Favorite Zelda Game

Anthony wrote: but LA really lifted Zelda NPC's and in game story to the next level.

Zelda has never had a comprehensible story or time line that I could give a crap about. It's always been about addictive gameplay.

Very true, but they make the world feel a bit more alive. I'm a little more compelled to play a game that has some sort of lively, immersive world than one that just feels dead. An example would be Fallout 3. I wanted to like that game, but the game world seemed dead to me. Yeah, it had some NPC's and a story that I've heard was pretty good, but I just couldn't get into it. Had Zelda games continued with no story elements or NPC's, I don't think the worlds within them would have been as enjoyable to play through.

Link to the Past is my favorite Zelda game. It was the first one I really played a lot as a kid, and it was just awesome. It captured a true sense of exploration, and it kind of took me away from reality while I was staring at that screen. The game was also very atmospheric for its time with the stormy areas, and rain sfx you can hear inside houses. The game has always had a mysterious, and charming quality about it; one that I'll never be able to fully explain.

My second favorite is Ocarina of Time, followed by Majora's mask, then Wind Waker, then the First Zelda, then Twilight Princess. I never have been really able to get into the GB Zelda games, and I don't know why.

As for the story being incoherent, sure, it may be in between games, but the stories contained in each individual game are pretty good, imo. I think LttP, OoT, MM, and TP have the best stories so far.

I haven't palyed any of the new zeldas past wind waker other than midish cap and that on ds game before spirit tracks(forgot the name)
so I'd have to say my fav zelda game is a tie between Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Because they are just too awesome to choose between.
And the both have masks, my fav game item in ANY zelda game. :kitty:

Anthony,

Do you have either a SNES or a Gamecube? Because either a Super Gameboy (SNES) or Gameboy Player (GC) would solve your Links Awakening Problem.

In terms of favorite Zelda games:
1. Legend of Zelda - One of the best games of all time, and what made me want (and get) an NES.
2. Link to the Past - best gameplay
3. Ocarina of Time - best story and minigames
4. Links Awakening - best handheld Zelda
5. Oracle of Seasons/Oracle of Ages - Best puzzles/items
6. Minish Cap - Best Charm/last great handheld Zelda game
7. Majora's Mask - Most frustrating at times, great charm
8. Wind Waker - Best Graphics/Style, but not enough action, too much fetching.
9. Twilight Princess - Most bland (but great sound effects and enjoyable story)
10. Adventure of Link - Most Difficult, Some of the Best Music
11. Spirit Tracks - Garbage. (for a Zelda game)
12. Phantom Hourglass - Frustrating Garbage.

I have never played Four Swords Adventures nor the CDi games

I actually have a Super GameBoy, but my SNES isn't working anymore. I'm pretty sure its just the power cord, so I could always try to get a new one of those.

mattwdr wrote:I have never played Four Swords Adventures nor the CDi games

I'd recommend FSA. It's not an entirely traditional Zelda, but it is an often forgotten 2D entry. I liked it quite a bit, but that was probably due to its graphical style being that of AlttP. I'd recommend reading about it, if you want to play it since there are some big changes to the flow of the game play that may immediately put off some Zelda fans. To name a few, you progress through the game by picking levels from a world map, and more become available as you advance the plot. You can only have one item at any given time, though each level has many items hidden about. You always start each stage with four heart containers, and there are four hidden in each stage. Items/ HCs do not carry over to the next stage. You must collect a certain number of "force gems" (equivalent of Rupees, which don't exist because there are no shops) to finish each level. If you can look past these changes, the level design, story, and atmosphere feel very much like how AlttP did.

PH is by far the worst in the series, hands down. Terrible, bland art direction. Uninspired design, and music, and gimmicky items that allowed you to tell the "right these direction from here, and go here RED dungeon" from the BLUE dungeon of the same sort. Spirit Tracks was way better, but it is still not as good as the other games. Calling it second worst in the series still places it high above 90% of the games out there today. The DS entries and especially PH are the only games I'd call bad in the series. Any other game is simply less favorable to me, but not a bad game. I'll make a list too, even though I already answered. This list is slightly different, but after thinking about what I like about each game, it is more accurate.

AlttP - Childhood memories and shit.
OoT - More of the same, but 3D.
MM - Unique Story.
TWW - Returns to the original Zelda by having a much more open "over world". Bitch all you want about it being bland, so was Zelda 1, and people loved it.
TP - Good Story. Decent Visuals, but at times, it looked a bit muddy. Great soundtrack.
Minish Cap = Zelda 1 - Zelda 1 was hard to place in the list. I like the game, but really, I think I like the concept more. Minish cap has some of the best 2D art direction. Dungeons were interesting spins on the typical Zelda elements as well.
Oracles = LA = Zelda 2 - Not bad games, but they're all just kinda "eh" in my book.
ST - Better then PH, but still not great.
A Piece of Shit
Everything Evil in the World
PH - Awful. Never even finished it completely.

I still can't figure out why I just can't get into the GB Zelda's. LA is good, but the Oracle games just never really interested me. I've tried to play through them many times, but I just get bored, or lose track of what I was doing,

Ocarina of Time, for some reason. I feel like Twilight Princess should be better, but I can't quite seem to connect with it in the same way. OoT came out when I was just getting into 3D games, and it really connected with me in a way few other games did. I've never really gotten into the 2D ones as much, with the exception of Minish Cap, which would probably be my second favourite.

A Link To The Past and the original Legend of Zelda games are the only two I've ever beaten. A Link To The Past is my favorite.

A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time are the two that top the list of all time favorites. I haven't played the DS zelda games as of yet. The oracle Zelda games I played through Seasons and beat it then transferred my stuff over to Ages and I couldn't get through that one for the life of me. I quit all together. Would have loved to save Zelda from Ganon, but it was so hard to get through certain puzzles and my interest just waned away.

I have lost the Zelda spark as of late and haven't picked up many of the games. I don't think I have a favorite; they all seem to fill some kind of niche. I think I'll just list them in the order I remember them; if I don't mention one I probably haven't played it.

The Good
The Legend of Zelda is the first and that makes it the gold standard. I like how big the world was, and the dungeons at least felt non-linear. I managed to make it to Ganon without the silver arrows once, but I think that's an argument for why the magic key was a bad idea as much as it is poor design (surely they could have made an old man that would bar the way or an enemy that could only be damaged by silver arrows?) There's not much to say because nostalgia's the main reason why I hold it in such high regard; almost any negative point I have about it is due to what I expect out of a modern game.

A Link to the Past was a great evolution of this formula. The first few dungeons were easy enough to be insulting, but I still tend to get confused in some of the later dungeons so it balances out. Heart pieces were introduced here, and I spent a lot of time hunting down each one. LttP established boss patterns and Hyrule lore that would be key components of future games. I suppose if I had to pick a favorite I'd pick this one, but my most recent playthroughs left me feeling kind of disappointed for some reason. Maybe I can elaborate after some thought.

Link's Awakening is an extraordinary example of a GB game and a worthy successor to LttP. There really weren't that many stellar GB games, and LA did a good job of making the GB worth the cash before Pokemon was released. I really liked the shield being an item; the only real downside is I probably spent 15% of any playthrough fiddling around in the subscreen. If only the GB had extra buttons to cycle the B button item! It somehow felt bigger than LttP for me, probably because it was harder to move around the world map.

I feel like Wind Waker is highly underrated due to its visual style. I loved the cel-shaded look, but more than that I loved how the game had more of that unexplainable "Zelda" feel to it than I felt OoT brought to the table. The sword combat was extraordinary in this game and I feel like it had some of the best enemies in the entire series. What few dungeons it had tended to be large and fun to explore. Unfortunately, it had too few dungeons and eventually devolved into a treasure hunt. The ocean was a great idea poorly executed; making it take several minutes to get from point A to B is bad enough but forcing the player to fight an infinite stream of uninteresting enemies while you're at it is pure torture. The series was very linear and even in the dungeons I like there's not really such a thing as a wrong turn. Boss fights were sufficiently large and epic, but a few of them were just rehashes of OoT bosses. Despite this, I feel that the visual style, musical style, and gameplay were strong enough to keep WW on my good list.

The Mediocre
Twilight Princess did a great job with setting a mood. This is the darkest, most mature Zelda so far; people die in it and overall the environments did a good job of making me feel that even if I saved Hyrule I couldn't reverse the damage that had been done. Motion controls ruined the game. The sword combat was several steps backwards from WW and the extra bow/boomerang precision afforded by the wiimote didn't make it worth it. I also feel like it's inexcusable that there was no voice acting in this game other than grunts; even budget games on the 360 went this far. This game's progression was straight as a laser; sequence breaking, if possible at all, would require cheating devices. I really enjoyed the boss fight where you had to ride that spinner thing, but other than that one I don't remember being particularly wowed by anything in the game.

The Bad
I didn't really like Ocarina of Time and I still don't think it's much better than LoZ itself. The storytelling was OK, but this was the era where 3D games weren't really very well-known to designers so there's lots of rough edges sticking out everywhere. Some of the boss fights were pretty memorable, but unfortunately it feels like Nintendo exhausted their ideas for boss combat in this game and most of their future games used variants. Until this game, Hyrule felt alive; every screen had some enemies, NPCs, or something to make you feel like Hyrule was a great place to live. OoT's Hyrule was just... empty. If you weren't in Kakariko or Castle Town, wandering around had the same lonely feel that Fallout 3 captured well. The few inhabitants of the overworld weren't interesting to fight; it was annoying to have to spend 15 seconds waiting to reflect enough rocks at a stupid Octorok and I didn't even bother with the godforsaken Peahats. This made sense in adult Link's Hyrule, but the barren, unpopulated Hyrule that child Link lived in just didn't seem worth saving. Twilight Princess had this quality too, but a major plot point is the notion that lots of people have been whisked to the Twilight Realm and are sort of half-dead so it can get away with it. OoT had no excuse. Also I ALREADY KNOW WHAT THE MAP DOES AND THAT A BLUE RUPEE IS 5 RUPEES. YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL ME EVERY. TIME. I. GET. ONE.

Oracle of Ages is the only Zelda I've played of which I remember absolutely nothing. I remember being slightly peeved that you could only do everything and see everything if you had a friend with Oracle of Seasons. I had no friends with a GB, so my only choice would have been to buy the other game myself and link with myself. I bought Pokemon Yellow instead.

The first DS one was Phantom Hourglass? Boy that one was forgettable. It was easy enough I was insulted. It had *some* clever usage of the touchscreen but the use of blowing into the mic was gimmicky. All I remember about the dungeons was taking the time to painstakingly annotate the first map that looked like it might have stuff I needed to remember only to have the fairy flash back to the rooms when I entered the puzzle room. Why didn't they just let the fairy solve the puzzle for me then? The sea mechanic in this game was less annoying than in WW, but still too tedious for its own good.

The Ugly
Here's the misfits of the Zelda world.

The Adventure of Link is disappointing due to shoddy translation work and weird difficulty spikes. I played it for weeks and still can't reliably kill an Iron Knuckle without taking a lot of damage. Overall, I feel like this was an interesting game format and I'd like to see Nintendo re-release it with better dialog and checkpoints so you don't go back to the start when you die. Alternatively, I'd like to see a new game using this format. Yes, it was different from LoZ, but at this point there were 2 Zelda games so you can't really say it wasn't a "real" Zelda game. If you want to argue about "real" Zelda games, how about we talk OoT, which didn't even include the Zelda theme? It did a lot of things right, but made a few mistakes and I don't think it deserves to be with the "bad" games.

Majora's Mask was my favorite for a long time since it dared to be different. I liked the time/moon mechanic and really liked how the townspeople moved about based on a schedule. The dungeons were interesting (particluarly the last one you could rotate) and I remember the boss fight with the giant bull as being particularly fun. This was the first Zelda game that was relatively dark; 3 of the 4 forms you assume represent a hero that died and when you're wearing their mask people think you're the dead hero 😞 The Fierce Deity mask really broke the endgame but required a lot of work to get and was optional so it's all good. If this game had WW's swordplay I think I'd call it the best of the bunch. The only part I really hate is the deku swamp or wherever, and it's mostly because the overly green color palette reminds me of the Forest Temple from OoT, which I really hated for some reason.

My Fears for Skyward Sword
The transition to 3D wasn't very smooth for this franchise IMO. OoT introduced jumping puzzles, which were difficult because Link's jumping is very much context sensitive and you don't have the precise camera control that 3D platformers require. I wish they'd decide if they want an action/adventure or a platformer and just pick one. LA had jumping puzzles that worked because Roc's Feather effectively gave you a jump button.

Another gripe: block puzzles are fun when moving the blocks is relatively fast. If I can work out the entire solution in my head before I finish dragging the first block into place, it's taking too long to solve the puzzle. This is especially annoying when it's easy to screw up a move, like the "blocks on ice" puzzle that's suddenly showing up in every game.

I'd like to see Skyward Sword bring back a large, vibrant Hyrule where you encounter a myriad of enemies and NPCs when you're just wandering the overworld. I don't need instant warps like Dragon Quest, but if it's going to take me several minutes to get from here to there I'd like something interesting to do in the interim. I really want to see WW's parry system return; that led to some very fun fights that were almost like a rhythm mini-game. I want a traditional beat-8-dungeons-get-triforce-kill-Ganon game. I don't want to see jumping puzzles unless I've got a well-defined jump button with as much control as I'd expect out of a Mario title. And most of all, I'd like a check box to tell the game I know what a map does so I don't have to scroll through two pages of explanation each dungeon 😡.

Atma, why is Majora's Mask in "the ugly" when you say it used to be your favorite of the bunch and, you don't say much negative about it, and you say it would be the best of the bunch if it had WW's gameplay? I'm a bit confused on the placement there...

I'll update with my own picks later, but I had to ask.

There is more than one favourite for me. Many of the games give me a sense of nostalgia. That alone is worth picking one up to play.
Ocarina of Time is my favourite. Certainly wasn't the very first time I played one of the games, but it was the title that pulled me into the series fully. A large, expansive world, for its time, great level design, great rewards, epic sequences, good music. Loved the game. Been playing it again recently as well.

EDIT:

I also feel like it's inexcusable that there was no voice acting in this game other than grunts; even budget games on the 360 went this far.

For myself, Atma, I must disagree with the voice acting. Every single time a new title comes out without any voice acting, everybody has their say. But honestly, who wants it? Many other titles now still refrain from voice acting (at least when it comes to the main character, which is what I myself am truly concerned about.) Voice acting for all other characters I am sure I could deal with, I would have no problem.

Yet giving Link a voice? Absolutely not. This is my character. I don't need to play the developers' idea of who Link is. He's already speaking and interacting in his own ways, as far as I am concerned, and I'm happy with it.

Nintendo fandom: Where a character with no back-story (or multiple, conflicting back-stories) who has never said one thing, ever, is viewed as well developed.

Icey wrote:
Atma, why is Majora's Mask in "the ugly" when you say it used to be your favorite of the bunch and, you don't say much negative about it, and you say it would be the best of the bunch if it had WW's gameplay? I'm a bit confused on the placement there...

King Link wrote:
Yet giving Link a voice? Absolutely not. This is my character. I don't need to play the developers' idea of who Link is. He's already speaking and interacting in his own ways, as far as I am concerned, and I'm happy with it.

You know what ruins my ability to relate to the character? The silent protagonist. It's a horse that's been beaten so many times there's just a horse-shaped hole where it used to be. I cannot relate to a character that never says a word. Video games want to be an art form, like movies and books, right? Who is silent in movies? Jason Vorhees and Micheal Myers come to mind. Did Forrest Gump go through his life mute so that the viewer could relate to him? Did Benjamin Button mince his words? From Gone with the Wind to Die Hard, film is littered with protagonists that use their voice to add character. The Lord of the Rings would have been a boring damn series if Frodo and Bilbo had kept their mouths shut because J.R.R. Tolkein decided that people couldn't identify with him. Even in the Choose Your Own Adventure series my character spoke, so it's not like interactivity introduces some magic disbelief that can't be suspended when the hero speaks. I could go on and on through literature and film but I think you see my point. For centuries, authors have been able to get people to identify with a protagonist who speaks their mind. For decades, directors have made characters that the audience can identify with. Silent protagonist is the exception, not the rule, when it comes to creating a character you can identify with.

I can't even think of the defense of "NPCs should grunt" to attack, so I won't.

Here's what I know about Link. He wears white tights, and used to swap his sword hand and shield hand depending on which direction he faced. Then he decided he was left-handed. He's been a sea traveler. As a child he didn't wear tights. He was very uncomfortable around girls and would usually handle romance by running away. Somehow, as he aged from 10 to 17, he grew an earring and a pair of tights. He didn't grow an interest in women though; despite several falling at his feet he still barely acknowledged their presence. He catches fire easily, and doesn't digest as well as a wooden shield if Like-Likes are any kind of research tool. He has a bad habit of spazzing out and leaping off of cliffs when a platform is directly in front of him. If the platform is too close, he'll happily leap beyond it. What kind of character profile is this? In 22 years of playing Zelda games I don't know anything about what motivates this guy other than my hand up his rectum pulling his strings. That's not storytelling. It's lazy. Maybe I'm getting too grownup for Nintendo, but I'm kind of expecting more The Wizard of Oz out of what I play these days as opposed to Merrie Melodies.

I'm nominating this for the greatest and most honest post in the history of the Video Game Discussion forum.

Can we please stop pretending Zelda has a captivating story and characters? It's borderline down syndrome retarded kentucky fried rehashed recycled reheated crap that is fun to play sort of but not any more so much because I'm almost 30.

Atma, it isn't what the protaginist says that is usually a problem, it is the type of voice and how it is said that matters. Without a voice people can use there imagination to fill in these gaps but with a voice your stuck with a predefined voice and particular ways things are said. There is a reason RPG's usually give the player a choice of voices for there character when making one.

Yet Link has a voice, but is unable to speak in anything other than grunts, yells, and screams. You still haven't really made a compelling case for why all the side characters must be mute as well.

The most memorable characters I have played had either excellent voice work or excellent writing. Tales of Symphonia had an all-star cast with some pretty corny writing, but it still sparkled. Deadly Premonition had writing that was deliciously absurd, and the hypnotic voice of Francis York Morgan made the whole thing worth it. David Hayter makes Metal Gear Solid. Altair and Ezio were extraordinarily well-voiced. My position is if a game wants to establish a strong protagonist along with a world in which they live, it is vital that they have a voice and you're able to witness their interactions with other characters.

I'm not really sure that the RPG genre has settled on a silent protagonist. It's apparently been a staple of Dragon Quest, but in Final Fantasy the silent protagonist hasn't ever really made an appearance save for FF VII (note: I haven't played anything past IX, so I could be missing one.) Chrono sticks out as a notable silent protagonist from the Square stable, but from what I recall of the SNES RPG days it was very odd to have a main character with no dialog. I'm trying to think of other games I've played with silent protagonists and they are few and far between, save for the stereotypical "mysterious" character that tends to join up (Shadow from FF VI is an example.)

I'm not saying the silent protagonist doesn't have a place. In Fallout 3 your options weren't voiced, but you still got to choose from dialog trees more complicated than "yes" and "no". This was appropriate because that game focuses on how your actions shape the Capital Wasteland and some of your choices can permanently affect the landscape; the strong avatar link was required. BioShock has silent protagonists for a different reason: there's very few sane people left alive and most of the storytelling comes in the form of scenery and audio diaries. There's no need for dialog because in a sense the bulk of the story has already happened and you're just playing the closing chapter.

I don't think Zelda games tell their story in such a way that a silent Link adds to the experience. The plot is always "collect some macguffins, cash in a plot coupon, defeat a boss, win the prize." You don't shape the world like in Fallout 3; you move along a predefined path more like turning the pages of a novel. You don't hear the stories of those who failed before you as in BioShock (arguably MM is an exception); instead you trudge along on a mostly solo journey to do the job no one else can do. If you do a sidequest, the only change to Hyrule usually manifests in a "thank you" dialog when you talk with the person later. The NPCs are just set pieces; Link doesn't interact with them outside of redeeming random items for either plot advancement or item enhancement. Link himself is a hollow puppet: an unfeeling, unemotional shell that does nothing more than inact the will of the player.

Majora's Mask is the only game where it feels Link's actions honestly made a difference to the world: he helped 4 souls rest in peace, saved the land from destruction, and if you fulfill all the sidequests managed to help people find happiness in life, corrected illnesses, and reversed a curse that was preventing two people in love from living together. They pulled that off without dialog and that's great; for a game at the time it would have been difficult to add meaningful voice dialog anyway. But I don't think voice dialog would detract from the series at all. You can have a silent link, but I think it'd be great to hear the citizens of Hyrule do more than grunt at me until I turn in 15 tarantula testicles in return for a bigger bomb bag.

I wouldn't mind it that much if they only subtitled what Link says while keeping him audibly mute.

For those wondering how Link might sound if he talked, go play Metroid: Other M and tell me what you think about Samus talking. It's going change our view of her character forever. Then think about how Link might sound again, and whether we should give him a voice.

(I'm not saying Samus is terrible, despite what some say, but she sounds different than I imagined)

Uhh... you do know Samus has had a voice previously? Jennifer Hale did the voicework in the Metroid Prime series. She was apparently replaced by Jessica Martin in Other M.

Maybe she sounds different than you imagined because rather than "imagining" her voice you're remembering the voice from the Prime series? It's possible you just don't like her voice, but it's hard to say your perception of her is forever tainted since you still have the other voice to go by. Maybe if Nintendo would quit subcontracting any franchise that's not Miyamoto's extra special baby you'd get some consistency.

Besides, Link already has a voice. Would it taint his shallow character by giving it some dialog too? Interestingly enough, Link's had a different voice actor in almost every game since the N64 (OoT and MM shared the same actor.)

I wouldn't call the grunts and screams from Prime a "voice" for Samus per say, esp when Other M has so much dialog. Samus' voice itself doesn't bother me in Other M, but her delivery is monotone at times, and she shows a bigger range of emotion than we've seen before (and maybe different than we've come to expect) out of this supposed bad ass bounty hunter. I'm having a lot of fun with the game, but I know it's ruined the series for some "purists".

vegeta1215 wrote:For those wondering how Link might sound if he talked, go play Metroid: Other M and tell me what you think about Samus talking. It's going change our view of her character forever. Then think about how Link might sound again, and whether we should give him a voice.

Link is a terrible character if you like someone that has any depth. If he were real he would be one pathetic piece of shit. He has no personality other than being a mindless drone that runs around collecting things and doing what he's told. Link was a cool character back in the world of 1980s and early 90s video games. Where you just used your imagination or something to fill in the blanks. But I don't really care.

Infact this whole thread makes me somewhat sad. Why are so many of you so in love with Zelda? I just don't get it. Zelda was a sweet game on the NES sure. That's fun. They made some other cool Zelda games. Good games sure. But why is it that it seems like Zelda is 50% or more of what seems important to some of you? Just leave this as video games and I mean wtf is the deal with you guys. Nintendo is cool and all but why do people just curl up and suck the nintendo tit? There are other games. Fun games. Nintendo isn't the only one that made good games. I suppose the main reason I don't get it is because I couldn't care less about any Zelda games they shit out now.

I just hate pathetic fanboyism, if that's a word, if not it is now.

C'mon Mott, have you forgotten where you are? lol. The days of me chiming in and explaining which is my favorite Zelda are long gone. I've done it too many times. But I had to jump in on the voice discussion having just played Metroid: Other M, which is causing a lot of controversy in that department. Yeah, I'm a Nintendo fan, but I recognize the faults in Nintendo's games and appreciate other company's games. There are plenty of other games I'd like to play on other systems, but I don't have the money to buy them all nor the time to play them. Growing up sucks...

After reading your comments Mottzilla about Link's voice, and after thinking about it some more, it wouldn't be so bad to give Link a voice. I mean, the Zelda cartoon was made over 20 years ago, and I never pictured THAT voice as Link's voice in any Zelda game made since. Plus like you said, there's not much to his character anyways, so it really wouldn't add much (or hurt much).

FACT: Diddy Kong needs his own platformer.

vegeta1215 wrote: Growing up sucks...

No it doesn't. You've just decided there are things you like more than video games and you devote time to them now. If you didn't think they were important, you'd still play tons of video games.

Beldaran wrote:No it doesn't. You've just decided there are things you like more than video games and you devote time to them now. If you didn't think they were important, you'd still play tons of video games.

How about this one? "Having bills to pay sucks" 😃

Calling Link a shallow character is like calling an abstract painting unrealistic. They simply don't match up nor matter to the source. Representation and art comes in many other forms than just presentation of a visual or theme or truth. As soon as story takes preference over gameplay and control, then the game becomes more like a movie or a book than a game. Art in videogames rests first and foremost in its control and gameplay, not in its thematic material, storylines, or even visuals. Yes, they add and create atmosphere, but the essence is the connection between user and software, and it is what is not in a game (what we as humans fill in with our actions) that is what attracts us and captivates us.

Remember, we are doing what the game does not do for itself, we are controlling it. That is the art of videogames, what is withheld from the automatic, and the given.

MottZilla wrote:Infact this whole thread makes me somewhat sad. Why are so many of you so in love with Zelda? I just don't get it. Zelda was a sweet game on the NES sure. That's fun. They made some other cool Zelda games. Good games sure. But why is it that it seems like Zelda is 50% or more of what seems important to some of you? Just leave this as video games and I mean wtf is the deal with you guys. Nintendo is cool and all but why do people just curl up and suck the nintendo tit? There are other games. Fun games. Nintendo isn't the only one that made good games. I suppose the main reason I don't get it is because I couldn't care less about any Zelda games they shit out now.

I just hate pathetic fanboyism, if that's a word, if not it is now.

I'm going to be honest. I was on a bit of a Zelda kick at the time I created this thread and my biggest point was to stir up conversation. I didn't expect it to go this way, but I'm pleased to see so many people participating.

I like Zelda games. I don't really care for anything else Nintendo puts out these days. I like the sword play fantasy type genre of stories. Zelda games do not have an incredible story that really stimulates thinking or anything else for that matter. They DO have addicting game play. I like little bits of story elements in my games. Back story is all I need to immerse myself in these worlds. Games like these get my creative juices flowing and let me interpret things how I want to. I love the mythos and backstory surrounding the older Zelda games. If I want a really great story with developed characters and plot twists, I'll watch a movie, a TV series, or read a book.