Ugh. I downloaded The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past off the VC expecting it to be incredible. People praise it so greatly I was almost positive I would love it. Wrong. How can this stinker even hold a candle to Ocarina, Majora's, Wind Waker, or Twilight Princess? There are so many problems with this game:
1) The combat system: This is truly awful. Fighting enemies is so tedious and hard. When you get close enogh to slash an enemy they just charge you. This is made worse by the fact that Link moves like a snail while swinging his sword. And then once you get hit...you FREAKIN TURN INVISIBLE! WTF is up with that?! So you get hit and then you can't see where you are. This leads to the enemy just annihilating you. It's ridiculous
2) The horrible overworld: The map sucks. The world sucks. On the map it's impossible to see if your desired route is blocked by trees and this leads to wandering. Lots of wandering. The freakin trees create mazes that are extremely frustrating to navigate. There are so many other needless obstacles like rocks and poles.
3) It is so uncompelling: Why do I want to druge through this agony? To encounter even more frustrating gameplay and bad story/dialouge? The puzzles are easy; the real challenge is navigating the overworld. And the story is a complete bore. So Link gets a message in a dream and then suddenly rushes off to save the princess (that COULD have been just a dream), putting his own life in danger? And there is absolutely no backstory. You go save the princess and then WOOSH your a hero. You think people would be a little more secrective with revealing the location of the Pendants (or medallions or w/e) and the Master Sword.
A complete waste of money. I should have bought Kid Icarus or Kirby
sk8ter33157
It's been a long while since I played this game, but I'll try to reply intelligently. I think the biggest problem you have with it, though, is you're playing it for the first time in the year 2007...
1) Yes, the combat is more difficult than in 3D Zelda games. Most games back then were harder than games today. When the enemies charge at you, move out of the way and hit them from the side. Or try to shoot them from a distance. As for the turning invisible thing, I'm not 100% what you mean because it's been so long for me, but does Link flash? If so then that was a common thing back in the day. It means you are briefly invincible, so you have a chance to escape an enemy's attacks and not die. If it weren't for that, the combat would be even more difficult!
2) It's an adventure game, man. In the current Zeldas, the map doesn't tell you if the path is blocked by a boulder that you need bombs to blow up, or if a door is going to be locked, or whatever. You don't find out until you get there. This isn't unique to ALttP, it's in every Zelda game. As for the "maze of trees" issue, well, that's how the 2D Zeldas worked. The only reason this has disappeared is because they can't block you path with trees in 3D, since you could just... walk between them. You may get annoyed with the trees, but again, that's just how Zelda games were back then. I, for one, like it. Zelda games are all about exploration. I don't want my map to tell me everything. Go there, discover it for yourself, and you'll gradually find yourself memorizing the lay of the land.
3) Decent stories are a relatively new feature for videogames, honestly. If you think ALttP's story is bad, go play the original Zelda for NES. I think you'd drop dead. But seriously, again, this isn't so much a flaw as a sign of the times. The puzzles, I thought, were pretty good. Some of them. But they obviously can't compare to the complexity of puzzles in three dimensions.
Basically, everything you're complaining about is due to times changing, and expectations rising. You want intuitive, forgiving combat. You want a clear, unobstructed view of where you're going. You want an enthralling story. You want complex puzzles. Essentially, you want a modern game. Well, you aren't going to find any modern games on the Virtual Console. Either appreciate it for what it is (the best Zelda game for its time), or you will be disappointed. That's the best I can explain it.
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