I’m taking a break from refreshing E3 speculation sites to write a blog post. Who cares about new games when we have great old ones we can still enjoy! Well, Twilight Princess is only 6 and a half years old, but it is (kinda) 2 generations ago now. I got this game for my birthday, from my older brother. At the time I was trying to decide between it and Skyward Sword. The contrasts are interesting, but not something I’ll go into here as I’ve developed something of an irrational aversion to that game, for a large amount of small reasons. Having not played it, I also imagine the worst about the experience—a mechanism that helps me cope with not owning and playing every game I lay eyes on. On the other hand, here’s a game I have played: Twilight Princess, and I did enjoy the experience.
Approaching this game as I did probably gave me a very different set of expectations to those players who seized it brand new, full of expectations and concerns about the direction of the franchise and the new hardware that the game had been accommodated to (it was developed for Gamecube originally, then ported to Wii with added motion controls and released simultaneously on both). I mentioned earlier that my first impressions were occuppied with the jagginess of the visuals. That’s one factor of revisiting slightly older games that were still striving for what has arguably been executed better since with more experience. However, it is true that this quickly becomes a non-issue as you play and adjust.
In fact, it’s the most realistic Zelda that exists, as I believe SS went back a bit on the cartooniness spectrum. Not that that’s a bad thing, but being of the generation that reveres Ocarina of Time, the increased fidelity of the world and the detail were very helpful to the immersion factor. I’m sure Miyamoto would say the motion controls helped too.
Since I bring it up, the comparisons with Ocarina of Time are inevitable and apt. I think since its phenomenal success, so groundbreaking and different at the time, subsequent 3D Zeldas have spent perhaps a little too much effort trying to recapture it, and in popular opinion this one most of all. I think though that there is enough to make it unique while being in recognisably the same world, the balance was struck very well here.
Where to start. How about the shipping, get that out of the way. While Wind Waker mercifully avoided it, this game embraces pairing Link up with different gals over the course (again, like OoT). Ilia, Zelda, Midna, oh and Hena too. The ambiguity and the confusion was very well summed up in the final sequence, though. This didn’t carry through too much in the game, though. A very tricky problem, developing relationships in a subtle and effective way through gameplay. I must admit though, I did have a little fun filling in the blanks in my mind. I haven’t made up my mind about it one way or another, which is for the best I think. I prefer not to be a rabid single-minded ship captain.
Now that I think of it, the game did a pretty good job conveying emotions most of the time. They worked hard on the faces to bring that through, and it really helped. There were a lot of memorable characters, like the Resistance for instance. They even had a few scenes actually doing stuff, although to me these brief cutscene-only events only served to highlight how static they were functionally. Still, it’s a step forward.
While playing I was helped by reading stuff on zeldawiki or elsewhere, about connections, small details, or fanservice-type stuff. By which I mean it helped with my appreciation of the world I was inhabiting in this game. Knowing that the Yeti mansion probably belonged to Ashei and her father; or the fact that Fanadi, Agitha, and Telma were references to the Sheikah, Kokiri, and Gerudo races despite those races not being represented much otherwise; these facts had me making connections and thinking about the world when not playing the game, which was fun and good. I thought up backstories both for the absence of those races and the presence of those individuals, for example. I’ll tell you all about it sometime.
As for the game itself, it made a good use of motion controls, I thought. You didn’t often have to be too precise, and I wasn’t resentful of the requirement like so many seem to be. I actually prefer it for aiming, which most of the subweapons required. Oh, with one exception (aside from curse you, ROLLGOOOAAAL!!!): thrusting the nunchuck to shield bash never worked for me, it doesn’t work. I always did the spin attack instead. That made some of the sword techniques seem useless, a factor also contributed to by the difficulty in scoring hits on some of the tougher enemies. Fighting them just wasn’t very fun when you only have one or two techniques you can use. Link’s vast array of equipment he always amasses makes it seem like you might have options, but often they only have specific uses which makes half of them seem like junk most of the time.
So the enemies weren’t that impressive, although I liked the Twilight versions. Dubstep birds, I called those Twilit Kargorocs, because they made unearthly sounds when attacking. It was a cool effect, and the visual effects were cool too. Slight tangent here, the pacing of the whole game was a little strange, with the twilight areas being resolved pretty quickly and then a long time without them, and then… oh I don’t know. And the wolf’s abilities weren’t utilised for a long time so i forgot about them. Well, I’m rambling so let’s talk about one of my favourite aspects: the dungeon design.
Specifically, some of the dungeons were absolutely awesome, a couple were a little bland. I loved that after so many Zelda games that had “X Temple” these ones were very flavourful, tonally internally consistent but not externally consistent and just explored some interesting concepts in ways that made a lot of them seem fresh. Of course, again living up to OoT, the Water dungeon (Lakebed Temple I think it was called) was poorly designed and frustrating. But the Snowpeak Ruins just blew me away. It’s an actual mansion, and there’s Yetis squatting there, and you get the map from the Yeti, and there’s snow coming in through holes in the roof! The presentation really impressed me, it felt so natural. Ok this paragraphs a bit all over the place, let’s start a new one.
No wait, I’m not done gushing. Going through those doors in the ruins of the Temple of Time into the sepia-toned splendour of the ancient Temple was breathtaking. The Hyrule Castle courtyard had a great sense of scale, even if it was annoying to get around. The City in the Sky had chicken men everywhere! Meeting the Gorons in the mines was great! Anyway most of the dungeons were great. Great everything is great!
Oh let’s whiplash back to a huge negative which I’ve mentioned before, the money. I was too often at max Rupees and putting them back into chests. There wasn’t enough to spend them on and they gave you too many in a too-small wallet. Other games since (and even before) have spread out rewards with treasures and other stuff, and more things to buy. I feel like the Magic Armour was added later to suck up some money that you always have. I liked seeking out hidden treasures and stuff but too often the reward was just more Rupees I didn’t need.
Anyway next thing. Oh there’s no more next thing? Wrap up? Ok. Well there’s certainly a lot to say about Twilight Princess, I haven’t even mentioned how cool Midna and Zant are as characters yet (super cool) or how the concept of the Twilight stuff is introduced so well but kind of peters out while you’re collecting Mirror Shards, then jumps right back (part of the pacing thing I mentioned earlier). It’s also interesting to examine it as part of the greater Zelda series, but I don’t feel I have the space to do that any more justice. Suffice to say, overall I feel it’s my favourite Zelda yet. Ok, I say that about a lot of games I finished recently but this game is damn good. It takes lots from Ocarina but also brings in so much new stuff, and it does both of these very well. If you loved Ocarina and let’s face it, everyone does, this is great as a follow-up. Ok that’s enough. TP gets 3/3 Fused Shadows, 4/4 Mirror Shards, and one flustered chicken from me.
I already posted once this week, but some more things cropped up and I just couldn’t wait! Firstly, I beat Twilight Princess. I’ll talk more about that in a bigger post but I will say something about how I finished. I got through the disjointed final boss battle not long before having to leave the house. Consequently I had to pause the Wii (Home button) while the final cutscene was playing. Then I got home too late to watch it, so had to leave the Wii on like that all night. I started it again in the morning but only had a little time before work so had to pause again. So the Wii was on, paused during this cutscene for over 24 hours. I found it amusing. But now that’s done, and I did all the sidequests too so I can move onto something else.
I’ve been forgetting to play Rayman for a few days this week. Well, I made up for it today and also found out the range on the WiiU Gamepad. The big thing was you know, you could play games on the toilet or in bed by carrying this thing away, depending on your house size and walls. Well, those factors in my particular apartment mean it loses connection if I take it to bed. It took me a long time to figure this out, apparently I’ve never tried til now. It got all choppy too.
I have now totally given up on that horrible Rockman Xover. The real final straw was when a sudden prompt splashed up to seemingly get an instant stat increase for premium currency. It’s that awfully cynical game design that makes the game broken and unplayable unless you pony up cash. Not the right way to do the freemium model. But lots of people have talked about that so the important thing to me is that I kicked the habit. Who knows what I’ll do with this freed up time?
Well, one thing I tried was Angry Birds Friends. I’ve played and loved all the Angry Birds iOS apps. There’s lots more web apps and flash versions and stuff but I’ve covered the main bases. Generally, I found Space a big let down but loved Star Wars. The Seasons updates tend to be the best. So this one gives you a small set of levels each week and encourages competition with your Facebook friends. Problem is none of my FB friends play it. The other problem is the friends sidebar and the power-ups menu slam down into your playing area each time you attempt a level, including restarts. This is distracting, obnoxious and gets in the way both of the playing area and of the fast-paced experience of Angry Birds that involves trying again quickly when you mess up. The power-ups thing is a larger problem that has spread through all of the versions of this game: it’s the freemium model again, insidiously trying to suck money from casual gamers. Hey, buy these things to make the game super-easy! Buy some more now! I find it offensive, and it’s becoming so widespread in so many games. DESPAIR
Ah well there’s still cool games that you can just buy and play, like Spirit Tracks. I just beat the Fire Temple, I’m kicking through the plot and saving all the sidequesting for later. Woo!
Oh yeah, I’ll just talk a bit about board games. I’ve been to two separate board game nights in two days. One was unexpected but both were fun. The first one I didn’t know the majority of the people but managed to have a fun game of Dominion with the people I did know. I had vague memories of that from my uni days playing games at the Spot with my Spot friends. That’s where my Milo name really stuck. Good times. Then I played 7 Wonders with the people I didn’t know and managed to win quite well despite it being my first time. Only got those two games in between pizza and going to the wrong end of town initially due to faulty directions.
Second board game night was shorter, a last minute change of plan after some domestic disturbance (misbehaving baby) had left our hosts unprepared for the usual bible study. Also we were down a few people, so we put it off for a week and played Cranium and King of Tokyo. We love Jesus but we also love board games (although this is the first time this has happened, usually we love Jesus more ;) ). Cranium is a normal people’s board game, ie. I’ve played it a lot with my family. Our hosts are the aficianado type though, with the German games and all, but for some reason we went for that and it was fun. Boys vs. Girls. Afterwards, we learnt King of Tokyo which is an odd but fun little game where you play as Kaiju type monsters destroying Tokyo. It was designed by Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic the Gathering, a game I am very familiar with. He’s a good game designer apparently. This one was good too, like Yahtzee but with a ton of mechanics added on. It somehow manages to stay simple and engaging though.
So that was video & board game talk. Hey if Idle Thumbs can get away with talking so much about board games, so can I.
Hi everybody! I’ll get the sad stuff out of the way first: this week my SNES bit the dust. My beloved childhood friend, this dusty old console. It was a little unreliable even then and these past few weeks getting it to start has been touch and go. I figured out to wedge that wedding invitiation in the cartrdige slot to ensure contact, but now, for some reason, it seems to have died entirely. I was booting up Yoshi’s Island in the evening (after playing it a while during the day) to show my wife the Raphael the Raven fight (very memorable), and it just futzed out. On the title screen the sounds started making low groanings and repeated watery sounds. I reset to find that all three save files had been wiped. After that, repeated resets just gave a black screen, freezes on the title screen, or a garbled green mess.
I guess the poor thing’s time has come. I still hadn’t got a chance to play multiplayer Tetris & Dr Mario one last time. I take solace in the knowledge that SNES games are oh so easy to emulate. I think we have that pretty much perfect now, and it also allows you to find the best version of the game from different regions and revisions, and apply mods if need be. There’s no hardware or controller issues either as the control scheme is so simple and digital. I still feel a sense of loss, though.
So what else has been going on? Well, I’m nearly done with Twilight Princess. Yesterday I clocked the Palace of Twilight and the Cave of Ordeals. And I’m powering through Spirit Tracks too. I think there’s some interesting comparisons to be made there. Perhaps later, but for now I will say I like the currency system of Spirit Tracks much better. Finding random different tresures around the world is more fun and satisfying than just rupees everywhere. Especially since I quickly reached the maximum rupees in TP, whereas in ST there’s also a lot to spend them on, with quiver upgrades, heart containers, potions (which I use more often in that game), more minigames, etc. Too often in TP I find myself opening a chest, having to put the rupees back because my wallet’s full, then equipping the Magic Armour for 10 seconds to drain my rupees, because I don’t want to leave unopened chests. That’s not good.
I haven’t played too much else due to a staff retreat that took a lot of my weekend. I tried to play Spirit Tracks on the way there on the bus, but there was so much background noise that the microphone was constantly triggering, and I was up to a bit with heavy microphone use and flute playing. So I had to stop. I’m also reading the first volume of Akira Himekawa’s Ocarina of Time manga adaptation, thanks to an awesome birthday present of the Himekawa manga box set—10 volumes of Zelda manga in English. So great!
I almost wrote weekly update, but I don’t want to commit to any sort of schedule. I played some great games this past week though, so I wanted to talk about them.
Finishing Metroid Prime 3 freed up some console time, but I couldn’t not go straight back to Twilight Princess which I had dropped. Just before the Wii online shutdown was announced, I was really looking forward to doing some fishing, and filling out my fish logbook and Hena’s aquarium. Oh, if I’d only known. Good guides were hard to come by but it didn’t take long at all to get all the commoner fish. I’d already slogged through the trial of Rollgoal to get the frog lure, and I wanted to use that to catch the Hylian Loach rather than resorting to the Sinking Lure. It was one of those situations where I just tried and tried, for over half an hour, then the next day had another go and knocked it over on my third try. Catching the Loach fry with the bobber was then really easy once I found out that they can be found reliably in the Kakariko Graveyard. So all in all it was pretty good, except for the initial long fight with that damn Loach.
Having then completed all the sidequest stuff except the Poes (got all the bugs, sword skills, inventory upgrades, etc) I entered the Cave of Ordeals. Got most of the way through then discovered I arbitrarily needed the Double Clawshot. Frustrating, they should let you attempt it with your skillz and not require the items. So I got on with the plot and went to the City in the Sky. Very cool dungeon, nowhere near the level of the Mansion in my personal esteem though. Having just played MP3, it really reminded me of Skytown, Elysia. Not just the floating city thing but the structure, the Spinner mechanisms, the inhabitants wandering around (in this case chicken people instead of clockwork robots). So yeah, now I have the Mirror of Twilight, I guess I’ll see what the Twilight Realm is like.
To my shock, I realised yesterday that I’d forgotten about Rayman for a couple of days. I guess since I reached the fourth level of Awesomeness, unlocking the Extreme Weekly Challenge (and thus having no content left to unlock) my interest dropped off a bit. It’s still awesomely fun, but by now I’ve identified the types of challeneges they set, and which ones I am super into and which ones are not as interesting. I feel I’ve gotten a great deal out of it, hopefully I can keep playing for a while.
Speaking of games I play continuously, I’m very very close to putting Rockman Xover down again. Almost all of my current rotation of cards are maxed out at level 50, and I’m still almost no closer to beating some bosses. They just introduced a new mechanic that would change the whole way you upgrade cards to get better, meaning a lot of wasted effort and more grinding needed. It’s a good excuse to stop, I think, although I may wait until World 7 is released first (probably won’t be able to beat it).
Also, Doodle God stopped being intuitive when I got a massive amount of elements. Now the only way to play is use a hint and try to do that. It’s valid, I think. I had a go with Tentacle Wars on iOS, it’s a variant of Galcon basically. It was addictive and very fun, until it started just getting too hard. Didn’t take me long to hit my ceiling, but I had to delete it after attempting a level multiple times and the result feeling random.
Speaking of iPhone games, just last night me and Everbloom discovered that (Australians take note) the Bureau of Statistics (ABS) had made a city-planning game that used actual census data. So you pick a postcode, then experience what it’s like to plan new buildings and stuff for the suburb based on the demographics and demand, which are pulled from actual population data. It’s a super-well made game. Like, extremely smooth and professional, looks fantastic. Can’t figure out who made it, if it was internally developed or contracted but man, a lot of companies could learn some lessons from this game. Also it’s fun, it’s educational, and it’s narrated by Shaun Micallef! And it’s free! Good stuff. Oh it’s called Run My Town.
Oh yeah and on the weekend I fired up the Super Nintendo that I’d brought up here. It’s exactly as I remember it, sometimes it just doesn’t start, you blow on the cartridge even though that probably does nothing, you hold it in while you turn it on, it takes a couple tries. I had a quick go with Nigel Mansell’s World Championship Racing, just as boring as ever. Checked my save file on DKC2 was still there, but I’d just played it on VC recently. Actually the first thing I did was went straight to Super BC Kid.
Super BC Kid (AKA Super PC Genjin or Super Bonk… seriously three franchise names for three regions? GAH) was the fourth in Hudson’s popular series that had started in the previous generation. Despite being a mascot for the PC Engine, the little caveman had quickly made the jump to cross-platform as well, appearing on the Famicom and Game Boy. This game was one of the several platformers we had, and I just remembered every level layout perfectly. They were a bit smaller than I remembered actually… My superior gaming skillz got me through much quicker than I ever did in childhood—this game has no save or password function. You have to complete it in one sitting. This marathon nature means we very rarely got to the end back then, either because of dying or parent-enforced stoppage. This time it took me about two hours to clock it, although I pretty much avoided all the bonus stages, as they were unnecessary and slowed down the game (I find this a frequent thing in older games, such as all the Mario ones and DKC1).
I had a blast, the nostalgia and wackiness, the old muscle memory, even some bits I would exclaim “I don’t remember this!”. The second-last boss gave me a particularly bad time, had lots of trouble there. The final one is also an appropriately gruelling test of skill, but didn’t feel as unfair as the second-last. I got through the final platforming challenge super-easily though, with spikes emerging from walls you have to climb, which as a child was very frustration-inducing. It was a great time. The setpieces and settings were really bizarre and entertaining, the type of thing that children just accept but adults go “what??”. So that was cool.
Oh yeah and N was updated after a lot of work to version 2.0 by Metanet Software. During Uni I got a ton of mileage out of that game. The player doesn’t work on my current computer as it’s PPC only and now Macs are all Intel, so I played a fair bit of that. So good, pure platforming and so hard but so satisfying. Yesterday after realising I’d been trying the same level for half an hour, I had to quit though. My hands had all cramped up. Can’t wait for N++ to come out so I can buy it and support those guys. I really enjoy those kinds of games: I got all the way through I Wanna Be The Guy (to my shame, I never beat the Guy), I loved Super Meat Boy except that it kept crashing on my computer, so then I loved Meat Boy until I found my save deleted. Rayman Origins hits that same feel sometimes too, which is great because up til then it was something more indie developers did. Mario is certainly nothing like it (stupid Mario).
Well I think that’s it for now. Hopefully I can wrap up Twilight Princess in the next couple of weeks, and I can get started properly on Spirit Tracks. More Rayman, start Yoshi’s Island on my old SNES, more Run My Town. That’s my plan, we’ll see how that goes. Got a friend hopefully visiting this weekend, I’m planning on a Nintendo Land sesh like I did with my bro. Ok, tata.
