smashbrolink

smashbrolink

Zelda veteran and Adventurer.

Comments 537

Re: Round Up: First Mighty No. 9 Reviews Suggest The Wait Hasn't Been Worth It

smashbrolink

@ikki5 It's not wrong, because this is not school work. Different criteria is used when judging a game compared to grading something important like a college paper, so comparing the rating system to a school grading system doesn't make sense.

Similarly, the food example is BS; again, a 5 out of 10 would be just an average-quality burger.
Nothing special, but certainly not garbage.
By your logic, over half of the current 1 to 10 rating system is literally USELESS, and that is a sign of a BROKEN SYSTEM.

Again, a 5 out of 10 isn't a split of half good and half bad, because that's the same as lumping anything below 5 as worthless and everything above it as GOTY, and that's not how these ratings work.
A 5 on a 10 scale, is an indicator that a game was an average-quality game. Middle-of-the-road. Paint-by-numbers. Something with very few flaws, but nothing outstanding to make it stand out amongst the crowd of its peers.
That is in no way the same as "half garbage", because being an average-quality game automatically puts it above being called trash, but below being excellent.
And saying it's garbage "compared to what else is on the market" doesn't work, because "what else is on the market" is subjective in quality, and in this case, most of them, too, are still being judged using the current flawed system.

What I want is to see a system where averages aren't based upon a scale that discards over half of itself, to please a sub-set of elitists that feel a game is only good when roughly [ballpark] 3/4th's of the game can be considered above great in quality.
The way the current 1 to 10 scale is defined, doesn't tell enough about the games it's being used to judge. It disregards too many as useless garbage when the fact is that a lot of games with a 5 or a 6 still have worthwhile points to buy them for.
Even below-average games with a 4 rating can be worth a funny let's play or two, if only to laugh at their flaws.

Re: Video: Bayonetta 2 Is Just Too Darn Sexy, Even For Hormone-Addled Teens

smashbrolink

I find it HILARIOUS that these teens are supposed to be the new and progressive generation, yet the old guard, and Nintendo fans in general, are more capable of handling the sexiness of Bayonetta in a fair and unbiased manner than some of them in the video were.

"OMG the sexiness is too much!!! Where's my safe zone?! I need an adult!!"

I can't stop laughing.
If this kind of prudish outlook towards characters who can flaunt their sexiness without coming off as hookers is enough to trigger them, then lord forbid they ever look into a movie like Pink Flamingo.XD

Re: Round Up: First Mighty No. 9 Reviews Suggest The Wait Hasn't Been Worth It

smashbrolink

@ikki5 There's no point in using a 10 scale when only 4 out of the 10 mean anything other than "horrible".
By your logic, this is how a 10 scale currently works:

1 = horrible
2 = horrible
3 = horrible
4 = horrible
5 = horrible
6 = horrible
7 = average
8 = above average
9 = great
10 = amazing

Do you see, now, how pointless that is?
It's literally using the exact same meaning for 6 out of 10 of the results, which tells nothing about the product.
That IS a stupid way of doing a 10 scale no matter how anyone spins it.

Saying 6 is horrible is not like a soggy bunned burger; that's like saying 6 is a burger with stale buns and rotten maggot-infested meat.

People who abuse the 1-10 scale by ignoring anything below a 6, would be better off using a 1 to 5 scale; at least then they've got a decent way of judging using the full scale, instead of arbitrarily saying that 6 or lower is just trashy.
It sounds far less stupid to say that 3 and below would be trashy, because 5 would be an average rating, like a burger with just enough seasonings and condiments to make it good, but not enough to make it above average, with 4 being a "below average", meaning heavily flawed but with a few redeeming points, and 6 being "above average".

A 6 is above average.
Not flawless, but definitely a step above the norm.
Or in other words, a good game.

If people really feel that Mighty No. 9 is a trashy game, then they should be giving it a 3 out of 10, not a 6, since 3 would be the highest sensible thresh-hold a trash game could get to before becoming just below-average.

Re: Round Up: First Mighty No. 9 Reviews Suggest The Wait Hasn't Been Worth It

smashbrolink

@vitalemrecords Sadly, you're correct; that's how most people view the 1 to 10 scale these days.

And it's absolutely dumb.
To use a 10 scale then disregard anything below a 7, feels like an abuse, if not an outright incorrect use, of an otherwise perfectly good scoring system, which is why I honestly feel the rating system for games needs a drastic overhaul.
You don't use a scale with ten units only to disregard 70% of the scale as useless.
Anyone thinking that it's "okay" to say that a 6 is "barely passing" needs to be kept away from any sort of game reviewing.

Re: E3 2016: Brandwatch Data Shows The Legend of Zelda Dominating Social Media During E3

smashbrolink

@Kirk Oh, riiiiight, like that proves anything.
Cherry-picking one low-res photo and comparing it to the game in motion just shows how biased you are.
And no, I wouldn't be losing that bet, because everyone else, just like me, would be betting red when the wheel hits it.

You're an outlier on this one, and you're most certainly not the arbiter of objective beauty.

http://icdn1.digitaltrends.com/image/zelda-breath-of-the-wild-0012-1500x844.jpg

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/insertcoin/files/2016/06/shiekah-slate-zelda-1200x670.jpg

http://cdn.wegotthiscovered.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-official-game-trailer-1-8.jpg

https://images.nowloading.co/images/c_fill,h_404,w_718/t_mp_quality_gif/csl7vv2ojcb9yia26abq/the-most-exciting-new-features-coming-to-the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-1018185.jpg

All of these pictures and many more look amazing when in motion.
The only people saying that this looks ugly, are the ones wasting time in their day to nit-pick through low-quality stills instead of giving the game in motion the credit it deserves for its overall look, which is fantastic by majority opinion.

You're not winning this one on any sort of objective level.
Thanks for playing, game over.

We're done here.
Or at least, I'm done with you, and all of your snooty sarcastic graphics-whoring over a beautiful new Zelda game.

Re: E3 2016: Brandwatch Data Shows The Legend of Zelda Dominating Social Media During E3

smashbrolink

@Kirk "I honestly think that people like you don't seem to understand that many people don't have the slightest clue what is pretty or accomplished art and what isn't, and they're just saying what they think they're supposed to say or what someone else has already said, someone who's similarly clueless."

And that's just audacious, snooty arrogance on your part; you're not the arbitrator or judge of what objective beauty is, nor shall you ever be.
And this does look close enough to be called inspired by Studio Ghibli animation. It's about as close as a Wii U Zelda game is ever going to get, and it looks gorgeous even if it's not an exact match.
The majority of viewers who've seen the game all agree that the fogs and rolling clouds in the distances, the swaying of grasses, the lights and colors reflecting off of water surfaces, and quite a few other things in the game look fantastic, and far beyond the visual quality of TPHD, let alone many other past Zelda titles.

You're entitled to your opinion, but don't ever think for one second that just because you think it's ugly, that it actually is on an objective level.
In fact, considering the number of people that think it's gorgeous compared to the number of people that don't, and all of the extremely minor cherry-picks you do that ignores the larger picture in motion, maybe, just maybe, this is one of those cases where YOU, are the one that isn't giving fair credit to something that's beautiful.

In fact I'd bet on it, because the number of people who have called the game gorgeous over the past three days is way too large to be just a mass of "clueless people that follow what others say."
Everyone has an opinion, and if someone doesn't like how it looks, they'll say it.
But the reception has been overwhelmingly positive.
And that's far more telling than anything you've said or shown.

Re: E3 2016: Brandwatch Data Shows The Legend of Zelda Dominating Social Media During E3

smashbrolink

@gatorboi352

"

So essentially @smashbrolink has withered down his thoughts to "difference of opinion from me = trolling"

Got it.

What's next? 3rd parties are to blame for not being on Nintendo systems?"

So you're actually claiming that it's a difference of opinion? That you were ONLY trying to espouse your "opinion" on things?

And I quote:
"It's CLEARLY evident outside of Zelda Nintendo has pretty much sh!t else. THAT'S NOT OPINION." [ <--- capitalized for emphasis]

Calling your opinion a fact, as if no one else in the whole wide world cared about Pokemon, Monster Hunter, or anything else Nintendo showed, while claiming almost immediately afterwards that it was just an opinion, is the definition of trolling.
That or back-pedaling/flip-flopping.

Also, don't even start on third parties.
I get the feeling you're one of those people that blamed Nintendo for Black Ops II not getting all of its DLC, or for Sniper Elite V2 not getting its multiplayer and lacking crucial patches.
Third parties did just as much to bury the Wii U early as Nintendo did; only idiots are denying that at this point, which is why so many people are hoping Nintendo makes smarter decisions with third parties for the NX.

Re: E3 2016: Brandwatch Data Shows The Legend of Zelda Dominating Social Media During E3

smashbrolink

@Kirk As an owner of Skyrim, I can say with perfect honesty, that it is not as pretty as Zelda.
More realistic?
Most certainly.
But nowhere near as pretty.

And the same goes for many games from the PS3/360; many if not most of them can't stand up to the kind of graphical effects/style that Zelda's pulling off. Yes, they still look great on an objective level, obviously, since they're still in HD, but that's not on the same level as the new Zelda is.

But I think it's better that we just agree to disagree on this one.

Re: E3 2016: Brandwatch Data Shows The Legend of Zelda Dominating Social Media During E3

smashbrolink

@Monkey_Balls I don't think it's a fair assessment to say that Nintendo's playing catch-up, when the fact of the matter is, a lot of games lately have been reusing concepts with slight twists to make them feel fresher just like Nintendo does.

Take Horizon, for instance.
Know what that feels like to me?
Far Cry Primal, but with robots, soldiers, and future tech instead of cave men, clubs, and mammoths.

Now, to me, this isn't a bad thing.
I loved Far Cry Primal, and just because Horizon takes a lot of the feeling from that, it doesn't mean I consider it to be playing "catch up".
And yet Zelda, the forefather of many of the concepts that open world game ideas evolved from, is suddenly being looked down upon for that exact same thing, instead of being admired for doing things that work, and work well, to deliver a fun game?

Can you see where I'm coming from, or is my explanation not well done enough? I honestly just got over a cold so I'm not too confident in my explanation capabilities right now...

Re: E3 2016: Brandwatch Data Shows The Legend of Zelda Dominating Social Media During E3

smashbrolink

@Kirk It does, but the difference is that I can still like those games even if I feel they're less beautiful in terms of art style.
Horizon, in particular, strikes my fancy because it's like an alternate future version of Far Cry Primal, but it's the gameplay that draws me despite the fact that I get a lot of the same feeling from Horizon that I did from playing Primal.
I didn't downplay Horizon for feeling similar; I appreciated it for doing things in a way that were clearly different yet felt familiar.
Just like I do with Zelda.

Re: E3 2016: Brandwatch Data Shows The Legend of Zelda Dominating Social Media During E3

smashbrolink

@Kirk I wouldn't say that they're fugly.
The graphical quality in and of itself is quite solid; dynamic shadows and quality effects in water and lighting as well as particle effects, amongst other things.

You could argue that the art style isn't to your taste, but that's not the same as saying that the graphics are bad, especially for a 2016 game.
If I'm being honest, this and Far Cry Primal are pretty on-par in terms of graphical beauty, and that's coming from someone who loves both games.

As for Zelda being ground-breaking or genre-defining, it doesn't have to be in order to be a GOTS, or even a GOTY, contender.
I can't remember the last game that allowed you to, for instance, leap off a horse, into an updraft created by burning grass from a fire arrow, using a paraglider to gain altitude, then going into slow-motion to fire an explosive arrow at a lazer-firing land octopus statue that's been chasing you around a huge open world.
Stuff like that can happen quite frequently in the new Zelda; I don't think you're fairly judging just how much there is to do.

Saying "It's just basically a new Zelda game" is like saying "it's just basically a new God of War game" in reference to the new GoW.

Re: E3 2016: Brandwatch Data Shows The Legend of Zelda Dominating Social Media During E3

smashbrolink

@gatorboi352 I meant Nintendo, because unlike Nintendo, Sony didn't come into E3 with the lowest-in-popularity system and the lowest amount of expectations.

Also, the fact that you consider Nintendo's other games being further down the list as being "the bigger story", kinda shows that you're just hunting for reasons to downplay Nintendo's success in this. [or that you're trying to deny that there's any success at all.]

Re: E3 2016: Brandwatch Data Shows The Legend of Zelda Dominating Social Media During E3

smashbrolink

@Monkey_Balls Yeah, well, most of the people claiming that Zelda is playing catch-up, are trolling by forgetting that a lot of the conventions of adventure games in general are either evolutions or direct copies of ideas/mechanics that Zelda set forth.
Zelda, after all, was the very first open-world action-adventure game, way back on the NES, and it continued setting precedents and inspiring new ideas in other games from developers who learned and loved their craft from a history of playing Zelda and other games like it.

The others who have "complained about the perceived lack of story and/or empty world, or that it's not a Zelda game" are even more untrustworthy in their words, as they're also the same people who were spreading the lie that BotW wouldn't have any towns or NPC's to fill them.

Re: E3 2016: Brandwatch Data Shows The Legend of Zelda Dominating Social Media During E3

smashbrolink

@Kirk It's a different case for Sony, though, because Sony wasn't coming into this E3 with the least popular system of the gen and expectations already low to begin with, which is totally unlike Nintendo.
I don't believe Sony's numbers would have fluctuated as much, because at this point, Sony's infallible in the eyes of the gaming public, and would be expected to pull off a good showing no matter what they did, whereas with Nintendo...well...you know.
I guess my point is that Nintendo pulled off something very dramatic at a time when people had the least amount of confidence in them, and that in turn has created bigger waves than anyone could have imagined.
And as much as I liked GoW, it's not Zelda, and it hasn't been teased, held back, discussed to death, drowned in controversy, and just generally paid as much attention to as Zelda has over the past two years.

Sony could not have copied what Nintendo did at this year's E3 because Sony's not in the underdog position.

Re: Talking Point: Where Does The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Fit Into the Zelda Timeline?

smashbrolink

@The2ndQuest While that's true, the fact remains that as far as the Kokiri's evolution goes, the only time we have evidence of it ever happening is just before Hyrule flooded, while as far as connecting it to events after Zelda II, all we have is a lot of suppositions/what-if scenarios.

For example, Link being right-handed; it's been proven that some of the Links were Ambidextrous. You can see Link in ALTTP and Zelda II switching the hand he swings with depending on the direction he's facing, so in those instances his right-handed-ness doesn't really stand as solidly, as a piece of evidence, as the fact that Koroks, which can only be officially verified as existing after WW, exist.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that Koroks existing is the only truly solid piece of info that links straight to one of the time-lines.
Even the Old Man, which could potentially be a link to Zelda II, could be Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, or really just a random old man period and not the same one from way back then.
But Koroks are unmistakable, as they're not just one man but an entire species.
If we get a look at a new Deku Tree, then I think it'll be pretty safe to say that it's confirmed, but right now, Koroks are pretty solid evidence.
Of course, if someone can bring forth some evidence within the lore or in one of the games to suggest that the Kokiri did indeed exist in another timeline outside of the WW one, just long enough to evolve, then I'll gladly take that Zelda II theory as plausible.
But until then, I'm sticking with the clear evidence over the suppositions.

The only counter-evidence that crosses my mind, at this point, is the twin peak mountains that match that manual art from the original LoZ, but it's just as highly likely that that was thrown in on a developer whim and has no timeline connection.
I guess that's something that might get explained through the story? We'll have to see for ourselves on that one.

Re: E3 2016: Brandwatch Data Shows The Legend of Zelda Dominating Social Media During E3

smashbrolink

@Dezzy To be fair, the Battlefield trailer has had the benefit of being up against, and bashing to pieces, the latest CoD trailer.
It probably helped quite a bit that the developers behind BF even took to Twitter at one point to send out a bit of personal low-blows when the Infinite Warfare trailer got the highest dislike rate of any gaming video ever.
Riding those kinds of console war fanboy waves is an easy way to make top views on Youtube.
Zelda didn't have that kind of controversy to ride to big views, though, and being connected to the Wii U, which is the least popular home platform of the gen?
So, yeah...it's not really surprising that BF has higher views.
Not that that's a bad thing or anything; the devs played their cards right and marketed the right words, and now they're reaping the benefits.

Re: Talking Point: Where Does The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Fit Into the Zelda Timeline?

smashbrolink

I'm still firmly convinced that the lore's statement that they evolved into Koroks as a direct result of evolving to live on the sea, is the key point here that shows they wouldn't have become Koroks, and wouldn't be in BotW, if the game didn't take place sometime after WW.

@ Jesiah
Keep in mind that Zelda is also capable of handling the Master Sword.
And Ganondorf's stone body isn't exactly a sacred pedestal; it isn't hard to imagine Ganondorf's body eroding away, and a new hero, or someone equally as sacred or pure-hearted as Zelda [like, say, one of the sages?] taking the sword.
It's been proven more than once that Ganon isn't the only dark threat, and who knows, maybe someone somehow got wind that Ganon's spirit had survived and that the sword would be needed again, so they went to retrieve it from the Ganondorf statue?

Also, @Pat again, you forget that right after Ganon won, the Sealing War took place.
A war like that would have decimated the land and likely destroyed the forests in the process, which would again explain changes in topography.
There wouldn't be any place for the Kokiri TO hide.

Also, there's no need to apologize, pat.
I'm not offended or taking this too much to heart; I'm actually having fun with it, so please, do keep going until you can't think of any ways around my logic, or until vice-versa happens.XD

Re: Talking Point: Where Does The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Fit Into the Zelda Timeline?

smashbrolink

No it doesn't, because the Kokiri wouldn't have a need of transforming into Koroks in order to hide better if Ganon had won but no flood had occurred.
They're children of the forest and basically guardians of the lost woods; they wouldn't need transformation magic that literally changed their race in order to hide.
Also, don't forget that after Ganon wins, the end result of that is that the Gods flood Hyrule to save it.
The Koroks are the direct result of that flood.
So even if Ganon wins, as you say, it still ends with the Kokiri transforming into Koroks.

Re: Talking Point: Where Does The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Fit Into the Zelda Timeline?

smashbrolink

@patbacknitro18 The ending of Spirit Tracks actually has three different endings depending on a dialogue choice you make a little before the end.

He can either go off living his life on the rails, become a guard for Zelda, or just mysteriously disappear in search of further adventures.

I firmly believe that this game could take place from the divergence of the Guard or Adventurer endings, rather than the Train ending.

Re: Talking Point: Where Does The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Fit Into the Zelda Timeline?

smashbrolink

@Jesiah All that remained of Hyrule was merely buried under the waves once more; with time and magic enough, it could have been brought back.

And if not, then who's to say that someone didn't fish Ganondorf's body out of the sea, take the blade out of his statue, and enshrine it somewhere else should it ever be needed again?
Say, in case Ganondorf's spirit survived that impalement and was building power to resurrect?

The Koroks, I feel, are still the decisive evidence that proves this had to have happened after Spirit Tracks.
This Hyrule is the NEW Hyrule, some hundred years after Spirit Tracks so as to explain the huge changes in topography, someone just recovered the Master Sword from the Ganon statue, and Ganon's spirit has somehow survived and is trying to fully resurrect, if it hasn't already.

Re: Talking Point: Where Does The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Fit Into the Zelda Timeline?

smashbrolink

@patbacknitro18 They can't exist in Zelda II because Zelda II takes place in a very different time-line; the circumstances that are required in order for the Koroks to be born don't exist in the Zelda II timeline. They only exist in the WW timeline.
Those conditions, were that the Great Sea was formed, so the Kokiri changed their form to adapt to it, so that they could spread the seeds of the Deku Tree over the ocean, and reform the land once more.

Also, who's to say that there wasn't a reason for Link at the end of Spirit Tracks to take a power nap?
For all we know, another evil showed up that kind of forced him into that position.
The Link from Spirit Tracks was right-handed too, I think.
And if he wasn't, then it could just as easily have been a descendant of that particular Link.
This Link, after all, looks to be a young adult, and a hundred years is a long time to power nap.
There was probably ample time for the ST Link to have a kid and for that kid to grow up, before things went to pot and the kid had to be put into cryo-sleep.

Re: Talking Point: Where Does The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Fit Into the Zelda Timeline?

smashbrolink

@patbacknitro18 It's true that some of the enemies from the WW timeline are in MC, but the Koroks most definitely are not.
And it's the Koroks that form the key to the placement; they're one of the main goodly races, and not one of the very-easily-multiplied, high-population monsters that seem to infest Hyrule whenever trouble is coming closer.
Without some sort of explanation for the Koroks, which are very specifically tied to the events of WW, there's no way for this to have happened after ZII. [don't get me wrong, though; if it wasn't for the Koroks, I'd probably be on your side on this one because I like that theory.]

Also, keep in mind that enemies like Moblins, Bokoblins, and Chuchus have appeared in different Zeldas under different names and forms.
They're not like the Koroks, which are a very specific species; they're just amalgamations of evil that seem to simply exist and evolve with the lands of Hyrule.
But the Koroks aren't like that; they've changed form from the Kokiri, they didn't change form from years and years of aging or anything, they changed form in order to adapt to living on the sea, as the Deku Tree himself explained.

Re: Talking Point: Where Does The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Fit Into the Zelda Timeline?

smashbrolink

@patbacknitro18 But none of that explains the existence of the Koroks, which are specific to WW.

Another theory of mine is that Link DID find that "new Hyrule", and that that's where Spirit Tracks takes place.
But at some point, the land was changed from Ganon somehow reviving [or from his minions gaining enough power to start slowly toppling Hyrule], all of the Spirit Tracks were destroyed, and the Link of that time went into the hibernation chamber to escape things until the time was ripe to oppose Ganon once again.

Re: Talking Point: Where Does The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Fit Into the Zelda Timeline?

smashbrolink

@RedeadLink Ganon took two holy blades through the chest, in TP, and it only turned him to stone in WW.
Also, from what we've seen in TP, Ganon is capable of becoming a somewhat spirit-type of life-form.
It's entirely plausible that Ganon didn't die, from the Master Sword being stabbed into his skull, at least not entirely.
His soul might have vacated his body and fled, or been absorbed into the MS.

Now, hear me out on this one...
Remember that castle where that dark aura was, in the demo?
What if, and again bear with me on this one, there's a preserved Sacred Grove-like area somewhere in that castle's gardens, wherein lies the Master Sword?
Someone could have gone down to the bottom of the sea at some point, retrieved the blade from Ganon's head, and sealed it in a new castle, or retrieved it sometime after the flood waters had receded from Hyrule between, the events of Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks.[or possibly even after Spirit Tracks]
After being sealed in that area, however, Ganon's evil energy weakened it over time, which is why his power has leaked out and covered the castle, and which would explain why the blade is all rusted and chipped and worn.

Re: Poll: Did Nintendo Triumph With The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at E3?

smashbrolink

@Meaty-cheeky That's just it, though; we haven't "known" very much at all about the new Zelda.
Having it mentioned and being shown a couple of teasers isn't anywhere near to being the same thing as the info dump and demonstrations that Nintendo brought this year.
The booth for the game alone was worlds away from anything the other competitors were providing to attendees of E3 to experience.

Re: Poll: Did Nintendo Triumph With The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at E3?

smashbrolink

I think that even though Nintendo didn't have enough games to be the best show of E3, Zelda was most definitely the best game shown.
So much more detail and wonderment and fan interaction was shown for Zelda compared to any other single game the competition brought out, and that was only day 1.

Nintendo's got one heck of a game here, and it'll be criminal if it doesn't earn that "best game of E3" award after how many people it's brought in and sent away with smiles.