Let's Talk about Twilight Princess

[Pheonix Gamma]

I beat the game, and I haven't gotten into a forum argument about it.

So yea, I got the Wii version, though I plan on getting the GC version (just to see how the game was originally meant to be played. And to see the not flipped Hyrule)

I think the game was a bit too easy. I got all of the heart pieces and beat the game in about 40 hours, after everyone was saying "OMG 70 HOURZ." This is mostly because:

A) The last half of the game feels rushed (to me)

So many reused puzzles. Granted, there are a LOT of good ones too (the switch in Hyrule Castle that you needed to get with the bow? ____ING DEVIOUS. Though I still solved that quickly, because I remember seeing something saying you could do something for ruppees, and accidentally found the switch.)

The game's story is pretty good. I like Midna (it seems just about everyone does) but I felt like Zelda and You-Know-Who were so incredibly undeveloped. The game went through great lengths to develop fricken COLIN. I HATE COLIN.

Speaking of Colin, the kids in the game all seem to be really ugly. I can honestly say I hate every one of the kids from Ordon Village.

The Wii controls were fun. They're a novelty though. Also, flipping Hyrule was completely pointless. Offer the player an option to choose handedness. Or just leave it as is. Lefties can play the Wii version just fine (I know I do, as do many others) so a righty would have handled playing as lefty Link. I just think flipping the whole game for the Wii version was way too extreme, is all. Also, my dad is Righy and prefers playing Lefty. Just saying.

The bosses were all too easy. I haven't been challenged by a Zelda boss since the optional bosses in the Temple of the Four Sword in the ALttP remake.

I wish the items were used more. I used bows and bombs a great deal, but

the spinner was rarely ever used, the ball and chain was stupid and couldn't be used for much of anything, and the slingshot was rendered USELESS by the time you got through half of the second dungeon. I am glad that the other items were used in new ways. The clawshot and double clawshot reinvented the hookshot very well, and the iron boots were used for more than going underwater? NO WAI. Too bad the Boomerang is rarely used outside of the Forest Temple.

The game also needed to cut down on the rupees. It's too easy to get a bajillion of them. Meanwhile, getting hearts was harder, though you're rarely in danger of dieing.

Also, I think tWW had a larger world. I could be wrong, though. If you take every section of Hyrule and add it together to make one big mass, I doubt it's much bigger than tWW's. But I hate sailing, so I don't care.

The ending is anticlimatic. Zant is a tremendous _____ when you encounter him. Ganondorf's first form is Ganon, not his last, and Ganon is a total WIMP, and the game makes it so you're raiding Hyrule Castle in broad daylight (I had entered it at night, and the game said "no!" and changed it to day).

The last swordfight was somewhat difficult. Moreso than the one in Wind Waker, though I still don't think it was fitting for the final battle. It should have been the horseback fight, the sword fight, then and HARD Ganon.

Then the ending was kinda lame. Midna destroys the Twilight Mirror, Link is sad, credits roll, then a montage. Oh, and the game does the thing at the "THE END" screen I hate, where you don't save or are taken to the title screen, it just stops right there and you have to turn the system off or reset it.

I don't mean to rag on the game though. The Wii controls are a lot of fun (fighting some of the noob bosses was fun, since you're hacking away at the guy) although I find the fairy cursor to be really annoying, and it's useless. The only reason I leave the cursor on is for the excellent aiming system with the ranged items. I really like it.

I wish the sword followed the remote. Attacking doesn't require swings. You just shake the controller. At times, it just feels like a fancy button. But other times, you get into it. (Without spoiling much, one boss has you clinging onto him, and you hack away at the weak spot ala Shadow of the Colossus. I found myself doing full downward swings and stabs during that.)

That said, I'd like to see the tgame it was meant to be played, as well as the new Wii Zelda, designed with the system in mind.

Best Zelda ever? No. Good Zelda? You bet.

[1LT Worm]

Yeah, I don't know what everyone deal is, but the game TOTAL should take about 50 hours. Not rushing through with no sidequests. It took me 35, although, I think there is about a total of 2 hours that I had the game on the menu screen while I was off doing other things.

And PG:

the ball and chainkicks ass! It can be used to block arrows, break rocks, and pwn the ____ out of things. I'll agree with you about the spinner, though. I wish you could have sword combat on it.

I wouldn't buy the GCN version if you have the Wii version. It's not "how it was meant to be played." Fishing and fighting have been dumbed down so much it's ridiculous. I mean, auto-defend? That's sorta lame. I hit R out of habit so many times, which

makes Link use the shield attack. That messed me up so many times.

It's been a while, but I think all you have to do is hold B down when you have a fish on the line.

It's the prettiest Zelda game ever. And the difficult is pretty even through the game. But I still like Link to the Past better.

[Pheonix Gamma]

Yeah, I don't know what everyone deal is, but the game TOTAL should take about 50 hours. Not rushing through with no sidequests. It took me 35, although, I think there is about a total of 2 hours that I had the game on the menu screen while I was off doing other things.

And PG:

the ball and chainkicks ass! It can be used to block arrows, break rocks, and pwn the ____ out of things. I'll agree with you about the spinner, though. I wish you could have sword combat on it.

I wouldn't buy the GCN version if you have the Wii version. It's not "how it was meant to be played." Fishing and fighting have been dumbed down so much it's ridiculous. I mean, auto-defend? That's sorta lame. I hit R out of habit so many times, which

makes Link use the shield attack. That messed me up so many times.

It's been a while, but I think all you have to do is hold B down when you have a fish on the line.

It's the prettiest Zelda game ever. And the difficult is pretty even through the game. But I still like Link to the Past better.

ball and chain was stupid. It was the least creative of the items

Worm, the Wii version had auto defend too.

Oh, and you get +5 awesome for the last sentence.

[Slingerland]

It still was a great game. I think auto-defend is in there due to the fact that there were no more buttons on the Wii-mote for a shield. I never really noticed it nor cared.

Regarding the difficulty...I think it was meant for everyone to get accustomed to the Wii. Plus, the story is awesome, nothing felt rushed (to me), and I had one of the best gaming experiences in months playing it. I overlook everything you complain about, because it rocked and was everything I hoped for. The next Zelda built for the Wii has me excited.

The Wind Waker felt, to me, like a larger world, because in TP, the warping system is so awesome, the world feels small to me. If I ride around on Epona, it felt very vast, epic, and large, but once I got the warp power (and since there are warp points every 2 feet), it felt small.

[Zonar Games]

TP & OoT has to the best Zelda games ever made. I like the boss battles in TP like the monkey and the armored lizard. And the fact that riding on Epona is so fun.

[Pheonix Gamma]

Well the second half of the game was rushed, not the story. Snowpeak Ruins?

This game just felt too much like the developers were trying to appease the whiny people who hated cel-shading. They just tried too hard to make another Ocarina for the fanboys (I'm lookin' at you, Zonar.)

Granted, it's still a good game,but something about this game feels...."wrong"? It definately doesn't feel like the Hyrule I know (maybe because they were retarded and flipped it, thus placing a bunch of landmarks in all of the wrong places? Or the fact that Kakariko is some bum____ collection of crap in a big valley?)

Maybe I'll appreciate it more on the GC. I definately miss not having control of the camera with the C stick (using Z to move the camera can produce many problems).

Overall, I'd rank the game somewhere between Ocarina and Majora, Majora being the higher ranked of the two, Ocarina being a step below Wind Waker. So I guess it'd be between tWW and MM.

I guess this is just the one Zelda that didn't live up to my expectations, is all. The other titles met them. ::shrug::

[FuzzMaster]

I have it, I'm in fourth temple, and I can quite honestly say, yeah, this is not a good game.

Okay, okay, back up, it could be a good game, but it's not. Guess why? The controls are awful as ____. I'm doing okay NOW, twenty hours in, but in the first two dungeons all I could think about is how much I wanted to launch the Wiimote into my TV what with the camera not working unless you constantly (I ____ing MEAN constantly) tap Z to focus it around you. Too much 'platforming' combined with horrid controls does not a good Zelda make.

Combat is stuppppid. In theory, vertically slicing Wiimote would give you a vertical cut. No, not really. Swinging your Wiimote any way you choose works just as well as carefully planning out each swing. Up until the right before the fourth dungeon, for twenty hours, you fight enemies with no defenses and no damage to deal. Off the top of my head, the only enemies I ever really had trouble with were those guys with the spiked shell you had to jump behind. Know why? The controls are so bad... it was difficult to get behind them. Whoo! I have hope, because just before the fourth dungeon, you

fight that orc like guy that is similar to the moblins or whatever in Wind Waker. It was good because it presented an enemy where strategy was required. I hope I fight some more of them

.

Horseback combat was possibly the worst thing I've ever had to do in gaming. Perhaps it's the whole "you can't rub your belly while tapping your head" thing (but I can DO THAT), but horseback combat left me wanting to beat the ____ out of my Wii with the Wiimote and strangle a cat with the nunchuk. You basically joust a guy, so what you have to do is dodge via joystick and slice via wiimote. It did not go over well. Somehow I just couldn't wrap my mind around it, no idea why I had such trouble with something so ____ing simple. Regardless, I solved the problem by having a family member swing Wiimote while I steered Epona. Problem solved.

As for the story, it's standard. I really think they extended the whole lol ordon village thing a bit too long. You just keep going back there and you stay there and ugh. It's like, two hours of no combat and nothing interesting (GOAT IN!). However, it's shaping up quite well where I am, and now that I finally have control over the game, it's fun.

Graphics are amazing. Not neccesarily on a technical level, but holy hell, Midna looks GOOD. REALLY well modelled. Amazing. The ridiculous amounts of bloom looks kind of silly, however.

Sound... I heard a lot of complaint about how it's midi, and not orchestrated and I honestly can't tell. Music in video games is something that supposed to be there in the back of your head trying to portray the scene for you so it seems more urgent or whatever, if that makes sense. It's NOT supposed to be you turning on Twilight Princess just so you can hear the Hyrule Field music and complain about it's apparent low quality. Sounds fine to me. However, the music Wiimote speakers sound quality is awful, but you get used to it after an hour of playing.

Anyhoo, now that I'm at the fourth dungeon and used to this monstrosity you call a control scheme, I'm having some more fun although I do believe I'm somewhat stuck in the dungeon and I won't have time to play for a whilllle.

[Pheonix Gamma]

Fuzz brought up sound, so now I have another point. The game needed better quality music. Not necessarily orchestrated (even though Nintendo said they would) but something a tad better for some of the songs. Other songs were AWESOME, though. Minda's Hour of Dispair or something like that was probably my favorite. Such a beautiful piano composition. Listen to it on a rainy day.

I'm also gonna say that, while VAs weren't NECESSARY, they would have been greatly welcomed. At the very least, give them all garble like Midna. That'd be cool, and you wouldn't need to hire new VAs for english voices.

[FuzzMaster]

I forgot to bring up my point that most of the games content seems to be very large fetch quests purposefully designed to stall you from reaching dungeons. I hate light bug fetching. Hatehatehatehatehate. Seriously, before the third temple, I got up on every cliff and analysed just how exactly I would get onto the other cliff so I could get the blasted bug.

AND I forgot to bring up how much I hate Wolf Link. You have like, no attacks, and they all feel the same. It's better after that special event happens but until then, don't care for him.

[Pheonix Gamma]

I forgot to bring up my point that most of the games content seems to be very large fetch quests purposefully designed to stall you from reaching dungeons. I hate light bug fetching. Hatehatehatehatehate. Seriously, before the third temple, I got up on every cliff and analysed just how exactly I would get onto the other cliff so I could get the blasted bug.

AND I forgot to bring up how much I hate Wolf Link. You have like, no attacks, and they all feel the same. It's better after that special event happens but until then, don't care for him.

Bugs? You mean the golden bugs? Those are optional, mate. Just find one and get the wallet upgrade. Don't bother for all 20, since by the time you get the second upgrade, you won't ever NEED to hold a thousand rupees (unless you want to wear the magic armor and be a noob)

Oh, and wait till a little after the third dungeon. Wolf Link becomes a transformation that you can control at will, and you'll spend very little time as him. If anything, Wolf Link feels tacked on.

[1LT Worm]

Actually, I find that Wolf Link is great for brawling against swarms of enemies.

And just so we're clear, I like the game. It's fun. I just think that if they would have concentrated solely on the GCN version, it would have been more fun though.

The game's adventure fields were big enough to make the game feel epic, but they weren't as annoying as that damn Great Sea in WW.

[Slingerland]

No, Fuzz is talking about finding the invisible bugs that you can only see with your senses. They have tears of light that you collect to restore the light to an area. Seen in Faron Woods, Kakariko/Death Mountain/Lake Hylia.

[Pheonix Gamma]

No, Fuzz is talking about finding the invisible bugs that you can only see with your senses. They have tears of light that you collect to restore the light to an area. Seen in Faron Woods, Kakariko/Death Mountain/Lake Hylia.

Oh. Yea, those parts are stupid. Good thing you only do that 3 times.

[1LT Worm]

C'mon, those weren't that bad. Besides, they gave you a chance to scope out the area.

[Pheonix Gamma]

I would have prefered a miniboss, ala the Bobokin leader guy, for each section, and then have the place brought back to normal. This game needed more moments like the horseback battle. It mixed it up a lot.

Then halfway through, it just becomes "ok we get a hint as to where we go next ok we got the hint let's go." It needed those moments inbetween to really mix it up. I will say that Snowpeak mixed it up, but I wanted a little more.

[StarKrafter]

Well, I'm about 25 hours into the game, and currently searching for the second mirror shard. (GCN version)

All I have to say is that this game has greatly lived up to my expectations. Just the shear size of the game leaves me in wonder of how so much data could fit on such a tiny disk, and along with amazing graphics to boot.. Yet it still runs on a pretty smooth engine. The developers have certainly pushed the Game Cube to it's limits, no doubt. However, the difficulty of the game remains a pretty big problem.

All the bosses are a cake walk, the puzzles are extremely simple, the dungeons are straight forward making them almost impossible to get lost. So in all that, this game fails at giving the sense of accomplishment you feel from the former, more difficult Zelda games. =/ I almost wish I had gotten it for the Wii, in hopes that its cumbersome control scheme would offer more difficulty.

Still, for the most part I find that the artistic side of the game makes up for it's extreme simplicity. Definately worth the buy, imo.

8.5/10

[MaxSonic]

I picked up my Wii controler and nunchuk the wrong way the first time I played it, and it makes no difference whatsoever. I play the "left handed" way on Zelda and Marvel, and it has no effect on gameplay. When I try to switch, I end up mixing up Z and B. The only time it makes a difference is when you play something like Wii Sports.

EDIT: On a side note, I bought the Zelda collection for gamecube today for $3.

[Pheonix Gamma]

I picked up my Wii controler and nunchuk the wrong way the first time I played it, and it makes no difference whatsoever. I play the "left handed" way on Zelda and Marvel, and it has no effect on gameplay. When I try to switch, I end up mixing up Z and B. The only time it makes a difference is when you play something like Wii Sports.

EDIT: On a side note, I bought the Zelda collection for gamecube today for $3.

wtf. I always see it on sale for $50 used. I'll have to go looking for it and see if the price dropped.

[Spike]

I thought this game was AMAZINGLY overrated. I mean, jesus christ. It got a perfect 10 in several magazines! NO game is perfect. They just assumed it had to be awesome because it looks like OoT. Like a placebo effect. I personally HATE the parts as the wolf. No weapons, items, or ANYTHING. NO strategy whatsover other than getting the 3 demons in your little black swirly effect (when you hold down . Almost all of the characters introduced (Or remade) in this game where as stupid and ugly as hell. God damn that mailman.

I think the 3D games are horribly repetitive and drug out for time as they can, just to say that the game lasts longer when it is actually about 10 hours of original gameplay with 60 hour repeats of **** you did before.

It's still an allright game I guess though... 7/10. Minish cap was the best Zelda ever, I don't care what anyone says. That and 4 swords (Had GREAT multiplayer).

[Gamerdude]

God damn that mailman.

Screw you, the mailman is f'ing genius XD. Seriously, there is nothing funnier in that game then him running up to you with that dinky music. It gets me every time =P.

In all seriousness though...this is the first LoZ game I actually took the time to play through completely and collect just about everything (minus all the fishing lures). I got stuck on finding the 45th heart piece for awhile, it pissed me off =P. I thought the game was very well done. The only things I didn't like were the ugly kids (except for Colin, whose desire to be like Link was kind of a nice touch) and the beginning which was on the slow side. I rarely had problems with the controls and I thought most of the puzzles were well done...I couldn't tell if any of the puzzles were recycled from OOT, MM, or WW...so I thought that was good (I don't remember much from those games though, so that might be why I fail to recollect). But gathering all the Poe souls, heart pieces, and bugs took me a fair amount of time (about 50 hours or so, which is plenty for me).

Overall, I really enjoyed the game just as much as OOT (my favorite LoZ game) and I probably will play it again in the near future...or at least until SSBB comes out =P.

[DimensionWarped]

I thought this game was AMAZINGLY overrated. I mean, jesus christ. It got a perfect 10 in several magazines! NO game is perfect. They just assumed it had to be awesome because it looks like OoT. Like a placebo effect. I personally HATE the parts as the wolf. No weapons, items, or ANYTHING. NO strategy whatsover other than getting the 3 demons in your little black swirly effect (when you hold down . Almost all of the characters introduced (Or remade) in this game where as stupid and ugly as hell. God damn that mailman.

I think the 3D games are horribly repetitive and drug out for time as they can, just to say that the game lasts longer when it is actually about 10 hours of original gameplay with 60 hour repeats of **** you did before.

It's still an allright game I guess though... 7/10. Minish cap was the best Zelda ever, I don't care what anyone says. That and 4 swords (Had GREAT multiplayer).

Yeah, uh... you are wrong. If TP is a repetitive game, then so is every other game on the planet.

[1LT Worm]

I wish they would have put a second quest in. That would have been tits.

[shadowgoten]

I dunno about some of you babies, but I got into the control scheme after a while. But just so you all know, Nintendo already knows that TP isn't a true wii game, and are already working on a true wii Zelda.

The music wasn't very epic in the game, but I liked it. The sounds in the Wiimote were pretty bad though : \ the quality is just horrid.

The kids were pretty retarded. I found Midna to be wierdly adorable >.>, especially after you beat the game.

Also, all the items were awesome [spoilers]Ball and chain was downright ____ing boss, don't tell me you didn't feel like a king swinging that thing around and demolishing things???[/spoilers]

You are right about the uses of certain items though, I wanted to see more uses for some of the weirder items.

[FuzzMaster]

I didn't like how Hyrule Town lost most of it's personality from OoT. Most of this game feels like one big dedication to fanboys

[shadowgoten]

I'll pee on your face as a dedication to how much of a fanboy I am to the fuzz