Shadsie
Sage of Tales
Having come home from work and having more time to compose a reply... and thinking about this topic...
"What is the best Zelda game" arguments are always going to be like "What pet is better? Cats or Dogs?" - it will always come down to "which is better for you, personally" rather than having any kind of objective answer.
That said, I don't like some of the sterotypes given to TP fans. I break several. I'm good at that, I think... my existance breaks sterotypes in many areas. I like TP and here are a few things that I am not:
A Noob: I hate that term, "noob" - people throw it around to belittle others and flaunt their supposed superiority over subjective things. I've been playing LoZ since before many people on this board were born. I'm one of the 2D generation. Now, I grew up on the original Legend of Zelda and Adventure of Link. Several years later, I got to play A Link to the Past. I missed out on the most lauded games in the series and played TP when I was given it, along with a used GameCube as a birthday present a couple of years ago. It was only after I'd played TP that I got to play Ocarina of Time, sure, but, it still stands that I wasn't a "noob" to the Zelda series at all - I remember the NES system when it was *new* and LoZ when it was *new,* ya young whippersnappers.
Emo: I've seen it said that "people like TP only because of the dark" and stuff about "emo." I've seen fellow fans that I otherwise have a great respect for say things like this and it drives me up a friggin' wall. Now, I do like dark things (for this reason, I was expecting that Majora's Mask would dethrone TP as top Zelda game for me when I got to play it - which it didn't *only* because of a specific gameplay issue)... but just becausee I like a little darkness and grit in with a good fantasy story doesn't mean I'm "emo." In fact, I had to have a friend *explain* the Emo-subculture to me because I was unfamiliar with it. I'm the type who can enjoy "The X-Files" and "SpongeBob Squarepants" easily.
A Casual Gamer: Okay, so this one might be a little fudge... I really don't know where I fall on the "gamer spectrum." I consider myself more of a "scavenger gamer" with a healty dose of "retro gamer" thrown in. I have never been able to afford to get the latest gaming equipment as it comes out. Most of my gaming stuff has been gifted to me, and often 5-10 years after it was popular, which is okay by me because gaming is not my primary hobby (art and writing are my primary hobbies, that which I'm serious about). Still, if I ever get a Wii, I doubt it will be to get fit because I get enough good, hard excercise at my current job. And I've played and beaten some of those old school "Nintendo Hard" games - truly hard games. I've beaten Adventure of Link multiple times and scratch my head a little when I see serious Zelda fans talk about how impossible it is. I've given people here tips! So, I don't really know where I stand. I don't get to play many video games, including many of the popular ones at time of release, and gaming's not my "main thing," but I do enjoy really challenging games and beaten ones that some self-proclaimed hardcore gamers seem to think are impossible.
Now that that's out of the way... I hope people think before they sterotype another fan based upon what game is their favorite. Even if TP is the "first and only" someone has played... so what? It's a good chance that they'll pick up other games in the series and see how wonderful they are. And, even if said gamer decides, in the end, that they still like TP better? So what?
While TP was far from my first Zelda game, I did play it before I played OoT. I had people - friends... talk about how wonderful OoT was, and how they were sure "If you like TP, you'll love OoT/like it even more." I played OoT, and it is an awesome game, but I felt a little dissapointed because of all the hype about how it was supposedly so much better. I was like "I still like TP more. Is there something WRONG with me?" If folks had just talked about how great OoT was without being so sure that it would unseat TP for me, maybe I actually wouldn't have had the touch of dissapointment that I did have - if I was left to take the game alone without the comparisons, I might have found them equal in my heart, instead, I was like "This doesn't unseat my favorite like it was supposed to. What's wrong?"
And, I think that I must have come out of my experiences an intelligent, articulate person, despite preferring the less popular game... or at least my reputation bar seems to say that all y'all like me.
"What is the best Zelda game" arguments are always going to be like "What pet is better? Cats or Dogs?" - it will always come down to "which is better for you, personally" rather than having any kind of objective answer.
That said, I don't like some of the sterotypes given to TP fans. I break several. I'm good at that, I think... my existance breaks sterotypes in many areas. I like TP and here are a few things that I am not:
A Noob: I hate that term, "noob" - people throw it around to belittle others and flaunt their supposed superiority over subjective things. I've been playing LoZ since before many people on this board were born. I'm one of the 2D generation. Now, I grew up on the original Legend of Zelda and Adventure of Link. Several years later, I got to play A Link to the Past. I missed out on the most lauded games in the series and played TP when I was given it, along with a used GameCube as a birthday present a couple of years ago. It was only after I'd played TP that I got to play Ocarina of Time, sure, but, it still stands that I wasn't a "noob" to the Zelda series at all - I remember the NES system when it was *new* and LoZ when it was *new,* ya young whippersnappers.
Emo: I've seen it said that "people like TP only because of the dark" and stuff about "emo." I've seen fellow fans that I otherwise have a great respect for say things like this and it drives me up a friggin' wall. Now, I do like dark things (for this reason, I was expecting that Majora's Mask would dethrone TP as top Zelda game for me when I got to play it - which it didn't *only* because of a specific gameplay issue)... but just becausee I like a little darkness and grit in with a good fantasy story doesn't mean I'm "emo." In fact, I had to have a friend *explain* the Emo-subculture to me because I was unfamiliar with it. I'm the type who can enjoy "The X-Files" and "SpongeBob Squarepants" easily.
A Casual Gamer: Okay, so this one might be a little fudge... I really don't know where I fall on the "gamer spectrum." I consider myself more of a "scavenger gamer" with a healty dose of "retro gamer" thrown in. I have never been able to afford to get the latest gaming equipment as it comes out. Most of my gaming stuff has been gifted to me, and often 5-10 years after it was popular, which is okay by me because gaming is not my primary hobby (art and writing are my primary hobbies, that which I'm serious about). Still, if I ever get a Wii, I doubt it will be to get fit because I get enough good, hard excercise at my current job. And I've played and beaten some of those old school "Nintendo Hard" games - truly hard games. I've beaten Adventure of Link multiple times and scratch my head a little when I see serious Zelda fans talk about how impossible it is. I've given people here tips! So, I don't really know where I stand. I don't get to play many video games, including many of the popular ones at time of release, and gaming's not my "main thing," but I do enjoy really challenging games and beaten ones that some self-proclaimed hardcore gamers seem to think are impossible.
Now that that's out of the way... I hope people think before they sterotype another fan based upon what game is their favorite. Even if TP is the "first and only" someone has played... so what? It's a good chance that they'll pick up other games in the series and see how wonderful they are. And, even if said gamer decides, in the end, that they still like TP better? So what?
While TP was far from my first Zelda game, I did play it before I played OoT. I had people - friends... talk about how wonderful OoT was, and how they were sure "If you like TP, you'll love OoT/like it even more." I played OoT, and it is an awesome game, but I felt a little dissapointed because of all the hype about how it was supposedly so much better. I was like "I still like TP more. Is there something WRONG with me?" If folks had just talked about how great OoT was without being so sure that it would unseat TP for me, maybe I actually wouldn't have had the touch of dissapointment that I did have - if I was left to take the game alone without the comparisons, I might have found them equal in my heart, instead, I was like "This doesn't unseat my favorite like it was supposed to. What's wrong?"
And, I think that I must have come out of my experiences an intelligent, articulate person, despite preferring the less popular game... or at least my reputation bar seems to say that all y'all like me.