It happens to be that this particular game is my favorite I liked the idea of a more mature Link also the graphics are amazing, are they not?
Everything the story, the caracters well for me it's the biggest Zelda game I've ever played in very aspect I can think right now this game is the best is it not?
I also loved Ocarina of Time And the Wind Waker,but for me Twilight Princess has the better graphics
Tell me what you think!
lol, you went up on my scale simply by saying you liked the graphics. SPOILER ALERT
For me, TP had the best graphics of any of the games I have seen by a long shot. I loved the gritty, dark, and very 'real' feeling. This is something I'm actually not looking forward to with SS. To me, destroying monsters, killing evil, and saving the world from an evil king is serious business, and TP's graphics made it feel like serious business. Some would argue 'it was not zelda, it was too mature'. Well, that may be true, but I respond with the fact that MM held darker themes, but the graphic style wasn't as dark, so the game isn't preceved as dark. I am also older than i ws for my first playthroughs of OoT and MM, so the game catered to my new-self. I like Resident Evil, and TP held some of that type of dramatic darkness. I loved the feel of TP, and the graphics were largely responsible for that.
The more mature Link is seen in that he is simply older. Now, again, arguments that we do not really know how old Adult Link is in OoT and we are never give a specific age in TP, we can simply just see he is older, make it hard to distinguish for certian whether or not he is actually older in TP. But, imo, in OoT child Link is sealed away for 7 years and his body grows up so that he can become the Hero of Time. Now, because he was asleep, his mind did not recieve any of the experiences that would normally have occurred in a person's life as they were growing up. That being said, Adult Link's body might be older, but his mind is still a child. On the other hand, TP Link's life was undisturbed up until the point of the entrance of the shadow beasts into Ordon. Therefore, he has had the opportunity to grow up in mind and body, making him more mature than OoT Link. So yes, back to the topic at hand. Link in TP is older, and this catered to myself in my older state as well. I have always thought of Link as being in his early twenties, so I really appreciated being able to see that as I was playing.
TP was the largest/longest game, boasting 9 temples, but OoT come in at a close second with 8. Now, I could argue that TP's Hyrule Castle was not a temple and should be classified similar to Ganon's Castle and Ganon's Tower from OoT, makeing TP only have 8 as well. Or, the opposite could be true, classifying Ganon's Tower and Ganon's Castle as a temple, causing OoT to have 9. The only real difference is that Hyrule Castle has a map and compase. Both of the 'final temples' have boss key's, therefore the argument could stand that OoT and TP are the same length. Getting into the issue of sidequests also has weight on total game length. OoT having 100 skultulas to find, 10 poes, Mask sales, 36 pieces of hearts, an optional dungeon (Gerudo training), bean plants, fishing, bottles, upgrades to almost every weapon, and minigames upon minigames. TP having 24 golden bugs, 60 poes souls, 45 pieces of heart, a store to save, bridge to repair, Magic Armor to obtain, 6 hidden skills, Puzzle caverns, optional dungeon (Cove of Ordeals) upgrades to most of the weapons, and several minigames. All this being said, I would probably argue that OoT is longer, even if the actual play time for TP takes more hours. OoT is a more full game.
Now to the matter at hand, is it the best game? I don't believe so. For me, the difficulty setting was much to simple. I only got frusterated once, and rarely had to truely think about what I needed to do. Midna led you by the hand to complete the main plot, and this turned the dial backward on the 'great game' scale. I want to be somewhat challenged in the game. If it is too simple, what is the point? Games are supposed to make you think, teach problem solving skills and be a source of entertainment at the same time.
The characters, as you mentioned, were well done for the most part. I do feel we got to know some of the character in TP, much more intimately than in some of the other games. But I do believe MM has TP beat on best character development. This is simply because of an advantage OoT has over TP, in that we can see change in the characters over time. We watch each and every character develop over the three days. In TP we are give huge insight into one character at a time, for only one moment in time. We rarely come back to the characters to see development or any kind of change. We see change from the time Link arrives at a 'disturbed' place to the time he 'fixes' it, but after that, every thing is stationary. Now, is this really a bad thing, no. because having every single area and character in a game as long as TP would take huge time and money to create. But, characters in TP do not out perform those in MM. Again, this is not to say that the characters in TP are poorly made because they are not, in fact, many of them are very well made. The best example is Midna, now again, this is largely because we get to see Midna change throughout the game as she spends time with Link. She grows and develops as a character. She provokes emotions in the player, starting with hate and moving through to friend and for some to something that could potentially have been more. Zant is another character that is well performed. He doesn't develop quite as much as Midna, but he does have a change of heart and we see a humanoid side of him that we can relate too.
The story was something that had me on the fence about whether it was the best game or not. Unfortuntely, like all Zelda games, the underlying plot is exactly the same. Ganondorf wants to rule the world, corrupts/kidnaps/tries to kill Zelda to try and accomplish that, Link get recruited to go and save her, destroy the King of Evil and restore peace. Now, for the most part, if this was not the main underlying story, some would argue 'it's not zelda' But that is not entirely true. I will pull MM as another example of this. Zelda, Ganondorf, and Hyrule did not even appear in the game, Link was our constent and MM turned out to be one of the best games of the series. TP's story was not overly original but did bring in some unique ideas of the Mirror of Twilight and the twilight realm. But, this theme has been used throughout fiction many many times over. Opposing forces of light and dar/good and evil. So, it was not over original, but was a good classic story.
One element of the story was was new and very interesting was the introduction of Wolf Link or wolf form. This werewolf was the first times we have been able to play Link with different abilities and fighting technique. This concept really opened a door into a new place for the game to go. Wolf Link was used for Poe and shadow beast battles as well as finding scents/directing you where to go, finding hidden spots on the ground, as well as allowing Link to exist in the twilight realm's shadows, adding to the plot elements. But, this is one portion of the game that i found could have been expanded slightly more, giving more opportunities to use Wolf Link in temples, being required to use his abilites once Link gained the ability to transform back and forth. But overall, I thought it was well done for the first time it was used in the series.
Fight techniques were one element of the game that we so very well changed from the earlier 3D games. The hidden skills as well as the simple mechanics of fighting were really stepped up in this game and I really enjoyed it. Again, this goes back to the other types of games and movies I enjoy. The action made me feel so much more powerful and apart of the story. I would love to see this advance swordplay and fight skills return in SS.
I thought the game was very innovative with items though. The ball and chain was new item. To have a power weapon with physical attack. The ball and Chain was slow, but definitely effective when the hit was made. I thouht it was innovative to swing it around your head, aim and throw. It was used for several different things in the game play: breaking ice blocks, making platforms swing/move, and moving blocks around. The Spinner was another new and very innovative item. Used more as a tool than a weapon it allowed a whole other type of 'puzzle game' Having to jump back and forth from rail to rail to get to a certain spot or make it past danger this item opened a new door for gameplay. It did function as a weapon in some instances, having enough speed allowed you to level some enimeies at least as a first attack. As well as providing a very different fighting style for a boss match. Though this item reminded me of bayblade, i really enjoyed the innovation. The Double clawshot was an old item that got a much needed update, but one that performed well. The clawshot was much more explanatory as to how it worked than the hookshot/longshot but served an extremely similar function. The addition of the DOUBLE clawshot seemed unnecessary at first and redundent, but the applications became immense very quickly after that point in the game. This item, like the spinner opened another place for innovation in gameplay and world creation and sidequests. Scaling walls whith no floor/ground became exciting, fun, and a challenge when put in the right context. If you hadn't guessed this was my favorite item in the game. The Gale boomerang again was not new, but received an upgrade of sorts. It did not change in function, but in properties of that function. Like the claw shot it received a little more explanation to how it functioned and ultimately allowed for different uses of the boomerang. Fore example, put out torches from a distance. The Dominon Rod was very creative but not so much used as a weapon, more of a tool, having the object you possesed function as the weapon. This weapon again made numerous openings for sidequests play. The biggest limitation of the weaponry would be the requirement of the right environment to use the item. The Clawshot, spinner, Dominon rod, and in some cases even the ball and chain were dependent on the environment for their use. But other than that TP had some innovative weapons.
I realized just now, that i have always said i really like TP and that it is one of my more favorite games, yet I complained a lto here about how not so good it was. Uh oh. I'm starting to sound like Axle.
