The Shrine

Well, the world overall is certainly a LOT better than any of the previous Zelda games. As far as towns go though, this game, as I currently see it, has the least most interesting towns of the 3D games; Majora's Mask being #1, Wind Waker being #2, and Ocarina being #3. Though, I am not very far into the game yet, I finished off the first three real dungeons. Moving onto dungeons, these are quite well done, but not overly difficult, they are about the same difficulty as Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker, but not as difficult as Majora's Mask (I felt this one was on a slightly higher difficulty level); which means that most stuff requires thought, and sometimes some trial and error, but rarely will something comes along which stumps the player for very long. Boss battles are easily the best of the series, they are interesting like previous Zelda games, only there are a lot more of them. The events in this game, and the story in this game, the characters as well, are on a significantly greater level than previous games.

Gameplay elements are quite well done. In fact, using the Wiimote targeting system for the bow to take down a lot of enemies at once seems way too easy. I am quite impressed with how well this works. Everything just feels so much easier than it had been in previous Zelda games.

Things might change in time, it does seem that towns are evolving as time goes on. One of the towns began as a ghost town, and has been slowly getting more population; though this might be where it ends. I am not entirely sure just how far I am into the game; it seems quite far, but you never know what they'll throw at you.

Right now, I really like the game, but I liked Ocarina of Time better the first time I played it. Though this could easily change before the end. There is still a lot of the world I have yet to explore, it is HUGE like FF12. I actually love riding the horse around in this game, through the forrests and different locations, this is something that was relatively flat in Ocarina of Time.

One last thing, this game is dark, darker than Ocarina of Time. There are a lot of locations that can be described as creepy =P

if you have cleared 3 dungeons then you are about a third of the way through.

I just cleared the fourth real dungeon (The Arbiter's Temple); this was a really fun location. Gerudo Desert reminds me A LOT of Dalmasca =)

Yeah and the boss in that area was incredible I thought ^_^

One thing I forgot to comment on is the music. Despight it being synthesized, as opposed to orchestrated, it is fairly good. There are plenty of recognizable tunes from previous games but the newer tunes are the best the series has seen in its history.

yah, the music is badass for this ones. I downloaded a small 6 track soundtrack to listen to in the car

I guess one could argue that it wouldn't "feel like a Zelda game" with voice acting but I still think Nintendo should get with the damn times. Not having orchestrated music is almost unforgivable. Thankfully the music is, for the most part, really good. Some exceptions include the City in the Sky music (the oocoos aren't just ugly -looking-), and the twilight enemy fight music.

That out of the way, I beat the game last night. Although it was pretty easy (only died twice: once from being stupid and the other because I didn't know how to beat a boss), it's probably my favorite in the series even beating LttP's overwhelming nostalgic hold on me.

Nine indcredibly ugly village children out of ten!

I've died A LOT more than that, but in my defense, I played several locations while drunk (including the Fire Temple), 'twas the season!

The non-orchestrated music is not a huge thing for me, very few games actually use orchestrated music anyways. Aside from a few scattered songs in the FF series, FF8 is really the only one which uses a fully orchestrated soundtrack.

I guess we can assume the next Zelda will have it.

As for voices, not a big deal; I don't mind reading, but some games have better text displays than others, and Twilight Princess really got this right.

FMVs aside, FF8 was all MIDI.

I'm probably going to end up getting Zelda on GC. I want to play it on Wii, but I don't feel like spending $250 on a system right now. I've read around, and most people seem to agree that Zelda on GC is still great. Wii has better controls, but the game isn't ruined without them.

That, of course, is after I finish FF12, which might take another two months at this rate.

Kupek wrote:FMVs aside, FF8 was all MIDI.

I'm probably going to end up getting Zelda on GC. I want to play it on Wii, but I don't feel like spending $250 on a system right now. I've read around, and most people seem to agree that Zelda on GC is still great. Wii has better controls, but the game isn't ruined without them.

That, of course, is after I finish FF12, which might take another two months at this rate.

By then you should start seeing the used Wiis come around. Keep an eye out, if you can get Zelda (already seen a couple copies used) and the system with Wii Sports for the same or slightly less than the system new, may be worth it. But yeah, I can't imagine the game losing much on the GC. Slight better graphics and different (albiet better, IMO) controls won't change that game experience much.

I'm not going to fuck around with used hardware. Either I buy it used or I don't buy it at all.

Kupek wrote:FMVs aside, FF8 was all MIDI.

Really? They did an excellent job on it in my opinion.

As for following Zeus's sales predictions. Keep in mind that Xenosaga Episode 3 is still at its launch price =)

They did, actually. FFT is perhaps even more technically impressive in how well they were able to make the PS soundchip sound like it was a recorded orchestra. It's for that reason that it doesn't bother me that Zelda is still MIDI. I've heard plenty of excellent MIDI soundtracks.

Kupek wrote:I'm not going to fuck around with used hardware. Either I buy it used or I don't buy it at all.

? I was simply saying you should buy it used not screw around with it....

My PSX, GC, PS2, and Xbox were all used, so is my wife's DS Lite. I have NEVER had any issue with any used hardware that's out of the oridinary (track probs on the PSX is the only one so far) and have actually had more issues with new systems (NES breaking down, 360 is a piece of shit hardware) even if those were normal problems. Used is the way to go if you don't need it NOW. It's cheaper and you get the EXACT same product. Why pay more?

The Seeker wrote: As for following Zeus's sales predictions. Keep in mind that Xenosaga Episode 3 is still at its launch price =)

It is? I'll have to check that this weekend :-)

"fuck around with" = buy used

I just don't want to risk inheriting someone else's problem. If I do decide to buy one, I'm willing to pay 20% to not have to worry about that.

Me, too. I take care of my stuff, who knows what other people do to theirs. I buy new and baby the things for the life of them, which for all my systems has been even up until now.

Flip wrote:Me, too. I take care of my stuff, who knows what other people do to theirs. I buy new and baby the things for the life of them, which for all my systems has been even up until now.

I buy used games because it's fairly easy to tell whether a game is in good shape or not. A used system would make me nervous unless it came with a decent warranty.

It makes absolutely no sense to NOT buy used DS games. For everything else, I'm a little hesitant.

Kupek wrote:"fuck around with" = buy used

I just don't want to risk inheriting someone else's problem. If I do decide to buy one, I'm willing to pay 20% to not have to worry about that.

If you're willing to pay more, then coo. But what I'm trying to tell you is there's no reason at all to feel uneasy. At all....

it won game of the year over at gametrailers.com

I think it deserved it.

Lox wrote:

Flip wrote:Me, too. I take care of my stuff, who knows what other people do to theirs. I buy new and baby the things for the life of them, which for all my systems has been even up until now.

I buy used games because it's fairly easy to tell whether a game is in good shape or not. A used system would make me nervous unless it came with a decent warranty.

True. Used games do not bother me.

Alright, the Ice Temple is SO much fun; and very atmospheric as well (kind of like the Forest Temple from Ocarina of Time in that sense). I am really liking this game now, it just gets better and better. I quite enjoy how things have been shaken up in style with this temple. It maintains that atmospheric feel that the Forest Temple in Ocarina of Time had, but unlike the Forest Temple, the Ice Temple does not feel so much like a "traditional dungeon" so to speak; it is very well done.

How did you like the 4th dungeon boss?

I found the boss quite interesting and creative, very very action paced sequence =P

You don't really expect over the top arcade style bosses in Zelda games, or adventure games in general =P

What is an arcade style boss?

Flip wrote:What is an arcade style boss?

Action, timing, flash (all three combined) vs strategy or figuring things out. Generally arcade games are quick action one after the other, console games take their time a bit more 'cause they can.

"Arcade" is essentially a synonymn of "fast" when it comes to gaming. If an arcade game is slow, they don't suck enough coin out of ya :-)

I guess i can picture that. Contra's bosses had shit flying everywhere and switched gears every second to throw something new a you... same with games like Gradius.

Flip wrote:I guess i can picture that. Contra's bosses had shit flying everywhere and switched gears every second to throw something new a you... same with games like Gradius.

Right, whereas R-Type games were more methodical and required you to work your way through things.

It's the amazing games like Radiant or Ikaruga that had both.

Just finished the Temple of Time, so far this has to be the shortest and easiest of the dungeons yet. I think I made it through in about 2 hours tops, I was expecting it to be like the last couple of dungeons (which took me a long time). I got rich in there though, enough to pay off the construction of the Western Bridge to Hyrule opening up a trade route. Sky Temple is next, I'm excited =)

I HATE the Sky temple.

Oracle wrote:I HATE the Sky temple.

Now I am really looking forward to it.

the item you get in the temple makes it ALL worth it.... but it is a pretty lame dungeon.

Ummmmmmmm...... For people who have played Twilight Princess, does anything look wrong with this game trailer from a couple years ago?

http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php? ... mv&pl=game

The Seeker wrote:

Oracle wrote:I HATE the Sky temple.

Now I am really looking forward to it.

dont get me wrong, the dungeon is pretty and stuff, and plenty of places to explore. It just has one puzzle that I wasn't particularly fond of because it turned out to be quite obvious... 45 minutes later. Just a frustrating experience that ruined it for me :p

Oracle wrote:

The Seeker wrote:

Oracle wrote:I HATE the Sky temple.

Now I am really looking forward to it.

dont get me wrong, the dungeon is pretty and stuff, and plenty of places to explore. It just has one puzzle that I wasn't particularly fond of because it turned out to be quite obvious... 45 minutes later. Just a frustrating experience that ruined it for me :p

Heheh, I have already encountered a few of those. Mainly because I was lazy in thinking and didn't consider things until later... Like I'd be walking down the street thinking of the game and then "Oh! Yeah, that's obvious!" =)

Well, I have been playing the game for the past three months now, so I don't quite recall what my favourite portions of the game are anymore. I have to get all these letters for that ancient book, I probably won't be able to get around to finishing that portion of the game for a few weeks.

That part is actually really fast, all the letters are marked on the map.

I have noticed that the Wii version of the game has exceeded 3 million in sales; not bad for a system that only launched 4 months ago. I wonder if this might not only turn out to beat Ocarina of Time? This might be the fastest selling launch title in history. Including the Gamecube sales (1.3 million) this game is probably at nearly 4.5 million which makes it the #3 best selling Zelda game of all time.