respective themes as it gets. Then comes Jabu-Jabu, which is still short and key-less..except you’re inside a giant fish so here that makes sense and we’re all better off not thinking about how the barred “doors” work. As I alluded to in the entry for the inferior Oracle knockoff, this dungeon sells it on the nastiness: Link’s footsteps make squelching sounds, the walls appear to pulse (and have live cows in them serving as switches in the Master Quest revamp...again, don’t ask), glowing white growths serve as slingshot targets, there are mysterious tentacles everywhere and not the sexy kind, and the boss is a swollen mass of viscera that explodes in a shower of green goo when it dies. Extremely gross all around, but then you are inside a giant fish. Funny too that Jabu-Jabu throws a hitch in the usual dungeon pattern in the form of an escort quest of all things, but thankfully Link has to carry Ruto around instead of waiting for her to follow with dodgy AI. I also have to give credit for this dungeon making extensive use of the boomerang you find in its depths, easily one of the most fun items in OoT that goes criminally underutilized since only young Link can use it and it comes right at the end of his portion of the quest.

#6. Mermaid’s Cave (Oracle of Ages)

Oracle of Ages makes up for its counterpart’s lack of water dungeons with two of its own, and Mermaid’s Cave is by far the better of the two. It stands out as the only dungeon in either Oracle title to make use of its game’s defining gimmick, which in this case means that there are past and present versions that have to be explored separately. Ocarina of Time had earlier featured a dungeon with a similar concept in its Spirit Temple, but as with time travel in OoA more generally Mermaid’s Cave takes it a step farther with major structural and environmental differences between the two versions. The water source at the base of Rolling Ridge dries up over the course of four centuries, leaving the dungeon partially flooded in the past but mostly dry and ruined in the present, and doing some things in the past Mermaid’s Cave will affect the dungeon in the present as well. Unfortunately the novelty is somewhat undone by the dungeon item, the clunky mermaid suit that I’ve previously complained about. It leads to the game’s first fully underwater segments and plays a major role in the boss fight which alternatively engages you above and below the surface, but the letdown that is this dungeon’s namesake keeps me from placing this one any higher. Well, that and the fact that you have to do two Goron trading sequences to get inside, because of course you need a key for each era. OoA loves little annoyances like that.

#5. Swamp Palace (A Link to the Past)

While you’d be hard-pressed to call it the most iconic anymore, this is without a doubt the ur-water dungeon of the series - and I don’t only mean that it’s the first one. It’s got raising and lowering the water level, swimming against currents, redirecting channels, electric enemies, the hookshot as a dungeon item, randomly unintuitive nonsense (flooding a canal in the Light World does the same in the equivalent Dark World building because...?), and a squishy boss with a giant eye. As I did when I was ranking the games I had to bump this dungeon up a few spots specifically for how important it was in inspiring future dungeons, but nevertheless I believe the Swamp Palace holds up on its own even today. It’s notable that, in the game that arguably has more dungeons than any other in the series depending on how you count them, this is one of only a handful to even have a clearly identifiable theme - and that so much of what’s on display here has been iterated upon in so many future titles. That’s some classic Zelda stuff right there...and funnily enough this isn’t among the most annoying of the Dark World dungeons. Safe to say that a certain later title was the one to acquire a bad reputation for this dungeon type...ahem.

#4. Water Temple (Ocarina of Time)

Here it is now, possibly the most frequently maligned dungeon in the entire series. For the N64 version I absolutely understand it: the layout is unituitive and forces a lot of backtracking if you don’t know exactly where you’re going (especially with that block in the central tower...you know the one), most of the rooms look similar so it’s harder to memorize the locations of each, needing to open a slow-loading menu to take the iron boots on and off repeatedly is exceptionally tedious, movement and combat options are awkward and restricted underwater making enemies more annoying than they should be, Dark Link can be a nightmare of a mini-boss if you don’t know the flaws in his AI, the dungeon item is merely an extended hookshot, Morpha can kill you very quickly if you don’t know the even bigger flaw in its arena design...it’s one big mess, and little wonder it’s about the only dungeon to actually be easier in the Master Quest. All that said however the 3DS remake fixed around half of these issues including the iron boots and some of the navigation woes, and it’s a much smoother experience overall in that version. This Water Temple still doesn’t crack the top three for me though, in large part because I view it largely as bringing the ideas of the original Swamp Palace into three dimensions rather than creating something truly unique and memorable - or memorable for the right reasons anyway. There’s also the curious aesthetic choices in this dungeon that I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone discuss before. Between the music, the pagoda in the middle, the serpentine dragon statues everywhere, and Dark Link’s room there’s a distinctive East Asian flavor to the temple that I don’t quite know what to make of. It’s nowhere near as pronounced in any of OoT’s other dungeons or major set pieces, so it all feels quite random.

#3. Temple of Droplets (The Minish Cap)

Heavy bias factor here, because ice is another favorite gaming aesthetic of mine and this is somehow the only Zelda dungeon to combine it with water (Phantom Hourglass’s Ice Temple doesn’t count for the same reason that neither DS game appears on this list: Link can’t swim in those games, so how could there be water dungeons?). That aside however the Temple of Droplets is just delightfully creative, as is typical for this game’s dungeons. It starts with predictable ice block puzzles that lead to a fake-out with the boss key, but then it opens up to a diverse blend of lily pad “boating,” diving, melting ice with sunlight, burning ice and webs and lighting dark rooms with the lantern, and still more ice block puzzles. It’s so many different elements mashed together and enhanced even further by The Minish Cap’s unique shrinking gimmick, because this is one of the two dungeons to be fully Minish-sized. The mini-boss is an electrified Chuchu, and the boss an ordinary Octorok with a weird floral growth and separate water and ice phases that make defeating it much more of an ordeal than such a basic enemy normally has any right to be. I believe I mentioned in my game ranking that TMC is one of the more underrated titles, a creative sleeper hit that still manages to pack in tons of references to earlier, better-known 3D games. That’s certainly true of this dungeon, which throws in a quick little puzzle reference to earlier 2D games’ habit of designing their dungeon maps in particular shapes. The similarly-shaped Bottle Grotto wishes it was this good.

#2. Great Bay Temple (Majora’s Mask)

Notwithstanding that it’s in my favorite game in the series, Great Bay Temple took a while to grow on me. At first I was skeptical that an anachronistic waterworks was the right fit for a dungeon in the grim and apocalyptic Majora’s Mask - I’m always leery about fantasy media injecting random bits of other genres such as this dip into (sort of) steampunk. It didn’t take long however for me to fall in love with the place, with its rapidly-paced dynamism and brightly-colored plumbing a stark contrast to the slow and plodding Water Temple of the previous game. It perfectly accentuates Zora Link’s speedy swimming, and while the ice arrows slow the second half down a touch I’m just grateful that at least they have a point in this game unlike in Ocarina of Time. The enemies are hit or miss, although I say that less about Gyorg and more about Wart, the mini-boss that thoroughly demonstrates why Arrghus is an exercise in tedium in 3D (which is even less forgivable in a game where you’re always on the clock). Still, that doesn’t detract from how fun it can be exploring while redirecting water currents and getting all of the colored pipes flowing, and this isn’t even too frustrating with the water pushing you through the areas you need to be in sequentially. What does detract from all this somewhat is the 3DS remake; Zora Link’s infamous swimming nerf isn’t so bad in the dungeon’s narrow corridors and I can live with the more restricted ice arrows (creating icebergs in random places isn’t my idea of fun, so I don’t feel like anything was lost), but the changes to the Gyorg fight make it longer and more RNG-dependent than it should be. It’s not the only boss in the remake to become worse apparently out a desire by the developers to waste more of your limited time with them *glares at Twinmold*, but Gyorg hits worse in my minimal cycles runs on account of where Great Bay Temple falls in my scheduling.

#1. Ancient Cistern (Skyward Sword)

I didn’t want this to be #1 - it’s just not fair. The Ancient Cistern is more or less the only entry on this list that escapes the water dungeon stigma, and in fact gets consistently ranked as the best dungeon in all of Skyward Sword. Everyone loves this place, and it’s easy to see why. The aesthetics are gorgeous, it’s decently challenging but not labyrinthine, the whip is fun to use, Koloktos is awesome and unique and mildly disturbing, and the whole thing is wrapped in an explicit allusion to a Buddhist fable that comes across in the environmental details and in the dungeon structure alike. I wouldn’t call this a perfect experience, but my objections feel like nitpicks. The underwater swimming controls in SS suck...but you’re not underwater much, and there’s a much more infamous section for that later in the game. The dungeon is only half water-themed, with the basement being more of a shadow dungeon and (unlike with the Temple of Droplets) little being done to blend the two...but that plays into the fable reference and at a key point the feeling of ascending a thread from death/hell into enlightenment. The Buddhist trappings are extremely overt particularly with the shape of the boss key and the giant statue that is the dungeon’s central structure...but if the presence of that in the Zelda universe isn’t immersion-breaking to the developers for whom Buddhism is a present cultural reality then it would be petty of me to consider it more than a curiosity. None of that was enough for me to place Great Bay Temple over it, especially in light of the mild downgrade that dungeon got in its remake. Here’s to hoping that when/if SS ever gets a port or updated rerelease that the Cistern will be as good or even better than it is now. They can take the motion controls off swimming, for starters....

[zelesbians]

How do you pronounce Reneki? What's her favorite food? Is she good with any weapons? Does she sleep with a special stuffed animal? Does she know about Link and his adventure? If she had a piece of the triforce, which would it be and why? What's her favorite color? Is she more of a skirt or pants person? If she were caught in the zombie apocalypse, what would she be doing? Which booth at the bazaar does she spent the most time at?

Wow- thank you for all the questions!! :D /srs

How do you pronounce Reneki? It’s pronounced “reh-nee-key”! Though you can always call her Rene (pronounced just like the name Renée). I’ll be totally honest, when I first made her all those years ago I found this name on a gerudo name generator. It was supposed to be temporary, but I never ended up changing it so it just stuck.

What’s her favourite food? Her favourite food is probably some kind of desert! She’s got a huge sweet tooth, even if she doesn’t like to admit it.

Is she good with any weapons? Reneki is especially skilled with bows! She’s skilled with a sword too, but she finds bows a lot easier to work with. She trains a whole lot in her free time which has helped her become pretty skilled

Does she sleep with a special stuffed animal? Nah, sadly she doesn’t own any stuffed animals :,D

Does she know about Link and his adventure? Yes! She knows she can’t really help since he’s destined to be the hero, but she insists that if link ever needs help that he asks her (mainly because she’s incredibly worried about Zelda). During the events of skyward sword, its common to see her patrolling the skies in her off time because she’s really anxious about the whole thing. As for link, she’s pretty neutral towards him. Shes a bit jealous of how close he and Zelda are, but she knows he’s a nice guy and feels bad that groose is always being mean to him.

If she had a piece of the triforce, which would it be and why? I’ve actually thought about that before- and if I’m honest, I’ve thought about it a lot- a whole “what-if” scenario if she were another part of the triforce like Zelda, link and ganon. Before anyone comes for me I know the tetraforce was proved to not be canon but hey I’m just here to have fun :,)!! My idea for reneki would be that she’s the triforce of compassion. It sounds kinda strange, considering that in skyward sword she’s a bit standoffish- but in ever iteration her motivations are always tied to wanting to help others and better the world. She’d never really be any sort of destined “hero”, so the only reason for her maybe helping Link and Zelda is just because she wants to, not because she has to. I also got the idea for this because in majoras mask, there’s one great fairy per triforce piece: power, courage, and wisdom. But there’s also a great fairy of kindness, so I assumed if there were a fourth piece, something along those lines would make the most sense. I’ve got a lot developed for her in this “what-if” scenario of a tetraforce, but it’s kinda embarassing since I know a lot of people would be toootally against it, which I understand!! But I personally just have fun building upon the Zelda universe 💖

What’s her favourite colour? Her favourite colour is pink, because it reminds her of Zelda :,D but I mainly associate her with the colour purple

Is she more of a skirts or pants person? Definitely a pants person. She may wear a dress/skirt if she has to, but she finds them pretty impractical and definitely leans more towards pants.

If she were caught in a zombie apocalypse, what would she be doing? An interesting question!! Never really thought about that, but she would probably be setting up a small settlement with some friends, acting as the protector of the community. She may be kind of a loner, but she enjoys helping people and feels that working as a small group may be for the best. You’ve got more people to feed and look out for, but you’ve also got more hands to help out!

Which booth at the bazaar does she spend the most time at? Definitely Gondo’s Scrap Shop! Reneki has a secret interest in smithing and technology. She finds it incredibly fascinating, and kind of wishes that she could’ve become a blacksmith or something along those lines. If she ever hears that Link found old technology on the surface, that even still works, she’d be sooo jealous.

[pk-majora]

do all the zelda asks if you dont mind!

hell yeah, so glad someone finally send me this ask lmao. full disclosure all of my experience is in the 3d zeldas lol.

Goddess Harp: Favorite piece of lore

one piece that always stuck with me was during the tutorial in majoras mask when youre learning how to z target right before entering the clock tower in termina. and you see the like dried up dead deku scrub and navi says something about how like sad it feels/looks and how similar you look to it after getting the deku mask put on you... always kills me. also i love any love quest lmao kafei/anju in majoras mask and hudson and his super cute gerudo wife in tarrey town in breath of the wild ahh so cute. 

Ocarina of Time: Favorite song (whether it is playable or just background music) 

hands down the theme of the astral observatory in majoras mask. its my ringtone too lol.

Empty Bottle: Best thing to put in it

Oh i loved putting fish or bugs in them in ocarina of time and majoras mask. poe souls just looked cool in them too lol. idk if i had the choice it was always like aesthetically pleasing or cool things lol. 

Hookshot: Favorite way to travel in any of the games

Riding whatever was physically possible in breath of the wild. the spinner in twilight princess had a lot of fun although limited uses too.

Fairy Bow: Favorite type of arrow

oooh probably light arrows, just love the aesthetic and the idea

Fierce Deity Mask: If you could add any kind of transformation mask to any of the games, which would it be?

oooh torn between the goron mask and the zora mask from majoras mask. what games id put them in hmm. maybe one of the 2d ones? itd probably introduce some cool new elements. definitely have more experience with the 3d realm tho so... idk i think it could be kinda fun in wind waker lol. can you imagine wearing the zoras mask and swimming fast under water? in wind waker? in between sailing? god that sounds so fun!

Mirror Shield: Which character do you relate to the most?

i like the powerful women in some legend of zelda games. literally any iteration of zelda, impa, tetra, even malon/romani/cremia are all just super relatable to me. ooh especially riju. 

Master Sword: Favorite version of Link

i dont really think i have one? they all look cool in different ways. but i guess majoras mask or ocarina of time since those are the two i spent the most time playing as lol

Light Arrow: Favorite version of Zelda

probably breath of the wild or skyward sword zelda. she has so much personality in both games, especially if you collect all the memories in breath of the wild. 

Lens of Truth: Favorite version of Demise/Ganon

probably in ocarina of time just bc of how interesting the fights with him were and just how cool he looked. 

Whip: Most attractive character in your opinion (if applicable)

man this is a hard choice. i love all of the gerudo, the rito, the zora all like super hot right? cant just be me... also literally every female legend of zelda character lmao.

Horse Call: Favorite companion character (Fi, Navi, Tatl, etc.)

Probably navi or tatl since i spent a lot of time playing the n64 zelda games

Picori Sword: What do you feel is the most underrated game in the series?

most underrated? probably twilight princess. i feel like it got some flack but i thought the game was really beautiful and had some really fun diverse gameplay elements. 

Zora Tunic: Favorite species

i like the kokiri in ocarina of time, mainly bc the idea of a race of people who dont age past a certain age paired with the fact that link very obviously ages in the time that passes is just super interesting. i also love the koroks, rito, gorons, gerudo, zora, man its so hard to choose lol.

Goron Tunic: Favorite area of any game

the fishing area in ocarina of time lol i actually loved the fishing mechanic. follow up is zora domain or gerudo valley in breath of the wild...both are just like so pretty? 

Gibdo Mask: Favorite monster

i like the stall children in majoras mask bc even tho their enemies and killable lmao they also have their own like lines of dialogue and personality if you wear their mask around them. also loved chasing captain keeta.

Giant’s Mask: Favorite Boss Battle

probably super predictable but does majora count? the creepy movements, the optional use of the fierce diety mask, all the different like iterations of majora. so fucking cool.

Captain’s Hat: Favorite Mini-Boss Battle

gotta be dark link from ocarina of time. that shit was so cool.

Red Potion: Go all offensive, or play it safe?

go all out offensive and die multiple times trying lmao

Green Potion: Do you prefer magic or stamina? Or would you like to see both implemented at the same time?

magic for sure. but i can definitely see both being implemented. 

Blue Potion: Most useful item

definitely the hookshot in games that let you use it freely for the most part. besides that maybe the bottles. 

Lantern: Scariest area of any game

probably a basic answer but youre first time seeing the shadow temple in ocarina of time? terrifying. follow up? when you go up to the moon in majoras mask and see the little mask salesmen...

[sloth-incarnate]

My Smash Bros. Dream Roster

So this is going to be pretty lengthy. This is pretty much a list of fighters I would love to see in Smash, maybe not in Ultimate, but in any future games, and my reasoning for it. I’ll go in order of most wanted as well as by game. Feel free to just skip all this and just go through the piks.

First off, I desperately want some Golden Sun in Smash, and so I am an absolute Isaac stan. He and Felix are very similar as they are both earth adepts (like earth benders I guess) and could easily be made into an echo. Although they are usually shown with swords, they can wield other weapons such as axes not to mention their large arsenal of elemental psynergies (magic?) that could be great in Smash.

Zelda is another of my favorites, and there are so many characters that could be featured. Although everyone wants Skull Kid, I think there are some other viable options that could have a chance of appearing. First, there are Vaati and Zant, two of my favorite Zelda characters. They both use very unique magics and attacks, and Vaati in particular has a lot of potential. Plus, his games need more love. Something cool is that almost every modern Zelda game is represented in the roster. The new Link is from Breath of the Wild, the Zelda is reminiscent of her Link Between Worlds/Link to the Past design, Ganondorf got his Ocarina of Time Look back, Young Link is from Ocarina and Majora’s Mask, and Toon Link is from Windwaker. Ganondorf and Zelda held their Twilight Princess designs for two games, so that was sufficiently represented. However, Skyward Sword is sadly not present, although there is a stage. Some possible Skyward Sword fighters could be FI, the dancing sword spirit, and Impa, who could either be a Sheik clone or have her own movesets with a naginata as in Hyrule Warriors. These, in my opinion would be great choices.

Kirby needs some more representatives, and although Bandana Dee would be great, I’ve always loved Marx, the Jester. If Kirby Star Allies has shown anything is that Marx has incredible potential as a playable character and is just so crazily cool to play as him. It would be pretty easy to bring over his Star Allies moveset to Smash. Seriously, look up some footage of how he plays. It’s seriously fun. Another recurring character is Galacta Knight, who is like a powered/evil form of Meta Knight. He would be a great echo, although a bit more on the berserker side, even though he could easily get his own movesets. If not, I would absolutely love at least an alternate costume for Meta Knight and not just a color swap. Galacta Knight is just Cool.

From Pokemon, there are literally more than 700 options to choose from. Although Incineroar and Decidueye would be great, I think Gallade and Gardevoir would be more interesting choices. I really love both of their designs and think they could be great. Plus, it’s a sin that Lucario is the only fighting type in a fighting game. As for gen 7 representatives, another good choice could be Tsareena. She would be pretty unique as a lot of her attacks would depend on kicks, and would not be bad as a Zero Suit Samus echo. If Ivysaur and Duck Hunt has taught us anything is that you don’t need to be bipedal for Smash. I think Silvally could be a great choice as well. Plus his recolors are already part of its concept.

 Another series that’s close to my heart is Fire Emblem. Although there are already plenty of reps in the roster, they don’t do a good job of representing what else the series has to offer. Most of the Fire Emblem characters (if not all) wield swords of some kind, but there are other weapons they could focus on. Axes, Lances, Magical tomes of all kinds, throwing knives, clubs, hammers, bows, and even staves could all be used more creatively for a character. The roster definitely needs more magic users, so I hope they take this into consideration. Fire Emblem has a new game coming up, Three Houses for Switch, and although not a lot of information has been revealed about it, there’s a high chance we may get another character from Fire Emblem from that. From what is known so far, there may be a chance that either Edelgard or Byleth (the typical blue haired protag) may be featured. As for Edelgard, she is seen using Axes, so if they go with her, they will hopefully choose that as her weapon. Not much is known for Byleth, but hopefully, he is more flexible with his weapon choices.

Another series close to my heart is Final Fantasy. Smash gave us the grand surprise of adding Cloud to the mix, and so it has opened the gates of possibility. Although some popular characters such as Noctis or Lightning would be cool, I think more iconic characters would be better for Smash (if any). When we think of Final Fantasy, we often think of their iconic black mages. Representative of this is Vivi, who is probably the most recognized mage in the series. Two more icons of the series are the adorable Moogles and the loyal Chocobos. However, instead of being on their own, why not fuse them together and have a Chocobo-riding moogle join the fray? It would be adorable and it would be open to unique playstyles. This character would be reminiscent of Duck Hunt, Rosalina and Luma, Ice Climbers, or even Bowser Jr.

Some other representatives from other series include Blathers and Timmy and Tommy Nook from Animal Crossing, Toadette from Mario (yeah I know, TOO MANY MARIO CHARACTERS etc), and Roll from Megaman. Monster Hunter has been present in Smash as well, and Ultimate even has an assist trophy and stage. I love the series and a fighter would be great. The trouble with this is that a monster hunter now has 14 different options when it comes to weapons, and they can only use one at once. It would be difficult to decide which weapon style to put in the game, and they might just end up putting another sword user, (would love a gunlance though I doubt they’d do that) so a compromise to this could be to add a hunter Palico.  These witty feline companions have a variety of attacks and techniques including a boomerang and a melee weapon, as well as bombs.

Finally, from Sonic, everyone is expecting Shadow, but honestly, Tails and Knuckles sound so much more interesting. Knuckles is confirmed as an assist, so Tails could still have a shot. He’d be an interesting fighter and more Sonic representation would be awesome.

 Let me know what y’all think of my choices. Feel free to tear me apart in the comments. Just be civil.

I didn’t expect to write an entire essay, but thanks for the read.  

[im-999]

Video Game Meme

Tagged by the wonderful @atarostarling.  Full disclosure, I’m terrible at these question memes.  In fact, I’m still pondering over the other one you sent me for the 10 fandoms one. T_T

Favorite Game from the last 5 years. Legend of Zelda: Breath of Wild, the Witcher 3 or Horizon Zero Dawn. It’s really hard for me to decide between the three of them...they’ve all left such a lasting impression for me in terms of game play, design and the top class art direction.

Most nostalgic game. Ocarina of Time or Final Fantasy Tactics

Game that deserves a sequel. Well the Last of Us is getting one so… :D

Game that deserves a remaster. As of now, I can think of many things I want to remake but none of which I want to remaster.  There’s quite a few Vita games I want ported to the PS4 though like the older Metal Gear games...but those don’t classify as remasters correct?

Favorite game series. The Legend of Zelda. Every time I play the latest game in the series, I think to myself: ‘this is it, there’s no future Zelda title that can top this one” but time and again, I'm proven wrong.  Except maybe Skyward Sword.  But even that one had its moments!

Favorite Genre. Tactical and/or open world RPGs, FPS, Melee, Fighting games…I’ll play anything with decent lore + world building or fun game play mechanics. The modern Zelda games always manage to combine a little bit of everything extremely well, which is why I continue to play them despite the similar objectives and basic plots.

Least Favorite. Otome/Dating-Sims, Visual novels.  Games that heavily involve clicking and reading through walls of exposition text are not engaging and the cartoony art styles don’t help in the slightest.  BUT, if Hideo Kojima directed one, I’d definitely play the shit out of that! Probably ‘cause he’d make it weird...but at least it would be an interesting experience!

Favorite Song for a Game. I really loved the all the music of FFXV, both the main game and the bros’ DLCs.  Its a shame the core game doesn’t live up to the epicness of the soundtrack.

Favorite Character from a game. Ugh, there’s so many I could list, but for brevity’s sake: Beatrix (FFIX) or Emily Caldwell (Dishonored 2).  I love a good kickass lady that exudes class.  My favorite character to draw of course is Ignis (FFXV).

Favorite ship from a game. I usually gloss over romance/romantic subplots in games.  But I do like Leon and Ada.

Favorite voice actor from a game. Matthew Mercer as Leon Kennedy.  I'm really sad to hear he's not going to voice Leon in the RE2 remake. T_T

Favorite Cutscene. Balthier and Fran’s banter during the ending of FFXII always makes me laugh. Noctis’s bowling mishap in the recent Tekken is also amazing to behold.

Favorite Boss. In recent memory, Noctis.

First console. N64.

Current console. PS4, Switch.

Console you want. None at the moment.

Place from a video game that you’d like to visit? Meridian from Horizon Zero Dawn.  Really anywhere in HZD.  Guess I could always take a trip to Colorado, Wyoming, or Utah again to frolic around in the National Parks!

Place from a game that you’d like to live in? I’ll build myself a tree house somewhere in the HZD landscape. :D

Ridiculous crossover that would never happen but would be super fun?  I’d like to see the Chocobros in Soul Calibur since they’re already decked out in flashy fighting game outfits as it is.  Or I'd love to place Balthier (FFXII), Mustadio (FFT), and Prompto (FFXV) in the same room.  I guess it would cool if Balthier and Ignis met as well.

Book that would make a great game?  Oh boy, the last dozen books I’ve read were non-fiction.  How about Dune?  Is there a Dune video game?  If there was, I wouldn’t be surprised, but that still gets my vote!

Movie/Show that would make a great game?  Kubo and the Two Strings has a lot of aspects that I can picture translating into fun mechanics (origami weapons yo!).  The art style is also pretty fantastic and is definite mood.  The Kingsman movies also feel quite video game-like in tone too.  I would so love to play as Gazelle, even if she is a baddie. :D

Game you want to play? God of War (still waiting for my sister to finish the post game stuff) and Bloodborne (thanks to Ataro's streams).  I usually set aside $200 a year for games, game subscriptions but since I've already hit that limit earlier this year, guess I’ll have to wait, or just borrow games

Have you gotten 100% completion in a game? In terms of trophies/achievements?  No clue.  I always sell off my older consoles before I purchase new ones, to recup costs.  I'm fairly certain I finished Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask to 100%.  Maybe FFVIII as well.

Have you cried over a game? The Last of Us for sure, but I did feel a few tears well up here and there during Brothers: a Tale of Two Sons, and Episode Ignis.

What power-up or ability would you want in real life? It’s a toss up between the ability to cast elemental magic or the winged hats from Super Mario...the latter would do wonders for my commute. :)

Tagging: @chenria and @geekgoddess813!

[a-h-arts]

The perfect tome for Legend of Zelda fans This book is almost too awesome for me to put into words. I've long been a fan of the Legend of Zelda. It is not only my personal favorite video game series, but arguably the greatest series in video gaming, period. When this book released in Japan for Zelda's 25 year anniversary, many hoped it would get translated and come to the States. Thankfully, our wish has been granted. This book is about as high-quality as they come. The opening letter from Shigeru Miyamoto sets a wonderful, celebratory tone for the rest of the book. I can't think of a better opening. Go to Amazon

A piece of my childhood I was a Zelda fan all through my childhood (Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask (although I never beat it growing up), and Twilight Princess as I got older) and I just recently finished Skyward Sword through Dolphin, and I have to say that my nerd love for the Legend of Zelda has been rekindled with intensity. It's such an interesting and alluring world, and as much as I loved Skyward Sword (arguably my favorite, hate it all you want) I didn't get my fill after completing it. That's when I stumbled across this beautiful book, it's incredibly rich and full of interesting creative commentary, and artwork I had never seen before. By now most fans have seen the timeline Nintendo constructed, but being able to hold it in your hands gives it a very different and interesting novelty. The overall construction of the book is similarly excellent, with the hard cover giving it a great sturdiness, and the gold printing finishing the cover with an eye catching sheen. I can't recommend this book enough if you are a fan, it's pure nostalgia, and definitely satisfied the desire I had for more. Go to Amazon

If you are a Zelda fan like I am If you are a Zelda fan like I am, this book is the icing on the cake. It was fascinating, amazing, and even a blessing in disguise just reading through the whole book. I especially enjoyed the Skyward Sword manga depicting the era of war between Demise and Hylia: I totally want to draw some scenes from it right about now. haha Go to Amazon

Great quality and insight into the Zelda games A great book about my favorite franchise and its development. Go to Amazon

The Older Art Is Great Pretty cool pictures inside. I'm an older Zelda fan, so I appreciate the older art more than the new. There are pages inside that have art evolutions of each character. For example, it shows what Link was drawn like 1986, 1988, 1990's, 1996, etc. It does the same for Gannon, Zelda, and some other characters. One thing that I wish this had, and I don't know why I assumed it would... but I have a Nintendo Power magazine of Zelda from the 90's that was pretty cool. I was looking for something kind of similar to that. Other than that, the material of the book seems pretty good. I have a copy of the hobbit that looks a lot like this book. Go to Amazon

A great resource to have in any Zelda fan's collection Five Stars Five Stars Five Stars Great gift for a Legend of Zelda fan! Beautiful. A must have Great read Five Stars Five Stars Book arrived in great condition. I was worried about buying books online ...

[hyruviandoctor]

Zelda Asks

I was asked by @neko-otaku13 to do those Zelda asks that are going around, except she said to do all of them. So here you go, you monster.

Legend of Zelda - Favorite console game? I know it’s kind of the popular thing to say right now, but I think I have to go with Breath of the Wild. It used to be Ocarina of Time just because I’ve spent so much time playing around in that world, but Breath of the Wild just has so much to do and see. The dungeons aren’t very impressive, the final boss was too easy, and I wish there was just a bit more story (a few more memories would be nice), but the game itself is just so much fun.

Adventure of Link - Favorite character (in any game)? Always Zelda. But if I have to pick someone else I think I’d say that Groose might be my favorite. He’s so absurd, but he ends up being such a good guy. Also that whole scene where he follows Link to the surface just kills me.

A Link to the Past - Favorite place (in any game)? I really like Romani Ranch from Majora’s mask because it feels like what they might have originally wanted Lon Lon Ranch to be like. I also really like the Akkala Region in Breath of the Wild, but that’s mostly because I really like the colors and the ruins found around there (including the Earth Spring from Skyward Sword).

Link’s Awakening - Favorite Link? I really like the Link in Breath of the Wild, but I also really like Link in Ocarina/Majora and in Twilight Princess. Basically I like when Link is clearly a dork but is also fairly grown-up, because it gives him a lot of character and makes him more relatable.

Ocarina of Time - Favorite Zelda song? If I had to choose just one, I’d have to say the Ballad of the Goddess from Skyward Sword. It’s an amazing song on its own, and the fact that it has Zelda’s lullaby backwards inside of it is just incredible. Close seconds are Chancellor Cole’s Theme from Spirit Tracks, the main theme/trailer theme from Breath of the Wild, Zelda’s Lullaby, and Molgera’s Battle Theme from Wind Waker.

Majora’s Mask - Favorite mask? Oh geeze, probably the Goron Mask. I like rollin around at the speed of sound, killing dudes with spikes. Also I just think the design looks really cool. I’ve always liked the Gorons (even though BotW really disappointed me there for the most part), so I really enjoyed getting to play as one. Although I just remembered the Fierce Deity mask and I absolutely love his design and am deeply intrigued by the lore behind him (and the fact that we know almost nothing about him).

Wind Waker - Favorite boss? I really like the final Ganondorf fight in Twilight Princess. All the stages were really intense and exciting, and it really felt like you were fighting to save the world from destruction. If we’re talking about regular bosses I might have to say Molgera from Wind Waker, but that might be mainly because the music during that fight is freaking amazing.

Four Swords - Favorite handheld game? SPIRIT TRACKS. SPIRIT TRACKS IS THE BEST HANDHELD ZELDA AND I WILL FIGHT ANYONE WHO DISAGREES (although I also deeply adore Minish Cap). I actually was really upset when I first saw the announcement trailer because “Trains don’t belong in Zelda!” but boy was I wrong about that. I love pretty much everything about Spirit Tracks, especially the story and how involved and developed Zelda is (one of the best Zeldas in the series for sure). I love the music too and I think it’s the only handheld Zelda that I listen to the soundtrack of. It’s been a while since I’ve played it, so I’m sure I’m only remembering the good, but I still love it and I love that it sort of completes the Wind Waker saga. I definitely recommend you play it if you haven’t already!

Twilight Princess - Favorite companion? I like Fi and Navi, but I might have to say Midna because she’s the most developed companion character and she’s amazing. But if I can pick Spirit Tracks Zelda, I pick her because she’s fantastic.

Phantom Hourglass - Least favorite game? You know, this one almost seems like destiny. It’s been a long time so I may be just remembering the bad parts, and I remember having a lot of fun and spending a lot of time with it, but Phantom Hourglass is currently my least favorite Zelda. My issues with it are basically the ones everyone has with it: The Temple of the Ocean King is tedious, nothing about it really stands out as stellar, and I’m not a huge fan of the whole “it was all a dream” kind of deal. I need to play it again so I can give it another shot, but for now it’s my least favorite. It’s a decent game, but it’s not a good Zelda game.

Spirit Tracks - Favorite Zelda? Either Spirit Tracks Zelda or Breath of the Wild Zelda. Spirit Tracks really gave Zelda a lot of character and did a lot to make her interesting AND useful, and you really get a sense of her struggle for the first time in a Zelda game. Breath of the Wild made Zelda super interesting and made her a really well developed character. Breath of the Wild also gave us a Zelda that was very relatable and very easy to empathize with. I think Breath of the Wild’s Zelda is the video game character I’ve most personally identified with, so I might have to go with her.

Skyward Sword - Favorite Zelda item? Oh geeze, maybe the Spirit Flute from Spirit Tracks? I thought that was a cool way to do an instrument and I like how it sounds. I really like the clawshots from Twilight Princess, too. This one’s hard because there have been so many good items.

Link Between Worlds - First game I played? I’m pretty sure it was Ocarina of Time. It was definitely the Zelda Collection that came with my gamecube, but since it had four games on it I can’t remember which was the first I played. Ocarina was definitely the first one I played all the way through though, and I absolutely love that game.

Tri Force Heroes - Least favorite dungeon? Probably the Divine Beasts; they were neat, but too short and too samey. I understand why, but it was still a little disappointing. Outside of Breath of the Wild, I’d have to say my least favorite dungeon is probably the Great Bay Temple in Majora’s Mask. It’s interesting, but I don’t remember enjoying it much at all.

Breath of the Wild - Favorite champion/new champion? Urbosa, hands-down. She seems like the one you’d actually want to hang out with because she’s super chill, but she’s also the mom friend who will make sure you don’t die or do anything too overly stupid. Out of the new champions I guess I’d have to say Riju. She got the most character development and seems like she’d be a good friend to have. I guess I just like the Gerudo in general, but they also seem to have gotten the most attention when it comes to characterization.

[breadtastesgood]

After 200+ hours of playing  Breath of the Wild, I have finished my adventure. Here are my thoughts. (Spoilers)

So, almost two months after its release, I have officially completed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and oh boy, do I have a lot to say about this game. I’m a little hesitant to call this a review, I guess, because it’s not organized too well or intent on giving a score or anything silly like that. But considering my love for this series and acknowledging this game as a huge departure from what many have grown used to, its got my head spinning with a whole bunch of thoughts that I just feel like dumping somewhere. This is mostly an art blog, it feels a little weird sticking this here but I honestly don’t know where else I’d put it. I’ll try to organize my brain and keep things as short as possible, but for the most part I’m just gonna jump in.

Ok, let’s get the big stuff out of the way: I like this game. Even if you haven’t played it, if you’ve so much as searched Zelda within the past month, this near universal opinion shouldn’t be unfamiliar to you. You could go anywhere on the internet around its release and see overwhelming praise, 10/10, a “masterpiece” or even “the best game of all time”. I’m kind of opposed to scores and big statements like that because they have the power to label a game as perfect or flawless, even if they don’t mean to; but the acclaim isn’t necessarily undeserved, this is a great Zelda game, and a really good video game in general. One of the biggest reasons for this praise is attributed to how big of a departure it is, it really sets itself apart from past Zelda games; However, that’s also what inclines me to dissect this title far more than any of its predecessors.

Since this isn’t really a proper review, and I’m assuming most of the people reading this have already played the game in some capacity, I’m just gonna quickly summarize what I like about it. If you want more in depth conversations about the positives you should go ahead and find something on IGN...or Youtube or something I dunno, honestly anywhere, this game has gotten nothing but glowing reviews, it’s not too hard to find something better constructed than my stuff.

-It’s gorgeous, the cel shading and overall homage to japanese animated films *cough* Ghibli *cough* is wholeheartedly welcome and beautiful to look at. This is the first Zelda game where I didn’t want to cut the grass because it was just so damn pretty. I’d constantly find myself placing link in compositionally pleasing settings to just watch the world teem with life and wonder.

-The runes and their implementation with shrines and the divine beasts make for some clever puzzles, even if they are a lot of the times maybe a little too easy and kind of short. When the puzzles are at their best, you can’t help but smile.

-I like the basic concept of the story, it’s nice to see Zelda explored as a character. (Though I will say that Link not being as expressive in this title was a bit of a let down, he’s expressive in the world and not in the cutscenes which is odd. I know there’s a canon reason for this but still, I miss the personality from previous titles. I hope they weren’t trying to reel back on his facial expressions for fear of breaking “immersion” or something silly like that, no one I know sees link as themselves, I’d like to think most people really do see him as his own character.)

-The outfits are great.

-Different weapon types are super cool.

-I actually ended up not hating the voice acting, in fact, I feel like there should have been more of it.

-I love how the world is constantly being traversed by characters that always have something funny or useful to say. I remember one guy telling me that his name was Spinch and his horse was named Spinch too; so completely random. You engage with him further and he’s just like: “We’re both Spinch and I don’t even care.” It killed me, and it’s stuff like that that was part of what made exploring fun.

-It acknowledges the series’ timeline and lore in the most direct way yet. I particularly love how they sprinkled Fi’s theme into scenes with the Master Sword, it gave me chills. Makes you feel like all your past adventures really mattered.

-Music is beautiful, the main theme and Hateno village are some of my new favorites and I can’t wait to hear them Live. Gotta love that Dragon Roost callback too.

-Character design is great. Even the most insignificant npcs have great character designs. This particular reincarnation of Zelda is definitely my favorite appearance wise, the developers did a great job with making her look adorable, dignified, and adventurous all at the same time.

-I like the return of character schedules from Majora’s Mask, makes the world feel alive.

-The champions are all great personalities, but it sucks we couldn’t spend more time with them. (more on this later)

- Prince Sidon is hilarious and really charming.

-Paya is disgustingly cute.

- Bolson is the best god damn npc in the game, that gay ass motherfucker.

-Climbing is fun, unless it rains.

- Fighting is fun (until you’re about 50 hours in and it starts being a little less creative. Once you have a ton of money and really good weapons, the incentive to fight and raid camps isn’t really there anymore unless it's fighting for just fighting’s sake. This made be a bit sad.)

-Based on its basic game mechanics alone, Breath of the Wild is, in general, pretty fun. There’s a lot more I could say, but I feel like it’s fairly obvious what the really good things are in this game.

The list goes on and on and on...but these are my main take aways without getting TOO entrenched into a stream of consciousness. I don’t really feel the need to go too in depth about the games positives, because they’re widely discussed and loudly appreciated across the board; I wanted to be brief with my addition to the echo chamber. With that said, I actually have a few fairly substantial grievances with this game that prevent it from being a masterpiece for me.

Saying this feels like betraying a best friend, especially after waiting 6 years for this game. But I think it’s necessary to put these thoughts out there when a game gets universally good reviews, I want Zelda to grow and improve beyond this point. It’s obvious Nintendo won’t see this shit, but it’s good to get a conversation going, especially when every single Zelda game gets widespread acclaim upon release and only a year or so later do people tend to tone it down a little. This is fairly ironic in my case, as Skyward Sword is one of my favorite games and it seems to have the starkest contrast between its initial opinions and those that popped up a year after. I just have some things that really irk me about this game, which sucks because I actually love it a great deal, I’m super torn.

My biggest takeaway from 200 hours of traveling across Breath of the Wild’s world was that its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. Nintendo set out to spread its wings and build this immense world that inspires wonder and awe, and it certainly does that, but I feel like that’s mostly all the game is at times.  It’s funny, because as soon as I start to say stuff like this, I can’t help but think, “Wow that’s actually really great, I’m glad the game went this direction.” But I also feel heavily conflicted about that direction’s consequences. This may sound strange and it’s not really bad, but I felt like the world is almost so open ended with itself that its identity is spread a little thin.  

I’m kind of going against my own logic here, because I’ve always wanted a Zelda game with an immense amount of side quests to beef up the experience outside of the main quest. I’ve prayed for a huge world to explore, to really feel the enormity of this land that needed to be saved. And there really is a lot to do, there's a ton, but only a handful of the sidequests outside the shrines have much heft. The game doesn’t really have a set pace as a result, which can be seen as a good thing I guess. I can agree with the sentiment that this choice was necessary as a stepping stone going forward, I think Zelda definitely benefits from the nonlinearity approach, and Nintendo going as far as they did with it this time will help them see its advantages and disadvantages. If Skyward Sword was an extreme in linearity, Breath of the Wild is an extreme in the exact opposite direction. In my opinion, they both still work well in their own regards, albeit in incredibly different ways.

When I say that the game doesn’t have as much of an identity compared to past Zelda’s, I mean that in a way where the identity of the game is largely shaped by the player’s own experience and not by the narrative itself. This can be seen as a huge triumph in player agency, where the power (or in this case courage) really is in the hands of the player. But you can’t curate nonlinearity, at least not entirely. As a result, we tend to lose some of the pacing that made past titles feel “epic”. I guess what I’m getting at is that my main gripe has to do with how the game’s narrative structure comes together.

The developers were definitely aware of a narrative problem, as they needed a way to glue the game together story wise, and the memories were a pretty clever way to do it; honestly, I don’t know how else they could have made it work with their open air concept. But as much as I find the story compelling and interesting, there’s simply not enough of it, which is a real shame because you feel a need to get closer to these characters, especially the champions. Much of this game feels like you are showing up late to the party. There's a weird dichotomy between the past and present as a result. You end up feeling like you need to care more about the champions in the past, but characters in the present end up getting more development, just less emotional weight attributed to them. It’s a weird flip flop, because I loved Prince Sidon as a character, and thought he was the most developed out of all the main quest based npcs, but Mipha kind of steals the climax of the Zora’s Domain story. What sucks about this is that Mipha has, what appears to be on the surface, a tragic and emotionally affecting story, but we don’t get enough time to dwell on it really, so we’re in this weird flux. This past and present problem actually has made me feel the most disconnected from Link than I ever have, and if I was gonna be disconnected I would have at least liked to have seen him show a little more personality, but he only does this in small instances in the present.

This formula disappointed me more and more with each main questline, especially when all the others tended to be less concerned with getting you familiar with or attached to their respective characters. The worst offender is the Rito area, which I swear can be completed in an hour. It really cheats Rivali out of getting any meaningful development, which is a huge missed opportunity because he was funny, quippy, and a nice rival character for Link. Imagine meeting Groose at the beginning of Skyward Sword, except at the end of the tutorial someone pushes him off Skyloft and he straight up dies, the end. Think about how big of a missed opportunity that would be. That’s kind of how this felt.

Now I know that you can argue that Zelda has never been about the story, but honestly I still thinks that’s up to the player, no matter how simple these stories tend to be. It’s mostly less about story and more about how much time is spent on the fun characters Zelda is known for, and the game loses a bit of its heart as a result. A lot of people, like me, are super into the lore and the characters this franchise has to offer; things don’t need to be convoluted like Kingdom Hearts or emotionally complex like the Last of Us. Many players enjoy the adventure of befriending characters, helping them with their problems, and feeling fulfilled by that alone.

Quests that had this fulfillment element were my favorite, such as cooking a rock for a malnourished Goron to help him regain his strength, or building a town from the ground up with a bizarre cast of carpenters that you can’t help but adore. These are rewarding for me, not because of the loot, but because it’s simply just entertaining and makes me feel like I really accomplished something. Once I reached about 90 hours, I didn’t need rupees, or another royal claymore, what I was really looking for was a reflection of how I impacted the world around me. I wanted to suspend my disbelief and truly get absorbed in this world not only for its beauty and sheer size, I wanted to feel like I mattered to its inhabitants too. And the game does this enough to be fairly satisfactory. Though, there are plenty of quests that get halfway there but end up feeling more like fetch quests, which aren’t so bad if they have a nice reward, but they’re still kind of bland and sometimes a chore.

To kind of wrap all this up, I want to say that Breath of the Wild’s biggest and most glaring problem is that its main quest is severely lacking. There is a lot to do in this game, just not a lot of “big” and memorable things. There’s an almost endless list of small challenges, but few end up feeling all that compelling. I know a lot of people have been talking about the dungeons being a huge weakness, and I think that's definitely part of the problem. There really needed to be more substantial dungeons in this game, I’d say there’s about a dungeon and a half in this title. Maybe we can have a discussion about how the shrines make up for that, but I feel like at least for me, most of them were very simple and too many of them were rewards for easy feats or tests of strength. All things considered, the breadth of this game is impressive, but imagine if you fit a main quest from The Wind Waker or Twilight Princess on top of this huge world; imagine big dungeons with a well paced main quest, along with all these sidequests and a beautiful landscape, that would be amazing! I know this comparison has been made a bit too much, but Skyrim found a way to have a good linear main quest packed into a non linear world, you could in fact avoid it altogether and just do “side quests”. Many of its sidequests had significant weight to them that made them feel like they could've been part of the main mission, you weren’t left with a sense of emptiness if you avoided the main route. I think Zelda could learn a lot from this kind of approach to open world games.

Now I will say that there’s a lot to Breath of the Wild’s main quest that I really love (i’ll be doing a lot of fan art because of it!), I just think it needs to be expounded upon a bit more. There’s all the makings of a true masterpiece here, but the center of it feels a bit fragmented. Bigger dungeons, bigger story, more enemy types, more villages etc. I think the game needs more of these large central elements. There's so much I could say about this game, but that would take forever, these are more or less my biggest criticisms. I once again want to reiterate that I like Breath of the Wild and I really love Zelda as a series, I can’t stress that enough. Feel free to disagree with me and maybe start up a dialogue through messages or something, I’m always willing to discuss! I’m not super focused on checking this for structural issues, it’s not really an organized essay, sorry if it was a bit rambly.

Thanks for reading!!!

Sidenote: I’m aware of the story DLC and new dungeon in the future. I’m extremely excited about this and the DLC will hopefully address my grievances with the game.

[sage-nebula]

So I beat the main story mode of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild last night, and since I've finally completed it (aside from the multitude of sidequests I still have to do), I feel secure in saying that it is absolutely my newest favorite Zelda game, and definitely one of my favorite games of all time. With that said, I feel secure in saying this for one reason, and one reason only:

I have actual, legitimate concern over whether or not Nintendo is going to be able to make another Zelda game after this.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they will. The Zelda series is a money-maker, and it sells consoles regardless of what the Zelda Cycle is saying about the newest game at the time. But there's a difference between making a game and making a successful game, and Nintendo set the bar so high with Breath of the Wild that I'm not entirely sure how they're going to top it, and for all intents and purposes, they need to.

Breath of the Wild has flaws. Of course it does. There isn't a single game in creation that doesn't. But aside from one particular gripe I have with how they handled the lore (well, I have two gripes, but one is more forgivable than the other), all of the flaws it has are little mechanic flaws that could certainly be improved, but that don't necessitate an entirely new game to fix. (And even with the big lore gripe I have, I mean, not everyone is as much of a stickler for Zelda lore as I am. I'm a special case. Nintendo doesn't need to worry about me.) I'm thinking about things like the low inventory space that you need to keep upgrading by finding Koroks, or certain aspects of the weapon durability system (which I don't hate, actually, but which I feel like could be improved in small ways, like not allowing the Champion weapons to shatter or not de-powering the Master Sword every now and again). These things could definitely be improved, but do we need an entirely new game to improve them? I'm not sure. I don't feel like we do.

The bigger problem is that, when making Zelda games, Nintendo puts gameplay first. They've said this time and again. Although the Zelda series does have lore, and though there is a timeline, the story always takes a backseat to the gameplay. Nintendo figures out what they want to do with the gameplay first, and then they move forward from there, and usually this means centering each new game around a new idea to shift the gameplay style. (Note that this is also why placing games on the timeline is incredibly difficult; their thoughts regarding the timeline when making new Zelda games is basically "fuck it lol.") While this is good in terms of innovation, I'm extremely concerned about the stark possibility that they could return to a more traditional Zelda formula after this game. I can tell you right now that I will not enjoy the next installment nearly as much if we go back to a smaller world map. I won't enjoy it nearly as much if we go back to a very linear progression style that locks you on a certain path based on what items you have at the time (versus how skilled of a player you are). I won't enjoy it nearly as much if Link is forced back into the green tunic, if the cutscenes are less cinematic, if there's less focus on exploration, if the NPCs go back to being set pieces (instead of feeling like actual characters with lives, a feature we haven't seen in the series since Majora's Mask, yet was GREATLY expanded upon here), if the dungeons go back to taking an hour or longer to complete (seriously, the shorter dungeons in this game were a goddess send, I no longer felt exhausted halfway through). I've been a fan of this series since I was eight or nine years old, but the formulaic structure of the games did get tiring after a while. Combine that with unkempt gameplay in some of the newer titles (well, Skyward Sword, mostly---those motion controls were not 1:1 and all of the puzzle monsters made gameplay exhausting), and I honestly have not fully enjoyed a Zelda game from start to finish since probably Majora's Mask. Even Wind Waker, which I love, had that excruciatingly tedious Triforce hunt in the endgame. Breath of the Wild had nothing of that nature. It was a masterpiece from beginning to end. I didn't WANT it to end, and that says a lot. I'm going to be playing it for a while yet to finish all the sidequests.

So with that said, I'm not sure how they're going to top it. If they expand on the open-world aspect of it, how do they make it even better without simply adding a few added touches here or there (which people would certainly slam them for, calling the game a cut-and-paste)? If they don't keep this, how do they still make a game that doesn't just feel like a return to the structure established previously? Can they do that? I had the "how do they top this" feeling since the very beginning of the game---pretty much since I jumped off the Great Plateau and made my way to Kakariko Village for the first time. That feeling only continued to increase as I played through. I've now completed the main story, and I'm concerned. I'm genuinely concerned they won't be able to make another Zelda game as great as this one, and that's a problem for them. I feel like Nintendo played themselves.

I mean, I'm sure people felt this way after Ocarina of Time. I didn't, because it was my first Zelda game (and was followed by the Zelda game that held the crown as my favorite for well over a decade), but I'm sure others did. Even so, I feel like Breath of the Wild has completely dismantled OoT in every way. It's a masterpiece, and I'm not sure how Nintendo will follow it up. I guess we'll see.

Either way, overall? Even with its flaws, I still give it a 100/10. I haven't had this much fun playing a VIDEO GAME in a long time, much less a Zelda game. Even with its flaws, I love it. Highly recommended. If you have a Wii U or a Switch, go play it. Do it now. You won't regret it.

[subtract-me-from-your-heart]

For get to know me better: do every 10th one please ^_^

Hi, nonny! Thank you ♥ This is kinda long, so I put it under a cut.

10. The word that I use all the time to describe something great?

Awesome. To the point of overuse, probably.

20. Favourite video games?

THIS QUESTION ALWAYS KILLS ME. Legend of Dragoon, Final Fantasy IV, X, XII, and XV, LoZ: Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Skyward Sword, and Wind Waker, all three of the Dragon Age games… Skyrim. Uhh. Shadow Hearts, Baten Kaitos… there are a lot more I’m not thinking of, I’m sure...

30. Eye colour?

Green!

40. What do I think about most?

I spend a lot of time daydreaming about stories. I think about my characters and stuff I wanna write or draw.

50. How do I destress?

Video games, typically. I like to play something calm and semi-repetitive like the SIMs or Harvest Moon if I’m extremely stressed. Drawing or listening to music also helps.

60. Pet peeve?

I can never think of these when asked. It’s always annoyed me when people say, “You wanna come with?” Like, please, just add the pronoun at the end. I beg you. I know I’m a bad linguist being all ,“YOU CAN’T SAY THAT!!!1!111one!!” but for some reason the sound of it just irritates me.

70. Can I sing?

Yep. I grew up in a very musical family and I was always in choir at church and school growing up. I’m also going to attempt to sing in the band I’m in with my brother but we’ll see how that goes lmaaaoooo.

80. Can I drive?

Yes. I hate it, but I have the ability. Lol.

90. Favourite sporty activity?

Swimming

100. Do I have more girl friends or boy friends?

Uhhh? I dunno. I’d say probably girl friends. I mean, it’s not as if I have a ton of friends LOL. But I think I definitely have more girl friends.

110. Do I like selfies?

Sure, why not? They’re fun. I suck at taking them, but it’s nice to have them. Sometimes I even don’t feel terrible about how I look LOL.

120. Am I much of a daredevil?

Nooooooo. Whatever the extreme opposite of a daredevil is, that’s me. I could probably stand to be a little less cautious.

130. Favourite piece of advice?

Another hard one. I’m sure there’s plenty. I’m sure there is a lot of advice I think, “Yeah, that sounds great,” and completely do not follow because that’s just the kind of productive human being I am.

If I have to pick something for the sake of answering the question, probably, “Do what you love.” Not even necessarily in the sense of looking for a job. Just do what you love because you love it, even if you’re doing it in your free time between your day job. I’ve found I’m a lot happier when I follow that advice.

140. Do I believe people are capable of change?

Absolutely. And I only believe this because I have changed a LOT over the course of my life. If I can change from the person I was about 15 years ago, anybody can change.

Now I don’t necessarily think EVERYTHING about a person can change. And I don’t think it’s always healthy to expect someone to change, either.

150. What is the best decision I have made in life so far?

Stomping down my social anxiety enough to approach Jay when we had our first class together in college. Ohhh no how cute am I

160. What colour mostly dominates my wardrobe?

Uhh well it used to be black, but now I don’t know. Surprisingly, it’s pretty varied these days. There is a lot of blue and purple, though.

170. One of my favourite quotes?

“No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.” ~Dead Poets Society, AKA my go-to movie when I’m pressed to come up with a favorite quote

180. Do I like shopping?

Sometimes. Kinda depends on if I have money. If I have money, it’s super fun! But that doesn’t happen very often, haha.

190. If I could time travel, where and when would I want to go?

Everywhere and everywhen. I’d want my life to be a full on Doctor Who series. Although tbh I’d rather travel in space than in time. If I were going to pick a time, it’d be neat to go back and see a Shakespeare play in its original form. 

200. Dragons or wizards?

Dragons.

210. What is on my bucket list?

Mostly places I want to travel. I’d love to go to Japan. I want to go to tons of countries in Europe and the UK. I want to see Chichen Itza. I want to go on a cruise… I’d love to visit my friend in Taiwan. THERE ARE SO! MANY! PLACES!!! When will I get rich? HUH?

[gascon-en-exil]

The Not Really Definitive Ranking of the Zelda Series: #3

#11-19 (link to #11, with further links to each of the others)

#10 - Tri Force Heroes

#9 - The Wind Waker

#8 - The Minish Cap

#7 - A Link to the Past

#6 - Link’s Awakening

#5 - Ocarina of Time

#4 - Twilight Princess

#3 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

My greatest obstacle in putting together this ranking was laziness a long-standing personal prejudice about directly comparing the 2D and 3D Zelda games. I never felt comfortable making those judgments, because the 3D titles enjoy such an advantage when it comes to scope and presentation. When I began this project I therefore resolved to have at least one 2D game in the top 5, although this proved easier than initially expected once I established that Skyward Sword and The Wind Waker were never going to be top 5 material in my book. I mean, there’s only four other 3D games.

To think of A Link Between Worlds at #3 as a kind of pity ranking does the game an incredible disservice, however. As I see it, what Twilight Princess did for Ocarina of Time, LBW did for A Link to the Past but with even greater results. It turned what had become for me a nostalgic but rather tired SNES game into something fresh and new enough to where I could enjoy it on its own terms, while also hearkening back to my favorite memories of LttP. LBW lovingly recreates the Hyrule of its source material even as it adds a fair amount of new things to do and collect. Around half of that may be the one hundred Maimais, but at least the game helps you keep track of them much more easily than OoT’s Golden Skulltulas, TP’s Poe souls, or Breath of the Wild’s damnable Korok seeds. The world of LBW is essentially a more colorful and more active re-imagining of LttP’s, and I love every minute of it.

The dungeons too have all been touched up, such that they now all feel thematically distinct. You could complain that they’re unilaterally shorter than their LttP equivalents, but in my opinion that works in their favor. It facilitates the new item system and the almost completely nonlinear approach to dungeon exploration (particularly in Lorule), which anticipates BotW even down to that game’s brief dungeon segments. LBW arguably comes out as the better of the two in this regard for incorporating classic Zelda items, and by requiring a particular item to enter most of the dungeons the entire experience can be shaped around the use of that item (as opposed to the standard design in which an item is obtained around halfway through). Both overworld and dungeon exploration are further improved by the wall merging mechanic, which initially seems like a gimmick out of a Paper Mario game but rapidly becomes one of the most useful and cleverly-employed abilities of any in the series.

I haven’t even touched on this game’s plot. Unlike LttP’s basic narrative largely conveyed in text scrawls, LBW takes the time to give some development to all of its major players. This applies to the sages, whose screentime is just as limited as that of the Ocarina of Time set from whom they clearly draw their inspiration, but it applies even more to Lorule’s parallel trio of Triforce bearers. Yuga generally doesn’t come off quite as well in the effeminate villain department compared to Ghirahim, though he does manage what is apparently impossible elsewhere in the series and bends Ganon to his own will so kudos for that. Hilda is an unexpected hit as the tragic but manipulative true antagonist. It’s sort of a shame that you never get to fight her, but the throwback to the LttP Ganon fight you get instead more than makes up for it.

Ravio is the weak link (pun intended) of the three, though he’s still not a bad character. He’s just underutilized, consigned to renting Link his items for most of the game until he pops up after the final fight to talk Hilda out of going further off the deep end. In that brief moment there’s at long last a glimpse of what a relationship between Link and Zelda - or two people very much like them, at any rate - would look like if Link were allowed to talk. It’s not making me a shipper or anything, but it was a pretty significant moment. Ravio’s costume calling back to Link’s pink bunny form in LttP was also a cute touch, doubly so as Lorule actually explains why all of its non-monster inhabitants take on the faces of animals (even if here it’s not literal transformation). That this incidentally fed into a subtle marketing push for the 3DS remake of Majora’s Mask makes all this even more amusing.

LBW is fairly short, but it’s a tremendously fun game to replay. I’ve even completed the seriously challenging Hero Mode (quadruple damage taken!) once, and I usually shy away from hard modes. It’s actually become harder for me to motivate myself to revisit LttP ever since this game was released, because it delivers a perfectly polished version of the same general experience. LBW is the pick-up-and-play Zelda for me, easy to get into and engaging from start to finish. I may have resigned myself to never getting the giant cucco -

- but I can live with that.

(Mostly.)

Next time: the one everyone’s talking about right now finally comes up for review.