The Legend of Zelda

[Galletea]

I have noticed how fiercely protective some people here are of the series, and in particular of Ocarina of Time.

So at the risk of making myself very unpopular here, I don't like the series. I've played a few of them and I really disliked Ocarina. I found it repetitive and annoying. I didn't like the repetitive music and I couldn't relate to the characters or the story. I found Twilight Princess to be an improvement but still couldn't get into it.

I'm guessing I'm in a minority here but thought I'd ask your thoughts on the series.

 

[Syphonz]

You're not alone. haven't liked any of them and have given all of them, for the exception of windwaker and phantom hour glass, at least 2 hrs of my time.

 

[Beowulf DW]

I like the series itself, but I certainly don't share the sentiment of many other Zelda fans on Ocarina of Time. I liked it, but I thought that Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess were better.

Wind Waker is definitely my favorite.

As to the appeal of the Legend of Zelda, I think it lies in the appeal of the "Hero Myth," in general. Every Legend of Zelda game has a plot similar to the generic Western hero myths:

1) a young man is given a call to action (in the form of a dream or an unusual event).
2) young man answers the call to action.
3) young man recieves a gift (usually in the form of a weapon), as well as guidance from a mentor/parent-figure.
4) young man faces his first trial.
5) young man overcomes said trial, becomes recognized as a hero, and starts on the path to resolving some kind of major problem.

It's the classic fantasy of a little boy. Many of us at one time in our lives wanted to be Luke Skywalker, Aragorn, King Arthur, etc. The appeal of the Legend of Zelda (and many other) series is that you get to be the "Chosen Hero."

 

[Dictaternutz]

Lol, Link to the past is my favorite one, Windwaker was the biggest dissapointment to me, after Ocarina of Time( yes I liked it, and I tend to ignore Majora's Mask because I found it to be severly stupid) I was all excited about a next gen zelda. What did I get in return for my anticipation? The big heaping pile of poo that is wind waker, who's bright idea was the cel shading, and the sailing EVERYWHERE.......but moving on, they finally made decent one on the next-next gen(WII) /rant

 

[Syphonz]

I like the series itself, but I certainly don't share the sentiment of many other Zelda fans on Ocarina of Time. I liked it, but I thought that Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess were better.

Wind Waker is definitely my favorite.

As to the appeal of the Legend of Zelda, I think it lies in the appeal of the "Hero Myth," in general. Every Legend of Zelda game has a plot similar to the generic Western hero myths:

1) a young man is given a call to action (in the form of a dream or an unusual event).
2) young man answers the call to action.
3) young man recieves a gift (usually in the form of a weapon), as well as guidance from a mentor/parent-figure.
4) young man faces his first trial.
5) young man overcomes said trial, becomes recognized as a hero, and starts on the path to resolving some kind of major problem.

It's the classic fantasy of a little boy. Many of us at one time in our lives wanted to be Luke Skywalker, Aragorn, King Arthur, etc. The appeal of the Legend of Zelda (and many other) series is that you get to be the "Chosen Hero."

I agree with that. Growing up as a little nerd myself i always wanted to be a Jedi. But that soon changed as I matured and in video games (mostly shooters) I want feel like I'm just as expendable as the other NPC's around me, I mostly despise games that have the 'one man army' type of feel (DOOM, HALO, FEAR). I still like Half Life because of the story and how some events unfold.

But back to the topic at hand, Maybe I would've enjoyed the Zelda series if i had started when i was a youngin' like i did with Mario. Just Something you can't step into when you reach a certain point

 

[Aries_Split]

Ocarina of Time is the greatest game ever made.


/thread.

 

[sneakypenguin]

Never liked the games combat was easy, puzzles never appealed to me, and story was meh. but to each his own I suppose

 

[Galletea]

Ocarina of Time is the greatest game ever made.


/thread.

Care to elaborate?

 

[Librarian Mike]

I was a latecomer to the Zelda franchise. My first one was Link to the Past on the Virtual Console, which I loved. I've since played pretty much all of them except for Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, and I can certainly see why people go crazy for it. While I'm not a big Zelda fan, I have a lot of respect for the consistently high quality of its games. I can understand the main criticism that is leveled at it, which is that you're playing basically the same game over and over again, but then again my favorite series is Metroid and it often gets slammed for the same reason.

 

[SecretTacoNinja]

It's my favourite game series.

Except for Phantom Hourglass... and A Link to the Past... that game is just TOO hard... Seriously, I've nearly given up...

Ocarina of Time is the greatest game ever made.


/thread.

Really Aries? Huh...
Ditto

Well maybe not the BEST, NO game is, but it's definitely my favourite.

 

[Vlane]

Ocarina of Time is the greatest game ever made.


/thread.

Are you sure? Ok some magazines said it is and it's not that bad and I like it but it's not even in my top ten. If it's really the greatest game ever made it has to be #1 on every list.

 

[Dictaternutz]

I was a latecomer to the Zelda franchise. My first one was Link to the Past on the Virtual Console, which I loved. I've since played pretty much all of them except for Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, and I can certainly see why people go crazy for it. While I'm not a big Zelda fan, I have a lot of respect for the consistently high quality of its games. I can understand the main criticism that is leveled at it, which is that you're playing basically the same game over and over again, but then again my favorite series is Metroid and it often gets slammed for the same reason.

Lol, I jumped from playing the pure Liquid Awesome that was NES/SNES Metroid to playing the gamecube one...... A key element missing seemed to be, oh I don't know, shooting AND moving at the same time....yeeeeeah

 

[Gxas]

Ocarina of Time is the greatest game ever made.


/thread.

Care to elaborate?

Personally, I enjoyed the game because of the difficult puzzles and the different, albeit same, story. I just thought that OoT had more time spent on the story than the rest of the Zelda games. I do have one reason for people not to buy the game though: Navi. Plain and simple.

 

[RAWKSTAR]

I did definatly enjoy OOT but its most definatly dated now, WindWaker has claimed my faverate Zelda game.

 

[Dr Spaceman]

I have loved the Zelda games since I played Link's Awakening on my Game Boy. (The original one, you know, the huge gray brick.) It's amazing that Nintendo is able to make essentially the same game, over and over again, but they make the right amount of tweaks and changes that the game still feels fresh every time a new one comes out.

Even though Twilight Princess didn't integrate the Wii controls as well as say, Resident Evil 4, I have never had such intense boss battles as I did in TP. That's not to say they were terribly difficult, but that I had never really played a game where I jumped up off the couch swinging the controller and yelling at the TV screen. It was a lot of fun, and I'd love to see what Nintendo can do with a Zelda game that is designed expressly for the Wii.

Oh, and I really, really liked Majora's Mask. It was really weird and different, and is one of the few games I spent hours finding every secret I could. I mean, when you found all the masks, you got the FIERCE DEITY mask! Link has never been more badass. Any enemy, boss, or minor god would have zero chance of defeating Link in fierce deity mode. Totally worth it.

 

[RedElectric]

I've played just about every Zelda game in the series; hell i even played the original Zelda when it was new! I...don't really care about ANY Zelda game after A Link to the Past. In my estimation, that's the point where Zelda became the same game over and over again.

Now, in defense of the series, I haven't played Wind Waker or Phantom Hourglass, but i found that Twilight Princess was pretty much ALttP again, with a wolf mini-game thrown in for good measure. I'd like to think that Wind Waker is actually GOOD, seeing as how Zelda cultists hate it with such passion. But to be honest, unless something really earth-shattering happens with the Zelda series, I'll not be buying another one.

 

[Aries_Split]

Ocarina of Time is the greatest game ever made.


/thread.

Care to elaborate?

Alright. First of all, along with Mario 64, it was the first to do a 3D game RIGHT. Much of the praise also comes for it's excellent Game-play. The Sword combat was top notch, as was aiming in First Person view. The fact that I can go back and play OOT, and it controls better than most modern games is a pretty big thing. The Graphics are beautiful, as is the soundtrack. I stand by the fact that OOT had the strongest soundtrack of any game, ever. And this is all technical. The game had a very cinematic presentation, and the story, while not very original, was good. The boss fights were all clever, and there were very few, if any, fights you could win by hammering the attack button.

All in all, OOT was revolutionary 10 years ago, and has withstood the test of time to remain one of the greatest games of all time.

 

[PureChaos]

Ocarina of Time is the greatest game ever made.


/thread.

i agree. its very dark and the battles are immense. i like the music, characters (some more than others) the weapons and every time i see the ending it makes me want to do it all over again.

majora's mask was OK but nothing special, wind waker was a disappointing and twilight princess was great. the original was fun and links adventure i didn't finish. as a series it is the best ive played and i hope they make another

i found out a wile ago that Shigeru Myamoto (who created the series) based it on him as a child when he explored where he lived searching through forests and caves, just like you do in the series.

if people dont like the series then each to their own, im sure there are things they like that i don't

 

[Galletea]

I appreciate we can't all like the same things, I just wanted some reasoning to the 'its the best thing ever' theory

Though I agree the control system is as good as you can hope for, and it does seem well executed as a series. Phantom hourglass was fun but the characters got on my nerves a bit, I liked the sailing tho, maybe I should try windwaker.

Any thoughts on that?

 

[tobyornottoby]

Majora's Mask is my personal best game ever, and Ocarina of Time is what made me into a 'gamer'

So at the risk of making myself very unpopular here, I don't like the series. I've played a few of them and I really disliked Ocarina. I found it repetitive and annoying. I didn't like the repetitive music and I couldn't relate to the characters or the story. I found Twilight Princess to be an improvement but still couldn't get into it.

I loved how Link had no voice at all, which I could fill in, and the music was simply awesome. Anyways, do you simple not like the genre, or what (similar) games do you like?

Any enemy, boss, or minor god would have zero chance of defeating Link in fierce deity mode. Totally worth it.

That fish endboss of the water temple ;_; I couldn't figure how to kill him with Fierce Deity