Adventure of Link My Thoughts...

[r2d93]

Well ladies and gentlemen… I never thought I would be saying this… But I have successfully beaten Zelda II: Adventure of Link (the GBA classic NES series version).
It was a long, tough, very discouraging battle, but after months of separate attempts and Ganon laughing in my face dozens of times, It's finally over. I used a walkthrough but I don't care because that game was hard as ****.

While playing through and looking back at the end, I have to say- I can't help but feel that Adventure of Link was a great opportunity gone wrong. There were so many things I loved about the game- the story is great IMO (the deceased King, sleeping Zelda I, fighting your shadow as a test for the Triforce of courage), Nintendo utilized the spells idea very well, I liked going up in level, I LOVED the soundtrack, and just the overall feel of the game and the atmosphere were perfect. Just one problem- It's too hard.

I'm not sure what was going through Nintendo's mind when they created the mechanics and difficulty of this game. Either Miyamoto or Aonuma (not sure which one) has been credited as saying that they feel ALttP is the true sequel to LoZ, while AoL is just a side story of what happened to Link after LoZ. This saddens me, because I feel that had they perhaps saved all of the concepts for AoL for a rainy day maybe later in the series, and created a fully decked out side story (much like MM or LA) with an acceptable difficulty, we could've had quite a gem of a game. Instead, unfortunately, we got an infuriatingly difficult "failure" in Nintendo's eyes that fewer fans than normal will ever complete.

I am proud to say that I beat this game. And while not in any regards perfect, it is still a Zelda title, and a great game. Thoughts?

 

[LinkIsCool]

Congrats! I am currently trying to beat the game. I think I'm either on the Palace 3 or beat Palace 3 and was supposed head for Palace 4. I took a break from it, but I'm gonna go back and finish it.

I think it definitly has a steep learning curve, but I enjoy it a lot.

 

[r2d93]

Congrats! I am currently trying to beat the game. I think I'm either on the Palace 3 or beat Palace 3 and was supposed head for Palace 4. I took a break from it, but I'm gonna go back and finish it.

I think it definitly has a steep learning curve, but I enjoy it a lot.

I had the most trouble with getting the hammer just so i could get to the 2nd palace. And getting to the Great Palace was a pain in the *** I had to just stand outside of a town and fight tektites to level up so I was strong enough to get there

 

[LinkIsCool]

I had the most trouble with getting the hammer just so i could get to the 2nd palace. And getting to the Great Palace was a pain in the *** I had to just stand outside of a town and fight tektites to level up so I was strong enough to get there

What level does the sword need to be to damage the tektites? I've run into them, but it seem my sword doesn't do any damage to them.

 

[r2d93]

What level does the sword need to be to damage the tektites? I've run into them, but it seem my sword doesn't do any damage to them.

You can't damage them with the sword, you need to get the Fire Spell from Nabooru town. It shoots fireballs out of the sword. This is the only way to damage them, along with Basilisks, the little blue things that shoot fire at you in caves

 

[Curmudgeon]

I had the most trouble with getting the hammer just so i could get to the 2nd palace. And getting to the Great Palace was a pain in the *** I had to just stand outside of a town and fight tektites to level up so I was strong enough to get there

you're actually supposed to do the second palace (Midoro Palace) before getting the hammer. FWIW, the great palace was probably designed to be tackled at max level.

FWIW #2 - the best grinding spot in the game is fighting Lizalfos outside new Kasuto. The Tektites around Nabooru are good to get you up to 5/6 attack, at which point you should be able to tackle the Maze Palace and Palace on the Sea in order to get the flute and move to the final portion of the game.

 

[LinkIsCool]

Yeah, I just beat Palace 4 and am about to do Palace 5 now. I got the heart container that was in the ocean above Palace 5.

A lot of Palace 4 was backtracking for me because I took a break for a while and just started playing it again today and apparently I already did some of level 4 from before haha

 

[r2d93]

you're actually supposed to do the second palace (Midoro Palace) before getting the hammer. FWIW, the great palace was probably designed to be tackled at max level.

FWIW #2 - the best grinding spot in the game is fighting Lizalfos outside new Kasuto. The Tektites around Nabooru are good to get you up to 5/6 attack, at which point you should be able to tackle the Maze Palace and Palace on the Sea in order to get the flute and move to the final portion of the game.

I followed the walkthrough here on ZD and it had the entire death mountain and hammer sequence before the palace, that's why. And Yeah I spent a WHILE fighting those tektites until I got to lv 7 attack and then lv 8 magic and life haha

 

[Curmudgeon]

Eh. I find it easier to pick up lv 3 attack in the process of beating Midoro Palace, then clearing death mountain. IMO, the ZD walkthrough causes undue difficulty (as you experienced). Rather moot at this point, but having played through the game dozens of times, I feel like I'm informed enough to respectfully disagree.