Zelda: Twilight Princess - Wii

[Mayhem]

->Open Spoiler<-

I should note that the guy in Milo's shop didn't seem to turn up for me until after I got the Master Sword, hence no clue what was going on with fixing the bridge. Fixing the bridge makes the payment to open a new Milo shop in Hyrule Town 200 rupees instead of 2000.

[Emir]

Finally completed this baby. 70 odd hours, though I still didn't complete Agitha's sidequest, and I think I was 3 Poe souls too short. Will go back to them though. I loved every minute of this.

[BigJohnBoy]

I agree on this. It very much felt like the spiritual sucessor to Ocarina of Time in pretty much every respect (I'm not sure where it sits on the timeline).

After OoT, there are two different time-lines (or parallel universes) - one after Zelda sends Link back in time at the end of the game in order for him to have a proper childhood- in this childhood world only Link knows about everything that happened (and Zelda too, as Link is telling her what happened at the 'The End' screen). The other time-line is the adult (or dark) world that Link left after Zelda sent him back to have his childhood. Hyrule was rebuilt in this world and the legend of the Hero of Time lived on through the word of mouth of Hyrules inhabitants.

TP is in the kid time-line. WW is set in the adult time-line. The game we want (where we see the flooding leading up to WW) is in the adult time-line.

[Binary Defence Crimson]

I imagine that TP is a million times more fun if you haven't experienced OoT/MM/WW as it's, well, rather samey to the preceeding games of the series. Still a top-rate gameplay experience, but it makes one think that this *has* to be the last time that Nintendo stick so closely to the OoT template.

I've got mixed feelings about Twilight Princess. It is still one of the best videogames ever devised by humankind, but...

I mean, it's marking the beginning of the MetroidPrime-ification of the Zelda series, not a good thing. Hard to explain why ('specially as I'm half-drunk) but I get the impression throughout that I'm playing a Metroid Prime game in the style of Ocarina of Time more than anything else. Silly irritating things like the magic 'sense' in wolf mode, which resembles the bollocky 'visors' in Metroid Prime. There's no real gameplay reason why the wolf Link shouldn't be able to 'sense' the mystic stuff in 'normal' vision mode. The 'sense' stuff seems there just to stunt the pace of the gameplay. Oh, and the s-l-o-w underwater levels and Iron Boots sections piss me off. Can we not have sections of the game that drag proceedings to the slowest possible speed please? There's a reason I don't play videogames whilst on tranquilisers, y'know. :rolleyes Artificially lengthening the gameplay life made Wind Waker unsatisfactory with all that bull**** sailing around, I had hoped that the same timewasting crap wouldn't affect TP.

(Oh, and even with a very good TV and a Component lead, the presentation's lacking - graphics either smeary Vaseline-o-vision or jaggy as ****. Sort it out Nintendo...)

[Adam Stone]

I disagree that the presentation is lacking...

Indeed, it is at heart a Gamecube game, but even if it wasn't i would still say it was visually superb. I don’t believe games need to be super realistic or dripping with bump mapping etc to look nice, and I’m not saying you do too, but I feel Twilight Princess’ artistry, sense of mystical wonder and almost hauntingly atmospheric presentation creates a beautiful world – alive with character, charm and creativity.

[importaku]

I disagree that the presentation is lacking...

Indeed, it is at heart a Gamecube game, but even if it wasn't i would still say it was visually superb. I don’t believe games need to be super realistic or dripping with bump mapping etc to look nice, and I’m not saying you do too, but I feel Twilight Princess’ artistry, sense of mystical wonder and almost hauntingly atmospheric presentation creates a beautiful world – alive with character, charm and creativity.

Agreed totally.

The facial animation of link alone is stunning to me, and its all in real time. And the soundtrack is stunning i keep getting goosebumps listening to it.

[Concept]

BDC - the flaws became more readily apparent the more the game wore on, and I agree that Zelda games should be events as opposed to the 'three years until the next one' template. I'd personally like to see Nintendo give some of their major franchises a rest (not for major sequel iterations, but more for the countless spin-offs) so they can be renewed later down the line, but commercial reality and the potential for what the Wii could offer means it isn't something that'll probably happen soon.

Adam Stone - I think criticisms on Twilight Princess' somewhat dated texturing in places are valid. It's no Resident Evil 4 in terms of pushing the 'Cube to its real strengths in my opinion, but it does look glorious in terms of artistry.

[jethro jazz]

There's actually been lots of discussions about the different universes between games etc. It's generally regarded that each game is a different link, with the exception of majora's mask being the same link as Ocarina of time. It's viewed as several heros called link throughout the history of hyrule

The Link in Links Awakening is from another game as well, Lttp I think.
Phantom Hourglass stars WW link.

I thought the order was Ocarina, majoras mask, Link to the past, legend of zelda and adventure of link is the last. That leaves the windwaker which i think is a what if scenario and im not really sure where it fits into the storyline, if there is one at all and it might just be the same story told differently.

There's a good Video on Gamtrailers that shows how they might all fit together. The "different interpretations of the same legend" thing doesn't really work as in WW they talk about OOT link and have a statue of him and in TP they talk about his clothes being the same as those of an ancient hero.

The gamtrailers video basically says that Minish Cap is first, the OOT, then at the end of OOT two timelines are created, the one where link goes back to being a child and meets Zelda for the first time and the one link left with the peaceful but ruined world and no Link. They seem to think that all the other games fit into the first timeline (MM, LoZ, AoL, Lttp and LA) and only Wind Waker goes into the second timeline. The theory then goes that the oracle games take place at the same time but in the two different timelines.

After OoT, there are two different time-lines (or
TP is in the kid time-line. WW is set in the adult time-line. The game we want (where we see the flooding leading up to WW) is in the adult time-line.

Any evidence for this? People know about the ancient hero of time in TP. Agree about wanting to see what leads up to the flood tho.

[Izayoi]

Completed the other day.

Money for old rope again.

[Binary Defence Crimson]

Completed the other day.

Money for old rope again.

How long did it take you?

[SUMIRE]

Completed the other day.

Money for old rope again.

It is, but that isnt a bad thing.

[PeteJ]

Just finished, approximately 40 hours. Didn?t do all the collection quests but everything else complete.

Without a doubt one of the best games of 2006, often brilliant, occasionally genius and sometimes frustratingly shortsighted. In terms of level design this is absolutely first rate. The character (and in particular boss) design is also absolutely brilliant.

It?s so satisfying travelling through an area for the twentieth time only to notice a cave half way up a cliff, and then spend the next half hour trying to work out how to get there. I loved how each dungeon item increased the depth of the land so much, and what could be an incidental detail early on becomes an essential part of the puzzle later. I don?t think I don?t think I could name another series that is able to introduce new gameplay mechanisms throughout the game and not have any of them break the experience. Likewise, I don?t think I could name many games that are as cleverly designed as this.

That said, I feel the game didn?t reach it?s potential. I?ll spoiler out the details, so if you haven?t finished the game please do not uncover, but I don?t think the game was fully realised.

Spoilers!
In particular

->Open Spoiler<-

the Twilight world ? what could have been an alternative reality ala OoT or Past, it is not much more than a graphical filter. Neither interacts with each other particular well; indeed both are identical bar the look. Yes, it would have made the game even more similar to Time, but the potential of having an interacting Light and Shadow world is immense. This could have really taken off when you restore the Mirror towards the end of the game, but in actual fact it wasn?t used at all bar travelling to one dungeon. I really liked using the wolf form in the final dungeon and seeing all the ghosts pointing the direction out, shame this wasn?t done more often. It was very rare I used the wolf form at all, the puzzles where it was needed were excellent, but again there weren?t enough.

Also there was a sense of impending doom during the early sections of the game, using the wolf to sense all the people hiding and scared of ?the monsters?, also the set piece with Colin (which was excellently realised, shame they didn?t actually kill him to add some?darkness). Later on it?s almost as if the characters forget about everything going wrong. Um, hello, the castle is being blocked by a huge pyramid thing! Though a linear game, there wasn?t much motivation to ?save the world? and the consequence of failing, like in Mask or Time where you get a good sense of a ruined world if you fail your heroic duties.

The dungeon design

->Open Spoiler<-

was as always wonderful, but I felt they were a little bit?predictable. Don?t get me wrong, the puzzles outsmarted me often and mixing up all the abilities in the final few dungeons was incredibly clever, but they fitted the Zelda mould a little too well. As ever the difficulty was all over the place (the third dungeon was by far the hardest in my opinion!) but that?s OK, but I did find the final few dungeons rather dull. The highlight for me was the Arbiter dungeon, the first that gave you the ability to switch forms. Great boss too. I really liked the ending which I know hasn?t been particularly popular (the cutscene just after you leave the castle took me by surprise to say the least) but the final dungeon had one comical moment when the folk from the bar come to ?rescue? you from an easy fight, and are never seen again! Imagine leading an epic charge against the castle, an uprising from the people! But alas?no.

All in all, absolutely brilliant. I do have my faults with the game but these are mostly ?what-ifs?, what Nintendo have created is a stunning adventure, and I honestly couldn?t tell you where those 40 hours went.

[achoo]

Hey everybody,

I own Zelda on the Wii and have accumulated about 40hours of gameplay and I can feel the end in sight!

I don't wish to spoil anything for anyone but I'm curious to how you all feel about the game?

What were your first impressions?

What were the low/high points in your experience so far?

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Personally, at first I thought it was good!

I was not sure about the wolf scenario's, but after longer gameplay I feel it brings a new depth and has an equal balance to the game.

I feel the controls work very well, not once have I questioned if I'd prefer the gameplay on a Cube, does anyone feel differently?

After such enjoyment it has certainly rekindled my love of Zelda, and I hope to re-buy Wind Waker Ltd Ed for the GC to replay!

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Highs:

The length of the game - it feels like it keeps giving me more... be it the mini quests/games and the storyline!

Especially the fishing game (even my 59yr old father steals the wiimote off me to play)

The end bosses = I believe not many other RPG/Adventure games can ever give me the same feeling as Zelda when it comes to an end boss sequence!

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Lows:


A few puzzles so far have infuriated me? I'm not sure if this can account to a low point.

Some of the fights feel easy? Is this because we have all become a custom to the Zelda formula?

The end! - I long for this game to never end, I admit I will replay this, be it just for the fishing alone!

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[Concept]

Spoilers!

->Open Spoiler<-

Um, hello, the castle is being blocked by a huge pyramid thing!

All in all, absolutely brilliant. I do have my faults with the game but these are mostly ?what-ifs?, what Nintendo have created is a stunning adventure, and I honestly couldn?t tell you where those 40 hours went.

Nice write up. I was under the impression that

->Open Spoiler<-

no one could actually see the Twilight Pyramid who was in the normal world or didn't know of its existence, hence Castle Town going on as normal.

.

[Klatrymadon]

Nah, one of the Gorons at the shop can definitely see it, hehe.

I agree with PeteJ, too. The plot's so localized and so village-centric that you never really feel like anything truly cataclysmic is going to happen. The manual says it all, really, with its small-beer prologue about a kid being taken away. ALttP's prologue was a gripping recounting of the Imprisoning War...