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LTTP: Wind Waker

P

Prime crotch

Banned
I'm on my way to get the second pearl from the Deku tree and so far I'm loving it.
When I saw the first videos and pics a few years ago I thought the cartoon style would look goofy, but boy was I wrong. It looks downright amazing, this is what Zelda should look like with kid Link.
I do have some bitching to do, for starters I hate jumping on 3D Zelda. I hate the fact you don't have a jumping button or any control over it after hopping.
Sailing so far is fun, even if I have to play the tune everytime I want to change the wind direction, my only complaint is treasure hunting. It's kinda hard to stop on the exact point, why doesn't Link has a paddle?
I also wish Nintendo made it less linear, I wanted to go exploring right away but the talking boat wouldn't let me sail in some directions. And for crying out loud I know what a damn key is you don't need to tell me what it does everytime I find one.

Other than that I'm liking it more than I did Ocarina of Time. But I also played Ocarina on the GC and not on the N64 so that might have something to do with it.
 
You know, I always thought that LTTP in thread titles meant "link to the past," but some douche told me it meant "late to the party."

Anyway, I played Wind Waker about a year ago, and for the first half, I thought it just might be the best Zelda ever.

However, the final two dungeons are EDIT: pretty frustrating because of a game mechanic you'll encounter when you get there.
 
You will grow to hate the Wind's Requiem, but it gets better once
you can warp
. I also love the sailing.

The references to earlier games are a nice touch. I won't list any of them here but they really provide a sense of connectivity to OoT/MM.
 
Apart from having to keep playing the Wind's Requiem and the time it takes to sail around, this game really rocked. I never understood why so many people hated this iteration of Zelda, especially because of the Cel Shading, I thought the graphics were gorgeous.
 
yes i prefer it to OoT as well.

Every single aspect of the franchise is improved in Wind Waker (controls, framerate, graphics, creativity, etc), except # of dungeons/dungeon design. That's a really major thing for a Zelda game, but the dungeons are still fantastic so everything else that is superior makes Wind Waker the better title.
 
The Wind Waker has the best first half ever, and the one of the best final boss battles and endings the series has seen.

The final two dungeons and triforce quest are shite though.
 
Night_Trekker said:
The references to earlier games are a nice touch. I won't list any of them here but they really provide a sense of connectivity to OoT/MM.
Click to expand...

It's so eerie when you
Get warped down to Hyrule Castle for the first time.
 
Really solid Zelda game despite what the haters say. Yeah the sailing gets a little old after a while and that isn't helped by the Wind's Requiem but in the grand scope that was just a minor flaw on a really great game. I loved getting 100% on the
figurine and trading
quests.
 
Not my favorite, but still great. I need to play through it again, I haven't played it in 4 years and I still need to explore (almost) every nook and cranky like I did with the other Zeldas.
 
And for crying out loud I know what a damn key is you don't need to tell me what it does everytime I find one.
Click to expand...

This is annoying in Twilight Princess, too. I need to go back to WW when I finish Twilight Princess.
 
I would love to see Aonuma take his time and make another Zelda on the Wii with this particular art style. The Wind Waker would've been so much more if it wasn't rushed.
 
CurseoftheGods said:
The Wind Waker has the best first half ever, and the one of the best final boss battles and endings the series has seen.

The final two dungeons and triforce quest are shite though.
Click to expand...

I agree, the latter half of the game is what keeps it being better than OOT for me, I also liked TP more because the whole game experience was overall more fun and not tedious (unlike Wind Waker's 2nd half).

The game is absolutely gorgeous though and I think it'll hold up well for decades.

edit: That said, I still prefer realistic graphics over cel shaded for Zelda.
 
I think the internet's gone out of the "Wind Waker is the WORST ZELDA GAME EVER" phase, and now it's universally being appreciated as much as it should have been when it came out. It just happened to Majora's Mask, I think (I keep seeing it at the top of "best Zelda game" lists), and hopefully it'll happen to Twilight Princess.
 
Obviously it seems better than Ocarina when you just put them side by side now. But it had nowhere near the impact on me that OOT did, and that's because of some terrible design choices.

The stealth dungeon is my least favourite moment of any Zelda game to date. The shitty part before the last boss I won't mention just because of spoilers took me 3 days to motivate myself to complete. It's just a fantastic art style on top of a game that needed another 6 months.
 
Scribble said:
I think the internet's gone out of the "Wind Waker is the WORST ZELDA GAME EVER" phase, and now it's universally being appreciated as much as it should have been when it came out. It just happened to Majora's Mask, I think (I keep seeing it at the top of "best Zelda game" lists), and hopefully it'll happen to Twilight Princess.
Click to expand...

I always loved Wind Waker, but I had problems with the sailing and of course the tri-shard quest first time through. However, my recent opinion formed after I had my Summer of Zeruda, in which I played many Zelda games in a row. After this, I learned that I was just another victim of nostalgia, and that Ocarina of Time does not hold up nearly as well as I imagined compared to WW.
 
Prime crotch said:
I do have some bitching to do, for starters I hate jumping on 3D Zelda. I hate the fact you don't have a jumping button or any control over it after hopping.
Click to expand...

I never understood the desire for a jump button in Zelda. It's not a platformer.
 
TheGreatDave said:
Obviously it seems better than Ocarina when you just put them side by side now. But it had nowhere near the impact on me that OOT did, and that's because of some terrible design choices.
Click to expand...
Maybe but like I said I didn't played it back when it came out so Ocarina didn't had much impact on me. Aside from making my eyes bleed with the pre-rendered backgrounds, what the hell happened there.
Ristamar said:
I never understood the desire for a jump button in Zelda. It's not a platformer.
Click to expand...
Well if I'm going to jump a series of platforms then yeah it becomes a platformer.
Replace the useless "attack" button (that is actually a roll that you use to walk faster) with a jump action if you ask me.
 
Prime crotch said:
Maybe but like I said I didn't played it back when it came out so Ocarina didn't had much impact on me. Aside from making my eyes bleed with the pre-rendered backgrounds, what the hell happened there.
Click to expand...

:lol well Ocarina's graphics will never come close to being as ageless as Wind Waker's. But it's game design is still, as far as I'm concerned, light years ahead of Wind Waker. It got the delays it needed.
 
Would anyone like to see the cel-shading style from WW return? Or do you think it was extremely good as a "one-off", and it would feel stale if they went for that style again?
 
Scribble said:
Would anyone like to see the cel-shading style from WW return? Or do you think it was extremely good as a "one-off", and it would feel stale if they went for that style again?
Click to expand...

First, it did return... in the DS game. Of course that was coupled by N64-era 3D, complete with sickening pixelation and three polygon geometry, but it is nonetheless a return.

Second, YES! I want it to come back for the next console Zelda outing so, so bad. SO bad. I mean they don't necessarily have to go with that specific cel-shading style, just cel-shading in general, as it does so much to hide the deficiencies of last-gen technology PLUS it looks awesome.
 
I'd want it back but not unless Wii has that little extra horsepower to make it look better. I don't want to look at the game and think it looks exactly like Wind Waker.
 
Prime crotch said:
Well if I'm going to jump a series of platforms then yeah it becomes a platformer.
Replace the useless "attack" button (that is actually a roll that you use to walk faster) with a jump action if you ask me.
Click to expand...

It takes a bit more that that to be a platformer, IMO, but whatever works for you.

I think some people have gaming ADD and just want to jump around all the time for no particular reason (like that one guy from the Player One podcast).
 
TheGreatDave said:
:lol well Ocarina's graphics will never come close to being as ageless as Wind Waker's. But it's game design is still, as far as I'm concerned, light years ahead of Wind Waker. It got the delays it needed.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I recently replayed OoT (well, the Master Quest) and, aside from the look of the game, the design holds up very well. Far better than WW, as much as I love both games.
 
TheGreatDave said:
:lol well Ocarina's graphics will never come close to being as ageless as Wind Waker's. But it's game design is still, as far as I'm concerned, light years ahead of Wind Waker. It got the delays it needed.
Click to expand...

I don't mind the graphical style in OoT. It certainly isn't pretty, but it's not a deal breaker.

The framerate, on the other hand...
 
Wind Waker is the most visually stunning game I've ever personally played. There's something about the art style that just wows me a lot more than the really high tech realistic shit you usually see.

That being said, it's also extremely disappointing how the game goes from phenomenal in the first half to a chore to complete in the second half (for me, anyway). I dislik just about everything after the underwater adventure.

As to the question above, yes I'd love to see another cel shaded Zelda game. Goddamn, Wind Waker is gorgeous.
 
Amir0x said:
First, it did return... in the DS game. Of course that was coupled by N64-era 3D, complete with sickening pixelation and three polygon geometry, but it is nonetheless a return.

Second, YES! I want it to come back for the next console Zelda outing so, so bad. SO bad. I mean they don't necessarily have to go with that specific cel-shading style, just cel-shading in general, as it does so much to hide the deficiencies of last-gen technology PLUS it looks awesome.
Click to expand...

Glad to see you're still on the side of good!!! This is pretty much my stance.

I know some people don't link Link's model and the models of the other humanoid characters (I don't know why, I found him quite charming) -- but if it appeases those people I wouldn't mind if they changed character art styles...

I absolutely believe that the game's art embodies Link to the Past style Zelda in 3d. The fact that this version of Link and the many cel-shaded effects (explosions, magical whisps etc) work so brilliantly in Four Swords Adventures further emphasises that point.

Wind Waker could have been a much darker game... in that Broken Isle and the very very late parts in the game where the only parts where they built a real atmosphere of a world in peril. But if they did this again, on Wii or a future console, and got all of that right? It would be incredible.
 
Ristamar said:
I don't mind the graphical style in OoT. It certainly isn't pretty, but it's not a deal breaker. The framerate, on the other hand...
Click to expand...

That's the main issue for me too, that and Link feeling too slow. I think it looks OK on Virtual Console.
 
Amir0x said:
First, it did return... in the DS game. Of course that was coupled by N64-era 3D, complete with sickening pixelation and three polygon geometry, but it is nonetheless a return
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, of course. I meant for Zelda Wii, sorry. :D

I think the cartoony cel shading style gave WW a similar atmosphere to the 2D games. I wasn't annoyed about the change because I didn't really see the Zelda series as "gritty adventures along the lines of Final Fantasy". I don't care about Link looking "badass", because he never was, really.

Also, thinking about it now, the second half of WW was kind of similar to the original LoZ.
 
The Wind Waker is the best Zelda game even with its bullshit sailing and collect-athon ending. It's kind of upsetting that Nintendo caved in and went for a more "mature" or "realistic" Link in Twilight Princess because that's what their fans wanted. Zelda should always have that cel-shaded chibi look to it.
 
Ristamar said:
It takes a bit more that that to be a platformer, IMO, but whatever works for you.

I think some people have gaming ADD and just want to jump around all the time for no particular reason (like that one guy from the Player One podcast).
Click to expand...
If I'm going to have to jump on a set of platforms I want to be able to control my jumps.
Sure it doesnt break the game or anything and the plaftorms are hardly a dificult challenge. But I still hate it when the game does the jumps for me.
I'll also never understand why they labeled the roll move as "attack".
 
Ecrofirt said:
Wind Waker is the most visually stunning game I've ever personally played. There's something about the art style that just wows me a lot more than the really high tech realistic shit you usually see.

As to the question above, yes I'd love to see another cel shaded Zelda game. Goddamn, Wind Waker is gorgeous.
Click to expand...

Quoted for the fucking truth. Wind Waker is so artistically stunning that it needs to be another celshaded console Zelda in the same way (I know about PH, but it's not the same)

Despite some minor flaws it's still a more fun game than Twilight Princess was.


Time for some high-res pics: (from discontinued dolphin emulator)


post-4-1107474280.jpg


post-4-1107474231.jpg


post-4-1107474216.jpg
 
Scribble said:
Would anyone like to see the cel-shading style from WW return? Or do you think it was extremely good as a "one-off", and it would feel stale if they went for that style again?
Click to expand...

IMO Cel shaded Zelda should stay on the DS/handhelds. The graphics were gorgeous but the game did look kind of silly because of the graphics.
 
GSG Flash said:
IMO Cel shaded Zelda should stay on the DS/handhelds. The graphics were gorgeous but the game did look kind of silly because of the graphics.
Click to expand...
WHAT?!

The game's graphics had flair, personality and were quite unique. Without them Wind Waker would've been just another The Legend of Zelda game... with sailing :)
 
Victrix said:
The best parts of Wind Waker are inching along a wall, and walking (and subsequently slipping) on ice
Click to expand...
Don't forget meowing like a cat to cover your prowling!

GSG Flash said:
Silly as in Link looks like a Powerpuff girl silly.
Click to expand...
You really do need to be slapped. Hard.
 
Prime crotch said:
If I'm going to have to jump on a set of platforms I want to be able to control my jumps.
Sure it doesnt break the game or anything and the plaftorms are hardly a dificult challenge. But I still hate it when the game does the jumps for me.
I'll also never understand why they labeled the roll move as "attack".
Click to expand...

For me, it's just one less button to press and the comfort of knowing I can't jump too early or too late. Also, I think a jump button would make the combat mechanics look and beel a bit janky. They'd have to revamp the whole system.

As for the "attack" label... uh, good question.

And :lol @ the framerate in the WW emulation. Wow.
 
i played this game sooo hard when i got it back on 04. wow, good times.

i definitely prefer it to oot, but i played oot after this (i only bought 2 games for my n64. heh.)
 
Amir0x said:
citeplz.jpg
Click to expand...

Jive Turkey said:
You really do need to be slapped. Hard.
Click to expand...

Hey, it's not my fault if I don't enjoy the design of Powerpuff Link. The character design of Link was the only problem I had with the graphics, but still, I prefer my console Zeldas to be not cel shaded.
 
SantaC said:
what do you mean DOF?
Click to expand...
Depth of field.

I actually didn't like Wind Waker too much while playing it
except for the amazing parts in going back to Hyrule castle
. I thought it was much easier than it needed to be, however looking back I've grown much more appreciative of the game.

It's certainly not my favorite of the series, but once the tediousness of all the
triforce searching
became sort of blurred in my memory, WW has gotten much more favorable to me.
 
GSG Flash said:
Hey, it's not my fault if I don't enjoy the design of Powerpuff Link. The character design of Link was the only problem I had with the graphics, but still, I prefer my console Zeldas to be not cel shaded.
Click to expand...

ok well then as SantaCruZer aptly pointed out, the so-called "powerpuff" design of Link had NOTHING to do with cel-shading... so why the hell would you take it out on that artistic direction?

Also, you're not really listing a case. Why should the cel-shading stay on handhelds? Because handhelds are more geared toward children, which directly implies you think cel-shading is 'kiddy'?

Cel-shading, as was stated, is a perfect way to hide the deficiencies of last-gen technology and still look awesome to boot. Without it, you get stuff like Zelda: TP - which may be your preference, god help us - but is quite clearly a game that is stuck in the Gamecube generation. The textures particularly make us suffer quite a bit! In Wind Waker style, they hide this expertly.
 
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