29th August 2010, 2:18 PM
I know I've said it all before, but why not again. The problem is that while they tried, TP's attempt at having a good storyline failed. Zelda was the most pathetic she's ever been in a 3d Zelda game, the way they dealt with the whole Zelda/Midna and Zant/Ganon things just do not work at all, Link's also pretty pathetic... the characters are not very well done. Midna is the only highlight in the game, and that's not enough.
When I was playing the game, it felt like it was really a game about Zant and Midna, and the main Zelda characters were just shoehorned into it. Supposedly that's not true, and Midna was actually added later on, but it definitely does not feel this way. It feels like it's Link, Zelda, and Ganon who barely have any reason for being in the game.
Link doesn't really seem to care, for whatever reason. It feels much more like he's just doing stuff because Midna wants him to than because he actually cares about anything, besides saving Colin and Ilia maybe... I don't know, I've never gotten this impression from a Link before. This is one of the less interesting Links. (And then you've got stuff like that researcher guy who wants to find the city in the sky and has dedicated himself to finding it. Link finds it, but evidently never tells the guy about it? How cruel... those three people working to save Hyrule were a nice touch to have, but didn't actually do much. Another thing about the game that could have been improved, maybe.)
Zelda... Zelda of course is utterly pathetic, more useless than in any other 3d Zelda. She's supposedly the crown princess, about to be crowned queen before the disaster happened, but she does nothing, pretty much. She sits, locked up in a tower, depressed. I'm sure that if she actually wanted to, she could do something. Link and Midna could get in, are you really saying that there was no way to get her out? Wouldn't she be able to do some good, oh, I don't know, trying to resist Zant and such? She is supposedly the leader. But no, she'd rather sit around in that tower, depressed over that she surrendered. You see her twice before the ending, and think that she's dead for half of the game, not that it makes any impact really on the story. Then suddenly in the end she actually does some stuff... too late, though. Zelda in this game was very disappointing compared to the OoT or WW Zeldas.
Ganon... the whole way that "it's not actually Zant, it's Ganon!" was stupid. It reminded me of the five or six Mega Man games with "it's not actually X, it's Wily!" stories, and it's just as lame here as it is there -- except I think we should have higher expectations for Zelda stories than Mega Man. Some aspects of his story were interesting, like how after OoT Link got back he was executed, and he's understandably pretty angry, so it sort of worked... but really, no. The big reveal being that "It's actually Ganon again!" was really lame.
Midna... mostly she's great, but my one complaint would of course be that she can't do much of anything on her own, she needs Link the great male hero to do most of the stuff for her. That does affect her character, I think. She's cool, but would have been better had she been more independently competent, as I think she is considering her power.
I mean though, the game is fantastic. The gameplay is exceptional, visuals beautiful, scenery and vistas and cutscenes often amazing looking... it's an incredible game. And they did try to put in a story. It's just that it failed, and that had a significant impact on how much I liked the game until I finally managed to mostly look past it.
If I was to complain about other things about it though, it is too bad that while much harder than WW it's still not quite as hard as OoT (only sending you back to the door of the room instead of the start of the dungeon when you die, for instance, has a huge impact), and that was disappointing. Also, the NPCs and other characters, while there were a good number of them, sometimes feel sparse -- Hyrule city's got very little to do in it, Kakariko's almost entirely abandoned and does not get repopulated after you defeat the monsters that were threatening the town, etc. It makes for a cool "ghost town" kind of thing, but not a great actual town in a 3d Zelda game. Also, the part of the game before you can change form between wolf and human at will is annoying, because you keep having to travel around on foot or on horse, keep getting railed from place to place, etc. It didn't fit with the Zelda series well, and it really wasn't until I got the ability to switch forms and the world opened up that I finally began to love the game. Before that point it just doesn't feel right -- and that is a LARGE part of the game, many hours and several dungeons long. Gameplay-wise, this is by far my biggest problem with the game.
Overall though I like the overworld a lot. It's large, but not too large, has a lot of interesting things in it to explore, and once you can go to all of it and warp around, is pretty fun to explore. I like the world, the graphics, the design, the wolf statue things to get more moves... the visuals and area designs are just so impressive, things like the huge bridges are incredibly cool looking. Hidden things like the underground tunnel dungeons (with limited light...) and "shoot 'em up gallery" secret Western ranch are awesome. And many of the dungeons are outstanding designs that both look and play amazing. Despite my many problems with it, it is in my top 5 Gamecube games for sure, and is better than The Wind Waker (or Majora's Mask), though not quite OoT. But it's definitely not perfect, and the flaws are significant. Of course no game is perfect, but still, some stuff about it definitely annoys me. The good points are stronger overall, but the negatives are real.
When I was playing the game, it felt like it was really a game about Zant and Midna, and the main Zelda characters were just shoehorned into it. Supposedly that's not true, and Midna was actually added later on, but it definitely does not feel this way. It feels like it's Link, Zelda, and Ganon who barely have any reason for being in the game.
Link doesn't really seem to care, for whatever reason. It feels much more like he's just doing stuff because Midna wants him to than because he actually cares about anything, besides saving Colin and Ilia maybe... I don't know, I've never gotten this impression from a Link before. This is one of the less interesting Links. (And then you've got stuff like that researcher guy who wants to find the city in the sky and has dedicated himself to finding it. Link finds it, but evidently never tells the guy about it? How cruel... those three people working to save Hyrule were a nice touch to have, but didn't actually do much. Another thing about the game that could have been improved, maybe.)
Zelda... Zelda of course is utterly pathetic, more useless than in any other 3d Zelda. She's supposedly the crown princess, about to be crowned queen before the disaster happened, but she does nothing, pretty much. She sits, locked up in a tower, depressed. I'm sure that if she actually wanted to, she could do something. Link and Midna could get in, are you really saying that there was no way to get her out? Wouldn't she be able to do some good, oh, I don't know, trying to resist Zant and such? She is supposedly the leader. But no, she'd rather sit around in that tower, depressed over that she surrendered. You see her twice before the ending, and think that she's dead for half of the game, not that it makes any impact really on the story. Then suddenly in the end she actually does some stuff... too late, though. Zelda in this game was very disappointing compared to the OoT or WW Zeldas.
Ganon... the whole way that "it's not actually Zant, it's Ganon!" was stupid. It reminded me of the five or six Mega Man games with "it's not actually X, it's Wily!" stories, and it's just as lame here as it is there -- except I think we should have higher expectations for Zelda stories than Mega Man. Some aspects of his story were interesting, like how after OoT Link got back he was executed, and he's understandably pretty angry, so it sort of worked... but really, no. The big reveal being that "It's actually Ganon again!" was really lame.
Midna... mostly she's great, but my one complaint would of course be that she can't do much of anything on her own, she needs Link the great male hero to do most of the stuff for her. That does affect her character, I think. She's cool, but would have been better had she been more independently competent, as I think she is considering her power.
I mean though, the game is fantastic. The gameplay is exceptional, visuals beautiful, scenery and vistas and cutscenes often amazing looking... it's an incredible game. And they did try to put in a story. It's just that it failed, and that had a significant impact on how much I liked the game until I finally managed to mostly look past it.
If I was to complain about other things about it though, it is too bad that while much harder than WW it's still not quite as hard as OoT (only sending you back to the door of the room instead of the start of the dungeon when you die, for instance, has a huge impact), and that was disappointing. Also, the NPCs and other characters, while there were a good number of them, sometimes feel sparse -- Hyrule city's got very little to do in it, Kakariko's almost entirely abandoned and does not get repopulated after you defeat the monsters that were threatening the town, etc. It makes for a cool "ghost town" kind of thing, but not a great actual town in a 3d Zelda game. Also, the part of the game before you can change form between wolf and human at will is annoying, because you keep having to travel around on foot or on horse, keep getting railed from place to place, etc. It didn't fit with the Zelda series well, and it really wasn't until I got the ability to switch forms and the world opened up that I finally began to love the game. Before that point it just doesn't feel right -- and that is a LARGE part of the game, many hours and several dungeons long. Gameplay-wise, this is by far my biggest problem with the game.
Overall though I like the overworld a lot. It's large, but not too large, has a lot of interesting things in it to explore, and once you can go to all of it and warp around, is pretty fun to explore. I like the world, the graphics, the design, the wolf statue things to get more moves... the visuals and area designs are just so impressive, things like the huge bridges are incredibly cool looking. Hidden things like the underground tunnel dungeons (with limited light...) and "shoot 'em up gallery" secret Western ranch are awesome. And many of the dungeons are outstanding designs that both look and play amazing. Despite my many problems with it, it is in my top 5 Gamecube games for sure, and is better than The Wind Waker (or Majora's Mask), though not quite OoT. But it's definitely not perfect, and the flaws are significant. Of course no game is perfect, but still, some stuff about it definitely annoys me. The good points are stronger overall, but the negatives are real.