4847 replies to this topic

[Fiyaball]

When it comes to non-Zquest, I've been attempting to 100% DKC2, which has been driving me into insanity... not that I was very sane to begin with...

I've done it twice on the GBA version. There's some really trollish dk coin/ bonus coin placements, including going through a bramble wall at one point.

[Nicholas Steel]

Aside from the bonus levels you spend the DK (or is it Kremcoins) Coins to access, 100%'ing the game isn't toooooooo baaad. Those bonus levels though? They can go fuck themselves.

[The Satellite]

Wind Waker is magic.

 

Okay, ease back a second. The game isn't perfect. Most of my issues of it relate to text. The text speed is still faster than Ocarina of Time (and it's way faster in HD), but it can be a pain listening to text sometimes, especially when grabbing items from a chest. Maps, compasses, Joy Pendants, treasure charts, other spoils, yes, I know what these are, stop reminding me every time and preventing me from skipping the text! Ocarina of Time let me skip these! Why the step backwards?

 

The tradeoff? Text this time is actually interesting! There's actual characterization and development, the story is intriguing, it's witty, charming, cute, deep. Like the sea huehuehuehue. This is the best characterization of Ganondorf we've ever seen, and the best villain in the series. Still... it'd be nice if I could speed up those pickup texts. At least there's plenty of other dialogue that allows fast scrolling.

 

There's some tedium in the late game. The Wind Temple I do enjoy, but not as much as any other dungeon. Part of it is how slow Makar is at literally everything, and how often you have to play Command Melody, which feels like a lot more than in Earth Temple. Maybe it isn't, and it's just annoyance at Makar showing. And then there's the Triforce Quest... which actually I enjoy. There's a tiny bit of tedium with the constant warping and wind changing, but the quest is fine. HD managed to speed things up a bit in that area, I suppose, but it still requires playing the song several times.

 

Also the issue of a bit of forced linearity early on after clearing the Forsaken Fortress, forcing you to pretty much stay within certain bounds until after the second level.

 

But where it shines is its pure sense of adventure. Okay yeah sure I just mentioned the railroading but there's still a bit of freedom within that, and once it opens up, then it's true exploration goodness. Tons of islands and secrets to find, wonderful music, various hazards that might pop up, and the best part is, even if you're told a goal, you're often still left to your own devices to figure things out. Not always, to be fair; sometimes you might get an unwanted hint, but most of the time, it's up to you to figure it out.

 

And the characters are all so great and alive, this game's writing is just wonderful, the presentation and graphics are wonderful, the story is wonderful, wonderful x20000 or something I dunno I'm rambling. Yes, it's the most linear of the Zelda games that I've played in this mini-marathon, but it's also the game that proves linearity isn't a bad thing as long as it's fun. And Wind Waker? Wind Waker's pretty damn fun.

 

Next: The Minish Cap.

[Tree]

I've done it twice on the GBA version. There's some really trollish dk coin/ bonus coin placements, including going through a bramble wall at one point.

Doesn't the GBA version have an extra thing to collect too? A feather, I think? What do those do??

 

I think the worst bonus level for me to find so far was the one in the dark, underwater level in the 3rd world (can't recall the name, but you have an fish squawks lighting your path). The one where you just kinda have to feel around the walls until you find the path. I had to look that one up, because I was in that level for far too long...

[Fiyaball]

Doesn't the GBA version have an extra thing to collect too? A feather, I think? What do those do??

The feathers are used for expresso racing, one of the new things. There's also funky's flights and the scrapbook, which adds a total of 28 extra DK coins. The new stuff isn't too terrible, fortunately.

[kurt91]

@The Satellite

 

Have you heard of the guy who's back-porting Wind Waker HD to the Wii? He started with just making an HD texture pack for Dolphin and some shader work, and then started modding the game to implement features from the remake. I can't remember all of the stuff he's got put back in, but I know that the Fast Sail is part of the game now (albeit activated with the Control Pad, and needs to be turned off through using a boat-stopping item such as the Wind Waker), and he's editing the Triforce Hunt to where all of the Charts are just replaced with the Triforce Pieces directly.

 

The insane thing is, he's claiming that the finished version should be able to run in an actual Wii. I don't know if it also means that a modded GameCube will work, or if you're going to need to use a Wii to implement everything.

[The Satellite]

Have not, but honestly, I prefer Gamecube's visuals anyway, and I don't need the Swift Sail.

[The Satellite]

My second impression with Minish Cap isn't really any different than my first impression: This game is not very good or fun. It's slow and tedious, packed full of dialogue and triggers that must be gone through to properly progress through the game. Seeing as it's a very weak and generic story, this doesn't help things. That, and the world just feels so artificial and nothing at all like an adventure. The entire game's just one big puzzle, with overworld sections that always have some sort of puzzling aspect to them and are constantly barred off by artificial shortcuts you have to open from the other side constantly. There's no exploration in this game, there's just a set path disguised as exploration. Seriously, I don't mind a few puzzles in the overworld, but not when the entire damn overworld is that way. Save that for the dungeons, for crying out loud.

 

That's really only the fresh thought I have, because my three-year-old Chronicle of this game is still pretty much accurate. I'd really just be repeating everything I said in there, except probably in a more well-written form.

 

I can try to summarize it though. Long story short, a lot of the movement and progression feels slow. The Gust Jar is a neat item but it's unwieldy. Ezlo is an incredibly annoying helper who keeps pointing out things more obvious than what Navi points out, and likes to interrupt while I'm in the middle of solving the room; stop trying to tell me how to beat everything and let me do it myself! Dungeons are fine, third one's not as a good. Bosses are actually quite neat and enjoyable, apart from the ChuChu boss, which is too simple and annoying because of the Gust Jar. The graphics are nice, the music is okay, the shrink mechanic was fun when used right. The middle part of the library sidequest was godawful.

 

did I mention Ezlo sucks

 

Other than Four Swords, Minish Cap is still my least-favorite Zelda game. Not a bad game, but one I just can't enjoy. Time to leave it behind and move on to Twilight Princess.

[Anthus]

Just got Shovel Knight finally for 3DS. Really an awesome game so far. The Shovel Knight moves a bit slow, but it's still a fun game. Really, it's like Zelda 2 meets Megaman meets SMB3. Can't go wrong there.

[The Satellite]

Don't forget Castlevania and DuckTales.

[Dark Ice Dragon]

Duck Tales ? i play to a remake for PS3 recently,was add 2 stages and all boss was upgraded, so they are not so easy as in the NES

Edited by Dark Ice Dragon, 14 July 2016 - 04:00 PM.

[The Satellite]

Twilight Princess down. This is a game that started to see a few more instances of silly attempts to keep you on track, or enter an area a certain way. Like that odd barrier in Faron Woods that requires you to hop it with Epona in order to chase down Talo. Why is it there? You don't need Epona anywhere else. And Talo got over it just fine, why couldn't we? Yeah yeah, it's used as a device later for Ilia to blame Link for hurting Epona by hopping fences, but they could have just done something different. Like she took Epona to the spring to bathe her in the morning that you needed to go, and you met her there, and then the Bulblins attacked.

 

And I get Kakariko having locked gates, but why one blocking off Lanayru from south Hyrule Field? Why can't Midna just say "Not this way Link, the other way," and refuse to let you into that Twilight? For that matter, how cool would it have been if the game let you pick to save either Lanayru or Eldin first?

 

But despite this, the game's still a ton of fun to play. It has a few minor bugs, but it controls very well and smoothly, and that goes a long way towards a fun experience. And as far as cinematics go, this game might be the best in the series in that front. Each cutscene is framed well and intriguing, and the dialogue speed is nice and fast too so it never feels like you're being held hostage by the story, regardless of whether or not you skip the cutscenes; after Ocarina of Time's tedious cutscenes, this is a very welcome experience.

 

On that note, I made sure to skip nearly every cutscene that was just showing off the environment or room I walked into. These are annoying, mostly the ones that show you the result of your work that you could clearly see without the cutscene. A chest spawning is fine... though it could be faster. And I don't need to be shown something I could easily find just by exploring, like that there's something on the other side of that door I haven't gone into yet. Though really, these are the only sources of tedium in the entire journey. And the postman I suppose.

 

The dungeon design is great in this game. They all flow pretty well, are generally clever, and are quite fun to play through. There's a handful of times it can feel a bit fatiguing, but the overall design is fun enough that I don't mind. As usual, Temple of Time and Palace of Twilight are the only ones that don't feel as interesting to me, with the former being too linear and the latter feeling like a missed opportunity. Really, the Twilight Realm itself. There's an entire realm that could be very interesting, and we only get to see this teensy area of it.

 

Really, the ending never felt climactic for some reason. Two small dungeons back to back, with nothing but a couple cutscenes in-between, coupled with a Ganondorf encounter that feels a little rushed, story-wise. Compare to Wind Waker and Ocarina of Time with the ascents through Ganon's tower. A Link to the Past, as well. Hell, even Zelda 1, with its labyrinthine home of Ganon. It feels more climactic than this.

 

But it's still a great game and I wouldn't hesitate to call it better than Ocarina of Time.

 

Covering a few small things... There are several moments where sidequests just feel like fluff, or at least parts of the sidequest, which makes them... not tedious, but not exactly exciting either. The overworld is great I think, there's a real sense of adventure and some things to discover, mostly chests and caves. Midna is the best helper so far, I've found; most of her dialogue relates to the environment and story more than how to solve puzzles, though she does have her moments there. She's a character more than she is a helper, and the game's speedy text helps alleviate any annoyances she may give off. That, and her character development is actually great.

 

Honestly, in the end, the only things I don't think are so good about this game are the graphics, music, or story. Sure, the game's framed well as a story, but the story itself is lackluster. The music is fine at times, but the instrumentation is kind of awful and it recycles a lot of compositions too many times I think. And the graphics... just didn't age well, and it's too dreary; needs more color at the very least.

 

But as a game? It's just too damn fun to play. I like it.

 

DS Zeldas, your turn.

[Nicholas Steel]

TS, I feel your Zelda posts (This TP post and your Minish Cap post) should be put in to your Game Rants topic as I feel they would be more appropriate there instead of here even if you yourself don't consider them to be rants ^_^"

 

I do enjoy your posts, I'm just saying I feel it is awkward for them to be here.

Edited by Nicholas Steel, 19 July 2016 - 05:43 AM.

[Lejes]

I started on Donkey Kong Country Returns today. Initial impression: great game, marred by the Wiimote. Seriously I hate that thing. I opted for holding it sideways instead of using the nunchuk, and it's just so awkward to hold. The left side of the controller really isn't designed for a human hand. I wish I could play this with a real controller, with all the waggle functions tied to a button, without modding my console. Other than controller issues, I'm looking forward to a meaty platformer, since even the first world's extra stage wasn't afraid to kick the crap out of the player. I'm slightly dismayed with bouncing mechanics, still. I would have liked if holding jump let you do high bounces off enemies, like most platformers have been doing since the SNES days.

[The Satellite]

Totally agreed. I played it initially on 3DS and then the Wii version, but I ended up resorting to a hack with the latter to use a classic controller. Which still wasn't perfect because it translated the waggle in a weird way, but it was still better than waggle. Tropical Freeze is so much better for having actual controls. Among other things, granted.
 

TS, I feel your Zelda posts (This TP post and your Minish Cap post) should be put in to your Game Rants topic as I feel they would be more appropriate there instead of here even if you yourself don't consider them to be rants ^_^"
 
I do enjoy your posts, I'm just saying I feel it is awkward for them to be here.

Eh, there've been longer posts in here, and they are games I'm currently playing. They're rambly (not the member) but I feel like making another thread for this type of venture would just be redundant with Zelda Chronicles.

And there's only four games left anyway. :tard: