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Adventure of Link Why Do Most People Dislike Zelda II?

Clank

Hmm
Joined
Jan 26, 2013
Location
Veldin
I am not sure, but I suspect that it was/is too difficult for most people and that frustrates them to the point that they don't see the full beauty of it.

As for me, I just froze my health value and actually enjoyed the game, however most people are against messing with stuff like that(aka cheating...) so they won't do it.

However that is just my conclusion to the matter, and may be incorrect...
 

Ventus

Mad haters lmao
Joined
May 26, 2010
Location
Akkala
Gender
Hylian Champion
The damage ratio is insane even in early game, and leveling up requires copious amounts of grinding. No - this has nothing to do with trying to become overpowered; this is trying to stay on the same strata as the foes as you progress through the game.

I'm not saying any of those things are bad (at leas there is no such thing as Vantage+, Hawkeye, or Luna+ in AoL), but they're pretty overbearing for those who want to sit and have a casual experience.
 

ihateghirahim

The Fierce Deity
Joined
Jan 16, 2013
Location
Inside the Moon
One sentence: The game tries to make you rage-quit at every point in which you might get involved, and it totally ruins what could have been a great game.
 

Random Person

Just Some Random Person
Joined
Feb 6, 2010
Location
Wig-Or-Log
1. Zelda stereotype "IT'S DIFFERENT! RAGE!" RPG elements are introduced in this game and a lot of people just don't think it belongs.

2. Difficulty of enemies. Zelda II enemies are hard. Like really hard. Not only that, but the game enjoys throwing really difficult enemies at Link back to back to back. (Blue Darknuts are EVIL!) In the words of some guy on the internet "It's called 'Death Mountain' cause you will die!"

3. Difficulty of puzzles. Like the original LoZ, the clues in this game are way too vague. There are some clues that you get hours ahead in the game and have to remember way later. Some places barely even have clues and you just have to figure things out by yourself. And if a clue does exist and is actually close to the thing it's talking about, there's still a good chance that it will be too vague for the player to understand.

4. Easy ability to die. Even at maximum level, dying is very easy. There are many parts where many enemies attack you, but you can't attack back. Not to mention, 1 hit kills. Never have I hated water/lava so much. The easiest places to die are all put along the path to the final temple, so there is no avoiding these areas. It takes many people multiple tries just to walk to that temple.

5. Death/Save system. When you game over, you lose all your XP. When you game over, you start at the beginning. When you game over, a shadow of Ganon comes up to troll you. But guess what? You can't save your game unless you game over. : D

5. Dark Link's Programming. Easy to beat if you use the corner glitch, but if not, you'll see that Dark Link is programmed to stay a certain amount of space away from Link himself. This isn't good AI, it's the computer knowing things it shouldn't.
 

snakeoiltanker

Wake Up!
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Location
Ohio
Oh man thread like this are awesome. and Random basically laid it all out in the open for you. I LOVE THIS GAME! then again, i smiled all the way through Demons Souls as well. I like to think that, it's not so much that people just dont like this game, more than it is, they just cant beat it, or get good enough at it to enjoy it. Any game can be practiced. If you play a game enough, no matter how hard the difficulty, you can get better at it. This is the way of the NES. A lot of people on this site are younger than that, so grinding is not a way to learn to them.

Me on the other hand, grew up Rage quitting games every day, to return the next with a level head. that is how i made it though AoL and enjoyed every minute of it!
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
I can handle dying. I just can't handle the way the game trolls you when you die by making you start all the freaking way over. =/
 

snakeoiltanker

Wake Up!
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Location
Ohio
I can handle dying. I just can't handle the way the game trolls you when you die by making you start all the freaking way over. =/

Yeah dude, never have i hated a gameover screen like i do the Laugh of Gannon at your failures. And returning all the way back at the beginning of the game does suck. dont get me wrong, the game is Punishing but that was the way of the NES. being a zelda game you would think it would start you closer, or at least at the last village you went to. but saves were a lil harder to pinpoint back in that day, so i guess we just have to accept it for the outdated Gem it is! LOL
 

ThrawnTheater

Hylian Grand Admiral
Joined
Apr 10, 2012
Location
Kent, Washington
Although I absolutely love Zelda 2, I certainly agree there are some annoying things about the game. The fact that you have to hear Ganon laugh his a*s off and then go back to the North Castle and lose all of your exp. points is probably the most annoying. By the way, if you think that's bad, be glad you're not playing the Japanese version, where if you get a Game Over, are of your levels revert back to 1-1-1! But as far as going back to the beginning when you get a GO, although it admittedly sucks, this obviously was only the second game of the series, so the precedence had not yet been set.

The next most annoying thing to me falling into a pit/lava and dying. So cheap. Nothing like ruining a no death play-through like getting knocked into lava by a horse/medusa head in the Hidden (6th) Palace...

Also, it's frustrating that you pretty much have to take some time between Palaces to grind, unless you're a Zelda 2 god. However, if you think about it, in the newer Zelda games, you almost always have a fair amount to accomplish between each dungeon, so although one can argue that Zelda 2's required grinding is tedious, it's not too much different from the rest of the series in that respect.

However, the standard combat is what makes this game so addicting for me. I'm curious to hear what other people consider to be the most difficult enemies. I used to consider the Blue Ironknuckle and Red Diara to be the toughest, but while they are difficult, they do follow pattern, for the most part. YT gamer PinkKittyRose has a no-hit play-through of Zelda 2, which is pretty freaking amazing. Highly recommended.

Additionally, I've never really understood the comparison to Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest. I played the crap out of both AoL and Castlevania 2 as a kid, and never even considered them similar. Zelda 2 has very tight (yet challenging) combat and control. Castlevania, although it has great level design, its control (at least prior to Super Castlevania IV) was very stiff. Also, while I'll agree some of the enemies have similar designs, I feel that besides that the graphic style is totally different. Castlevania (especially 1 and 3) had great use of complementary colors, while I feel that Zelda 2 had better resolution, if not quite as nice use of colors.
 

DekuPrincess

Are you serious?!?
Joined
Feb 6, 2013
Location
In a bottle
I actually don't feel comfortable saying I dislike the game because, truth is, I can't play it. I've tried a few times, but it's just way too hard for me to progress, even when I know what I'm supposed to do. When I hear the complaints about it based on content, I feel like that honestly isn't that different from reasons people dislike pretty much any other game in the series that has a large anti-fan base (much like Random pointed out, if it is different, some people will hate it).

I do always find it curious that people bring up the save mechanic as a major reason they dislike the game, especially as it was extremely common not to be able to save games at all on the NES and even on the Super NES. Even if you factor in the difficulty, it still seems like an odd complaint to make, especially since it was likely unavoidable on a tech basis at the time the game was developed.
 
Joined
Mar 28, 2013
Good game, as annoying some parts might be, after years of playing I can confidently sit down and play from beginning to end in one run without a single frustration. Ninja Gaiden however is another story, I couldn't possibly have the patience to beat this'd games again.
 

Heroine of Time

Rest in peace, Paris Caper...
Joined
Aug 6, 2011
Location
Whiterun
Gender
Take a guess.
You can't save your game unless you game over. : D
Really? Maybe it's different in the NES version, but on both the Wii and 3DS you can. You just end up back at the North Palace again -- but you don't die. (You might lose all your experience, though -- I don't remember. If so, it's probably better to just die anyway...)

Anyway... Random Person is very correct. Most don't like the difficulty, the side-scrolling, and all of that. As Ventus said, you can't even overpower yourself -- even if you are maxed out in all three categories at the end of the game, you will still die many, many, many times. The Fokkas and Darknuts are completely unfair. I died over 40 times in the Great Palace, at least 20 of those being from Thunderbird. AoL is the type of game where you often know WHAT to do, you just CAN'T do it because it's so darn hard. And on the occasion that you actually don't know what to do due to confusing directions, you still die just as many times.

I personally didn't mind TAoL -- it was a nice challenge -- but I'm not about to praise it as one of the best games in the series. However, if you can make it past all of the negative aspects (and there are plenty), you can see that it's actually a very fun and rewarding game. As several people have mentioned before, the sense of accomplishment you feel when you do anything is ENORMOUS. It's too bad that most can't see past the bad points.
 

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