Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. This game had an undeserved bad rep before it was even released. Those "kiddy" graphics that everyone hated had incredible attention to detail in both set pieces and facial expressions, and the whole story felt more real than your precious Ocarina of Time can even dream of because of this.
But graphics don't matter for shit, so long as the gameplay and story is good, right? Right.
So, gameplay. It's pretty standard Zelda gameplay, very similar to Ocarina of Time. So what's new? Quite a bit.
There were some pretty fun stealth-based sections, a first in the series, despite what OoT and the Oracle games might have you believe. They weren't especially challenging, but there was some childlike innocence in seeing your feet poke out from beneath a barrel that never failed to endear itself to me.
Combat got enhanced as well. The ability to disarm opponents with a well-placed shield block was awesome. A new parry move was added, which allowed you to actually destroy enemies armor.
New items are always the most notable changes in a Zelda game. The grappling hook added a fun new dimension to exploration, as did the Deku Leaf. The titular Wind Waker, while definitely a ripoff of the Ocarina, actually had its uses in puzzles besides "use Zelda's Lullaby to advance the plot...again."
People complained about the sailing for some reason or another. For me, it actually made the world feel big. When I see islands slowly growing larger in the horizon, or seagulls flying alongside my ship, I actually felt like I was going on a hero's journey.
Now for the story...Okay it's not terribly original, but no Zelda story is. It's definitely more plausible than OoT, though, where Link is only saving the world because he doesn't possess the higher brain functions to refuse. Wind Waker's Link has a legitimate motive: rescuing his little sister. He sneaks into the Forsaken Fortress to do so, but gets expelled by the forces occupying the fortress. He is found by the King of Red Lions and told to go get the Master Sword because it will help Link rescue his sister. Link manages to save his sister and get her on board the pirate ship owned by his friend and ally Tetra when Ganon makes his move. It is revealed that Tetra is really Zelda, and Ganon wants her Triforce Piece. It is at this point that Link takes up the quest to save the world, and only because he wants to protect his friend Zelda. This is much more realistic than any other Zelda story, save maybe Twilight Princess, and while I do say that the "need" for realism is ridiculous, the characters' motivations and actions should at least be believable. Speaking of which, Link actually has a damn personality in this game, and that's awesome.
Oh, and there's no Navi. So, that's a plus.
So here's my question...Why do so many more people prefer Ocarina of Time over Wind Waker? It is not perfect, no doubt about that (any game with Tingle is not perfect), but it is, in my opinion, clearly superior to Ocarina of Time, and is definitely my favorite game of all time.
