WW-Wii U Why Do Some People Hate Wind Waker Because of the Graphics?

[unknown]

I think that if you hate on an great game because of the graphics then I would never trust a recommendation from you ever. I have to say that i like the graphics of WW and that the play was stupendous. I have played and enjoyed plenty of many games with many graphic styles and I always PLAY (key word) play the game for a day or two before i decide that i don't like it.

 

[zellinkda]

i don't know. there was a video made on newgrounds around the time wind waker came out. it's entitled "new zelda" I love the cute graphics of wind waker, but apparently this guy doesn't think so.http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/66006

 

[papermaz]

I think, similar to mentioned above, it's very shallow to judge a game by graphics. You don't know whether you will enjoy a game until you actually PLAY it.

Before I bought Wind Waker I was used to the colourful graphics of games like Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine so I never though anything of the graphics, in fact I was intrigued which is why I bought the game in the first place, and now I'm a massive fan of the Zelda series, hence that's why I joined this forum.

It's the whole remit of Zelda games that appeals to me: solving puzzles, fighting enemies/bosses, opening treasure chests, exploring dungeons, the prospect of getting a reward, or progressing further into the game when you've worked so hard to beat a minigame or fight a boss, if only rreal life was like that.

There will always be people with different tastes and for different resaons.

 

[CelticMagician]

The like or dislike of graphics for a game, I find, depends on the person. Like most visual art, it's a subjective matter though it is true that many people may miss out on an incredible video game for that reason.

I admit, I wasn't the fondest of the Wind Waker graphics when it first came out. It just wasn't a style I found overly appealing.

Upon playing it, however, my opinion quickly changed about the graphics. I fell in love with the quirky facial expressions and basically got into a mode of "okay, so it's really not that bad." XD Wind Waker style is still not my favourite of the Zelda games, but it is downright adorable and I can't deny its charm.

Though I will say that even though the game was fun, I was a little disappointed with how simple the gameplay was for me. I had gotten used to being faced with a hefty challenge in other Zelda games that Wind Waker seemed to be lacking. Not to mention, the ocean surfing stuff was fairly tedious as well, so I ended up getting frustrated by that since I sometimes felt that my skills with the game were being insulted a little. XD

I also had a really hard time connecting with Link's character for the first little bit of the game (I just couldn't seem to get myself to relate to him as quickly as the Links in previous games), but things got better on that front as it progressed. The story and characters definitely made up for a lot of what I found to be weak points, though. :3 Wind Waker is still among my top five favourite Zelda games thus far.

 

[Medri]

I think they dislike it because they're narrow minded and very impressionable by the "games must represent realism to be taken seriously" fad that is polluting the gaming industry.

Wind Waker was one of the most breathtaking zelda games ever conceived and created. It is purely a dislike of styles and the dislike being completely bias to the experience.

 

[Azure Kite]

Wind Waker's graphics didn't bother me at all, and in all honesty, made me want to get the game even more, just because of how Link looked. My friend, though, who got me into Zelda in the first place, was shallow and said she wouldn't be playing it due to the graphics... it was very disappointing for me. To this day, I don't know if she'd ever play it, but I'd love to beat her with a Wii-mote and make her play it someday. Either way, it really breaks my heart when people judge a game by graphics, especially when you finally play it and it turns out to be one of the best games you've ever played. It sort of reminds me of Okami, I'm sure most people didn't play it much due to the graphics, honestly, but it was like a living, moving painting when playing, and a wonderful game to boot. Wind Waker had a great art style and the cel-shaded graphics were beautiful and fitting for the game.

But, that's just people's tastes. They worry more about graphics and HD textures than the gameplay and story most of the time. People had the gall to complain about Skyrim's graphics, claiming they "weren't great realistic at all". You just can't please everyone...

 

[bulbasaur]

For the same reason while people will watch terrible movies if the have allot of CGI & action scenes. Shallow people will judge a book by its cover(Extremely shallow people probably dont read books).

Its a common trend in art these days not to judge it on its own merrits in the artform it is but with on something completely unrelated(eg. if i want a good story ill read abook/watch a film and not play a video game). I could go on but that's kinda off topic.

 

[blubb]

I never actually heard that many people complaining about the game because of its graphical style only, in fact I'd say that >95% even liked it.
But if someone doesn't like it, then he/she has the right to say that, period. And because graphics, just like music, story, characters and gameplay are a part that makes up a game, it's also OK if that drags down the final score for them, of course it shouldn't be the only thing they rate.
Honestly I thought the art style was OK, it had its ups and downs. I liked how they made them unique and didn't try too hard to be realistic like other games of that time (and even now) did and looking back, it has aged better than those games, but I didn't like the body proportions, the low detail and the distance fog.
While I still enjoyed the game overall, there are other things to criticise though, like the boring sailing and overworld, easy-peasy dungeons/bosses and general lack of any difficulty (No I don't need a game as hard as AoL but WW was insultingly easy both puzzle- and combat-wise). The issue for me is that I didn't have the slightest feel of accomplishment after beating a boss or solving one of the rare puzzles, it was too much of a breeze.
People who call it kiddy probably don't do so mainly because of the art style but because of these points, I mean anyone older than 6 can't possibly get stuck for longer than a minute in that game or get even close to a game over screen. There's no denying that this game was clearly tailored for a considerably younger audience than any Zelda game before (just compare it to OoT and MM) and I can't really blame Nintendo, let's face it: The Gamecube flopped in sales compared to PS2/Xbox and other Nintendo consoles before and after it so they had to get even younger players to buy the game. They were thinking economically as a company, that's it.

 

[TobiasAurelio]

It actually really surprises me how the fanbase reacted to the art style of the Wind Waker, but in some ways I could see where they were coming from, however there is other evidence that really surprises me over the explosion of rage over WW.

From the start of the LoZ series, the game's art style did vary quite a bit, from the the very beginning to the first 3D game of the series. Fans had become used to the simple, anime/fantasy artwork of the game. So when fans heard about the arrival of a new of a new Zelda game, I'm sure that fans were predicting more of the same, but of course - this wasn't what they were expecting at all. Which brings me to my above point of why exactly the fans raged.

In a way, they were thrown out of their comfort zone. Their fantastic, mature, fantasy series had been degraded into a game for 'kids'!? That's what the haters thought, and presumed that the game was going to be terrible just because the art style was changed. Again, this brings me to why in reality, I find their complaints to be quite odd.

There have been quite a few games that have had, like WW, drastic art styles. One in example is Team Fortress, which went from what was originally a serious but entertaining FPS into a still entertaining game, with a more light - hearted, cartoony take to the game. The thing is though, is that TF players took the change the right way - the nine years of design they were used to had been suddenly changed, and they were all for it.

Indeed, Wind Waker did bring about a few changes, some good some bad, but most fans didn't go through the first borderline and actually play the game despite it's style and theme; they just rejected it. Wind Waker was made a lot more light - hearted and comical, just like TF2, but the plot was still fantastic, it was much more humorous, and despite it's short length still brought out (in my opinion) cell - shaded justice.

There were a lot who hated the game, but I can only really respect there opinion if they've actually played the game - if anyone is going to dislike the game, please let it be the gameplay along with the graphics.

 

[Ant1pr0t0n]

As someone who is a very vocal critic of Wind Waker's graphics, I should probably add my 2 cents to the conversation. It wasn't Nintendo's bait-and-switch of "See this Link! Now you get...this other thing!" that annoyed me (I somehow managed to not hear of the tech demo until I was looking up the Wii U tech demo), but the graphics looked nonsensical to me: I considered buying it, but it looked pretty silly. Since the only Zelda game I had played at the time was Link to the Past, I didn't think anything of not buying it.

Looking back, I'm extremely glad with my decision. I find the game utterly unplayable: the cel-shading makes my eyes and brain literally start hurting after 5 minutes of it. It's definitely the cel-shading: I tried to watch chuggaaconroy's Let's Plays of Wind Waker and Okami. For Wind Waker, I had to keep stopping and looking at something that wasn't cel-shaded to even finish a video. Okami, I couldn't even last 2 minutes at a time, it was that bad.

I'm not really a graphics snob per se (though I do greatly appreciate them; I'm excited for the Wii U): I just really like a correct use of shadows (or even none whatsoever, as long as it isn't purely wrong) in games. Wind Waker's, however, just make me want to cry. The scenery is tolerable, but the look of the characters make it clear that even the Wand of Gamelon's graphics (yes, I went there) were superior. I mean, seriously: just look at Link's hair. The thing is chiefly a gigantic, fluorescent-yellow blob attached to his head. They coloured most things bright, but their use of shadows doesn't make sense and ends up bisecting characters characters in bizarre ways.

The plot and gameplay are good from what I can tell, but any game that could be improved considerably by playing with the TV screen off is unplayable in my book. I still get in debates with people who consider the graphics "stunning" to this day...they certainly stunned me all right, but through the sheer stupidity of making a game that looks that stupid. At least with Skyward Sword, NoA told them to fix the graphics after 2010's E3 failure: I was quite insistent that Skyward Sword would be just as unplayable as Wind Waker until they released the 2011 E3 trailer and proved that it was possible to cel-shade without going back to the unplayable "Celda" trilogy.

 

[annoyed1216]

When I first played Wind Waker,I loved the graphics,I thought they were amazing,and I wish they brang those kind of graphics back.That is probably because my first Zelda game was Phantom Hourglass,and I was exposed to those kind of graphics from the beginning.

 

[TRLahti]

Games are a means of escaping reality. I play games because they're my own world so to speak. Realistic graphics take away from the mean of escapism, and I find games like Wind Waker, Skyward Sword, Tales of Symphonia, etc to be some of the best games I have ever played. They all have their own distinct art styles.

 

[snakeb0t]

I just don't like playing cartoons. It's why my MMO of choice is Guild Wars and not WoW. I feel that Wind Waker is just in that art style I personally do not enjoy. The gameplay and story good and fun, I would just rather be looking at OoT/MM/TP graphics while I played them.

Games are a means of escaping reality. I play games because they're my own world so to speak. Realistic graphics take away from the mean of escapism, and I find games like Wind Waker, Skyward Sword, Tales of Symphonia, etc to be some of the best games I have ever played. They all have their own distinct art styles.

I agree with you on the first sentence, but I feel that making games realistic makes the escape believable. When I escape reality, I don't want to be reminded that what I am doing is not real.

 

[TheCakeIsALie]

The only graphics I've ever complained about were the old 8-bit games, 'cause I first played them two years ago.

I didn't enjoy WW as much because the game was smooth sailing (literally) for me until the

Spoiler

Triumph Forks quest

, where it was insanely hard, and I took a break to blow off some steam. Really hate fetchquests like that, but the rest of the game was very good.

 

[luvahaak]

Im gonna be honest, When i first seen Windwaker I hated it because of its graphics but after I played it, I loved it. It taught me not to judge a book...lol a game by it's cover.