When I was a kid, I loved the original Zelda and Zelda II (even thought I couldn't beat it). They really captured the spirit of adventure and exploration for me. I never really played through SNES Zelda, but I appreciated it and always planned to play through it at some point. The closest I've been so far is like 85% complete. Got N64 Zelda and ate it up... barreled my way through it. By this time I was in college, and I even skipped classes until I finished it. After beating that first N64 Zelda, my love for the series has slowly drained. Maybe it was the decidedly unclimactic, total let down of an ending Oot had... Gannon was so easy to beat, and the game ended so quickly after that I relayed the last part several times because I was sure I had missed something and gotten a "bad" ending. Majora's Mask I put down after 30 minutes of play. I felt insulted that Nintendo thought I would enjoy repeating the same tasks over and over again within a narrow time limit. I think I literally said "what is this shit?" Twilight Princess I started while deployed in Iraq. I got up to rescuing the Zoras when someone accidentally erased my game, and I never felt the need to play it again. Hated the Wii controls. (I don't need to pretend to swing a sword in my living room. I'm not 4.) Now I've embarked on Twilight Princess for the Game Cube. I'm just a little farther than I was before. I just freed the castle area and began to learn my third special skill, when I realized that I didn't give a shit about it. Not because varied attacks aren't cool... they are. But I realized I didn't care because Zelda doesn't have a combat system built around skill. It's built around mindlessly whacking a button until everyone's dead. There are no epic sword battles. There's no great enemy AI that you have to outsmart, where you'd say "Thank God I learned Skill #14, or I'd be shit out of luck!" No, they put that stuff in to make it seem like the battle system is something special. It's the same with the side quests. They're there to fill space and waste time. They add nothing to the story. Nintendo wants to lengthen the playing experience so they throw in crap, just like adding soy to meat; Zelda has become one big Nintendo hotdog. That's my thoughts. What are yours?
I like what you said about the combat system not being very deep but would what would be a good way to remedy that? It may be cool if Zelda returned to 2D for the fights only. Or how about a way to level up the weapons to give it a more RPG-like battle system?
Personally, although I can recognise the fact that Zelda is a ground breaking game, I personally can't stand it, was much more a Wonderboy Monster Land / World person.
You should play the GameBoy and GameBoy Color Zelda games if you want something you will enjoy. Atleast the first GB game. I think the two GBC games are supposed to be pretty good.
Well, I really thought it was easy for a reason, I mean, for "kids"? No? That does not diminish my enjoyment, though.
I think I've pretty much given up on the Zelda series now ... which is sad, because I played the hell out of the NES, SNES, and GB ones. It seems to me that they are still riding on the success of the older games without any improvement on the experience. They're just more run-of-the-mill action adventure games these days oh well, that seems to be the case with a lot of series; no reason to expect more from the new games just because they have the word Zelda slapped on and some fairies thrown in or whatever.
I've only ever played OoT very much and never to completion. Last time I got through the game until the water temple and my asshole of a brother finished it from there without asking. Played quite a bit of MM, some Phantom Hourglass but that has been it. Have mild interest in all of them but I never could really navigate the 2D games well.
I think another way they've cheapened the series is with the introduction of heart container shards. You have to find five of them to get a new heart container, therefore there are more things to look for, therefor the game is longer. This pretty much sums it up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbUqEPUZ-ds
i think the second games was the one i liked the most followed by the snes one. and i guess i'm the only one in the world
You should really give Majora's Mask another chance. Once you get used to the whole three day time thing, it's really a great game. You didn't mention Wind Waker...now that is a boring game. It has it's moments, and graphics are great, but the sailing slows the game so much to the point where it feels like a chore to play it.
I liked wind walker graphically. But yeah, the sailing... I stopped playing it because of the sailing. I am, however, giving it another chance after I'm done with Twilight Princess. I'm at the point now in TP that it's not fun, so I don't know if I'll actually finish it or just... throw it to the wolves. Won't be revisiting anything on the 64. Ugly, Ugly, Ugly.
i considered the final battle the best part of TP. the only part that had a speciale feeling, athmosphere.
The Zelda games have always left me cold. I've tried them all from the SNES onward with the exception of the handheld versions and I've done my absolute damnedest to like them but well, they're all just so deathly dull. Friends have raved about them and told me repeatedly to give them another chance but just how long are you meant to play something that's just not fun? The Metroid series has exactly the same effect on me, they all just bore me to tears.
I would agree on the point of Windwaker's boring exploration system; it remains the only Zelda game i didn't complete. I do not agree on Twilight Princess being a 'empty', mediocre game, i think it's the most atmospheric and innovative title since A Link To The Past. It's also the first Zelda-title that made me want to spend more than 60+ hours with it. As for the Sword-combat-system, that was always limited in the Zelda games. Twilight Princess may lack epic Sword-fights, but it does contain epic battles, namely the boss ones. Especially that gigantic Skeleton and that bird at Sky Palace. The secondary items were the ones that made the games interesting; the Hookshot, Double Clawshot, Gale Boomerang, that Zelda III mirror, Titan Gloves, even Bombs...These items are in my opinion, the main 'stars' in the Zelda games. Attaining one of these items makes the gamer becoming more interested in exploring what was unreachable before (Back-tracking, like Metroid).
There was no good Zelda after 1993. I loved Zelda 2 - it was a positive step forward for the series. Link's awakening is a work of art and love, which I am currently revisiting. And Link to the Past is an absolutely perfect game - it's a masterpiece among games. Ocarina of time, I found bland and rather overrated, even when it was new.
Well. Perhaps you was playing something more "advanced" just before trying the N64 games. That's quite common. People play a game and when play an older game think that it's ugly. I think Majora's Mask is smooth and beautiful. And it's graphically superior than a lot of early PS2 games. It's very beautiful, really. I can't stand 2D Zelda games. The GBC ones are cool, but the SNES one can be called ugly. Ugly and full of flaws, IMO. The collision detection and the sound are not very good.
No, I played N64 from day 1. Paid $700 to get the console and a copy of Mario 64 the day after the Japanese launch. It just has not aged well at all. Not at all. But then, it's difficult for me to play PS1 driving games as well.
I loved Wind Waker, even though it has dead spots. I like cell shading, and other than sailing all over the place I liked it. It was also the first thing I played after an 8-month straight PSO circle jerk, so that might have had something to do with it.
I've never finished a Zelda game. I have A Link to the Past. I spent a lot of time messing around in OoT. I played the original numerous times growing up. One of these days...
