• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

GJS

Member
The 3DS XL bundle I preordered yesterday from Amazon France shipped today, for expected delivery on the 20th to the UK. Can't wait, let's see whether it comes early.
 

Neiteio

Member
I rewatched the new trailer on my WiiU last night, and dagnabbit, I like the visual style of this game.

Yuga looks deliciously creepy. Zelda and Hilda are adorable. Same for Ravio and Link. I like the sculpted look of the land, the clay-like earth and polished stone of the temples. I like the light and shadows effects, from the lightning in Lorule to the colorful glow of the maiden paintings as they whirl about a certain someone. I like the "bounce" to the enemies when they scurry over to Link or are repelled by his weapons. I like the shaders on the brick walls and the hand-drawn look to Link's painting gliding across them.

It all looks a bit rough in screens, but in motion there's a nice toy-like tangibility to everything. Solid like action figures, and I'm sure 60 fps 3D will only add to the effect. Just a simple style that won't turn heads with its direction but won't age poorly, either.
 

NSider

Member
Did you play Link's Awakening? If so, in what ways is it better than LA? I'll gladly believe you if you think it's better but I'm having a hard time imagining something better :p.

LA was incredible for its time, but it had so many problems, especially since it's mostly very linear but doesn't telegraph what it wants you to do next very well. The constant item switching bothered even my 8 year old self. The dungeons were definitely not as good as LttP's. Not even close.

I think ALBW bests it in almost every way, except maybe the fact that LA set new standards for handheld games that were almost unimaginable at the time.
 

MrDeeds

Neo Member
Did anyone pre-order on Amazon? What's your estimated delivery date?

I would think that since Nintendo moved it's games from Sundays to Friday, Amazon would deliver them to me on release date, but I believe it's coming the next week for me.
I preordered it a couple weeks ago (North America), but it doesn't have a ETA listed yet. I have Amazon Prime (free 2-day shipping), so there's a slight chance it'll arrive Friday, but I'm not banking on it. However, they did surprise me the other week: ordered Fallout 3 GOTY on a Friday afternoon (using free 2-day shipping) and it was at my house Saturday morning - so don't lose hope! I think it really depends on how close you are to a Amazon Fulfillment warehouse.
 

neoism

Member
I hate how Amazon stopped the release day delivery ($0.99) for all games. Now, it seems to never pop up anymore. That and no taxes meant I shopped at Amazon for damn near every single game purchase. But now that Amazon has tax and no more cheap release day delivery, I have no motivation to use them anymore unless it's just a really good deal. :(

same used them all the time but not anymore.. getting this at dumbstop or walmart
 

senador

Banned
I got hopelessly lost in Skyview Temple. I don't even remember how, but it was something stupid.

Probably the same way I did, including on my 2nd play through. On my first time it took me like an hour to figure out and I was so frustrated. You have to hit one of those diamond looking things to raise the water level and it's hidden under a ledge off the main room early on. Bah.
 
The DLC is Link's Awakening. Weirdly the image they use for it on its own for the download card uses Ocarina of Time's logo.
Ah I see, also gonna be dissapointed by the GAME logo plastered all over the "CE" =/

Mine says it's shipped too. I hope it gets here before Christmas.
Holidays + cheap shipping = lost forever
Hope it arrives in time for you, at the very least it's shipping before December.
 

ASIS

Member
Sky Keep is in fact a non-linear dungeon (the one and only in Skyward Sword), and I think it has a brilliant gameplay mechanic... however, designers didn't know how to really take advantage of it propperly. In addition, the temple itself is just a bunch of puzles exctracted from other levels of the game, so I can't consider that one of the greatest dungeons of the series.

The idea was amazing, but the designers only developed it halfway there.

That's completely not true. Other than the thematic references and one mid boss, the entire structure of both the dungeon as well as its mechanics were completely brand new. All items were used in clever and combined ways outside of anything seen in the entire game. I fail to see how more fleshed out the dungeon can be, as every part of it was used to its fullest potential.
 

Myriadis

Member
I got hopelessly lost in Skyview Temple. I don't even remember how, but it was something stupid.

Ah yes, I was stuck there too, and it was the switch under the bridge. That caused me to do the room on the right first, unlike shown in that pic above.

And you're all wrong about the linear thing in "newer" Zelda games. The only game that has truly explorable dungeons is Zelda 1 (maybe also Zelda 2, haven't played that one for long).
 
That's a tall glass of milk to pour yourself my friend. Either way I look forward to seeing if you're right :)



Did I wake up in crazy town

I kind of agree. When trying to remember them, the one word that pops up is: "Generic". Most of them looked boring and ugly and had very few distinguishing features, unless I'm forgetting something.
 

BorkBork

The Legend of BorkBork: BorkBorkity Borking
I kind of agree. When trying to remember them, the one word that pops up is: "Generic". Most of them looked boring and ugly and had very few distinguishing features, unless I'm forgetting something.

Just because they don't rely heavily on easy to remember gimmicks don't mean they weren't really well-crafted dungeons. They were great on a recent playthrough.
 
Just because they don't rely heavily on easy to remember gimmicks don't mean they weren't really well-crafted dungeons. They were great on a recent playthrough.

Well it's mostly that they look boring aesthetically and the fact that the music is the same in all the dungeons(barring light world/dark world difference). It made me not look forward to the next dungeon because it would feel like every other one to me.

I feel like LA's dungeons were way better in those facets without sacrificing anything else you would want out of a dungeon.
 

eXistor

Member
When I'm sitting in my living room, hell yeah. I have a really, really long mini jack to phono cable which I plug into my Sony amp.

Whilst everyone else is listening to A Link Between Worlds via the crappy 3DS speakers, I'll be basking in the glory of an absolute wall of sound.

Totes, I always plug it in my amp whenever I can, I generally don't like using headphones, so this is the best option for me.
 

Coolwhip

Banned
Meh, just saw the Dutch commercial. Very dull as always. A very boring voice that explains cut and dry that the new Zelda lets you move across walls. WOW!
 
I kind of agree. When trying to remember them, the one word that pops up is: "Generic". Most of them looked boring and ugly and had very few distinguishing features, unless I'm forgetting something.

homogenous square rooms with different colored floortiles

jbQyClYjOScpD.PNG
 

Albo

Member
404e0f6f-56e0-4620-a53c-95526e74d3be.gif


I'm surprised a cougar like telma and her conspicuous twins were put into the game.

However, the greatest dungeons in the series (and I don't think Skyward dungeons are even close of being that) offer both things: a clever room design that offers multiple ways of exploring every area of the temple (giving freedom and disorientation to the player), and intelligent puzzles in each room. When a dungeon is non-linear, the structure of the building becames itself a huge puzzle. That is something that the Zelda franchise doesn't offer since Majora's Mask.

I Wouldn't agree with that. SS was more linear than the other zelda games sure but the designers were tried to make environments more compact and dense in that game. Each room seemed packed with content. Even the sand ship, miniing facility, sky keep and ancient cistern of the top of my head were dungeons where the structure itself becomes part of the puzzle.

I don't see how everything before SS was less linear than MM and everything before it, especially twilight princess. The first two zelda's, now they had some non linear design that had me lost all the time compared to other zelda's. Can't remember other 2d zelda dungeon maps well enough to comment.

Beat the game today with almost 100%, with every possible collectible, full gear, all bottles and all item upgrades, with the exception of 2 pieces of heart (took me
22:17
according to my 3DS
).

The best thing about ALBW is how smooth and fast everything is. Hand-holding is pretty much gone and all hints are placed just out of the way, yet close and accessible using
hint glasses
. The game starts right away with no extended cut-scenes or dialogue at any time (except the ending, I guess). All dungeons are very tightly designed, and moving between rooms is always so fast and easy. There's not any extra fluff or filler to speak of, it's all meaty content plus fun optional stuff that leads to meaningful benefits. Even the collectibles are fun. Most importantly, the controls are the best I've played in a top-down game ever, and it's all at a buttery smooth 60fps.

I think they nailed this new item system (even if the game's economy is a bit weird). I hope they continue on this non-linear direction in future games.

I didn't like the visual style, but I was impressed by some of the stuff you get to see. Especially some bosses.

The music is just incredible. Most of the remixes will make you swoon (the
Dark World remix
especially), and the original stuff is lovely.

Overall: Amazing, amazing game. I can say with absolute certainty that this is the best handheld Zelda game yet, and it's definitely a top tier Zelda and now my current favorite game of this year.

Sounds awesome. If it's taking most reviewers around the 20h mark to 100%, it'll likely take me at least 30+, not including hero mode playthrough.
 

spliced

Member
The best thing about ALBW is how smooth and fast everything is. Hand-holding is pretty much gone and all hints are placed just out of the way, yet close and accessible using
hint glasses
. The game starts right away with no extended cut-scenes or dialogue at any time (except the ending, I guess). All dungeons are very tightly designed, and moving between rooms is always so fast and easy. There's not any extra fluff or filler to speak of, it's all meaty content plus fun optional stuff that leads to meaningful benefits. Even the collectibles are fun. Most importantly, the controls are the best I've played in a top-down game ever, and it's all at a buttery smooth 60fps.

WOW what a paragraph of awesome.

Smooth and fast...YES!
Lack of hand holding...YES!
Less cutscenes and dialog...YES!
No filler...YES!
Good controls...YES!
Smooth 60 fps...YES!

Is this game really coming out in 2013.

Next up a Zelda 2 style game.
 

Rich!

Member
homogenous square rooms with different colored floortiles

jbQyClYjOScpD.PNG

They did really well considering the confines they were working in (limited tilebase, limited amount of operations and events per room).

That ROM is a work of clusterfuck genius in lots of ways. How Kondo managed to get the soundtrack he got out of the engine used (N-SPC like the one used in SMW) is beyond me.

And the game even had 3D models.
 
WOW what a paragraph of awesome.

Smooth and fast...YES!
Lack of hand holding...YES!
Less cutscenes and dialog...YES!
No filler...YES!
Good controls...YES!
Smooth 60 fps...YES!

Is this game really coming out in 2013.

Next up a Zelda 2 style game.

Friday will be a good day.
 

BY2K

Membero Americo
So A Link Between World is nominated for Best Handheld Game alongside Tearaway, Pokemon and Animal Crossing (notice how 3 out of the 4 games are Nintendo FIrst-Party games).

But it's not in Best Action-Adventure or Best Soundtrack, which EVERY-FUCKING-BODY is already salivating over.
 
Meh, just saw the Dutch commercial. Very dull as always. A very boring voice that explains cut and dry that the new Zelda lets you move across walls. WOW!

Dutch commercials dude. The worst voices and the worst commercials. Deflates my hype everytime.

They did really well considering the confines they were working in (limited tilebase, limited amount of operations and events per room).

That ROM is a work of clusterfuck genius in lots of ways. How Kondo managed to get the soundtrack he got out of the engine used (N-SPC like the one used in SMW) is beyond me.

And the game even had 3D models.

I think LA did more with less dungeon wise. They could have at least not homogenized the music as well as the design.
 

Keyouta

Junior Member
I hope Wii U's Zelda team learns from this game. Players do not want an overly long tutorial, if any at all, in their game. Make it optional. I hope the console title will also be able to push 60fps.
 

takriel

Member
I hope Wii U's Zelda team learns from this game. Players do not want an overly long tutorial, if any at all, in their game. Make it optional. I hope the console title will also be able to push 60fps.

Doubt it will be 60fps, as Aonuma himself stated that 3D Zelda's don't really need it.
 

Rich!

Member
Dutch commercials dude. The worst voices and the worst commercials. Deflates my hype everytime.



I think LA did more with less dungeon wise. They could have at least not homogenized the music as well as the design.

Nah. They couldn't have realistically put more music in. They were really working within the restraints at the time.

Sure, I can add more music in, but that requires expanding the ROM and repointing a bunch of shit. That wasn't an option back then when they had strict sizes to hit.

Source: I worked on Parallel Worlds, the Zelda 3 hack and programmed additional music tracks.
 

Dr.Hadji

Member
I think LA did more with less dungeon wise. They could have at least not homogenized the music as well as the design.

What the what?! Roasting LTTP for a similar aesthetics across dungeons while singing the praises of LA? Maybe Viewtiful can crop us together a picture of some LA dungeons. You won't find anything to dissimilar from what he showed in that LTTP comparison.
 

Serrato

Member
I think LA did more with less dungeon wise. They could have at least not homogenized the music as well as the design.

If you talk about that every room are ''squared'' and that it's the same music in every dungeon... so Super Metroid got bad design cause it's always rectangles? what?

We have : Prison, Underwater Dungeon, Desert Dungeon, Swamp Dungeon, Rock/Mountain Dungeon, Ice Dungeon, Tower Dungeon, Castle Dungeon, Forest/Crypt Dungeon, Catacomb Dungeon, Evil Lair Dungeon etc.


A Link to the Past Dungeons are great, good level design design that is still the staple in the main series. Link's Awekening Dungeons are near but not I personnaly prefer ALTTP ones.
 

Pseudo_Sam

Survives without air, food, or water
My god... the Lorule overworld theme. Just incredible. Reminds me of Spirit Track's over world theme with the percussion.
 

Neiteio

Member
What the what?! Roasting LTTP for a similar aesthetics across dungeons while singing the praises of LA? Maybe Viewtiful can crop us together a picture of some LA dungeons. You won't find anything to dissimilar from what he showed in that LTTP comparison.
I don't think JC is suggesting LA is some aesthetic leap over ALttP, but rather he's saying that ALttP's dungeons (and by extension, LA's) are hardly untouchable like some would like to treat them. And so it's plausible to prefer ALBW's dungeons, which are arguably more varied in appearance, and obviously more varied in gameplay, attacking situations from all angles thanks to 3D and the painting mechanic.

Personally, I'm expecting great things with this game's dungeons. If they're shorter overall, that's fine, maybe even preferable with my schedule these days and the portable format. All I know is the Tower of Hera-style dungeon they demoed to the press way back when was one of the best-looking Zelda dungeons I've seen in a while. I can't wait!
 
What the what?! Roasting LTTP for a similar aesthetics across dungeons while singing the praises of LA? Maybe Viewtiful can crop us together a picture of some LA dungeons. You won't find anything to dissimilar from what he showed in that LTTP comparison.

It had the same(if not more) limitations for sure, but I feel like they did a better job to make them feel different and more memorable. To be fair, the music might have a huge part in this, that's really where I think the LttP are lacking compared to all following Zelda's.
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Nintendo, why you gotta unleash this and Mario 3D World on the same day?

WHY YOU GOTTA MAKE ME CHOSE WHICH TO PLAY?? ;P
 

Yuterald

Member
I'm so, so excited for this. Was trying to implement a LttP replay leading up to this release, but I couldn't pencil it into my schedule. Oh well, game sounds glorious. Can't wait to see the dungeons!
 

Jucksalbe

Banned
I really hope VGP ships early again, I don't want to wait sooo long (importing to Europe).

Anyway, in preparation I decided to finally play through Majora's Mask, which is basically the only one of the "bigger" Zeldas that I haven't finished (so everything outside of stuff like Four Swords Adventure), and goddamn that game annoys me. Having to redo so much stuff after a time reset (and even beat bosses again) is not fun.
 

jwhit28

Member
Dungeons are the one aspect where the series has only become better and better (and one of the reasons I don't understand how Majora's Mask can be held so highly). Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword's dungeons were great. I like Link's Awakening because the enemies and characters are so unique, but the overworld is frustrating. Fetch quest makes it feel like I'm walking the same path over and over (something I see complained about in Skyward Sword a lot as well). Everything feels so closed off compared to LttP. I rather spend my time in dungeons instead of plodding in the overworld hoping I don't activate a "can't lift that stone" or "you have the power" textbox.
 

maxcriden

Member
I really hope VGP ships early again, I don't want to wait sooo long (importing to Europe).

Anyway, in preparation I decided to finally play through Majora's Mask, which is basically the only one of the "bigger" Zeldas that I haven't finished (so everything outside of stuff like Four Swords Adventure), and goddamn that game annoys me. Having to redo so much stuff after a time reset (and even beat bosses again) is not fun.

Weird, I didn't remember having to beat bosses again in MM. The game requires it?
 

Jucksalbe

Banned
Weird, I didn't remember having to beat bosses again in MM. The game requires it?

Not necessarily, but
I've beaten the boss in the mountains. It became spring and I won the Goron race to get the gold dust which in turn I can use to get a better sword. But since I was on my third day after going through all of the dungeon, I couldn't get the new sword (too late to order it at the blacksmith), I have to do this after I reset time. But when I did, everything went back to the winter landscape again, which means I have to beat the boss again and clear the boulder in front of the Goron race and win the race again.
It's not really all that motivating.
 
Top Bottom