Does anyone actually enjoy the WW Triforce hunt?

[Pookiablo]

I most certainly agree with the comment regarding Wind Waker as a soulless world - there were a few stock characters like that postman and that was it. I know OoT wasn't much better in terms of a "living world" but hell, it's older so it's allowed. And even then, OoT had some pretty memorable characters. The only non-important characters that I remember from WW are the aforementioned postman (and his son?) and that stupid kid with the blob of shit hanging out of his nose that runs after you whenever you get near.

 

MM was certainly the closest to creating a living environment. Anyway, this is off-topic, but to bring it back in, perhaps more interaction whilst doing the hunt would have made it more enjoyable. For example, rather than have to get loads of rupees, Tingle asks you to perform a task for him, ranging from mini-dungeon to your typical collect and deliver quest. I just hope Nintendo are not lazy with Skyward Sword - something (almost) new every step of the way a la Mario Galaxy 2 is most certainly the way to go!

[Cube]

Tingle asks you to perform a task for him

 

Nintendo's first R-rated game?

[Grazza]

What I don't understand is this idea that you don't have to do anything whilst sailing. Personally, I keep a constant track of where the wind is blowing from, adjusting it when necessary, and keep making adjustments to the direction of the boat too, stopping to explore islands and submarines. If you literally pointed the boat in the right direction and went to make a coffee, you'd probably come back to find you'd gone to the wrong place entirely or Link had been knocked out of the boat by a shark or explosive barrel.

 

And as for the vast ocean, I don't think people realise the importance of space. A certain amount of space was set between the islands for a reason (and it wasn't to annoy the player!) Remember when you set off from home and ended up on Windfall Island? It wouldn't have felt the same if it was only one square up. And when you left there to visit Dragon Roost, you felt you were in aother domain. How about when you sought Great Fish Isle? Its remote location was part of its spookiness. It's not as though there wasn't plenty else to explore.

 

Actually, with respect, this is something I think people misunderstand about Twilight Princess. People say the world was too big and featureless, but it really could have been bigger. If the theme of that game was "Link and his Horse", there could have been much bigger fields in it. As it was, it felt like you were going down corridors, and only one of the fields really justified having a horse. A Zelda game on land as big as the Great Sea could be very enjoyable, as long as there were strange huts and things to encounter.

 

As for Wind Waker, I'd agree there could have been one or two more "large" land masses with villages and I'd also agree the Wind Temple was a lowlight. Generally speaking, I think all the dungeons could have been shorter, as they were the only bits that reminded me I was in a game (most of the time I was totally and utterly immersed). If anything, the dungeons made it feel a bit old fashioned.

 

Ah well, some games you "get", some you don't.

[Ville]

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Edited September 13, 2021 by Ville

[Jonnas]

All this talk is making me want to play WW again... But I have so much to play first, including replaying OoT!

 

By the way, one thing I remembered was the excellent music this game had. Not just the tracks, but how the music varied with the weather, time, actions, etc.

And the fact that every piece of music perfectly fits its surroundings makes it one of my favourite soundtracks ever.

 

Also, somewhat relevant.

[Guest Captain Falcon]

All this talk is making me want to play WW again... But I have so much to play first, including replaying OoT!

 

By the way, one thing I remembered was the excellent music this game had. Not just the tracks, but how the music varied with the weather, time, actions, etc.

And the fact that every piece of music perfectly fits its surroundings makes it one of my favourite soundtracks ever.

 

Also, somewhat relevant.

 

Whilst most of the music fitted the location, I'd be hard pushed to call any of it memorable.

 

The only ones I really enjoyed were the music in Hyrule Castle, Ganondorf's Tower and the End Credits. I can barely recall much else but I remember virtually every piece from the other 3D games.

[Grazza]

All this talk is making me want to play WW again... But I have so much to play first, including replaying OoT!

 

I know, I replied to Hero of Time earlier about Dragon Quest IV and V and now have a terrible urge to replay them!

 

By the way, one thing I remembered was the excellent music this game had. Not just the tracks, but how the music varied with the weather, time, actions, etc.

And the fact that every piece of music perfectly fits its surroundings makes it one of my favourite soundtracks ever.

 

Indeed, and I also loved how the waves churned up and the colour of the sea and sky suited the time of day. There were so many different colour schemes - grey, turquoise, purple, sky blue, royal blue - and they all went together so well.

 

Another thing I loved was the phases of the moon and how that affected certain things. It may not have been Majora's Mask, but to me it took the best aspects from that game and incorporated them in a more manageable way - eg. a 1-day NPC cycle instead of 3-day. I don't want to bash Twilight Princess, but it didn't have NPC cycles at all.

 

One other thing I have to mention is the sublime controls - L and R triggers, shield controls, camera control via the C-stick... All this made it a joy to play, and I'm afraid to say it hasn't been matched yet.

[Jonnas]

Whilst most of the music fitted the location, I'd be hard pushed to call any of it memorable.

 

The only ones I really enjoyed were the music in Hyrule Castle, Ganondorf's Tower and the End Credits. I can barely recall much else but I remember virtually every piece from the other 3D games.

 

The different boss battles, Outset Island, Windfall Island, Dragon Roost Island... None of them memorable, really?

[Sméagol]

Wind Waker isn't exactly high on my Favorite Zelda game list, but the Triforce hunt wasn't the problem in my opinion. As I recall, it was hunting every other little thing you needed/wanted. Treasures, rupees, bottles, maps, and oh my god the figures. The fucking camera could only hold 3 photos. You had to wait a day before a figure was finished.. It was never the concept of sailing that I didn't like.. In fact, I find it pretty epic. Especially the first time, when you depart from Outset island, you really feel like you're starting an epic adventure (with only 4 main dungeons). I don't mind the sailing from 1 big location to the next. But it gets very boring, tedious or plain irritating if you're hunting down every little object the game has to offer. The triforce were just 8 pieces you needed to collect, you were done quickly.

[jayseven]

Such a polarising Zelda game though, wasn't it? While OoT is actually the only Zelda I've ever completed, WW is the first one where I just went "... are you kidding me? Fuck this."

 

I stopped at the collecting-triforce-pieces, I believe. Probably my own fault because for some reason I spent days decking out That Island with lots of flower pot things for no real reason whatsoever.

 

I think I could go back and enjoy the game more now that I'm older, though. But I probably never will.

[Sheikah]

What I don't understand is this idea that you don't have to do anything whilst sailing. Personally, I keep a constant track of where the wind is blowing from, adjusting it when necessary, and keep making adjustments to the direction of the boat too, stopping to explore islands and submarines. If you literally pointed the boat in the right direction and went to make a coffee, you'd probably come back to find you'd gone to the wrong place entirely or Link had been knocked out of the boat by a shark or explosive barrel.

Um, didn't you alter the direction of wind yourself with a simple song? That's probably how she could leave it running for a while. Plus the slight adjustments to the boat thing you mentioned that kept you busy is possibly the shittest tagline regarding things to do in this game. It's kind of like saying "I don't know how you didn't have much to do while the paint was drying. I would regularly wipe the paintbrush over the paint to retain an even paint consistency and assist the drying process."

 

But yeah, Wind Waker is near the bottom of the pile for gameplay, characters, and most certainly charm. Its only real merit is its graphical presentation.

 

The different boss battles, Outset Island, Windfall Island, Dragon Roost Island... None of them memorable, really?

 

Absolutely dull as dishwater if you've played any of the N64 Zelda titles to be bluntly honest.

Edited July 7, 2010 by Sheikah

[flameboy]

I didn't hate it but then again found a quick way to do it. wasn't there some sort of assault course somewhere that let you pay 10 ruppees and had big money prizes I just did that over and over again!

 

I loved the sea aspect of the game whilst people are discussing it, much more so than in Phantom Hourglass which lost a lot of the freedom. I'd love it if a Zelda game came out where you had a landmass as large as the likes of OoT and TP BUT you could still hit the shores and sail out, perhaps not into a land as large as WW but to a few islands dotted around.

 

I really must go back and play WW at some point only played through it the once.

[Grazza]

Um, didn't you alter the direction of wind yourself with a simple song? That's probably how she could leave it running for a while.

 

But the island locations don't conform neatly to the eight compass directions. Therefore, you wouldn't be able to literally "leave it and make a coffee".

 

Plus the slight adjustments to the boat thing you mentioned that kept you busy is possibly the shittest tagline regarding things to do in this game. It's kind of like saying "I don't know how you didn't have much to do while the paint was drying. I would regularly wipe the paintbrush over the paint to retain an even paint consistency and assist the drying process."

 

If you want to be pedantic, movement in the N64 games comes down to "pushing a stick". All the games need you to be there deciding where to go, so I don't see the point being petty about it.

[Sheikah]

But the island locations don't conform neatly to the eight compass directions. Therefore, you wouldn't be able to literally "leave it and make a coffee".

 

You would because you didn't move in the direction of wind. You moved in the direction of the front of the ship, but moving quicker if moving in the general direction of the wind. As I remember anyway.

 

 

 

If you want to be pedantic, movement in the N64 games comes down to "pushing a stick". All the games need you to be there deciding where to go, so I don't see the point being petty about it.

 

 

 

 

Yeah but there was stuff going on in them games. Not just endless blue and doing the odd stick alteration like you said.

[Grazza]

OK, if you don't like it, fair enough. No hard feelings. It just seemed like a great sailing simulator to me, with many things to consider.

[Jonnas]

You would because you didn't move in the direction of wind. You moved in the direction of the front of the ship, but moving quicker if moving in the general direction of the wind. As I remember anyway.

 

That's not what he said. He meant that the islands, as well as other secrets, often weren't in the middle of the squares, which meant you had to pay attention to see where they were, ergo, you can't leave and prepare a coffee if you want to reach one of those, you have to pay attention to where your boat is going, which was his point.

 

But yes, it's best to leave this.

Edited July 7, 2010 by Jonnas

[Pookiablo]

I quite enjoyed the sailing - the land masses could've been a bit bigger mind you. Sometimes it's nice to have one big central location and then lots of iddy biddy bits around it - everything just seemed small in WW.

 

Again, the physical world and dungeons weren't so much a problem for me, and rather it was the ginormous step back that Nintendo took back with the characters, levels of interaction, emotion, etc. It's just a lifeless collection of dull and uninspiring islands for the most part - And then it did it just as badly for Twilight Princess. In fact, the only slightly decent character relation was with the postman.

[Sheikah]

That's not what he said. He meant that the islands, as well as other secrets, often weren't in the middle of the squares, which meant you had to pay attention to see where they were, ergo, you can't leave and prepare a coffee if you want to reach one of those, you have to pay attention to where your boat is going, which was his point.

 

But yes, it's best to leave this.

 

It still makes no difference where the islands lie, in each individual square. You can point your ship in any direction, not just the eight compass directions, meaning you can just leave and have a cup of tea (the initial thing being argued as impossible here). As long as the wind direction is relatively close to the direction the ship is pointed in, you will go at pretty much full speed.

 

Which is why I found it pretty weird that someone said you couldn't just leave it when I, personally, have done it many times successfully. :p

[Cube]

So what happens when you get knocked off the ship by enemies?

[Sheikah]

We will have to ask mystic meg because I wasn't sitting at the tv, but I definitely got there

[Pancake]

Update: Well i finally completed the triforce hunt (it was even more tedious than i remembered). So i then expected to finally get some enjoyment out of the game again in the final Ganon section, but was really disappointed with Ganon's Tower, it was just a bit of a drag. A re-hash of the most annoying dungeon puzzles in each room, and then a re-hash of the bosses. I know OoT followed a similar structure in the Ganon's Castle rooms, but that was actually enjoyable - this wasn't.

Then after 4 bosses i expected to face Ganon, instead it was another mind fuck type puzzle with all those fake Ganon's. Could have been cool i suppose (i liked how the fallen swords pointed to the correct doors), but they dragged that out too much too.

 

So... ugh. I'm finally at the final battle now and have come online to find a solution for puppet Ganon, because frankly after playing through this game i can't even be bothered to work out how to kill him.

 

I'm not sure i'll ever want to complete this game again, it's just left a bad taste in my mouth.

[Pookiablo]

Update: Well i finally completed the triforce hunt (it was even more tedious than i remembered). So i then expected to finally get some enjoyment out of the game again in the final Ganon section, but was really disappointed with Ganon's Tower, it was just a bit of a drag. A re-hash of the most annoying dungeon puzzles in each room, and then a re-hash of the bosses. I know OoT followed a similar structure in the Ganon's Castle rooms, but that was actually enjoyable - this wasn't.

Then after 4 bosses i expected to face Ganon, instead it was another mind fuck type puzzle with all those fake Ganon's. Could have been cool i suppose (i liked how the fallen swords pointed to the correct doors), but they dragged that out too much too.

 

So... ugh. I'm finally at the final battle now and have come online to find a solution for puppet Ganon, because frankly after playing through this game i can't even be bothered to work out how to kill him.

 

I'm not sure i'll ever want to complete this game again, it's just left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

You tell it how it is sister! Like I said, OoT (and a bit of MM), babies, weaning, happiness, etc. - you know where to find me!

[Emasher]

I've only played through the game once, and I enjoyed it the first time. Exploring like that for me is what Zelda is all about. The second time I tried to play it I didn't even get to the 3rd dungeon due to something else coming out at the time.

[Pancake]

You tell it how it is sister! Like I said, OoT (and a bit of MM), babies, weaning, happiness, etc. - you know where to find me!

 

Hells yah. I'm inviting Miyamoto to the wedding. And we can call the firstborn Reggie.

[killer kirby]

Update: Well i finally completed the triforce hunt (it was even more tedious than i remembered). So i then expected to finally get some enjoyment out of the game again in the final Ganon section, but was really disappointed with Ganon's Tower, it was just a bit of a drag. A re-hash of the most annoying dungeon puzzles in each room, and then a re-hash of the bosses. I know OoT followed a similar structure in the Ganon's Castle rooms, but that was actually enjoyable - this wasn't.

Then after 4 bosses i expected to face Ganon, instead it was another mind fuck type puzzle with all those fake Ganon's. Could have been cool i suppose (i liked how the fallen swords pointed to the correct doors), but they dragged that out too much too.

 

So... ugh. I'm finally at the final battle now and have come online to find a solution for puppet Ganon, because frankly after playing through this game i can't even be bothered to work out how to kill him.

 

I'm not sure i'll ever want to complete this game again, it's just left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

I also didn't like how it was basically all the same, I think Nintendo made up for their mistake with Zelda TP by having an interesting castle before encountering Ganondorf.

It wasn't the best, but it was still a vast improvement. Look forward to seeing what they pull off in Skyward Sword.