This review contains spoilers
(18 hearts, All items except one obtained (Cane of Byrna))
Wow! This game has aged incredibly well. There's honestly not much to say about this one other than - it's
great. There is still your share of outdated early 2000's era bs, but considering how old the game is, I'm willing
to overlook most of these things. If I got stuck on advancing the main quest, I didn't feel bad looking up what
the next step was since most of the time, you would have to go to one specific point on the map to do something
that doesn't have any indicators or cues, and even once you do it, it's not always clear what you're supposed to
do next. Especially stuff like getting the mega bomb, upgrading your sword to the maximum strength, using your
hookshot across the river in dark world, and using the flute to fast travel to the swamp dungeon off the top of
my head, among other things. Exploring is absolutely mandatory in this game, and main story progression is locked
behind obscure secrets and puzzles. These days, these secrets would lead to optional upgrades and main story items
would be easier to obtain. Is that better game design? Probably, and I think I do prefer it. But despite all of this,
most of these puzzles are suprisingly intuitive now that I'm adult. I remember playing this as a kid and I'm pretty
sure I never even got the Master Sword. Also, coming to a point in the main story that's supposed to be a roadblock
to get a certain item, but I already found that item through exploring is extremely satisfying. I guess what I'm
trying to say is I think things have evolved for the better, but I can appreciate what this game does. I fully
admit that I would be much, much more frustrated with this game if I decided never to use a walkthrough though.
Gaming purists might scoff at me for it, but I don't care. Combat also kinda sucks, but it's fine. I'll give it a
pass because of the limitations of the time. And Ice Palace. All my homies hate Ice Palace. But everything other
than this stuff is superb, with the dungeons being the main highlight. The dungeon design is so expertly crafted,
I can't believe that they were created over 20 years ago. The music, atmosphere, and NPC quests are also great,
and it was awesome seeing all the NPC's that I helped and talked to throughout the game. Kid me, I finally beat
this game for ya.
Wow! This game has aged incredibly well. There's honestly not much to say about this one other than - it's
great. There is still your share of outdated early 2000's era bs, but considering how old the game is, I'm willing
to overlook most of these things. If I got stuck on advancing the main quest, I didn't feel bad looking up what
the next step was since most of the time, you would have to go to one specific point on the map to do something
that doesn't have any indicators or cues, and even once you do it, it's not always clear what you're supposed to
do next. Especially stuff like getting the mega bomb, upgrading your sword to the maximum strength, using your
hookshot across the river in dark world, and using the flute to fast travel to the swamp dungeon off the top of
my head, among other things. Exploring is absolutely mandatory in this game, and main story progression is locked
behind obscure secrets and puzzles. These days, these secrets would lead to optional upgrades and main story items
would be easier to obtain. Is that better game design? Probably, and I think I do prefer it. But despite all of this,
most of these puzzles are suprisingly intuitive now that I'm adult. I remember playing this as a kid and I'm pretty
sure I never even got the Master Sword. Also, coming to a point in the main story that's supposed to be a roadblock
to get a certain item, but I already found that item through exploring is extremely satisfying. I guess what I'm
trying to say is I think things have evolved for the better, but I can appreciate what this game does. I fully
admit that I would be much, much more frustrated with this game if I decided never to use a walkthrough though.
Gaming purists might scoff at me for it, but I don't care. Combat also kinda sucks, but it's fine. I'll give it a
pass because of the limitations of the time. And Ice Palace. All my homies hate Ice Palace. But everything other
than this stuff is superb, with the dungeons being the main highlight. The dungeon design is so expertly crafted,
I can't believe that they were created over 20 years ago. The music, atmosphere, and NPC quests are also great,
and it was awesome seeing all the NPC's that I helped and talked to throughout the game. Kid me, I finally beat
this game for ya.
yeah, i don't know about this one. i feel like i played this one a little too late into my life. to get this out of the way, i understand how impressive and well made this game is for it's time. the influence this game had on almost every game since cannot be understated. i even thought it was funny going through the game and realizing how much this game inspired the binding of isaac. i think my main gripe with this game is the combat. it's just not fun or satisfying, and can be quite annoying at times when you're completely swarmed by enemies. trying to aim your sword in the proper direction on the d-pad just frustrated me quite often. the exploration and design of the world is top tier, however. each dungeon feels unique and navigating both the light world and the dark world can be pretty fun. i died quite a bit playing this game. 60 times to be exact. it was easily the most challenging Zelda game i have ever played. each enemy seems to always hit you for 2-3 hearts, and it's quite easy to get trapped in between some enemies and see your health quickly drop to near zero. this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but did leave me annoyed quite a few times. i really wish i liked this game more than i did. I by no means think this is a bad game, but I do think I prefer nearly every other Zelda game I have played, both 2D and 3D.