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"Why Wind Waker kicks most other games ass"

Started replaying Wind Waker again recently (last time I played was exactly two years to the day. Fate? :'-O)

Just reminded me how fantastic it is. This happened to me with Mario Sunshine; at the time I didn't really appreciate how excellent it was, then I restarted it and it was just so much better than I remembered. After such a slow and monotonous end to Wind Waker (even though collecting Triforce pieces was such a *yawn* challenge), I kinda made my mind up that it was good, but not that good.

Playing it though... bar one or two games (Metroid Prime, Resident Evil), nothing has come close to it since. Okay, the sailing was annoying, and Tingle was a bit of a money-grabbing ass, but the sense or scale was immense; seeing different islands from miles off and slowly turning into huge worlds. It just feels so much bigger than any other Zelda I've played before. And if feels as if things really progress, some days rain will hail down on your boat, lightning will strike, on when it sunny seagulls will follow you as you try to knock them out of sky by hitting them with your sail.

Then there's fact just how much you can do. You'll be needing to rush to a certain area and get sidetracked for half an hour on so on some small island. I spend around half on hour on the letter sorting game alone.

I think in five years time, once people have stopped being red-faced about some branch snapping in an unconvincing manner, they'll see the direction change as a great one.

Although still no Majora's Mask.

Alfonse wrote:

> Actually you're right. i have finished all those games and they are
> rather different.

Remember, before you start typing:

MUST. ENGAGE. BRAIN.

Hopefully these incidents will be reduced in the future.

Dringo wrote:
> Alfonse wrote:
>
> Look at how identical Zelda is to it's other games heres the main
> story. Woman gets lost. Hero attempts to save woman. Hero has to go
> through a number of identical dungeons to an identical ending.
> Whoop-dee-doo.
>
> Have you played the Oracle series then? Or link's awakening? Or
> Majora's Mask? or Minish Cap? Or Four Swords?
>
> Now there's a shocker.

Actually you're right. i have finished all those games and they are rather different.

What was rushed about it? It felt perfectly paced from start to finish. The final boss battle was easy, but not rushed by any means. Besides, I didn't really feel up to a massive challenge after I had just slayed the much tougher Puppet Ganon.

It was supposed too.

It's like they spent ages working on the first bits and then at the end suddenly rushed to finish.
The ending should have been a lot better than it was. Plus it left on a cliffhanger, which means the Twilight Princess should follow on from it?

I disagree that Wind Waker felt "rushed". It did towards the end of the game, but to start with it certainly did not.

And the combat system was so far improved from previous Zelda games that I might even say it is the best Zelda game.

Alfonse wrote:

> Look at how identical Zelda is to it's other games heres the main
> story. Woman gets lost. Hero attempts to save woman. Hero has to go
> through a number of identical dungeons to an identical ending.
> Whoop-dee-doo.

Have you played the Oracle series then? Or link's awakening? Or Majora's Mask? or Minish Cap? Or Four Swords?

Now there's a shocker.

Edgy wrote:
> I can't remember the ending to Wind Waker, other than thinking,
> "Surely that can't be it" for the final battle. Was easier
> than some of the earlier battles...

:?

The final boss must surely go down as one of the best boss battles ever. The swordfighting was insane.

Looking back on Wind Waker now, the graphics are still fabulous, and I think they'll only become more appreciated as time goes on. For me the game was let down by the dungeons - there were only four proper Zelda style dungeons, and compared to the complex and intricate masterpieces found in Ocarina of Time/Link to the Past/Link's Awakening they were a real let-down. Despite being probably the most playable Zelda (in terms of controllability/combat) it's also possibly the weakest firstparty Zelda since the NES games.

EDIT: This came across as too negative: it's still one of the best games on the GC, I agree with that conclusion.

Edgy wrote:
> He probably played Ocarina of Time then Master Quest...

:D

I can't remember the ending to Wind Waker, other than thinking, "Surely that can't be it" for the final battle. Was easier than some of the earlier battles...