51 replies to this topic

[Mero]

Well it did have the boulders on the overworld that blocked your path....My guess is that he plans to recreate that.

Yeah, something like that. Walls have nothing on hammers.

[randy]

The hammer in OOT was used to smash walls too. Sometimes I think that OOT borrowed somethings from Zelda 2.

[Joe_Cracker]

I just wish they could have made more Zelda games just like it. Forget the CD-I titles, Zelda 2 is the original and no one has out done it yet. If we had a version of Zelda Classic that gave you the option of making a quest just like it, I think everyone will just go hog wild.

Just give me more magical abilities and a 16/32bit look and I'll download that thing the first day it's up.

[Mero]

I just wish they could have made more Zelda games just like it. Forget the CD-I titles, Zelda 2 is the original and no one has out done it yet. If we had a version of Zelda Classic that gave you the option of making a quest just like it, I think everyone will just go hog wild.

Just give me more magical abilities and a 16/32bit look and I'll download that thing the first day it's up.

Really, Zelda 2 Enhanced was just that but it folded because of lack of support.

[Radien]

Personally, I think complaints about the difficulty have merit. At first I wondered whether I myself might just be whining, since I played the game as a kid and was not very good at video games. But recently I started a game again in emulator (only for convenience; I have an NES copy but I haven't dug it out), and after trying it out anew, I could see where the difficulty complaints came from. Here's the problem:

A good deal of the game is very basic and straightforward as far as the difficulty is concerned. Parts of it are just plain easy. But when you come to a hard part, it's suddenly hard all-at-once. And the sudden spike in difficulty isn't a wide variety of skills. It's usually just one action that you have to perform exactly right, sometimes multiple times. And if you don't, you die, and you have to replay all the mundane tasks that led up to that challenge.

I can sum it up in two words: Death Mountain. Levels 1-2 of the game are only moderately difficult. And then, even before level THREE, you are thrown into what some people say is actually the hardest part of the game. To this day, I feel I can't beat those alligator men in a fair fight, even though it's only a matter of timing. This is extremely frustrating.

To put that into perspective, I have played, beaten, and enjoyed Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, and more importantly, Alundra. One is a melee combat platformer, and the other is a 2D overhead Zelda clone. Both are games with hair-ripping levels of difficulty... but in both cases, the way they build up the challenge is very satisfying.

Zelda II had its moments where it was "hard-as-hell but fun for it," but they were much fewer and further in between than the other two games I mentioned. I would much rather play Order of Ecclesia or Alundra instead of Zelda II. In fact... I think I just may do that right after this post. *gets out the DS*

Yeah, I'm still trying to envision how to go about the puzzle elements. Two things I plan to do is first make a more complicated multi floor maze out of maze island where you have to go up and down and second making the hammer one of the most useful items for puzzle solving you have. Do those sound like good ideas?

It seems particularly weird to turn Maze Island into a multi-floor maze, because:

1. it's an outdoor maze, and
2. it'd make a lot more sense for the palace to be an indoor maze, and
3. if you want a maze of caves, you already have Death Mountain to mess with.

If you're going to take freedoms, I think it'd make more sense to make the overworld portion of Maze Island into something resembling the Valley of Death, except obviously not as dangerous.

[Mero]

Personally, I think complaints about the difficulty have merit. At first I wondered whether I myself might just be whining, since I played the game as a kid and was not very good at video games. But recently I started a game again in emulator (only for convenience; I have an NES copy but I haven't dug it out), and after trying it out anew, I could see where the difficulty complaints came from. Here's the problem:

A good deal of the game is very basic and straightforward as far as the difficulty is concerned. Parts of it are just plain easy. But when you come to a hard part, it's suddenly hard all-at-once. And the sudden spike in difficulty isn't a wide variety of skills. It's usually just one action that you have to perform exactly right, sometimes multiple times. And if you don't, you die, and you have to replay all the mundane tasks that led up to that challenge.

I can sum it up in two words: Death Mountain. Levels 1-2 of the game are only moderately difficult. And then, even before level THREE, you are thrown into what some people say is actually the hardest part of the game. To this day, I feel I can't beat those alligator men in a fair fight, even though it's only a matter of timing. This is extremely frustrating.

To put that into perspective, I have played, beaten, and enjoyed Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, and more importantly, Alundra. One is a melee combat platformer, and the other is a 2D overhead Zelda clone. Both are games with hair-ripping levels of difficulty... but in both cases, the way they build up the challenge is very satisfying.

Zelda II had its moments where it was "hard-as-hell but fun for it," but they were much fewer and further in between than the other two games I mentioned. I would much rather play Order of Ecclesia or Alundra instead of Zelda II. In fact... I think I just may do that right after this post. *gets out the DS*
It seems particularly weird to turn Maze Island into a multi-floor maze, because:

1. it's an outdoor maze, and
2. it'd make a lot more sense for the palace to be an indoor maze, and
3. if you want a maze of caves, you already have Death Mountain to mess with.

If you're going to take freedoms, I think it'd make more sense to make the overworld portion of Maze Island into something resembling the Valley of Death, except obviously not as dangerous.

Yeah and don't even get me started on Gooma "Boss of the ocean palace" That guy's a beast. He is by far one of the hardest parts of the game. Unlike Dark Link which is a cinch if you know his weakness.

[Imzogelmo]

Liked: The enemies. The hoards of enemies in ZII were similar enough graphically to fit in the Zelda universe, but they were more intelligent than the generally mindless enemies in Zelda 1. These guys often had weapons (and shields!) and were not afraid to use them.

I also liked the spells, although I agree with others that most spells had little use. A more experienced ZII player knows how to use the spells to the best effect, as some spells (like Reflect, Fire, and Shield) have a wider use than seems immediately obvious, and since every 6th enemy drops a magic jar, you might as well use the magic.

Oh, and the sound of Link falling into one of those holes: Loved that!

Disliked: The worst aspect of the game is the horrible dialogue, which I blame on the poor localization and terribly small space allowed for the text. Fortunately, you can do without most of what the people say, as the game is fairly linear. The only real complaint there is the fact that the most important non-dungeon item, the hammer, is only very very vaguely identified. That part of the game needs a bit of better explanation.

The only other minor complaint I have was some of the jumping portions of the game--you know the ones---where you have just enough oomph to get across that pit of instant death, and then some projectile knocks you back into the water/lava/pit/whatever. That's about the only way I usually die, and no amount of Life spells can stop it.
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I'm excited to see that BB plans to make an overhead version of all the enemies from Zelda II. Since they did seem to have a lot of personality, having them as part of the quest will really make it interesting. The overhead perspective will give him some freedom to make puzzles that just didn't exist in Zelda II. That can be coupled with a dungeon design that mimics Zelda II's complex, dead-end-ridden style will make for a genuine feel.