Track this topic | Email this topic | Print this topic

So over in that thread where everybody usually just blurts out what they're currently playing, I mentioned my little dream of finishing every main series Zelda game. Neal suggested I make a thread about it, and that's all the excuse I need baby! Prepare for a deluge of LoZ nerd tears.

As it stands, I'm not that far off my goal of playing them all, I suppose I should go into detail about each game, possibly rank them all. For now however I'll just mention those I won't be playing.

-The Phillips CDi titles: It didn't happen. No one knows what they are. Nintendo says they aren't cannon. What's not cannon? huh? what are we talking about?

-Four Swords/Four Swords Adventure: Can't play this as I have no friends...

-Link's Crossbow Training: Shut up.

-BS Zelda: I'm undecided on whether to play these, as they're kinda rooted in the time they were broadcast. However, there are working roms.

-Ocarina of Time 3DS: Don't have the system, and played OoT enough times for several lifetimes.

-Anything that comes out on a new system, because I'm probably never getting a 3DS or Wii U.

As for the games I've finished?
A Link To the Past (snes).
Link's Awakening, Oracle of Ages & Seasons (Gameboy colour)
Ocarina of Time and Master Quest, Majora's Mask (N64).
The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess (Gamecube)
The Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks (DS)
Skyward Sword (Wii)

I think that leaves us with just the original two NES games and Minish Cap for the Gameboy Advance, the first two are definately the hardest games.. eep! I want to do a Hero Mode playthrough of Skyward Sword aswell.

Any suggestions as for what else i should include in this thread? Anyone on CoN played more of this series than me?


This post has been edited by Blinge Odonata on 22nd July 2013 19:41

--------------------

www.youtube.com/blinje
The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens

Four Swords Adventures can be played single player with no problem. Not recommending it at all, but if you are that committed...

--------------------

I fear my heart and fear my soul
Life goes on, it surely will,
Without me and I wonder:
Will I ever see light again?

Life goes on...

Do not forget Link's Awakening; for the Gameboy, I believe.

Quote (RavenLalonde @ 22nd July 2013 15:39)

Do not forget Link's Awakening; for the Gameboy, I believe.

Blinge has it in his list right by the Oracle duo. Could be playing the GBC DX version.

I've only beaten (mental count) eight Zelda games. That's a hell of a gaming quest you have there. And Sherick's right - you can play the Four Swords games alone, but they aren't as fun. I did it for the GBA LttP/Four Swords GBA cart.

If you want another challenge at the level of the first two games, beat Four Swords and A Link to the Past on the same GBA cart, then challenge the Palace of the Four Sword on the east side of the pyramid. That's the hardest Zelda dungeon of the past twenty years. I couldn't beat it, then gave the game to a friend. Regrettably.

--------------------

this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

Quote (laszlow @ 22nd July 2013 21:43)

Quote (RavenLalonde @ 22nd July 2013 15:39)

Do not forget Link's Awakening; for the Gameboy, I believe.

Blinge has it in his list right by the Oracle duo. Could be playing the GBC DX version.

Oh, bloops, you are right, I missed that. Never mind.

I applaud you in your undertaking. Being a member of the "finished em all" club, I can say that they're all worth playing except the CDi games.

I only recently found out that the GBA version of LTTP has a new dungeon, regrettably right after finishing a challenge playthrough of only getting the Master Sword and never using the Y button unless it was required to finish a puzzle. And really, I don't feel like playing through the GBA port since they added Link's OOT voice to it.

--------------------

Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

Quote (laszlow @ 22nd July 2013 21:43)

If you want another challenge at the level of the first two games, beat Four Swords and A Link to the Past on the same GBA cart, then challenge the Palace of the Four Sword on the east side of the pyramid.  That's the hardest Zelda dungeon of the past twenty years.  I couldn't beat it, then gave the game to a friend.  Regrettably.

Oh man, I wouldn't have gone for this before, but now I've made a thread I suppose i should commit. Yeah, I'll get round to it, perhaps after minish cap and the first game.

Unfortunately I've remembered my completion of ALTTP was on the GBA version, so yes Neal, that horrible voice clip will be burned into my brain once more.. It didn't bother me years ago but it sure will now =/

Awesome Chell, which was your favourite? and how did you get good enough to finish Adventure of Link?

If you guize will indulge me, I'd like to do a retrospective of this often awesome, often average, series in the order that I played them.

I got Ocarina of Time for xmas when I was 9. It was probably one of the most awesome games I'd ever played at that point, and for the next 10 years I preferred to start any new fantasy or adventure game first thing in the morning, where possible, to recreate the magic of that christmas morning. As for the gameplay? I think the few chances I got to play that day I couldn't find the Kokiri Sword and was just messing around in the village. I restarted a few times in the early days and I can't remember why, maybe I hadn't figured out how to save, on account of being nine. The save file that actually saw me get to the Deku Tree and into the wider world was called "Mil" I can't remember the reason for that either, but it stuck.. at least until my sister deleted all my saves after an argument years later ¬_¬. Maybe if i'd kept using it, it could've been my internet moniker.

Honestly, what introduction does Ocarina need? In a time in which many games made the transition to 3D and not all of them very well, OoT was just so groundbreaking. So much that many consider it to be the best in the series, I think Edge magazine rated it first out of their 200 best games (please, let's not debate that particular claim here).

I remember talking to an older kid at school who had it, when i was on the second dungeon or so, thinking there were only 3 "levels," and this kid saying "yeah, I'm on the water temple." O_0 This idea of a water temple had my imagination going for the couple of months it took me to get there. I've always been proud of how I beat the game before my 10th birthday while some full grown adults can't do it today.. Although a kid has a lot more patience to just sit there trying every conceivable approach to a problem, however illogical, until they get it.
I must've finished the game about 8 times now, got the 100%, did a no deaths run (which isn't hard). I've also finished the game after never getting a health up, so just having 3 hearts, and using no recovery items. I tried beating it in one sitting while my friend was doing Majora's Mask in the same room, but we started too late and I fell asleep with controller in hand during the Spirit Temple and had to finish the following day

I think it's safe to say, it has a special place in my heart. I apologise if that was a little long winded!

tldr; Blinge played Ocarina a hell of a lot, but it's still not his favourite Zelda..

--------------------

www.youtube.com/blinje
The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens

Quote (Blinge Odonata @ 23rd July 2013 11:35)

I've also finished the game after never getting a health up, so just having 3 hearts, and using no recovery items.

This sounds like fun. I think I could do it, I know the game pretty well...trying to think of what would give me the most trouble. Phantom Ganon might be awful just because it's easy to guess wrong on his portraits.

--------------------

Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

If I remember correctly, if you guess wrong on Phantom Ganon, you can hit the other portrait if you're quick enough, though it is a bit difficult with that sensitive first person aiming.

I'll continue my indulgent retrospective, don't hesitate to throw some constructive criticism my way, or whatever lets me gauge how interested people are in this thread.

My childhood neighbour had Link's Awakening on GameBoy around the time I played OoT.. eventually I thought "It's Zelda on gameboy, I must have this!" Laszlow was right, I got the DX GameBoy Color version with the added color themed dungeon and all those photo opportunities, that I believe you could print off using a gameboy printer??

Such an impressive game, considering it was released for the gameboy! The combat, the puzzles, the sheer scale of it. It's been so many years since I played that I don't remember it very well, but I do remember it being rather challenging, and how you could be wandering around unsure of what to do next for quite a while - which you could say is the hallmark of an older Zelda game.

Some cooler moments were the epic trading sidequest that only seems to happen in the gameboy entries, those were cool! The biggoron sword trading quest in OoT is very shallow in comparison. Also at some point Link speaks to a ghost who follows him around every screen until you take him to his old house, and finally to his grave, whereupon he thanks you and peacefully departs the world. That scene affected me deeply as a child.

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Oh God, then there's the part in the Face Shrine in which Link discovers that Koholint Island is merely a dream he's sharing with the Windfish, and that when he wakes the Windfish (and himself) up, the place and islanders will cease to exist. Forgive me if my memories are corrupted

I think the next game in my quest will be Minish Cap.

--------------------

www.youtube.com/blinje
The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens

Picking a favorite Zelda is very, very difficult. So I've got two categories: 2D and 3D.

My favorite 2D Zelda, hands-down, is A Link to the Past. Though it has some flaws (some Dark World dungeons suck, like Skull Woods), it's still an excellent challenge. My favorite 3D Zelda has taken some thought, but I'd have to say Twilight Princess (GCN). Everything about it improves upon Ocarina of Time. The swordplay is smoother (you can swing and move at the same time), the Lakebed Temple isn't as bad as the Water Temple, Hyrule Field feels like a world and not my backyard... I could keep going and going.

I was able to beat The Adventure of Link because there's a simple way to max out your levels, though you have to be far in the game to do so. Around New Karuto (I think that's the name), there are monsters that give fair amounts of EXP and will drop Point Bags after every... 10th one killed I think? Each one holds about 200 EXP I think.

It's a very challenging game and my least favorite, but... not bad.

Earlier this summer I did something similar, and played through all the "mainline" Zeldas in reverse order, to watch the series de-volve. And it was worth every. single. minute.

The only Zelda I missed that I really want to play is Link's Awakening. I thought it was completely awesome when I played it as a kid, but it's the only Zelda I didn't pick back up as an adult for the nostalgia factor...

Quote (Chell172 @ 25th July 2013 14:03)

My favorite 2D Zelda, hands-down, is A Link to the Past. Though it has some flaws (some Dark World dungeons suck, like Skull Woods), it's still an excellent challenge.

That's funny -- Skull Woods was my favorite dungeon. I had to keep leaving and then coming back, and it just felt cool, being outside in the middle of a dungeon. The music helped, too. Generally going outside is a relief, but the music made me feel like I was sort of vulnerable. The Water Temple was also my favorite OoT dungeon, though, so maybe I am just weird.

Quote (RavenLalonde @ 26th July 2013 18:36)

Quote (Chell172 @ 25th July 2013 14:03)

My favorite 2D Zelda, hands-down, is A Link to the Past. Though it has some flaws (some Dark World dungeons suck, like Skull Woods), it's still an excellent challenge.

That's funny -- Skull Woods was my favorite dungeon. I had to keep leaving and then coming back, and it just felt cool, being outside in the middle of a dungeon. The music helped, too. Generally going outside is a relief, but the music made me feel like I was sort of vulnerable. The Water Temple was also my favorite OoT dungeon, though, so maybe I am just weird.

I second the notion that the skull woods was cool, and had an interesting aesthetic, not typical for dungeons. This is all despite the fact that one could skip large chunks of that dungeon, finishing it minutes after starting it. But I digress...

If we're talking about Zelda, I have to have mentioned somewhere before that my favorite in the series is Majoras Mask. I think Sherick put a neat link(eh? eh?) to some video about Stone Tower, and I went off on a rant. There are things about the design of that game I'm still trying to puzzle out and understand- i.e why Odalwas mask is pictured in the image that pops up of the Carnival of Time, when the grandmother tells you the one story. Stuff like that bugs me. Lots of stuff in MM still bugs me, and I think that's great. Despite how awesome Ocarina is, I have to admit the only part I found so intriguingly dark as I do the whole of MM is the whole thing with Cojiro the blue chickens owner, who, according to Fido, becomes a Stalfos. That was kind of eerie and made me think, but there wasn't much else in the game that made my hair stand on end like that did.

Still, I think a lot of people have the edge on me in this competition, since I never did anything outside of the console Zeldas, and I stopped at the Game Cube era, never playing Twilight Princess, or anything beyond that. I hear Twilight Princess is actually a rather dark game, too.

I stand well in my own games though, having completed a single 3 day cycle MM run, as well as a 4 song of time (including deku scrub first time) completion of the game 100%. It's balls hard, and you feel like the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, worrying about time and being late for everything.

As a side note, if anyone here super into the franchise hasn't read the Hyrule Historia book put out by Nintendo, it's worth it. Without even playing a whole lot of the titles, I was super into it.

This post has been edited by MogMaster on 27th July 2013 09:21

--------------------

If you've been mod-o-fied,
It's an illusion, and you're in-between.
Don't you be tarot-fied,
It's just alot of nothing, so what can it mean?
~Frank Zappa

Sins exist only for people who are on the Way or approaching the Way

Quote (MogMaster @ 27th July 2013 09:13)

I have to admit the only part I found so intriguingly dark as I do the whole of MM is the whole thing with Cojiro the blue chickens owner, who, according to Fido, becomes a Stalfos. That was kind of eerie and made me think, but there wasn't much else in the game that made my hair stand on end like that did.

Man yeah I totally geddit. Majora's Mask is also my favourite.

Looking back, I realise MM is the first game I ever got hyped for, I remember it being referred to by magazines when it was still in development, as "zelda gaiden." I was definitely waiting for it for over a year, while I changed schools and had to deal with new people, friend and foe, this was a constant.

Of course I played it on Christmas morning, to compound that magical effect, and I can hardly think of a more magical game experience for a 12 year old than the first 3day cycle in Clock Town (just think; the observatory). Much to my shame I've only finished it a couple times, which is odd considering I find it to be much superior to Ocarina.

For those that don't know, the main premise is that Link finds himself lost in an alternate version of Hyrule called Termina, a world which will end in 3 days when the goddamn moon crashes into it. There's something about the NPC interaction that is really what makes this stand out from the series: the way each group or individual in the world makes sense of their impending doom, their increasing despair as the moon draws closer. The world seems to be the perfect size (for its time) to be detailed enough, as opposed to something like TES IV: Oblivion, which has a huge number of NPCs saying a huge amount of nothing.

The ocean and swamp areas and Stone Tower are rather unique in the series also, a benefit of being free from Hyrule I suppose. Another thing that really makes it stand out is that it has by far the most interactive urban area, I wish we'd see more of this in main series Zelda titles.

--------------------

www.youtube.com/blinje
The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens

I have a bit of a compulsion for the initial entry in any franchise I like. It's just sort of my weird little obsession.

Final Fantasy? Give me the 1989 NES cart.

Mega Man 2? I'd rather play Mega Man.

Castlevania? I don't need a symphony, the NES cart's got it all for me.

Super Mario, Metroid, Donkey Kong...the list goes on and on.

I always seem to feel most passionate about the first installment. Street Fighter is a notable exception, as I'd never heard of it until 2 came out.

But the Legend of Zelda bears the distinction of being THE FIRST VIDEO GAME I EVER LAID EYES ON.

So, yeah, major nostalgia factor there.

--------------------

X is blue.

Quote (Blinge Odonata @ 27th July 2013 11:20)

Of course I played it on Christmas morning, to compound that magical effect, and I can hardly think of a more magical game experience for a 12 year old than the first 3day cycle in Clock Town (just think; the observatory). Much to my shame I've only finished it a couple times, which is odd considering I find it to be much superior to Ocarina.

Oooohhh my god, I second that emotion and scenario so hard. I just had a great nostalgia flashback. I remember playing demos for it in ToysRUs previously, and I knew I had to have it. Getting it, I played the crap out of it all Christmas break.

--------------------

If you've been mod-o-fied,
It's an illusion, and you're in-between.
Don't you be tarot-fied,
It's just alot of nothing, so what can it mean?
~Frank Zappa

Sins exist only for people who are on the Way or approaching the Way

Spooniest: I'll be doing my damnedest to complete the original soon, feel like i have to be worthy of the series..

And Mog(Majora)Master, I plan to shamelessly imitate you in your 3day / 3 loop runs of MM someday.

Next up is Oracle of Seasons for the Gameboy Color; one of two titles developed by Capcom, which meant nothing to me when i read about it as a kid, now it sure means something..
For what it's worth though, they did a good job using Link's Awakening as a reference. My memories of this game aren't particularly good but one thing it has in common with Majora's Mask and to a lesser extent OoT, is that you actually have to do some adventuring to unlock the next dungeon.

The later Zelda games always felt to me like there was a tiny bit of obligatory dialogue, maybe explore some new small to medium sized area before it's time for yet another dungeon. In the gameboy titles and MM - Link has to do some detective work between most of the dungeons, see what his world is all about, you have some actual incentive to immerse yourself in the world and the characters. I suppose this is a question of pacing really: there's some more story or novelty from the characters to break up the action and make the game seem like less of a grind. Majora achieves this perfectly, while the Oracle games could be accused of going overboard.

I remember being 13 and playing Oracle of Seasons while on holiday in France.. and eventually giving up. I was in the overworld not knowing where the hell to go or what to do! I revisited it and finished it years later but it was by no means easy

--------------------

www.youtube.com/blinje
The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens