Majora's Cat
How about that
Edit: Kyrbyrian, it seems as if your thread is essentially stirring up the conversation in which my tread is based around, so you may close or delete this thread if you please. 
No matter how highly we praise or even worship the well-received Zelda franchise, it's not without its flaws. Every game out there has problems - whether it be a game-destroying glitch or just a roughness in gameplay. Zelda is really no exception. We can all agree that Zelda games are probably the greatest games ever made and it does have a few places where it has fallen short and not satisfied its loyal followers. These are just a few examples:
Let's start with perhaps one of the most brilliant and flawed Zelda games: Twilight Princess. I know lots of people have complained, but I'll soon point something out that many might not have realized. I'll come out and admit it - I'm a humongous TP fanatic. It was my first Zelda and introduced me to the revolutionary franchise that changed the way I viewed gaming. As critics and gamers alike have pointed out, Twilight Princess can sometimes have rather poorly designed area graphically. It seems that Nintendo didn't concern itself with graphics in many places in the game - that's what I felt was insufficient much throughout my playthroughs. Granted, TP has gorgeous vistas that stretch far and wide. Many areas in the game feel like if pulled out of paradise - it's everything a gamer could ask for... it feels funny how some areas can have beautiful art direction and graphics... yet some places look a bit rough and feel as though lacking somehow. I find that the graphics were an upside and where TP fell flat on its bum.
Next I'd like to emphasize the linearity. In my first playthough (when I was still a Zelda n00b), it was perhaps the most diverse and large world I'd ever seen in a game. The amount of sidequests felt overwhelming... until I played Twilight Princess for the second time. The magic died a little - after playing OoT, MM, WW, LoZ and ALttP I felt like TP was not as good after playing the other fantastic installments in the legendary Zelda franchise. I felt disappointed, as I had always held TP to be my favorite game fo all time (perhaps it's because of me being so biased that I still praise TP so much?).
The second time around, I felt the game progress smoothly and quickly through the main story, battering dungeon after dungeon and simply moving on. When I was a beginner in the Zelda universe, I spent about 80% of my time on sidequests. That incredible 80% had been reduced to perhaps only 30-40% since I already knew what to do. Plus, many items were useless and underused. I felt like those items had unprecedented potential, but I was dismayed to learn that the beloved Spinner would mostly be for show. Finally, there was something more that kept me from loving the experience the second time through as much as the first - it wasn't the easy difficulty or the menacing-but-wimpy bosses... it was the cuccoos. They no longer stampeded and knocked you over, repeatedly pecking at you and draining your life. No, instead you could gain control of them. That seems impressive, but it really took away the danger in messing with one of those deranged chickens.
Though TP has its flaws (and most will certainly agree), it was still a fantastic video game and a successful entry in the Zelda series.
Next I'd like to complain about one game none of you probably would've ever complained about - Ocarina of Time. Oh, yes... I've sugarcoated the game too much. I know we all worship OoT at a near holy level, but let me get something straight - there's a reason when I bought OoT and MM that I played through MM first. Don't get me wrong - in the end, I actually liked Ocarina of Time more than Majora's Mask, but there are many things wrong with the greatest game of all time that many neglect to acknowledge. First of all, Ocarina of Time started off incredibly weak. With barely any difficult parts in the first three dungeons, OoT was a staggering disappointment.
The Inside of the Deku Tree was a complete joke - don't even get me started with that garbage. Queen Gohma was even more of a joke - it only required about 45 seconds for me to finish off. Then there's Dodongo's Cavern... which was nearly as easy as the first dungeon. With almost no difficulty to speak of, even with four hearts the dungeon was unbelievably easy. And King Dodongo was perhaps one of the most pathetic bosses in the history of Zelda. I understand in the early stages of the game, Nintendo was still experimenting or felt that gamers really needed to have it a little bit easier in the beginning. Finally, one satisfying dungeon came along - Jabu-Jabu's Belly. Still not a big challenge, but I died quite a few times when inside Jabu-Jabu's disturbing body. When I reached Barinade, I was already completely exhausted from the dungeon - then Nintendo drops a bombshell of a dungeon boss. Without a doubt the most difficult boss so far, Jabu-Jabu's heart proved to be a foe worth fighting.
Finally, I got to the good part. The Forest Temple, Fire Temple and Water Temple were the most cleverly designed and atmospheric dungeons in the game. I have fond memories of all three, and each had a high difficulty level (especially the Water Temple) and had great music. Though the tracks were MIDI, it didn't take away from the magic of Koji Kondo's timeless melodies. I felt the game slip just a bit when I reached the Shadow Temple - it was simply too easy. I never felt that it was creepy, but that's just me. But OoT's miss was followed by a raging hit, introducing gamers to the complicated and atmospheric Spirit Temple. I was wowed by the music, wowed by the design and last but not least, wowed by the boss. The fact that it was located in a lost section of the desert made it seem even more ominous. Sweet, sweet memories.
Anyway, OoT really shined and showed incredible level design, feeling and overall epicness when Link attacked Ganon's Tower, the final dungeon in the game. Not the most difficult, but certainly the most evil feeling dungeon, Ganon's Tower gave us all a glimpse into the already beaten dungeons. Once the barrier guarding the real tower was disintegrated, Link scaled the tower and squared off against the greatest video game final boss of all time - Ganon/Ganondorf. After defeating Ganondorf in a grueling tennis match, you had to escape the castle and go one-on-one with the most epic final boss ever: Ganon. Ganon was massive, powerful and took an incredibly long time to defeat. That, the ending and the credits made OoT the greatest game of all time - one of the reasons why people overlook OoT's flaws.
Let me get down to some pretty minor problems in OoT. I felt like the game was only centered around the dungeons. Not that there were no sidequests - there were plenty, but the main quests felt so forced upon you and you always felt that the meat of the game was in the main quest. That and the fact that OoT's plot is so typical makes it rather bland... bland but epic.
Next on the chopping block, Majora's Mask. I really don't have much to complain about for MM. Honestly, I enjoyed every single second of the game and had no problems with it. The characters depth, graphics, darker tone and crazed antagonist were all amazing and certainly made MM a game for the history books. The only real complaint I would have is that there were only four dungeons and that most of the game felt centered around sidequests, the exact opposite of OoT's premise. Although there was shortage in dungeons, they were difficult and the best designed in any 3D Zelda game.
Of all the Zelda 3D Zeldas so far, I felt Wind Waker had the most flaws. First off, the dungeons and bosses were laughably easy. I really thought that WW was amazing, but the difficulty was far too low. My second complaint would be for the sailing. For me, it really wasn't that bad... but for others, that's a different story. The sea was so vast, yet the ocean was wasted. Of the 49 islands, the majority are ridiculously small, barely big enough to run on. The sailing took too long, and the sea really felt empty - but that in itself is not a bad thing. The Wind Waker just makes the land of Hyrule too empty. There are barely any characters on islands to speak of, and most of them aren't memorable anyway. I really wish that WW could've take a page out of TP and MM's book regarding the character depth. I felt no connection to any of them except for Makar, Medli and Tetra. Other than that, WW was a fine game and a great Zelda game as well.
I didn't cover the 2D Zeldas in this thread, but they're basically perfect 2D games - no kidding. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to discuss any flaws you think are noticable in Zelda games (if any at all).
No matter how highly we praise or even worship the well-received Zelda franchise, it's not without its flaws. Every game out there has problems - whether it be a game-destroying glitch or just a roughness in gameplay. Zelda is really no exception. We can all agree that Zelda games are probably the greatest games ever made and it does have a few places where it has fallen short and not satisfied its loyal followers. These are just a few examples:
Let's start with perhaps one of the most brilliant and flawed Zelda games: Twilight Princess. I know lots of people have complained, but I'll soon point something out that many might not have realized. I'll come out and admit it - I'm a humongous TP fanatic. It was my first Zelda and introduced me to the revolutionary franchise that changed the way I viewed gaming. As critics and gamers alike have pointed out, Twilight Princess can sometimes have rather poorly designed area graphically. It seems that Nintendo didn't concern itself with graphics in many places in the game - that's what I felt was insufficient much throughout my playthroughs. Granted, TP has gorgeous vistas that stretch far and wide. Many areas in the game feel like if pulled out of paradise - it's everything a gamer could ask for... it feels funny how some areas can have beautiful art direction and graphics... yet some places look a bit rough and feel as though lacking somehow. I find that the graphics were an upside and where TP fell flat on its bum.
Next I'd like to emphasize the linearity. In my first playthough (when I was still a Zelda n00b), it was perhaps the most diverse and large world I'd ever seen in a game. The amount of sidequests felt overwhelming... until I played Twilight Princess for the second time. The magic died a little - after playing OoT, MM, WW, LoZ and ALttP I felt like TP was not as good after playing the other fantastic installments in the legendary Zelda franchise. I felt disappointed, as I had always held TP to be my favorite game fo all time (perhaps it's because of me being so biased that I still praise TP so much?).
The second time around, I felt the game progress smoothly and quickly through the main story, battering dungeon after dungeon and simply moving on. When I was a beginner in the Zelda universe, I spent about 80% of my time on sidequests. That incredible 80% had been reduced to perhaps only 30-40% since I already knew what to do. Plus, many items were useless and underused. I felt like those items had unprecedented potential, but I was dismayed to learn that the beloved Spinner would mostly be for show. Finally, there was something more that kept me from loving the experience the second time through as much as the first - it wasn't the easy difficulty or the menacing-but-wimpy bosses... it was the cuccoos. They no longer stampeded and knocked you over, repeatedly pecking at you and draining your life. No, instead you could gain control of them. That seems impressive, but it really took away the danger in messing with one of those deranged chickens.
Though TP has its flaws (and most will certainly agree), it was still a fantastic video game and a successful entry in the Zelda series. Next I'd like to complain about one game none of you probably would've ever complained about - Ocarina of Time. Oh, yes... I've sugarcoated the game too much. I know we all worship OoT at a near holy level, but let me get something straight - there's a reason when I bought OoT and MM that I played through MM first. Don't get me wrong - in the end, I actually liked Ocarina of Time more than Majora's Mask, but there are many things wrong with the greatest game of all time that many neglect to acknowledge. First of all, Ocarina of Time started off incredibly weak. With barely any difficult parts in the first three dungeons, OoT was a staggering disappointment.
The Inside of the Deku Tree was a complete joke - don't even get me started with that garbage. Queen Gohma was even more of a joke - it only required about 45 seconds for me to finish off. Then there's Dodongo's Cavern... which was nearly as easy as the first dungeon. With almost no difficulty to speak of, even with four hearts the dungeon was unbelievably easy. And King Dodongo was perhaps one of the most pathetic bosses in the history of Zelda. I understand in the early stages of the game, Nintendo was still experimenting or felt that gamers really needed to have it a little bit easier in the beginning. Finally, one satisfying dungeon came along - Jabu-Jabu's Belly. Still not a big challenge, but I died quite a few times when inside Jabu-Jabu's disturbing body. When I reached Barinade, I was already completely exhausted from the dungeon - then Nintendo drops a bombshell of a dungeon boss. Without a doubt the most difficult boss so far, Jabu-Jabu's heart proved to be a foe worth fighting.
Finally, I got to the good part. The Forest Temple, Fire Temple and Water Temple were the most cleverly designed and atmospheric dungeons in the game. I have fond memories of all three, and each had a high difficulty level (especially the Water Temple) and had great music. Though the tracks were MIDI, it didn't take away from the magic of Koji Kondo's timeless melodies. I felt the game slip just a bit when I reached the Shadow Temple - it was simply too easy. I never felt that it was creepy, but that's just me. But OoT's miss was followed by a raging hit, introducing gamers to the complicated and atmospheric Spirit Temple. I was wowed by the music, wowed by the design and last but not least, wowed by the boss. The fact that it was located in a lost section of the desert made it seem even more ominous. Sweet, sweet memories.
Anyway, OoT really shined and showed incredible level design, feeling and overall epicness when Link attacked Ganon's Tower, the final dungeon in the game. Not the most difficult, but certainly the most evil feeling dungeon, Ganon's Tower gave us all a glimpse into the already beaten dungeons. Once the barrier guarding the real tower was disintegrated, Link scaled the tower and squared off against the greatest video game final boss of all time - Ganon/Ganondorf. After defeating Ganondorf in a grueling tennis match, you had to escape the castle and go one-on-one with the most epic final boss ever: Ganon. Ganon was massive, powerful and took an incredibly long time to defeat. That, the ending and the credits made OoT the greatest game of all time - one of the reasons why people overlook OoT's flaws.
Let me get down to some pretty minor problems in OoT. I felt like the game was only centered around the dungeons. Not that there were no sidequests - there were plenty, but the main quests felt so forced upon you and you always felt that the meat of the game was in the main quest. That and the fact that OoT's plot is so typical makes it rather bland... bland but epic.
Next on the chopping block, Majora's Mask. I really don't have much to complain about for MM. Honestly, I enjoyed every single second of the game and had no problems with it. The characters depth, graphics, darker tone and crazed antagonist were all amazing and certainly made MM a game for the history books. The only real complaint I would have is that there were only four dungeons and that most of the game felt centered around sidequests, the exact opposite of OoT's premise. Although there was shortage in dungeons, they were difficult and the best designed in any 3D Zelda game.
Of all the Zelda 3D Zeldas so far, I felt Wind Waker had the most flaws. First off, the dungeons and bosses were laughably easy. I really thought that WW was amazing, but the difficulty was far too low. My second complaint would be for the sailing. For me, it really wasn't that bad... but for others, that's a different story. The sea was so vast, yet the ocean was wasted. Of the 49 islands, the majority are ridiculously small, barely big enough to run on. The sailing took too long, and the sea really felt empty - but that in itself is not a bad thing. The Wind Waker just makes the land of Hyrule too empty. There are barely any characters on islands to speak of, and most of them aren't memorable anyway. I really wish that WW could've take a page out of TP and MM's book regarding the character depth. I felt no connection to any of them except for Makar, Medli and Tetra. Other than that, WW was a fine game and a great Zelda game as well.
I didn't cover the 2D Zeldas in this thread, but they're basically perfect 2D games - no kidding. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to discuss any flaws you think are noticable in Zelda games (if any at all).
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