Link's Awakening Ultra Deluxe!
29th September 2019, 11:14 AM
The only "challenge" not having the sword and shield presents is that you have to constantly pause the game to get them. You still have the sword and shield whenever you want in the original, it's just that every 5 seconds a player has to pause the game to switch. I didn't actually grasp how much this got in the way of the flow of the game until I didn't have to any more. Don't worry ABF, it doesn't reduce the challenge, it just makes it easier to control. I mean, I suppose it comes down to how one played the original game. In the original, any time, and I mean ANY time I had to use a different item, I paused, switched to the item, used the item, then paused, switched back to the sword and shield, and kept playing. Rinse wash repeat, forever. I suppose if you found that flow breaking enough that you'd rather just keep the secondary items around for a while than have to pause again, then yes, it would add to the challenge, but that's just not how I played the game. This, for me, is basically the way I was playing the original game but without constant pausing.
There IS a new chime to alert you when there are secret seashells around, but you can disable that chime the very moment you get it. This really only matters to you and me because there are 50 secret seashells now, and so there are many we don't know the location of. The hints in dungeons haven't been expanded from the DX game, they are just the DX ones again, so that hasn't been reduced in challenge, at least any more than the original. Again, I can't say how much those added hints reduce the challenge of the dungeons, because I had already memorized the layouts and puzzles of Link's Awakening before the DX version had even come out. For me, they could litter the dungeons with new hints and it wouldn't affect the challenge, but for new players? It's hard for me to say "just don't use the hints", because ONE of those hints is the original cryptic hint from the first version of the game, and how the heck do you tell people which one that one is without spoiling it?
Anyway, all in all the game isn't really any easier than the DX version. Yes, getting the L2 sword is easier in the sense that there's a lot more secret seashells, but finding all the seashells is now a lot harder.
I somehow had missed that there's a bunch of new heart pieces in the game. Yes, that certainly makes the game easier if you get them all. There is also a Hero Mode, so if you really want to make up for it, play on that mode.
Oh, and yes the analog stick requirement is pretty annoying. It would be one thing if the new version allowed full 360 degrees of movement. Then I'd welcome the analog stick gladly! However, since it's still locked to 8 way movement, the d-pad would be far better.
There IS a new chime to alert you when there are secret seashells around, but you can disable that chime the very moment you get it. This really only matters to you and me because there are 50 secret seashells now, and so there are many we don't know the location of. The hints in dungeons haven't been expanded from the DX game, they are just the DX ones again, so that hasn't been reduced in challenge, at least any more than the original. Again, I can't say how much those added hints reduce the challenge of the dungeons, because I had already memorized the layouts and puzzles of Link's Awakening before the DX version had even come out. For me, they could litter the dungeons with new hints and it wouldn't affect the challenge, but for new players? It's hard for me to say "just don't use the hints", because ONE of those hints is the original cryptic hint from the first version of the game, and how the heck do you tell people which one that one is without spoiling it?
Anyway, all in all the game isn't really any easier than the DX version. Yes, getting the L2 sword is easier in the sense that there's a lot more secret seashells, but finding all the seashells is now a lot harder.
I somehow had missed that there's a bunch of new heart pieces in the game. Yes, that certainly makes the game easier if you get them all. There is also a Hero Mode, so if you really want to make up for it, play on that mode.
Oh, and yes the analog stick requirement is pretty annoying. It would be one thing if the new version allowed full 360 degrees of movement. Then I'd welcome the analog stick gladly! However, since it's still locked to 8 way movement, the d-pad would be far better.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)