Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

@link3710
Yea, I like the Oracle games' dungeons. I'd definitely put them above LA but probably still below Link to the Past. I think Link to the Past has my favorites of all time.

Just finished this up this morning. What a great Frickin game! Really hope we get more remakes like this of other games and more importantly hope BOTW2 goes back to the dungeons format. Just works so well in these games.

Currently on my Hero/deathless run. Honestly I think it's still gonna be pretty easy. I think Moldorm will be the hardest part, and I'm past him now. From this point on there's no reason to not have fairies from fountains and tracy resurrection.

HO-LY-RACCOON Batman... that second to last dungeon within that tower was something else. I can barely imagine how people figured this out back in the day without internet and guides. I had to use a walkthrough for this one dungeon only, but I grew so unnerved already. I didn't even see those pesky pillars.

Anyone else?

@scollurio i’m stuck in that dungeon right now!! i keep smashing the pillars, my problem is getting that damn ball around to the rooms. like there’s one room with a pillar that i can’t get the ball to... and what is even the purpose of smashing the pillars??

The only puzzle that really got me back on the original was that 4 pillar thing with the big ball. It was tricky trying to figure out how to get to each pillar with the ball in tow.

I'm gonna get a lot of hate for this, but I think gamers these days are a step behind us geezers. Like @Scollurio said, when I was 8 years old and playing LA on my Gameboy, the only "walkthroughs" or "guides" for the most part were Nintendo Power and your friends. If there was stuff on the internet, my family didn't even have a PC until I was almost in high school. There was A LOT of trial and error. A LOT of just walking through every screen of a dungeon for hours on end, looking for anything you possibly missed.

People don't have the patience for that kind of stuff anymore. I'd wager most people spend an hour tops on a dungeon if they're stuck before consulting the internet. Would be interested in hearing if that's accurate from anyone willing to share.

I'm also willing to bet a lot of people never even end up beating this game because they can't figure out what to do. And the scary thing is that this isn't a very difficult game in terms of where to go or what to do both in and outside the dungeons. Without a blaring golden GO HERE icon on the minimap, I swear a lot of gamers just pack it in.

@rallydefault I fully agree. I'd take the guiding Owl out of this game if I could.
Maybe it's my age tied with nostalgia, but I remember playing games with little to no guidance in games or at best vague hints that give a very general direction and I liked it. I explored, tried things that didn't work, which made me think of other ways to do things and finally get a feeling of accomplishment upon figuring it out. Always felt like I got more out of them.
Comparatively, I hated the way newer Zeldas were so hand-holding (until BotW, of course). I remember a place in one of them (may have been TP) where you came across a puzzle and before you could even look at it, the Owl appeared and told you exactly what needed to happen, then asked if you could figure it out (dumb, considering it just explained it), BUT THEN the camera panned to and focused in on where you were supposed to do the thing. Would've been nice to have had a chance to have a go at it myself

I suppose younger gamers are just more used to games being that way and the internet teeming with information and guides. We're just a product of our time. We had no guides, no internet and had to go on hints that only pointed vaguely in a direction.

As a counterpoint to that, like a decade ago I would get stuck on Ace Attorney games while on vacation with no real way to access the internet. Awful, dreadful experience. To a degree it made things even better when I got through it I guess (certainly did for one huge twist in the 2nd game that caught me off-guard), but it was actually a nightmare before that. I also did refuse to look up anything for La Mulana unless I got absolutely stuck for a while, but it became apparent after a while that playing with a walkthrough is the sane way to play that game.

But even ignoring those, I just don't have the time to get stuck on a game for too long. If it means figuring out something after a couple of hours or looking it up so I can get to the next enjoyable part of whatever 10...20...40...80+ hour game I'm playing, I'll take the latter every time. Like of course I figured out stuff when I was a kid, I had all the time in the world! There are a number of games in the early 2000s I started over multiple times, thinking I did something so wrong that the game locked me out of beating it.

@ cotillion

Sounds like you were talking about the owl in Majora's mask just before getting the lense of truth. There's no owl in TP. I agree on the hand holding thing though. Ocarina of time was the worst. Navi even tells you simple stuff like pressing A to open a freaking door! I'm like go away you stupid fairy i got this!

Anybody else remember checking out strategy guides at the library? Internet bah! In my day there was no such thing! I used to brag to my mom about how playing zelda was a good thing because it made you use your brain.
So she bought me my first snes bundled with Link to the past!

@Arbor The purpose is to let the stories collapse so you can enter the top of the tower. And to get the ball around where you need it is hefty ficklework involving all sorts of shenaningans - it truly is beyond me how ANYONE could have figured this out on their own.

@rallydefault I'm totally with you on this, only that I am an old geezer in my late 30s. I never really warmed up to Zelda back in the day, since I was more into "actiony" games, like Mortal Kombat and Ninja Warriors. Anyways, 30 years later I'm fed up with all that triple A stuff that's being put out and I "rediscover" old gems and Nintendo games in general.

What you said is true, modern "kids" don't have the patience to figure such things out, games have become too convenient, but to be honest, stuff like this annoyed me at all times in my life. And now, that I am a grown up with a very busy schedule, hoping to fit an hour of gameplay in here or there, memory becomes a problem too. If I played that dungeon one hour two days ago I almost start from scratch remembering what I already tried and did.

Also, I hate this particular dungeon so much because it's like a 600% increase in puzzle-difficulty compared to everything else in Links Awakening. I'm shortly before the egg now, so all is good, but still. That dungeon was a beast...

One more remark: that feeling of "accomplishment" has been eradicated from gaming I think. Successes are handed to you left and right so people don't have the stamina anymore. I get my "accomplishments" from my work life, so personally I see nothing to gain from a downright "bad" dungeon design (my point of view) except from wasting time! :/

@kkslider5552000
I definitely see your point, too. I'm older now. I have a wife and kid. It's super inconvenient to get stuck at a point in a game for hours on end - I don't have that kind of time anymore.

But let's be honest, that doesn't really happen in most modern games (Nintendo's games are honestly some of the only ones where this really happens to me from time to time). Most modern games have those systems in place to keep this sort of thing from happening. When's the last time you got stuck in a CoD game? God of War? Uncharted? Assassin's Creed? Heck, Final Fantasy XV? All of those big franchises have some version of: big shiny lines showing you where to go next, some sort of journal/guide/sidekick that forcefully prods you toward every new area, fast-travel for almost every inch of the map, etc.

Even BotW highlighted its main objectives in big honking markers. Sure, if you wanted to go off the beaten path and do side quests and stuff, those weren't marked, but the main story is fairly paved out for you. Maybe you get to the marker and the character's like, "You need to go up the big waterfall," and the waterfall is literally right behind them taking up full view in your screen lol

Games aren't all that difficult anymore because most games no longer require skill and/or puzzle solving. Games have become interactive movies.

@rallydefault Link's Awakening keeps reminding you where to go at all times as well. And you can always call old man Ulrira.

It's just that the dungeons are weirdly designed in that it involves a lot of backtracking. And with the underground paths not visible on the map, and one-way doors, it can be difficult to navigate the place.

Mindlessly walking around until you find the next place where to go doesn't require skill or puzzle-solving either. Sometimes it feels like it requires a bunch of luck.

@Galenmereth Didn't think of marking them, good idea.

Hey all, I need some help in Level 3 Key Cavern. I'm stuck. I've searched the forum and other sites and can't find an answer. I went into the cavern, got the key, went north to the stairs and went downstairs to the four locked doors. I then opened the "West" door first. Went in and got the three hearts and now I'm stuck. I need another key to open a different door. I can't seem to find another key since I didn't open the North door first. All other three doors are locked and I don't seem to have access to another key. I can't get to the other chests without smacking the crystal and I can't do that without a key to get to it.

Everything I read says to open a different door first but there has to be a way to continue without starting the whole game again. Any of you smart people know what to do?... thanks

** Figured it out. It suddenly struck me that I had retrieved the 3 hearts floating above the tread-belt but had not defeated that dudes in the chamber throwing ninja stars. Once I defeated them it dropped a key.

@DenDen,

Just as good as they where in the original. I thought, lets only mention the things that are different.

Its a pity they removed the distortion effect in the dream-shrine.

Also: If you enter the trendy game shop with Marin, something very funny happens! I discovered some more funny Marin stuff, like when you hit a cucoo multiple times or when you fall into a cave. Where those things also in the original? I can't remember.

@GuitarPlayerBP,

You mean the room with the warping creatures? You can actually kill them with bombs. Hope that helps!

@Tsurii yes, it's true.

It was in the original too.

@Henmii thanks for your reply. I didn't explain well, I need another key to open a different door. I can't seem to find another key since I didn't open the North door first. all other three doors are locked and I don't seem to have access to another key.

@Tsurii no, it’s an extra scene after the credits.