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More Details on Zelda Emerge
Cube.IGN has more details on the upcoming Legend of Zelda title, gleaned from Spanish gaming publication Hobby Consolas. From the article: "From screens printed in the magazine, the new outfit looks to blend peasant clothes of different cultures to achieve an altogether unique style. These same screens show the Triforce emblazoned on Link's left hand. Cool indeed. Link himself looks different from any other Zelda title. Eiji Aonuma wanted Link to sport a manga-inspired look, partly because the Link shown in the Space World 2000 looked like a lifeless puppet." Commentary on the single-mindedness of the fanboi rumormill available on Press the Buttons.
Link gets some pussy!
I think Zonk needs to either pick up a dictionary and/or stop listening to Avril Lavigne ...
Oh and new Zelda game, kickass!
"Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs. We have a protractor."
at GamesAreFun.
Let's just hope the game meets them. I want WW's climactic ending, but with less fetch-quests (they can be added as side-quests, whatever. I just don't want to search for triforce pieces again), and more dugeons. Eiji Aonuma looks like the kind of guy with a new vision that could accomplish this quite well.
We've always had the cartoony Link... now there's a Link that looks like he belongs in a deep adventure/roleplaying game. It's a good look for him.
Personally, I think it would be cool to see them create a "bonus" world where you could play through the ORIGINAL game with the new graphics and stuff... kinda like an Easter Egg.
Windows isn't the answer... it's the question. NO is the answer!
Huh? Did you actually play the Wind Waker? It isn't Z-Targeting anymore. You still target with the button that is (relatively) in the same place. Namely, the L button. It is the one that is where your left index finger would be, just like the Z trigger was on the N64 controller.
Also, the Z button is actually a "C" button now. You assign swappable items to it, like the bow, bombs, etc.
Also also, you should know that the Wind Waker is considerably larger than the Ocarina of Time. Though there aren't nearly as many dungeons in the Wind Waker, they are all of very high quality. (Which I would contend, the OOT later levels weren't. The Shadow level and the level where you get the lens of truth felt last minute, and I hate to say it, but so did the Desert level).
Jumping in Ocarina of Time wasn't totally automatic. You could use Z-targeting to backflip, jump to either side, and jump attack forward. That was enough to get to a few places you shouldn't have. For instance, you can get onto the roof in Kakariko and talk to the guy who gives you a piece of heart without a hookshot -- or the Master Sword, for that matter -- by climbing the watchtower at night (when no one's there) and side-jumping to the left.
I take it from your Z-targeting comment that you don't know much about Wind Waker. Aside from changing to "L-targeting," that game fixed what was most annoying about auto-jumping from ledges by making it harder to do on accident. (Actually, they switched to L-targeting with the rereleases of OoT and Majora's Mask, but that's beside the point).
Honestly, it wouldn't make much sense for Link to jump much. He really shouldn't be able to jump very high at all with all the equipment he lugs around (speaking of which, does it amuse anyone else that the iron boots weigh less in his pack than they do on his feet?). Let's face it, a button that just makes him hop a few inches off the ground wouldn't be any use. If they did make him jump higher, then we'd have a Zelda game full of Mario-style jumping puzzles. Nuts to that.
We haven't always had a cartoony Link.
:) Though I'd like to see him use a broader range of sword attacks instead of the standard horizontal swipe and chargey-circlular-swipey thing. However, I guess it kind of works, since Link doesn't really know he's special until it's time for him to be the Hero.
In Zelda II, Link was 15 and had the Triforce on his left hand (the first occurance of this "branding"). That was the first adult-like Link there was. Then Ocarina of Time had Link at around the same age.
I was personally rather disappointed when Wind Waker was first shown. However, I grew to love the game while I played it, because no Zelda yet has let me down in terms of fun (let's not count the stuff on the CD-i).
I'm a fan of this more adult look. I always wanted the Zelda series to take a more serious/adult turn. Link just screams "badass" to me, even in tights.
"Apparently so, but suppose you throw a coin enough times. Suppose one day, it lands on its edge."
Jade Empire being better than Wind Waker maybe, but Kingdom Hearts is miles behind even Zelda 2. The real-time battle system of both Jade Empire and Kingdom Hearts still do not compare to any Zelda. All mentioned games are still not as majestic as Ocarina of Time though.
By the way, never compare anything Square Enix to anything Nintendo. Square Enix is the equivalent to Dell in the video game world. They've got their blindly loyal fanboys, but everyone else knows they make crap (even though their old stuff use to be good).
I wish more game developers, especially PC game developers, would take a good hard look at Zelda monsters from the 1st game to the latest, and notice that each of them are radically different from one another in terms of logic and kill strategy. In fact, check out the boss monsters and you will notice the player is required to devise unique strategy for each of them in order to win.
Most (almost all) PC RPGs use a cookie-cutter approach to populating the game with critters. (Diablo, Dungeon Seige, etc. etc.)
The Zelda designers have been extremely successful at selling thier games because they stay true to the core design features.
- Each monster is unique in term of kill strategy and movement etc.
- The gameworld is provides the player with lots of rewards for exploration.
- Give the player plenty to do while minimizing the repetition.
-Oy Vey
I agree. Beyond Good and Evil is probably the most underrated game this generation. It deserved far more exposure and recognition than it received. Like you said, an excellent story with characters you actually care about, top notch visuals, lenghty and well designed dungeons, and some unique gameplay elements. I paticuarly enjoyed how they worked the stealth gameplay in there. It's sad that the game probably wont ever spawn a sequel. BGAE was easliy one of the best games I've ever played and I encourage everyone to go pick it up (it was released for every platform including PC, so you should be okay no matter what your gaming prefrence is). I'm not sure if it "out-Zeldas Zelda", but it is excellent in its own right.
"..does it amuse anyone else that the iron boots weigh less in his pack than they do on his feet?)"
:(
Not anymore than the fact that I can carry a bazillion items in said pack and still move swiftly along. I wish more games had a little more 'realism' that way. Not Zelda, it's not that type of game. But other games would benefit if more things were limited. These days, everything, including lives, are essentially unlimited. Games lose something this way. That 'fear' you had of dying, back in the day.
In most new games, I find myself never using the 'cool' stuff till I know I'm near the end of the game. I just have this mindset that everything is scarce, but it isn't.
-- I have fans? Wow.
Ok, nice rabid response here which doesn't actually address any of the points I made in a coherent manner.
Sorry about the typo. It was pretty late when I typed this. If you don't believe I played the game, feel free to ask me any question about the content that anybody's who did a reasonable playthrough (but didn't get obsessive over subquests) should know the answer to.
You completely misunderstand my points about the jumping thing. I say I don't have a problem with the lack of a jump button. I then say that most of the puzzles are jump puzzles, even though there isn't a jump button. I'm not attacking the control system here; like I say, I have no problem with having the game decide when to jump for me. I just don't like jump puzzles.
I still fail to see anything about the execution of Zelda that sets it apart in any way. The combat system is shallow and doesn't really require either tactics or twitch-skill. Hell, I'm no great gamer, but I completed the game without any real difficulties, other than a couple of annoying jump sections. The game-world isn't as well fleshed out as it is in other games and I never felt immersed in it, or even intruiged by it at any point. Plus, you spend an annoyingly large amount of time travelling around the map on that tedious boat. It doesn't feel like you're sailing... it feels like you're playing an annoying minigame with an indifferent control system which is allowed to go on far too long. Sure, you can wander around the map if you want to, but you still basically have to go from A to B to C to complete the game. No real sense of freedom there; it's the same as KOTOR, Final Fantasy X-2 and many other games.
Incidentally, Grandia 2's combat system is virtually identical to FFX-2's. Not saying it's good or bad, just pointing it out.