I'm glad I don't have Stan's goal, which is to have a net gain of 1 game, book, and movie each month on the backlog. My goal is simple: at least one exceptionally lengthy thing must be completed per month. And here's the one for April: The Wind Waker. I bought it last summer, then got a GameCube memory card in the fall, and finally snagged a controller a month or so ago- the time finally came to play another Zelda game. Wind Waker switches up the typical Zelda formula in two ways- instead of going for realism, it has cartoony cel-shaded graphics; and rather than taking place in Hyrule, the entire game is spent sailing the seas. I've heard that both of these changes were controversial at the time, but rest easy- I can tell you (seven years later) that both of these changes were extremely well-implemented. The change in scenery led to a greater sense of adventure, and the art was gorgeous. I thought sailing from place to place would get old fast, but at the right time you're given the ability to warp across the map. Sailing was still quite fun, though- there was something kind of calming about watching Link sail the high seas while listening to some great music. The game rarely fell into a pattern too, which is nice seeing as a majority of Zelda games feel like a routine of "do a temple, then go find an item to get into the next temple." In Wind Waker you can do them out of order, or just forget them entirely and go exploring. Unfortunately for me, I'm trying to clear out my gaming backlog so I didn't take much time to explore- I turned to a walkthrough everytime the game would tell me "go exploring for the next thing to do!" Thus a majority of my time playing was spent in the temples. While they were a mixed bag, Wind Waker gave me my definite favorite temple of all- the randomly named Earth Temple, which really seemed more like the Spirit Temple from Ocarina of Time. Link and a bird-girl (like Maximum Ride!) run around directing light with mirrors. It was just great. Wind Waker also delivered another favorite- the final blow to Ganon! I'm going to go ahead and give a spoiler, as most of the Back-Blog crew has played this already- the master sword planted straight down into Ganon's goddamn face! Man that felt good. Perhaps I'll get back to this game someday and have fun with all the sidequests. As Sheridan watched me play yesterday, he couldn't believe how little of a map I had- I think I had mapped 6 of 49 squares. I guess that's what a walk-through will do to you. Either way, I highly recommend a playthrough of Wind Waker if you haven't already. But it's done for me for now. Time for some other video games.
Yeah, for me the lasting memory of Wind Waker isn't a temple or a boss fight. It's the time spent out on the open seas with the wind blowing through your virtual hair as hearty adventure music plays. Now, I can't fault you for your somewhat speedrun - we play to beat the games! - but six mapped out squares? That's impressive, and in a bad way. I remember mapping the full 49 (it was a simpler time) and patterns definitely emerged that gave more of a structure to the game. Glad you enjoyed it though.
ReplyDeleteReally great Maximum Ride reference!
ReplyDeleteAlso, walk throughs are cheating boy-eeeee
Marissa, as someone who has encouraged me to finish backlogging so that I won't bore you for years doing so if we end up living together, I would imagine you'd be much more open to the use of walkthroughs to expedite the process. And, you know, cheat codes, if necessary.
ReplyDeleteFine, I suppose. I understand where they are helpful.
ReplyDeleterosebud.