When Zelda was a playground
I have played 3 Zelda games in my life: A link to the past, Wind waker and Twilight Princess. In that order. My favorite of all those games is "A link to the past".
Yeah I know, you may think that is because it was mt first zelda, but that's not the case..or maybe yes but lemme explain:
I just recently downloaded ALTTP for my Virtual Console (PS: The Virtual console rocks!!!!! :D) and you have no idea how I am enjoying it right now! I have forgot some stuff, secrets and places but remembering them is so fun. Of course I have to resort to a FAQ to find some items that I needed to move on but it didn't interfered with the gameplay at all.
The story is kinda lame but I dunno, I don't mind it at all. Just knowing where to go, walking around Hyrule using my new items and testing if I can do this or that, revisiting (and dying, god knows how many times D:) the dungeons is like getting out of your home and visiting a new place. You just don't want to finish the game. The music is encouraging (and a bit nostalgic for me) and the overview graphics are clean and charming.
Neither of those things I ever found in WW or TP.
Before you bash me and say that I see the world with Pink eyed glasses, lemme state that I do liked them. It had great production values, graphics, battle system and whatnot,, But playing the games were very EXCRUCIATING most of times!
In the case of WW, I HATED SAILING! A LOT! Just moving form an island to another was an annoying task to do. While in ALTTP it was fun to actually walk from one place to another, trying to get the right wind to move your stupid boat was something I hated it. Yes I know that you could use a song to move from one place to another, just like the duck in LTTP, but where's the fun in that? where is the amazement of actually going to such places and explore your surroundings? It may seem like a silly thing but keep in mind that you do that lke 90% of the game..yikes!
No wonder why when I finished that game I traded it for Mario Kart double dash...and damn that was the best decision I ever made.
TP wasn't that different. Yes it had no more sailing (woohoo!) but still going with your horse or walking from a place to another was as fun as walking to your workplace. Again you could use Mina but where is the fun of exploring your lands? I guess that the story was the worst. The GANNON DID IT twist was like a "WHAT THE HELL?!" moment that felt like made at the last moment. I never bought that ending to date. I loved the graphics and some of the dungeons. But the DARK WORLDS were just boring and depressing! while the Dark world in LTTP was fun, silly and creepy (in a good way), here was dull and sad. I kinda enjoyed TP more than WW (specially the music) and it had more fun moments but not that much. I still have it but I kept it because it was the last GC game than other thing. To date I don't have that desire to play it again.
Also in both WW and TP, The dungeons were insanely long and boring. Trying to get to one place was annoying and while in LTTP, finishing a dungeon was more of a "I DID IT! YAY!" sentiment, with them I get a "FINALLY! NOW LET'S GET THE F** OUT OF HERE AND NEVER COME BACK! PLEASE!".
I wonder why and I guess there's one reason:
In Link to the Past, playing Zelda was more like going to a play ground. You start in one place and then you can move and go wherever you want! And when you finish or completed something, you discover that there were more parts of that playground to explore! Using a FAQ was more like asking a tour guide. It was like being a kid anymore. There was always something to surprise you, and when you discovered how to advance a dungeon you could exclaim "of course! how I didn't thought about it before!".
With WW and TP, the games were trying to imitate a movie or they were trying VERY HARD to be "epic". The result was that you weren't playing in a playground. It was more like asking you to write and essay of a very long and boring fantasy novel (*cough*lordoftherings*cough*). It felt more like a boring jop to do. Using a FAQ made me feel like I was stupid (and who the hell wants to be feel like you are stupid?!). There were hardly new surprises and when you discovered what you were doing wrong in a dungeon, my sentiment was more like "and how on earth I was supposed to know that?!".
*sighs*
I wonder if zelda games could have the great graphics and sounds production values of the newer games while going back to the Playground feeling of yore..I have yet to play the original NES Zelda and Ocarina of time whom everybody says is the best zelda ever...it seems to simmilar to TP so I guess that I'll get the "good not great" feeling again...or maybe not I dunno.
Oh well...the new zelda wii will be a very quality game but I fear that it will keep in the "interactive movie" that many new games have now (gears of wars, halo, the stupid MGS4, heck even mario galaxy..although not that much but dammit the story was so corny). I should give a look to Phantom hourglass maybe.
*goes to play LTTP*
Yeah I know, you may think that is because it was mt first zelda, but that's not the case..or maybe yes but lemme explain:
I just recently downloaded ALTTP for my Virtual Console (PS: The Virtual console rocks!!!!! :D) and you have no idea how I am enjoying it right now! I have forgot some stuff, secrets and places but remembering them is so fun. Of course I have to resort to a FAQ to find some items that I needed to move on but it didn't interfered with the gameplay at all.
The story is kinda lame but I dunno, I don't mind it at all. Just knowing where to go, walking around Hyrule using my new items and testing if I can do this or that, revisiting (and dying, god knows how many times D:) the dungeons is like getting out of your home and visiting a new place. You just don't want to finish the game. The music is encouraging (and a bit nostalgic for me) and the overview graphics are clean and charming.
Neither of those things I ever found in WW or TP.
Before you bash me and say that I see the world with Pink eyed glasses, lemme state that I do liked them. It had great production values, graphics, battle system and whatnot,, But playing the games were very EXCRUCIATING most of times!
In the case of WW, I HATED SAILING! A LOT! Just moving form an island to another was an annoying task to do. While in ALTTP it was fun to actually walk from one place to another, trying to get the right wind to move your stupid boat was something I hated it. Yes I know that you could use a song to move from one place to another, just like the duck in LTTP, but where's the fun in that? where is the amazement of actually going to such places and explore your surroundings? It may seem like a silly thing but keep in mind that you do that lke 90% of the game..yikes!
No wonder why when I finished that game I traded it for Mario Kart double dash...and damn that was the best decision I ever made.
TP wasn't that different. Yes it had no more sailing (woohoo!) but still going with your horse or walking from a place to another was as fun as walking to your workplace. Again you could use Mina but where is the fun of exploring your lands? I guess that the story was the worst. The GANNON DID IT twist was like a "WHAT THE HELL?!" moment that felt like made at the last moment. I never bought that ending to date. I loved the graphics and some of the dungeons. But the DARK WORLDS were just boring and depressing! while the Dark world in LTTP was fun, silly and creepy (in a good way), here was dull and sad. I kinda enjoyed TP more than WW (specially the music) and it had more fun moments but not that much. I still have it but I kept it because it was the last GC game than other thing. To date I don't have that desire to play it again.
Also in both WW and TP, The dungeons were insanely long and boring. Trying to get to one place was annoying and while in LTTP, finishing a dungeon was more of a "I DID IT! YAY!" sentiment, with them I get a "FINALLY! NOW LET'S GET THE F** OUT OF HERE AND NEVER COME BACK! PLEASE!".
I wonder why and I guess there's one reason:
In Link to the Past, playing Zelda was more like going to a play ground. You start in one place and then you can move and go wherever you want! And when you finish or completed something, you discover that there were more parts of that playground to explore! Using a FAQ was more like asking a tour guide. It was like being a kid anymore. There was always something to surprise you, and when you discovered how to advance a dungeon you could exclaim "of course! how I didn't thought about it before!".
With WW and TP, the games were trying to imitate a movie or they were trying VERY HARD to be "epic". The result was that you weren't playing in a playground. It was more like asking you to write and essay of a very long and boring fantasy novel (*cough*lordoftherings*cough*). It felt more like a boring jop to do. Using a FAQ made me feel like I was stupid (and who the hell wants to be feel like you are stupid?!). There were hardly new surprises and when you discovered what you were doing wrong in a dungeon, my sentiment was more like "and how on earth I was supposed to know that?!".
*sighs*
I wonder if zelda games could have the great graphics and sounds production values of the newer games while going back to the Playground feeling of yore..I have yet to play the original NES Zelda and Ocarina of time whom everybody says is the best zelda ever...it seems to simmilar to TP so I guess that I'll get the "good not great" feeling again...or maybe not I dunno.
Oh well...the new zelda wii will be a very quality game but I fear that it will keep in the "interactive movie" that many new games have now (gears of wars, halo, the stupid MGS4, heck even mario galaxy..although not that much but dammit the story was so corny). I should give a look to Phantom hourglass maybe.
*goes to play LTTP*