Zelda: The Wind Waker

[hughes]

That is a fantastic pic.

[GwiDan]

It was a short game for a reason: to stop thing getting tedious. By the time you had to search for the bleeding shards, the urge to turn the machine off started to grow. Other than that, it was a marvellous game and achievement - Nintendo really deserve some credit for managing to display such emotion from a videogame character. It's not a patch on OOT, but imagination may have been running thin at Miyamoto headquarters, so it was better to end the game while they were ahead instead of letting it dissolve into the dullness it very nearly achieved.

Tower of the Gods was the pinnacle for me.

[kamrantaz]

if that was there mission then they failed.

[GwiDan]

The ending was a bit flat, granted, but the rest of the game was nice enough. It made an impression on myself, at least.

[Jack]

The ending was a bit flat, granted, but the rest of the game was nice enough. It made an impression on myself, at least.

I really liked the ending.

It was rather touching. I certaintly felt sorry for the King of Hyrule, sacrificing himself and his kingdom for the future of Link and Zelda.

[AndyB]

Most overrated game this year.

It shouldn't be mentioned in the same week as a Zelda game, never mind the same breath.

Your quite obviously wrong.

IMO of course.

[kensei]

Your quite obviously wrong.

IMO of course.

I am quite obviously bleedin' right. I played it all the way to the end, too.

Let's see, what have we got? Half - baked plot that didn't explain anything, and left it on a irritating cliff hanger? Comedy characters (fart boots? That knight dude? C'mon)? Repetitive stealth sections? The non-puzzles? I could go on.

I am honestly dumbfounded that anyone who has ever played any Zelda game could even comtemplate that BGE even approaches the bench marks that series has set. It's nothing to do with Nintendo making it, or adult or kiddie or anything. It is simply to do with the fact that the content isn't there.

The fact they were going to charge £40 for it if they could have got away with it boggles the mind. It just about provided the £18 (then recoup some on trade) that I paid for it.

All, of course, IMO. But I'd hope people contemplating apurchase would heed me as not to be dissappointed.

[Comrade]

cant remember it was in an interview well quite a few from last year from various people "we had a lot of things that we couldnt include in TWW or things that didnt fit in. These will be put into later zelda"

or something like that.

So what's your point? Practically every game have bits cut out of them, it's one of the reasons that sequels are made, so that the unused bits can be used.

I'd like to remind you that OOT had temples removed (Temple Of Light anyone?) and I imagine that MM probably had whatever remained of these lost elements, but it was still a very different game.

[Venice Cull]

it's one of the reasons that sequels are made, so that the unused bits can be used.

Zany!

[Davros sock drawer]

I am quite obviously bleedin' right. I played it all the way to the end, too.

Let's see, what have we got? Half - baked plot that didn't explain anything, and left it on a irritating cliff hanger? Comedy characters (fart boots? That knight dude? C'mon)? Repetitive stealth sections? The non-puzzles? I could go on.

I am honestly dumbfounded that anyone who has ever played any Zelda game could even comtemplate that BGE even approaches the bench marks that series has set. It's nothing to do with Nintendo making it, or adult or kiddie or anything. It is simply to do with the fact that the content isn't there.

The fact they were going to charge £40 for it if they could have got away with it boggles the mind. It just about provided the £18 (then recoup some on trade) that I paid for it.

All, of course, IMO. But I'd hope people contemplating apurchase would heed me as not to be dissappointed.

Blimey! You must be some kind of negative of me, so diametrically opposed are our views on this game.

Oh well, different strokes and all that. I thought it was the best game I've played in months - see the various BG&E love-ins from a few months ago. I'd personally hope that people would read those, then rush out and buy it.

[Vemsie]

It sure was. 5 pages of appreciation a cinematic masterpiece.

48 pages of anal retentive bile.

Indeed. I weep just thinking of it.

[Plums]

The sailing was a total dream.  Sure, there was a bit too much of it, but it felt entirely perfect.

I was spoilt by pirates of the caribbean (sea dogs II) on the PC. It is a hugely flawed game, but by god the sailing is luscious, makes WW seem like toobin'.

Oh, and beyond good and evil was great, but it only seemed to dip into it's ideas, not fully explore them, it could have been so much more. Still not a patch on ico.

[AndyB]

Oh, and beyond good and evil was great, but it only seemed to dip into it's ideas, not fully explore them

But at least it had new ones.

[jet_set_radio]

yes it is shit.

its time nintendo made some new franchises.

oooooooooh a hookshot!!!!

hmmm unlit torches...i wonder what to do??!

and the sailing in windwaker was just a shit way to tie together incoherent stages. a very shit way.

A lazy, uninspired cash-in. From Nintendo.

Who'd have thought it?

[dr_lha]

But at least it had new ones.

Like what exactly.

I'm a fan of BG&E BTW - but I can't really see what new ideas were in the game.

[D-Side]

It was an epic experience curtailed into a reasonable amount of time. How's about that for a 'new idea'?

[Ebisumaru]

A lazy, uninspired cash-in. From Nintendo.

Who'd have thought it?

Whether you like Nintendo's output or (indeed,) not, you can hardly argue that they have purported any intent other than the acquirement of wealth. They've always been in it for the money, and most probably will be for a long time to come.

[CrispinG]

I'm not reading twelve pages of this.

I only started it yesterday after receiving my copy in the post, and it's clearly the most utterly engrossing and truly beautiful videogame since, well, Ocarina of Time. Only a prick of the highest order could possibly dislike this game.

[Alex W.]

It is really beautiful at times, isn't it? The plant boss was a technicolour dream, and the tree stage (totally forgotten its name) was enchanting. Cel shading really did work in large parts of it.

[dr_lha]

It was an epic experience curtailed into a reasonable amount of time. How's about that for a 'new idea'?

Personally BG&E seems a little short, finished in a never to be resolved cliff hanger, and seemed like it was missing a dungeon or too. If we're being honest here. Sure it never dragged though. Making a game short is hardly a new idea though.

[D-Side]

It is really beautiful at times, isn't it? The plant boss was a technicolour dream, and the tree stage (totally forgotten its name) was enchanting. Cel shading really did work in large parts of it.

The only thing that I can clearly remember about WW is that it was, and still is, truly beautiful. Perhaps the main flaw with the game is not its' general quality, but whether it was really memorable or not.

[Alex W.]

The only thing that I can clearly remember about WW is that it was, and still is, truly beautiful. Perhaps the main flaw with the game is not its' general quality, but whether it was really memorable or not.

You're onto something there. While some bosses and visual things and painful collecting things which took me four months of off and on gaming to finally get through ( ) stick in my mind, none of the puzzles do, and few of the characters. It's solid, robust stuff, but like the last GBA Castlevania, relatively forgettable after the fact.

[AndyB]

Only a prick of the highest order could possibly dislike this game.

What if you don't like action adventures?

[CrispinG]

Then you're a prick.

[Vemsie]

One thing I'll never forget is the black and white level. A truly stunning moment.

That and the badass finale. Never knew Link had it in him

[AndyB]

Then you're a prick.

Oh

[CrispinG]

I thought one of the bravest decisions Nintendo made with the game, aside from the cel-shading, was to abandon Link as a character. It was a smart choice, and it makes sense that Link would leave a legend behind.

[Comrade]

I thought one of the bravest decisions Nintendo made with the game, aside from the cel-shading, was to abandon Link as a character. It was a smart choice, and it makes sense that Link would leave a legend behind.

Well, it's not as if the character you play is very different from Link. And you've played different generations of Link before anyway.

[D-Side]

That's not a new thing though. If you look at the (confused) timeline of the Zelda saga, several 'Links' have an influence on later adventures.

[Paradigm]

I'm not reading twelve pages of this.

I only started it yesterday after receiving my copy in the post, and it's clearly the most utterly engrossing and truly beautiful videogame since, well, Ocarina of Time. Only a prick of the highest order could possibly dislike this game.

I just had the same feeling regarding both the opinions and the twelve pages. High five.

WW for me is much better than even OOT. OOT, IMO, had some deep problems with dungeon layout, and sections such as Jabu Jabu's Belly really were not very good. Then the repeating temples later on. Not bad enough to give up on or anything, but mediocre at best. WW captures the magic of Zelda in a better way than OOT did. It *feels* more like LTTP, and has been a breath of fresh air to me. The cel-shading wasn't simply "cel-shading", it was crafted in such a way that it had a certain *style* - you don't get that purely by using a graphical effect, it has to be done in the right way (see XIII for absence of style).

The dungeons are more focused and logically laid out than OOT, the fully 3D world (as opposed to high-res backdrops) is soooooo much better, the characters are less annoying, I daresay there's more actually "to do" apart from your main quest, and using the boat as transport to differentiate from sections is genius.

It's a fabulous game.