Revisiting 3D Zelda Games (thoughts)
Revisiting 3D Zelda Games (thoughts)
I decided to play through some of the 3d Zelda games as it’s been years and years.
First, I played through majoras mask as I have not played that since I was a kid when I last played it. I didn’t like it then and I absolutely hated it this time, too. I actually just stopped playing once I got to the moon.
After that I played, ocarina of time. I spent countless hours with this game as a kid and I enjoyed playing it again. I how much I remembered from this game. It’s pretty great and I think it holds up today. I played the ship of harkinian version of it.
I played a bit of link between worlds, the 3ds one and it was OK, but I found some of the puzzles to be a bit too confusing and I got a little frustrated with it once I made it to the dark world. I don’t plan to finish that game. I loved link to the past, but this one was just OK to me.
Before I decided to play these games again, I started with twilight princess. I got past the first temple and made it to kakiriko village. I got busy and put it down, I may pick it back up, but I’m in no rush.
The real reason I wanted to write is… Wind Waker! This game is amazing! I’ve played it on GameCube and the HD version. I forgot how much charm this game has. I used to say that OOT was the best, but I’ve completely flipped. I think WindWaker is the best of the Zelda games.
I’m not including botw and totk in this as they are a much different game. I love those games, but they are hard to compare to classic Zelda due to their differences.
I absolutely loved A Link Between Worlds and Twilight Princess. I felt ALBW was a bit on the easier side for Zelda games but had enough challenge to remain fun and interesting. Secrets weren't too hard to find, but instead required just enough effort to make them satisfying to obtain.
Twilight Princess is really incredible and I recommend getting back around to it. The dungeons are highly creative, the art is top notch, and the story is excellent. I played through it for the first time only a couple years ago. I think it has aged quite well.
In albw, I got frustrated trying to figure out how to get into the desert temple. Haha. I probably would have stuck with it? But I just got a steam deck and was itching to try out some other games.
I would recommend using a guide for MM, unless that goes against your ideals or something. I tried playing it over and over for years, no, decades, and it wasn’t until I used a guide that I actually enjoyed it. Maybe that makes it a bad game, but the story is incredible and makes it well worth the struggle IMO. Also, Nerrel’s texture pack is quite good, the only texture pack that I used and liked, aside from HUD packs.
Also, don’t forget about Skyward Sword. It was my least favourite of the series (I found it too cheesy) but lots of people swear by it, and it gives a lot of context to the history of Hyrule. I’d recommend emulating the switch version if you can. The game gets less cheesy as you progress, looking back some of the levels I quite enjoyed, especially Lanyaru.
I should be able to emulate it. I’ve actually never played this one and have heard nothing but bad things about it. I’m not particularly excited about it.
One of the biggest complaints is the Wii Motion Plus not working as intended. It’s fixed in the Switch version which is why I recommended it.
I've tried playing various Zelda games over the years but I've just never got into any of them. I've just started WWHD and it seems to suffer from the classic Zelda problem of having one very specific solution to a puzzle blocking off all progress, and not telling you at all where that puzzle/solution is if you haven't already identified it! Also it tempted me with an open ocean of sailing and gave me some side-quest maps to follow, then when I tried to follow them it immediately turned me around and said "you can't go this way yet"!