Legend of Zelda Offical The Legend of Zelda Thread

[Soapy]

People are spoiled. The lack of voice acting is one of the charms in Zelda. Besides, it's not like voice acting benefited the Metroid franchise.

I'm curious, would you say Uncharted or Skyrim or other big games would be more charming if they lacked voice acting?

 

[Wolvieboy17]

Yeah, that's one of the most common fanboy arguments... You can't add things like that to the Zelda franchise because it's 'charming' or it's tradition. Hanging onto the idea of nostalgia for games series is probably Nintendo's biggest weakness. Nostalgia and paying tribute to your classics will only get you so far, you have to advance in your industry as well.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Yeah, that's one of the most common fanboy arguments... You can't add things like that to the Zelda franchise because it's 'charming' or it's tradition. Hanging onto the idea of nostalgia for games series is probably Nintendo's biggest weakness. Nostalgia and paying tribute to your classics will only get you so far, you have to advance in your industry as well.

Well last time I checked, hanging onto nostalgia and paying tribute to classics has given us awesome games like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Kirby's Return to Dreamland, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption....

When Nintendo tries to go with "fan demands" they kind of come up short like Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Metroid: Other M.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

Yeah, it's given us fun games... It's also kept Nintendo massively behind in the games industry. It's simple logic, every year, more new gamers are going to join the folds and nostalgia means absolutely nothing to them. Nintendo are slowly and surely screwing themselves over.

The Wii 2 is the smartest thing they've done, for the sake of their company, in a long time, but it will remain to be seen how effective that is, how the console handles etc.

Also, those games you mentioned? They're the Wii's biggest, AAA titles. Look how many years apart they were released. Then look at other consoles. Xbox/PS3/PC. Half that number alone of triple AAA titles have been released in the last 2 months!

I don't care how big a Nintendo fan someone is, it shouldn't cloud your perception. Just because i enjoy Zelda or Mario, doesn't mean I wouldn't want one of these titles with the same production values as a Skyrim or an Arkham City.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I would never call Nintendo massively behind in the games industry. Nintendo gave us the Wii and look at how much of a success that is (far more successful than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3). They gave us the Nintendo DS (far more successful than the PlayStation Portable). Some of Nintendo's games are the best this generation has to offer despite being graphically inferior (Super Mario Galaxy being the prime example). I find the Wii U to be brilliant not because of the graphics, but because of the touch pad controller that can really innovate gaming. Nintendo has always been innovating the industry.

The only problem that Nintendo really has is a third party problem. Even the good third party games just don't sell nowadays and as a result, they just don't care. It's why the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 have far more AAA games than the Wii, because the only developer that cares is well....Nintendo.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

Somehow, I don't think you're being entirely objective in your assessment of Nintendo's place in the games industry.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

The Wii lacks the big 3rd party games like CoD, AC, and Elder Scrolls. But Sony and MS would kill just to have 1 of their franchises.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

But you don't think the huge gap between Nintendos only premier titles leaves something to be desired? Or their lack of online or community presence, especially in comparison to their competitors, let's them down?

 

[jacobed]

I'd say that Mario Galaxy and Skyward Sword are two of the best games this generation without a doubt. Just because Zelda doesn't have voice acting its years behind the other two? Really? So far thats the only excuse I've heard that Nintendo is behind the times. It is a shame that its not in the game and the whole charm thing isn't an excuse because I don't think it adds charm at all but I don't know while playing Skyward Sword, never once did I think ah man I wish he would just talk.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

Apart from the things I listed above?

 

[Spidey-Bat]

But you don't think the huge gap between Nintendos only premier titles leaves something to be desired? Or their lack of online or community presence, especially in comparison to their competitors, let's them down?

2006: Twilight Princess
2007: Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy
2008: Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart Wii
2009: New Super Mario Bros. Wii
2010: Super Mario Galaxy 2, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby Epic Yarn
2011: Kirby Return to Dreamland, Skyward Sword

There's been something every year. Yeah, Zelda has taken a long time but there were 2 DS games between them. I just live with the fact that Zelda will be one of those franchises where a sequel takes a long time to come. We've become spoiled by annual releases like with Assassin's Creed and CoD.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

But out of those games you listed, while a lot of them are fun, they are really the only essential purchases for the console. Like I said before, compared to other consoles, it's quite behind the rest of the industry. It makes choosing Nintendo as your prime console a weaker choice. Now sure, hopefully the Wii 2 can change that slightly, but we'll have to see how that pans out.

Also, you can think of it this way Spidey Bat.... In 5 years, Nintendo went from Twilight Princess to Skyward Sword. In the same amount of time, Bethesda went from Oblivion to Skyrim.

 

[jacobed]

Thats a bad comparsion. Betheseda for the past 5 years has been working mainly on Skyrim whereas Nintendo has not been working on Skyward Sword for 5 years. Plus I personally find Skyward Sword way more fun. Skyrim is great no doubt about it but Im having more fun with Skyward Sword easily

 

[Spidey-Bat]

But out of those games you listed, while a lot of them are fun, they are really the only essential purchases for the console. Like I said before, compared to other consoles, it's quite behind the rest of the industry. It makes choosing Nintendo as your prime console a weaker choice. Now sure, hopefully the Wii 2 can change that slightly, but we'll have to see how that pans out.

The first-party games are the main reason I buy a certain system over another.

Also, you can think of it this way Spidey Bat.... In 5 years, Nintendo went from Twilight Princess to Skyward Sword. In the same amount of time, Bethesda went from Oblivion to Skyrim.

Bethesda has only had Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Skyrim. Whereas Nintendo has had every game I listed plus games on the DS and the entire 3DS system and those games. So not really an appropriate comparison, IMO.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Somehow, I don't think you're being entirely objective in your assessment of Nintendo's place in the games industry.

Except it's true. The actions that Nintendo does with their hardware often have huge ramifications throughout the entire industry. Nintendo introducing motion control forced Microsoft and Sony to introduce their forms of motion control. The Nintendo DS has forced Sony to add touch screens to their next handheld. And the gaming industry would be nothing without Mario and Zelda constantly innovating.

But you don't think the huge gap between Nintendos only premier titles leaves something to be desired? Or their lack of online or community presence, especially in comparison to their competitors, let's them down?

I'll certainly give you Nintendo's horrific online presence. That is something that has actually dragged them down and where Microsoft is the one doing the primary innovating in that field. In today's day and age Nintendo's online presence is pitiful in regards to it's competition.

As for the games, Nintendo has put out plenty since the Wii's inception. Unlike Microsoft, Nintendo actually remembers that they have a group of first party studios. The problem lies in the lack of quality third party games.

 

[jacobed]

Ok I'm gettin close to the end now I think. About 53 hours into it and wow is all I can say. Absolutely phenomenal game, its beautiful to look at, crazy fun to play and characters are all great. I'd say my biggest surprise though is the story, the first bit feels like every Zelda game and I was getting worried that it'd get stale quickly like Twilight Princess did but the exact opposite happened. The story heats up pretty quickly and stays great throughout the whole game, you really start to care for all the characters involved. New villain is great, creepy, and always around to he/she always feels like a constant threat its nice to finally have someone else go against Link besides Ganondorf. Congrats to Nintendo for throwing out the old Zelda playbook and basically starting over with this one. The game feels fresh and new throughout the full thing and the new rpg elements added to the game are pretty sweet but overall I didn't really upgrade many things to often.

It sucks that the voice acting is missing but the characters are so expressive themselves that I was less bothered by it then I thought I would be. Also while soaring on your bird is fun, eh islands in the sky are a little too far apart and at time it can be boring to fly back and forth between them, definitely less boring than sailing in Wind Waker but still its a bit dull. Also, I really wish this game had achievements. This is the type of game that would be perfect for an achievement system.

Enough can't be said about the gameplay. Just about everything in this game uses the wii motion plus and it all works great. I never want to go back using a controller for any type of sword fighting game ever again. Here it just feels so great and so natural once you get the hang of it. It becomes really satisfying, figuring out each enemies' tell and taking them down. The boss battles are huge and awesome and a few of them are really challenging.

The art design is beautiful. I really wish the wii had the power of the 360 and ps3. This type of art style would be absolutely beautiful with just a bit crisper graphics and in 720 or 1080. Saying that, the cutscenes are perfect. They're a bit more cleaned up then the gameplay and they look amazing.

Overall, this is my game of the year. Its the best Zelda game ever and of the best of this generation across all 3 systems. There are definitely things wrong with it but none of those even come close to hindering the experience. I'd say its a 9.8 out of 10

 

[GoblinScrier]

Jacobed, I can't wait to get my copy this Sunday...with that said, is the "overworld" theme aka main Zelda music anywhere in the game?

 

[jacobed]

Yeah a little bit. I will say I wished it was more prominent but the new music is for the most part pretty dang good. Which reminds me, the harp like thing in this game is almost completely useless and huge wasted opportunity.

 

[Benstamania]

Just read the GameInformer review... And I kind of want it... No, I DO want it. However, I won't be buying a Wii just to play this. If the WiiU has Wii BC built in and upscales the games... I'll be all over this.

 

[GoblinWhirlwind]

I've been seeing perfect reviews all over the place on Facebook. Man, I can't wait.

Jacobed, all I wanna know is does the Gerudo Valley theme return? Assuming there's a desert region.

 

[Thundercrack85]

The game comes with a CD, which has orchestrated tracks on it. Gerudo Valley is on there.

 

[GoblinWhirlwind]

I'm aware of that. I'm talking about in the actual game.

 

[X Knight]

so would it be worth it to buy a Wii just for Skyward Sword? or just wait till the Wii U ( it's my understanding that Skyward Sword will be playable on the Wii U )?

 

[GoblinWhirlwind]

Being a huge Zelda fan, I would definitely buy one for it. I guess it depends on that. There are two different Wii's you can get now... the original model that comes with free Mario Kart, or the new model that comes with NSMB (I think). The new model isn't GC game compatible though. Honestly, I'd say it's worth it to buy a Wii just to play Mario Galaxy.

 

[Benstamania]

I'd wait on the WiiU... Many of the reviews I've read have called this "The perfect Wii swan song." The WiiU is SUPPOSEDLY coming out sometime next year... So.. I'd just wait. By the time it does hit it will support BC with Wii games plus it will probably upscale the game.

That and the game will probably be at least 30 by then...

Who am I kidding? First party Nintendo games almost NEVER drop in price.