Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD - OT

Twilight Princess HD arrived!

Waiting on the postman as we speak.... And then I go to work for 7 days!!!

Got an email saying my game has arrived. I'll pick it up on my way to my apartment.

Well it's even quicker than that isn't it. The action starts when the bird drops Tetra in the forest. It all takes off from that point onward. That's probably less than 10 minutes into the game. Just like ALTTP and OoT, it's pretty much an instant start.

Just played through the infamous opening of this game after it arrived a day early. Anyone who says that this game and the GC/Wii versions are "exactly the same" are complete idiots, to the exact definition of it. Very impressed with the visual overhaul as well as a much better UI and control system (I played the Wii version twice through). There are little touches they've added already that added together make for a much better experience, Link climbs slightly faster, you only needed to catch one fish to trigger the cat as opposed to 2 in the original, there were extra rupees so that getting the necessary 30 was easy and the area the monkey is in with the basket is gated off with a well a gate so that people (like myself I can remember nearly 10 years ago) don't spend a long time jumping around there and it is more obvious they need to use the hawk.

So yeah barely an hour in and there's already been significant improvements. All those people complaining seemingly endlessly about this game just lost any legitimate claims they had in my eyes, this looks like it's well worth another purchase, and is unquestionably the definitive version for newcomers.

I started playing my Wii version last night after all the talk got me excited about this game again but I don't plan on getting the HD one right away as I still have my Wii one. I only played the beginning, but I can't help but think reading what @TheLastLugia just wrote and reading it as "They made this easier, and this easier, and this easier." Along with what I already know like less Tears of Light needed it just seems like they dumbed everything down that made an already easy Zelda game (from what people are saying, I don't remember how easy or hard it is, personally) anything resembling difficult. But either way, it's still fun.

@TheLastLugia: Sure, but is it worth the $50 they're asking? They haven't resolved the issues I personally had with this game, so I'll wait for this game to hit €30 or less before I pick it up.

@Xyphon22: Not really, more like make the experience more fun. The Tears of Light quests were quite tedious so removing 4 streamlines the experience.

@Xyphon22: You're not aware of Hero Mode or Ganondorf amiibo?

I am so jealous of the people getting this early! Haha, oh well. Mine has shipped from Amazon but I don't think it will be here before tomorrow.

@GerudoKing: I'm getting mine through GameStop so I am not expecting till next week at the earliest.

You took the words right out of my mouth!

I haven't played it since I got it at launch with my Wii, so honestly I don't remember a lot about it. I don't even remember what the Tears of Light quests are. I am sure it is much more streamlined, and things like climbing faster is obviously better. I'm just saying that every single change is towards one end of the spectrum, and it's not towards a more difficult or complex experience. Maybe most people want simplified and don't like complex things, but I do. I swam around for like 20 minutes last night thinking I needed the slingshot to shoot the monkey and get the cradle, and the gate would have eliminated that thought. It might sound annoying to most, but I like getting stuck and having to think things through. But again, I haven't played the new one or even the old one in like 10 years, so I may love the changes if I get it sometime down the road.

And yes, I do know about Hero Mode and the Ganondorf amiibo, which I think are great inclusions (although I don't own the amiibo), but increasing one aspect of difficulty, which if you are good enough will rarely come into play because you won't be getting hit, doesn't necessarily counteract dumbing down the puzzles and the exploration and a number of other things. And again, these are just initial impressions based on what I have read and no playtime whatsoever with the game. I may feel differently if I play it, I just don't see a need when I still have my Wii version right now.

Slightly off topic, but do games made by Nintendo actually drop in price in Europe? Because in the U.S., being able to preorder and get 20% off from Amazon or Best Buy GCU is as good as we could ever "wait" for.

Noe doesn't have a set rrp for it's games so retailers charge want they want which works out better as besides Amiibo bundled games I've to pay over £30 for a day one game from shopping around (though Game, HMV etc don't offer great day one deals) and normally I pick up a lot of games on the cheap from bargain hunting.

This reminds me I should start posting in the bargain thread soon.

@Ryno: you could probably count on one hand the number of Wii U games that launched for £50 (the standard RRP for so-called big budget 'AAA' games over here) and have maintained that price for a significant period of time. Twilight Princess HD was simple to pre-order from a number of retailers for £30 and it joins I would say 90% of the 2015 releases that launched for £40 or under.

Even Splatoon was only £30, and I managed to get it with the Inkling Boy & Girl amiibo for £25 after GAME botched my pre-order. Cheap as chips.

@TheLastLugia. I see. I suppose £30 is approximately worth $42.60 USD so not that big of a difference I guess from the $48.00 I paid. Seems like video games, at least Nintendo, are cheaper across the Atlantic.

Thanks for the impressions. That's great to hear — I actually recently replayed Twilight Princess through the Goron temple with a gal who just got a Wii, and those changes are spot-on. That whole "catch the fish twice" bit is just a rare glimpse of bad game design in the Zelda series. You think, "oh, I bet I have to catch a fish for this cat." Nope, didn't do anything. Guess I'll just wander around aimlessly forever looking for another solution when it turns out the solution is to catch the fish again. I got stuck on that madness in 2006 and again in 2016. And this is from someone who actually enjoyed the slow pace of the opening.

Unrelated, were TP's motion controls always this divisive, or are we looking at some historical revisionism? They were obviously impressive to me in 2006, and having just played the Wii version a few weeks ago, I felt like they still work as intended — IR aiming will always be fantastic. I'm not super miffed that the Wii U version doesn't have them, but it seems like lots of people are ranting about 'em now that the game is back in the spotlight (I'm looking at you, Alex from Nintendo Life). Is it just cool for "real gamers" to hate on "the waggle"?

I got a notification from Best Buy earlier that my copy has shipped. Despite being cheap and only choosing the standard shipping, it's supposed to arrive tomorrow.

My copy has shipped from Amazon. Sadly, it'll arrive next Saturday.