Posted 29 March 2015 - 03:39 PM
You know, I wouldn't even classify this as a joke quest, but as satire. Like, *actual* good satire, too. And seriously, if you can't figure out that this is a non-traditional Zelda title from: "Zelda was out giving a speech about women's rights in the workplace. However, thanks to the PATRIOT Act, her speech got her labeled as a terrorist! Can Link help her, or is it too late for one man to stop the power of the U.S. government?" or much less the freakin' title, I don't even know what to say, then.
What should make video games great is that they can be just like other forms of media and art, in that you can express what you want through them. This takes Zelda 1 and attaches political concerns and views to it, and makes the subject at hand more interesting, especially to those who might think it's cool to not pay attention to them. Not every game out there has to be "save the world/princess or stop the big bad" or whatever- the whole point is that a video game can be what you want it to be, just like music and writing. And honestly, a big purpose of fantasy should be what it can tell us about the real world, it's why a lot of stories are analogous to the real world. But if you restrict games to having to fit a strict criteria of content, you're only hurting creativity. I know people who make games about their personal struggles they go through, whether it's discrimination, adjusting to a new lifestyle, or depression; and just because you're not an Italian plumber jumping on turtles or a blue robot saving the world from evil robots doesn't make them less of games.
It feels silly to criticize this game for not having 'proper gameplay' when that was clearly never the intention behind it. It's like critiquing a black & white photo for not having color, when the intention behind it being b&w was to convey a certain feeling. Or criticizing a fantasy story for not being science fiction. You shouldn't punish something for not having something it wasn't trying to have. Don't order the pasta at a restaurant and then complain that it's not a steak.
