Brooks wrote:

Everything since Awakening has had issues that make them difficult to embrace.

I can get behind the part I have tastefully emboldened. The latter I can't, because I'll play anything, but I do believe that it is a series of somewhat diminishing returns.

They keep getting 10s and stuff, and I still suspect this is down in part to some form of nostalgia. Zelda games are many people's first cherished gaming memories, and it helps that something like Link to the Past is really good, and a great memory to have.

That the formula has strayed so little from Past is probably a huge part why they are still so revered, it's like playing an old memory, or hearing a new song that you mistake for an old classic. Thing is, I still don't get the 'best game ever' plaudits that Ocarina of Time (none of this OoT hideousness) attracts to this day. I don't think it's as good as Past, Awakening, or even Wind Waker, and the latter is demonstrably flawed as being literally incomplete, the ending is hashed together and missing stuff. I fricking love sailing though, yes, and my opinion is more important than infinite critics and fans, at least to me. Which is all that ever matters.

Skyward Sword attracted 10s all round, as reviewers clambered over themselves to forget that the second half of the game involves retreading previous areas and friggin' escort quests. I've still not finished it, because of the gross effort requird to get through each of those parts, especially when the reward is dungeons that don't feel as coherent and inventive as those of yore.

It's a good series, and I like a lot of them, but their reverence is not secured or required.

Isn't dismissing Metacritic like er dismissing a bunch of people's opinions of which you're all being precious about your own?

Those opinions were spawned by Other People Reg, big difference.

Skerret wrote:

Those opinions were spawned by Other People Reg, big difference.

I forgot Internet 101

Dismiss Metacritic errday

I think someone's been caught red-handed ploughing up eight-eighters.

That's why I'm willing to give it a go anyway.

Or would be if I had the necessary machine.

retroking1981 wrote:

Isn't that why they're making this then? For people like yourself.

Peckish old-timers are certainly a key demo, but I'm not a part of that market.

My retro days are fuelled by nostalgia for the genuine articles. Replications of then-revelations, not remakes.

It's a tough gig. A straighter update would feel sparse.

[edit]

The original stands up so well, that's the thing.

A Chibi-Robo mix with Link returning to Miyamoto's worlds within secret-garden worlds. Something that taps the sense of expanse of III.

loxdog wrote:

Too much Zelda bashing going on; can't take much more!

Well, excuse me.

Escape wrote:

loxdog wrote:

Too much Zelda bashing going on; can't take much more!

Well, excuse me.

One mans opinion is another mans boomerang:hookshot:wotevs

Surely this is no more a 2d Zelda than the DS ones. The Hourglass was probably the best of recent times too, although I'd get on board with the idea that dungeon design has been slipping for a long while (concessions to 'accessibility' an obvious culprit). Ocarina was a high point in 3d dungeon design, as LttP was in 2d. Since then they've been mostly treading water and forgettable in that regard, although Maj's Mask had a whole different set of charms.

Piiiisss

That article makes it clear that the best Zelda game is clearly Dark Souls.

The Zelda series had the right idea about giving one summat to do in dungeon spaces other than kill shit, but they've ceased to really test participants. LttP should've been the start of a curve up.