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Jan 6 / Ozymandias

Early Zelda: Twilight Princess Thoughts

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As some of you have noticed, I haven't been online on the 360 as much lately. That's because I've been pretty much sucked into the new Zelda for the Wii, and am about 15 hours into it. While I believe I have a lot more ahead of me, thought I'd share a few quick thoughts. Don't consider this any sort of full review – it's really just first impressions.


The Good:
  • Classic Zelda – great puzzles, dungeons, character design. If you liked Ocarina of Time, you'll like Twilight Princess. I'm enjoying it a lot more than Windwaker (especially as the game gets you around faster than the boat did!)
  • It's huge – I'm getting to the point where I could imagine some games wrapping up, but from reviews I know the game will be expanding greatly in a few hours.

The Mixed:

  • It's the same damn game you've played a million times. There are only so many times I want to kick open chests, find rupees, light the two torches by a door to open it, fight a boss and hit it in the magic spot three times to kill it, etc. While I'm having a blast, I can't help but wish Nintendo would let Zelda rest for a few years and come up with some sort of new puzzle/adventure/exploring IP. I'm hoping there will be some innovation later in the game.
  • Wii controls don't add anything to gameplay – this game was built for the Gamecube, and it shows. Luckily they're good enough that they also don't negatively impact the game (except for the loss of camera control).
The Ugly:
  • At it's best, the game looks good, occasionally great. Unfortunately, you do see a lot of muddy textures at times, and can't help but wish the game had been released on a higher-spec system.
Doubt this will change anyone's mind – you've either already bought it and are playing, or could care less. But it's recommended if you're on the fence.
[Edit: fixed the bullets to use real bullets instead of asterisks.]

Related posts:

  1. More Thoughts on Crackdown and Zelda: Twilight Princess
  2. Killzone 2 Early Thoughts
  3. Final Thoughts on Prey
  4. Quick thoughts on Crackdown
  5. Fair’s Fair – Thoughts on Wii

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  • http://www.fifaxbox.com Lawrence

    cool seems like you are enjoying the game :) Im getting my Wii In a couple of weeks so I will finally get to see how good this game is then.

    OZYMANDIAS = A POEM

    met a traveller from an antique land

    Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

    Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

    Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

    And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

    Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

    Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

    The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.

    And on the pedestal these words appear –

    "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

    Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

    Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

    Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

    The lone and level sands stretch far away.’

  • http://www.dglover.co.uk Masked Dave

    So it’s good that its "Classic Zelda", but you wish they’d go away and innovate the formula?

    Make your mind up :p

    Personally, I love the fact that it hasn’t changed, that you can predict with absolutely certainty that there will be a map in this chest, then a compass in this one and finally a new item here! Or that side quests and competitions will grant you a heart piece or the bigger wallet or a new bomb bag.

    The entire thing has been absolutely honed to perfection, so much design effort and concern has gone into every aspect, every item, room, character and enemy. A difficulty balanced so brilliantly that nothing is ever frustrating and nor is it too easy, remaining just challenging enough all the way through.

    I thought the same thing about the graphics, every now and then I’d look at the background scenery and go "Argh! If only this was on the PC or 360!" but for the most part I found the game beautiful. The twilight ‘curtain’? Amazing.

    I think the Wii remote makes aiming better for the bow, clawshot, etc but yes, for the most part the only difference it makes to the GameCube version is that the entire x axis has been inverted (seriously, go watch some GC videos, it’s all backwards!). Apparently the reason for which is that Link has always been left handed, but the majority of people hold the remote in their right hand. So in a way, they have changed the design of the classic Zelda mould after all!

  • Microsoft screwed us

    m$ screwed us with new hdmi xbox 360

    i have 1080p tv that only supports 1080p through hdmi

    now i have to buy another 360

  • APk

    I agree 100 percent.   They were able to take the best of the old and add new when they went from 2d to 3d…do it again.  

    I enjoyed playing it but when I finished I have no lasting impression.  Just that is was very fun, but more of the same.  That being said, it was very well put together and I would play more of the same.  Not a perfect game but a still must own.  

  • Apparently this is PR driven

    "I’m still amused to see some people think this is PR driven. Simply put, it’s not – nothing I have ever posted has been seen, filtered, or approved by PR or Marketing at Microsoft. I can safely state this as it’s a simple fact. Microsoft just happens to be very progressive in its thinking around blogs. I know that my stating this won’t change some people’s minds, and frankly, there’s nothing that will. But I did want to state that for the record.

    More important in my mind, the comment above implies a belief that I filter or censor comments. This isn’t the case, and there may be a technical issue happening that I want to explore with your help."

    We are still amused to see Andre Vrignaud think this is not PR driven. Simply put – IT IS, everything we have ever posted has been seen, filtered, or approved by PR or Marketing at Microsoft. We can safely state this as it’s a simple fact. Microsoft just happens to be very conservative in its thinking around blogs. We know that our stating this won’t change Andre Vrignaud’s mind, and frankly, there’s nothing that will. But we did want to state that for the record. More important in our minds, the comment above doesn’t imply a belief that Andre Vrignaud filter or censor comments. This is the case, and there may be a personal issue happening that we want to explore. Now also this site is a PR move on MS part so expect it to cast a positive light on their products. We are also less than happy that only every 3rd post of ours doesn’t make it here but, this is a MS blog written by someone involved on the 360 project.

  • Anonymous

    I should mention that at some point I will delete duplicate posts that are just a cut and paste of earlier ones. ;)

  • Anonymous

    Re: "So it’s good that its "Classic Zelda", but you wish they’d go away and innovate the formula?

    Make your mind up :p"

    Yep. ;)

    I’m having fun with it, but I’m also not finding anything that’ll really stick with me a year from now. And Nintendo is so good at coming up with original IP, I’d love to see them try to stretch the series a little bit (since, for good reason, they’d never abandon it).

  • http://www.slashcry.com dozens

    Well some would say that if it isn’t broke don’t fix it.  Any compliments or complaints in this can be applied to any series like Halo.  Differences between the first 2 and probably the 3rd are very small, with the story being the main difference.  Zelda’s problem is that is has been around for ages so it is harder to make gameplay and story changes without basically making a whole new game/franchise with characters named Link and Zelda.

    Personally I’d like to see more of an RPG game set in the Zelda universe, sticking with the more adult theme too.  More Final Fantasy or even Blue Dragon than the Crystal Chronicles type.

  • Islandkiwi

    Zelda is a like a nice warm bath.  You know exactly what you’re getting.  They found a formula that works and crank out a newer version of it every few years.

    Personally, I loved the sailing and visuals of Wind Waker.  

    I digress.  It’s a good game that doesn’t win Game of the year because we’ve all played it before.

  • Anonymous

    Re: "Personally, I loved the sailing and visuals of Wind Waker."

    Visuals, yes. Sailing, no. There was just too much of it for my taste, but YMMV. :)

  • Peter D

    I liked Zelda but, have to agree that there is nothing new here. What we really need is a Microsoft IP that has this kind of gameplay. With the more powerful system, there is a world of stuff that could be added.

  • Matt Barnes

    I feel that some of the Wii controls, although obviously tacked on, do add something to the gameplay. shaking the controller to attack, for example, seems to make the fights more tactile and fun.

    The little speaker on the Wii-mote seems to draw the player into the game as well, I for one really like hearing things like the slingshot and the boomerang going off in my hand. How cool is that boomerang by the way!? I want one.

  • imaginedbug

    The Wii is the first Nintendo console I’ve owned (played several in the past though) and this is the first Zelda I’m actually playing from beginning to hopefully the end. And while the visuals aren’t great, the gameplay does tend to be enjoyable enough to keep you focussed on the action rather than looking around how purdy everything is. Unfortunately the cutscenes are particularly lacking in visual quality.

    But what annoys me the most is the complete lack of voice acting (aside from the odd giggle and grunt). Maybe Nintendo doesn’t want to give Link a voice because they want to keep the franchise going another 20 years and don’t want him to have a different voice every other game, but having to click through on-screen text without any voices is, to me, a good enough reason not to buy the next installment of Zelda.

  • Aedrin

    "I love the fact that it hasn’t changed, that you can predict with absolutely certainty "

    I liked that too about the games. The only time they messed it up is in The Minish Cap. While it was a fun game to play, I hated that they changed some of the gameplay. Now suddenly there were openings in walls where there wasn’t a semi obvious crack. Instead you had to look at the look of the grass (which was random anyway). That really put me down in that one.

    And I don’t think voice acting would be good. I think they were already pushing it with Mario’s voice acting. The only reason I think it worked is because there have been cartoons/shows/movie with him talking. Voice acting is not always a good thing.

    And when games have both voice acting and on-screen text, I skip past the voice acting anyway. It goes too slow. At least you can speed up the text display.

    It’s too bad the graphics aren’t anything like Shadow of the Colossus. That game had amazing gameplay, graphics and sound. It’s too bad they failed so bad on the lasting appeal. (It’s fun to replay some of the colossus, but playing through all of them was a bit repetitive)

    It’d be cool to see something more online oriented from Zelda. The problem with that is they would have to remove Zelda, as it wouldn’t make sense to have that many. But they have a good world, they could use it for a pretty good online RPG.

  • Anonymous

    Re: "It’d be cool to see something more online oriented from Zelda. The problem with that is they would have to remove Zelda, as it wouldn’t make sense to have that many. But they have a good world, they could use it for a pretty good online RPG."

    Good call! Imagine a Zelda with co-op!? Man, what I’d give to play *any* of the Zelda’s through with a friend…

  • http://www.dglover.co.uk Masked Dave

    You mean like exactly what they did with Four Swords? …Just saying :p

    Replying to the above comment about Shadows of the Colossus, I liked the very structured and episodic nature of it, simply because you could pick it up, go do one or two of the Colossi when you had a spare hour and then go away again, every time you came back, no matter how long it had been, the brilliant move of saving *before* the cutscene meant you were right back in the game and knew exactly what was going on.

    However I stopped about 2 or 3 before the end to play Twilight Princess, then went back after Christmas to finish it off. Man, the horse riding sucked after Epona. And not being able to point at the screen to aim your bow? Pah!

  • http://www.dglover.co.uk Anonymous

    Huh, this is interesting, just been reading about Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the DS over on Eurogamer (scroll to the bottom) http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=71573 and it looks like they’ve only gone and changed the formula! (including an ‘online mode’ whatever that might mean) :o

  • John-Paul

    Okay I say the following as a pretty much life long fan of Nintendo.

    I got a Wii and honestly… I like it.. but I’m not blown away.

    Control, as I suspected feels gimicky at best and a bit floaty and unresponsive.  So far Wii sports is the only game I have that makes me go, hey now this is what Wii should be, but even at that it would get old VERY quick.

    Zelda is not bad, but like Oz said the control doesn’t really add anything to it, in fact I would rather be using a gamepad any day of the week.  Zelda is a good game but like Oz also said… been there done that.

    I dunno, just something seems off about the system in general. Pointing an old school NES lightgun at the screen is more precise and responsive than the Wii mote.

    Also they need to clarify stuff better, like that the system has built in memory so you don’t NEED a memory card, I didn’t know that and I bought one and had to take it back.  Also they could clarify that you HAVE to have Gamecube controllers and gamecube memory cards to play gamecube games, I had to find that out and go BACK to the store to buy more damn stuff just to play the couple of gamecube games I had bought.

    Ah well, here’s hoping it won’t end up like the N64, Gamecube and DS ended up for me in the past.  Good systems at the time, then heavily lacking game support and overall a let down by a once a great company.

    I dont’ want that to happen but I can’t count the times I trade Nintendo systems back in later years because literally NOTHING comes out for months at a time.

    BTW the Wiimote built in speaker is horrible, its bad enough the thing runs off batteries so factor that kinda battery swapping money into the equation but things like speaker use will drain it even faster.  My gripe with it is it is too loud and not a good quality speaker.  Mine already makes little cracky speaker noises and the sound quality is horrible. So, in this case I don’t think hearing my controller loudly go "CLANK" or whatever, is really not adding anything to the experience either.

  • http://www.dglover.co.uk Anonymous

    "Ah well, here’s hoping it won’t end up like the N64, Gamecube and DS ended up for me in the past.  Good systems at the time, then heavily lacking game support and overall a let down by a once a great company."

    Okay, the N64 and GC I’ll rant you, but the *DS* come on?! There’s acres of quality titles for that little device with plenty more on the horizon.

    It had a slow start while developers got to grips with the new control system, but then it exploded and left the PSP in the dust. I’m thinking that something similar is going to happen with the Wii.

  • John-Paul

    I’m sorry Masked Dave I should have said I was just personally let down with the DS, I know everyone else loves that sucker. I would rather have another pocket gameboy or mini or whatever.

    As much as I loath sony’s games division I honestly like the PSP. I think it has better games than the DS and more of them. I think the standard non stylus control is better and just like the Wii I think the system is "cool" but I’m not sure of the system yet and getting Mario, probably in like 2 years as they notoriously push out ONE really good quality Myamoto (sp?) title in a few years time, I’m just not sure its going the path of the N64 and Cube. Third party usually lacks, alienated control options make things worst not better.

    But ya, the DS I was wrong that has no chance of stopping anytime soon in sales.