8th April 2020, 4:50 PM
Soooo this quarantine has me staying in and playing a lot of old games. I haven't played this many video games in isolation since I was a teenager, yuk yuk. But one of the titles that somehow fell by the wayside for years was Twilight Princess. I bought it for Wii and began playing it 8 years ago (I still have the timestamp on the game file). I didn't get that far in it, and just lost interest for one reason or another.
Actually, before TP, I went back and revisited Wind Waker. It was kind of hard to get used to the low quality GameCube graphics, on an old CRT, after playing the likes of Outlast and Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze (thanks, DJ, it was quite good!) in 4k resolution. I tore through WW in just a couple weeks. I was surprised by how addictive it was. It's fun to go sailing the seas, like a pirate, exploring islands and what have you. It was pretty much as easy as I remember it being. Even the final Ganon battle posed no challenge - I beat him handily on the first try, with two bottled fairies to spare.
But anyway, as I was closing in at the end of the game, I thought, why the hell am I replaying this when Twilight Princess never got the attention it deserved? So I plugged it in and started from the beginning.
I don't know what it is, exactly, but something feels a little... off about it. It's not a bad game, it just doesn't exactly feel like Zelda. Almost like it's an X-Box knock-off. Strangely, I didn't get the same feeling with Wind Waker, which might be more of a drastic change to the Zelda formula (in both aesthetic and gameplay mechanics). I just beat Death Mountain and am at Lake Hylia, about to meet the light goddess.
Link, who has been transformed into a noble wolf, must collect the tears wept by spirits to vanquish the darkness that is consuming Hyrule! So dramatic. I don't mind it, though. The wolf parts are novel, but I'll say that I'm glad they're kept to a minimum. I want to play as Link, damn it. Midna is a little irritating, but not nearly as bad as Navi, and not even a TENTH as bad as that insufferable purple angel chucklehead in Skyward Sword. Dear god, I was ready to headbutt the TV every time a lengthy cut-scene ended, the game resumed, and just as I put my thumb on the joystick, she stops me in my tracks to reiterate literally the EXACT SAME INFORMATION SOME OTHER CHARACTER JUST TOLD ME! GO AWAY!
Speaking of Skyward Sword, I've played it in spurts over the years, and I STILL haven't finished it. The last couple times I tried, I just got too bored by the drudgery of tedious tasks, like having to go and collect a bunch of items before the time runs out. There's a bunch of filler that doesn't advance the plot, just "ok Link now do this if you want to progress in the journey, this is important because reasons." I can't believe how long they stretched that game. It's not just me, is it? The game has brilliant swordplay mechanics with the Wiimote+, but god damn is it frustrating to sink that much time into a game, and get teased that every time you think you're at the end, some new artificial challenge opens up.
I think I got the triforce and swordfought that one weird anime-y demon guy who seductively licked his lips at me, challenging both my wrist-flicking skills and heterosexuality. That was a great boss battle, kidding aside. Then I had to go back to the light world and do some other bullshit blah blah I don't remember, should have known it wasn't over when Ganon wasn't the final boss. Was Ganon in that? I don't remember.
Anyway, someone said at one point (might have been here, might have been another video game messageboard) that Twilight Princess for Wii is probably inferior to the GameCube version. The issue is that they designed the game around GameCube's controls, then just kind of stuffed it into a Wii port, but it didn't necessarily translate well. The Wiimote isn't really as responsive as a button-press to slash the sword. It's kind of neat to aim with the Wiimote, but I must be sitting too close to the TV, because my hand (which usually rests on my thigh) is pretty much always out of the scope of the sensor bar. I have to quickly move it up, which makes it a little clunky.
Still, not bad, not bad. I'm enjoying it. Welcoming a greater challenge than Wind Waker. But again, something about it just doesn't feel like Zelda. Anyone else experience this? First time it's happened for a Zelda game for me.
Actually, before TP, I went back and revisited Wind Waker. It was kind of hard to get used to the low quality GameCube graphics, on an old CRT, after playing the likes of Outlast and Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze (thanks, DJ, it was quite good!) in 4k resolution. I tore through WW in just a couple weeks. I was surprised by how addictive it was. It's fun to go sailing the seas, like a pirate, exploring islands and what have you. It was pretty much as easy as I remember it being. Even the final Ganon battle posed no challenge - I beat him handily on the first try, with two bottled fairies to spare.
But anyway, as I was closing in at the end of the game, I thought, why the hell am I replaying this when Twilight Princess never got the attention it deserved? So I plugged it in and started from the beginning.
I don't know what it is, exactly, but something feels a little... off about it. It's not a bad game, it just doesn't exactly feel like Zelda. Almost like it's an X-Box knock-off. Strangely, I didn't get the same feeling with Wind Waker, which might be more of a drastic change to the Zelda formula (in both aesthetic and gameplay mechanics). I just beat Death Mountain and am at Lake Hylia, about to meet the light goddess.
Link, who has been transformed into a noble wolf, must collect the tears wept by spirits to vanquish the darkness that is consuming Hyrule! So dramatic. I don't mind it, though. The wolf parts are novel, but I'll say that I'm glad they're kept to a minimum. I want to play as Link, damn it. Midna is a little irritating, but not nearly as bad as Navi, and not even a TENTH as bad as that insufferable purple angel chucklehead in Skyward Sword. Dear god, I was ready to headbutt the TV every time a lengthy cut-scene ended, the game resumed, and just as I put my thumb on the joystick, she stops me in my tracks to reiterate literally the EXACT SAME INFORMATION SOME OTHER CHARACTER JUST TOLD ME! GO AWAY!
Speaking of Skyward Sword, I've played it in spurts over the years, and I STILL haven't finished it. The last couple times I tried, I just got too bored by the drudgery of tedious tasks, like having to go and collect a bunch of items before the time runs out. There's a bunch of filler that doesn't advance the plot, just "ok Link now do this if you want to progress in the journey, this is important because reasons." I can't believe how long they stretched that game. It's not just me, is it? The game has brilliant swordplay mechanics with the Wiimote+, but god damn is it frustrating to sink that much time into a game, and get teased that every time you think you're at the end, some new artificial challenge opens up.
I think I got the triforce and swordfought that one weird anime-y demon guy who seductively licked his lips at me, challenging both my wrist-flicking skills and heterosexuality. That was a great boss battle, kidding aside. Then I had to go back to the light world and do some other bullshit blah blah I don't remember, should have known it wasn't over when Ganon wasn't the final boss. Was Ganon in that? I don't remember.
Anyway, someone said at one point (might have been here, might have been another video game messageboard) that Twilight Princess for Wii is probably inferior to the GameCube version. The issue is that they designed the game around GameCube's controls, then just kind of stuffed it into a Wii port, but it didn't necessarily translate well. The Wiimote isn't really as responsive as a button-press to slash the sword. It's kind of neat to aim with the Wiimote, but I must be sitting too close to the TV, because my hand (which usually rests on my thigh) is pretty much always out of the scope of the sensor bar. I have to quickly move it up, which makes it a little clunky.
Still, not bad, not bad. I'm enjoying it. Welcoming a greater challenge than Wind Waker. But again, something about it just doesn't feel like Zelda. Anyone else experience this? First time it's happened for a Zelda game for me.