Zelda: I'm On A Boat Edition
So, over the course of this project, I have banged on about three things constantly; 3D Zelda games look like poop, the story in Zelda needs to get a darker edge, and I hate water levels in video games. So you would think that this cartoon-y, childish, bright, happy game about sailing the high seas in search of your sister would be my most hated thing ever.
You would be wrong.
I absolutely love this game. Every single thing about it fills me with joy and happiness. I look at this game the way that most Zelda fans look at Ocarina of Time. This is generally considered the black sheep of the 3D Zelda lineage, especially when it came out. It was a game taken in a different direction art-wise for the series. While the previous two games had gone for a..."realistic" look with their visuals, this one was on the total opposite spectrum. I would fashion a guess that at least one of the reasons this game ended up looking like an interactive cartoon is because at that point in the console generation, graphical capabilities had not come very far. Yes, the graphics of early 6th Gen consoles looked sharper, but even with the shift to the Nintendo GameCube, the tech just wasn't there yet. Towards the end of that console generations cycle, we finally pushed the power of the hardware to it's limits. But it took until late 2004 to get anything even closely resembling real life. Take a look at these caps of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem from 2002 compared to Resident Evil 4 from 2005
The increase in texture and detail is a huge leap for the technological side of games. And much like today, the early 2000's gaming medium was normally more concerned with something that looked good first and had good gameplay to back it up second. The gaming public wanted something that looked good, which is understandable. From the jumps in Intellivision games to what the N64 could do, each generation of consoles was supposed to bring its own revolution in the visual department. I don't have anything to back up this assumption of hardware limitation being the reason for the shift, but I did do a little research to figure out why they went with this art style. To most gamers, this is probably common knowledge, but this was all new to me. So here's what I found:
In 2000, Nintendo released a demo video hyping the GameCube that featured a clip of Link fighting Ganon. And it was in a "realistic" art style in the vein of Ocarina of Time, but hugely improved in terms of texture and facial detail. It didn't show much, but it was enough to make viewers pee their pants. But somewhere along the way, the development team felt they had done all that they could with this style and needed something fresh. So they utilized a cel-shaded graphical engine that was initially protested by fans, but honestly has made it hold up so much better than it's contemporaries both in the Zelda franchise and among other titles released at the time. While games like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Halo, and Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem now look incredibly dated, they still have solid gameplay that has stood the test of time. But Wind Waker is stylized and has aged like fine wine and has even tighter gameplay than any of it's predecessors.
At The Time/Background
This game came out in 2003. If we look back to the other entries in this project, you can see that by this point I was burnt out of games. A lot of stuff had happened in my young personal life that derailed a lot of my interests. But something caught my eyes around this time. A little game called Super Smash Bros. Melee. At this point, stores like GameStop had shown up around my tiny town that introduced me to a whole new world of gaming. I was no longer alone in my interests. In addition I started getting a magazine called Tips and Tricks, which had been running for nearly a decade before I got my hands on an issue and convinced my mom to get me a subscription.
For those too young to remember, video games used to have cheat codes. It was a magical time filled with infinite ammo, invisibility, and big head modes. And it's a time I truly miss. Tips and Tricks not only had cheats for almost every game out at the time, but it also had full page spreads on what was coming out soon. AND tips on the games themselves. One particular issue had a 5 page spread on this new entry in the Smash Bros franchise; how to unlock all of the characters, the arenas in the game, and techniques to beat the adventure mode. This was my gateway into seeing who was in the sequel to the N64 game I played more than any other in my library. I was stoked for it.
So, for Christmas that year I asked my family for a GameCube, so I could have the new Smash Bros game. I dropped hints all over the place; asking and begging repeatedly. And finally Christmas 2002 happens and I get...a PlayStation 2. In hindsight, this was probably the best thing that could have happened because the PS2, in my personal opinion, is the greatest system ever released. It was the console that rejuvenated my interest and actually made me care about video games not only as mindless entertainment, but as an art form and a platform as viable as print or film. I was bummed at first about not getting the GameCube, but after I also opened WWF SmackDown: Shut Your Mouth, and later saved up money to buy Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (my absolute favorite game of all time), the thought of owning a GameCube went away. Sure, there were glimmers of lust still remaining; playing the demos for Metroid Prime and Viewtiful Joe at my local Wal-Mart, going to a friends house and being introduced to Animal Crossing, and occasionally getting to play Super Smash Bros. Melee at Sam's Club. They all enticed me, but for nearly a decade the little system that could alluded my grasp.
Then college came about and everyone in college plays Super Smash Bros. So I got the itch to play again. Eventually I bought myself a GameCube and at present I trying to build up my collection of the games I always wanted to play but missed out on. But even after I got the system, I never had the urge to buy Wind Waker. Instead, I decided to wait and get it once I bought my Wii U. At the time I purchased the system, Nintendo was running a deal where you could pick one of four games for free with the purchase of Mario Kart 8, a game I had intended to buy at launch. You could choose between Nintendo Land, Pikman 3, Wii U Party, or Wind Waker HD. So the choice was obvious. I added Wind Waker to my meager library of games for the new console. And instead of playing it, I played The Wonderful 101 (which is hugely underrated and should be played by everyone). It got put in my backlog with hundreds of others. I figured I'd get to it eventually, or at least try it after I played the copy of Super Metroid I bought on the virtual console 378 times.
At any rate, after the torture that was playing Zelda 2 and my original agony playing Ocarina of Time, I was ready to give up on the franchise for good. But against my jaded judgement, I fired up Wind Waker HD and I fell in love.
In The Beginning
For the first time since Link To The Past, this game starts out with a text scroll setting the stage for the state of Hyrule. Except, this time...Hyrule isn't really there. After the Hero of Time defeated Ganon, he disappeared. Unfortunately for the kingdom, Ganon came back to terrorize them once more. The people of Hyrule wait for the Hero to return, but he never does. Defeated, the people pray to their Gods to save them and the world. The Gods respond by flooding and drowning Hyrule. That'll show him! It will also kill everyone, but hey...no more Ganon, right? Well, the survivors now hand down this legend of the hero of time by dressing all boys on these islands in Link cosplay when they come to a certain age.
So we start on Outset Island, sleeping in your lobster pajamas on a crows nest overlooking the ocean. Your sister Aryll comes to wake you up and tell you that Grandma is looking for you. It's your birthday! Yay! You run home and Grandma makes you put on the Link cosplay. The game then goes on to joke about how they are impractical and hot for a summer-like island. Once you go back outside, you see a giant bird carrying some girl. The bird is being chased by pirates that shoot it, causing the girl to fall from it's large talons into a forbidden forest.
So you grab a sword and go to save her. You get to her just as the pirates arrive and announce her as their fearless captain Tetra. You all leave the forest only to see the bird fly back. With horror, you witness this huge bird swoop down and grab your sister. You chase after the bird and nearly fall to your death jumping after it. A Rito Postman blames the pirates for leading the bird to the island, kidnapping Aryll, and disrupting your quite village. This successfully guilt trips Tetra into letting Link come aboard her ship in an effort to rescue his sister. So you grab a shield, say goodbye to Grandma, and get on the boat.
You head for the Forsaken Fortress, the haven for the bird and the center for a dark presence. You get close to rescuing your sister but also see other girls with pointy ears, something alluded to earlier by the Postman. Then the bird finds you and takes you to the peak of the fortress. And you see him...Ganondorf. He has you dropped into the ocean to die.
The Quest
But then you awake on a talking boat. Yeah, that's right. A talking boat. He's the King of Red Lions, and I imagine him being voiced by Sean Connery. He leads you on your journey, which spans all across the vast uncharted ocean. He says that, despite not sharing the lineage of the Hero of Time, you would need courage that rivals the hero's to stand up to Ganondorf and save your sister. Your boat says that to defeat him, you would need to collect three pearls that open up access to a weapon capable of defeating evil. If you've followed thus far in this project, you can see where this is going. You collect the three pearls, open up the Tower of The Gods and find the weapon it houses: The Master Sword, the sword of evils bane (again again)!
With the Master Sword in tow, you return to the Forsaken Fortress to confront Ganondorf and rescue your sister! You climb to the top tower, defeat the bird that had thrown you to your death, rescue your sister, and confront your nemesis. Unfortunately, he informs you that when you pulled the sword from the stone, you unlocked the hold it had on his magical powers. Just as all seems lost, the Rito Postman, one of the pearl holders, and Tetra all come to your aid to rescue you from eminent death.
You are then taken back to the Tower of the Gods with Tetra. The King of Red Lions reveals himself to be The King of Hyrule and reveals that Tetra is Zelda. He then sends you to search out the sages of the land to restore the power to the Master Sword. In addition, you need to collect the remaining shards of the Tri-Force (a task you can start nearly immediately after rescuing Tingle). You are sent to two separate islands, where you are met with an obstacle to get into each. And after you get the items that grants you access, you need to then get the replacement sages because...well...the original ones are dead. Finally, you have to go and get the sage and bring them to these islands to open the dungeons.
After you've gone through the dungeons, restored the sages, restored the power to the Master Sword, and collected the Tri-Force shards, it's time for the big challenge; Ganon's Tower.
You return to the Tower of the Gods and you're greeted to Ganondorf mocking you. You break the seal separating the castle from Hyrule Field and trek to Ganon's Tower. You make your ways through the halls, defeating enemies and solving the final few puzzles. Then, it's time.
The fight with Ganondorf is awesome. It's for sure the hardest boss battle in the game and one of the most visually satisfying fights I've experienced in a while. It's fast and furious, and features what has to be his coolest design thus far in the series, this time wielding dual swords and pulling off flippy shit. The ending is one of the most sudden, intense moments I've seen in a game in a long time.
You are then told that Hyrule will remain drowned under the ocean and that it is up to you to find a new land and start anew. So you sail off into the sunset, looking for your new kingdom to put trains on someday.
The Criticism
You know, I really hope that someday the Zelda franchise learns how to program targeting. Zero Punctuation likes to poke fun at this, but for real, even in a 2012 HD remake, the game's targeting is still as clunky and dysfunctional as it was for the N64.
The HD remaster also adds bloom effects EVERYWHERE. I've gone back and looked at the GameCube version and the graphics looked fine. The bloom is really unnecessary and really takes me out of some parts of the game; anything with a sky box is just drowned out with bloom.
It was also disappointing to only have two REAL dungeons in this game. There are maybe six total if you count ones that don't have the word "temple" or "dungeon" in it. If you include the ones that don't, that's still only six; perhaps standard fare for the past 3D games, but this is a next gen Zelda game. And for a game that feels as big as this one does, there should definitely be more. Maybe this is a personal complaint because to me it didn't derail the pace or anything, I just expected it to last longer. And to be honest, it might be the same length as the other games; it might just be because I trudged through Ocarina and Majora's but I actually really, REALLY enjoyed this one and wanted it to keep going. From start to finish, I was hooked and couldn't stop playing; as opposed to the last two, where I thought they were boring until the third act.
I will say that the Tri-Force shard collection feels a bit too much like filler for my tastes, but I do think it still adds to the whole "going on a treasure hunt" thing the game is going for. So in that regard, I guess it works. It also just feels like things were cut out of it. Some of the progression items in the game are literally just handed to you, like the third pearl to unlock the Tower of The Gods. I feel that if Nintendo actually included a couple more dungeons I would look at this section with a little more positivity. But having a shorted game isn't the end of the world; in fact at this point in my life, I welcome shorter games. But I still feel there could have been so much more done with the world they created with this title and it wouldn't have overstayed it's welcome
However, the annoying gimmick from the Earth and Wind temples certainly DID overstay it's welcome. The only two real dungeons have this mechanic where you have to use a song to take over a companion and use them to help solve puzzles. It's awful, mostly because it's time consuming to whip out your Wind Waker, play the song, then send the character to do his part, then do your part. It's tedious and it sucks that it's in back to back dungeons.
Beyond that, Wind Waker has by far the least challenging boss battles in the franchise thus far, with only Ganondorf and the boss from the Wind Temple being at all interesting or hard. It's a very easy game when all is said and done, and aside from literally one puzzle (involving a mechanic the game never bothers to teach you about), I didn't look anything up.
So, before some positives, lets talk about the differences in the HD version. Most of it is minor, but I'll still cover them. For one, the way you get the Tri-Force shards has been streamlined and is much, MUCH cheaper and faster. Before, you had to find eight charts, all of which you had to pay Tingle to decipher. Then you had to use the charts to find the eight shards. Now there are three charts, and five shards right off the bat. It's a little weird that they didn't just put only the shards, but I guess since Tingle was already in the game, they still wanted him to have a purpose. There's also a little icon under you when you use Deku Leaf that shows where you land, which would have been useful in Majora's Mask with the Deku Scrub's ability. And, probably the most important improvement, you can get the Swift Sail, an item that speeds up how fast you sail the ocean and changes the wind as you turn.
So, this game has a lot of pretty glaring flaws. It's easy, it's relatively short, it's a bit samey...why do I like it so much compared to (arguably) better games in the series? For starters, part of what I love about this game (that I guess a lot of people don't) is the sailing. The ocean is beautiful to look at, the music while you sail is inspiring, and it actually feels like an adventure. The ocean is alive, with enemies, storms running through the sea, and new islands to discover everywhere. Is everything as exciting as the main islands? No. But even if Nebraska isn't as exciting as New York, people still live there or pass though for a visit. Who are you to doubt Nebraska?
The point is, the ocean may be vast, but for me, it's anything but boring. Hyrule Field in Ocarina is boring. It's a bunch of empty nothing between main areas. The ocean has so much to offer. And once you get the Swift Sail in the HD version, everything gets even better! You get the excitement of sailing the ocean in half the time AND without having to stop to change the wind direction. For me, it's a perfect compromise; all the positives about sailing with none of the negatives. But, I waited until I was basically done with the game to get it because I just enjoyed the sailing. If I was stretched for time, I used the tornadoes to get close and go from there, which is also a nice compromise because it's an ability that you can get right as sailing would wear thin for the average player. I need to stress this again, the sailing feels epic to me. The feeling of being on a sprawling quest is something that none of the other Zelda games before this one had been able to achieve.
But it's not just the environment that makes this game epic for me; I believe it's also because of the reason you start on your quest. In Ocarina, the Deku Tree is like "Link, go save the world because it's your destiny". In Majora's Mask you save the world because you're the only one with the ability to break curses and heal with the power of music. In Link to the Past, Zelda literally calls you VIA her telekinetic phone powers to tell you she needs YOU to save her. In Wind Waker your sister gets kidnapped, it makes your grandma sad, and you set out to save her. Despite gaining the Master Sword, the King of Red Lions makes it very clear that you do not share the same blood line with the hero of time. You are not the chosen one. So you literally are doing it to save your sister and stop Ganondorf from kidnapping anyone else. And sure, eventually it falls into the standard Zelda game with the dungeons and the princess and the Tri-force, but you EARN your hero status. It's not bestowed upon you because you're a weird fairy boy in a village of elves. You become the hero because you were put in a situation that required your courage. You earn the mantle of the Hero of Winds and that makes this a much more personal journey.
The music in this game is so damn good. Probably my favorite of the series so far. From the moment you fire up the game, hear the song in the opening cutscene, and see the hieroglyphs, the music hits you with gorgeous tones. The intro has pan flute and harpsichords throughout and feels more like suite than just one song, with movements and tonal changes as it goes on. It is mournful and triumphant in waves, detailing the start of your journey. The hub town songs are all a lot of fun, with all of them varying a lot from each other. Outset Island has a whimsical feel to it with light strings, Dragon Roost Island has a flamenco inspired back beat brought together with a pan flute melody over top. The sailing theme, Jesus...this song gets me pumped. It just sounds like what you would hear in your head as you adventure. And yes, it is just the main over world theme re-imagined as this jaunty sailors tune. But it works. The dungeon music is back to being mostly atmospheric and soft, brooding tones, but it works as well.
The combat in this game has been perfected. The options for sword combat are so much easier to pull off this time around, and the new parry system adds both ease and challenge to the game. Timing is difficult, and now that enemies don't just attack one at a time, you have to be on your toes to find who to dodge; if you even want to use that function for defense. Your side arms do more now; you can hookshot directly at an opponent and go to them instead of just stunning them like before. You can target up to five enemies or items with the boomerang, making quick work of enemies that had become tedious in 3D like the bats. And you can also freely move while you aim your bow this time, so you aren't a sitting duck anymore in a fight looking for an enemy all across the rooms. I hope going forward that the games to follow use this combat system as a base, and don't try to implement some weird motion control garbage.
This Link is by far my favorite Link of the series, and I've seen enough of Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild to know that my opinion is unlikely to change. Link has always been a vessel for the player to put themselves into, to play as they would play themselves. He's an avatar, and nothing more. But in this game, Link is brimming with personality; something I always felt a narrative heavy series like Legend of Zelda needed. He actually reacts to events around him; his facial and verbal expressions make the experience more personal and enjoyable. I identify with this Link more than I do plank of wood Link from Ocarina of Time. I love that he just falls into being a hero. He exemplifies what Link is supposed to represent within the lore of the series: Courage. Link pulls up his boots and goes out to save his sister, and later Hyrule itself. I mentioned it before, but I like that he's not a chosen hero; he just happened to be at the right place at the wrong time. The power of the Tri-Force is bestowed upon him because he earned it, not because he was told to earn it.
And that's how I feel about this whole game. It is more personal, at least for the first two thirds of the game. The typical Zelda tropes show up in the final act, but by that time I'm already invested in Link and Tetra as characters to care about them falling into a slight monotony. Link's arc of lazy slacker to Hero of Wind is standard storytelling, but the standard exists for a reason and is the first time Nintendo decided to give him a real arc besides being a born hero. It works, and it makes you root for him.
I trudged through the last two games because I started this series and told myself I needed to finish them. By the end, they were good, and in hindsight I'm glad I beat them. Wind Waker on the other hand never felt like a chore. There are some grind heavy sections, most notably the Tri-Force hunt, but it never wore on me. I wanted to keep going and find what awaited me at each island. I filled the sea chart, finished most of the side quests, and at some point I want to revisit and try to do ALL of the side-quests and complete it 100%
Wind Waker hits a sweet spot for me, where it is the perfect length with the right amount of challenge to not be a cake walk, but also not make me stress too much. While I have to admit I don't think it is the best Zelda game, I still think it's my favorite. Unbiased score of an 8 out of 10, but deep down it's perfect for me. I understand why it's a black sheep of the series, but it's the one that so far I've enjoyed the most. It's bright and colourful. It's a joy to look at, to play, and to hear. And the swashbuckling tone makes me wish there were more games like it, not just in the Zelda franchise, but in Triple A gaming as a whole. Indie titles produce games like this all the time, but a big publisher rarely puts out something like this. Something that has a different, non-realistic fantasy look with bright, expressive colours and plenty of wit and charm. It is just a warm, soothing game. And I love it.
Oh, and one more thing. The game about water managed to not have a Water Temple. Take note other Zelda games. That's why this one is better than the rest of you.
Officially, this is where the project ends. This was the final goal, as Skyward Sword and the handheld games just had no appeal to me, at least not at the moment (or ever is Skyward Sword's case). But, there is another...One that I missed that was easier to obtain than I expected, and one that a close friend calls their favorite. As a favor to them for reading though these, and because I had been asked about it one time by a guy on Reddit, there will be one more part to this series. Next time, we have a Brucie Bonus review. By request, I'm going to play something a lot darker in terms of colour, a lot longer, and a lot more Ocarina of Time-y.
This game came out in 2003. If we look back to the other entries in this project, you can see that by this point I was burnt out of games. A lot of stuff had happened in my young personal life that derailed a lot of my interests. But something caught my eyes around this time. A little game called Super Smash Bros. Melee. At this point, stores like GameStop had shown up around my tiny town that introduced me to a whole new world of gaming. I was no longer alone in my interests. In addition I started getting a magazine called Tips and Tricks, which had been running for nearly a decade before I got my hands on an issue and convinced my mom to get me a subscription.
For those too young to remember, video games used to have cheat codes. It was a magical time filled with infinite ammo, invisibility, and big head modes. And it's a time I truly miss. Tips and Tricks not only had cheats for almost every game out at the time, but it also had full page spreads on what was coming out soon. AND tips on the games themselves. One particular issue had a 5 page spread on this new entry in the Smash Bros franchise; how to unlock all of the characters, the arenas in the game, and techniques to beat the adventure mode. This was my gateway into seeing who was in the sequel to the N64 game I played more than any other in my library. I was stoked for it.
So, for Christmas that year I asked my family for a GameCube, so I could have the new Smash Bros game. I dropped hints all over the place; asking and begging repeatedly. And finally Christmas 2002 happens and I get...a PlayStation 2. In hindsight, this was probably the best thing that could have happened because the PS2, in my personal opinion, is the greatest system ever released. It was the console that rejuvenated my interest and actually made me care about video games not only as mindless entertainment, but as an art form and a platform as viable as print or film. I was bummed at first about not getting the GameCube, but after I also opened WWF SmackDown: Shut Your Mouth, and later saved up money to buy Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (my absolute favorite game of all time), the thought of owning a GameCube went away. Sure, there were glimmers of lust still remaining; playing the demos for Metroid Prime and Viewtiful Joe at my local Wal-Mart, going to a friends house and being introduced to Animal Crossing, and occasionally getting to play Super Smash Bros. Melee at Sam's Club. They all enticed me, but for nearly a decade the little system that could alluded my grasp.
Then college came about and everyone in college plays Super Smash Bros. So I got the itch to play again. Eventually I bought myself a GameCube and at present I trying to build up my collection of the games I always wanted to play but missed out on. But even after I got the system, I never had the urge to buy Wind Waker. Instead, I decided to wait and get it once I bought my Wii U. At the time I purchased the system, Nintendo was running a deal where you could pick one of four games for free with the purchase of Mario Kart 8, a game I had intended to buy at launch. You could choose between Nintendo Land, Pikman 3, Wii U Party, or Wind Waker HD. So the choice was obvious. I added Wind Waker to my meager library of games for the new console. And instead of playing it, I played The Wonderful 101 (which is hugely underrated and should be played by everyone). It got put in my backlog with hundreds of others. I figured I'd get to it eventually, or at least try it after I played the copy of Super Metroid I bought on the virtual console 378 times.
At any rate, after the torture that was playing Zelda 2 and my original agony playing Ocarina of Time, I was ready to give up on the franchise for good. But against my jaded judgement, I fired up Wind Waker HD and I fell in love.
In The Beginning
For the first time since Link To The Past, this game starts out with a text scroll setting the stage for the state of Hyrule. Except, this time...Hyrule isn't really there. After the Hero of Time defeated Ganon, he disappeared. Unfortunately for the kingdom, Ganon came back to terrorize them once more. The people of Hyrule wait for the Hero to return, but he never does. Defeated, the people pray to their Gods to save them and the world. The Gods respond by flooding and drowning Hyrule. That'll show him! It will also kill everyone, but hey...no more Ganon, right? Well, the survivors now hand down this legend of the hero of time by dressing all boys on these islands in Link cosplay when they come to a certain age.
So we start on Outset Island, sleeping in your lobster pajamas on a crows nest overlooking the ocean. Your sister Aryll comes to wake you up and tell you that Grandma is looking for you. It's your birthday! Yay! You run home and Grandma makes you put on the Link cosplay. The game then goes on to joke about how they are impractical and hot for a summer-like island. Once you go back outside, you see a giant bird carrying some girl. The bird is being chased by pirates that shoot it, causing the girl to fall from it's large talons into a forbidden forest.
So you grab a sword and go to save her. You get to her just as the pirates arrive and announce her as their fearless captain Tetra. You all leave the forest only to see the bird fly back. With horror, you witness this huge bird swoop down and grab your sister. You chase after the bird and nearly fall to your death jumping after it. A Rito Postman blames the pirates for leading the bird to the island, kidnapping Aryll, and disrupting your quite village. This successfully guilt trips Tetra into letting Link come aboard her ship in an effort to rescue his sister. So you grab a shield, say goodbye to Grandma, and get on the boat.
You head for the Forsaken Fortress, the haven for the bird and the center for a dark presence. You get close to rescuing your sister but also see other girls with pointy ears, something alluded to earlier by the Postman. Then the bird finds you and takes you to the peak of the fortress. And you see him...Ganondorf. He has you dropped into the ocean to die.
The Quest
But then you awake on a talking boat. Yeah, that's right. A talking boat. He's the King of Red Lions, and I imagine him being voiced by Sean Connery. He leads you on your journey, which spans all across the vast uncharted ocean. He says that, despite not sharing the lineage of the Hero of Time, you would need courage that rivals the hero's to stand up to Ganondorf and save your sister. Your boat says that to defeat him, you would need to collect three pearls that open up access to a weapon capable of defeating evil. If you've followed thus far in this project, you can see where this is going. You collect the three pearls, open up the Tower of The Gods and find the weapon it houses: The Master Sword, the sword of evils bane (again again)!
With the Master Sword in tow, you return to the Forsaken Fortress to confront Ganondorf and rescue your sister! You climb to the top tower, defeat the bird that had thrown you to your death, rescue your sister, and confront your nemesis. Unfortunately, he informs you that when you pulled the sword from the stone, you unlocked the hold it had on his magical powers. Just as all seems lost, the Rito Postman, one of the pearl holders, and Tetra all come to your aid to rescue you from eminent death.
You are then taken back to the Tower of the Gods with Tetra. The King of Red Lions reveals himself to be The King of Hyrule and reveals that Tetra is Zelda. He then sends you to search out the sages of the land to restore the power to the Master Sword. In addition, you need to collect the remaining shards of the Tri-Force (a task you can start nearly immediately after rescuing Tingle). You are sent to two separate islands, where you are met with an obstacle to get into each. And after you get the items that grants you access, you need to then get the replacement sages because...well...the original ones are dead. Finally, you have to go and get the sage and bring them to these islands to open the dungeons.
After you've gone through the dungeons, restored the sages, restored the power to the Master Sword, and collected the Tri-Force shards, it's time for the big challenge; Ganon's Tower.
You return to the Tower of the Gods and you're greeted to Ganondorf mocking you. You break the seal separating the castle from Hyrule Field and trek to Ganon's Tower. You make your ways through the halls, defeating enemies and solving the final few puzzles. Then, it's time.
The fight with Ganondorf is awesome. It's for sure the hardest boss battle in the game and one of the most visually satisfying fights I've experienced in a while. It's fast and furious, and features what has to be his coolest design thus far in the series, this time wielding dual swords and pulling off flippy shit. The ending is one of the most sudden, intense moments I've seen in a game in a long time.
You are then told that Hyrule will remain drowned under the ocean and that it is up to you to find a new land and start anew. So you sail off into the sunset, looking for your new kingdom to put trains on someday.
Choo-Choo! Hero of Trains coming through!
The Criticism
You know, I really hope that someday the Zelda franchise learns how to program targeting. Zero Punctuation likes to poke fun at this, but for real, even in a 2012 HD remake, the game's targeting is still as clunky and dysfunctional as it was for the N64.
The HD remaster also adds bloom effects EVERYWHERE. I've gone back and looked at the GameCube version and the graphics looked fine. The bloom is really unnecessary and really takes me out of some parts of the game; anything with a sky box is just drowned out with bloom.
It was also disappointing to only have two REAL dungeons in this game. There are maybe six total if you count ones that don't have the word "temple" or "dungeon" in it. If you include the ones that don't, that's still only six; perhaps standard fare for the past 3D games, but this is a next gen Zelda game. And for a game that feels as big as this one does, there should definitely be more. Maybe this is a personal complaint because to me it didn't derail the pace or anything, I just expected it to last longer. And to be honest, it might be the same length as the other games; it might just be because I trudged through Ocarina and Majora's but I actually really, REALLY enjoyed this one and wanted it to keep going. From start to finish, I was hooked and couldn't stop playing; as opposed to the last two, where I thought they were boring until the third act.
I will say that the Tri-Force shard collection feels a bit too much like filler for my tastes, but I do think it still adds to the whole "going on a treasure hunt" thing the game is going for. So in that regard, I guess it works. It also just feels like things were cut out of it. Some of the progression items in the game are literally just handed to you, like the third pearl to unlock the Tower of The Gods. I feel that if Nintendo actually included a couple more dungeons I would look at this section with a little more positivity. But having a shorted game isn't the end of the world; in fact at this point in my life, I welcome shorter games. But I still feel there could have been so much more done with the world they created with this title and it wouldn't have overstayed it's welcome
However, the annoying gimmick from the Earth and Wind temples certainly DID overstay it's welcome. The only two real dungeons have this mechanic where you have to use a song to take over a companion and use them to help solve puzzles. It's awful, mostly because it's time consuming to whip out your Wind Waker, play the song, then send the character to do his part, then do your part. It's tedious and it sucks that it's in back to back dungeons.
Beyond that, Wind Waker has by far the least challenging boss battles in the franchise thus far, with only Ganondorf and the boss from the Wind Temple being at all interesting or hard. It's a very easy game when all is said and done, and aside from literally one puzzle (involving a mechanic the game never bothers to teach you about), I didn't look anything up.
So, before some positives, lets talk about the differences in the HD version. Most of it is minor, but I'll still cover them. For one, the way you get the Tri-Force shards has been streamlined and is much, MUCH cheaper and faster. Before, you had to find eight charts, all of which you had to pay Tingle to decipher. Then you had to use the charts to find the eight shards. Now there are three charts, and five shards right off the bat. It's a little weird that they didn't just put only the shards, but I guess since Tingle was already in the game, they still wanted him to have a purpose. There's also a little icon under you when you use Deku Leaf that shows where you land, which would have been useful in Majora's Mask with the Deku Scrub's ability. And, probably the most important improvement, you can get the Swift Sail, an item that speeds up how fast you sail the ocean and changes the wind as you turn.
So, this game has a lot of pretty glaring flaws. It's easy, it's relatively short, it's a bit samey...why do I like it so much compared to (arguably) better games in the series? For starters, part of what I love about this game (that I guess a lot of people don't) is the sailing. The ocean is beautiful to look at, the music while you sail is inspiring, and it actually feels like an adventure. The ocean is alive, with enemies, storms running through the sea, and new islands to discover everywhere. Is everything as exciting as the main islands? No. But even if Nebraska isn't as exciting as New York, people still live there or pass though for a visit. Who are you to doubt Nebraska?
The point is, the ocean may be vast, but for me, it's anything but boring. Hyrule Field in Ocarina is boring. It's a bunch of empty nothing between main areas. The ocean has so much to offer. And once you get the Swift Sail in the HD version, everything gets even better! You get the excitement of sailing the ocean in half the time AND without having to stop to change the wind direction. For me, it's a perfect compromise; all the positives about sailing with none of the negatives. But, I waited until I was basically done with the game to get it because I just enjoyed the sailing. If I was stretched for time, I used the tornadoes to get close and go from there, which is also a nice compromise because it's an ability that you can get right as sailing would wear thin for the average player. I need to stress this again, the sailing feels epic to me. The feeling of being on a sprawling quest is something that none of the other Zelda games before this one had been able to achieve.
But it's not just the environment that makes this game epic for me; I believe it's also because of the reason you start on your quest. In Ocarina, the Deku Tree is like "Link, go save the world because it's your destiny". In Majora's Mask you save the world because you're the only one with the ability to break curses and heal with the power of music. In Link to the Past, Zelda literally calls you VIA her telekinetic phone powers to tell you she needs YOU to save her. In Wind Waker your sister gets kidnapped, it makes your grandma sad, and you set out to save her. Despite gaining the Master Sword, the King of Red Lions makes it very clear that you do not share the same blood line with the hero of time. You are not the chosen one. So you literally are doing it to save your sister and stop Ganondorf from kidnapping anyone else. And sure, eventually it falls into the standard Zelda game with the dungeons and the princess and the Tri-force, but you EARN your hero status. It's not bestowed upon you because you're a weird fairy boy in a village of elves. You become the hero because you were put in a situation that required your courage. You earn the mantle of the Hero of Winds and that makes this a much more personal journey.
The music in this game is so damn good. Probably my favorite of the series so far. From the moment you fire up the game, hear the song in the opening cutscene, and see the hieroglyphs, the music hits you with gorgeous tones. The intro has pan flute and harpsichords throughout and feels more like suite than just one song, with movements and tonal changes as it goes on. It is mournful and triumphant in waves, detailing the start of your journey. The hub town songs are all a lot of fun, with all of them varying a lot from each other. Outset Island has a whimsical feel to it with light strings, Dragon Roost Island has a flamenco inspired back beat brought together with a pan flute melody over top. The sailing theme, Jesus...this song gets me pumped. It just sounds like what you would hear in your head as you adventure. And yes, it is just the main over world theme re-imagined as this jaunty sailors tune. But it works. The dungeon music is back to being mostly atmospheric and soft, brooding tones, but it works as well.
The combat in this game has been perfected. The options for sword combat are so much easier to pull off this time around, and the new parry system adds both ease and challenge to the game. Timing is difficult, and now that enemies don't just attack one at a time, you have to be on your toes to find who to dodge; if you even want to use that function for defense. Your side arms do more now; you can hookshot directly at an opponent and go to them instead of just stunning them like before. You can target up to five enemies or items with the boomerang, making quick work of enemies that had become tedious in 3D like the bats. And you can also freely move while you aim your bow this time, so you aren't a sitting duck anymore in a fight looking for an enemy all across the rooms. I hope going forward that the games to follow use this combat system as a base, and don't try to implement some weird motion control garbage.
Ths iz joek, plz typ waitris
This Link is by far my favorite Link of the series, and I've seen enough of Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild to know that my opinion is unlikely to change. Link has always been a vessel for the player to put themselves into, to play as they would play themselves. He's an avatar, and nothing more. But in this game, Link is brimming with personality; something I always felt a narrative heavy series like Legend of Zelda needed. He actually reacts to events around him; his facial and verbal expressions make the experience more personal and enjoyable. I identify with this Link more than I do plank of wood Link from Ocarina of Time. I love that he just falls into being a hero. He exemplifies what Link is supposed to represent within the lore of the series: Courage. Link pulls up his boots and goes out to save his sister, and later Hyrule itself. I mentioned it before, but I like that he's not a chosen hero; he just happened to be at the right place at the wrong time. The power of the Tri-Force is bestowed upon him because he earned it, not because he was told to earn it.
And that's how I feel about this whole game. It is more personal, at least for the first two thirds of the game. The typical Zelda tropes show up in the final act, but by that time I'm already invested in Link and Tetra as characters to care about them falling into a slight monotony. Link's arc of lazy slacker to Hero of Wind is standard storytelling, but the standard exists for a reason and is the first time Nintendo decided to give him a real arc besides being a born hero. It works, and it makes you root for him.
I trudged through the last two games because I started this series and told myself I needed to finish them. By the end, they were good, and in hindsight I'm glad I beat them. Wind Waker on the other hand never felt like a chore. There are some grind heavy sections, most notably the Tri-Force hunt, but it never wore on me. I wanted to keep going and find what awaited me at each island. I filled the sea chart, finished most of the side quests, and at some point I want to revisit and try to do ALL of the side-quests and complete it 100%
Wind Waker hits a sweet spot for me, where it is the perfect length with the right amount of challenge to not be a cake walk, but also not make me stress too much. While I have to admit I don't think it is the best Zelda game, I still think it's my favorite. Unbiased score of an 8 out of 10, but deep down it's perfect for me. I understand why it's a black sheep of the series, but it's the one that so far I've enjoyed the most. It's bright and colourful. It's a joy to look at, to play, and to hear. And the swashbuckling tone makes me wish there were more games like it, not just in the Zelda franchise, but in Triple A gaming as a whole. Indie titles produce games like this all the time, but a big publisher rarely puts out something like this. Something that has a different, non-realistic fantasy look with bright, expressive colours and plenty of wit and charm. It is just a warm, soothing game. And I love it.
Oh, and one more thing. The game about water managed to not have a Water Temple. Take note other Zelda games. That's why this one is better than the rest of you.
Officially, this is where the project ends. This was the final goal, as Skyward Sword and the handheld games just had no appeal to me, at least not at the moment (or ever is Skyward Sword's case). But, there is another...One that I missed that was easier to obtain than I expected, and one that a close friend calls their favorite. As a favor to them for reading though these, and because I had been asked about it one time by a guy on Reddit, there will be one more part to this series. Next time, we have a Brucie Bonus review. By request, I'm going to play something a lot darker in terms of colour, a lot longer, and a lot more Ocarina of Time-y.
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