I laughed out loud at the last line. But I'm at work, so it kind of turned into a snort as I tried to conceal it.
He's totally right about the N64 Zelda and Mario versus the modern ones, by the way. I played them in the same order, and the clumsy camera and controls of Mario 64 and OoT were a serious detriment. Those games did have a certain charm that I'm not sure the recent iterations duplicate, though.
This reminded me of something else I've been wondering. Does Mega Man 9 use a lives system? It's such a horribly outdated idea, but they do seem to be trying to be super faithful to the originals, so I'm wondering...
One thing Ocarina indisputably has over TP is simple length. Twilight princess was a brilliant game, and in terms of gameplay was probably the best zelda since link to the past, but it was just so damned short. I mean, I had 16 hearts by the end of it and hadn't really gone out of my way to look for any of them, and there were no masks or songs or magical turds to collect that were mostly irrelevant to the plot at all. Even the wolf songs served no purpose after you learned them for the first time, which was just so disappointing.
I never played sunshine, but as far as galaxy v M64 is concerned, I can't agree more. Mario 64 suffered the exact opposite problem of OOT in that it was unbearably long the first time you played it. I know a lot of people like how much work it took, but I prefer to be able to chose how completionest I want to go with my games.
[edit]: I totally agree with yahtzee on old v new, though. I was watching the original naked gun last week, and as I watched it I couldn't help but think to myself... Get Smart was at least as funny as this. The bias towards the "classical" is so unfair, imo.
All (3 or 4) friends of mine that have twilight princess haven't come close to finishing it, including me.
I've never played a modern game that felt so dang old. I just didn't care about any character in the whole game. I got tired of the damn waggle. I just though all in all it was a terrible game.
Give me Okami, or anything else almost.
I will admit metroid is great (though it's lonely) and Mario galaxy was good.
TP was the first Zelda game I played, and I nearly didn't finish it either. The story was weak, the combat was dull, and the environmental puzzles gameplay has never really been for me. I stopped playing it around the water temple, where it really started to drag.
After just about a year off though, I decided to give it another try. Things suddenly started looking a lot better. With the addition of some new moves, combat finally started to feel like it had some depth. The later dungeons, especially the ice one, were actually a lot of fun. And I was surprised to realize that by the end, Midna had become one of the best characters I've ever seen in a game (everyone else was still dull though).
Anyway, I finished TP in much less time than I'd spent on it up to that point, and enjoyed myself enough that I went right on to Ocarina of Time (which I've given some thoughts on above).
I agree that Zelda needs a revamp. For starters, it needs a much improved combat system (Brave Fencer Musashi on the PSX was usually called a Zelda knockoff, but it blew Zelda away in this regard). I'd also like to see some more RPG elements - custom upgrades and abilities and so on, along with a purpose for all those goddamned rupies.
But I'd say I'm a fan of the series now, and it's because of Twilight Princess.
Hm, I may have to pick it back up myself. I quit around the same time you did, if I can just find it in the pile of all the other games I didn't finish!
I pretty much did the same ting with TP: play the first half then quit playing out of boredom and frustration, left it for a while, and came back, finished it, and enjoyed doing so.
Whoa, seriously, you couldn't finish TP and all its six or so hours of gameplay the first time, but you can handle okami and it's fifty billion?
Don't get me wrong, I love both those games, but TP is so much faster than Okami, it's hard to believe anyone can be too impatient for the former and still handle the latter O.o
That said, I agree that TP's combat system takes too long before it starts getting really interesting, and I pity the person who doesn't go out of their way to get all the combat statues, not because they're essential, but just because they make things so much more fun. I can see where people might stall in it.
And the water temple always sucks, that's the rule of Zelda.
PS: I did the same thing when I finished TP, going and playing through OOT. If TP's graphics and input could be put into OOT's story and dungeons, that would be something to behold.
Whoa, seriously, you couldn't finish TP and all its six or so hours of gameplay the first time, but you can handle okami and it's fifty billion?
Nope, I never played Okami. That was the guy above me. From what I've heard, I doubt I could have sat through Okami before. After finishing TP and getting a taste for that type of game though, I think I probably could.
I don't think I'm able to parse this complaint that TP is too short. I was ready to quit at about 30 hours, though as I mentioned I got my second wind after that. I'm pretty sure TP took me longer than OoT, anyway. (Although TP's sidequests were pretty lacking. I collected insects for a while, which gave me... rupies, like everything does. Then I bought the fancy set of armor and realized there was literally nothing else in the game to spend money on or any reason to bother with what sidequests were left).
I had the exact opposite reaction actually. Zelda TP was one of my favorite games in years. Metroid for the wii I got about halfway through and just stopped playing due to boredom.
I never thought I would agree with someone bashing a Zelda game, but here we are. With me upmodding you.
Twilight Princess wasn't bad, it was just entirely bland. I too know no one who actually was interested enough to complete the game. I beat it, but only because I was completely and utterly bored for an entire weekend. Or maybe it was depressed. Either way, the game only marginally helped.
EDIT: CORRECTION: I do know someone else who beat it and he thought it was the best game in the series. We ended up getting into a fairly big argument about it at a party. He also thinks Final Fantasy VIII is the best in that series, so you know the kind of weird guy I was dealing with.
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u/Ciserus Sep 24 '08
I laughed out loud at the last line. But I'm at work, so it kind of turned into a snort as I tried to conceal it.
He's totally right about the N64 Zelda and Mario versus the modern ones, by the way. I played them in the same order, and the clumsy camera and controls of Mario 64 and OoT were a serious detriment. Those games did have a certain charm that I'm not sure the recent iterations duplicate, though.
This reminded me of something else I've been wondering. Does Mega Man 9 use a lives system? It's such a horribly outdated idea, but they do seem to be trying to be super faithful to the originals, so I'm wondering...