Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

@MarioBrickLayer

Mm, I don't know. Part of the appeal of the first Zelda, played today, is how spartan and barren it looks, and how that makes you feel like you're in an unforgiving wasteland, which you kind of are. The cute art style in Link's Awakening seems at odds with that. I'd say the first Zelda has a darker tone overall. No towns, NPCs that are more cryptic than helpful, ruthless enemies everywhere...

Got the sea shell detector. Kinda worthless? Is there more to it? Or, that's it? A single chime in one exact spot, but you still have to blindly search around in any direction for god knows how far. I don't get it. Succ detector 😋

@Beaucine
I agree.

I think this art style fits Link's Awakening the best because of...well, we won't spoil around here lol, but I could be wrong. They did use the Wind Waker art style in some other games, so maybe the same will happen here.

This thread title has just reminded me that I need to get back into this game. I bought it near the release date and played for a while then got other new games so got sidetracked. I'll have to pick this one back up as its a great game and very cute. I definitely do not get enough time in my life to play all the things I want to on my Switch and PS4!

@WoomyNNYes The seashell sensor will chime if there's a seashell in the immediate area. Dig, dash into, and lift everything you can! If all else fails, you may have to come back later and use an item you may not have yet.

@Tyranexx Ohhhhh, very interesting. Thanks for the help, Tyranexx

@WoomyNNYes No prob! I also forgot to mention that explosions can be quite helpful.

I know what you mean, I think a remake with a different palette would work?

@MarioBrickLayer

Yeah, it could. I'd also like some quality of life updates. Mostly item descriptions and a map that isn't useless. The original dumped all that stuff into the instruction booklet to save memory space, including hints, lore, item and enemy descriptions, and a partially complete world map. Curiously, a lot of modern players seem to think the Legend of Zelda is more obscure than it really is, because they forget that, back then, you "Read the F'ing Manual" before booting up your game.

Also magazines, word of mouth etc. You’d also get a lot of practice on the fundamentals of games because you’d often have to replay sections more than you would with games today (so some leaps of faith would have some very subtle signposts that you simply don’t work through today).

Games were more unforgiving but they weren’t quite as obscure as they seem today without the ephemera that once surrounded them. It’s part of the reason why I don’t usually have any issues using save states with old games - 2020 is not the time and environment for most of these games anyway (although they remain very enjoyable).

Is it normal to get the hookshot early in the game?? I was stuck at Ancient Ruins, so I looked up a longplay. In both longplays I found, link had the hookshot REALLY early in the game. I was like, "What!?!?". I'm like 15 hours into the game, and just got the those flippers for swimming, and no NPCs, like the owl, or anyone, have directed me to something that rewards me with the hookshot. Is it normal to get the hookshot early in the game?

@WoomyNNYes If I recall, the hookshot is obtained in the fifth dungeon, so you're really close. Not sure why some of those longplays would have it sooner unless they're sequence breaking in some way or only tackling the main plot and no extras.

Thanks, @Tyranexx! Since the game is a remake, I had a feeling that those longplays were breaking from the normal progression. Good to know.

Yea, it's all about what we were used to.

Back in the 80s and 90s, I was used to either: having to read the manual, as you guys stated, or just the general idea that the game didn't take you for an idiot and you had some time to invest.

For LA in particular, I was probably north of 20 hours to beat it my first time easily, with a dozen hours going to just wandering around aimlessly until something worked for me. Now, I was a kid and could afford to dump dozens of hours of aimless wandering into a game back then. Today, my wife would kick me out of the house lol

@WoomyNNYes That's only an assumption on my part; I haven't actually watched them. XD Though I'm sure there's a way to sequence break in the game; it's just something I don't normally pursue.

Just finished LA awakening. It’s still a good game, love the art style, there is great sound design especially to be admired with headphones on. The frame rate hiccups are a bit weird and seem like an oversight or a bit rushed.

The music is a bit of a hit or miss for me. While the quality of sound is obviously better now, there some weird choices here and there. Some pieces like the forest theme just lack that punch the original had. In general I would say that, even though it’s quite cute that because everything about this game is small they also used a small group of instruments like chamber music, it removes the contrast I like and changes the overall feel of the game considerably, which is fine depending on your taste, I guess.
It would have been nice if they, like with Xenoblade , included the original soundtrack and maybe even spruced it up or something. There were some tunes which I thought were equally good or even better.(faceshrine comes to mind)

This game has still some of the best dungeons in a 2D Zelda, the last few are some of my favorites, especially Eagle Tower. It is one of those games though in which I realize I don’t miss overworld music even a little bit!

Hey @Octane question.

So I've been playing Link's Awakening for about 6 hours now but I'm only about 2 hours into the story b/c of some of the "random" stuff going on that gamers consider to be "puzzles". I like puzzles. Toki Tori 2 was really hard, and I finished it w/o Google. Uncharted has a lot of puzzles spread throughout it's 5 games. But this game? So far it feels less like puzzles, more like trial and error. Currently stuck at the end of dungeon 2, 3 enemies in a room I have to kill in a certain order. I already looked it up after about 10 attempts. I know the owl statute tells us the order but I don't know what a Pols Voice or Stalfs is. I spent a good 3 hours running all over the map b/c I didn't know how to beat the Shy Guys. I assumed they were mirrored to move them somewhere, that's how puzzles work.

Anyway the rest of the dungeons going to be this random and/or Zelda knowledge specific b/c I don't have any? Push stuff, pull stuff, dig stuff, fish for stuff - that bottle took a dozen attempts - that I get.

Made more annoying by phone booths that don't fast travel and owl statues that only tell you the most stupid stuff - hit the crystal, gee thanks - and not anything useful, like, I don't know - Shy Guys need to be killed by your circle attack you never use.

There's a lot of good there, otherwise I would have stopped by now, but does anyone test these games with people? I expect stuff like this in 1993 arcade games - a million quarters for 20 minutes of story - but for $60 in 2019 they could have tightened up the gameplay to match the graphics.

tldr; any chance this puzzle game starts to make some sense or is it all obscure 1993 stuff, for Zelda fans only?

You're gonna love Level 7

@rjejr Was that part mandatory? I thought it was only for a treasure chest.

But yeah, the game has obscure stuff like that. Most of it is pretty straightforward though. Fully completing the game without a guide isn't fun.

@rjejr
Well, it's an older game, and that's kind of your answer for most of what you're saying. A lot of people understand it because we spend our childhoods just kind of plugging away at it and figuring things out the hard way over and over again, and some other things are kind of reflexes etched into the minds of those who played a lot of Link to the Past. For me, I had no issue playing back through the game until maybe the very last dungeon when my memory got a bit hazy. But I can see how a game like this will be tough for someone who didn't play the original and maybe doesn't have a lot of early "Zelda sense" when it comes to what the heck to do next.

It is interesting to kind of transpose your comment to things we've been discussing over in the BotW thread, though, especially your frustration that the phones don't act as fast travel points. Fast travel was something we were debating, and it's interesting to see you naturally put voice to the want for fast travel from the perspective of someone who seems to be new to the game.