I used to hit a wall with this game ALL THE TIME when I was like 15. Early on I think I just didnt get the advantage or chemist over knights and spent my money on equipment vs potions only to end up getting my ass handed to me by every set of mages.

Thankfully, I am no longer a teenager and was able to beat a lot of this game between subway rides and quickly began to enjoy the rich story and mechanics. I did do a really dumb thing tho and tried to grind for the dark mage class towards the end on my ps1 emulator without realizing it was a War of the Lions exclusive. Spent way too much time grinding and killing enemies to much confusion. But it did make the deep dungeon and final boss pretty easy breezy, and I got to see all of Cloud’s limits by the end. Another classic squaresoft I now fully get the reputation of.

Took me a while for this one, started multiple times on a couple devices. Gotta say I love the beginning half of this game a lot. The art style is enchanting, everyone is so expressive, it’s an original feeling take on the characters, and the expansive sea does evoke such a sense of adventure. The dungeons however… just not my favorite. The escort mission ones really do suck, and at that point in the game travel really does grind to a terribly tedious halt. You quickly tire of playing the ocarina every single time you merely want to change direction, and wish you were soaring or galloping across a huge hyrule map again. Love this game for being a unique experience and it’s cool to see just how many elements Breath of the Wild would later callback to, but it’s just not a too-tier Zelda for me personally.

Finally beat it for good after messing around and exploring and getting-so-far-and-then-losing-the-save so many times since it came out. This play-through had a good run not doing any of the divine beats, completing the whole map by just flying everywhere I want, getting enough hearts for the master sword, grabbing the hylian shield and then rawdogging Gannon. It’s a fun experience fighting all his forms in a boss rush and then getting my ass handed to me in his final form after they wore me down. With the right prep and foods it probably could have been done but I decided to go back and get the full experience. This is an incredible Zelda game and beautiful game in general, and it was very fun this time around to spot all the Wind Waker-isms after playing that one for a bit. I don’t think it’s my personal all-time Zelda, but it’s a damn good game nontheless with a sandbox feel that I’m sure is even greater now in Tears of the Kingdom.