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Zelda: A Link Between Worlds |OT| All in all you're just another Link in the wall

M

MoogleWizard

Member
I'm loving this game so much. Handheld Zelda always was b/c-tier Zelda to me but ALBW changes that. It's light years ahead of the poop that was the DS Zelda games. It's extremely polished, the soundtrack is amazing (except for the Yuga battle theme, reminds me too much of One Winged Angel with the dramatic "YUGA YUGA YUGA" choir) and the graphics are great for what they're supposed to be, they tried to translate the 2D look of ALTTP into 3D and it's works really well imo.

Controls and gameplay are tight and smooth as butter. I never thought I needed 60fps in Zelda, but seeing how smooth this plays, I hope they can achieve 60fps with Zelda U.

What I do not want to see in Zelda U, however, is the item borrowing and the short dungeons. It's perfect for a handheld game and short play sessions but I want console Zelda to me a lot meatier. The lending mechanic limits the dungeon design to much, but the game is just so good that I can easily overlook that. Just don't put in Zelda U and give me more complex puzzles and dungeons.
 
R

Ragus

Banned
So, that Desert Palace.


5fb9b137_tumblr_m6r10f5CO41qb225v.gif



So.

Fucking.

Good.

This game is a pure perfection. It tops both GTAV and TLOU in my GOTY list.

3 more dungeons left, I hope the game stays as good as it is now. Because now, it's quite stunning.
 
B

BY2K

Membero Americo
EVH said:
The game is full with this kind of awesome details. For example:

When Yuganon starts saying that he does not care about Lorule - probably already in control by Ganon - the camera just places in front of his face directly remembering the scene that appears when you die in the original Zelda.

This was so easily recognizable and so awesome that made the battle and the context even more awesome.
Click to expand...

I don't think
Yuga is being controlled by Ganon at any point. Yuga's in full control the whole way. The master of story hijacks got hijacked. And it's glorious.
 
A

Anteo

Member
BY2K said:
I don't think
Yuga is being controlled by Ganon at any point. Yuga's in full control the whole way. The mast of story hijacks got hijacked. And it's glorious.
Click to expand...

But really, every game
has been hijacked by Demise
 
K

Killa Sasa

Member
KarmaCow said:
The Fire Rod + Tornado Rod + Spin Attack kinda trivialize the tower.
Click to expand...

Formless said:
The wind item is actually really good for the tower, also some enemies are better to knock off the platforms than to kill
Click to expand...

I actually have most of the upgrades, just didn't use those ones well enough I think. Definitely will make it next time, only packed two outta four fairies. My fault for not prepping for adventure T_T
 
W

watershed

Banned
BY2K said:
I don't think
Yuga is being controlled by Ganon at any point. Yuga's in full control the whole way. The master of story hijacks got hijacked. And it's glorious.
Click to expand...

I agree.
Ganon really doesn't have much of a role in this game at all. It could have been a amulet or a jewel that made Yuga more powerful for all it mattered. In a way this makes the game feel like of like Majora's Mask where Ganon is even less present.
 
B

BY2K

Membero Americo
I'm starting to think Lorule may be related to Termina, either that or Lorule is just one huge reference.
 
M

MrSaturn99

Member
The
Desert Palace. Holy SHIT. The entire time I thought I was in an optional dungeon or something because I just assumed the rest of the dungeons were in Lorule, but nope! Sharing dungeon/boss between the two worlds was genius. AND THAT MUSIC OH MY GOD

I also loved the boss in the Thieves' Den. Yikes!
 
N

Nocturnowl

Member
MoogleWizard said:
the soundtrack is amazing (except for the Yuga battle theme, reminds me too much of One Winged Angel with the dramatic "YUGA YUGA YUGA" choir)
Click to expand...
It's funny because I thought similarly at first, but i've grown to really like it after I decided that it's not so much yet another overly dramatic choir battle theme as it's a kind of deranged one. The choir gradually switching as the song progresses from the more booming male choir to the female vocalising that gets more peculiar as the track reaches it climax is pretty fitting for an odd fellow like Yuga, part intimidating, part eccentric.
It helps that the instrumentation kind of walks a similar line, I just wish it also used the zany bagpipes that his non battle theme opens with.
 
E

EVH

Member
BY2K said:
I'm starting to think Lorule may be related to Termina, either that or Lorule is just one huge reference.
Click to expand...

What are those references, aside of the mask freaks.

Would be cool that the friend that Link goes to search for in Majora's mask was actually Lorule's Link, but I guess that is not possible as ALTTP and MM are in different timelines.
 
T

Tuck

Member
EVH said:
What are those references, aside of the mask freaks.

Would be cool that the friend that Link goes to search for in Majora's mask was actually Lorule's Link, but I guess that is not possible as ALTTP and MM are in different timelines.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure link goes searching for navi.
 
A

Anteo

Member
EVH said:
What are those references, aside of the mask freaks.

Would be cool that the friend that Link goes to search for in Majora's mask was actually Lorule's Link, but I guess that is not possible as ALTTP and MM are in different timelines.
Click to expand...

This too.
LcAVgdW.png
 
R

ramyeon

Member
Lorule = Termina is such a huge stretch... I mean, I know Zelda fans like crazy fan theories but there's just so little evidence besides fan service references, and there were references to more than just MM in this game.
 
A

Ansatz

Member
MoogleWizard said:
What I do not want to see in Zelda U, however, is the item borrowing and the short dungeons. It's perfect for a handheld game and short play sessions but I want console Zelda to me a lot meatier. The lending mechanic limits the dungeon design to much, but the game is just so good that I can easily overlook that. Just don't put in Zelda U and give me more complex puzzles and dungeons.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

ALBW dungeons are so good because of wall merging giving rise to new possibilities, it's amazing how the game throws new ideas at you by combining the mechanic with the required item for a given dungeon. Not only that but it single-handedly made the overworld feel fresh, due to providing a new way to approach exploration. It's crucial to the game really. Reminds me of Galaxy's gravity theme.

One thing they could do in Zelda U is to tier the dungeons, so you are free to complete 1-3 in any order, before unlocking 4-6, and so on. Also give us trivial items such as bombs, boomerang during the tutorial section. This allows the developers to create increasingly complex dungeons, as they'll know which items you have at certain points, while retaining some of the freedom in ALBW. As for the overworld, why not adopt the Metroidvania formula i.e. seamlessly interconnected areas. Implement an optional guide for newbs along the lines of Fi but without the forced explanations or camera pan hints. There you go, the perfect Zelda formula.

An alternative approach to dungeon design is to look at the Twilight Temple in TP. I'm thinking about the orb you carry around, it's effectively an item, but you don't get to keep it permanently. Meaning the order in which you reach such a temple wouldn't matter, while still offering interesting puzzles. Other concepts include water redirection, time shift crystals, dungeon rotation (stone temple in MM).
 
G

Goldenroad

Member
takriel said:
The solution is in most cases is the wall mechanic. So just try that out if you're stuck!
Click to expand...

It was more about getting a new item and knowing where to use it.

In particular the
Sand Rod and figuring out that I had to stand on the cliff and use the item.
(?) I knew where the desert was, simply by virtue of playing ALTTP as a kid, which is the best part about this game. If you played ALTTP, you KNOW this game. It's fan service, but it's maybe the greatest fan service I've ever seen. It just starts out with the premise that you know this world. They don't seem to direct you at all in terms of which dungeons to go to, but you know where everything is, so it makes it easy to start exploring.
 
R

ramyeon

Member
Goldenroad said:
It was more about getting a new item and knowing where to use it.

In particular the
Sand Rod and figuring out that I had to stand on the cliff and use the item.
(?) I knew where the desert was, simply by virtue of playing ALTTP as a kid, which is the best part about this game. If you played ALTTP, you KNOW this game. It's fan service, but it's maybe the greatest fan service I've ever seen. It just starts out with the premise that you know this world. They don't seem to direct you at all in terms of which dungeons to go to, but you know where everything is, so it makes it easy to start exploring.
Click to expand...
It really is great, and I love how it rewards you for knowing the world. An early example is
that when you go to the place where the hidden entrance to the Castle is in LttP there's a heart piece there instead
, the game constantly does this, putting unexpected rewards in places that had significant meaning or hidden stuff in LttP.
 
S

SoraanTribal

Member
Just beat the Dark Palace - really loved that one. I enjoyed the mechanics inside, but the boss was a pushover. More so than usual. With upgraded bombs, he was dead in less than a minute. xD Still fun, though.

Now, I just have the final dungeon left. Will probably beat tomorrow. I'm currently at 20~hours with all heart pieces/containers, all upgrades (collected 100 of those babies), all bottles, items, etc. I think I have everything. Pretty short game, but it was a 100% super fun game with no frustrating filler (unlike modern 3D Zeldas - I still love them, but yeah.).
 
M

manueldelalas

Time Traveler
KarmaCow said:
Is there something wrong my 3DS because the game was definitely not 60 fps locked. It was really good most of the time but I found that hitches about half the time you merge into the wall. It's not a deal breaker but with people saying the game is a locked 60 along with what seems like long load times in other games, I'm worried something might be wrong with my 3DS.
Click to expand...
I had a lot of framerate drops, during transitions, the last dungeon, wall merging and some scenes.

The game cannot hold steady 60 fps.
 
F

Farmboy

Member
RagnarokX said:
100 seconds isn't beating it. You have to dodge for 999 seconds to beat the minigame. That's almost 17 minutes. That's what Mario Club couldn't do.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've gathered you get a pretty cool reward if you manage to do this:
maxed out rupees (kinda lame) and a fat cuckoo that sits next to the girl that runs the minigame that you can talk to to restore a heart for free. Which is cool, even if its not particularly useful (talking to the Witch restores all hearts, after all).

Any of you manage it and can confirm? (Not me, by a long shot!)
 
S

Skyzard

Banned
All this Zelda talk has me thinking I ought to buy LTTP on GBA and play that on my DS since I've never played it before and will be trying to get a Wii U on the upcoming amazon blackfriday deal in a few hours for the UK, missed out on the 3DS just. But by the look of some posts it seems like I'll be having a better time I think? Maybe some Fire Emblem, Pokemon Fire Red. Will be good to give the DS some playtime. How's the music in the GBA game?

Hopefully Nintendo patch this game to fix all the issues to make it feel more like an adventure an adult would want to play. Sounds like a good run in Spelunky has more character to it?
 
T

tryagainlater

Member
I hate to be a downer but I'm not enjoying this that much. I don't really feed into the hype but I was pretty psyched by all the good impressions in this thread. I'm not even sure why I'm not liking it. Everything is there to be liked. Ah well, I'll play it a bit more. Might come around. Still, for now, the day one price isn't worth it.
 
B

beril

Member
Just finished the game ( still have a few hearts and
one master ore
left to find).

Really amazing game but it felt kindof weird how similiar it is to aLttP in some ways. It's like they made a remake and then added a second quest, or a really lazy (but good) sequel that reuses everything à la Majoras Mask, except they skipped releasing the original. Not that I mind revisiting the LttP world, it just feels somewhat odd that they're reusing so much, especially since they're not actually reusing anything.

One thing that bugged me though is that they never explained or even acknowledged the connection between Lorule and Dark World. It's quite obviously the same place, but doesn't really connect storywise at all unless I'm missing something.
 
A

Auskeek

Member
beril said:
One thing that bugged me though is that they never explained or even acknowledged the connection between Lorule and Dark World. It's quite obviously the same place, but doesn't really connect storywise at all unless I'm missing something.
Click to expand...

They're different places to my knowledge. The Dark World is
a corruption of the sacred realm (it's mentioned when you first enter Dark World in A Link to the Past)
where as Lorule is completely new. Not 100% sure about that but that's the impression I got.
 
S

SoraanTribal

Member
What are the chances they will add A Link to the Past (GBA version) to the 3DS E-shop? I mean, it makes sense they would have it on there. It'd be an instant-buy for me.
 
H

HawthorneKitty

Sgt. 2nd Class in the Creep Battalion, Waifu Wars
Okay, finally stumped at D
ark Palace

Stuck at the final stretch with lighting those things to get access to the boss door.
 
J

jwhit28

Member
beril said:
One thing that bugged me though is that they never explained or even acknowledged the connection between Lorule and Dark World. It's quite obviously the same place, but doesn't really connect storywise at all unless I'm missing something.
Click to expand...

They aren't the same, at the end of the game when you touch the Triforce that is the Golden Realm/Dark World
 
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