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General Zelda What's the Best Zelda Game to Suggest to a Newcomer?

What's the best Zelda Game to Suggest to a Newcomer

  • Legend of Zelda

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Adventures of Link

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • A Link to the Past

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Link's Awakening

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Ocarina of Time

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Majora's Mask

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Oracle of Seasons

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Oracle of Ages

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • The Wind Waker

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Four Swords

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Four Swords Adventures

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • The Minish Cap

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Twilight Princess

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Phantom Hourglass

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Spirit Tracks

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Skyward Sword

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0

Salem

SICK
Joined
May 18, 2013
Okay, if you know someone who haven't played a Zelda game before, what game in the series would you suggest to this person and why? Imagine this person has all consoles that the Zelda series is playable on.
 

christewks

King of the Zoras
Joined
Sep 5, 2013
Location
Middletown CT
Any of them would work, however if they have any particular interest (like time travel or trains) you should suggest one with that element in it.
 

Mellow Ezlo

Spoony Bard
Joined
Dec 2, 2012
Location
eh?
Gender
Slothkin
I would say either A Link to the Past or Ocarina of Time.

I say ALttP because it sort of jump started the series. Plus, it is very accessible, and has a sequel being released in just a few months.

I say OOT because it is pretty much the most popular game. Most people here "Zelda", and they think of Ocarina of Time. Like ALttP, this game is also very accessible, and would probably appeal to modern society more than most of the other games. Plus, it was my first Zelda game (and my first Video Game ever).
 

JuicieJ

SHOW ME YA MOVES!
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Location
On the midnight Spirit Train going anywhere
Ha, every game on the list has at least one vote. Hilarious.

I voted for what I like to call the "Big 5": A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, The Minish Cap, and Skyward Sword.

I can forsee myself suggesting A Link Between Worlds, as well, in the next few months, but that's not really important at the moment. What IS important is that I feel these are easily the best entry points into the series, and the best part is, not in any particular order. They each have top-notch design across the board, and there's at least one feature in every one of them that stands out as the best the series has to offer regarding whatever it may be.

I guess if I had to pick one out of all of them to suggest first, it'd be Ocarina of Time, since its key feature is having such an incredible balance of ideas that, despite not having any individual mechanics stand out as the best the series has to offer, it's an outsandingly complete package, earning it its "best game ever" status, however debatable that may be.

Still, I would recommend playing these five before any other games in the franchise (and most likely ALBW after its release) without question.
 

CynicalSquid

Swag Master General
Joined
Aug 1, 2012
Location
The End
Gender
Apache Helicopter
I voted for what I like to call the "Big 5": A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, The Minish Cap, and Skyward Sword.

Um... excuse me? I can see why A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask are part of the "Big 5", but The Minish Cap and Skyward Sword?

I'd say The Big 5 would be A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, The Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess. That's just my opinion though.


I would recommend Ocarina of Time to a newcomer to the Zelda franchise. It's the basic template of 3D Zelda and Zelda in general, and I think it does it the best. ALttP does have the basic template for a Zelda storyline and it has a bigger and more in depth world, but people are used to 3D games nowadays. If people really cared about graphics and/or it being on a newer console, then I would recommend Twilight Princess. I'd rather recommend Ocarina of Time for some reason though. It's just more balanced and is kind of the mascot game of the series because it's considered "the greatest game of all time".

I would recommend playing A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, The Wind Waker, and/or Twilight Princess first. Those games capture the Zelda style really well and don't stray off from their roots too much. Majora's Mask kind of does but it shows how successful innovation and experimentation can be.
 

Burning Beast

Go to Hell 4 Heavens Sake
Joined
Dec 6, 2012
Location
Zelda Dungeon
I'd say Ocarina of Time and Skyward Sword.

OoT is an obvious choice as we can safely say it's formula has been the basis for basically every other 3D Zelda we've seen. It's widely regarded as one of the greatest games of all time, and honestly is a very good all around game. It helps to get one used to the Zelda style I guess.

From a story standpoint, Skyward Sword I would recommend because aside from being an epic game, it also is the first game in the timeline. So if you are somebody who is going to play Zelda and stick with the series and be interested in the Lore and everything, Skyward Sword is a good pick.
 

JuicieJ

SHOW ME YA MOVES!
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Location
On the midnight Spirit Train going anywhere
Um... excuse me? I can see why A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask are part of the "Big 5", but The Minish Cap and Skyward Sword?

I'd say The Big 5 would be A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, The Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess. That's just my opinion though.

This said by someone who has yet to play Skyward Sword.

And surely you know my thoughts on The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess by now. Good (arguably great) games, but not elite.

Edit: Although those two games could be good entry points in the sense that they're extremely easy, therefore good ways to learn the ropes.
 

Turo602

Vocare Ad Pugnam
Joined
Jul 31, 2010
Location
Gotham City
Ocarina of Time. This way, you know what you're getting yourself into instead of feeling limited to a cartoon style or dark tone. Ocarina of Time has a perfect blend of what the series later chooses to exploit. It's not too realistic, it's not quite a cartoon, and can be dark and joyful at the same time. With Ocarina of Time, you get the whole experience. Almost like OoT doesn't know what it's trying to be, but does an amazing job of balancing everything, leaving the rest of the series open to creativity. This can ease players into Wind Waker or TP without feeling that the series should be one way or the other.
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
OoT if they can appreciate older gaming. TP if not. Those are the two most....definitive titles.
 

pkfroce

Skelepuns
Joined
Nov 25, 2012
Location
The Underground
Gender
Male
The Wind Waker if they like exploration. TP if they like more realisticness. OoT if they want to try one of the earlier Zelda games.
 

CynicalSquid

Swag Master General
Joined
Aug 1, 2012
Location
The End
Gender
Apache Helicopter
This said by someone who has yet to play Skyward Sword.

And surely you know my thoughts on The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess by now. Good (arguably great) games, but not elite.

Edit: Although those two games could be good entry points in the sense that they're extremely easy, therefore good ways to learn the ropes.

I know I haven't played Skyward Sword, but from what I've heard, it doesn't seem like it's well-liked, and from what I've seen it doesn't really look like a Zelda game. It just seems like it doesn't fit the Zelda style. I could be completely wrong though. I'm judging the book by it's cover.

I don't really pay much attention to know your opinions on The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. We could also have a giant debate on which Zelda games are "elite".

Showing that the series is easy will be false advertisement once they get into classic Zelda. I know it could help them to learn the ropes, but I think their fist games shouldn't be considered one of the easy or hard titles. Maybe something in the middle like Ocarina of Time?
 
Joined
Jul 1, 2013
Ocarina of Time and/or The Minish Cap. I feel they both capture the essence of Zelda pretty well.

Stuff like A Link to the Past, Majora's Mask, Skyward Sword, etc. are great after a little bit of experience.
 

Linknerd09

Luigi Fan
Joined
Apr 20, 2010
Location
Hyrule Castle
Gender
Hylian
I would recommend them A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, or the newer games.. I would start out with the old games, but some people like to start out right away, which they would probably try out Skyward Sword. Those would be the games I would recommend probably to a younger person than a older person since the older person would start with Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword..
 

JuicieJ

SHOW ME YA MOVES!
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Location
On the midnight Spirit Train going anywhere
I know I haven't played Skyward Sword, but from what I've heard, it doesn't seem like it's well-liked

Games that aren't well-liked don't receive laud and multiple awards from the gaming community.

The main controversy surrounding SS is also undoubtedly the motion controls, which is really, really stupid, so the main reason why this game would even be "[not] well-liked" in the first place is a flawed one. There are other points of criticism, some with which I agree with, some with which I don't, but they're nowhere near as sung as the Wii MotionPlus's "inaccuracy and unresponsiveness".

You should also know more than well by now that every new Zelda game has a large wave of hatred pour on it, even if the wave of praise is larger, and talk of hate is always brought up much easier than that of praise. I mean, come on, even MM was extremely hated by most fans that actually played it upon release. In addition, TP an even more divisive Zelda game than SS when it came out. Same with the DS games.

We could also have a giant debate on which Zelda games are "elite".

Irrelevant. I merely (quite heavily) summarized my thoughts on the games in order to give further context to the previous sentence.

Showing that the series is easy will be false advertisement once they get into classic Zelda. I know it could help them to learn the ropes, but I think their fist games shouldn't be considered one of the easy or hard titles. Maybe something in the middle like Ocarina of Time?

Ergo why I said "in the sense that...".
 

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