• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

I bought Zelda Wind Waker HD after playing through BotW

I played both Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD in 2016.

I enjoyed both experiences more than Breath of the Wild in 2017.
 
Dangansona said:
I mean BotW does have the better mechanics, that's for sure. But as for the bolded this may be the one time I wish I was a Youtuber so I could do a split screen of walking into Windfall and walking into Kakariko in BotW and comparing the two. So many unique looking characters with weird side quests that aren't "go fetch this thing." Just off the top of my head you've got Elvis at the grave, the rich girl in the auction house, the school teacher and the kids, the blonde girl who sneaks around at night, etc.
Click to expand...

I can distinctly recall being in awe when walking into BotW's Kakariko, Gerudo Town and Zora's Domain for the first time. Even after completing most of the game, I still enjoy visiting Hateno and Lurelin. Some of the towns in BotW are more 'fleshed-out' than others but I still remember there being non-fetch-quest objectives (though one can also reduce a sidequest to a 'fetch'-quest'). For example, following a Yiga clan defect to find a hidden shrine.

Dragon Roost and Windfall in Wind Waker are memorable, I do hold nostalgia for the game, but I'm just not feeling your point. I'll replay WWHD another day and be blown away by the atmosphere and prettiness, but I'm not sure I'll have the patience to finish it.
 
Currygan said:
lol, if you want to think that SS is even remotely bad, go for it. To me, it always sounded insane
Click to expand...

I do not think its bad. But i do think its the worst 3D Zelda game and a completely mediocre game overall. The game had fantastic concepts but most of them were completely wasted. .
 
Missed it on the GameCube and on the wiiu . The one Zelda game I wish I got a chance to try.

Art style is sublime , hope they return to that style for another one .
 
Caelus said:
I can distinctly recall being in awe when walking into BotW's Kakariko, Gerudo Town and Zora's Domain for the first time. Even after completing most of the game, I still enjoy visiting Hateno and Lurelin. Some of the towns in BotW are more 'fleshed-out' than others but I still remember there being non-fetch-quest objectives (though one can also reduce a sidequest to a 'fetch'-quest'). For example, following a Yiga clan defect to find a hidden shrine.

Dragon Roost and Windfall in Wind Waker are memorable, I do hold nostalgia for the game, but I'm just not feeling your point. I'll replay WWHD another day and be blown away by the atmosphere and prettiness, but I'm not sure I'll have the patience to finish it.
Click to expand...

Zoras's Domain got me for sure. The standout imo. I wonder how much more I would have been sucked in if I didn't have to deal with Wii U frame rate.
 
Still prefer WW (And OOT, and MM) to BOTW....... in fact, the more I play it, the less I like BOTW (As a Zelda game).
 
I love Wind Waker, but I always was immensely disappointed by how the vast majority of islands are just super tiny, and everything looks the same. And the one-island-per-square gimmick ended up feeling like more of a chore and limiting the sense of exploration. I'm not exploring, I'm just going from squares to squares, knowing exactly that there will be one island in each. And then I find the island, and there isn't much to it.

Breath of the Wild is what I was hoping Wind Waker would be back in the days. Exploring uncharted territories, always finding new locales, new people, new trials, etc. It was truly a grand adventure.
 
I love this game. I do agree that the dungeons are the weakest part, but I really enjoyed the exploration and the storytelling. That ending is still incredible and is just as amazing 15 years later.
 
The best 3D Zelda to the worst. One is a great example of giving a team time and Aonuma actually being an ok director, and the other is an example of rushing your game and how overrated Aonuma is.

Okamid3n said:
I love Wind Waker, but I always was immensely disappointed by how the vast majority of islands are just super tiny, and everything looks the same. And the one-island-per-square gimmick ended up feeling like more of a chore and limiting the sense of exploration. I'm not exploring, I'm just going from squares to squares, knowing exactly that there will be one island in each. And then I find the island, and there isn't much to it.

Breath of the Wild is what I was hoping Wind Waker would be back in the days. Exploring uncharted territories, always finding new locales, new people, new trials, etc. It was truly a grand adventure.
Click to expand...
Exactly, one island per square turned it into a checklist, not exploration.
 
I have to admit that Majora's mask and BOTW dethroned Wind Waker for me when I played them, but it's still easily my third favorite zelda game. It's super pretty, everyone's really expressive, the story is one of the better ones in zelda, and whilst not every island is a winner, there are some really creative one off islands that a lot of players will never see that's reminiscent of BOTW's design. (The random island dedicated to deku leaf golf is the first one that comes to mind)

People often bring up the low dungeon count as a negative, but I dunno. Considering the pacing of the game, with the exception of the triforce hunt I feel like the dungeons were spaced out pretty well, and allowed the rest of the game time to shine. In an ideal version of the game, I'd probably only add one more dungeon to replace the triforce hunt. Any more than that would get a bit cramped. (LOOKING AT YOU, Ocarina of time and the 6 dungeon and several mini dungeon extravaganza that is the second half of the game, with a grand total of one new area to explore)

Are the dungeons a bit simple? Yeah, definitely, although there are some cool general concepts present. So I can see why some may not like the game for that reason.

But the sound design for the combat though. And that parry system. Soooo satisfying! I honestly don't think the combat was this good again until BOTW. Yes I played skyward sword.
 
Just seeing a screenshot, makes me want to play it all over again. I'd kill for this on the go on my Switch.
 
Chronospherics said:
I prefer this immensely to BOTW. Just my personal preference but I found exploration a lot more interesting in Wind Waker. I think the weapon durability and prospect that I could find weapons that would eventually expire made the collection mechanics rather dull in BOTW. Plus there's a very explicit structure to how you get hearts and whatnot (through the shrines), whereas in Wind Waker you never really know where that chest will be hiding.
Click to expand...
Except for every weapon you break you find 10, and you're not forced to use the same sword with the same moveset for the entirety of the game.

Not gonna say anything about your preference for exploration, but it should still be easy to see which game does it objectively better in terms of design.

Dangansona said:
Totally going to disagree with the people who come in here and say they can't go back because BotW changed their life and what not. Wind Waker is by far the superior Zelda game to me and I wish I was experiencing that for the first time right now instead of Breath of the Wild. Maybe I wouldn't feel that way if BotW had half the charm, music, quality of towns and characters, and dungeon design of Wind Waker.
Click to expand...
Look. Not to shit on the amazing achievement that WW towns were in 2002, but saying that they're better than those in botw doesn't make any sense. Did you even go to Gerudo Town?

Firenze1 said:
I liked wind wakers ost over botw.
Click to expand...
Debatable. BotW's ost is massively underrated around here because it doesn't have field themes, which is asinine considering that almost every track in the game is godlike.
LegendX48 said:
As it should be, BOTW is a poor Zelda game.
Click to expand...
Nice one.
 
nah,give me Botw over WW any day of the week...WW it's definitely on the lower end of the zelda franchise..too empty,too easy,too souless
 
Forkball said:
Perhaps the weakest 3D Zelda, but there's no denying it still looks great today. Even the Gamecube version. Although I prefer Zelda go in a different direction aesthetically, I would like to see a new Nintendo franchise adopt the WW-style graphics. It would probably look amazing with Kirby or Yoshi.
Click to expand...
This my thought. Beautiful game but rather weak compared to the other 3D ZeldaÂ’s.
 
Can you imagine if the grapple hook was in the BotW? Grapple Hook plus paragliding would be so cool. Should have been an end item after completing the last divine beast.
 
My all time favorite game. Currently playing through Breath of the Wild, I'm loving it but it definitely doesn't touch my heart like Wind Waker did.
 
Wind Waker link is the most expressive gaming character ever.


2308865-zelda2.gif


tenor.gif


tumblr_mtnmtgF0wB1qbc2ylo2_500.gif


tumblr_n6o5uozAGE1qbc2ylo1_250.gif
 
ZeroX03 said:
Wind Waker and Skyward Sword are the best 3D Zeldas.
Click to expand...

As someone who isn't a huge fan of 2D Zeldas at all (the only ones I've completed is Oracle of Ages (which is one of my favorite Zelda games) and A Link Between Worlds (if that counts as a 2D Zelda), I disagree. Skyward Sword is the only 3D Zelda I've dropped. It's wayyyyy too linear.

I haven't played that much of Breath of the Wild yet, so I won't include it, but I'd put my rankings at:

Wind Waker > Ocarina of Time > Twilight Princess > Majora's Mask > Skyward Sword
 
Ryuelli said:
As someone who isn't a huge fan of 2D Zeldas at all (the only ones I've completed is Oracle of Ages (which is one of my favorite Zelda games) and A Link Between Worlds (if that counts as a 2D Zelda), I disagree. Skyward Sword is the only 3D Zelda I've dropped. It's wayyyyy too linear.

I haven't played that much of Breath of the Wild yet, so I won't include it, but I'd put my rankings at:

Wind Waker > Ocarina of Time > Twilight Princess > Majora's Mask > Skyward Sword
Click to expand...

Right now I'm at Wind Waker > Majoras Mask > Twilight Princess > Ocarina of Time > BotW. Haven't played much of SS unfortunately.
 
I'm also replaying Windwaker after BotW and its cool to see how similar they are. It makes me wonder if Nintendo didn't make Link as a kid in Windwaker and had him look like the statue in Hyrule Castle instead, the initial reaction would have been more positive. TP was confirmed to be a reaction to Windwaker's initial unveiling and the popularity of medieval fantasy from LOTR. There were even plans of WW2 (that acronym) that would have taken place in Hyrule. Wonder if it would have been open world as well and look even closer to BotW.
 
Wind Waker love thread? Take wonderful Wind Waker unplugged cover from years ago that I still listen to every month or so.

Game had phenomenal music. And as someone who has bought and played games solely because I enjoyed hearing music outside of them, it certainly made for a positive experience. Ocean theme is still one of the most adventurous songs in the franchise. Anytime I travel by sea in ANY game I end up humming it haha. (I should play it on Youtube the next time I pick up BotW!)
 
Chronospherics said:
I prefer this immensely to BOTW. Just my personal preference but I found exploration a lot more interesting in Wind Waker. I think the weapon durability and prospect that I could find weapons that would eventually expire made the collection mechanics rather dull in BOTW. Plus there's a very explicit structure to how you get hearts and whatnot (through the shrines), whereas in Wind Waker you never really know where that chest will be hiding.
Click to expand...

Rupees or a heart piece usually....

The gap between WW and BotW in terms of design is as big as it is between me and prime Mike Tyson as boxing.

WW has great things going for it but they're mostly superficial, such as the look, music & charm. It lacks badly in terms of structure, content and challenge.

It's a shame really as the game was rushed to market and clearly unfinished with the first examples of blatant padding in the series at that point.
 
It's still one of my top 3 games ever and I will buy a Switch instantly if they announce a WW HD port for it
 
It's still the best looking Zelda game. I need to make myself go back and finish the Triforce quest in the HD version.
 
Rodin said:
Except for every weapon you break you find 10, and you're not forced to use the same sword with the same moveset for the entirety of the game.
Click to expand...

But they will all inevitably break. It's not a matter of gain, its a matter of permanence of my rewards and for me it doesn't feel satisfying to receive temporary buffs as a reward.
 
Now, just imagine if Nintendo announces WW HD DX on the Switch at E3!!

JK, I remember going all WTF at cartoony Link when the original game was first announced but grew to like the design and the games after that.
 
Greatest Ever said:
In my defense, and you are correct, a lot of it was Aonuma's contribution. It gets a little weird how the guy (Fuji) did SS and then this.
Click to expand...

It's really not. I'm a huge SS fan and all of the ideas they developed there are in BOTW. Upgradeable gear, stamina, a world that feels like a dungeon in itself, gliding, cooking and much more. Fujibayashi is great, Minish Cap, Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild under his name? There is no better Zelda dev than him right now. People try to sum SS up as just a "linear game" but it is so much more than that.
 
Wind Waker is pretty great still, but BoTW is the game I wanted in my mind when I first played Wind Waker. I wanted the expanse of the Great Sea, but as land. A whole world of Hyrule that size. The underwater Hyrule was just the biggest tease.

So for me, as great as WW is, BoTW has toppled it in almost every respect.
 
Still tapping myself on the shoulder for loving the art style day 1! Man, fans where so frustrated with the announcement back then. Personally my most hyped Zelda game till this day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

You Can Now Sail Zelda: Wind Waker Oceans In Your Web Browser
Platform Indie 
8
273
deriks replied
Wind Waker Decomp Past the Midway Point! PC Port When?
Trailer Platform Indie 
2
32
Killer8 replied
We got Zelda BoTW Full blown VR BEFORE GTA 6
15
469
CuteFaceJay replied
DF: Zelda BOTW & TOTK (Nintendo Switch 2) Review
2 3 4 5 6
271
14K
ItsGreat replied
After feedback that Death Stranding was 'too slow,' Kojima wanted more players to see Death Stranding 2 all the way through to the end
Opinion Game Dev 
33
390
Deerock71 replied
Top Bottom