It blew me away when I saw that. My question is,
how on earth did it get there from Hyrule Castle Town?
Oh, did anyone else think that the Sacred Grove looked a lot like the Forest Temple and the Sacred Forest Meadow?
That is the penultimate temple. But you actually have three dungeons to go. They wanted to make sure no-one felt the game was too short like Wind Waker.
Chalk me up as another Twilight Princess fan. In fact, my wife, my son, and I play rock-paper-scissors just about every night to see who gets to play it! (Gamecube version here, btw)
It really feels like an evolution of Ocarina of Time (my personal choice for Best Zelda Game). There are a few differences, of course; and for the life of me I can’t figure out why they felt the need to include the goofy-looking postman, but hey, I’m not too upset about it.
Probably my worst complaint about the game is some of the puzzles. Ok, yes, it’s a Zelda game. It will have puzzles. But a puzzle, in my opinion, should have a link to the story in some way. Most of them do… but WHAT the HELL is with the
statue-jumping to get into the forest sanctuary?!?
I mean, seriously. There’s no tie-in with the story there at all, it’s just a ‘solve the puzzle to move on’ scenario. sigh
Also, I really miss not being able to summon Epona whenever the hell I feel like it. Grr.
On the other hand, the sheer SIZE of Hyrule is SO much more satisfying; the dungeons are recognizable but better (IMO), the new stuff is just kick-ass, and it’s teaching my son to read! (We refuse to read it to him, telling him if he wants to play the game he’s going to have to read it himself. He’s rising to the challenge, thankfully; I’d about given up on finding a way to get him to read willingly.)
Oh, and while I’m gushing:
Double clawshot: Best. Item. EVER!
So, yeah. GREAT game.
A slight voice of dissent -
I got the game for the Wii, and while I’m really enjoying playing it, there are a few big complaints that I have.
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It’s ugly. UGLY. Why’s the game so drab, so dreary, so muddy-looking? I’m waiting for Nintendo to make a really gorgeous, vibrant Hyrule, not this drab and murky mess. It seems like they really went for the drab and murky with “Ocarina of Time” and decided that that’s going to be the dominant aesthetic of the series from that point onward (not counting the bright and cartoony “Wind Waker”). I associate Zelda with high, pure-hearted fantasy - bright greens, reds, the vibrant yellow of the triforce, and so on, and this just isn’t it. There has been one moment so far that was absolutely beautiful - when, around the Goron mines area, I listened to one of the howling stones and everything melted away and was transposed to this beautiful nighttime scene where the camera sort of panned out over all of Hyrule, and the castle was lit up and everything was glowing and gorgeous like freaking Disneyworld, and then it showed me the spirit wolf and just sort of devolved back to the bland, ugly canyon area.
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The screen is pretty crowded with junk that can’t be put away. I’m not playing on an HDTV, so that may be my problem, but I feel like a good 30% of each side of the screen is eaten up by extraneous stuff that I’d like to be able to at least turn off most of the time.
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Most of the puzzles have very little to do with the story and don’t make much logical sense - it’s more of an illogical, trial-and-error/“try, die, repeat” approach than a logical “this is why the puzzle is set up this way, and this is how I should approach it” approach to puzzles. I’m not a big fan of puzzles in games like this, but I understand that they’re a staple of Zelda games.
Now, for the good: I love the Wii controls. They feel very natural, and with a slight sedentary twitch of the wrist I can pull off the moves; no grand, flailing gestures required. The aiming with the nunchuck and remote is very intuitive, and when I first got the bow I was shocked at how quickly and easily I could pick off enemies and objects.
My one complaint about the controls is the double-duty usage of the A button to talk/interact with things and to do the somersault. DUMB. It seems like every time I approach a chest to open, or a person to talk to, I end up somersaulting and slamming into them the first time because I wasn’t perfectly still when I hit the A button to interact. DUMB - so clumsy on the part of the designers, and it really should and could have been avoided.
But yeah, it’s a really fun game and I get quite engrossed in it.
Were you around for the Zeldas prior to Ocarina? Zelda to most people is defined by the 2D games.
I’ve played both the Wii and the GC versions, though neither more than 5-10 hours (since I don’t own either console and am just borrowing those of friends/roommates). I like the GC control scheme a lot better (as a console veteran, buttons just seem a lot more natural and intuitive for virtually everything in the game… I’m the one who could easily get perfect scores in the bow-and-arrow-on-the-horse game in Ocarina, so the point-and-shoot thing is cute but not really an improvement), but I love playing it on widescreen on the Wii. I’ll definitely make sure I can play all the way through the game at some point. I’d rank it as my third-favorite Zelda (behind Ocarina and Link to the Past, obviously), but that’s not really a bad thing since those are two of my favorite games ever. Definite thumbs up.
I can understand why you feel that way; it’s a darker game, with a more sinister feel to it in many places. But the landscapes are still beautifully rendered, and I think there may be a promise of some brightness to come based on some of what I’ve seen so far (of course, I could be wrong…I’m less than halfway through right now.)
And this may place me right in the middle of a shit storm, but I really LIKED the cel-shaded Wind Waker, with its bright cartoony feel influenced by Japanese watercolor and woodcut art. I was happy to see that same style in the Minish Cap game for the GBA, too, and I’m kind of sorry that Nintendo decided to break with the cel shading for Twilight Princess.
I agree with you completely about the controls. Including that bit about the A button.
People like you need to be stopped! 
Really, though, to each his/her own. I’m glad SOMEONE was happy with how Wind Waker looked.
I like the idea that each game is a retelling of “the legend of Zelda.” Each tale features the Hero of Time rescuing Princess Zelda and saving Hyrule (plus other core elements of the legend like the Triforce, the Master Sword, Ganon, the Zora, Death Mountain, etc.), but each time it’s told it’s changed and embellished from the last telling.
The upcoming Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass for the DS will be in the cel shaded style.
What did everyone else think of Majora’s Mask? I played this when it was released, got about 1/2 way through and couldn’t figure out what to do next or how to get the game to progress. I ended up shelfing it for almost a year.
I then decided to “give in” and use a game guide for it (which I try never to do).
The second half was way cool (air temple) and the ending was really good.
The one complaint I had about it was that I don’t think it was solvable unless you had a guide to get you through some of the “what the heck do I do next” moments. Did anyone complete this game without assistance?
Oh, you’ve been playing the Wii version. Keep in mind that the entire game was flipped to make Link right-handed. In the GCN version, Death Mountain is to the east of Hyrule Castle Town.
I think that I did, although my brother may have had to clue me into the fact that you could flip the last temple from the outside.
Pretty much the exact same story for me, except I played the GameCube port. I actually preferred it to Ocarina-- the time-loop story concept was wicked cool and I loved how the world was so dense with characters and sidequests. At some point though (somewhere around 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through), I just could not figure out how to progress further, and I didn’t want to use a guide. So I haven’t played it in about a year. Maybe I’ll pick it up again after finishing Twilight Princess.
Helping hint: You can hide the map by pressing the 2 button. Once I learned my way around most areas, it helps visibility a lot.
Elves? Hylians are mortal just like humans. Hell, they are that world’s version of humans.
If anyone has gotten the 7th Hidden Skill, the warrior says something interesting:
He says “I once accepted life as the hero”, which basically confirms multiple Links…
I think it’s tied with <B>Link to the Past</B> as the best Zelda game, and superior to TP in almost every way.
The time concept was amazing, and I loved how alive the world felt. Every character had a unique schedule and could be interacted with.
I can do you one better. I had Majoras mask at home, while I was away at college. I would come home on Hollidays and other rare occasions, and try to progress in the game.
Given that Majora’s had the 3 day time repeat plot, I could never remember where I was, or what Goal I had to accomplish next. When I would remember, the 3 days would be up.
On TP, how many Dungeons are there? Midna keeps assuring me that I am real close to beating the Water/Zora lake bed temple. (You know, right after you have to escort the covered wagon to Kokiri.
There is a website out that tells you how far you are in the game. I think Im around 10%. … I would guess there is on the order of a dozen to 2 dozen dungeons!?
For the presentation of the game, I have only one complaint; the tron-esque look of the bad guys and portals… tacky, inorganic, crap.
I did! I’m very stubborn when it comes to puzzle games though, and will sink a lot of time into running around trying every random thing I can think of before I break and look up the next step.
It was a long time ago, but I don’t remember there being that many. I think there was one for each element, so more like 4. Perhaps it counts all the side quests?
Yeah, I was going to mention that but I felt like I was already bitching a lot about the game. That overly pixellated stuff looks terrible - especially the portals. It looks like stuff looked one or two generations ago, unintentionally.