(The adjustments to gameplay like the Swift Sail & greatly resuced Triforce shard quest make the game so much better. Seriously I never beat the original game as a kid becasue of the damn shard hunt. Game looks great in HD, and whether you like the bloom or not is up to preference.)

This game is still one of my favorite Zelda entries despite it's glaring flaws. Ironically it's artstyle is what has allowed it's visuals to age so well over the years despite the initial disdain from fans. Gameplay is solid, but unfortunatley the Great Sea as an overworld can be rather lacking compared to the side content in other entries. The Triforce Shard quest is also still as much of a pain as you remember, they definetley had to rush the ending to cover for the dungeons they weren't able to add (the gimped fire & ice dungeons).

Wonderful, superb, outstanding. This game is so good that it would be faster to list my few issues than to state everything great about it, those being the first few hours of the game can feel a bit rocky and that occasionally, the rushed nature of the game shows its head in the places where content was obviously cut (like what would have been the water dungeon.)
Exploration is sublime, on par with BotW imo. Sailing the ocean to fill out your map and discover new islands is just such an incredible feeling. Dungeons are good- far from the series peak in that department, but still good. Story is fantastic. Visuals are charming. I cried at the end. Buy a Wii U just to play this game. I'm serious.

Windwaker is just a fantastic Zelda and a fantastic game. The cel-shaded style fits wonderfully with this version of Hyrule, one that has been drowned in a last-ditch effort against Ganondorf. We see a version of Ganondorf who has just had it with Link, tossing him around and not willing to discredit another little kid in a green tunic, because the last one was a thorn in his side as well. The introduction of the Rito and Koroks who have now both become key to the series, as well as a version of Tingle that doesn't hurt to look at make this game's cast delightful.

The dungeons and bosses are unique and fun, the King of Red Lions is a great companion, and the reveal that he is actually the King of Hyrule was great when I was younger. Tetra is a great follow-up to Sheik, though I will never fully forgive Nintendo for making her white after she turns into Zelda, that just felt odd.

I am shocked we don't have this game on the Switch yet, and I hope one day the Switch or its successor becomes the ultimate home of 3D Zelda's as it has for other series.

Wind Waker é minha primeira experiência com um Zelda completo, onde joguei do começo ao fim, devo dizer que apesar de ter contato prévio com a franquia, esse foi o primeiro que me fisgou e me deixou jogando por um dia inteiro.

Os gráficos são insanamente bonitos e o uso de Cel shading é impecável, a única crítica visual que posso dar é o exagero nas luzes em certas partes do jogo.

Wind Waker possui simples mas ótimas dungeons (tirando aquela do espelho), são simples mas divertidas, os puzzles não são complicados mas por boa parte do jogo elas são satisfatórias por que o jogo te guia perfeitamente nas ideias que tu vai ter ao resolvê-los. Infelizmente esse elogio eu não posso dar para os Bosses, apesar de eu gostar de um ou dois Bosses, a maioria deles são fracos e nem um pouco divertidos, com ênfase na minhocona do deserto, e do Puppet Ganon, que são Bosses frustrantes não por serem difíceis, mas por serem mal executados, e na minhocona vemos o sistema de ZL locking falhar miserávelmente, sendo mais um obstáculo do que um auxílio, apesar disso o visual dos Bosses são interessantes e as arenas lindas, principalmente a última.

O sistema de navegação é divertido e a musiquinha deixa tudo muito melhor, infelizmente perde um pouco o gosto de navegar pelos mares mas Wind Waker HD traz opções para deixar o sistema menos entediante.

85% do jogo é muito divertido, porém tem uma Quest que jogou esse jogo fora das 5 estrelas, que é a quest das 8 shards da triforce, portanto não vou perder meu tempo falando sobre isso pois só de pensar eu fico com vontade de morrer, mas saibam que é INSUPORTÁVEL.

Fora seus erros aqui e ali, Wind Waker é uma experiência memorável e fantástica, personagens legitimamente legais pelo pouco tempo de tela que eles tem, um mundo lindo e um final ótimo, esse jogo é encantador e merece o tempo de qualquer um.

^<>

As much as I want to give this a higher rating due to its charm, there are some elements that really hold it back for me. The bosses aren't that great, sailing is a neat concept that grows stale pretty quickly, and the last third of the game (Triforce Hunt + Ganon's Tower) completely drops the ball and grinds progression to a halt. In terms of the actual "Zelda" aspects of the game, it's lacking. But, the temples are all actually really solid, the art style is iconic and super fun to see, the music is fantastic and my 2nd favorite Zelda soundtrack (behind Majora's), the lore and Ocarina callbacks are surprisingly intriguing and captivating, and the characters are all very sweet and loveable, even ones you don't see very often. The critical half of me and the loving half of me are fighting hard over this game, but in the end, I think the loving half wins just a bit. This game's adorable, man. Even if its adventure aspects are somewhat uneven, the world itself is an absolute delight, and make up for the undercooked parts.