I know this game gets a lots of trash talk because it's so different from the others and the difficulty of it. However, it's not as bad as people think of it. Just to be clear, I do not have any nostalgia for this game and I first beat this game in my 20s.
First of all, graphically, the game is not that bad looking. The background are nice to see, the enemies and bosses looks decent and the world map does his job well.
The story is a continuity of the first one. A bad magician wanted to extract the location of a Triforce piece from Zelda, she didn't tell and he put a curse on her and it's your job to save her. Ganon is dead from the first one and his minions thinks that pouring your blood on his ashes will revive him. It's a bit different from all the save the kidnapped girl stories and have a little bit more depth as well.
The gameplay is where it's the most controversial. Instead of a top down adventure, you play as link in a side scroller adventure ''RPG'' game. So you walk in the world map from dungeons to dungeons until you beat the last boss. When walking in the world map, you can encounter enemies. However, they were able to make it different from other RPGs encounters : you can see them in the map and you can decide to fight them or try to dodge them. In any other RPGs of the time, you simply walk and BAM, random encounter. Also, the encounters are a tiny side scrolling part. Once you leave one of the two edges, you are out of it. Even though sometimes, they are annoying, it's a nice change that they tried to create.
Another controversial part is the level up system. By killing enemies and collecting pouches on the ground, you will gain XP. Once you reach a threshold of XP, you can choose if you want to put it in your attack, magic or life that are available. You can simply skip as well. The reason why you can skip is that every one of the 3 stats requires different number of XP. To be honest, it's a little bit clunkly, but at least you can choose what you want to level up. All other games that I beat since I started my challenge were imposed stats and you didn't have a say in it.
Another thing that is considered frustrating in this game are Game Overs. When you get a Game Over, you lose all XP collected and you restart from the starting point of the game, but with all your gear. Also, to put salt in the wound, Ganon laughs at you. I must admit that losing all your XP is BS, the fact that you start at the beginning is not that bad. The reson is that the map is not that big and once you get the Hammer, shortcuts are unlocked and it's easier to move around the map. Also in the last dungeon of the game, having a Game Over only starts you at the beginning of the last dungeon.
The dungeons are real mazes. It can be really hard to navigate through them, but they are now bigger than the first game. There are some annoying enemies, you can can try to avoid them. Once you complete a dungeon, you gain a free level.
The controls are honestly good since you can jump and attack. You can also choose if you attack high or low, which is nice for that time. The spells that you can cast are also nice as well.
The game is far from perfect, but they tried to add things that no games tried before and I encourage that. The first game that tires to bring new mechanics will never be perfect, but other games can use those mechanics and perfect them. I would recommend this game with save states and a guide to help you to be less frustrated during your first playthrough.
Game #47 of my challenge
First of all, graphically, the game is not that bad looking. The background are nice to see, the enemies and bosses looks decent and the world map does his job well.
The story is a continuity of the first one. A bad magician wanted to extract the location of a Triforce piece from Zelda, she didn't tell and he put a curse on her and it's your job to save her. Ganon is dead from the first one and his minions thinks that pouring your blood on his ashes will revive him. It's a bit different from all the save the kidnapped girl stories and have a little bit more depth as well.
The gameplay is where it's the most controversial. Instead of a top down adventure, you play as link in a side scroller adventure ''RPG'' game. So you walk in the world map from dungeons to dungeons until you beat the last boss. When walking in the world map, you can encounter enemies. However, they were able to make it different from other RPGs encounters : you can see them in the map and you can decide to fight them or try to dodge them. In any other RPGs of the time, you simply walk and BAM, random encounter. Also, the encounters are a tiny side scrolling part. Once you leave one of the two edges, you are out of it. Even though sometimes, they are annoying, it's a nice change that they tried to create.
Another controversial part is the level up system. By killing enemies and collecting pouches on the ground, you will gain XP. Once you reach a threshold of XP, you can choose if you want to put it in your attack, magic or life that are available. You can simply skip as well. The reason why you can skip is that every one of the 3 stats requires different number of XP. To be honest, it's a little bit clunkly, but at least you can choose what you want to level up. All other games that I beat since I started my challenge were imposed stats and you didn't have a say in it.
Another thing that is considered frustrating in this game are Game Overs. When you get a Game Over, you lose all XP collected and you restart from the starting point of the game, but with all your gear. Also, to put salt in the wound, Ganon laughs at you. I must admit that losing all your XP is BS, the fact that you start at the beginning is not that bad. The reson is that the map is not that big and once you get the Hammer, shortcuts are unlocked and it's easier to move around the map. Also in the last dungeon of the game, having a Game Over only starts you at the beginning of the last dungeon.
The dungeons are real mazes. It can be really hard to navigate through them, but they are now bigger than the first game. There are some annoying enemies, you can can try to avoid them. Once you complete a dungeon, you gain a free level.
The controls are honestly good since you can jump and attack. You can also choose if you attack high or low, which is nice for that time. The spells that you can cast are also nice as well.
The game is far from perfect, but they tried to add things that no games tried before and I encourage that. The first game that tires to bring new mechanics will never be perfect, but other games can use those mechanics and perfect them. I would recommend this game with save states and a guide to help you to be less frustrated during your first playthrough.
Game #47 of my challenge