Well, this is going to be the first time I do this
I’m not extremely interested in reviewing video games, but they’re few that I actually would like to review, and in this case, it’s this absolutely under appreciated gem, Wind Waker, after my most recent play through, it has become my favorite Zelda game ever made, now OOT, MM, ALTTP, TP, and all the others I’ve played are fantastic, but wind waker to me is on a whole other level.
So, let me explain why
I guess a good thing to start off with would be the story, we start off on a simple adventure to save Link’s sister after a bird captured her, but things quickly unravel into an absolutely phenomenal tale, with some pretty unexpected twists, fantastic spectacle, a beautiful sense of scope and adventure, and of course, extremely sad emotional moments, but what really makes this story are the characters, now the Zelda series has had its fair share of great characters, and wind waker follows this as well, Medli is absolutely wonderful, she might be the best out of all the new characters, I like her design a lot and she’s really well defined as a character, same with Makar, he’s just so damn cute, Link’s sister is great for the two minutes we see her, other characters like Valoo, the Deku tree, Jabun, all the characters on the islands, the ritos, the other Koroks, you don’t see a lot of these guys, but thanks to their fantastic designs, you can distinguish each character and even their personalities, god there’s just so many, my only real flaw is that I wish we saw a little more personality from a few, like the pirate crew, what little we see is great, but I mostly can only pin down Niko and Gonzo’s personalities, the rest just kinda do nothing, only on my most recent play through did I learn that there was a character named Zuko, he literally doesn’t have a line in the game, the only reason I know his name is thanks to a letter sent by Link’s sister, he literally doesn’t speak, poor pirate named Zuko, he’s got it pretty rough.......buddy (HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA).
Now, with all the minor ones out of the way, now it’s time for the big four, let’s start with pirate turned princess, Tetra
She’s another character we don’t see a lot, but even with just a few scenes, we see a nice arc throughout the game, she’s kind of an asshole at the beginning, but as the game goes on, she starts to sympathize with Link and even help him, with stuff like giving him a head start with the third pearl, or even helping him out with chasing the bird away, hell, Link didn’t even ask or anything, she just did it, it’s clear to see that she actually cares about others, admittedly, when she turned into Zelda I’d thought she’d become generic, but that last cutscene before the final fight is proof that this ain’t the case, she’s just all around great, and I wish we saw more of her.
But what is a Zelda game without a companion, an up to this point they’ve been a little annoying, can’t say anything about minish cap hat, but Navi was extremely irritating, and Tatl was actually decent, but the king of red lions/king daphnes is just so much better, he’s probably the second best only topped by Midna in twilight princess, but anyways, let me explain why this character is phenomenally written.
King of red lions (I’ll just call him KORL from now on) is just so good, his introduction is great, thanks to the two previous titles, you were probably expecting some fairy type companion after link gets picked up by a boat, then you hear a deep voice, then YOUR BOAT TURNS ITS FUCKING HEAD AND TALKS, this shit caught me off guard when I played this for the first time, anyways, KORL doesn’t really do much, in fact he’s not really important until the Jabun part, after that he’s nothing but fantastic, even during those earlier parts, the game hints that he knows more than what you think, Valoo speaks a weird language early on and he says nothing, but once you reach Jabun you realize he understands this language, it’s nice little hints to his big reveal of who he actually is, that being King Daphnes, he feels like actual help unlike Navi, and much like Tatl, he has an effect on the story, but this effect is a much bigger one, this idea would be expanded with Midna in TP, his arc through the game is so satisfying too, he’s a king who’s lost his kingdom and his people, and throughout the game we see him wanting to bring his kingdom, dragging Link and eventually tetra to bring back the old tactics to beat ganon once and for all, but ultimately, at the end, when he finally places his hand on the triforce, he doesn’t wish for the old hyrule to return, he just wishes to wash away the past, and forge a better path for the future, I’ll get too this later, but this final scene with him is so great.
But of course, what’s an adventure tale without an intimidating antagonist, and luckily, the best ganon to date.
Ganondorf in the previous games was always intimidating, but I bet by this point people were getting a little tired of him, especially after Majora’s Mask and how great and refreshing Skull Kid was as an antagonist, so why go back to ganon, he’s intimidating sure, but he’s kinda just a give me power machine, so what could they do to make him something new, well, make him a character, not just a character, one with some actually relatable traits to him, but before I go on with this, how about we have a little comparison with how this game uses Ganon against another Zelda game, I would pick OOT, but 1. That was the first 3D Zelda and they probably didn’t want to step to far out of there comfort zone, and 2. There’s one game that uses him extremely poorly, at least in terms of the story, I’m sorry to fans of this game, but I’m about to shit on Twilight Princess’s endgame.
Ok so basically throughout TP, they set up Zant as the game’s big antagonist, meanwhile they showed Ganon in a total of one god damn cutscene, this would make you think maybe Ganon has some effect on the story, but nothing too big, then you finally reach Zant expecting him
to be the final boss, then he says something about Ganon giving him powers, and I assumed this was the involvement, but then after you beat Zant, it’s fucking revealed that Ganon was the true villain all along and then you just go to hyrule castle and now he’s the main villain and final boss, with barely any setup, imagine if this was someone’s first Zelda, they’d be so fucking confused, it’s just not that greatly, Ganondorf feels more like an add on then someone who’s actually apart of the story, the thing that sucks most is that everything else that’s not the story in this endgame section is fucking fantastic, the whole final dungeon is pretty great, the battle against Ganon is incredible and is easily the longest fight against him, and while a lot of the character designs really sucked in TP, Ganondorf’s didn’t, he looks badass, it’s too bad this badass just shows up to the party when everyone wants to leave, I love twilight princess but I can’t never get attached to this ending part of the story, even if that ending itself is fucking phenomenal, and even more disappointing is that this could’ve worked, just set him up throughout the game more, make his presence known, don’t just shove him in at the last minute.
Now the difference with Wind Waker is that Ganon is an actual character, and actually affects the story, Ganon isn’t just some asshole in this game who wants to kill shit to take over shit, he’s actually got motivation and feels like something.
How do I describe Ganon in this, well, he’s kinda like Thanos in infinity war, on a much smaller scale of course, but still, he’s not a villain motivated by just genocide and taking over the world, it feels like a character who’s doing thing to motivate his own goals, ones of malice and domination, but there a difference here, Ganon thinks what he’s doing is right, he justifies his actions kinda like Thanos, in the end, it’s all for a greater goal for him, plus he’s cunning as hell, probably the most he’s ever been in the entire series, his design is of course fantastic, and that final cutscene before the final battle is just incredible, showing both his calm and cunning side, but I’ll get to that part of the game later.
Now what’s a villain, or companion, or any supporting character without a main protagonist, and Link is of course back, but not just back like normal, he’s back with a new fresh coat of paint and he is extremely expressive.
WW Link is on a whole other level compared to the previous and future incarnations, in the other games, let’s be honest, he’s nothing, he has a few facial differences sometimes, but he’s usually only there so the player can immerse themselves and kinda pretend to be Link, that’s why they give the name system, simply put, in previous and future titles, Link isn’t Link, he’s whatever you name him and pretend to be, but in wind waker, it’s entirely different, there’s not you playing the role of hero who saves everyone, no, you play as a character who’s a hero who saves everyone, but what attributes makes him this, well, firstly he’s a fucking badass and easily destroys the other link’s in bravery and courage, how did the other Link’s become the legends, well, it was their birthright, these fuckers already got all the fancy schmancy stuff and didn’t have to earn it, but WW Link, he got no birthright, he’s given nothing but shit at first, tetra makes fun of him like he’s going to cry in the first part, the townspeople don’t really see him as much, and even KORL says, even after he already bested two dungeons and gotten two pearls, that he’s not the hero of legend, but what does he do in the face of this shit, he doesn’t give a fuck, he works and works, besting everything in his path, oh what’s that, the triforce can’t just be handed over like to the other Link’s before, well fine I’ll assemble the bitch myself, and then he goes and does it, poor Link is pulled through so much shit and sees it through anyways, making him way more badass than any other Link. Secondly, Link in this is just a hell of a lot more expressive, even when he’s taking fucking pictures he can’t help big make faces, he isn’t just completely stoic in every cutscene, he actually interacts with the characters, when he struggles to lift or do things, you can see it on his face, when anything happens to him, whether it be interaction with people or harm done to him, which makes him an actual character, not just a piece of fucking wood.
Hmmm, what was I reviewing again, oh yeah, a video game, all in all, the story is fantastic, and the gameplay is just as much so.
Like all Zelda games, the main gameplay is fun, the first big thing we should talk about is combat, holy hell it’s fun in this game, of course you have all the big main stays like the jump attack and spin attack, but something that’s new in this game is the parry system, one where instead letting an enemy hit your shield the attack, you press A at the right time of an enemy’s attack, it may not sound like much, but it adds a surprisingly new twist to the swordplay, and it makes you feel more like a badass, but it’s not just swords you’ll use in combat, there’s also a huge assortment of items in this game, and this game has some of the absolute biggest improvements of items in these games, biggest example is the boomerang, remember how dog shit the boomerang was in OOT, it was only used for combat and it was kinda terrible, well in this game, it’s got a whole new purpose, not only can you fight with it (and it’s extremely efficient and effective), but you also use it to solve multiple puzzles across the game, it’s just an excellent item all around, and it’s even upgraded even more in twilight princess, all the other items are great too, the grappling hook is so fun to use, the korok leave is also well used, the bow and arrow is fast and efficient, you get what I’m saying, every item is fun to use, and is extremely well designed around the dungeons, puzzles, and bosses.
Speaking of dungeons and bosses, they’re all great, dragon roost cavern is a great first dungeon, it introduces you to the basics of dungeons, plus it breaks the tradition of first dungeon being earth/grass themed, and Gohma is not only a great boss, but also an extremely good twist on OOT’s Gohma fight, forbidden woods is also pretty good and Kalle Demos is a pretty decent battle, the tower of the gods is a pretty fantastic dungeon and Gohdan is, well, it’s hand head boss number 23303993 from Nintendo, forsaken fortress is fun the first time, and the second time is ok, plus helmaroc king is a satisfying boss, finally get to beat the shit out of the big chicken, the earth temple can be a little repetitive, but it’s creepy atmosphere and fun use of the mirror shield is really good though, plus Jalhalla is a really fun boss, the wind temple is probably the weakest one to me, but still pretty fun, Molgera is a boss I both love and hate though, on the one hand I love the use of the hookshot, on the other hand fuck those little snakes in the sand, they always get in the way when I’m trying to deal damage to the boss, and the final dungeon, well, I’ll be getting to that one soon enough.
A brand new addition to this game is the new way you get across the map, instead of simply running or riding on Epona, you sail on the high seas, and I have to be honest, I fucking love this part of the game, seriously, seeing the islands slowly appear in the distance is so good, the sailing is great (when you get the swift sail) it just feels exciting to steer and sail all over the ocean, and it’s all wrapped up in an absolutely beautiful piece of music, not only does it give you a feeling with excitement, but it also puts a sense of fear in you, particularly with the Big-Octos, the giant tornado that just intimidates you, and in rare occasion, the sky goes dark and you see the ghost ship, it makes the sea feel more dangerous, it’s just cool how much stuff they leave open for you to discover, it’s excellent all around, the islands are also pretty fun, Windfall is great, Outset is a nice starting area, Dragon Roost’s theme is incredible, even the little islands leave just that little impact on you.
All in all, wind waker is incredible, but now, we shall finally move onto it’s final few quests.
And as soon as we start we get to the one part of the game that’s pretty mediocre, you know it, I know it, that’s right, it’s the triforce reformation quest, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, MEDIOCRE PART OF AN ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL GAME, WOOOOOOOOOO.
Seriously though, with how great they did everything else, it’s crazy how half of this quest is one big disappointment, now don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate this as much as other people, it’s not even that bad, well, half of it isn’t, let me explain.
The Savage Labyrinth, the two locations here you battle enemies in four of the rooms, and the house maze are actually pretty solid, they’re fun challenges that feel rewarding to complete, the three treasure charts and the ghost ship one though, those are very bad, and one in particular is honestly disappointing as shit.
The three treasure charts are honestly so lazy, and to show you I’m gonna show you what discovering it all is like for a first time player.
After going through the trouble of enemies or a puzzle, you go into the place and play the wind’s requiem, an you go “oh man, I can’t wait to get this triforce piece” then you open the chest and BOOM CHART, then you think “ok, I’ll go to the location on the cha— why’s tingle’s face on this?”
Then you go to tingle’s island, and instead of just maybe doing it for free or even just a little bit of money, he charges you 400 RUPEES to finally get the location and get it from there, it’s dumb, it’s bad, and you have to do it 3 times in the HD version, meanwhile in the original, YOU NEED TO DO IT FOR ALL EIGHT PIECES, what was Nintendo thinking with these.
Anyways, those are bad enough, but they pale in what is (IMO) the most disappointing part of this entire journey, the ghost ship.
Now, this is more of a personal thing, so let me explain my story, two of them in fact, one of the best experiences is the game, and one of its worst.
Let’s start with that first one, so the first time I’m playing blind, trying to find any way to get pieces of heart around the sea, it was after i had beaten the Forbidden Woods and I wanted to look around before I continued more in the story, I believe I was heading towards crescent moon isle, when it started storming, now usually when it started storming at night in Wind Waker, since I was younger, I usually switched it to day cause I was kinda scared, but as I was pulling out the wind waker, a flash of lightning came down and in the distance I saw something, slowly I started moving towards this something, then I saw it fully, the music started playing and in view was the ghost ship, seeing it like this, with no prior knowledge, was one of the best moments I’ve ever had in the Zelda games, it’s a moment I always look back on with joy.
Fast forward to when I get the ghost ship chart, I’m excited to finally head into the thing that scared me so much earlier, what will it be, hopefully a dungeon!!!!
Cut to me about a minute later with a feeling of disappointment and I said out loud “that was it?” I mean, the game showed it early to clearly tease something, but like, why just make it another submarine thing that just has a spooky skin, it’s creatively bankrupt, and this is just my whole problem with the triforce quest, it’s just tedious disappointment.
So I’m going to try and fix it.
So here’s my basic plan, split the triforce into 3 pieces instead of 8, get rid of all the triforce chart shit, but the balance to this is, put these three pieces in harder spots to get to, these three spots are special, put the first one in the savage labyrinth, but put it at the bottom, that way we get as much challenge as possible out of this new quest, keep the second one in the ghost ship, but this time, make the ghost ship a full on dungeon, maybe not as long as the other ones, but seriously, imagine the ideas you could’ve cooked up with a dungeon like this, and the last piece should be a voyage around the ocean, what do I mean? Well have someone maybe give you the triforce chart, it could be anyone, KORL, the grandma, the deku tree, etc., and then you have to go to a bunch of different spots around the ocean, like this first triforce chart leads you to another chart, that leads you to something else, and it all eventually leads up to you finding the last piece, maybe throw in a little mini boss in there to.
They could’ve done so much more with this quest, I mean you could beyond my simple ideas, but unfortunately, Nintendo took the lazy way out with this quest.
Luckily though, this disappointing and mediocre quest ultimately leads to Wind Waker’s endgame, and what a phenomenal way to end the adventure it is, to me, it’s easily the best part of the game.
We start off with heading back to hyrule and then Ganon’s castle, and it’s a pretty good final dungeon, I like all the little puzzles leading up to the boss rematches and how they replicate a little bit of the dungeon they’re based off of, the boss rematches are pretty lazy, and while I don’t really have a problem with facing the first two bosses again, fighting big ghost boy and twinmold 1.5 is kinda lazy considering how recently we just fought them, but they’re fine, then we get to the phantom Ganon section and by god it’s great, taking out phantom ganon multiple times in the same looking rooms is confusing and kinda intimidating in a way, that makes it all the better once you reach the final room and get the light arrows, then you can finally completely destroy Phantom Ganon, it’s a pretty satisfying little puzzle and a nice challenge before the final fight begins.
Finally, after conquering everything and going some decently menacing stairs, you finally come face to face with........Zelda sleepi— OH SHIT GANON, I love this scene, seeing Ganon slowly go from calm and collected to screaming about how the gods destroyed you, it’s really intense honestly, and then one of the most terrifying things in the Zelda series happens, Ganon starts to morph into something, and as he is doing it you can hear his bones crack and stretch and you can hear him scream, it scared me when I played the game originally, then Puppet Ganon is revealed and I nearly shit my pants, this leads to a great fucking boss fights, and also one of the strangest in the entire series, the weird creepy movements and the ways you use the boomerang and the light arrows is very fun.
After that terrifying thing, you think you’re done, but, FUCK ME GANON IS STILL ALIVE, NOW I GOTTA MEET HIM ON A ROOFTOP?!?!?! After that cutscene, you have to climb up a comically long rope, and after a couple more tricks involving the grappling hook, we finally arrive to the final fight.
This leads to the final confrontation with Ganon, and, this cutscene is just fucking fantastic, Ganon telling the story of his people is tragic, you can even see it in his face, it’s not a look of evil, it’s just sorrow, it’s almost tragic, he’s obsessed with getting the triforce back together, to the point that it’s consumed him, you almost start to feel bad for him.
Then he starts beating a child, like literally punching link, it’s almost a little funny.
Then the triforce is finally assembled, and with all three pieces combined there’s nothing stopping Ganon from achieving his goal.
EXCEPT FOR A BOAT KING OF COURSE, KORL comes in and makes a wish before Ganon can even reach the triforce, he wishes for hyrule to finally be washed away, so they can let go of the past, it’s triumphant and an ultimate win for the heroes.
After that, you think Ganon’s got some secret plan, or he’s going to attack, you’re prepared for anything.
But then he starts laughing, laughing maniacally, it’s not a victory laugh, not a pity one, but one of defeat, and one of someone who has absolutely lost their mind.
After the laugh session and a badass cutscene with Link and Zelda teaming up to fight Ganon, the final battle begins, and what a phenomenal final fight it is, what it may lack in difficulty, it makes up for in fun gameplay, fantastic spectacle, a sweeping score, a phenomenal arena, it’s the game’s best boss and one of my favorites of all time.
After the valiant battle, Link does a badass finisher, finally stopping Ganon once and for all (at least for this timeline), then Link and Zelda have their final conversation with KORL, man I love this scene, seeing him express about letting go of hyrule moving onto something new is a great contrast to Ganon, who couldn’t move on from all these hyrule shenanigans, the water finally starts filling in, Link and Zelda are starting to be taken back to the surface, Link reaches for KORL, but he doesn’t reach back, link is taken away, and Rhoam washes away along with his kingdom, and after link and tetra resurface and are picked up by the pirate crew, everyone cheers and after the credits, set out on a new adventure to find the new kingdom, leaving us on a bittersweet, but ultimately satisfying finale to this masterpiece of a game.
Wind Waker is an absolutely phenomenal adventure, from start to finish it’s an extraordinary journey, and it’s one of my favorite games of all time.
I’m not extremely interested in reviewing video games, but they’re few that I actually would like to review, and in this case, it’s this absolutely under appreciated gem, Wind Waker, after my most recent play through, it has become my favorite Zelda game ever made, now OOT, MM, ALTTP, TP, and all the others I’ve played are fantastic, but wind waker to me is on a whole other level.
So, let me explain why
I guess a good thing to start off with would be the story, we start off on a simple adventure to save Link’s sister after a bird captured her, but things quickly unravel into an absolutely phenomenal tale, with some pretty unexpected twists, fantastic spectacle, a beautiful sense of scope and adventure, and of course, extremely sad emotional moments, but what really makes this story are the characters, now the Zelda series has had its fair share of great characters, and wind waker follows this as well, Medli is absolutely wonderful, she might be the best out of all the new characters, I like her design a lot and she’s really well defined as a character, same with Makar, he’s just so damn cute, Link’s sister is great for the two minutes we see her, other characters like Valoo, the Deku tree, Jabun, all the characters on the islands, the ritos, the other Koroks, you don’t see a lot of these guys, but thanks to their fantastic designs, you can distinguish each character and even their personalities, god there’s just so many, my only real flaw is that I wish we saw a little more personality from a few, like the pirate crew, what little we see is great, but I mostly can only pin down Niko and Gonzo’s personalities, the rest just kinda do nothing, only on my most recent play through did I learn that there was a character named Zuko, he literally doesn’t have a line in the game, the only reason I know his name is thanks to a letter sent by Link’s sister, he literally doesn’t speak, poor pirate named Zuko, he’s got it pretty rough.......buddy (HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA).
Now, with all the minor ones out of the way, now it’s time for the big four, let’s start with pirate turned princess, Tetra
She’s another character we don’t see a lot, but even with just a few scenes, we see a nice arc throughout the game, she’s kind of an asshole at the beginning, but as the game goes on, she starts to sympathize with Link and even help him, with stuff like giving him a head start with the third pearl, or even helping him out with chasing the bird away, hell, Link didn’t even ask or anything, she just did it, it’s clear to see that she actually cares about others, admittedly, when she turned into Zelda I’d thought she’d become generic, but that last cutscene before the final fight is proof that this ain’t the case, she’s just all around great, and I wish we saw more of her.
But what is a Zelda game without a companion, an up to this point they’ve been a little annoying, can’t say anything about minish cap hat, but Navi was extremely irritating, and Tatl was actually decent, but the king of red lions/king daphnes is just so much better, he’s probably the second best only topped by Midna in twilight princess, but anyways, let me explain why this character is phenomenally written.
King of red lions (I’ll just call him KORL from now on) is just so good, his introduction is great, thanks to the two previous titles, you were probably expecting some fairy type companion after link gets picked up by a boat, then you hear a deep voice, then YOUR BOAT TURNS ITS FUCKING HEAD AND TALKS, this shit caught me off guard when I played this for the first time, anyways, KORL doesn’t really do much, in fact he’s not really important until the Jabun part, after that he’s nothing but fantastic, even during those earlier parts, the game hints that he knows more than what you think, Valoo speaks a weird language early on and he says nothing, but once you reach Jabun you realize he understands this language, it’s nice little hints to his big reveal of who he actually is, that being King Daphnes, he feels like actual help unlike Navi, and much like Tatl, he has an effect on the story, but this effect is a much bigger one, this idea would be expanded with Midna in TP, his arc through the game is so satisfying too, he’s a king who’s lost his kingdom and his people, and throughout the game we see him wanting to bring his kingdom, dragging Link and eventually tetra to bring back the old tactics to beat ganon once and for all, but ultimately, at the end, when he finally places his hand on the triforce, he doesn’t wish for the old hyrule to return, he just wishes to wash away the past, and forge a better path for the future, I’ll get too this later, but this final scene with him is so great.
But of course, what’s an adventure tale without an intimidating antagonist, and luckily, the best ganon to date.
Ganondorf in the previous games was always intimidating, but I bet by this point people were getting a little tired of him, especially after Majora’s Mask and how great and refreshing Skull Kid was as an antagonist, so why go back to ganon, he’s intimidating sure, but he’s kinda just a give me power machine, so what could they do to make him something new, well, make him a character, not just a character, one with some actually relatable traits to him, but before I go on with this, how about we have a little comparison with how this game uses Ganon against another Zelda game, I would pick OOT, but 1. That was the first 3D Zelda and they probably didn’t want to step to far out of there comfort zone, and 2. There’s one game that uses him extremely poorly, at least in terms of the story, I’m sorry to fans of this game, but I’m about to shit on Twilight Princess’s endgame.
Ok so basically throughout TP, they set up Zant as the game’s big antagonist, meanwhile they showed Ganon in a total of one god damn cutscene, this would make you think maybe Ganon has some effect on the story, but nothing too big, then you finally reach Zant expecting him
to be the final boss, then he says something about Ganon giving him powers, and I assumed this was the involvement, but then after you beat Zant, it’s fucking revealed that Ganon was the true villain all along and then you just go to hyrule castle and now he’s the main villain and final boss, with barely any setup, imagine if this was someone’s first Zelda, they’d be so fucking confused, it’s just not that greatly, Ganondorf feels more like an add on then someone who’s actually apart of the story, the thing that sucks most is that everything else that’s not the story in this endgame section is fucking fantastic, the whole final dungeon is pretty great, the battle against Ganon is incredible and is easily the longest fight against him, and while a lot of the character designs really sucked in TP, Ganondorf’s didn’t, he looks badass, it’s too bad this badass just shows up to the party when everyone wants to leave, I love twilight princess but I can’t never get attached to this ending part of the story, even if that ending itself is fucking phenomenal, and even more disappointing is that this could’ve worked, just set him up throughout the game more, make his presence known, don’t just shove him in at the last minute.
Now the difference with Wind Waker is that Ganon is an actual character, and actually affects the story, Ganon isn’t just some asshole in this game who wants to kill shit to take over shit, he’s actually got motivation and feels like something.
How do I describe Ganon in this, well, he’s kinda like Thanos in infinity war, on a much smaller scale of course, but still, he’s not a villain motivated by just genocide and taking over the world, it feels like a character who’s doing thing to motivate his own goals, ones of malice and domination, but there a difference here, Ganon thinks what he’s doing is right, he justifies his actions kinda like Thanos, in the end, it’s all for a greater goal for him, plus he’s cunning as hell, probably the most he’s ever been in the entire series, his design is of course fantastic, and that final cutscene before the final battle is just incredible, showing both his calm and cunning side, but I’ll get to that part of the game later.
Now what’s a villain, or companion, or any supporting character without a main protagonist, and Link is of course back, but not just back like normal, he’s back with a new fresh coat of paint and he is extremely expressive.
WW Link is on a whole other level compared to the previous and future incarnations, in the other games, let’s be honest, he’s nothing, he has a few facial differences sometimes, but he’s usually only there so the player can immerse themselves and kinda pretend to be Link, that’s why they give the name system, simply put, in previous and future titles, Link isn’t Link, he’s whatever you name him and pretend to be, but in wind waker, it’s entirely different, there’s not you playing the role of hero who saves everyone, no, you play as a character who’s a hero who saves everyone, but what attributes makes him this, well, firstly he’s a fucking badass and easily destroys the other link’s in bravery and courage, how did the other Link’s become the legends, well, it was their birthright, these fuckers already got all the fancy schmancy stuff and didn’t have to earn it, but WW Link, he got no birthright, he’s given nothing but shit at first, tetra makes fun of him like he’s going to cry in the first part, the townspeople don’t really see him as much, and even KORL says, even after he already bested two dungeons and gotten two pearls, that he’s not the hero of legend, but what does he do in the face of this shit, he doesn’t give a fuck, he works and works, besting everything in his path, oh what’s that, the triforce can’t just be handed over like to the other Link’s before, well fine I’ll assemble the bitch myself, and then he goes and does it, poor Link is pulled through so much shit and sees it through anyways, making him way more badass than any other Link. Secondly, Link in this is just a hell of a lot more expressive, even when he’s taking fucking pictures he can’t help big make faces, he isn’t just completely stoic in every cutscene, he actually interacts with the characters, when he struggles to lift or do things, you can see it on his face, when anything happens to him, whether it be interaction with people or harm done to him, which makes him an actual character, not just a piece of fucking wood.
Hmmm, what was I reviewing again, oh yeah, a video game, all in all, the story is fantastic, and the gameplay is just as much so.
Like all Zelda games, the main gameplay is fun, the first big thing we should talk about is combat, holy hell it’s fun in this game, of course you have all the big main stays like the jump attack and spin attack, but something that’s new in this game is the parry system, one where instead letting an enemy hit your shield the attack, you press A at the right time of an enemy’s attack, it may not sound like much, but it adds a surprisingly new twist to the swordplay, and it makes you feel more like a badass, but it’s not just swords you’ll use in combat, there’s also a huge assortment of items in this game, and this game has some of the absolute biggest improvements of items in these games, biggest example is the boomerang, remember how dog shit the boomerang was in OOT, it was only used for combat and it was kinda terrible, well in this game, it’s got a whole new purpose, not only can you fight with it (and it’s extremely efficient and effective), but you also use it to solve multiple puzzles across the game, it’s just an excellent item all around, and it’s even upgraded even more in twilight princess, all the other items are great too, the grappling hook is so fun to use, the korok leave is also well used, the bow and arrow is fast and efficient, you get what I’m saying, every item is fun to use, and is extremely well designed around the dungeons, puzzles, and bosses.
Speaking of dungeons and bosses, they’re all great, dragon roost cavern is a great first dungeon, it introduces you to the basics of dungeons, plus it breaks the tradition of first dungeon being earth/grass themed, and Gohma is not only a great boss, but also an extremely good twist on OOT’s Gohma fight, forbidden woods is also pretty good and Kalle Demos is a pretty decent battle, the tower of the gods is a pretty fantastic dungeon and Gohdan is, well, it’s hand head boss number 23303993 from Nintendo, forsaken fortress is fun the first time, and the second time is ok, plus helmaroc king is a satisfying boss, finally get to beat the shit out of the big chicken, the earth temple can be a little repetitive, but it’s creepy atmosphere and fun use of the mirror shield is really good though, plus Jalhalla is a really fun boss, the wind temple is probably the weakest one to me, but still pretty fun, Molgera is a boss I both love and hate though, on the one hand I love the use of the hookshot, on the other hand fuck those little snakes in the sand, they always get in the way when I’m trying to deal damage to the boss, and the final dungeon, well, I’ll be getting to that one soon enough.
A brand new addition to this game is the new way you get across the map, instead of simply running or riding on Epona, you sail on the high seas, and I have to be honest, I fucking love this part of the game, seriously, seeing the islands slowly appear in the distance is so good, the sailing is great (when you get the swift sail) it just feels exciting to steer and sail all over the ocean, and it’s all wrapped up in an absolutely beautiful piece of music, not only does it give you a feeling with excitement, but it also puts a sense of fear in you, particularly with the Big-Octos, the giant tornado that just intimidates you, and in rare occasion, the sky goes dark and you see the ghost ship, it makes the sea feel more dangerous, it’s just cool how much stuff they leave open for you to discover, it’s excellent all around, the islands are also pretty fun, Windfall is great, Outset is a nice starting area, Dragon Roost’s theme is incredible, even the little islands leave just that little impact on you.
All in all, wind waker is incredible, but now, we shall finally move onto it’s final few quests.
And as soon as we start we get to the one part of the game that’s pretty mediocre, you know it, I know it, that’s right, it’s the triforce reformation quest, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, MEDIOCRE PART OF AN ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL GAME, WOOOOOOOOOO.
Seriously though, with how great they did everything else, it’s crazy how half of this quest is one big disappointment, now don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate this as much as other people, it’s not even that bad, well, half of it isn’t, let me explain.
The Savage Labyrinth, the two locations here you battle enemies in four of the rooms, and the house maze are actually pretty solid, they’re fun challenges that feel rewarding to complete, the three treasure charts and the ghost ship one though, those are very bad, and one in particular is honestly disappointing as shit.
The three treasure charts are honestly so lazy, and to show you I’m gonna show you what discovering it all is like for a first time player.
After going through the trouble of enemies or a puzzle, you go into the place and play the wind’s requiem, an you go “oh man, I can’t wait to get this triforce piece” then you open the chest and BOOM CHART, then you think “ok, I’ll go to the location on the cha— why’s tingle’s face on this?”
Then you go to tingle’s island, and instead of just maybe doing it for free or even just a little bit of money, he charges you 400 RUPEES to finally get the location and get it from there, it’s dumb, it’s bad, and you have to do it 3 times in the HD version, meanwhile in the original, YOU NEED TO DO IT FOR ALL EIGHT PIECES, what was Nintendo thinking with these.
Anyways, those are bad enough, but they pale in what is (IMO) the most disappointing part of this entire journey, the ghost ship.
Now, this is more of a personal thing, so let me explain my story, two of them in fact, one of the best experiences is the game, and one of its worst.
Let’s start with that first one, so the first time I’m playing blind, trying to find any way to get pieces of heart around the sea, it was after i had beaten the Forbidden Woods and I wanted to look around before I continued more in the story, I believe I was heading towards crescent moon isle, when it started storming, now usually when it started storming at night in Wind Waker, since I was younger, I usually switched it to day cause I was kinda scared, but as I was pulling out the wind waker, a flash of lightning came down and in the distance I saw something, slowly I started moving towards this something, then I saw it fully, the music started playing and in view was the ghost ship, seeing it like this, with no prior knowledge, was one of the best moments I’ve ever had in the Zelda games, it’s a moment I always look back on with joy.
Fast forward to when I get the ghost ship chart, I’m excited to finally head into the thing that scared me so much earlier, what will it be, hopefully a dungeon!!!!
Cut to me about a minute later with a feeling of disappointment and I said out loud “that was it?” I mean, the game showed it early to clearly tease something, but like, why just make it another submarine thing that just has a spooky skin, it’s creatively bankrupt, and this is just my whole problem with the triforce quest, it’s just tedious disappointment.
So I’m going to try and fix it.
So here’s my basic plan, split the triforce into 3 pieces instead of 8, get rid of all the triforce chart shit, but the balance to this is, put these three pieces in harder spots to get to, these three spots are special, put the first one in the savage labyrinth, but put it at the bottom, that way we get as much challenge as possible out of this new quest, keep the second one in the ghost ship, but this time, make the ghost ship a full on dungeon, maybe not as long as the other ones, but seriously, imagine the ideas you could’ve cooked up with a dungeon like this, and the last piece should be a voyage around the ocean, what do I mean? Well have someone maybe give you the triforce chart, it could be anyone, KORL, the grandma, the deku tree, etc., and then you have to go to a bunch of different spots around the ocean, like this first triforce chart leads you to another chart, that leads you to something else, and it all eventually leads up to you finding the last piece, maybe throw in a little mini boss in there to.
They could’ve done so much more with this quest, I mean you could beyond my simple ideas, but unfortunately, Nintendo took the lazy way out with this quest.
Luckily though, this disappointing and mediocre quest ultimately leads to Wind Waker’s endgame, and what a phenomenal way to end the adventure it is, to me, it’s easily the best part of the game.
We start off with heading back to hyrule and then Ganon’s castle, and it’s a pretty good final dungeon, I like all the little puzzles leading up to the boss rematches and how they replicate a little bit of the dungeon they’re based off of, the boss rematches are pretty lazy, and while I don’t really have a problem with facing the first two bosses again, fighting big ghost boy and twinmold 1.5 is kinda lazy considering how recently we just fought them, but they’re fine, then we get to the phantom Ganon section and by god it’s great, taking out phantom ganon multiple times in the same looking rooms is confusing and kinda intimidating in a way, that makes it all the better once you reach the final room and get the light arrows, then you can finally completely destroy Phantom Ganon, it’s a pretty satisfying little puzzle and a nice challenge before the final fight begins.
Finally, after conquering everything and going some decently menacing stairs, you finally come face to face with........Zelda sleepi— OH SHIT GANON, I love this scene, seeing Ganon slowly go from calm and collected to screaming about how the gods destroyed you, it’s really intense honestly, and then one of the most terrifying things in the Zelda series happens, Ganon starts to morph into something, and as he is doing it you can hear his bones crack and stretch and you can hear him scream, it scared me when I played the game originally, then Puppet Ganon is revealed and I nearly shit my pants, this leads to a great fucking boss fights, and also one of the strangest in the entire series, the weird creepy movements and the ways you use the boomerang and the light arrows is very fun.
After that terrifying thing, you think you’re done, but, FUCK ME GANON IS STILL ALIVE, NOW I GOTTA MEET HIM ON A ROOFTOP?!?!?! After that cutscene, you have to climb up a comically long rope, and after a couple more tricks involving the grappling hook, we finally arrive to the final fight.
This leads to the final confrontation with Ganon, and, this cutscene is just fucking fantastic, Ganon telling the story of his people is tragic, you can even see it in his face, it’s not a look of evil, it’s just sorrow, it’s almost tragic, he’s obsessed with getting the triforce back together, to the point that it’s consumed him, you almost start to feel bad for him.
Then he starts beating a child, like literally punching link, it’s almost a little funny.
Then the triforce is finally assembled, and with all three pieces combined there’s nothing stopping Ganon from achieving his goal.
EXCEPT FOR A BOAT KING OF COURSE, KORL comes in and makes a wish before Ganon can even reach the triforce, he wishes for hyrule to finally be washed away, so they can let go of the past, it’s triumphant and an ultimate win for the heroes.
After that, you think Ganon’s got some secret plan, or he’s going to attack, you’re prepared for anything.
But then he starts laughing, laughing maniacally, it’s not a victory laugh, not a pity one, but one of defeat, and one of someone who has absolutely lost their mind.
After the laugh session and a badass cutscene with Link and Zelda teaming up to fight Ganon, the final battle begins, and what a phenomenal final fight it is, what it may lack in difficulty, it makes up for in fun gameplay, fantastic spectacle, a sweeping score, a phenomenal arena, it’s the game’s best boss and one of my favorites of all time.
After the valiant battle, Link does a badass finisher, finally stopping Ganon once and for all (at least for this timeline), then Link and Zelda have their final conversation with KORL, man I love this scene, seeing him express about letting go of hyrule moving onto something new is a great contrast to Ganon, who couldn’t move on from all these hyrule shenanigans, the water finally starts filling in, Link and Zelda are starting to be taken back to the surface, Link reaches for KORL, but he doesn’t reach back, link is taken away, and Rhoam washes away along with his kingdom, and after link and tetra resurface and are picked up by the pirate crew, everyone cheers and after the credits, set out on a new adventure to find the new kingdom, leaving us on a bittersweet, but ultimately satisfying finale to this masterpiece of a game.
Wind Waker is an absolutely phenomenal adventure, from start to finish it’s an extraordinary journey, and it’s one of my favorite games of all time.