General Zelda Biggest Disappointment in Zelda

[Spirit]

Fun thread; this doesn't necessarily mean that a game in general was a big disappointment, it could mean anything in Zelda ever.

For example. was the reveal of Wind Waker at e3 a disappointment?
Was the whip in SS a disappointment when you got your hands on it or any other item that you had looked forward to etc.

Have fun.

 

[Ventus]

Skyward Sword's launch was the biggest disappointment for me. All that hype was instantly discarded for that product.

 

[Azure Sage]

For me, Twilight Princess was the biggest disappointment. It was my second Zelda game, and even back then I wasn't too happy with it. After I branched out and played so many other Zelda games, and after playing through Twilight Princess more times than I can count, I finally managed to properly form my opinion that Twilight Princess is the biggest disappointment in the Zelda series, as well as the worst game in the series. I just... can't describe how much of a disappointment it is. If I tried, it would turn out to be a megapost. ._.

 

[DarkestLink]

Dunno...it's between Wind Waker, Four Swords/Adventure, or my later replays of Majora's Mask.

These weren't bad games (except FS and FA) but they...just disappointed me. I expected FS and FSA to be a single player game like any other 2D Zelda like OoX or something but with the additional extra player options...it was nothing like that. I thought the gameplay would allow us to explore vast worlds but individually...in 3D terms, this would be like one player is fishing in OoT, another is doing the Biggorn sword quest and 2 others are in the Water Temple. But nope...didn't even feel like a Zelda title even as one player.

I expected so much for Wind Waker...this is, perhaps, the one and only time where I was the one defending the Zelda title and found myself disappointed (whereas later, I was always the one nagging about the newest upcoming Zelda and found myself one of the few to enjoy it). The sailing was unforgivably boring, the most efficient combat system relied on one button, the sidequests were terrible in quality, there was too much forced exploration, and, despite what I previously thought, the cell shading just ended up being a poor choice. It made the ocean too boring.

Majora's Mask used to be my favorite Zelda title (still on the Top 5) and I was one of the few who actually regarded it as a good game back in the day. I was totally into that cultist stuff about how amazing the characters and story were and I guess the other cultists kinda fed me too much. When I started playing it again, I felt, in the end, that I had not appreciated the game as much as I should have. A few playthroughs later, I realized the stuff I had credited this game for were mostly nonexistant except for sidequests. The stories and characters were incredibly weak on closer inspection. I knew the game was easy even when it was my favorite, but I didn't realize how easy it was until later playthroughs. The fact that Odolwa could be killed in one stun one your first fight easier than Gohma slipped my mind, the fact that Gyorg had no real threatening means of attacking you went beyond my notice, Twinmold was just a generic snake-like green koopa wandering aimlessly across the screen, and, in the end, I just found myself toying with Majora, even without the FD mask.

 

[ihateghirahim]

The Wind Waker. This game turned Zelda into a poorly animated cartoon. The character are forgotten with ease. The sailing is boring beyond reason, and it just fails to match the awesomeness of OoT, MM, and TP.


Anyone who says TP is the worst game in the series obviously hasn't played games like Zelds II and . . . well any other game. It may not be the best, but it sure beats WW and SS in terms of promise and delivery.

 

[Justac00lguy]

Skyward Sword!! (May contain Spoilers as well as a lot of nion:'s)

Easily for me, I was waiting for this game ever since I finished the brilliant Twilight Princess and i must have searched multiple times on the internet for Zelda Wii, i would search for any snippet of information any possible leak, i was just so exited to see the follow up and fast forward to 2009 and we get a pic. We see an artstyle similar to that of Twilight Princess with a sense of mystery, to be honest I was just so pumped that we were getting confirmation of a next Zelda. However we wasn't blessed with any further news up until a whole year later and tbh I was getting impatient, however E3 was around the corner and oh man was I exited.

When I saw the horse, then majoras mask, then KorL, then Wolf Link I was like holy *! And then we see Link standing there in what seemed to be a very new appearance. I was expecting something of the scale of the TP trailer from 2004 but this trailer wasn't all that epic and I can say I was one to judge that I didn't actually like the new graphical style. I just think they found the perfect style with Twilight Princess and why change that? Anyway after seeing the rest of the presentation as well as embarrassing showcase of the controls I was kinda put off. Prior to this I was heavily into my PS3 and my Wii was gathering dust so I sold it, however the fact that there was a new Zelda on the horizen made me ponder rebuying the Wii despite my misconceptions.

Seeing the next trailer really built up my excitement and the fact that E3 was coming up really made me get my Nintendo fanboy mannerisms back. Seeing the gameplay and the trailer at E3 really made me rethink my first impressions of the game, I loved the showcasing of the Sky Temple at E3, the mystery behind Ghirahim, the fact that we could explore the sky and even the motion control's. Nintendo were marketing this game great and the hype really sucked me in....I was starting to think about the connections between this and Twilight Princess with the likes of Oocca as well as other connections. Nintendo heavily stated that this game would explain the Origins of Ganondorf and the fact that it was taking place at the start of the timeline really made the stage for my interpretations of what would be a great plot.

I rebought my Wii and decided to play through the likes of TWW, TP and OoT to build up towards this game, I think I must have spent at least £200 on games to get me back I to the Nintendo franchise and the fact that SS was coming out just a couple of days after my birthday made me purchase the special edition. During the strat of the game I was still in the so called honeymoon phase and I was just happy to be playing a Zelda game by it's release date and just generally taking in every moment. However I soon started to realise that game was not all that I though it would be.

The graphics I didn't particularly take to anyway but I think this heavily I pacted the style of this game, sure Nintendo could only stayithin the boundaries of the Wii but 5 year's after Twilight Princess which I personally thought was brilliant who was to say they couldn't build on this. I really like what was achieved by Twilight Princess, that sense of realism combined with the dark themes, I thought that Nintendo have finally found the way forward but for me this was a step back. I heavily even prefered TWW's graphics to SS's there was just something not right.

Even though the controls seemed to be fresh at the strat I soon found them to be really annoying! This links into combat as well, sure it tried to make enemies less of a chore and more of an enticing experience and this was the case up u until about 10 hours in. I would find myself easily figuring out each enemy and the fact that I had to go through the same process each time but it actually took longer really made combat very repetitive. I found myself dodging every enemy as I just couldn't be bothered to engage in any sort of combat especially with the bokoblins :/

I really dislikedthe Dungeons in this game, apart from the Lanayru Mining Facility. The Skyview Temple was your basic intro dungeon and it was extremely easyand quick, why couldn't they have went off the basis of TP and give us a good 1st Dungeon? The Earth Temple was even worse, it offered little puzzled, little challenge, the dungeon item was put to poor use and the music was imo annoying. The Ancient Cistern is heavily overrated imo, sure it has great design but for me again it offered little challenge combined with easy puzzles and was generally quick. The Sand Sea really confused me...Why repeat a previous dungeon theme? This wasn't an awful dungeon but I just didn't get the reason why they had to repeat the theme, this goes for the Fire Sanctuary as well. The final Dungeon the Sky Keep was an interesting concept but take away the gimmick and what do you have? Yes the same old boring last dungeon which seems to be a memory test! I don't get why Nintendo keep this notion, why not make an all new Dungeon like Hyrule Castle from TP. Overall I think SS heavily took away the I importance of Dungeons, imo a dungeon is meant to be the ost challenging and gripping part of a Zelda game, it is where you put your skills to the test. I never found this in SS, apart from the 3rd Dungeon they offered little challenge and just felt like a stop along the way.

My next point would be the bosses. Not so much the comabt or the boss battle itself, mainly to do with the design, most bosses in SS never gave out thst fear factor or that sense of epicness that I felt TP really encapsulated. Sure a boss has to be more challenging but it also has to be a believable threat and I never got any of this from the bosses of Skyward Sword and in a way even though they improved in difficulty they didn't improve nearly as much asi would had hoped.

I was also very disappointed with the story of Skyward Sword. It had the potential to be amazing and it could have really made some great connections and actually explain a lot. It was set in the sky but did they touch on the Oocca who were said to be an influential factor in the creation of Hyrule...They also had the perfect opportunity to explain the origins of the mysterious tribe known as the Sheikah as Impa was one of the main characters but we didn't get no information on the background which I had hoped for. I also thought the Demise curse was an awful excuse to explain the origins of Ganondorf or all of the evil within Hyrule. To say this was all just a curse set when Demise had just been defeated and lost all of his powers....To me not only does this seem cheap but it doesn't even make sense. Overall I think that Skyward Sword told a good tale on the Master Sword however I do not think it should stay as the origin story, Nintendo can do much better and explain much more.

Another point I have to mention is the music in Skyward Sword. Nintendo really hyped this up and tbhi thought that they made too big a deal out of the whole orchestration thing. To me I really didn't find any of the music in SS to stand out in the ground scheme which the series is famous for, even if I think about it now I can probably remember 2 tracks and not that well at best. Overall I would go as faras saying SS had some of least memorable soundtracks in the entire series.

Just too touch on another of my Pet Peeves...The role that Ghirahim had: Even though this character had some positives he did in fact have many negatives. For one he took the role of Main Villain throughout the game, now we can compare him to the likes of Zant from Twilight Princess. These characters really contrasted in many ways....Zant seemed to have this sense of mystery, we only heard snippets of information and tales of his seemingly unstoppable power up until the 4th dungeon. Now this lead to a great build up of a Villain however with Ghirahim we encountered him pretty much straight away, we even battled him. Now even though he stated he was merely toying with Link I got the feeling that he was very weak, I mean he was an easy boss and we defeated him with the sword in it's weakest form. We even encounter him many times and battle him once again, each time coming on top. This really halted the sense of fear when finally encountering him and he lost all momentum, of course his role was to be Links rival but (Spoiler) Demise really didn't do justice as the main Villain and tbh I expected more from him as Demise made him look incredibly weak as did Link throughout Skyward Sword. Truth be told I never saw Ghirahim as a threat he seemed more like a joker with a flamboyant personality, sure he was unique and of course we will remember him but for what a Villain should indefinitely be? No.

Fi...I would possibly say Fi is one of the worst supposed "main characters" in a Zelda game. She is boring the noises she makes are really annoying, she doesn't show emotion, she point's out the obvious with giving a pointless percentage further insulting my intelligence. She is a hindrance rather than being helpful which is what a companion should be, she tells me my battery is running out! The character design is awful and I never felt one bid of sadness in the final scene. This is total contrast to Midna from TP, she gave Importance to the plot and narrative of the game, I flet emotion for Midna we saw great character development but Fi didn't show no character at all. Llus Fi was useful, I was expecting Nintendo to build upon giving companions more of a use in gameplay and combat.

One thing I also didn't like was the exploration and overworld. One thing I love about TWW and TP is the freedom you get to just explore but in Skyward Sword it was really limited. The surface nust felt too cluttered and I know they wanted to integrate more Dungeon aspects into the overworld but I like to explore amd this defeated the objective. In TP basically anything you saw in the distance you could go this game gave the feeling of grandeur and scale, the surface overworld felt like I was trapped within a box and was guided by hand through the heavily linear progression. Now the Sky cohavemade up for this but it really didn't. The sky was really small and apart from about 5 islands of little significance, the other island's were just stop offs to get treasure. I really thought that SS would have took some tips from TWW and maybe have added some great exploration features in the sky, maybe if they made the islands bigger, added more islands, gave them actual significance and made travelling by loftwing more thrilling then it could have worked. I was also disappointed by the amount of story telling thst was done in the sky, apart from visiting the Isle of songs, travelling 10 seconds to the next portal, the Levius boss and the final events of the game, the sky didn't really play that much of a part that I would have hoped for.

Basically I am going to stop ranting and I am sorry for rambling so much but I just had to vent out I guess

 

[Satsy]

Discovering, back when getting LttP for the GBA, that I couldn't play Four Swords because I needed a 2nd player. Was kinda difficult at the time, and never got any less so. I'm glad I can play it now solo on 3DS, though I imagine like playing FSA, it wouldn't be as difficult with extra players to relegate tasks to.

 

[JuicieJ]

This isn't the case for me personally, but for the entire series.

Twilight Princess. The trailers were intense, and Aonuma promised us a game that was "120% of Ocarina of Time", meaning a game that completely and utterly blew OoT out of the water in every way possible. What did we get? A game that was unpolished in literally every area and provided one of the most linear experiences the gaming community could ever get from an Adventure game (seriously, it's far and away Zelda's most linear title). I actually enjoyed Twilight Princess and didn't initially see all of its flaws upon release, but now there's no way I can deny it was a giant mess compared to what we were promised.

A close second is the Great Sea. A gigantic area begging to be explored... that didn't let us explore it for the first half of the game (and had shallow exploration in the first place due to a severe lack of content between each island). Aaaaaaaaaaand the third would be the Sky. Similar reasons to the Great Sea.

 

[Sir Quaffler]

Biggest disappointment is the Great Sea. I hate having to sail across it because it means I'm just going to sit twiddling my thumbs for like 10 minutes as I just wait to get to my destination. It's far too big for its own good. There's just not a lot to actually discover out there, and I don't like it. This all came to a head with the Triforce Quest. Being forced to sail across the entire ocean looking for the blasted things almost made me put down the game for good.

Second disappointment would be that Ganondorf was in TP. First time I played it I liked it, but upon closer inspection I have come to realize that Ganondorf ruined TP. Zant was so much more of an interesting villain, and I wished that he wasn't nerfed so that the plot could be Hijacked by Ganon yet again.

 

[Random Person]

I think technically the biggest disappointing was the reveal of Wind Waker. I wasn't a Zelda fan at the time, so I can't relate, but I understand fans were expected much better graphics than what they got. Thankfully it was still a fantastically rupee game.

For me, the biggest disappointment was SS. Keeping all the things justac00lguy said, I mainly want to point out how SS was built as a prequel and didn't live up to it. (For the 9001th time). Unlike jacg, I did my best to stay away from any news pertaining SS. But even in my secluded area, I heard certain things. "This will be the origin of the Master Sword." "It will be a prequel to OoT and all Zelda games." Being that Nintendo really seemed to hype up that SS was a prequel, I couldn't help but get excited. TP did a marvelous job at being a sequel to OoT, all the connections were there, it was of similar design but an advancement, blah blah blah TP fanboy statements, and it even set up for SS by giving us a "city in the sky" revealing that ancestors of Hyrule had lived there. The series was actually getting on the right track to what a series should be... and then... SS didn't deliver like it should have. A perfect game to help tie up many loose ends in Zelda that fans had been waiting for and SS went off on a completely Random trail.

...how disappointing.

 

[DarkestLink]

I never understood the hype towards SS being a prequel. It was built up, yes. But not by Nintendo. No. That's just ludicrous. It was built up by fans. I myself was not disappointed because I simply didn't expect it to happen. I thought the Zelda fans were high off something when they started speculating how much SS would explain. I was laughing at it all because Nintendo was obviously not going to do it. They didn't give a damn about story or continuity. The same thing goes with difficulty. Everyone was so excited for how hard SS was supposedly going to be...again, I just laughed at it all. All Nintendo did was raise damage rates. They had that in Wind Waker too, which was still incredibly easy. Of course the game wasn't going to be hard. It's Zelda for crying out loud. XD Although I admit I was a little surprised and please at how fast the responses were with certain enemies.

 

[ihateghirahim]

I agree entirely. Nintendo didn't really do much beyond the regular advertising. I think it was the gaming media that really put too much emphasis on this game. I followed IGN before and after this game. I just could not believe the treatment they gave this. It's a downright disgrace. If you don't believe me, look at their poll to decide whether OoT or SS was the superior game. It's the dumbest hype and over-obsession with a game since the Metal Gear Solid (except the first one).

 

[Doc]

Skyward Sword, as many have said, was my biggest disappointment by far. Just imagine everything Jusacoolguy said right here. The sky was dull, and of those five islands there was never really a point to go near them. After helping Levias, I was really looking forward to the storm head to disappear altogether, yet this wasn't the case. And every time I had needed to land and leave Skyloft, I was quite annoyed it had to load for that couple of seconds. I believe it would have made a better game if Skyloft and the Sky were connected. We know Nintendo can do this, they have done it before in games such as WW. Their was no pause between the Great Sea and Windfall (my example, Skyloft and Windfall are relatively the same size).

 

[JuicieJ]

Skyward Sword, as many have said, was my biggest disappointment by far. Just imagine everything Jusacoolguy said right here. The sky was dull, and of those five islands there was never really a point to go near them. After helping Levias, I was really looking forward to the storm head to disappear altogether, yet this wasn't the case. And every time I had needed to land and leave Skyloft, I was quite annoyed it had to load for that couple of seconds. I believe it would have made a better game if Skyloft and the Sky were connected. We know Nintendo can do this, they have done it before in games such as WW. Their was no pause between the Great Sea and Windfall (my example, Skyloft and Windfall are relatively the same size).

So Skyward Sword was a disappointment merely because of the Sky? Sounds more like you should say the Sky itself was the biggest disappointment (which would be completely fair).

 

[DarkestLink]

I was definitely not pleased with the sky...but disappointed would be the incorrect term for this. Disappointed would imply that I expected something else and got this instead. But no, it was pretty obvious we were going to get a compulsory travel system this time around and so we did.