An early 16-bit action RPG with actually functional hit detection and physics? Where using items and magic (with the exception of the medallions) doesn't pause the screen and bring the action to a screeching halt?! Yes please - I wish Secret of Mana / Secret of Evermore took notes from this!
The sense of exploration and discovery is fantastic too - the game drops you in the literal middle of an open world and then nudges you to complete tasks in a somewhat linear order, but it almost always manages to straddle the line between "obvious railroading" and "guide dang it". Supplement this with the large number of minor secrets that don't have anything to do with your main quest but are just waiting to be found, and you have a winner. The world of Hyrule is the perfect size too - sprawling but not overwhelming. The near-perfect sense of exploration plus the decent action elements are enough to make me love this game sans nostalgia goggles, despite its flaws - of which there are quite a few!
I get that it's to be expected from games of this era, but some boss fights and dungeon rooms must have been designed by sadists. Icy floors, moving conveyor belts, darkened rooms, and graphical layers that obscure your view of the action are all present, sometimes in conjunction with each other. And of course Moldorm exists. And while the game is generally forgiving with giving you opportunities to heal, I think having your attacks get stronger as you lose health rather than having a ranged attack that you can only use at full health would make for more compelling gameplay.
Also, the open world works both for and against the game experience. Exploring and discovering new things is a dopamine hit, but backtracking through familiar places fighting the same enemies starts to feel like a chore - not easy enough to switch your brain off (powering through a dungeon you're overleveled for in a JRPG), but not tense enough to feel engaging (Resident Evil remake). I feel like the sense of tedium I sometimes felt when wandering around was linked somewhat to the plot's pacing - the extreme paucity of story beats made me lose momentum at some points, particularly in the game's second act.
As negative as some of the above points sound though, they can be seen as the game being a victim of its own polish. I'd been judging it against other mid-90s RPGs because it looks and feels and sounds like a mid-90s RPG. The fact that this was made so early in the SNES's life cycle blows my mind. This is the first Zelda game I've completed and I'm planning to follow it up with more - and while my impression of this game may evolve once I can view it in the larger context of the series, I can't imagine thinking of this game as anything other than excellent.
The sense of exploration and discovery is fantastic too - the game drops you in the literal middle of an open world and then nudges you to complete tasks in a somewhat linear order, but it almost always manages to straddle the line between "obvious railroading" and "guide dang it". Supplement this with the large number of minor secrets that don't have anything to do with your main quest but are just waiting to be found, and you have a winner. The world of Hyrule is the perfect size too - sprawling but not overwhelming. The near-perfect sense of exploration plus the decent action elements are enough to make me love this game sans nostalgia goggles, despite its flaws - of which there are quite a few!
I get that it's to be expected from games of this era, but some boss fights and dungeon rooms must have been designed by sadists. Icy floors, moving conveyor belts, darkened rooms, and graphical layers that obscure your view of the action are all present, sometimes in conjunction with each other. And of course Moldorm exists. And while the game is generally forgiving with giving you opportunities to heal, I think having your attacks get stronger as you lose health rather than having a ranged attack that you can only use at full health would make for more compelling gameplay.
Also, the open world works both for and against the game experience. Exploring and discovering new things is a dopamine hit, but backtracking through familiar places fighting the same enemies starts to feel like a chore - not easy enough to switch your brain off (powering through a dungeon you're overleveled for in a JRPG), but not tense enough to feel engaging (Resident Evil remake). I feel like the sense of tedium I sometimes felt when wandering around was linked somewhat to the plot's pacing - the extreme paucity of story beats made me lose momentum at some points, particularly in the game's second act.
As negative as some of the above points sound though, they can be seen as the game being a victim of its own polish. I'd been judging it against other mid-90s RPGs because it looks and feels and sounds like a mid-90s RPG. The fact that this was made so early in the SNES's life cycle blows my mind. This is the first Zelda game I've completed and I'm planning to follow it up with more - and while my impression of this game may evolve once I can view it in the larger context of the series, I can't imagine thinking of this game as anything other than excellent.