So, uh, I beat Twilight Princess for the GameCube

[Kupek]

Protip: taking a year to play through a game sours the experience a little. A bit over 40 hours playtime in total.

Some of the dungeons were surprisingly fun and clever, but there was something about it most of the time that didn't click for me. Overall, I enjoyed Wind Waker much more.

I never thought I'd tire of Zelda, but I guess I have. To Twilight Princess' credit, it had some neat innovations (in terms of usable items and dungeon mechanics), but sometimes I just felt like I was going through the motions.

[Andrew, Killer Bee]

I still haven't beaten it, for pretty much the reasons you describe. The whole game was just going through the motions. If the series is to continue, and to actually matter to gamers, it needs a reboot.

[SineSwiper]

What? You can't beat a dead horse and expect it to twitch a little? Odd that the best games I've played seem to be new IP.

Metroid still strikes me a being a good series, but you can only do that "oh shit, I lost all of my weapons" bit so many times.

[Julius Seeker]

Protip: taking a year to play through a game sours the experience a little. A bit over 40 hours playtime in total.

Some of the dungeons were surprisingly fun and clever, but there was something about it most of the time that didn't click for me. Overall, I enjoyed Wind Waker much more.

I never thought I'd tire of Zelda, but I guess I have. To Twilight Princess' credit, it had some neat innovations (in terms of usable items and dungeon mechanics), but sometimes I just felt like I was going through the motions.

Twilight Princess was missing a lot that the other three Zelda titles had. First of all, the art design was fairly boring, too much brown and grey. Second, the towns were the least interesting of the four 3d games. There were some areas where it was better; the controls and gameplay mechanisms surrounding Link were a lot better than the previous ones; just the setting he was placed into was not the same, it was bland compared to the other three titles.

Wind Waker I did like better, but I still like Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask the best of the entire franchise. I just recently replayed them both (well, in the past 3 years).

[Kupek]

Metroid still strikes me a being a good series, but you can only do that "oh shit, I lost all of my weapons" bit so many times.

Metroid Prime was amazing. Metroid Prime 2 was... eh. I tried, but it was more of the same, except I could never tell where I was. Metroid Prime 3 didn't get my interest.

Refining a formula gets diminishing returns. That applies to both Zelda and Metroid.

[Zeus]

Metroid still strikes me a being a good series, but you can only do that "oh shit, I lost all of my weapons" bit so many times.

Metroid Prime was amazing. Metroid Prime 2 was... eh. I tried, but it was more of the same, except I could never tell where I was. Metroid Prime 3 didn't get my interest.

Refining a formula gets diminishing returns. That applies to both Zelda and Metroid.

It's true that refining a formula gets diminishing returns, but if you're returns are great the first time and you get great plus a little good the second time (instead of great plus great), the game's still great. That's where I thought MP2 was actually better than MP1. MP1 was fresh, the first big FPAdventure game I played. The second was the some with some tweaks that, IMO, enhanced the game. But then again, I'm a Mega Man fan.

And I think that's an important distinction with some gamers. Some want fresh and new every time, others like same-old maybe with minor tweaks. It's what I've refered to as evolutionary vs revolutionary gaming over the past few years. People who like Madden, a lot of Capcom games, Soul Calibur, or just sequels in general tend to be evolutionary fans who like the revolutionary ones but don't mind playing more of the same.

It's tough to expect revolutionary all the time, you tend to miss out on very good takes on existing gameplay types/mechanics if you do that. The majority of games by nature have to be evolutionary.

Now, please don't take this as "you didn't like MP2 and I did, thus you don't like evolutionary games", it's just an observation.

[Julius Seeker]

The thing about Twilight Princess is not really in the formula, but more in the design. There are a lot of portions of the game that are very boring; the game is also less rewarding for a lot more gameplay than previous Zelda's.

[SineSwiper]

MP2 was still a really good game. The Light/Dark aspects added enough to the gameplay to still capture my interest.

Trying to get my Dad to play MP3, and eventually when I get the Wii back, I'll try it out.

[Zeus]

MP2 was still a really good game. The Light/Dark aspects added enough to the gameplay to still capture my interest.

Trying to get my Dad to play MP3, and eventually when I get the Wii back, I'll try it out.

I thought the Light/Dark took that great MP gameplay and added enough of a twist to make it even better. When you first got to the dark world, it was quite uncomfortable to be there. You had to activate the shields and run from one to the other and fight enemies and bosses while keeping them up. If you forgot you saw your energy, without the aid of a lot of tanks, go down FAST. And I think that the way they incorporated it into the gameplay was great.

I only got an hour into the third one, not enough to see what it's really about. I've heard nothing but good about it though.

[bovine]

MP2 was still a really good game. The Light/Dark aspects added enough to the gameplay to still capture my interest.

Trying to get my Dad to play MP3, and eventually when I get the Wii back, I'll try it out.

I thought the Light/Dark took that great MP gameplay and added enough of a twist to make it even better. When you first got to the dark world, it was quite uncomfortable to be there. You had to activate the shields and run from one to the other and fight enemies and bosses while keeping them up. If you forgot you saw your energy, without the aid of a lot of tanks, go down FAST. And I think that the way they incorporated it into the gameplay was great.

I only got an hour into the third one, not enough to see what it's really about. I've heard nothing but good about it though.

I found MP2 to be really challenging when you first hit the dark world. MP3 is fun, but they sort of hammed it up with a cast of characters that talk and give out missions. It plays like metroid, but it doesn't feel like it.

[Julius Seeker]

I don't think that the Twilight Princess issue is due to a re-used formula. I did feel there was a very notable decline to Twilight Princess from the previous games. If the interface and item capabilities from Twilight Princess was thrown into Majora's Mask (for example), and graphics updated to have as many polygons, then Majora's Mask would clearly be the better game. Wind Waker is a different story as it was an art decision to make the game look as it did.

I can't really comment on Metroid as I am not a fan of the series.

[SineSwiper]

I can't really comment on Metroid as I am not a fan of the series.

Get out!

[Julius Seeker]

I can't really comment on Metroid as I am not a fan of the series.

Get out!

This is funny coming from you.

[SineSwiper]

Likewise with you not being a fan of the series.

[Julius Seeker]

Likewise with you not being a fan of the series.

I've never really been a fan of running through dark desolate environments shooting aliens. So it surtprises you that I am not a fan of Metroid?

On the other hand, most of your posts here are about how much you hate Nintendo.

[Blotus]

I'm on record as not being a fan of Metroid. I've played several of the games, but none grabbed me. Ironic, since I love SotN (and DoS) and don't really care for Super Metroid. Like Seeker, it probably has to do with the art design and concept of the games that keeps me from enjoying them.


I'm also on record as a huge supporter of Twilight Princess. Probably second on my list of Zelda favorites between LttP and OoT. I've still yet to play it again, but it's very infrequent that I play a game more than once nowadays.

[Julius Seeker]

Yeah, some people seem to love it; even consider it to be by far the best. I think it might be that Twilight Princess is just not as universally appealing as previous Zelda titles; there are also a lot of people who didn't like it.

Castlevania is just an excellently done series, though I will admit I prefer the classics over the new formula series. When I was younger, though, I would always pretend the second game was Faxanadu rather than Simon's Quest =P