(I don’t not have
this as a poster…Credit: Collider)
This week, the latest iteration in The Legend of Zelda
franchise will hit store shelves. The game is titled The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and has received copious
amounts of praise at game shows prior to the official release. Regardless, I’ve
learned very little about the game outside of the release trailers to keep some
surprises for the game, as gaming journalism can reveal quite a bit of information.
I have learned that the game will be enormous in size and scope, and has me
extremely excited to try it out and dust off my dying Wii U[1].
Although Mega Man has been and always will be my favorite franchise, Zelda more
often than not has held down the number 2 spot (occasionally Sonic makes a
claim but usually lives in 3rd place). I hold The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as the greatest game ever
made, and one of my cherished gaming memories. I was 10 when the game came out,
and can still remember playing it on Christmas morning. My personal favorite is
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask,
which came out shortly after Ocarina of
Time. With overwhelming themes of loneliness and isolation, Majora’s Mask transcends traditional
storytelling for an enthralling experience. While the most recent console entry,
Skyward Sword, lacked the awe and
wonder of previous entries, the franchise has been largely established as a
gaming cornerstone, and will look to reassert its dominance shortly.
(So close.
Credit: Zelda.com)
First and foremost though, repeat after me: Zelda is the
girl, you play as Link, the hero traditionally clad in green. This is
undeniably the most common misconception regarding Zelda, so much so there’s a
T shirt about it[2]!
So what is Zelda, and why has it been so successful? Simply
put, the Zelda series puts players on adventures that define excellence at
almost every step, and it is likely that each player has an individual favorite
quality about the Zelda games. It redefined targeting in action games with its
“Z Targeting” in Ocarina of Time,
which has made for intense boss battles and tricky enemy encounters. It gave
players a large world to explore in the original The Legend of Zelda, and gave little instructions. It typically
utilizes the highest graphical output a system is capable of, and always brings
forth puzzles that force players to think outside the box and use their arsenal
of items and weapons. What’s kept it fresh though is that with each iteration
there is always a unique theme to draw the player in: in A Link to the Past has players travel back and forth between the
light world and dark world to complete dungeons, Majora’s Mask gives the player masks to change them into different
species encountered such as the water based Zora, and Twilight Princess allowed Link to turn into a wolf for a different
take on the formula. Each game has one very unique story mechanic to make it
different from the others, but at the end of the day, Zelda revolves around
core elements. Zelda is typically under duress or kidnapped by the evil Ganon,
and it is up to the hero Link to save her[3].
To do so he needs to traverse the world known as Hyrule, entering dungeons of
different elements to gather what is required of a final duel with Ganon.
Dungeons are tricky, and a good test of the capabilities of the player.
(Ocarina of Time, one of gaming’s finest.
Credit: Forbes)
While this may sound like common fare in the gaming world
today, starting in 1986 this was a huge movement. Players now had a world to
explore with endless possibilities of what they could accomplish. Furthermore,
given that each installment adds something new while refining what has made it
great previously only adds to the fanfare. Add in the variety of dungeons,
bosses, characters, etc. and you have the makings of a great franchise.
Personally, I love the music of Zelda. Koji Kondo and his team have created
themes that have been with me since childhood, ones that are difficult to tire
of, even after you’ve heard them hundreds of times over. Critics and fans alike
have agreed about Zelda’s excellence, the games have almost always been over 1
million in sales and the Metacritic scores above 90. See below for details.
(This is just the front page,
insane. Credit: Metacritic.com)
(It isn’t until #24 do we see a
title dip below 1 million sales, incredible. Credit: Vgchartz.com)
Now while the validity of VGChartz is occasionally in
question, what cannot be denied is how financially successful Zelda has been.
Even more impressive are the Metacritic scores. Metacritic is known for
compiling all reviews across the industry in a place for 1 singular total
score, making it easy to decide whether to purchase or not. Naturally most
games fall closer to the middle of the 0 – 100 spectrum, and for games anything
above an 80 is listed as “Generally Favorable Reviews” while anything above 90
is listed as “Universal Acclaim”. Games that hit the 90+ rating are few and far
between (there were 5 console games last year in what was considered an excellent
year for gaming). To see Zelda have such a handle on these extremely rare
scores further emphasizes its excellence, and if early reports hold true, it is
likely that trend will continue with Breath
of the Wild.
So I’ve heaped a lot of praise on Zelda at this point, are
there any negatives? Well yes, in fact. Since Ocarina of Time, Zelda has largely fell prey to making games
somewhat similar to landmark classic, with the exception of Majora’s Mask whose time travel and
intricate storytelling created a vacuum of fun side quests and superb character
development. Furthermore, Wind Waker
which offered a fresh take on a water filled Hyrule, along with a more cartoon
like Link loaded with personality. On the more critical side though, Twilight Princess, while refined in
gameplay, lacked the pizzazz of Ocarina
and the wolf mechanic was more of a chore in the early game than an exciting,
fresh twist. It was the sequel Ocarina
deserved in terms of dungeon quality but lacked the freedom. It’s still an
excellent game, but it will never be my favorite. It sold exceptionally well
too, launching it at the same time as the Wii was a brilliant move by Nintendo,
which appears like it will pay off again with Breath of The Wild and the Switch. The handheld titles have largely
been hit or miss for me as well. While I loved the first few (Link’s Awakening, Oracle of Seasons/Ages, The Minish Cap), I was extremely
disappointed with both Phantom Hourglass and
Spirit Tracks. Forcing me as the
player to use stylus controls was frustrating, especially with no options to
use a traditional control support. Furthermore, Phantom Hourglass had my second least favorite trope when it forced
the player to return to the same dungeon over and over (plus, no new music for
dungeons? Just cave themes? C’mon Nintendo, you’re better than that). Spirit Tracks was better, but with these
games I felt like I was being forced to finish, less like I wanted to actually
finish them. Again, the linearity played a role here.
(Sigh…Credit:WhatCulture)
This brings me to my main critique: linearity became a
staple of the franchise after Ocarina of
Time. The two exceptions notwithstanding, the linearity became my chief
issue for a while, and there was no better example of how criminal it was than
in Skyward Sword. The game used the
Wii’s motion controls to have the player use Link’s sword 1:1, and it worked
pretty well overall. The game sold nearly 4 million copies, indicating it was a
huge success. However, this is by far my least favorite Zelda game. The game is
entirely too linear, forcing the player to follow a strict path to go from
objective to objective with very little in between. The gameplay is nice, but
the dungeons are small, and a little overwhelming (Lanayru Mines and Sandship
notwithstanding). The lack of optional activities cannot be underscored though,
as the game left me wanting a lot more, despite a nearly 40 hour adventure.
Furthermore, two of the bosses in the game you need to fight 3 times, including one which I consider
one of the worst bosses ever, Zelda or otherwise[4].
Add to this the cartoon-like graphics that were not as animated as Wind Waker and not as realistic as Twilight Princess and you’re left in a
boring middle ground. Finally, the music is uninspired in comparison to all
other entries, and I struggle to recall a theme off the top of my head even
now, even though I could think of any of the dungeon themes from earlier games.
The game ends with a new boss that supposedly inspires Ganon, but it’s
nonsensical and unnecessary. It was the first Zelda game I finished and didn’t
think “OK, what did I miss, let’s see what else is out there”. Instead, I
finished the game and moved on, and haven’t looked back. It’s too long for me
to do another play through nowadays. Perhaps my disdain comes from my aging (I
was 24 back then and had grown accustomed to Zelda) or perhaps I knew way too
much about it prior to playing it, which is something I’ve tried very hard to
avoid this time, but this game never clicked with me, and I doubt I’ll play it
again.
(A Link Between Worlds – A new beginning.
Credit: Zelda.com)
Now I’m sure if you’re reading this and loved Skyward Sword you’re probably offended,
and truth be told I might be wrong given the critical and commercial success,
but I think Nintendo knew they were exhausting a bad path of linearity. I say
this because in 2013 Nintendo said screw it and gave us A Link Between Worlds, a game that takes players to an updated
world based on A Link to The Past as
the environment and then turns the Zelda formula upside down. Instead of
telling player where to go and what to do, it gives the individual all of the
key items and weapons up front and allows them to figure it out on their own,
and I for one, loved the change. I could go to any dungeon I wanted to right
away, even if I was unprepared. You get punished for dying and lose all your
weapons, but opening the landscape almost entirely from the start was
brilliant. There were still certain items needed for maximum story progression,
but the player could go at his or her own pace, and could explore the world in
full if interested. Furthermore, the gameplay mechanic of turning into a
painting on a wall added new puzzle elements and exploration motives, it was
absolutely brilliant. Finally, the visuals looked great and the soundtrack was
quality, while not as iconic as other games it still had individual dungeon
themes, which I am a bit of a stickler about[5].
The game was another huge success, both commercially and critically. In my
opinion it’s what inspired the huge open world in Breath of the Wild as the simple switch totally reinvigorated the
series. Now as the wait finally comes to an end, the adventure begins. I’d be
remiss to say I did not follow Breath of
the Wild as closely as the last Zelda releases in the past 15 years, but
honestly I’m looking forward to the surprise, the experience, the music, and
the world the game has to offer. So cheers to Nintendo, which has been able to
once again define excellence for over 30 years, and here’s to my next steps in
Hyrule.
For those interested, I’ve listed below my favorite Zelda
titles followed by my least favorite.
Favorite Zelda Games:
1. Majora’s Mask
2. Ocarina of Time
3. A Link to the Past
4. The Legend of Zelda
5. A Link Between Worlds
Least Favorite Zelda Games:
1. Skyward Sword
2. Phantom Hourglass
3. The Adventure of Link
Currently playing:
Bloodborne, buying a system 3 years
after its launch (PS4) left me with a bunch of cheap games to try, and I have
to bring this game up because it’s incredible. It’s brutally difficult, but a
joy to play.
[1] I
purchased a PS4 Pro back in November so I’m going to wait a bit before I jump
on the Nintendo Switch hype train
[3]
There are other main villains such as Vaati or Demise (ugh, the worst), but
Ganon is the mainstay
[4]
The Imprisoned, in case you were wondering.
[5]
Also the Swamp Palace theme was awesome
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