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General Zelda The Perfect Five

Justac00lguy

BooBoo
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Jul 1, 2012
Gender
Shewhale
I'll explain what I mean by "The Perfect Five", just in case you misinterpret it for a typical top five list.

Zelda is a series that is quite diverse, I think we can all agree. Yes it's typically the same formula, but you have 16 games spanning 27 years that differ from one another in many ways. So capturing the true essence of the series can be hard, that's why I made this thread.

I want you to pick five games that showcase the best essence of the series, not necessarily your favorites, but the games that show the different elements of Zelda and it's diversity.
 
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Big Octo

=^)
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Jul 2, 2011
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The
1. A Link to the Past: I would select this game to demonstrate a mastery of 2D Zelda. To me, it is the definitive experience, as it takes everything from the original game and improves it on a grand level.

2. Ocarina of Time: It's what first comes to mind when thinking of 3D Zelda. Even as the first game, it showcased many great things that have survived the test of time and are present in many 3D games today.

3. Four Swords [Adventures]: I would choose either of these games to demonstrate the flexibility of the series. These games show how the franchise can work in multiplayer just as well as it can in singleplayer.

4. Skyward Sword: This game shows how the franchise can take a gimmick and make it work well. It used the WM+ in a unique way that really made the game.

5. The Wind Waker: Here, the series is shown to survive in radically different settings. Rather than the normal on-foot overworld, this game took a new approach that worked very well. Beyond that, it also made additions to the mechanics of 3D Zelda titles as well as content for the series in general.
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Ocarina of Time: Puzzles

Skyward Sword: Combat

Majora's Mask: Sidequests

Twilight Princess Mainquest

Link's Crossbow Training: Gimmicks
 

r2d93

Hero of the Stars
Joined
Nov 10, 2011
Location
Lost Woods
Majora's Mask- Sidequests

Wind Waker- vibe (essence, feeling, soundtrack, visuals, etc.)

Skyward Sword- Openness to new fans, cinema tics/story presentation

Minish Cap- Overworld, Puzzles

Twilight Princess- Story, Epicness
 

Ventus

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Ocarina of Time - Balance. It had everything...well, almost everything in due proportion (bar rupees of course).

A Link to the Past - Exploration, and combat difficulty.

Oracle of Ages - Puzzle difficulty.

Twilight Prince - Cinematics. TP's cinematics thus far have been the best at conveying the intended emotion (imo).
 

NoRush

Soldier, Royal Family
Joined
Aug 20, 2009
Location
Indiana
A Link to the Past
Link's Awakening
Ocarina of Time
Majora's Mask
Wind Waker

I haven't played all of the games so it's not totally fair. However, I have played the above games multiple times (plus some other games) and I can safely say ALTTP and LA fit right in to the Top 5 for me too easily.
 

ihateghirahim

The Fierce Deity
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Jan 16, 2013
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Inside the Moon
Oot- the epic quest, great gameplya, and excellent blending of story, atmoshpere, and dungeon design

MM- The creative and dark spark that hides within the developers. This game shows that the series is flexible, unorthodox, and at the same time able to maintain tradition and sharp gameplay

LoZ- the humble, but fun beginning to it all

Alttp- Zelda finding the formula that works and doing it spectacularly

TP- the ability to do a similar formula many times while keeping it interesting and unique with each installment
 

CynicalSquid

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Majora's Mask - Majora's mask has an amazing story. Despite having a short main quest, there are a bunch of side quest. It is a very creative game with all it's gimmicks and the areas are very unique. Even though it's an odd Zelda game and it didn't feel like Zelda when I first played it, it's still a great game.

The Wind Waker - Even though the original Zelda was less linear, I think The Wind Waker did exploration better. The Great Sea was huge and even though it was "empty" I still loved exploring it, and I hate exploring.

Ocarina of Time - It is a very balanced game. It has a great story, side quest, some exploration, some freedom, and great gameplay. The dungeon design and atmosphere are also amazing.

A Link to the Past - It's everything good about 2D Zelda games (ew TMC btw). The overworld is fantastic. The story is amazing. The dungeon design and atmosphere were fantastic. To me, it was everything good about the original, but better.

Four Swords/Four Swords Adventure - I have never played Skyward Sword, so these are my "gimmicky" Zelda's. The gimmick was multiplayer, and it was surprisingly wasn't bad. It also didn't trow out singleplayer and made it possible to beat the game by yourself.It shows how Zelda isn't afraid to be itself sometimes.
 

pkfroce

Skelepuns
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Nov 25, 2012
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The Underground
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Male
Zelda II: Adventure of Link - I've said before that I freaking hate this game. However, to me it represents the 'difficult' side of Zelda. I mean... Death Mountain... yeah.

Ocarina of Time - This was the first 3D Zelda game, so I guess it was a big step for them. It was a great game that represents 3D Zelda in every way.

Twilight Princess - It had a great story, and great cinematics. Everything about it made me feel epic. Those cutscenes really had me feeling like I WAS Link.

The Minish Cap - Exploration. The overworld is pretty big. Then it gets even bigger when you're Minish. There were a good number of side quests which increased the amount of exploration even more.

The Wind Waker - I love this game so much. Mostly for the story, but to me this was the balanced game of the series. The story made me feel like a real hero. Your sister that you love so much was kidnapped by a giant bird on your BIRTHDAY. You go on this amazing adventure all to save your beloved sister. Defeating Helmaroc King and meeting with your sister again felt so amazingly epic. And throughout this whole adventure, you remain the fun loving island kid you started as, but you've grown into a powerful hero. The exploration was amazing as you used your boat to sail around the huge Great Sea. Then the sidequests were actually fun for me to do, and the music... omg the music.... the staff credit music really portrays all you've been through. It really makes you feel like you've accomplished something. All around an amazing and balanced game.

Huh. The Wind Waker section was rather... long.
 
Joined
Jul 9, 2013
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My "top 5" may seem a bit like a conglomeration of some of the lists seen above, but here it is:

Zelda II: AoL - Shows how challenging/difficult a Zelda game can be (granted LoZ was also difficult, but imo LoZ was child's play compared to AoL)

Majora's Mask - Definitely the best game for sidequests and character development.

Twilight Princess - The first game I played that really showed the exploration side of the series.

Skyward Sword - Shows how the combat has evolved from pressing buttons, to swinging the remote randomly (TP), to having to use more precise motion controls in combat.

Four Swords/ Adventures - Shows the most diversity from the main formula of the series. I haven't completed FSA, but I've played half the game with some good friends of mine, and it's been a completely different experience than what I've seen with all the single player games in the series.
 

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