Poll of the Day > I'm going to replay all the Zelda games in release order this year

(+) Yeah! (+)

Starting fresh tonight lads. I've played through all of them before so there aren't any surprises or anything. I want to experience how the series progressed over time, and renew my perspective on some of the "middle" games in Zelda's release lifespan like Minish Cap and Twilight Princess (it's weird even saying that, mentally to me those two games still feel newer).

I don't have a huge amount of free time outside of the summer so this will likely take a long time. BotW and TotK in particular are extremely long.

I haven't decided if I'll let myself play the 2019 remake of Link's Awakening instead of the Game Boy version. I think I shouldn't so that my perspective is a bit more authentic. I plan on playing the HD versions of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, but my Wii U has died of what seems to be a failing GPU so I'll need to get a new Wii U if I'm doing that (honestly it'll probably be less hassle to just play the GameCube versions even if they look like ass on a modern TV, I'll really miss the WWHD graphics though). I'll definitely play the Switch version of Skyward Sword instead of the Wii version. As for the N64 games, I'll play them on the N64 as the 3DS versions weren't really that big of an upgrade (and MM3D was a massive downgrade).

I'll post sporadic updates regarding progress and my opinions.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/732ab226.jpg

It may take a while. Good luck to you. Ill probably check in the updates in my spare time

LinkPizza posted...

It may take a while. Good luck to you. Ill probably check in the updates in my spare time

Thanks chief, this'll be fun. I have a really hard time getting into new games nowadays so replaying ones I know I've always liked will be a nice way to spend some time.

I've beat the first dungeon of Zelda 1 and I'm busy collecting heart containers and stuff before going to the second dungeon. I'm also trying not to use a guide but that's going to be tough for these first two games.

faramir77 posted...

I'm going to replay all the Zelda games in release order this year

You should play them in timeline order instead.

Or play them in release order, and then play them again in timeline order.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

You should play them in timeline order instead.

Or play them in release order, and then play them again in timeline order.

bruh

Maybe another year lmao, I'm going to be super sick of Zelda games once this is done. I doubt we'll see any new Zelda games launch at any point in the next year so I'll have some time to recover when this is all done.

I've finished 5 dungeons and I've got a lot of upgrades, including the Magical Sword (just got it now), the upgraded shield, and the blue ring.

Level 5 was a pretty big step up from the previous ones. Darknuts are super tedious to defeat. I'm not a big fan of the fact that if you aren't at full health the game becomes WAY harder due to losing the ability to shoot sword beams (which was reduced to a minor advantage in later games).

I'm also noticing that the world map really isn't as big as it seemed when I was younger.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/5de831f2.jpg

the hitbox on the sword in the first game was awful. if he could swing it like in later games losing the beam wouldn't have been so debilitating. main reason i don't like going back to that one.

have fun!

I just played BotW for the first time these past few months, put about 100 hours in and loved it. Its probably my favorite Zelda, which used to be a tie between Ocarina and Twilight Princess

im going to go back and play Skyward Sword HD (havent played it before) before I move over to TotK. One of my friends said he didnt like Tears very much, but I have a feeling Im going to love every minute of it.

I was looking at this video on instagram yesterday, and they show the sales over the years for each Zelda game. I cant fucking believe how many BotW sold lol

edit: heres a graph https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/b0374db3.jpg

faramir77 posted...

I'm not a big fan of the fact that if you aren't at full health the game becomes WAY harder due to losing the ability to shoot sword beams

Yeah, this was from the era where arcade games were still a major influence on game mechanics so it didn't really feel weird then but it does stand out as an odd choice now.

FrozenBananas posted...

I just played BotW for the first time these past few months, put about 100 hours in and loved it. Its probably my favorite Zelda, which used to be a tie between Ocarina and Twilight Princess

I also think it's the best one. I got it on launch day as well as a Switch. I probably put 20 hours into it over that one weekend. I've never been so thoroughly engaged in a game before, and it definitely surpassed OoT for me.

Seeing your graph reminded me, I won't be playing Triforce Heroes. I never owned it and I really don't consider it canon. I also won't be playing the GBA Four Swords as I think it has be played with multiplayer.

I havent even heard of Triforde Heroes before this. I do want to play Hyrule Warriors though, especially after learning about the age of calamity

Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition was probably one of my favorite Warriors games, tbh Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity was also fun. But I would definitely say I like Definitive Edition more

FrozenBananas posted...

I do want to play Hyrule Warriors though, especially after learning about the age of calamity

The original HW and AoC are pretty different games, despite the superficial similarities. HW is much more traditional Musou gameplay, but AoC is much more focused on miniboss and boss fights instead of mowing down hordes of grunts, and in that regard feels almost closer to a character action game. Both are excellent and well worth playing, it's just worth a heads up to make sure you don't go from enjoying one into expecting the same from the other.

I think the oldest generation I can go back to without getting bored after a while is SNES. NES is just too dated now

something I hated about Hyrule Warriors is that if you focus down all the grunts and run exceptional crowd control... your minions will NEVER accomplish any goals... ever.

You can have 100 dudes on an objective and they'll just circle strafe around the mini-boss/captain (i forgot what they're called)

adjl posted...

The original HW and AoC are pretty different games, despite the superficial similarities. HW is much more traditional Musou gameplay, but AoC is much more focused on miniboss and boss fights instead of mowing down hordes of grunts, and in that regard feels almost closer to a character action game. Both are excellent and well worth playing, it's just worth a heads up to make sure you don't go from enjoying one into expecting the same from the other.

You make a good point, Ill look out for that. Theyre both on Switch, right? Ill look out for those. And I still need to play the Xenoblade games too. So many games to play.

I have 7 dungeons done. I got to the 6th boss and realized I didn't have arrows yet (but I had the bow). I then went and did level 7, and then searched everywhere for arrows. Ended up realizing you just buy them in a store lmao. Don't know how I missed/forgot that.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c5a9f8df.jpg

Does this include the CDi games?

Ogurisama posted...

Does this include the CDi games?

No lmao, that would be torture.

I finished Zelda 1! I never used a guide, I got lucky with the last dungeon and found the silver arrows and randomly managed to get to Ganon from there, however I wasn't able to find the red ring.

Overall, Zelda 1 was fun but it has aged terribly. I've always thought that, though; I first played it around 2003/2004 and was discouraged by the terrible controls. It's also very strange just how cryptic the game is. I remembered the location of level 8, but I'm not sure how anyone is supposed to find that.

I'll start Zelda 2 tonight. I actually have always preferred Zelda 2 over Zelda 1. I will be honest though, I'll make use of the "rewind" feature on the Switch for Zelda 2 quite a lot. The biggest problem I remember with that game is how unforgiving the game over system can be.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3cbc7951.jpg

I was thinking about starting SS HD sometime soon but idk

faramir77 posted...

The biggest problem I remember with that game is how unforgiving the game over system can be.

The only time I've played it was in the Collector's Edition for GC, and that's pretty much the reason I never finished it. Having every single death (of which there are quite a few, because it's a pretty hard game) send me all the way back to the start of the game was just miserable, even if I didn't lose any character growth in the process.

FrozenBananas posted...

Theyre both on Switch, right?

Yep. The original HW is also on WiiU and 3DS, but that doesn't mean much now if you don't already have a copy.

faramir77 posted...

No lmao, that would be torture.

They're honestly not that bad (except Zelda's Adventure)

But..... they're ultra expensive, not worth it except for collectors.

adjl posted...

The only time I've played it was in the Collector's Edition for GC, and that's pretty much the reason I never finished it. Having every single death (of which there are quite a few, because it's a pretty hard game) send me all the way back to the start of the game was just miserable, even if I didn't lose any character growth in the process.

It's way better with save states on the 3DS/Switch, and especially on the Switch since you can rewind gameplay. Zelda 2 is very tough otherwise.

I've started Zelda 2, and I just got to the end of the first palace. I got lucky with a few 200 experience bag drops so I grinded more experience by defeating the skull bubbles (which if you're patient drop 50xp each). Then I took advantage of the fact that completing the palace grants you just enough experience to get you to the next level.

I think that's one of the biggest flaws of the game. If someone didn't know that, they could be within a few experience points of a level and therefore waste the excellent benefit of completing a palace. I feel like the experience completing a palace grants should be a standardized amount. Whatever, I'm aware of the system, so I'll take advantage of it I guess.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/6d14ea81.jpg

Good luck on your venture! I contemplated doing the same thing but with the megaman games this year, which would definitely be a lot easier. I got to mm3, but decided to take a break.

green_dragon posted...

Good luck on your venture! I contemplated doing the same thing but with the megaman games this year, which would definitely be a lot easier. I got to mm3, but decided to take a break.

I think every one of them is on Steam; not sure if Megaman 8 is on there or X7 tho

Lokarin posted...

I think every one of them is on Steam; not sure if Megaman 8 is on there or X7 tho

They are. I already have them all on steam, just gotta play and beat them

I just finished the 4 palace of Zelda 2. This game would be insanely frustrating without the Switch's ability to rewind.

Barring that, the original game should have had ways to recover health other than the life spell. Also, the game over system should have been much more forgiving, like taking you to the entrance of the palace when you ran out of lives, or to the last town you visited if you're in the overworld.

Another change that needed to happen was falling into pits shouldn't have been an immediate lost life. It should have been minor damage and immediate respawn in a safe spot. There have been several cases of something that wasn't even on the screen when I started jumping flying towards me mid-jump over a pit, thus knocking me back into the pit. I can accept (and have been accepting) a failure when it's my own fault, but these just feel cheap and detract from the experience.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/545f9310.jpg

faramir77 posted...

I just finished the 4 palace of Zelda 2. This game would be insanely frustrating without the Switch's ability to rewind.

boo

the rewind feature is the only way I can beat the DKC games, holy shot theyre difficult

y'all got weak game

*stumbles through starcraft campaign at 17 APM*

pikakaeru posted...

boo

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/31a2e606.jpg

I mean, if you want you can use save states at dungeon entrances or towns but rewind?

faramir77 posted...

I just finished the 4 palace of Zelda 2. This game would be insanely frustrating without the Switch's ability to rewind.

Zelda II is the one Zelda game I cant really get into

LinkPizza posted...

Zelda II is the one Zelda game I cant really get into

ya just gotta get that downward thrust and bounce on everything!

I made it to the Great Palace. I remember this level being an insane maze, it'll be tough without a guide. Luckily game overs will respawn me at the start of this level (it's the only one in the game that does that).

Holy shit the road to the Great Palace was tough. The enemies move so randomly and can easily knock you into lava pits. There are also some lava pits that are a very long jump to cross. Really wasn't fun.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d32ecd52.jpg

And, I'm done. I took a wrong turn which REALLY screwed me over, took about 15 screens to get back to where I needed to be.

The bird soldiers are very tough but I remember learning years ago that the upward stab is the key to beating them as they jump over you. Definitely helped.

I beat the final boss without the cheap "crouch in the corner" technique, but after surviving Thunderbird right before, it's a miracle I survived. I was down to half a health bar on my last life.

I'm glad these two games are over and done with. I get the creative liberties they took with Zelda 2 (Super Mario Bros 2 was also totally different) and I actually quite enjoy this game, but it definitely isn't a style to return to.

The work week starts up again tomorrow, and I'm having a medical procedure done on Friday, so progress will probably slow down a bit. I can't believe I managed to finish both of these games over one weekend, but they both are pretty short (probably even the shortest in the series).

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/edb8b69e.jpg

Alright it's been a busy week at work but I've made it to the Master Sword in A Link to the Past.

It's remarkable just how MASSIVE of an upgrade this game was from the previous two. It's absolutely night and day. It makes perfect sense why this game remains so highly regarded to this day. The first impressions it must have provided people could only have been outstanding, especially to those that already had played the previous two games.

One thing that sits on my mind is what people must have thought the future of the series after this would bring. At this point, every game was totally different the each other. ALttP definitely has a lot in common with Zelda 1 but it's such a huge improvement that it doesn't really even seem like it's all that similar at all. The next 25 years of this series was dominated by games that could be argued followed the formula that ALttP implemented. I'll try keeping that in mind going forward to reassess exactly how much it feels like that was the case.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/9/923dbb7d.jpg

I recently played ALBW and its a great spiritual successor to ALttP. I enjoyed both games very much.

Pretty sure the time it takes to play BotW + Tears alone is equal to the playtime of all the other games combined lol.

Last time I replayed LttP was alot shorter then I remembered it. Not as a bad thing, but got through it felt super quick.

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

Pretty sure the time it takes to play BotW + Tears alone is equal to the playtime of all the other games combined lol.

This is probably true. TotK was incredibly long, which mostly is a good thing but the Depths were so bland.

I really liked the idea of the Depths, but the fact that there were basically only 1-2 biomes for a map the size of the whole overworld meant exploring it stopped being interesting pretty quickly. A little more environmental variety would have gone a long way to improving it.

tc, will you be playing the standard edition of oot, or the master quest? Or both? lol

faramir77 posted...

This is probably true. TotK was incredibly long, which mostly is a good thing but the Depths were so bland.

probably my least favorite part of the game

Alright I've finished the first two Dark World dungeons and now I've taken some time to upgrade a bunch of stuff, particularly by finding some heart pieces and upgrading my magic, bomb, and arrow capacity. I've also found two of the three magic medallions, which I remember needing to enter some later dungeons.

I've really noticed how much better balanced the sword beam is compared to Zelda 1. It's a nice boost, but not the absolutely essential ability it was back in the original game.

My only criticism is how the game seems to mislead you at times to score a cheap "gotcha" moment to inconvenience you. The worst one I've seen yet was in the second Dark World dungeon, where the game seems to reward you with a shortcut if you have the blue pillars switched to down, only to find out several rooms later that blue pillars needed to be up, forcing you to backtrack. Not cool, Nintendo.

Overall, ALttP is holding up as being as good as ever. I've played through this probably over a dozen times before so this really isn't a big surprise to me.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/5477f872.jpg

I actually find anything even from ps2/gamecube era to be difficult to stomach. Not that games at that time and before weren't classics... Obviously they were or the game industry would never have grown like it did to begin with.

It's just that games aren't movies or books... A classic story in those other mediums is pretty much all that's needed to stand the test of time. Well... That's mostly true except I guess when they added color and audio to movies that was a technical improvement that changed things... Anyway forgetting that kind of stuff those mediums are more or less time proof.

Games though are a different beast. In the games medium... Technical improvements are a much bigger deal. Things like auto save... Complex combat or navigation mechanics... 3d environments ect ect
These things all matter for a games overall quality. We only didn't care before in most cases because we didn't know they could exist... Until they existed.

That said... Pretty much skyward sword or earlier I'd have trouble playing and enjoying.

It depends a lot on the specific game in question. Mario 64 has aged pretty poorly because we've come to expect so much more from 3D camera controls. OoT and MM have aged reasonably well in that the core mechanics of lock-on based combat haven't changed all that much since then, but exclusively controlling the camera with the Z button is definitely pretty dated and I'm definitely glad for the right stick in BotW/TotK, and a little more complexity in attack/defense options is nice. Starfox 64, however, is exactly as fun today as it was in 1997, simply because the conventions for rail shooters haven't particularly evolved since then.

DrYuya posted...

That said... Pretty much skyward sword or earlier I'd have trouble playing and enjoying.

so did you just not play games before Skyward Sword, then?

DrYuya posted...

I actually find anything even from ps2/gamecube era to be difficult to stomach. Not that games at that time and before weren't classics... Obviously they were or the game industry would never have grown like it did to begin with.

I agree with adjl in that it depends on the game. I remember the last time I played Twilight Princess I was bored with their attempt to set up a story. It spent a long time with cutscenes and trivial tasks just for the sake of setting up the story when I just wanted to start playing. We'll see if I feel that way this time (Twilight Princess is still a long way off, probably May or June).

I troll schmen over this all the fuckin time

He will only play the original, but personally I love lttp and ocarena was fun enough. He fuckin hates it lol.

adjl posted...

It depends a lot on the specific game in question. Mario 64 has aged pretty poorly because we've come to expect so much more from 3D camera controls.

thats an easy disagree