Rew's Zelda Series Run!

[Rew]

So, starting tomorrow, I plan on playing every Zelda game in the series, and to 100% completion on each game, to boot. While I have played and beaten all the games before, I've never done it all in a row quite like this.

I'll be going almost completely in order of release date:
- The Legend of Zelda (1987) on VC
- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1988) on VC
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1992) on VC
- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (1993/1998) on GBP
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) on VC
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2000) on VC
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (2001) on GBP
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (2001) on GBP, linked
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (2001) on GBP
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (2001) on GBP, linked
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past / Four Swords (2002) on GBP & GBA
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Master Quest (2002) on GCN
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2003) on GCN
- The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (2004) on GCN
- The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (2005) on GBP
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006) on GCN
- Link's Crossbow Training (2007) on Wii
- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (2007) on DS
- The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (2009) on DS
(And who knows? Perhaps Zelda Wii will be out by this time. ... Nah, I didn't think so either. )

So yeah, all NES/SNES/N64 games will be played on Virtual Console, and all GB/GBC/GBA games will be played on the Game Boy Player for GameCube. Note that I'm only playing Zelda games officially produced by Nintendo and released in North America (so no CD-i games, Tingle, BS Zelda, etc.). Oh, and the dates above are the NA release dates, not Japan's.

Oh, and as part of 100% completion, I'm also going for 0 death counts in games that count them (LoZ, AoL, LttP, LA, OoT, OoS, OoA). Yeah, you can guess which game is going to give me the most trouble with that.  

Anyway, why am I making this thread? Do you people really care what I do in my free time? No, probably not. Hell, I'm just bored, and this forum needs to see some activity. So I'm going to do this blog-style. I was actually inspired by a blog entitled "Blogging Zelda" 2-3 years ago where a guy was going to play through every game in the series and blog about it. He stopped at LttP. I'm not stopping until I've beaten the last game.


So first up is the original Legend of Zelda! This was both the first Zelda game made and the first Zelda that I ever played (back before many on this forum were even born). It's a timeless classic and one that I still appreciate, even if I'm not as into it these days as I was when I was in third and fourth grade. Getting a zero count on this game is going to be tough as nails (especially the second quest) because this game is ruthless. Thankfully, it's one of the shortest Zelda games in existence (even considering both quests), so it's not like there's a whole lot of territory to cover. Also, unlike the next two, this game will let me save my progress too. It will be fun to re-explore the series' roots! And that's really all there is to say about this one until I've beaten the game later this weekend.

 

[Ezlo's Apprentice]

Now this I look forward to reading. I'd do it myself, but I know that playing AoL again would do my head in. So I'll leave all the hard work to you, Rew. Good luck.

[Be_yourself]

yeah, its coming to that time again, i've got my old 64 cartridge of OoT preparing for another run through...i think i'll wait till after E3, Galaxy and Other M till i start though...

[Rew]

And Zelda 1 is finished! =D

I managed to succeed in a 100% run with 0 deaths on both quests. I think I can honestly say it's the first time I've ever done that (and I first played this game about 20 years ago). A few years ago, I actually did a run where I died once in the first quest and not at all in the second quest, so I knew that this was definitely possible for me.

My strategy was the same in both quests. I powered myself up as much as possible before venturing into even the first dungeon. This made me ridiculously overpowered in the first quest: Taking advantage of winning Rupees, I had the Blue Ring, Magical Shield, White Sword, Red Medicine, and I think 3-4 Heart Containers. I went through the first 4 dungeons or so like a bulldozer plowing through whipped cream.

I tried this for the second quest, but it was much tougher. There's so much that's guarded by those friggin' Lynels--and you don't want to fight them when Link is practically in his boxers fighting with a toy sword from Wal-Mart! I actually had to reset several times while trying to sneak past those buggers. Eventually, I was able to get on track, and by the time I got the Blue Ring, things were pretty much downhill from there.

BTW, let me just say that dear GOD do I hate Wizzrobes! Seriously, who was smoking crack that day when they were coming up with enemies? Especially those damnable blue Wizzrobes. They're very durable (take 3 hits with the strongest sword to kill), do a shitload of damage to you (I think a beam from a blue Wizzrobe takes away 2 whole hearts--with the Blue Ring on!), and move in extremely erratic, unpredictable patterns. When I played this a few years ago, I had remembered blue Darknuts as being the worst. No, no, no. Wizzrobes definitely take the cake. More than once, I came EXTREMELY close to getting a game over on those things just because of how fast they whittle your life energy away.

Anyway, so yeah. That's the beginning of the series. It was legendary for its time, but its age is definitely showing these days. It was moderately amusing but just not as fun as a LttP or OoT or even ST. There's very little to do between dungeons. You finish one level, and except for getting a stray Heart Container or buying another Medicine, it's off to the next dungeon with you.

Oh, and to celebrate my first ever no-death run of both quests:



Next up? Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.

Um, yeah. EA, you sort of nailed it. AoL is by far the biggest stumbling block to anyone doing what I'm trying to do. I think only Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels rivals it for being the absolute hardest game I've ever beaten. Nothing else in the series even comes close: not the original LoZ, not MM, OoS/A, ST, or any of those.

That would be fine, but just as with Zelda 1, I'm going to attempt to do a zero-death (well, game over) run on this one as well! I know that HS is among that most elite company who's actually pulled off beating the game with a 000 count. And I definitely have some ideas--I've been planning for this game for a long time.

Basically, I'm going to level up hard and EARLY. Pretty much my first day (tomorrow) playing this game I'm going to be doing nothing but grinding up my levels. I'll go into Parapa Palace just to get the Candle, then get the Trophy from the cave so as to get the Jump spell (in addition to the badly needed Shield spell). After all that, I'll make way to the swamps to the south to Saria to get the Life spell, which is going to be absolutely the biggest help in the game. Then I'll go back and forth between the first two palaces leveling up (but I won't drop off the crystals until later). First I'll focus only on Attack, leveling that up to 6, then I'll level up Life and Magic.

Only when I'm at 6-6-6 (the mark of the BEAST) will I tackle the caves of Death Mountain and get the Hammer--because I am HORRIBLE at that place, and I want to insure that I conquer it without losing a life.

From there, I'll go ahead and complete the first two temples to level myself up to 8-6-6 before sailing eastward to finish up.

Oh, boy.

[hisak]

These are fun reads, Rew. Good luck with them.

- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006) on GCN

I approve.

[Big Tater]

That means I need to finish TP before you get to it

[Rew]

Good news: My stats are 8-8-8, and I'm in the hidden Kasuto town. No games-overs (or saves) yet.

Bad news: I only have 1 extra life in reserve--and have already used up all the overworld 1-ups.

Mixed news: I still have to place all 6 Crystals in the palaces. The good in that is 6 extra lives! The bad is that I have to go through all 6 palaces to the end...preferably without dying.

Oh, and have I mentioned that I've spent the vast majority of this game on my final life? I mean, now I have an extra in reserve, but this has been a very near thing. I've been on pins and needles this entire game so far.


@hisak: Thanks! And I agree--TP was always meant to be a GC game (that, and it's the canonical version).

@Mattie: ETA for TP is long about September or so.

[Rew]

Anyway, so I guess you guys are sort of wondering how things went with Zelda II? Did my lack of luck finally catch up with me? Did I make one mistake too many? Or did I actually achieve the impossible?
















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I DARESAY THAT **** YEAH, I DID!

So as difficult as I had anticipated this being (which was considerable), if I'd had any clue JUST how much torment and agony this run was really going to be, I would've quit before I even started. So let's explore my pain and suffering, shall we? (I promise it has a happy ending!)

Yeah, I had these plans (fairly detailed objectives) of what I wanted to do in the first half of the game, what I wanted to achieve. One of which was no deaths on the western side of Hyrule, as I was concerned to save my lives for the latter half of the game. Yeah, that lasted...all of 10 minutes. After two quick deaths, I just reset and started over (I think I may have ended up resetting a couple times).

Then, finally I started making a good run, one that I could stick with. Then I died. No, twice. The first time was in that cave south of Ruto. I escaped the first two screens with Goriyas with only a sliver of life left. If I could just make it through the third screen (which had far easier enemies), then I could reach the Fairy woods outside, and all would be well. Then an Acheman just barely knicked me. Death. I was so $%&@ing furious. Then the next death occurred among a bunch of a Bago-Bagos whom I swear would NOT EVEN LET ME PASS BY OR THROUGH THEM before they all just kept pecking away at my life until I was dead before I could get out of the screen! So I was down to my last life and despaired of ever being able to reach my goal.

Seriously, my biggest mistake on this run was my original plan to focus all my leveling up on attack first (at one point even wanting to get my stats to 6-1-1). While many have argued attack is the most important, and there's some truth to this, the reality is that no matter how few hits enemies take, they WILL damage you. And if Link is still running around with level 1 health and a level 1 ability to take care of himself with magic, fail will happen. It took me getting down to my last life before I realized, yeah, I really need to start leveling up life and magic now too. >_<

Anyway, after getting the Life spell, I returned to the northern part of the overworld and to Parapa Palace and just grinded using those 100-hits-to-kill Bubbles that still gave you 50 EXP a pop. I did the same in the second palace as well, probably for a good hour or more, until my stats were at 6-6-6 (they were 3-3-3 when I left Parapa). I defeated both bosses, but I didn't put the Crystals in the statues just yet.

Oh, and then I cleared Death Mountain and retrieved the Hammer without dying once. I sort of had to. I was on my last life after all. Frickin' Death Mountain. I've never even done that before. (And I found a good strategy for dealing with both varieties of Daria too.)

So after this, having some success, rounding up some 1-up Dolls hidden in the overworld, I was finally starting to feel confident again. Then two completely, retardedly bullshit deaths later, I'm once again on my final life. (The first was in that forced action scene near Darunia, when I was standing waiting for the bubbles to pass so I could jump across, when a bubble hits me from beneath, and Link slides a space and a half, just off the edge, into the water. Death. The second occurred in the Maze Palace when an enemy's stray projectile had the same effect, this time over a lava pit. I don't even think I saw the projectile--I was just too stunned.)

So I get to spend more time frantically playing on my final life. Yay. Basically, I wanted to get first the Boots and then the Flute as fast as I could, so that I could reach New Kasuto and the uber leveling up area around that town. By the time I did, I'd found the last overworld 1-up as well, and things were going pretty well. (By now I'm up to my last post from this morning--and normally I work Tuesdays, but I'm home under the weather today; no better way to get your mind off your physical health than to test your sanity with games like this one, eh?) So what happened from there?

After leveling up to 8-8-8, I had one extra life but 6 Crystals to drop off. Crystals 1-5 went off without a hitch; those palaces could not have gone any more smoothly. Then came Palace 6 (Three-Eye Rock Palace). Dear gods.

This was the only palace where I hadn't already retrieved the item, so I went in and got the Cross without too much trouble. So I thought, hey, all I have to do now is go to the boss and collect a 1-up on the way. Great Palace, here I come! LOL, no. For I did not take into account...The Room. Those who've played this dungeon must surely know which room of which I speak. Lava pits, flying horsehead enemies. Normally I don't even chance such rooms and immediately apply Fairy and fly over it all--except both sides of this room are walled off by blocks that can only be broken in Link's normal state. So you HAVE to jump over the pits and avoid the enemies. Well, after all the lives I'd accumulated (I had 6 or 7 at this point) I went for it. And died. Again and again and again--until finally I was (once again!) on my final life, with no further clue how in the hell I was supposed to get across without those fuckknockers bumping me down into the lava. I could've cried--I was so close! And after everything I'd already achieved! To fall short on the last leg of nearly the last palace. I actually exited and returned to New Kasuto to level up 9000 points for an extra life. Then I got the bright idea (and I admit, I looked at a YouTube vid--I was desperate by this point) to actually defeat the flying enemies in that room instead of trying to jump over/around them. (That hadn't occurred to me because I thought they spawned endlessly--as it turns out, they don't.) Needless to say, I collected the nearby 1-up with considerable enthusiasm.

That left only Barba, the dragon boss. Normally I don't have trouble with that one, but this time it was a real struggle. In retrospect it was because I forgot about casting Reflect--so forget about dodging the fireballs; I was simply trying to get hit by them in such a way that I wouldn't get knocked into the lava! One time during the fight (when Barba only took one or two more hits) I JUST. ABOUT. got knocked in. Seriously, Link fell back and literally teetered on the edge, caught himself on the corner, and somehow managed to stand on the ledge and not fall in. (This was on my second to last life.) You know what? SCREW those people who say the Water Temple in OoT is the hardest dungeon in the series. No, sister. The Water Temple is like the inside of the Deku Tree in comparison to Three-Eye Rock Palace; hell this place is even harder than the Great Palace, as far as I'm concerned!

So yeah, that left me with two lives with which to contend with the Valley of Fire and the Great Palace. So I did what any sensible person would do and tucked my tail back to New Kasuto and literally grinded up until I had 9 lives. NINE LIVES. All during this run, this game (which I already counted as one of the hardest games I've ever encountered) kept turning out to be even harder than I'd remembered. So I finally got myself into a situation where I was grossly overprepared (it was also penitence for sucking so much at Three-Eye Rock Palace).

So really the Great Palace was rather anticlimactic after all that. If you know the route to the final boss, the palace really isn't that bad. There are numerous empty rooms. And sometimes you run into uber-hard enemies, but they're pretty infrequent; I was surprised at how quickly I made it to Thunderbird. Also, I made it there with 6 or 7 lives to spare. I used to count Thunderbird as one of the hardest bosses ever, but that was until I discovered that Reflect makes you practically invincible to Thunderbird's rain of holy hellfire from above (nor does his body ever damage you either). Seriously, what crouching in the corner is for Dark Link, Reflect spell is for Thunderbird. It nerfs him ridiculously.

So it was with 7 lives that I arrived at the final boss, Link's Shadow (which is his official name, BTW--"Dark Link" isn't until OoT). So I promptly went into that lefthand corner, crouched, and hacked away at him before thinking, "Wait. I have seven lives here. Why am I taking the pussy way out? Let's have some fun!" So I did. I fought Link's Shadow the old-fashioned way. Man to man. He killed me about three times (one of which I never so much as landed a hit on him) before I cast Shield at the beginning, then kept using Life whenever my health got too low. And to my surprise, I kept landing a fair number of hits on him--more than he on me, in fact. Wouldn't you know it, but I was draining his life without cheating or being a sucker! Then finally I had him down to one hit left. I stood on one side of the room and he on the other side. And we just stood there, facing off against each other in a kind of 8-bit staring contest (he really will just stand there sometimes if you don't do anything). It was epic. Then I charged. And he charged. He got another hit on me. I got another hit on him, and he was done.

So, I did it! Not only did I beat Zelda II without saving or (by the grace of Almighty God and maybe even some other gods too) getting a game over, in less than 24 hours, but I also took out the final boss without resorting to cheap moves and in a straight man-to-man swordfight to the death against your own shadow...precisely as it was always meant to be.

Now pardon me while I go play some music.

[hisak]

How are you planning to play Four Swords? I assume you have other people to play it with?

I also commend you on not doing some stupid "chronological by the timeline!!!" order. This makes a lot more sense.

[Rew]

How are you planning to play Four Swords? I assume you have other people to play it with?

I volunteer Mattie!

I also commend you on not doing some stupid "chronological by the timeline!!!" order. This makes a lot more sense.

Yeah, I don't even believe a unified timeline is possible anymore.

I wanted to do it in order of release date so that way I can see the progression of the series, how one idea starts and evolves in later games. I love that kind of stuff.


EDIT:
(Well, I'm home sick with allergies again, so here goes.)

So today begins A Link to the Past! And after Zelda II, this game is going to be a monumental breath of fresh air. Seriously, enemies that drop hearts again? No instant death pits or EXP to grind? Weapons other than a tiny sword to use? HECK YES!

This game has always been favorite 2D game, and it's hard to pinpoint actually why. There is some nostalgia factor, but this game seems to have it all. It has lots of dungeons, lots of variety in the overworld--heck, it has two overworlds, the Light World and Dark World. It has a wide variety of items, there's tons to do, and this Hyrule is just plain fun to explore and the enemies to fight.

However, it has the same drawback as Zelda II: Not only does it count game overs against you (as it should), but it also considers saves the same as game overs. That's a retarded hold-over from Zelda II, and I'm glad this is the last game to penalize you for saving. So yeah, no saving for me. Hopefully this game won't take me too long, since I'll be leaving it on overnight (with the TV turned off, though)--and let's hope there are no power outages in the near future either!
 

[hisak]

You have me wanting to play ALttP again, Rew.

this Hyrule is just plain fun to explore and the enemies to fight.

See? Best overworld.

[Rew]

I suspect you'll really want to play LttP again after this, then.



So yeah, wow, that was...quick. Just like that, LttP is finished. You know that means--screen time!


It's kind of hard to see because of the crappy camera quality, but that is a triple zero.

Here's a better look:


Believe it or not, this is my first 000 run of LttP (on the SNES version, that is). Certainly I've beaten it without a game over more times than I can count, but I've always saved in the past. This was my first time playing it all in one fell swoop. I was getting nervous during the latter part of the playthrough, less because I genuinely thought I was going to get a game over while toting around 4 Bottles containing Faeries and Blue Potions--but more I just feared that some sort of power outage would take place or someone would trip over a cord and unplugging the Wii or something weird like that.


But O how I love this game. Words cannot express how wonderful this was after the horrors of Zelda II (see my earlier post on that harrowing experience!). Seriously, it was like leisurely riding Epona across Hyrule Field in comparison. There was one scary moment early, after I'd beaten the Eastern Palace. I went in search of treasure and found a 300-Rupee piece in a cave. Unfortunately, I got a couple cheap hits from a Mini-Moldorm on the way, who take away a whole heart per hit (I only had 4 at the time). Upon exiting the cave, I learned the hard way that Octoroks take away a full heart as well instead of the half-heart they do in every other game. So all of a sudden, that infernal beeping is starting as I'm down to just one heart and am frantically looking for Recovery Hearts or a Faerie Fountain. I made my way just a short (but nerve-wracking) trek up north to Link's house where there are three hearts in jars. Disaster averted.

So I started this game this morning (allergies kept me from going into work) and finished it tonight. I'm still amazed by that. The last time I played this game, it took me three days (I didn't even have a job or anything else to do back then either). I have no idea why it took me so long that week, but this just flew by. I'll take it!

But yeah, this game was great. Hisak has said that this game has the best overworld in the series, and I'm inclined to agree--heck, this game has two overworlds! It's very rewarding to explore, and there's enough variety of terrain and enemies to keep things interesting throughout. And this is definitely the first modern Zelda game. The first two are old and dated; they have not aged well at all. But this game is just timeless and has aged very graciously. I can play it and still enjoy it just as much now as I did when I first got my grubby hands on it back in Christmas of 1992.


Next on my list is Link's Awakening! I will of course be playing the DX version on GBC--actually, on the Game Boy Player. Big screen for a little game with big heart! I thoroughly love this game--it ranks right up there with LttP among my favorite 2D games. And up until ST gave it a run for its money this year, this game has reigned as my favorite handheld Zelda. There's just so much charm to Koholint Island and its quirky inhabitants. The music is very sublime too and really showcased what a tinny 8-bit portable soundtrack can be capable of.

Best of all? I can save again, woohoo! No more having to get it all done in one run or leave the game on overnight. And just like the other three games, I will again be going for a zero-death count, but unlike the other games there's actually a little reward for doing so, a slight altering to the ending. And I love that part too. (Yes, unlike the first three games, I have gotten the 000 death mark on this a couple times.) Also, this game just comes very easily to me. LttP does too, despite the fact that it relies for its difficulty on enemies doing ungodly amounts of damage to you. There's a little of that in LA too, but I don't know--this game has still always been very easy for me. I think with Zelda II still fresh in my mind, LA will feel even easier than usual.


So I start LA tomorrow night, and hopefully I'll be finished with it by the weekend!

[hisak]

I have a feeling I will be replaying A Link to the Past this summer. In fact, I might hold off on my Definitives ballot until I've played it again.

[Rew]

Go for it, hisak! I can only hope your experience with the LttP replay doesn't end up like my most recent run through LA.

Speaking of which...


So has this ever happened to anyone else? There's a game that you absolutely love, have always loved, but then one day you play it, and you suddenly grow to hate it? That just happened to me with Link's Awakening. It's long been my favorite handheld game, and you saw in my previous post how much I was looking forward to playing it again. But when I did this week, I grew to absolutely loathe it. It's the weirdest thing; I'm sure I've never undergone an opinion change this drastic and sudden before.

I first played this game in 2007, so no one can accuse me of nostalgia bias. When I first played it some three years ago, I immediately fell in love with it. Koholint was such a charming island. I loved the villagers, especially Marin, and I loved the lighthearted feel to it (the Mysterious Forest is a little bit...mysterious!), the Mario cameos, and especially the music. And to be sure, I'm still delighted by all those things. I think what happened with this most recent playthrough, however, is that I realized the actual gameplay is...terrible. Or at least mediocre.

I don't know what it was. Maybe I grew too accustomed to LttP (this was my first time ever playing LA right after LttP), or maybe I was just looking forward too much to OoT. Maybe I've just been cranky and irritable the past couple days. Perhaps (looking back at my previous post) I was just plain overconfident. Whatever happened, I found the actual gameplay to be, all the way throughout, nothing short of a lesson in frustration and irritation. After LttP had such smooth and fluid controls, this game just felt loose, for lack of a better term. The collision detection on Link's sword was the worst. Enemies kept constantly getting inside my guard and doing damage when I knew that my sword should've hit them--a problem I never had in LttP. Even the Color Dungeon gave me major problems this time around, and that never happens! The collision detection on pits was way too sensitive. Too many times did I try to walk around a pit or jump over it, when Link would suddenly just start sliding into it as if the pit had just become a black hole. I mean, there was a little of that in LttP, but not as bad as this. And I always abhored those long gaps you had to use the Roc's Feather + Pegasus Boots combination in order to leap across. Ugh! I also swear I spent half my time in dungeons doing nothing more than backtracking because I would arrive in a room where one little detail wasn't right, so I had to go all the way back and then return. It just ceased to be fun after a certain point.

Oh, and another thing--the frickin' text boxes! You couldn't touch a single object that required an item to break without having to scroll through multiple lines of text telling you something you've already known for years. EVERY TIME. Especially those damned pots before you get the Power Bracelet. Not to mention the text every time you got the Compass was much too long and read like a tutorial that would've been better placed in the manual instead. But you had to scroll through all of that crap no less than 8 times (9 if we're including the Color Dungeon) if you wanted to get everything. Also, warping around the overworld was very limited--you could use the Ocarina to whisk yourself off to Crazy Tracie's. Other than that, you had to walk to a warp point to be warped to one of only four other points in the overworld (one of which was inaccessible until the last dungeon and after that utterly irrelevant). Inconvenient warp points are self-defeating, IMO.

The worst part about this game was that godforsaken Genie boss at the end of Level 2. That was a very high-powered boss for so early in the game (you only have 4 Hearts max at that time and no potions). I had to reset on him 2 or 3 times in order to preserve my 000 death count. Yeah, I noticed that every attack by the Genie costs Link a whole heart. That's very odd considering that even some phases of the final battle in this game only take away half a heart! Challenge is good, of course, but this just feels disjointed. Oh, and I utterly loathe Evil Eagle too and his whole wretched dungeon, just FYI.

Now I realize that LA was Zelda's first foray onto the Game Boy and into the portable world, so of course there are going to be quirks and imperfections. And it was a very laudable first attempt. But I realized this week that the gameplay in this title has not aged well at all. I mean, to some extent, it's good challenge. But when the game gets challenging because sword mechanics are primitive compared to what's in earlier games, that's less challenge and more poor design.

Nevertheless, I did escape from this one with my 000 death count, so I got to see Marin at the end, yay:

(Alas, this will be my last screen for this thread for a good while.)

And this run certainly wasn't all bad. I felt like the sequence of final bosses went very well, and there are lots of fun boss battles to be had in this game. I also did surprisingly well against Moldorm--never got knocked off once. And although I did use the Secret Medicine once during one of the Master Stalfos battles, I think it's the only time in the game that I used it (there may have been one other time, but I don't remember). Also, there is something immensely enjoyable about getting the map and compass, then opening the treasure chests in the dungeon such that when you keep pressing start, more and more of those chests disappear from the map as you open them--very gratifying!

Nonetheless, I hate to say it, but this game's going to drop like a stone in my Definitives list this year. Congrats to Spirit Tracks for becoming my outright favorite Zelda handheld now (until I play that one again and figure out I don't like it as much either).


So after all that, up next is none other than Ocarina of Time!

That game has long been not only my favorite Zelda game in the series, but my favorite video game, period. Of course, much like LA, I could start playing it and end up hating it too, but I think that far less likely to happen. I have a much longer history with OoT, and the game is beautiful in every category: gameplay, dungeons, bosses, enemies, story, graphical feel, environment, music. It's the most seamless game I've ever played and will undoubtedly be the main event of this Zelda marathon for me. That, and I feel like I'm a lot better at this game than I am any other save perhaps LttP.

There's a lot more that I can say about my old favorite, but I think I'll save that for my next post when I write up my latest run through OoT. I'll be starting the game tomorrow!

[hisak]

I guess it has some glitchy problems, but I've never found it to be a problem. I seem to remember pit collision detection being worse with the Oracle games.

[Rew]

I do too. After this poor run through LA, I think I'm dreading the Oracle Zeldas even more now.


But yeah, this level of irritation was surprising for me. I mean, yeah, Zelda II was tough and frustrating like no one's business (and of course it remains far harder than LA could ever be). But the difference is that I was expecting frustration there--it was supposed to be because it's legendary for kicking your ass. I simply wasn't expecting so much trouble from LA.

[hisak]

Moosh was the worst. Avoid Moosh and your frustration should be minimal.

[Rew]

You're right about Moosh, hisak. I much prefer Ricky the ass-kicking kangaroo.



Anyway, much earlier than expected, that's a wrap for Ocarina of Time!

And yeah:

Only one of my favorite moments in the entire series, since I couldn't think of any other screen to capture (the "The End" scenes are all pretty generic from here on out, so I'll have to get creative with my camera...). Normally Ganon has only two eyes instead of the eight above, but hey, that's crappy camera quality for you. =P

Man O man, how I love this game, even all these years later. Unlike the unfortunate occurrence with LA, there was no disappointment with this one. It remains my favorite video game of all time. That being said, there are certain parts that aggravate me to no end, specifically racing Dampe for the Heart Container (he's ridiculous about where he puts those flames), Bombchu bowling, most of the Haunted Wasteland and Desert Colossus, etc. And of course Kaepora Gaebora (who's infinitely more annoying than Navi IMHO since you *have* to listen to him, whereas you can just speed scroll through most of Navi's crap). And I think the Fire Temple takes the cake for most annoying dungeon of the game (forget the Water Temple--that was a very smooth run for me this playthrough)--and yet the Fire Barrier section of Ganon's Castle was actually pretty fun, strangely enough.

Also, can I just say that Barinade might very well be the most fun boss in the entire game? Perhaps even the series as a whole? Heck, even though this was my umpteenth playthrough of this game, I still learned new things. For instance, the fight with Phantom Ganon goes much better if you stay in motion--you're more able to inflict damage on him instead of him just batting the energy ball back. DON'T use Z-targeting against the first phase of Twinrova--just let the attack hit your shield, and you have a better chance of reflecting it back at the other sorceress sister. Biggoron's Sword isn't necessarily the best weapon to bring to bear against Stalfos because the shield can help a lot with strategy in that battle. I also learned that if you keep the "The End" screen up long enough, you'll hear various versions of your Scarecrow's Song (on VC no less, but not the GCN version). And by far the strangest discovery occurred in the Haunted Wasteland. I was at that underground structure in the middle and used a Fire Arrow to light both torches, which causes a treasure chest to appear. It just so happens that I was standing at the EXACT spot where the chest drops down. Do you know what happens when it drops down right exactly on you? It crushes Link, and I found myself suddenly respawned at the very beginning of Haunted Wasteland with a heart's worth of damage. I was simultaneously pissed and amazed. Never in all my 10 years of playing this game had I ever experienced or even heard that can happen.

Many consider this game to be overrated--and I can understand why, to an extent. It seems that the "cool" thing for Zelda fans to like is MM or WW, or even still LttP. OoT and TP are liked by newbies after all. For me, however, OoT is the quintessential Zelda experience; it is the legend of Zelda in its purest form (and I consider LttP to be Zelda in its purest form in 2D). Each of the games that came after it were bogged down with some sort of gimmick: MM had both its masks and the impending lunar apocalypse, whereas the Oracles had the linked game gimmick, plus season changing (OoS) and generational time travel (OoA). WW had the ocean gimmick, the FS series had the multiplayer/multi-Link gimmick, MC had the shrinking gimmick, and TP had the whole twilight and wolf transformation gimmicks. PH and ST had DS touch control gimmicks, as well as over-reliance on overworld transportation (steam boat and steam train, respectively).

One could just as easily say that the 7-year time travel phenomenon is OoT's gimmick, and I can certainly see why. But...while traveling through time is a theme of the game, it's not an overarching gimmick. For one thing, you're more than a third of the way through the game before Link becomes an adult for the first time. And while it does become a commonplace game mechanism after Sheik teaches you the Prelude of Light, there's something very understated about the feature. It comes up in nearly every song that Sheik teaches you, but there's a sublime profundity to it; it lacks the in-your-face sort of flippancy that is contained in most Zelda gimmicks. In fact, OoA is an example of Zelda time travel being pushed to the point of being a gimmick. The whole game revolves around the fact that OMG you're 400 years in the past now, and then OMG all these people are descended from the people you first met, and there's a Black Tower in the city now, and...yeah. It's overwrought in a way that it's simply not in OoT.

There's both a simplicity and a profundity in the storyline of OoT that causes me to fall in love with it every time I play it. It ultimately boils down to Link and Zelda versus Ganon for the Triforce, with the fate of Hyrule in the balance, precisely as it should be in a traditional Zelda game. There's no sidekick hogging the spotlight (like Midna or the King of Hyrule). And at the end, Ganon is defeated but will return to fight another day. Meanwhile, peace returns to the land. That, and it contains some of the most awe-inspiring moments in the series: the aforementioned metamorphosis of Ganondorf into Ganon, first seeing Hyrule seven years later after Ganondorf has taken over the world, the revelation of Sheik as none other than Princess Zelda, etc., etc.

Based on this marathon so far, if I were to rank the games I've played, here's how they would place:
1. Ocarina of Time
2. A Link to the Past
3. Link's Awakening
4. The Legend of Zelda
5. The Adventure of Link


On that note, on deck is none other than Majora's Mask!

Interestingly enough, it was that game which was the inspiration for this whole Zelda series run. I only played it once, back in 2006...and I just didn't like it. I guess I was expecting another OoT. I mean, sure I knew it wasn't set in Hyrule, nor was there a Ganon(dorf), and there was the whole moon thing. But actually playing it did wonders for my disillusionment. I mean, the game contained almost all the same character models from OoT, including a lot of the music. But it was so different from my most beloved Zelda game! That, and it was frustrating as holy hell. There was the time limit, the way the game puts you through a practical mini-dungeon before each dungeon, and some of the mini-games in MM were among the hardest in the entire series (I'm looking at both of you, Town and Swamp Shooting Galleries).

But in more recent times, and especially reading about such wonderful experiences of MM from other Zelda fans (such as here at The Hylia), especially the writings of Hylian Dan, has made me reevaluate my opinion and think that perhaps I was missing the forest for the trees. The game contains the deepest, most fleshed out characters and scenarios in the series. There was so much deep stuff operating just below the surface, that only those with eyes to see will notice it. As such, I wanted very much to give this game the second chance it deserves. (Then I realized I wanted to replay OoT too, as well as earn 000 files for the first few Zelda games, and thus the idea for a series marathon is born.)

So tomorrow night I will at last get my chance! Will I learn to love a game that I previously spurned? Or will I remember everything that made me dislike it in the first place and say to hell with character development--that time limit is just too aggravating! Stay tuned to find out...

[Be_yourself]

I agree dear sir, very much so. 
OoTs story is legendary, it is the quintessential Zelda game, Its story is so polished compared to others, every little detail, every level, EVERYTHING in that game is properly and credibly explained, each boss has a story behind it, each level has substantial motivation behind it.  the story is well told in both cutscenes and the overworld.  And there really isn't a gimmick, Time travel is quite solid, great for gameplay and story.

[River Devil]

This is a great read!  I'm really enjoying this!

I'm very interested to see if your opinion of MM changes, because I sort of feel the same way.  I got it when it first came out, and I think I was also expecting another OoT but instead got....well.....MM.  It's the only one of the home console game I never finished (only got 3 of the Giants).  I found the 3 day cycle annoying and disliked the re-used character models.

I've tried to go back and play it twice since then, and never made it past the first temple.  But I still want to play it and finish it.  A lot of people list it as their favorite Zelda game, so I have to think they're something deeper that I'm missing.

Looking forward to the next update!