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Shirley_Temple Blog

Recent post on the topic (and strangely, people agree)

Tell me y everybody thinks that TP is not very good and has no soul or heart. Y? I love it. It's long, fun, beautiful, has good graphics, and has a great story line.

JellyfishMan

Those things don't give a game heart, great writing, excellent pacing, memorable moments, and wonderful characters, all standard in Zelda (except Wind Waker, which didn't have very good pacing near the end) were few and far between in Twilight Princess, was there any boss that made you stop in your tracks and say "wow"?  Was there a bevy of characters that all felt unique, motivated and important?  Was the game paced so that any time something bordered on becoming tedious, the game radically shifted?  Is there a single memorable line in the game that's found in the main quest?  Are the Dungeons set up so as rather than making them lame switch hitting obstacle courses, the puzzles make you think, plan and then execute?

My answer to all of these questions was "no" while playing Twilight Princess, however it was Yes in MM, OOT, and Most of WW.

In fact, I'm going to say something most people DON'T: Twilight Princess isn't Zelda-y enough, the only thing that reminded me I was playing a Zelda, was the mute hero.  Everything else felt like your average adventure hack and slash.

Example:

One Puzzle in Wind Waker, tasked you with filling your bottle with water from a leak in a plugged spring, taking the water to give nourishment to a bomb flower, use the bomb flower to open the spring so that you can then swim across a chasm.  CAN YOU NAME ONE moment like that in TP?  Aside from hitting randomly placed switches, the puzzles in TP went back to olden days of Zelda, like LTTP puzzles put into 3D, sad thing is puzzles like those ONLY work in the top down perspective, because there's only so many ways to interact with the environment.  TP had puzzles like Smash through a wall, or move a cannonball through one room to another, or walk ten feet then put on the iron boots to reach a higher room , what's the point in that? Its not a puzzle, its a fancy elevator, why not just put in stairs?

TP actually feel's closer to something like Lunar Knights, than Wind Waker.

And if you don't know what I'm talking about, go replay all the previous Zelda's in order of release, and then play Lunar Knights.  Look carefully at the design, and you'll see what's missing.

Let's get this over with.

Okay, let me just point out all the flaws I see  in one post so we don't have to do this over and over:

You don't have to be a horse rider to see that Epona's trot is unnatural and robotic, My sister saw me playing once and said "what's wrong with Epona (she played some of Ocarina)?  Did you let her get hurt?"  A good example of what a horse is supposed to look like in a video game are:  SOTC, and the early videos of Twilight Princess, where Epona runs....Like a HORSE.

The average human can tell that TP's animations are pretty poor, look how Link flops like a ragdoll when riding that boar, maybe its appropriate for WW's intentionally goofy moments, but when your escaping a burning Moblin fort in a game that's supposed to be a dark, realistic (yet still fantasy) adventure, it ruins the drama.  There's more drama in Majora's first 5 minutes, then in TP's entirety.

The Plotholes:

Zelda's whereabouts are never even touched upon, She melds with midna, then somehow Ganon captures her at the end of the game.  Zant dies at Midnas hands, yet minutes later, he commits suicide....and his motives are never explained.

The Linearity:

This is what gets me.  The game forces me to spend roughly 5-8 hours just leaving the first village, and every step of the way is NOT my decision.  This is okay for pure action games like Prince of Persia, SOTC, God of War and others, but seeing as how once you leave Kokiri Forest in OOT, your free to visit many many places, and Twilight only allows you to go to ONE place, Kakariko, Ocarina has the better pacing letting the player dawdle if they choose, but closing off enough of the game to entice you to complete the dungeons.  TP forces you to turn into a wolf, to get to the meat of the game, your forced to plod through dungeons that are loosely explained to hold fused shadows...

The Bosses:

Wow, let me rub my temple (no pun intended), this is the topic that spikes my blood pressure, because I expected bosses on par with SOTC in epicness and scope.  Instead I get half assed puzzle bosses.  Fights that are uninteresting, bosses that aren't imposing, and are outclassed by the Minibosses (Ball and Chain, The Frog, etc.) essentially make TP the WORST Zelda in terms of cinematic and dramatic epic fights.  I tried making a music video from Boss fights alone, it was impossible with TP, it looked rinky dink and lame, then I did the same with OOT and it looked epic and badass.

Basically, TP is an incomplete, fan service, Expansion pack.

Okay, the reason I don't like TP, is this,

  The Plot is largely borrowed from a Link to the Past, Agahnim is a wizard whom Ganon possesses to conquer the world of Light, there's also a dark realm which is the inspiration for or directly copied from in TP's twilight.  And Agahnim is trying to force open a link between the dark (originally called the Golden realm before Ganon changed it) world and light.

  Basically, the reason I feel like I played TP ten years ago, is because I did.

TP vs Wind Waker

I've started Playing WW through again to see what went wrong in TP, and I'm seeing little things now that stand out.  For example, keys are displayed right in the corner of the screen in WW, why would TP hide them in teh pause menu?  Then I noticed HUGE things.  Things that almost made it seem like two totally different teams made these games:

Link is more smoothly animated in Wind Waker, every action seems natural as though an artist is drawing the game in real time.  The sword fights are more visceral, and enemies are more imposing not because they're threatening in looks, but the way they're animated give them a harder edge.  Armorghoma and Kalle Demos, are Wowzers of boss fights, the particle effects used when they move is sometimes distractingly stunning, and I'm surprised TP fails to capitalize on this.  The Stallord fight could have had dust particles floating past as Link circled the tower towards him, giving a greater sense of speed, I believe I remember Goht doing this.  But then Stallord has the worst dying animation ever in a game, he looks like he's trying to pretend like he's kicked the bucket, as he herky jerks his way down and then bounces unrealistically (read: awkward for a lifeless skull) across the ground. 

In fact, boss battles in general are more entertaining in Wind Waker, as though little touches like those, gave fights a faster feel to them, and Even though Wind Waker and TP both use Midi tracks, WW has more appropriate pieces, compare WW's goofy Jalhalla (the Ghost boss) who has what sounds like an opium driven background piece, to Twilight Princess's Stallord who's music sometimes even seems to dwindle away to nothing.

Link in WW has more personality, and his cutscenes are more evocative and moving, with WW's story of course you're going to be moved, but the cutscenes explaining the extinction of the Kokiri and Zora people are really touching.  Similarly to how Majora's Mask was primarily a game about Healing, WW seems to be a game about sacrifice, people had to make do and survive as best they could.  I can't seem to nail down what TP is about really, but the closest I can get is a purging of sorts, cleansing.  Which doesn't make for good emotional fare.

But, TP just feels like a 10 year old game in GC graphics.  OoT had better Horse animations, now Link looks like he's impotent thanks to Epona as he bounces around.  Go back and Watch the E3 videos where riding Epona looks more natural for TP.  Link runs with his arms stiff at his sides, not good for building momentum.

Everything about TP feels...Off.  Like, they had the game right but then made little mistakes, or didn't make an extra effort to make the game better.

For those who don't believe me about Zelda.

I'm one of the hardcore LOZ fans let down, anyone who doubts me, here's a story

On the night the Wii was launched, me and a few friends went to Fred Meyer, Projected us Playing LOZ 1 on the side of the building, blaring the theme music from our speakers.  The Wii line cheered and watched us.

I beat TP in 25 hours and 23 minutes.  I spent an hour and a half just fishing.  I have all 4 bottles, all three bomb bags, the hawkeye, and I did the goron springwater sidequest before donating to malo mart.

I know TP inside out, I beat 30 levels of the cave of ordeals before getting bored and returning the game to Freddies.

Okami deserved Game of the Year, but of course didn't get it.  I am sorely dissappointed in TP.