Tuesday, January 14, 2014

A Review Between Words

     Me and The Legend of Zelda series has had a strained relationship, it feels over the years I've grown to hate the 3D games more and more yet the 2D games I love.  I wasn't honestly worried about it being bad because it's a 2D Zelda game, I was worried because of all the changes to the core aspects.  Shockingly besides once again playing as a mute nitwit who just hits things with swords because raisins it's a really fun game.  Once again we are playing as Link who as always is sleeping off a massive hang over, shockingly woken up to deliver a sword to the captain of the Hyrule Knights.  As always bad things happens and a princess like person is kidnapped so it's up to Link to steal the sword he was SUPPOSE to deliver and save the princess.
     The story around Link and the good guys is honestly boring, I was more interested in the evil lady  who her only goal was to turn people into paintings and make the world "beautiful".  Wait that's a guy, are you sure?  Ok well the bad guy is cool with the power to put people in paintings, it's very interesting compared to Ganon I have to admit.  After trying to save the princess you are defeated and saved by a weird rabbit man who gives you a bracelet for free rent in your house.  He is bit of a ass honestly given that he does this without a yes or no from Link, but honestly we would have to imply that answer (And deep down we would all take advantage of him).  So once again our young hero treks out to save the princess and loses again and is forced on the wall as a painting.  You know this makes me worry that Link is more of a mindless goon he gets by on pure luck, because it just so happens that bracelet lets you jump in and out of the walls.  This revelation leads us into one of the few changes in this game that defies series staples.

     The core mechanic of this game is wall jumping, Link goes into a wall and can move around said wall with limitations of course.  For some reason light fixtures can hinder my movement making me unable to continue.  But oddly enough Nintendo satisfies one thing people would have tried to do with this power and that's sneak into a women's house while she is changing.  Yet like all weird things instead of calling royal guards she just blows Link....a kiss.  Besides breaking and entering on a whole different level with the Zelda games a new feature introduced is "rent to own" items.  Where instead of going to a dungeon and getting the same tired items you can rent them from the rabbit man who set up shop in your house (My money is on it's a front for Romani Milk).  I honestly like this because I can explore the world out the gate without it saying I didn't get an item in dungeon X provided I can afford it.  Because of this dying causes me to lose my items, so it's on my head giving death a little bit more of a bite.  That is until you break enough pots to own said items which then makes death a minor inconvenience that you can brush off, outside of a number that most likely only you and a few weird people on forums care about.  The last major addition to the game that I love is fast travel and save points.  I love being able to fast travel without having to remember a song to teleport me.  And with these spots being save points it feels more definite, where I don't worry that I didn't really save or not.  But with the more open world nature of the game the dungeons are flat lined in terms of puzzle difficulty, not that dungeons in Zelda games where hard to begin with.  I never cared for the puzzles that involved items, it was the wall puzzles that felt more unique and required more than two brain cells.

"yet like all weird things instead of calling royal guards she just blows Link....a kiss."

     With all these new additions Link finally ends up in Lorule, haha I see what you did there...*sigh*  It's reverse of Hyrule but it's more alive than the version in A Link to the Past, instead of just bandits and petty people it's a true kingdom.  They even have a leader who isn't a deranged power hungry nut job, who craves ultimate power to rule everyone.  The need for the Tri-Force isn't for power more so to protect and restore their own world they ruined trying to protect it.  I honestly felt sorry for the villain and her plight to fix a legacy her ancestors left for her to handle.  She really felt like a queen trying to take charge unlike Zelda who is just there for the most part to be kidnapped.  After Link stumbles into his victory we learn the rabbit seller was no other then Dark Link, who I was waiting to pop up somewhere for me to fight.  Shockingly no, this Link has personality and is more interesting.  He is pretty much a coward who ran instead of fighting, I honestly want to play a game with this version of Link.


     With all the good, I don't honestly seeing myself playing this game again, it doesn't have that hook that makes me want to play it multiple times.  It still follows the 3 dungeons to get master sword and more to piddle around in.  It even has that metaverse from Ocarina of Time the sages you save hang out at.  Adding a hard mode alone isn't enough to get me to explore this world again.  It isn't Minish Cap where it's a world only known to kids and it feels different, or Wind Waker where the ocean feels grand.  A Link Between Worlds "Dark World" feels like the autumn skin of Super Mario World, and that really isn't enough to bring me back.  Take that as you will, I enjoyed my time as a fly on the wall but I don't think I'm going to stay a wall flower for this game.

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