I’d figured I’d post a separate thread for this game due to all the changes they made to the usual formula which would clutter up the Wut ‘chu playin’ now! thread to discuss as well as a place for spoilers.
So who has the game and how far are you in it; or are waiting for Xmas; or are done?
I got it (ha!), but I won’t be able to play till Christmas. So according to what you said they dialed the dungeons back? I’m not sure how I feel about it because TP’s dungeons felt long at times, but they were the highlight of the game.
I think it was more that they spread out the puzzles to not only be in dungeons, so that getting to the dungeon is kind of a part of the dungeon. One of my housemates just got it, so I’ll have to see/fail all my classes.
Basically that. Exploration is huge in this game and most of it comes from actually trying to get into the dungeons rather than the dungeons themselves. Frankly I’m ok with this as it gives you a better glimpse of the world and the environments themselves just lend themselves to exploration better than dungeons really do since most of the time dungeons only usually have one or two rooms that might be off the beaten path versus regions having entire portions of it tied off until later.
That said, the dungeons still do get good at times, particularly the fourth and fifth dungeons. Plus there’s another advantage to the smaller dungeon design in that they can actually resemble logical structures on both the inside and the outside instead of the series of rooms and chambers that take up most of a mountain or forest like most Zelda dungeons typically do.
Good, I’ve always held that meaningful exploration of the overworld is a sign of the best Zeldas (ALTTP, LA, parts of MM or even TMC)
Yeah. I’d say that it’s closest to being like LA (large explorable gradually unlocked regions) with some MC (puzzle regions with shortcuts abound for faster travel) and a bit of LttP (repurposing old areas with new twists) thrown in for good measure.
Gonna haft to make a double post for this one. http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q4-2011/120611b.html
Welp. Even Nintendo games have their game breaking bugs it seems. I avoided this on my playthrough but it’s good to know for future reference.
I played up to the third dungeon while I was home and I liked it! It was the first game in a while that felt fresh, I loved the art direction and the overworld puzzling was preferable to crossing that huge TP field without having much to do. The Wiimote plus continues the glorious N tradition of add-ons that are used for exactly one game, but we already knew that. The dungeons so far weren’t as big as in TP (still the best 3d Zelda dungeons) and they were simpler, but I guess interesting enough. Oh and kudos for not making the bird-flying annoying. The dedicated running button surprised me as it felt like a backwards move from managing to make a mobile OoT without a jumping button, but in the end it makes Link feel more mobile and athletic. Lastly, more enemies=good.
I just disliked two things. Having to rotate the dungeon key is asinine and might end up taking a while or a task that would be automatic if one held the physical object. Also, the robotic whatshername feels off because its the only technology-focused character in the game, I kind of think N was trying to ride the GladOS bandwagon (which is a SHODAN copy, anyway, and more importantly because she’s all technobabble (I estimate…) and often tells you things you already know. If you checked the gossip stone, Killmore, what is it like?
Actually that is the one issue about Fi that really weighs her down. She very AI like in attitude but in a rather anime sort of way which means that she’s rather subdued in her quirks, often times employing the blank stare or the quizzical head tilt; which is rather unfortunate given that most westerners are not familiar with this type of behavior nor are observant enough to notice anything at all.
And in fact one could make that case for the overall game as it employs a greater number of anime cliches than most Zelda games have done in the past. Game starts in a highschool, Groose and co are the Libby and co, Ghrigham feels like a misplaced Sailor Moon villain at times, and other things I won’t go into at this time. It’s actually kinda bizarre given pretty much everything about Malo was in TP.
As for the gossip stones the one you’re probably referring to is this game’s Super Guide, it’ll show you footage of things you’ll either need to do or have already done. It’s actually nice as it’ll let you know if you’ve seen everything of interest in an area or not but I haven’t found the need to use it for anything beyond figuring out what it does. There is a second type but the game will fill you in as it becomes relevant.
The key business among other things is just Nintendo being gimmicky with its new gimmick.
Yeah, not having played a new Zelda game in 5 years I wouldn’t have checked the feature until I had finished the game, but I was curious how it had been implemented. And the key is annnnnnoying.