The Legend of Zelda Series

[Formalhaut]

Ugh, I can relate to your Persona 3 reference. The full-moon missions were pretty much there for the narrative; the boss battles were by and large incredibly easy.

[Bubba]

Top effort in completing Zelda 2. It's on my list but I don't think I'll be playing it for sheer enjoyment. It's way down on my list at the moment!

[Wolf Kanno]

Damn straight I'm reviving this thread! Mostly because I want to talk Zelda some more. I got into a serious mood for it the other day while I was clearing out some backlog entries and forgot I never finished Spirit Tracks. I also decided for fun to tackle the 2nd Quest in the original Zelda 1 cause I've never completed it. Finally, I recently acquired Wind Waker for myself and both of the Oracle Games.

So, while I'll likely be using this thread to detail my progress for the two entries I am playing (don't worry, I plan on starting Odin Sphere or Parasite Even for my Backlog thread for anyone who cares, these are mostly my handhelds) but feel free to discuss any Zelda related nonsense you want.

Update Time!

Spirit Tracks: You'd think that coming back to a game four years later would leave me a bit confused on what to do but, Zelda is pretty straightforward, especially the DS entries it seems. I finally tackled the Fire Temple which was also pretty easy peasy, though I really liked the boss fight. It was some giant golem that had various weak points you had to strike using the Bow acquired in the dungeon. What makes this fight interesting is that you use a rail car to travel around the boss room to reach these weak spot all over him. Added a bit more challenge since you needed to time the fight better. After that I tried my hand at the Spirit Tower and got stuck. I called it a night, saved, and quit. I totally forgot that the game will send you back to the start of a dungeon when you do that. So since I didn't quite feel like restarting the puzzle, I decided to tackle all of those sidequests I've been ignoring. They are cute, most require transporting people and supplies to various places without getting too banged up by enemy encounters. The rewards are almost always Gratitude Crystals, which add new tracks and locations to the over world map. These locations will then add smaller dungeons or mini-games to win more prominent rewards like Heart Containers or rare materials for building new train parts. The whip race is a bit a annoying, but I actually really liked the Pirate Base Rescue mission. I've tapped out most of these quests, so I'll be heading to the Spirit Temple soonish reach the end of the game. I have a sneaking suspicion that there is a fifth are to the game, because there is a region in the Ocean Area I can't reach and I've tapped all the sidequests in the region. Not to mention I have a slot for one more item...

Zelda 1: I am going to take back what I said about this game being easy with a guide on my Top 100 List. 2nd Quest throws that assessment out the door cause holy hell has this been a challenge. You almost need a guide just to make it less hair pulling in its frustration. New dungeon layouts and new locations for everything. Tougher enemies start showing up in droves by the third dungeon. Bosses are used as regular enemies. Items are placed in a different order from the dungeons, as well as new locations for the heart containers and sword upgrades. Dungeons start heavily using invisible pathways to get around. Oh, and there are some rooms where an Old Man will block your path unless you cough up either 50 Rupees or One Heart Container. Yes, these guys will permanently lower your health if you don't bring rupees. I now understand why the devs programmed it so that Dungeon NPCs will attack you if you attack them. Better to die and come back with the dough that take the life hit. My least favorite new element is the two new whisp enemies. The normal ones will temporarily prevent you from using your sword. The new ones are Red and Blue, with Red Ones permanently cursing you so you can't use your swords, while the blue ones uncurse you. Most of the time, you'll find them together, but things like Level 8 have a room where there is nothing but the Red Ones and you'll have to traverse several rooms before you encounter the blue ones. I have most certainly used a guide to make my way through this game, but its been pretty intense. I'm literally at the final dungeon, but you can bet your ass I'm making a beeline for the Red Ring Upgrade. It's been a blast though.

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[Lord Golbez]

Ugh, I can relate to your Persona 3 reference. The full-moon missions were pretty much there for the narrative; the boss battles were by and large incredibly easy.

Strangely, I had zero trouble with any of the full moon bosses the first time I played P3. However, on repeat plays I found I had some difficulty with the hotel bosses. Strange because usually I find bosses easier on a repeat play. It's possible this is due to leveling less to max social stats early for max social links though.

[Bubba]

Just popping in here to say that Breath of the Wild was massively overrated and Horizon Zero Dawn kicks its punk ass.

That is all.

[Fynn]

Breath of the Wild is a phenomenal work of art and anyone who says otherwise is a heathen that must repent or face judgement most severe.

[Wolf Kanno]

I have yet to play either, so I can't really make a judgement call, though between the two, I'm more interested in Breath of the Wild, but that's likely the fanboy in me talking.

[Lord Golbez]

Just popping in here to say that Breath of the Wild was massively overrated and Horizon Zero Dawn kicks its punk ass.

That is all.

I agree with this, although I'd spin it more as Horizon Zero Dawn is massively underrated. BotW is still one of the best games of its year and one of the best - if not the best - in the series. Zelda games in general are massively overrated though.

[Wolf Kanno]

Update time!

Zelda 1: Haven't touched.

Spirit Tracks: Still finishing up some quests. Got the upgraded bomb bag and I finally got the ridiculous time needed on the whip course top get the heart container. That leaves only the one Beedle has in his shop that requires me to spend 5000 Rupees (more like 3000) since it accumulates), the one from the Pirate Escape minigame that I'm waiting to complete once I get the Bow of Light since I read it doubles my point count, and one for a fifth region I'm pretty sure I'll find once I finish the Spirit Temple. I've collected a good chunk of the bunnies, but they've been a low priority at the moment. I think I have like almost half of them. I may try my hands on getting the second bomb upgrade, but that requires doing a bit of a boss rush minigame I'm not in the mood for at the moment. The quiver upgrades will also have to wait because the money I need to buy the first one is going towards Beedle to get the Gold Membership, while the other is another prize from the Pirate minigame I already mentions. I only need three more stamps to get the Spin Attack upgrade, but I thankfully got the reward from this quest I really wanted. Once you get 20/30 stamps for Nice, he gives you Link's Engineer outfit he wears in the beginning of the game. So now my Link is sporting a cooler outfit. #zeldafashion

I'm likely going to just finish the Spirit Temple and move forward. Ugh, I hope I don't have to redo everything when I get back. The Spirit Temple is much more challenging than the regular dungeons and I got stuck at a part I figured out too late required me to set up some Arro switches in a way where in order to hit the target switches I need, I have to place them both offscreen and hope my aim with the Bow flies true...

[WarZidane]

Breath of the Wild is a phenomenal work of art and anyone who says otherwise is a heathen that must repent or face judgement most severe.

Great art, sure, as a game it's not nearly as fun as other Zelda games though

I'm still kind of hoping that they port Wind Waker and Twilight Princess from Wii U over to Switch as a two-in-one bundle while we wait for Breath of the Wild 2. They brought over almost every other worthwhile Wii U game, why not those two as well

[Fynn]

I still hope my theory that BotW 2 takes place entirely in the Hyrule underground is true, because that would be such a unique spin and would give us a Zelda with the opposite focus to the previous games - that is the dungeons and puzzles, rather than the overworld and exploration. I'm also holding my fingers crossed that maybe Zelda is the protagonist this time, but I imagine that is even less likely.

And idk man, I don't remember having this much fun with a Zelda game for ages.

[Bubba]

I appreciate what BOTW did as an open world. Everything was interactive, literally EVERYTHING. I absolutely applaud that and I adored the art style. It looked kinda like they wanted Skyward Sword to look like. That was a bit too abstract for my liking.

There was just an awful lot of space and it got boring VERY quickly. Especially with a hundred-odd smurfing shrines to plod through. Nah, not for me.

Horizon Zero Dawn had more of a standard open world. The story though was one of the best I’ve ever experienced. The level of richness to the world (through beautiful nuggets you find... and the Vantage points) were up there with the Mass Effect universe.

Aloy was the true star though. I believe we’ve come a long way in a short time with gaming protagonists. There have been plenty of games that have gone with a ‘strong female lead’ character. Aloy was simply a strong lead character. Done perfectly... gender doesn’t even come into it.

[Lord Golbez]

Everyone is way too down on the shrines. I don't even see how you could like BotW without liking the shrines. The shrines are the best part of the game easily. Overworld exploration is fine and all but the shrines are the only thing that really gives that exploration much value. It would get boring quickly without the shrines, especially because combat is kind of meh and weapon durability is stupid.

I see people asking if there should be shrines in BotW2 like most think that would be a bad thing. My thought is it better have shrines or the equivalent thereof or it will surely be a much worse game than BotW. You need worthwhile places to find to motivate exploration of a vast open world. And garbage collectibles like korok nuts aren't going to cut it.

[Fynn]

The shrines were fantastic what the hell

[Wolf Kanno]

There are rumors that BotW 2 will be called Bond of the Triforce, and Zelda will be your partner character with the ability to manipulate the weather and environment for you.

I do hope that the HD remasters from the Wii U also get ported because, part of me does feel a Switch is in my future, but I would love to play the remasters of these two awesome Zelda games as well. I'm also hoping that the remake of Link's Awakening may mean Nintendo might try to remake the Oracle games someday.

Alright, Zelda question for you all:
Which Zelda game is the most overrated?
Which Zelda game is the most underrated?