Poll of the Day > I'm replaying the Zelda Oracle games again now that they're on the Switch

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've started with Ages, because I've always started with Seasons and played Ages on the linked game.

I've always known Ages as being the "puzzles" game and Seasons as being the "combat" game. I know that this was reflected in their original development as representing the Triforce of Wisdom and Power.

I'm at the 7th dungeon of Ages. Dungeon design has been exceptional in this game. Dungeon 5, 6, and 7 have been super confusing. You don't see that in any Zelda game made in the last 20 years. Even the lead up to dungeons has been a puzzle.

The trading sequences are getting tiring, though, especially the one leading up to Dungeon 6. Way too much backtracking, and it's particularly annoying that you don't get access to a warp point until you're almost done the sequence. Kind of discourages going and exploring the overworld with the new items you've found. Aside from that, I'm really enjoying it.

I always liked Seasons more. We'll see if that still holds. That said, I've always found the story of Ages to be much more polished. Seasons was originally a remake of the original NES Zelda apparently, and I remember that it really shows not only in the dungeon and boss design but also in the very simplistic story.

Whenever I play Ages I always cheat in the one bomb ring because fuck the Goron Dance Hall

The dances were the fucking worst.

I have to play those soon But I always feel like I dont have time

Count_Drachma posted...

The dances were the fucking worst.

I got really good at them lol.

Count_Drachma posted...

The dances were the fucking worst.

I completed them both on my first try #humblebrag

I did attempt the "Platinum" level of the Goron Dance and got absolutely smoked though. I don't know what the prize for that is but I doubt it's worth it.

faramir77 posted...

I completed them both on my first try #humblebrag

I did attempt the "Platinum" level of the Goron Dance and got absolutely smoked though. I don't know what the prize for that is but I doubt it's worth it.

iirc there's a chance you get the double bomb ring or maybe the bomb proof ring?

Just finished Ages. The 8th dungeon wasn't nearly as confusing as dungeons 5, 6, or 7, but was still really good. The boss of that dungeon was really weird and took me a while to figure out. One phase was pretty bad, I tried the correct method (using bombs when he crushes his hands together) first and it didn't work for some reason, so I tried everything else and nothing was working. Then I tried the correct method a second time and it worked. Super annoying.

The final boss was tough and almost ruined my streak of not getting a game over (finished with only one and a half hearts left).

Overall, Ages was excellent. Like I mentioned before, my biggest issue is the lack of consistent warp points (or providing them right when you're finishing with an area). Backtracking feels like a chore so I tried to avoid it whenever possible. On the plus side, the dungeon design was master class, although some of the later dungeons relied too much on backtracking.

I'll start Seasons as a linked game right away. I'm interested to see how this changes the base experience (I've always played Seasons first).

I'm also going Ages -> Seasons for the exact same reasons as you. I did Seasons first when I first played them.

This time though, I'm going for the full completionist run to get all the rings. So I'm going to do a Hero Mode Seasons -> Ages afterwards.

Fortunately I found a password editor that can add the two GBA exclusive rings without messing up the ones I already found.

I just completed a linked game for the first time, it was very cool, the level 3 sword is fuckin busted tho ages was a cakewalk with it, cant imagine how easy seasons would have been with it since most the bosses take sword damage

I'm almost at the third dungeon in Seasons. I've already noticed some big chances in the linked game compared to playing Seasons first. I'm really happy I switched things up. Playing Ages first wasn't much of a different experience in itself. Dungeon design in Seasons has seemed more linear (although I'm obviously used to the mind numbing late game ones from Ages) and the first two bosses were embarrassingly easy (I remembered the first one being tougher, but I beat it in like 5 seconds).

I'm grumpy though, my 8bitdo SN30 Pro+ controller has died (it now only works when connected by USB). I've tested everything (the battery is fine, AAs don't work, I've reinstalled firmware, I've cleaned the battery terminals) but nothing has fixed it. I'm not a fan of using the Switch Pro controller for 2D games because the D pad sucks.

TheSlinja posted...

I just completed a linked game for the first time, it was very cool, the level 3 sword is fuckin busted tho ages was a cakewalk with it, cant imagine how easy seasons would have been with it since most the bosses take sword damage

I 100% know what you mean, hahaha. Absolutely the most overpowered sword in the entire series. Other overpowered swords were at least two handed so there were drawbacks to using them.

I dunno, lvl 2 sword with red clothes in Link's Awakening might be more broken...

Zareth posted...

I dunno, lvl 2 sword with red clothes in Link's Awakening might be more broken...

You might be right. I didn't get to experience that until the Switch version since I only owned the original Link's Awakening, not the GBC Deluxe version that had the Color Dungeon.

Seasons/Ages does have the red ring though, hmmm

I'm at the sixth dungeon in Seasons.

I've also just gotten the level 3 sword (which was WAY more climactic than how you get it when you play the Ages linked game instead). Combat has absolutely been tougher in Seasons, a lot of tough enemies were presented earlier than you'd see them in Ages (you encounter your first required Lynel before the 4th dungeon wtf).

Puzzles definitely don't seem as tricky, but dungeon design has been more "branched" than Ages. What I mean by that is that you're often given several paths to choose from, and you take one path, but then that leads to another spot where you have more paths to choose from, and so on. It just seems that Seasons requires you to remember more about previous path choices so you know where to return to, especially when it comes to finding and using the item in each dungeon.

The story has been much more removed though. Ages definitely had more of a connection to its story. Onox hasn't even been mentioned again since the first cutscenes.

Overall I'm greatly enjoying it, though. The Oracle games have always been ranked highly on my Zelda tier list (possibly even the best handheld Zelda, only ALBW might be better). I'm thankful Nintendo has made these gems available to play on a modern system. I wish my 8bitdo controller hadn't died, though. The Switch Pro controller is really bad for 2D games.

Sword and Shield Maze is just as tricky as any Ages dungeon IMO

Zareth posted...

Sword and Shield Maze is just as tricky as any Ages dungeon IMO

Not if you include Hero's Cave
otherwise yeah

Just finished Seasons and defeated Ganon.

The combat in Seasons was definitely WAY harder than Ages, and that's even with the level 3 sword. Ages also definitely had harder puzzles in the dungeons, none of the last three Seasons dungeons were all that tough (although the last one was very, very long).

Overall, I still like Seasons a little more. There's almost something nice about the minimalistic story. The linked game offered some very interesting spoilers that I don't remember from playing Seasons first (most notable is that the Pirate Captain is actually the long lost lover of Queen Ambi). But aside from that, I didn't really care for the story in either game, so it just came down to gameplay.

I'm very glad I decided to replay these games.

You should do it the other way to get the Heros Cave in ages'