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

That bit mostly just confused me back when I first played the game.

I guess part of that comes from the fact that my english was very limited back then so I really had no idea of what was going on.

I know. I just felt it was more fun to super seriously point out that your point is INVALID.

I will say to be fair, the early boring parts I enjoy more than comparable parts in Wind Waker or especially Skyward Sword, and I don't really have a reason why. Objectively it's probably worse than either in that regard since it goes on forever and at least Skyward Sword has great character animation and things, but in two playthroughs, I enjoyed it despite that. Arguably the same for the Twilight bug hunt, but for the most part I did like how you have to go through areas in way different ways with the Midna Jumping and some buildings you have to dig into. So I guess "I like this meh level content better than other examples of meh level content".

Though I don't entirely get the complaints for the overworld. At least before you really dig deep into bug catching or other sidequest stuff (and even then I've seen much worse), it's at worst kinda a non-issue I found. For the most part, it's used to take a straight line from one town to the next that isn't too huge a distance and then later you can just warp everywhere. And later there's a couple of side caves or the puzzles needed to get to the 7th dungeon but it's not much of an inconvenience. It's not a great overworld by any means, but compared to the original Wind Waker (the previous 3d Zelda) or nowadays thinking about it compared to the more annoying open world games, it's fine. shrugs

To me, Twilight Princess is the most Zelda game that ever Zelda'd so I tend to not get complaints for it when nearly any problems with it are just kinda the norm for at least parts of the series imo. Like a number of Zelda overworlds are barren and a number of Zelda games underutilize certain items and Zelda was on N64 how do those graphics hold up? It's weird. I mean, I guess it's:

Lakebed Temple was relatively painless for a water temple.

@Ralizah Where are you currently in the game?

As for the points you made in the post on Tuesday (about skeleton in armor and Epona issues) I gotta say this:

The Skeleton guy in armor is actually not generic whatsoever. He's actually very very important. Did you figure out who he is yet?

As for Epona, it's unfortunate, but to help, you can look at the map with the control pad (on TV) or look at the map on the GamePad. On one of the maps, you can see the locations of the grass you can use to call Epona.

And this game is definitely darker than Wind Waker and the other games (except for Majora), but I wouldn't call it horror (although there are a few unsettling moments scattered throughout the game).

And I like the Ordonian kids, they all have distinct and memorable personalities. Colin is my favorite of them, he has a great character arc. The girl and her younger brother (not Malo but the other kid) act like normal kids. Malo is hilariously creepy, I still cannot figure out what his true age is cause he knows way more than a four year old should at that point.

@shadow-wolf I know who he is, if only through cultural osmosis, but I still just see a skeleton in a suit of armor.

Nice. Didn't know you could actually see the location of the horsegrass.

I know, I know, I was mostly just making fun of it by calling it a 'tedious horror game about killing giant bugs,' (maybe this'll calm a certain other someone in this thread) but those sections of the game really did kill the mood for me. The edginess here feels so forced. Majora's Mask is "dark," but that's a meditative exploration of the human condition in the shadow of looming death, so some creepiness is inevitable. More importantly, those sections just weren't fun to play. They barely even felt like they belonged in a Zelda game.

The Sonic Unleashed comparison was just because, like that game, it keeps juxtaposing normal gameplay with this weird wolf stuff.

I'm enjoying it more right now. You asked where I was: when I quit playing, Zelda just sacrificed herself to transform Midna into an actual creature that can exist outside of the shadows. I'm Wolf Link again, but I get the sense that my insect hunting days are over.

@Ralizah Ok, just to make sure you know for sure, the skeleton guy is Link from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. I really like how they tie into what happened in those games. His whole backstory about regret, how no one knew the true hero he was, and how he couldn't pass down his skills to anyone is a pretty unique way to look at Ocarina Link after the events of Majora.

BTW, I doubt we need to use spoiler tags for events that you've already played through since I think anyone else on this thread has already completed the game in one form or another (it has been more than 10 years after all). On that note:

Did you enjoy the part with Midna's Lament (when you carry her as a wolf to Zelda)? I loved that, it's one of the most powerful sequences in any Zelda game. She's about to die, the somber and excellent music is playing around you, and as you rush into Castle Town looking for help, everyone screams in fright or shuns you, when all you want to do is just help your friend. It's quite a powerful sequence.

Did you also appreciate that sequence with Zant before you get turned into a wolf again? I thought that was a pretty noteworthy sequence that showed just how powerful he was.

Your insect hunting days are indeed over. I won't explain more until you get a bit farther into the story, but know that it only gets better from here on out (those were hands-down the worst sections of the game).

As for the edginess - I can see where your coming from. Personally I never think it goes that far, but of all the Zelda games, this one does seem like it's closest to adding darkness for the sake of being dark. It's just a slightly more somber take on the Zelda universe, which is quite interesting when juxtaposed to Wind Waker, it's exact opposite in many ways.

@shadow-wolf Yeah, I've heard as much. I'm guessing this skeleton Link figure will be developed a bit as the game goes on? Right now he's just my moves tutor who shows up when I meet a spirit wolf or something.

I just try to be considerate, since I'm sure I'm not the only person on here who has never played this game. Plus, some people go kind of insane if they're accidently spoiled.

Oh, well, I just figured people shunned me because I'm a giant, freaky looking wolf. I made a beeline for the bar to begin with, since I remembered someone telling me that it connects to the castle.

Zant isn't a hugely memorable villain, but he's about a thousand times more interesting than evil ginger pig guy. It was definitely an interesting change of pace to get ambushed out of nowhere like that.

I love Midna's characterization, by the way. She's one of the few Zelda characters I've cared about to any degree.

@Ralizah
Sadly, he doesn't get developed much more beyond that and a few phrases when you've learned all of the extra moves.

And Midna is a definitive improvement as a side kick over others like Navi. It's a shame that Fi decided to follow the Navi route in being annoying...

Midna is by far my favorite partner in the Zelda series. The others range from somewhat decent to just plain annoying/boring (though I can't speak yet for Majora's Mask).

@Ralizah As @Luna_110 said, he doesn’t get developed much if at all during the course of the game, but I did like TP ties into Ocarina with that link (no pun intended).

But you are right. You never know who’s reading the forums, and some who are reading may not have played or beat the game yet. If major spoilers I’ll hide it with the spoiler tag.

I like Midna a lot too, she’s easily the best Zelda sidekick character in any Zelda game.

I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Midna’s Lament music (the music that plays when you’re running to Zelda as a wolf), I love that music.

@shadow-wolf Oh, the piano music that plays. I'd like to say I appreciated it, but it's hard to enjoy a piece of music when the game's battle music constantly interrupts it every time something attacks you on your way to the town. Kind of ruins the moody music.

could be worse...

@Ralizah I hear ya, that's the #1 complaint TP HD didn't address IMHO. I quickly ran past all enemies so the battle music didn't interrupt the piano music for long enough to bother me, but it still would've been a much better improvement to just remove all battle music during that portion of the game. No idea why they didn't fix that in TP HD.

Yeah, it was a beautiful music piece, but being interrupted every five seconds because something was attacking you, didn't give much space to enjoy it.

Spent a lot of time yesterday playing mini-games (including interacting with a tsundere bird who quite literally says: "I'm not giving you this because I like you or anything" blush) and hunting poes now that I can freely transition between human and wolf forms (vengeance is sweet). Also discovered that bug hunting is apparently a thing in this game. Ran through the desert and have just started the Arbiter's Grounds dungeon.

I'm... enjoying myself? The game has definitely improved. Feels a lot more like normal Zelda gameplay now.

@Ralizah Yeah, it's a game that takes a while to get going. The Ordon village sequence is pretty drawn out, and the game doesn't really start until you leave that entire area after the first dungeon. After the third bug hunt is when the game starts getting a lot better.

@Ralizah yep, and it only gets better from here on out. Once you play a bit more I'll mention something I realized about wolf link that you may agree with. It's not a game spoiler, but it'd be best for you to play a bit with on-demand transformations to understand.

Also @Octane and @Ralizah, I think Oococo (or however its name is spelled) is such a genius invention for Twilight Princess. It makes dungeons much easier to handle. Ocarina and Majora didn't have any checkpoints, and Wind Waker at least had some checkpoints, but Twilight Princess allows you to save, turn off the system, and resume playing at the exact room you stopped at in the dungeon. That's incredibly convenient for stocking up on items or for shorter playthroughs.

Ocarina of Time had Farore's Wind.

@shadow-wolf Really? The game told me she warps you to the dungeon entrance, so I haven't been using her, because saving and restarting will warp me back to the entrance regardless.

@Ralizah Nope, she remembers the exact room you were in and brings you there. When you use her (as an item set to Y, X, or R) she warps you out of the dungeon. At that point you can save and quit the game and/or do whatever you want to do outside the dungeon. Once you're ready, INSTEAD of entering the dungeon, you have to use her child (the flying head thing) OUTSIDE the dungeon as an item. Her child will ask you if you want to warp to his mom, so say yes and you'll be warped directly to the room you used Oococo in. To do this you cannot enter the dungeon again, or else she will appear at the entrance and you will lose that checkpoint.

@Meowpheel What did Faore's Wind do? For some reason I barely touched the magic spells of the goddesses in Ocarina.