I started playing Zelda with Breath of the Wild, which became one of my favorite games ever. I then played Tears of the Kingdom, and six years of skepticism about it and just my general dislike for Nintendo could not stop it from somehow topping even BOTW for me.
I was such a huge fan of these Zelda games. I had never played Nintendo before the Switch, I had heard of the other Zelda games, but BOTW was where I started, and with TOTK solidifying my love for the series, I asked GAF if I should try to play the older games. GAF recommended I needed to try four games: A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, and A Link Between Worlds.
I loved A Link to the Past when I played it. While I think I like the new open world Zelda games more, I think Link to the Past is probably a much better game overall (the design and pacing is incredible, and it is a 30 year old game that feels better than almost all modern games I have played). When I got to Ocarina of Time, I did not like it as much, since the early 3D jank got in the way a lot, and while its core story and design is amazing, the shortcomings with being a pioneer of 3D games got in the way.
The next game was Wind Waker.
I knew nothing about Wind Waker before playing the game except two things, I knew that when it came out it was super controversial because it looks like a cartoon and that after a while, everyone decided its one of the best games ever made for a lot of reasons, from story, graphics, music, gameplay, and the early open world. I didnt know what to expect, since by the time I was done with OOT, I was running out of steam a little for Zelda.
And then, I played Wind Waker. And holy shit. Holy shit.
I just finished it about an hour ago and I am still in shock. What an amazing, amazing game.
To be honest, I loved it from the minute I started it. I love how it instantly makes it clear thatt it is following up on ocarina of time, not only does that give it an amazing sense of history, but it also adds so much weight to that story, and to this one, to understand how your actions as the player directly impacted this world. But seriously, even once I got control of the game - I fell in,ove. The graphics - so amazing. So amazing. So timeless (disclosure, I played the Wii U version on emulation with some upres and control/HUD mods but nothing else). The music - I can't even, I have no words, there has never once in my life been a game that enclosed me in its world with nothing but its music before wind waker. and the gameplay!
you know, I feel lied to. I was told BOTW and TOTK are a reinvention of Zelda, but Wind Waker makes it clear they're not a reinvention, they are just following through on something Wind Waker already tried 20 years ago. We have a full open world, we have physics based systems here (though of course both the open world and the physics systems are a lot more limited), we even have concepts like gliding and weapon durability and filling up your map. We even get the companion abilities from TOTK in this game!
And the open world exploration, oh my god. I said it before, my love for Zelda is because of that sense of adventure that you are going on to save the world, and nothing, nothing, in the 35 years I have played games, has matched the sense of adventure in this game. When I set off on my red boat on the great sea, and the music kicked in, I actually put down the controller for a second, because I could not believe I was playing something like this. and this game is 20 years old! how is that even possible!
I loved the dungeons too. I think in terms of design they feel simpler than ocarina and link to the past, but they feel much better than BOTW and TOTK, and I think this is actually what those games' dungeons were trying to be (but wind waker does it much better).
And then there is the twist.
okay, so I always love "that" twist in these old zelda games. link to the past caught me off guard with the dark world twist. ocarina of time manages to pull the same trick a second time with the time travel twist. I honestly honestly thought I was going to be ready for it a third time. but I wasn't because I had no idea how much balls the game would have with its storytelling.
because the moment you descend into the sea to find the Hyrule from ocarina of time frozen in time and submerged under water forever - I got chills. holy shit I got chills. what an amazing moment. people say nintendo doesnt do good stories? bullshit. I have never played a game that hit harder than this moment. and then! and then! the game keeps going from then! and that finale! oh my god! the finale is probably the best thing ever. you have ganondorf, finally an actual character, with actual motivations that make sense, you actually feel bad for him, you wish you could work things out. and you have another twist when the last king of Hyrule wishes on the triforce to wash away Hyrule, the master sword, ganondorf, and the triforce itself! what are hell! this feels like an ending to the entire zelda series, but the game is still not done. you end up in the most epic final boss fight of all time, a one on one duel with a deranged ganondorf, while the waves crash in around you to sink Hyrule forever. and the music, oh my god.
I can't, honestly, I have no words. I finished and beat the wind waker, and saw the ending, and I think I might have played my favourite game ever. through the last few months that I have been looking more deeply into zelda, I have been told that breath of the wild and tears of the kingdom are an all new style of game that is completely different t from the old style by necessity, that that old style and the new style can't go together, but thats bullshit. they can, they did. it was called the wind waker, and I think it is the best game ever made.
my understanding is this game flopped because gamers are fucking idiots who looked at the (by the way amazing) graphics and decided this game was not worth their time. because of this, it looks like nintendo walked back most of the cool things the Wind waker did for almost 15 years and instead just gave gamers more ocarina of time.
which is fucking bullshit, because wind waker was breath of the wild 15 years before breath of the wild.
this is an amazing game, and I cannot believe it exists. I have said for a while, I finally understand why zelda gets the hype it does after playing more of the series, but honestly, wind waker makes me think it doesnt get enough hype, as crazy as that sounds. this is a series that has blown my mind 4/5 times straight now. I just cannot believe it.
amazing game. next up is a link between worlds but I think I need a few days to recover first lol.
I was such a huge fan of these Zelda games. I had never played Nintendo before the Switch, I had heard of the other Zelda games, but BOTW was where I started, and with TOTK solidifying my love for the series, I asked GAF if I should try to play the older games. GAF recommended I needed to try four games: A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, and A Link Between Worlds.
I loved A Link to the Past when I played it. While I think I like the new open world Zelda games more, I think Link to the Past is probably a much better game overall (the design and pacing is incredible, and it is a 30 year old game that feels better than almost all modern games I have played). When I got to Ocarina of Time, I did not like it as much, since the early 3D jank got in the way a lot, and while its core story and design is amazing, the shortcomings with being a pioneer of 3D games got in the way.
The next game was Wind Waker.
I knew nothing about Wind Waker before playing the game except two things, I knew that when it came out it was super controversial because it looks like a cartoon and that after a while, everyone decided its one of the best games ever made for a lot of reasons, from story, graphics, music, gameplay, and the early open world. I didnt know what to expect, since by the time I was done with OOT, I was running out of steam a little for Zelda.
And then, I played Wind Waker. And holy shit. Holy shit.
I just finished it about an hour ago and I am still in shock. What an amazing, amazing game.
To be honest, I loved it from the minute I started it. I love how it instantly makes it clear thatt it is following up on ocarina of time, not only does that give it an amazing sense of history, but it also adds so much weight to that story, and to this one, to understand how your actions as the player directly impacted this world. But seriously, even once I got control of the game - I fell in,ove. The graphics - so amazing. So amazing. So timeless (disclosure, I played the Wii U version on emulation with some upres and control/HUD mods but nothing else). The music - I can't even, I have no words, there has never once in my life been a game that enclosed me in its world with nothing but its music before wind waker. and the gameplay!
you know, I feel lied to. I was told BOTW and TOTK are a reinvention of Zelda, but Wind Waker makes it clear they're not a reinvention, they are just following through on something Wind Waker already tried 20 years ago. We have a full open world, we have physics based systems here (though of course both the open world and the physics systems are a lot more limited), we even have concepts like gliding and weapon durability and filling up your map. We even get the companion abilities from TOTK in this game!
And the open world exploration, oh my god. I said it before, my love for Zelda is because of that sense of adventure that you are going on to save the world, and nothing, nothing, in the 35 years I have played games, has matched the sense of adventure in this game. When I set off on my red boat on the great sea, and the music kicked in, I actually put down the controller for a second, because I could not believe I was playing something like this. and this game is 20 years old! how is that even possible!
I loved the dungeons too. I think in terms of design they feel simpler than ocarina and link to the past, but they feel much better than BOTW and TOTK, and I think this is actually what those games' dungeons were trying to be (but wind waker does it much better).
And then there is the twist.
okay, so I always love "that" twist in these old zelda games. link to the past caught me off guard with the dark world twist. ocarina of time manages to pull the same trick a second time with the time travel twist. I honestly honestly thought I was going to be ready for it a third time. but I wasn't because I had no idea how much balls the game would have with its storytelling.
because the moment you descend into the sea to find the Hyrule from ocarina of time frozen in time and submerged under water forever - I got chills. holy shit I got chills. what an amazing moment. people say nintendo doesnt do good stories? bullshit. I have never played a game that hit harder than this moment. and then! and then! the game keeps going from then! and that finale! oh my god! the finale is probably the best thing ever. you have ganondorf, finally an actual character, with actual motivations that make sense, you actually feel bad for him, you wish you could work things out. and you have another twist when the last king of Hyrule wishes on the triforce to wash away Hyrule, the master sword, ganondorf, and the triforce itself! what are hell! this feels like an ending to the entire zelda series, but the game is still not done. you end up in the most epic final boss fight of all time, a one on one duel with a deranged ganondorf, while the waves crash in around you to sink Hyrule forever. and the music, oh my god.
I can't, honestly, I have no words. I finished and beat the wind waker, and saw the ending, and I think I might have played my favourite game ever. through the last few months that I have been looking more deeply into zelda, I have been told that breath of the wild and tears of the kingdom are an all new style of game that is completely different t from the old style by necessity, that that old style and the new style can't go together, but thats bullshit. they can, they did. it was called the wind waker, and I think it is the best game ever made.
my understanding is this game flopped because gamers are fucking idiots who looked at the (by the way amazing) graphics and decided this game was not worth their time. because of this, it looks like nintendo walked back most of the cool things the Wind waker did for almost 15 years and instead just gave gamers more ocarina of time.
which is fucking bullshit, because wind waker was breath of the wild 15 years before breath of the wild.
this is an amazing game, and I cannot believe it exists. I have said for a while, I finally understand why zelda gets the hype it does after playing more of the series, but honestly, wind waker makes me think it doesnt get enough hype, as crazy as that sounds. this is a series that has blown my mind 4/5 times straight now. I just cannot believe it.
amazing game. next up is a link between worlds but I think I need a few days to recover first lol.
