Zero Punctuation: The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker HD

[Arnoxthe1]

I'm sorry but I don't care what anyone says. I was NEVER a fan of kid Link (can't connect with him at all and his appearance looks stupid) and was never a fan of cartoony, cell-shaded graphics (really feel it doesn't go with LoZ) and Wind Waker has all this in SPADES. I kid you not, from the FIRST moment I saw this game, I didn't like it. Even further, it started the whole tradition of cell-shaded, kid Link LoZ's and I hate it for that. So yeah, worst Zelda game for me.

Now I'm ready for your rage. Come at me, bros!

As far as Twilight Princess goes, let me be the first to say that this game has problems. Serious problems that cause it to trail somewhat distantly after OoT. It's like the developers were too scared to completely let go of some of the kiddiness inherent in the LoZ series. So they just half-assed it. And when you're making these kinds of games, (mature games) you can't half-ass it. You gotta go all the way or the maturity that you're working so hard to build is lost.

Besides that, there are other rather small problems as well like some of the items being useless outside of their respective dungeons, a couple of the visual designs on different objects looked a little dumb, the whole world feeling rather empty and a little small compared to Ocarina of Time and Zant, when you face him in the end, is such a letdown.

HOWEVER, besides all that nonsense, the game in every other aspect is something truly ambitious and worthy of praise. A lot of the dungeons were actually better than OoT's even. It's a game that I feel deserves a revisit in some way. A LoZ game that had SERIOUS potential.

 

[Sean951]

I like the Wii-U version more than the GC. Main reason? The Wii-U is hooked up to my TV in the living room, so I just hit a button on the gamepad and play in my bed before going to sleep. That one realization made me absurdly happy to discover.

 

[major_chaos]

Did they get rid of the godawful, tedious, pointless, contrived forced stealth section that completely killed any desire I had to play the original? no? Then no purchase. Whoever thought that was a good idea needs to take their meds more consistently and stop getting game ideas from "the voices".

 

[RJ Dalton]

I am highly suspicious that "mingegurgle" isn't a real word.

Also, I never played Wind-Waker. I kinda skipped that generation of game consoles.

 

[Evonisia]

Can't truly call it a Wii U game though.. it's on the WII u, but it's virtually the same as the original Gamecube game, only with loads of more sunlight and glare to blind you. The original release of the game on GC was fine as is.. unlike real HD re-releases, this is pretty much the same game only put out to make money from people who don't have gamecube copy of the game and like using a oversized unwieldy tablet to try and control the game. nintendo: the master of giving you games you want with unnecessarily added crap on top of it.

Oh I know, I was going to include "I'm not sure whether it could count anyway" but I decided not to. But still, it defies expectations we have of Yahtzee just by being on the Wii U.

 

[Crispee]

I rather enjoyed this review, for all people saying about his apparent special hatred for Nintendo, he seems to have absolutely no criticisms for the original Wind Waker, and doesn't try to disguise the fact.

I too wonder what he thinks of Majora's Mask, it has a load of different gameplay features and like Wind Waker, the adventure is kicked off because of a decision Link made rather than boring prophecies telling him to and the story is quite interesting.

 

[Blunderboy]

And lo, form this day forth I shall use the term Mingegurgle at every possible opportunity.

OT - I've never really gotten into Zelda games. I played Twilight Princess on a friends Wii for about an hour. I called my horse, Minge.

Am I missing out?

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Wait. I thought you said you liked Twilight Princess, only thinking less of it after finding it to be built off the skeleton of Ocarina of Time. Oh well, no reason you can't like both, I certainly do.

'Mixed reactions'. Understatement. I'll always remember the ridiculous fan backlash Nintendo took for Wind Waker's new graphical style after the 'realistic' Link/Ganondorf sword duel in the previous year's Gamecube trailer. One angry letter described it as a 'baby easy kiddie game' before even playing it. Seeing just how good a game it was after that was actually far more satisfying than if they'd played it safe, and as demonstrated Wind Waker's style has aged a whole lot better than any 'realistic' looking game from that generation.

Smart of them to abbreviate the Triforce Hunt, though if you can make that drastic a change I see no reason not to go whole hog and throw in some bonus islands too, maybe fill out some of the sectors a bit more, eliminate any drops at all in Hero Mode and make rupees worth something again. Ah, that delicious, delicious soup...

 

[LysanderNemoinis]

Uh...everyone might want to google minge by itself...or not. Because it is a word.

 

[The Random One]

I'm disappointed Yahtzee forgot the third Link mood, "overjoyed at catching a fish far beyond acceptable societal norms".

 

[FallenMessiah88]

I always liked the pirate theme of this game. I should probably get this when I get a WiiU.

 

[Zak757]

How can I naturally use "mingegurgle" in normal conversation?

 

[RJ 17]

Juggalo Helicopters....HA!

Good review...gotta say I've liked this one more than any other recent entries. Though to be fair, that might just be because of the Juggalo reference.

 

[Cybylt]

Windwaker Remake?!
I got stuff on my shelves thats older then that. But it probably deserves the remake.

I don't know if that makes me an old fart, for remembering it when it was fresh and kicking, or if Nintendo doesn't wanna wait 15 years for a redo of things.
Since well.... they never done redos exept for Zelda Games.

Theres seriously something smelling fishy about all this....

Actually the Nintendo Direct revealing it pretty much said they made this to hold people over for actual releases and to give their team a chance to fiddle with HD graphics options without making something from scratch first.

No bullshit grandstanding about preserving series history or anything, just "Hey guys we can make stuff prettier now, ain't that some shit?"

 

[PortalThinker113]

I would love to see people take the link to this review and e-mail it to Sean Malstrom and see what kind of whiny pedantic diatribe he counters with in regards to it because all he's done on his blog for the past year now is go on tirades on how much of a sin against Nintendo and video games Wind Waker is and how Anouma should be hung because he made it and it exists and blah blah blah.

In fact, I'm probably going to go do that right now....

EDIT: Speaking of which, here's an example of the guy I'm talking about going on about how much of a sin Wind Waker really is. (Okay he's not talking Wind Waker specifically but he mentions it as his Zelda example of what's wrong w/ Nintendo)

http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/email-nintendo-strengths-and-weaknesses/

Seriously, Yahtzee needs to spend next week's Extra Punctuation talking about what's wrong with these kinds of people. I hate these kinds of elitist garbage polluting the game industry w/ self righteous BS.

...why did you tell me this person exists?

I just spent the last 15 minutes reading his articles and I want to curl up in a fetal position and just not interact with anyone for a while. Why? Why does a person like this exist? His opinions don't make any sense, and he completely believes that what he thinks is "cool" is what everyone considers cool. Dear Lord...

OP: Wind Waker is, and probably always will be, my favorite Zelda. It's also one of my top 10 games of all time, easily. That open sea is filled with adventure and exploration without a single loading bar to interrupt anything (on the Gamecube, no less!). The art style is beautiful and timeless, and it gives the characters so much expression and personality. The story is one of the more interesting Zelda tales, and it contains my favorite version of Ganon by far. I could go on, but you all get the point.

Suffice it to say, I love Wind Waker. It didn't really need an HD release, but I will gladly take it.

 

[PortalThinker113]

Because I'm sick of people like him ruining the industry, that's why. These kinds of people are obviously what's going to lead to the next crash.

Also because I want to see if Yahtzee or anyone here can come up with a counterargument to what this guy is preaching. How can you possibly hate Wind Waker's art style or preach anything that was mentioned in that article unless you've clearly never played it.

People stopped hating Wind Waker after 2002 yet this man and others (like the people behind that Anouma style video; look it up) claim that was never true. The fact that Yahtzee, a man I will admit to labeling biased in the past, is willing to admit to liking it is proof that Nintendo didn't make an HD remake of it just because they are "making games for themselves" and that gamers are getting too cynical in this day and age and I fear the next industry crash is going to happen partially because of that.

More on topic: I haven't gotten Wind Waker HD yet due to time and other releases but I plan to pick it up for Christmas. I do have to ask the people actually playing it one thing though: Can I still find those golden Tingle statues despite them taking the Tingle Tuner out of the game? I always enjoyed getting those if only for the cash boost each one gave.

Oh, I totally agree. People like him are one of the things that are directly harming video games as an industry and an art form. Appealing only to what is "cool," stamping out all creativity and individual vision to force developers to make games that they don't want to make in the name of commercialism, being completely unsatisfied with the sales of a game that sold 4.6 million copies [http://www.vgchartz.com/game/2400/the-legend-of-zelda-the-wind-waker/] and deeming it a failure... Does all this sound familiar? It should, because that's the thinking driving way too many high-ranking businessmen at many AAA devs right now.

I'm not necessarily worried about a crash, but this method of thinking is doing some serious damage.

 

[Roxas1359]

At least he mentioned the ridiculous bloom filter applied so hard it looks like fog.

The bloom is the only thing that I dislike about the remake. I mean I saw a comparison of the Tower of the Gods appears cutscene and in the HD remake you couldn't even tell their was a sky it was so bright.
Although bloom always has been Nintendo's problem in some aspects. It's like J. J. Abrams and lens flare. XD

 

[Something Amyss]

Its so weird to see Yahtzee really enjoy a Nintendo game, or at least straight up say he enjoys one.

I sort of wonder how many people were queuing up the comments section to rip Yahtzee for always hating Nintendo games and being TEH BIAS and so on only to feel the jarring of a car wreck when he said nice things about it.

Since well.... they never done redos exept for Zelda Games.

Wait, what? Never? Maybe not recently, but they've done tons of Mario remakes.

 

[Aptspire]

I'm kinda sad that Yahtzee didn't do TWAU or TSP this week, but oh well.
OT: I'm also surprised that Yahtzee actually enjoyed a Nintendo game. He seems to have... trouble... with 20+ years franchises.