Twilight Princess

It’s a beautiful sight, and a beautiful game. That is all. Review links follow just to make this thread more worthy of your time, if you are into that sort of thing. I just googled.

GameSpy
1UP
Eurogamer
Google

PS: The starting village section was very Shen Mue-ish don’t you think? Lovely.

I thought Twilight Princess was crap – and the fact that it sold over a million copies in the US, alone, makes me want to puke because that means they are going to keep using the same retarded game engine over and over again.

I have nothing good to say about the game because there is nothing good to say about it – there’s no voice acting, the game is clunky on both the Wii and the Cube, fighting monsters and finding treasure is a chore and is not fun, and the music and story suck.

The Zelda franchise needs to break away from the current game engine they’ve been recycling ever since Zelda 64, and perhaps create a sidestory game using a game engine like Castlevania SOTN or something - a game which will keep your interest all the way through. Zelda II for the NES was a step in the right direction, even though the game sucked horribly (which is probably why they haven’t tried being a little more innovative with Zelda in particular)

No no no no no. Let’s not fix what isn’t broken. It’s funny you should mention Zelda II because I felt that was the weakest game of the bunch. There is no such thing as a bad Zelda game. People may have their least favorites. People may not even care for the franchise in general. But we should all be glad that such care is being put into each and every new entry since most games in general are either cheap sequels, license games, or by-the-numbers appealing to certain demographics. People complained when Wind Waker was released saying it was too cartoony and wanted a return to the “grown up” formula of Ocarina of Time. Now guess what? People are still complaining. The only bad Zelda games are those horrible ones on the CD-I that weren’t even authorized by Nintendo.

I disliked Twilight Princess. Not because there was anything particularly wrong with it (it’s a solid game all round), but because I’d done the exact same thing so many times before in such a similar way. It’s the same “problem” I get with the current Castlevanias - they’re so similar that regardless of design and build quality I fell that I’m just retreading old ground.

I supposed that may be true, I never played Wind Waker so it’s mostly new to me, though I did play Ocarina of Time. I’m loving it, I just finished the forest temple and am on to the next part about to save the… Well, you know. As for it being too samey, well, I don’t know the details of the Wind Waker but I think it has enough new story and gameplay elements, the whole twilight deal, to distance itself from the rest of the series.

Not to mention Zelda-style games are quite scarce anyway. I mean, there’s Zelda, then perhaps ICO (though I think it’s quite different), and now Okami. That’s about it, most other attempts at similar game structure fall very short.

I think it’s really amazing they have achieved all this with the aging GameCube (yeah I’m playing it on the Wii). It really shows how better specs isn’t the only thing that can make a good game. I think it does for the GameCube what Vagrant Story did for the PS1 (and I actually notice similarities in the art direction of the effects and lighting among other things, for some reason). It really has nothing to be jealous of from truly “next gen” titles imo as the final result matches anything out there even with the low res textures or low-polygon count environments etc. The style shines through.

As for comments about the series being stale, well, this is only the 4th title to use the formula, and one of the 4 titles was a spin off rather than a real sequel. Plus, they did announce sometime back that Twilight Princess is the last Zelda as we know it (the DS title had been revealed already as well) so I would think their next sequel will be something new, and hopefully as ground breaking as Ocarina of Time was. I just hope it will come in this decade…

Castlevania, well, I hated all the GBA titles, except for Aria of Sorrow. I loved that, it really was what a portable SOTN should be. I haven’t played newer ones though Rondo of Blood for the PSP sounds interesting. And if it’s not, well, it includes SOTN so it’ll be worth it anyway I suppose. The Aria sequel on the DS seems to be good as well.

Sorry, but the Zelda formula is incredibly awful; it needs to be changed. As for the Zelda II comment, I never said it was a good game (far from it); what I did say, however, is that it was a step in the right direction as far as gameplay is concerned. The sidescrolling element of Zelda II would translate into a very good Zelda SOTN clone – but, Nintendo is set in its pathetic ways and refuses to change; therefore, hopefully their demise is imminent.

Dude, you stated your opinion, we got it, there’s no need to repeat it every time people disagree with you (that happens a lot) and clutter threads with it. Ok, you think the game is shit, we understand it, move on… You didn’t add anything new anyway, just repeated.

Kadamose where the hell did you come from? I haven’t seen any posts from you at all and all the ones I’ve recently have been buckets of shite.

Anyway back to the topic yeah I can’t comment never played it nor seen it being played.

IMO Ocarina of Time was ground breaking in excecution but not in content, and sticking too closely to that popular formula over the years has made the series stagnant in my eyes.

The Twilight Realm is little more than the standard areas with a few nice filters, and the wolf combat is done better in Okami. Was anyone suprised when they recieved a lantern? A bow? A boomerang? Or that they were solving puzzles with them in the same way they have been doing for over a decade? Dungeons still follow the same basic rule sets they always have - little keys, timers, master key unlocks the boss room…

I know this all comes across as though I don’t like the game - I do. It’s a well-crafted game with a lot of love poured into it, and it deserves to do well. Having said that, it’s also extremely similar to every other “main” Zelda I’ve played since I was a kid.

Well, without that formula would it really be Zelda? I’m sure most fans by now expect it to be like this… The general response to the announcement that this is “the last Zelda as we know it” was quite negative as well, on various forums and such. But you are right, it’s basically more of the same, but that same is something damn good, and we don’t get it that often, with the exception of the Capcom made gameboy/advance titles… And I did skip Wind Waker as I didn’t have a GC… Maybe I’ll pick it up at some point if I can bother getting a GC controller as well…

Well when Mario went all 64 on us they ditched the majority of the old gameplay mechanics and still created something undeniably “Mario” and I think Nintendo are strong and creative enough to do it with Zelda as well.

[quote=“Kadamose”]

Sorry, but the Zelda formula is incredibly awful; it needs to be changed. As for the Zelda II comment, I never said it was a good game (far from it); what I did say, however, is that it was a step in the right direction as far as gameplay is concerned. The sidescrolling element of Zelda II would translate into a very good Zelda SOTN clone – but, Nintendo is set in its pathetic ways and refuses to change; therefore, hopefully their demise is imminent.[/quote]

Funny. That’s what I said about Grand Theft Auto. Inventor of sandbox style my ass.

SOTN is the only one that needs to be like SOTN. Zelda shares that game’s free roaming gameplay, but Zelda isn’t about beating oodles of enemies and bosses to stock up on items like SOTN is. I’m actually not enjoying Portrait of Ruin simply because it’s trying too much to be like SOTN.

At any rate, Zelda’s one of the few franchises I remain loyal to. Okami blew my mind simply because it was such a loving homage to Zelda while still being different. Zelda itself is still churning out gold while all the other franchises are being run into the ground (cough, Starfox and Sonic, cough). I don’t like sports games. I don’t like fighting games. I hate the hip hop games. I’m not a big fan of Grand Theft Auto or all the super macho ultra-violent games like Ghost Recon or Crackdown. And if I hear there’s going to be a FF XIV, I’m gonna puke. There’s nothing left for me except for my old Saturn games and the quirky titles that pop up every now and then. Zelda is a solid staple and consistently paints a grand fantasy adventure I can escape to.

I don’t see how that’s possible, considering there is virtually NO storyline in any of the Zelda games. Add in the fact that all the music in every single one of them is midi composition bullshit, well, you get the idea. Zelda sucks. End of story.

Zelda’s gameplay is like Kingdom Hearts. I like how you use the items from arrows to swords, etc. I think it’s pretty good and Twilight Princess is the best game for the Wii. It’s like advancing Ocarina of Time by 200%.

Kadamose we fucking get it you think it’s shit ok move on.

[quote=“Kimimi”]
The Twilight Realm is little more than the standard areas with a few nice filters, and the wolf combat is done better in Okami. Was anyone suprised when they recieved a lantern? A bow? A boomerang? Or that they were solving puzzles with them in the same way they have been doing for over a decade? Dungeons still follow the same basic rule sets they always have - little keys, timers, master key unlocks the boss room…[/quote]

Well, I think these are conventions that many fans have come to expect out of Zelda games. I think the feeling of familiarity and regularly returning themes is what makes it so appealing for many. You know what you’re in for, you’ll know what you’ll get to hear when you find an item, you know that there is a 90% chance that Ganon(dorf) is the ultimate villain behind the troubles plaguing the land (or sea).

It’s a fine line really when it comes with the Zelda series, change too much (hello Wind Waker) and you’ll get part of the fandom upset, change too little and you’ll get another part of the fandom upset. But personally I don’t mind they stick to a tried and true formula and add bells and whistles and make minor changes, although that said, my favourite Zelda still is the Wind Waker. Something about it just made me think of it as the new benchmark for Zelda titles. But that’s for another topic.

And Castlevania has a story?

The very first Legend of Zelda had no story, but I still enjoy playing it because if it wasn’t for that game, dungeon crawlers would still be the same old “move from level to level and beat up monsters”. The Legend of Zelda changed all that by creating a huge world and filled it with secrets to find, certain ways of vanquishing enemies, and obstacles to overcome to find the way to the exit of the dungeon. The Legend of Zelda also gave you the ability to explore to your heart’s content if you didn’t want to do the next dungeon right that very instant. Subsequent entries injected more and more story by giving you characters to help out. You didn’t need full blown plot arcs, just bits and pieces. Otherwise I’d just be playing an RPG. If The Legend of Zelda didn’t have a story, why does Ocarina of Time have movie segments with characters telling Link their hopes and fears? I think the dungeon solving aspect was perfected with A Link to the Past and the character aspect was perfected with Ocarina of Time. Wind Waker, I think, is important because it returned the childlike charm that went missing by making Link a youngster again that he was originally anyway and by perfecting the facial expressions and animations. I think the music in every Zelda game is fine as is. They may be midi, but they do their job in evoking the mood of the scene. That’s more than I can say for FF VII’s score.

I’m just past the part where you use that bird/dragon thing to travel through certain areas and I think it’s now safe to say the scene was inspired by Panzer Dragoon because while you fly, every so often (maybe a couple times or so during the “trip”) it plays a few seconds of a tune that sounds like a track from a PD game (Zwei or Saga).

I don’t remember which track exactly but I’m almost certain it’s meant to be a tribute to PD. Anyone else been there yet and noticed it? The gameplay’s not too similar since you don’t actually shoot but just the look of that level and the few seconds of music are enough to make you think and feel Panzer Dragoon…

I know we’ve talked about that part before but I don’t remember if anyone commented on that music.

[quote=“Kadamose”]I thought Twilight Princess was crap – and the fact that it sold over a million copies in the US, alone, makes me want to puke because that means they are going to keep using the same retarded game engine over and over again.

I have nothing good to say about the game because there is nothing good to say about it – there’s no voice acting, the game is clunky on both the Wii and the Cube, fighting monsters and finding treasure is a chore and is not fun, and the music and story suck.

The Zelda franchise needs to break away from the current game engine they’ve been recycling ever since Zelda 64, and perhaps create a sidestory game using a game engine like Castlevania SOTN or something - a game which will keep your interest all the way through. Zelda II for the NES was a step in the right direction, even though the game sucked horribly (which is probably why they haven’t tried being a little more innovative with Zelda in particular)[/quote]

That sounded like you’re jealous of it because games like FF, Zelda, Castlevania, Halo, WoW, Mario, etc are more popular than the PD Series. In fact you always rant about how very good games are crap and claiming that PDS is the perfect and the best (Which is not really true now)

You know, you can’t always say PDS is perfect everyday and everyone whos getting sick of that comment. The best thing is, talk about something else besides PDS and that rape-adult game. And since you call me a retard in the past for mentioning FF, the fans themselves know more about it than you do and they don’t talk how crappy good games are. Perhaps I’ve seem other forums besides FF who do that way.