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Wind Waker or Twilight Princess?

WW or TP

  • The Wind Waker

    Votes: 20 54.1%
  • Twilight Princess

    Votes: 17 45.9%

  • Total voters
    37

SPG

Joined
Jul 29, 2016
The Wind Waker. Twilight Princess. Same series, and same system, but other than that, these games our nearly nothing alike. Both were originally released on the GameCube to critical acclaim, and both were remastered in HD on the Wii U. But the real question is, which one takes the cake? Is it the lighthearted, bright, and overworld focused Wind Waker? Or is it the dark, brooding, dungeon-focused Twilight Princess? Answer the poll and post your reasoning below.

I, StripedPeachGamer, and fellow Youtuber KennyPyr0Style attempt to shed some light on this question. While I am a total Wind Waker fan, Pyr0 clearly prefers Twilight Princess. In our new Let's Play series, we play through BOTH games remastered, with me playing Twilight Princess and Pyr0 playing Wind Waker. Please check us out on the link below, and don't be afraid to comment, like, or even subscribe to us!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvCLQRLyM20zRJeC599K9Hg
 
Joined
Nov 14, 2015
The Wind Waker was over all more charming to me, and while the world could have had a bit more interactive islands and NPC villages, at least it wasn't TP's overworld.
 

Dio

~ It's me, Dio!~
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Location
England
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Absolute unit
Twilight Princess takes it for me. Its got what I think is the best story in the series. It is a true spiritual successor to the great Ocarina of time that delivers more of the magic that OOT had but with improved graphics and on a bigger scale. It was a welcome turn around from the Wind Waker direction the series had gone in. I liked the way the game looked initially although it has aged poorly today. Still. I appreciate what they were going for.

The bosses in TP are great, we have Stallord, Blizzetta, Argorok, Zant and of course the final battle with Ganondorf which is an epic 4 phase battle.

Twilight Princess has a cast I prefer to WW. Feauring the best companion character in the whole series. Midna, who I actually cared for. We are also introduced to Zant who was a good secondary antagonist. We also get to see more into the workings of established races, in particular we get to see more of how the Goron tribe operates with its elders and love of sumo. We also get to revisit familiar locations but see how time has changed the land. The title features all the traditions which I feel make Zelda Zelda.


I dont dislike Wind waker. I do actually like the game but it was pretty short by comparison and I dont think the dungeons in it are as good as TP's. Both overworlds have too little to do in them. I hear people complain about TP's overworld more on the foruns but WW's is just as empty. Its just a matter of Sailing over Horse Riding and I prefer the horse.

Wind Waker introduced the dreaded toon art style dividing the fans of Zelda which has caused problems in the fanbase to this day. You can now no longer release a Zelda game without upsetting one crowd of fans. Fortunately BoTW seems to not have upset many people as it has a mix of styles, not straying too far in either direction but still there have been some complaints. I didnt like the art style in Wind Waker personally due to the grotesque proportions of Link and many others.

The bosses were pretty good but I just dont think they stand up to those in Twilight Princess.
 
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Joined
Dec 14, 2008
Location
Louisiana, USA
I definitely prefer Twilight Princess in almost every capacity imaginable. Length, dungeon design, graphical style, story, characters, pretty much all of it. The only thing I can say I prefer about WW is its difficulty, but that's because TP was so disgustingly easy to begin with that WW kind of wins that one by default.
 

Dio

~ It's me, Dio!~
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Absolute unit
I definitely prefer Twilight Princess in almost every capacity imaginable. Length, dungeon design, graphical style, story, characters, pretty much all of it. The only thing I can say I prefer about WW is its difficulty, but that's because TP was so disgustingly easy to begin with that WW kind of wins that one by default.

I think TP and WW are equally easy. As far as I am concerned we havent had a decent difficulty in a 3D Zelda since Majoras Mask.
 

Feverish

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5th layer
I haven't played Wind Waker myself, I've watched the Game Grumps play it though, and I really want to play it myself soon. I did play Twilight Princess and liked it a lot. I like Twilight Princess's darker themes, like Majora's Mask, but I also like Wind Waker's colorful world. I liked Twilight Princess's combat since it had more than swing your sword in a straight direction, and gave it more depth in comparison to other Zelda games. And then I liked Wind Waker's deku leaf because it gave more ways to move around the environment. However, I like Twilight Princess more because of its darker aesthetic, and how cool the bosses were.
 

DekuNut

I play my drum for you
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Location
Tangent Universe
I prefer Twilight Princess. The characters were better, the boss battles were better, and, as Deus said, it felt more like a spiritual successor to OoT, which they were both trying to do.
I do have to give props to WW too though. I preferred Ganondorf in that one, since it gave him so much more depth, and the fishing in TP sucks (I know, shocker). They were both good games; I just like TP better.
 

Feverish

Source of stink
Joined
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Location
5th layer
Twilight Princess. I know people will argue that wind waker had a few darker moments but I like the more grown up tone if TP. The story, Dungeons, gameplay and yes, even graphics are more enjoyable for me.

Also I don't understand how some hypocrites can say TP's overworld is empty when comparing it to wind wakers.
You can ride around on a horseback through a field and hit dudes on your way to wherever you're going in TP, while in Wind Waker you just...sail. That gets boring quick, as my friend Jan ranted to me about multiple times.
 
Joined
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Location
Louisiana, USA
Also I don't understand how some hypocrites can say TP's overworld is empty when comparing it to wind wakers.

I think the Great Sea gives off the illusion of a vast overworld, which is probably by design given the hardware it was on.

I mean yeah, there's a lot of space, but it's just.... blue water. Sure you may come across an enemy outpost or something between islands, but what's the point? Maybe to snag a Joy Pendant (which are useless after a while) and some rupees? It's not like Elder Scrolls or something where you might find some new kickass weapon/armor or some valuable intel on another quest.

Even if the islands are the main "point" of such an empty overworld, most of them are painfully one-note and even kind of meaningless or unnecessary. The whole thing just feels very manipulative in the way that the game makes you think you're exploring this vast world when, if you took out all the empty space and filler, the actual amount of substantial area might not be much larger than a more typical 3D Zelda game.

At least with TP it was up-front about what it was. It's no secret that every 3D Zelda overworld is "empty" when you compare it both to its 2D predecessors and its competition on other platforms, but at least OoT/MM/TP were honest about it and didn't make going through the thing a chore. WW and SS's overworlds seem to be all about needless redundancies (Excessive puzzles in SS and too much water for WW) for the sole purpose of tricking you into thinking there's something there when it isn't.

It doesn't help that sailing it probably the biggest pain in any Zelda game ever. The HD remake helped remedy this, but it's still an absolute bore and the sole reason I don't go back to WW more often.
 

Turo602

Vocare Ad Pugnam
Joined
Jul 31, 2010
Location
Gotham City
This is a very difficult choice for me. They're both so good for different reasons which is why it's usually hard for me to rank these games on a list. I feel like they both captured what made Ocarina of Time so great and unforgettable but each offered something new yet equally important to the series that the other lacks. Wind Waker added charm and personality to the series while exploring new avenues and Twilight Princess completely expanded upon the ideas laid out by Ocarina of Time.

F*ck this thread, I can't choose.
 
Joined
Nov 14, 2015
I think the Great Sea gives off the illusion of a vast overworld, which is probably by design given the hardware it was on.

I mean yeah, there's a lot of space, but it's just.... blue water. Sure you may come across an enemy outpost or something between islands, but what's the point? Maybe to snag a Joy Pendant (which are useless after a while) and some rupees? It's not like Elder Scrolls or something where you might find some new kickass weapon/armor or some valuable intel on another quest.

Even if the islands are the main "point" of such an empty overworld, most of them are painfully one-note and even kind of meaningless or unnecessary. The whole thing just feels very manipulative in the way that the game makes you think you're exploring this vast world when, if you took out all the empty space and filler, the actual amount of substantial area might not be much larger than a more typical 3D Zelda game.

At least with TP it was up-front about what it was. It's no secret that every 3D Zelda overworld is "empty" when you compare it both to its 2D predecessors and its competition on other platforms, but at least OoT/MM/TP were honest about it and didn't make going through the thing a chore. WW and SS's overworlds seem to be all about needless redundancies (Excessive puzzles in SS and too much water for WW) for the sole purpose of tricking you into thinking there's something there when it isn't.

It doesn't help that sailing it probably the biggest pain in any Zelda game ever. The HD remake helped remedy this, but it's still an absolute bore and the sole reason I don't go back to WW more often.
Honestly part of it is the size of the overworld. MM didn't have a massive overworld, but it easily had a lot of content when finding things like Heart Pieces and Masks. A small overworld with a decent amount of content to make that world seem larger has always been a Zelda trope. The Ghost Ship, Big Octos, Cyclones, ect ect. Twilight Princess had a large world, but it simply had caves with rupees. There were at most, like, 5-6 caves that were bigger than 1-2 rooms (not counting the Cave or Ordeals.) Wind Waker had an interesting and different array of puzzles and caves, such as finding upgrades on the different islands instead of winning them in mini games. Sure, Twilight Princess had a lot of chests in its world... But so did Wind Waker. The dungeons in WW were short, yes, but the music was by far superior in that it has much more memorable, such as Gohdan's theme and Molgera's theme. I think the music itself just comes down to personal taste (but to be fair, this whole thread is about personal taste.) One thing I noticed about TP is that it seemed to be the game that started messing with the originality of Zelda; WW was by no means a spiritual successor to Zelda; it established itself as a sequel, by the ways it hinted at moving on past the old Hyrule and exploring the new lands above the seas. TP really had no shame in taking OoT's dead body, skinning it, and making it into a fresh skin suit to wear. With the Forest Temple clearly being a deceased Great Deku Tree, Goron Mines clearly being Dodongo's Cavern, Lakebed Temple and the Water Temple, ect ect. Not to mention how it literally used an iconic location from OoT as a setting for a dungeon. The story seems subpar as well. The Ooccoo, while interesting, ****ed up the lore considering how they weren't even mentioned during the creation of Hylia or at any point during SS (I'm not going to ignore the English translation of TP, it's what was intended when the game was being translated and I don't see why I shouldn't go by it). Not to mention Ganondorf being shoehorned in because of the fact he's been the villain for the longest time, yet he completely ruined the set up that WW and OoT had for him (OoT not so much, but it was clear that Ganondorf had a clear goal in mind when taking over Hyrule during those 7 years, and while he ruled by fear and power, literally nobody besides a select few even knew Ganondorf was in Hyrule during TP, making his plan completely null.) Graphics... It's like comparing apples and oranges.


However, I have an allergy to oranges, so it's not really hard for me to pick my own personal taste. Twilight Princess, while being the first game to start with the realistic and gritty graphics, was 50 shades of brown, and every wall and floor/ground looked like it was smeared with ****. Not to mention, it was nowhere near as awesome as the Twilight Princess we saw in the trailer looked. Where are the moblins that looked really intimidating? Where did the trailer forest go? Where was the fishing hole that looked a lot nicer than the fishing hole in Zora's River? Wind Waker had a lot of missing beta elements too, but at least they were replaced with equally interesting things. Also, the linearity in TP is god awful. After you complete Dragon Roost Cavern, you can start exploring at that exact moment. However, in TP, you basically have to wait until you get the Master Sword, where like 80% of the game opens up for you. The game isn't a completely straight path, so to say, but Wind Waker handles exploration much better. Plus, I know a lot of people will disagree, but I think the combat and battles were a lot more interesting. Quick action commands and extremely smooth and responsive controls made WW a delight, while I thought the controls in TP seemed dry, it's a little hard to explain. However, the archery in TP is much better (not counting the different types of arrows, those were handled much better in WW) just because sniping things seemed a lot more satisfying.
 
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Feverish

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TP really had no shame in taking OoT's dead body, skinning it, and making it into a fresh skin suit to wear. With the Forest Temple clearly being a deceased Great Deku Tree, Goron Mines clearly being Dodongo's Cavern, Lakebed Temple and the Water Temple, ect ect.
I found the Forest Temple to be a better Great Deku Tree, the Goron Mines to be a better Dodongo's Cavern, and the Lakebed Temple to be... well, I hated both the Lakebed and Water temple. Only those 3 are similar to Ocarina though. City in the Sky was new, Snowpeak Ruins was new, and the Palace of Twilight was new. Arbiter's Grounds could be seen as similar to the Shadow Temple or the Spirit Temple, but I personally don't. The Spirit Temple felt like an actual temple in a religious sense and the Shadow Temple felt like catacombs. Meanwhile Arbiter's Grounds felt like what they're called, ruins, like ruins of a castle. And to be fair, the grass, fire, and water dungeon trope is carried through all Zelda games. I can definitely see the similarities between the Deku Tree and Forest Temple, but not so much on the Goron Mines and Lakebed Temple. Dodongo's Cavern seemed much more focused on being a cave rather than being focused on having fire everywhere like Goron Mines did. Lakebed Temple wasn't too diferent from the Water Temple, but it had less of an addiction to changing water levels and more of an addiction to using the hookshot. I don't think it's a bad thing for TP to have done the same three elemental dungeons that OOT and every Zelda game with it did.
About the story being subpar, I found myself to be rather engrossed in it. When I was a kid, I thought Link turning into a wolf was the coolest thing ever, and I still think it's a really cool part of the story, not sure if I can say the same about it being a cool part of the game, collecting the insects was pretty tedious. But it was something special about Link that's on a level that hasn't been done by any other Zelda game, except for ALBW. He always gets the master sword and heads off and hits things with it. In TP, he was able to turn into a wolf and bite things (I'm lowkey jealous of him) and in ALBW he could turn into a painting on a wall. I love it when Link gets powers that are more than the master sword or his items, and in BOTW I'm glad to see him again getting a power that isn't the master sword, that being the sheikah slate. So only with Link being able to become a wolf alone, I liked the story. And then there's the other characters, like the village children. In Majora's Mask, I hated the thought of everyone in Clock Town getting messed up, yet I didn't care about the people in Castle Town of OOT getting messed up. And in TP I didn't want to see those kids get jacked up either. I cared about what happened to the characters, good or bad, bad like Zant and caring about him getting what he deserves. That's all just personal preferences of course. I'm sure that there are people out there who hated the people in Kokoriko village getting jacked, I just didn't care much for them. Now comparing TP story to Wind Waker's story (like I should have been doing in the first place oops) I liked a lot of the characters in it if not all of them, and cared about what happened to them too. Yet, I feel like Wind Waker's story was more bouncy and happy compared to Twilight Princess's serious atmosphere. I loved Wind Waker's ending, yet I loved Twilight Princess's ending more.
In Wind Waker, the companion that's been with you all this time dies, while in TP the companion you've been with all this time almost died once, then you helped her, then she gets back what she lost. It felt more satisfying and triumphant to me.
 
Joined
Nov 14, 2015
I found the Forest Temple to be a better Great Deku Tree, the Goron Mines to be a better Dodongo's Cavern, and the Lakebed Temple to be... well, I hated both the Lakebed and Water temple. Only those 3 are similar to Ocarina though.
The dungeons are the actual future equivalents of the dungeons seen in OoT. The Forest Temple is made up of a giant dead tree, a location where the monkeys hang out. This is important to note because many theorize that the monkeys are actually a different shape that the spirits of the forest take, similar to Kokiris, Kikwis, and Koroks, hinting at the idea it is in fact the Great Deku Tree as seen in OoT.

The Goron Mines are likely just a future version of Dodongo's Cavern, considering the entire point of the mine can be deduced to them needing a source of food, and, since a long time passed between Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess, the gorons most likely needed to dig further below the surface of Dodongo's Cavern, which is why lava is seen more often and why there are many different iron structures within to help the gorons mine more, such as switches to stop lava flows and giant stone doors that have chains that are necessary to pull.

The Lakebed Temple is most arguably the one with the most evidence; what other temple is there in the child timeline that exists at the bottom of lake Hylia ( Note -- below the lake. The Temple of Droplets is above Lake Hylia and is Minish sized.) Also, the music of the two dungeons are quite similar to one another, and the bosses as well as the concepts of raising and lowering the water levels are shared (however, the last point doesn't prove a lot, considering a few water dungeons also share this similarity.)


Also, the Temple of Time.
I don't think it's a bad thing for TP to have done the same three elemental dungeons that OOT and every Zelda game with it did.
Eh, it's not really the same three elemental dungeons being the problem, it's the fact that they're all most likely literally the same 3 dungeons from OoT. Wind Waker is slightly guilty of this in its own way, considering the Forbidden Woods is most likely the remains of Kokiri Forest and the Great Deku Tree, but every other dungeon is unique. Even the typical fire dungeon on a volcano breaks this cliche, making it about venturing to the peak of the volcano instead of just going deeper and deeper into it like the Goron Mines and Dodongo's Cavern.
About the story being subpar, I found myself to be rather engrossed in it. When I was a kid, I thought Link turning into a wolf was the coolest thing ever, and I still think it's a really cool part of the story,
Yeah, Wolf Link is great. However, that doesn't really relate to the story, as they came up with the gameplay concept of Link being a wolf, and they built things around it storywise that had it lead up to Link becoming a wolf. The only reason Midna even exists is because they needed a reason for Link to become a wolf and be able to switch back and forth.
But it was something special about Link that's on a level that hasn't been done by any other Zelda game, except for ALBW. He always gets the master sword and heads off and hits things with it. In TP, he was able to turn into a wolf and bite things (I'm lowkey jealous of him) and in ALBW he could turn into a painting on a wall. I love it when Link gets powers that are more than the master sword or his items, and in BOTW I'm glad to see him again getting a power that isn't the master sword, that being the sheikah slate. So only with Link being able to become a wolf alone, I liked the story.
Yeah, Link having other abilities that make him unique from other Links is great. However, this applies throughout the series to different Links as well. For example, in Minish Cap, Link can shrink to a small stature, and explore Hyrule on a microscopic scale. In Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures, Link splits into four other Links to tackle challenges that just one Link wouldn't be able to do. In Majora's Mask, Link can don four different forms (though the masks may count as items so I can see why you'd disagree with this point.) My point is, most Links have unique abilities that make them different than other Links, whether it be having the ability to age 7 years into the future and then back again or having the power to become a painting.
And then there's the other characters, like the village children. In Majora's Mask, I hated the thought of everyone in Clock Town getting messed up, yet I didn't care about the people in Castle Town of OOT getting messed up. And in TP I didn't want to see those kids get jacked up either. I cared about what happened to the characters, good or bad, bad like Zant and caring about him getting what he deserves. That's all just personal preferences of course. I'm sure that there are people out there who hated the people in Kokoriko village getting jacked, I just didn't care much for them.

Hyrule in Twilight Princess was really going down the ****ter, wasn't it? Hyrule's citizens were being mauled by Shadow Beasts, as shown by Barnes' comment during the Eldin Twilight, and Hyrule was... For a lack of a better word, decomposing. The Knights of Hyrule were a mere shadow of what they had used to be, and more and more monsters were taking over the lands, like King Bulblin. However, while this is going on, Wind Waker has an angry God roaming the sea, injuring citizens with cyclones, two small, desolate settlements where the remainder of Hylians have taken refuge, and a large group of monsters to the northwest that was ransacking and stealing little girls in the hopes that they would eventually find Princess Zelda. Not to mention Ganondorf's motives are almost sympathetic in the way he only wanted to obtain rulership of Hyrule so he could save his people from the scorching heats of the desert, while Ganondorf in Twilight Princess was just there because... Uh... He's Ganondorf?
Now comparing TP story to Wind Waker's story (like I should have been doing in the first place oops) I liked a lot of the characters in it if not all of them, and cared about what happened to them too. Yet, I feel like Wind Waker's story was more bouncy and happy compared to Twilight Princess's serious atmosphere.
It's not really the story that was happier and bouncier; it's the art style, and, in my opinion, that's one of the things that makes the game so amazing. It deals with heavy themes such as loss, regret, sympathy for the villain, ect ect. while still being incredibly happy and charming with its art style. Twilight Princess tried to be too edgy in my opinion, which is one of the reasons I think it wasn't as high up on my list like Majora's Mask is, a game that dealt with pretty serious themes while also having a few funny moments that weren't incredibly serious. Twilight Princess' humor comes from awkwardly random moments, like the fixing of the Sky Cannon.
In Wind Waker, the companion that's been with you all this time dies, while in TP the companion you've been with all this time almost died once, then you helped her, then she gets back what she lost. It felt more satisfying and triumphant to me.
Not saying this as an insult to you, but you said you liked the darker, grittier storylines, right? Why would you prefer a happy ending where everything ends up fine and everyone makes it out alive, over the bitter sweet ending where the hero wasn't victorious in saving everyone from Ganondorf's wrath?
 
Joined
Nov 14, 2015
Idk Midna leaving felt pretty bittersweet to me.
I see your point, but it was almost as if Twilight Princess' ending was "everything went back to normal!!!! yay!!!!"

Wind Waker's ending seemed more tragic to me, with Hyrule being ultimately drowned and Daphnes dying. He even reached out to Link-- possibly in a moment of belief that he could go to a new Hyrule with them-- only to let Link go because he knew that the new Hyrule they would found would be their Hyrule, not his.
 

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