The Legend of Zelda Series

[talonmalon333]

I like Ages a bit more. But I agree with you guys that it's very close.

[Nel_Annette]

Had way more trouble with Onox than I used to, but that's because I always used to have the Master Sword in that fight. Thank god for restore points! I've already beaten the first dungeon in Ages. Spirit's Grave has got to be the easiest dungeon in these two games. Both bosses take mere seconds to beat, the whole dungeon only takes about ten minutes, the boss key is in the most "un-boss key" area ever... I had more trouble in the Gnarled Root Dungeon.

And the 3DS makes this password thing waaaaay less tedious. The way you can just suspend the game, go over to the other and pick up where you left off, do the password task, and go straight back to the linked game without having to go through the title screen or any bullcrap is just fantastic. I just did the one involving the graveyards and the ghost's guessing game that nets you an extra heart container in Seasons. With that done, I'm taking that password he gave me back to Ages, to get another heart container from Farore. Since this is the first time I've ever played Ages as the second game, that whole event was new to me. 

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Had way more trouble with Onox than I used to, but that's because I always used to have the Master Sword in that fight.

Would you believe that on my very first play-through of Seasons, I actually ended up having to beat Onox with the wooden sword? I didn't use guides to beat the game, so I completely missed getting the Noble Sword, and while Onox's first form was easy, his true form took me dozens of tries to finally beat. I thought he was the hardest Zelda boss ever, until I learned that he only took half as many hits with the Noble Sword, and a third as many with the Master Sword.

[talonmalon333]

Wait. In your first playthrough, it's actually possible to get the Master Sword? I thought that was only possible in the linked game.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Wait. In your first playthrough, it's actually possible to get the Master Sword? I thought that was only possible in the linked game.

And when did I ever imply that? Read posts carefully sometimes. I merely just said that I didn't know about the Noble Sword on my first play-through, and only learned about it later, as well as the Master Sword. I shouldn't need to add in that I found out about its existence later because that's obviously implied, and clearly when I did find out about it I knew it could only be attained in a linked game.

[talonmalon333]

Wait. In your first playthrough, it's actually possible to get the Master Sword? I thought that was only possible in the linked game.

And when did I ever imply that? Read posts carefully sometimes. I merely just said that I didn't know about the Noble Sword on my first play-through, and only learned about it later, as well as the Master Sword. I shouldn't need to add in that I found out about its existence later because that's obviously implied, and clearly when I did find out about it I knew it could only be attained in a linked game.

My post was directed at Nel. But it turns out that I misinterpreted something he said. So nevermind.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Eh, Sorry, I overreacted there. That's exactly the shit I was talking about in the self-criticism thread.

[Nel_Annette]

Had way more trouble with Onox than I used to, but that's because I always used to have the Master Sword in that fight.

Would you believe that on my very first play-through of Seasons, I actually ended up having to beat Onox with the wooden sword? I didn't use guides to beat the game, so I completely missed getting the Noble Sword, and while Onox's first form was easy, his true form took me dozens of tries to finally beat. I thought he was the hardest Zelda boss ever, until I learned that he only took half as many hits with the Noble Sword, and a third as many with the Master Sword.

Dear god, man... dear... god...

But yeah, Talon, I used to always be able to beat him with the Master Sword because I always played Seasons as a linked game. I don't think there's any legit way to get the Master Sword before using link passwords.

I had to take a break earlier.  forgot about all that Tokay Island item-stealing bullshit and that I have to play that stupid-ass minigame for the scent seed.

[talonmalon333]

Eh, Sorry, I overreacted there. That's exactly the shit I was talking about in the self-criticism thread.

If it makes you feel better, I was talking about how I tend to misinterpret people's posts in that self-criticism thread.

[Nel_Annette]

Okay, yep, Seasons is definitely a better game, severe lack of story be damned. What is with Ages and all these damn minigames before Mermaid's Cave? I think I blocked all of this from memory. These are the worst Gorons ever...

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

As I said before, it was bad enough having to do the stupid dancing mini-game once (way more than that if you count all of the times that I failed), but just imagine how pissed I was when I realized that I had to do it all over again in the past.

Seriously, what's with these Gorons? Link is trying to save all of Labrynna, and they have the gall to actually charge him money and make him play mini-games just so he can enter the next dungeon to get another essence that he needs for his quest? These Gorons are just fucking ass-holes.

[Nel_Annette]

You saved our elder! THAT'LL BE 20 RUPEES TO PLAY OUR GAME.
You have our Emblem of Brotherhood. WE'RE STILL CHARGING YOU.
A Letter Of Introduction from my best friend? NOT GOOD ENOUGH. DANCE FOR YOUR KEY, WHORE.

[Grave]

I put off on giving my thoughts about Zelda long enough.

My Zelda days didn't start until I got a Nintendo 64 with Ocarina of Time, and like everybody else I was taken by surprise.  To have a game that large and have so much to do really blew me away. I'd say I was completely hooked by the time I saw my brother fight against the forest temple boss. I'd say this game was so good that my brother, sister, and myself took up all 3 slots. My sister's never been much of a gamer, but she liked it just as much, if not more than me. I think we all nearly lost it when we fought Shadow Link.

Majora's Mask was catering more towards me, although, I'm probably in the minority when it comes to MM. I just like the premise of the whole 3-day event thing. It gave me a sense of urgency. The only thing that held this game back was the stupid expansion pak. That thing would overheat so fast causing my game to freeze, and I'd be in the process of trying to find a fricken owl statue. I still haven't finished the game because of that.

Unfortunately, by the time I got my hands on Wind Waker (which I already did care much for due to the cartoony style) and Twilight Princess (I think around 2009-2010) I was practically over the OoT style. And that's where I stand today as well. I know it works for everyone else, but that style really showed it's age when I got Twilight Princess. I think I got all the way up to being in the sky or something, and I just couldn't finish it. Everything felt so tiring like I've done this already.

I think in order for Nintendo to get me back to being a fan of Zelda again, they may need to add some mechanics from a game like Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden. While I don't necessarily need a combo or style-like mechanic I would like to see Zelda implement a weapon upgrade system or something. Going around collecting things is fine and dandy until your rupee bag becomes full and all you keep doing is running into chests filled with rupee's. That's annoying.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I actually agree with upgrading the combat mechanics, at least as far as the 3D Zelda games go. I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't expect anything with near as much depth as Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, or Bayonetta, but just some more breadth to what you can actually do with melee-based combat in the game would be nice for some interesting strategy and fun experimentation. Of course, Nintendo will understandably never do that to keep Zelda as accessible of a franchise as possible, but I think they could design it in a way in which they had a default difficulty in which you don't require any sort of advanced combat, while implementing a Master Quest mode of sorts (akin to Ocarina of Time's Master Quest) for players who want more of a challenge, which could include making harder puzzles and obstacles to overcome, and of course tougher enemies that require more a more skillful use of combat to defeat. Of course, they couldn't just half-ass a mode like that in order for it to work, so it probably wouldn't be worth the effort for Nintendo to do something like that unless it would somehow be a huge selling point of the game. For someone like me it certainly would be, but for the majority of gamers and even Zelda fans, they  probably wouldn't bother with it.

[Rynnec]

It's certainly possible for Zelda to take a Ninja Gaiden approach to the combat, now that Aonuma is wanting to change up the formula a bit. Darksiders II showed that a Zelda-style game with a deep combat system can work, and Ninja Gaiden Black/Sigma also had a little bit of Zelda influence in them (in fact, didn't Itagaki state that Ocarina of Time is one of his favorite games?).