Zelda used to be... an "elite" series. EVERYONE of even the slightest intelligence, no matter how much of a fanboy they were, whether they liked the series or not, at least respected the series for the master piece it was. The Zelda games were always amazing, always brought wonderful new things to the table.

The decline started with the Oracles, in my humble opinion. Not to say the Oracles are bad games, no... just that they were lacking certain qualities. They never felt much like Zelda to me. They lacked that special Zelda magic that had always been there, previously. They seemed like a fan imitation, really. A fan imitation with a large budget, but still a fan imitation.

It also signalled that Nintendo was willing to cheapify the series. Once, the thought of Nintendo farming out their best series to other developers, just to save time and money, would have shocked and horrified the whole industry. It still horrifies me. The fact that they had Capcom making TWO at once was even worse.

And Aonuma. Eh. I don't like him. I don't like his "lets destroy Hyrule so we can make a brand new world that will be my creation!" attitude. I don't like Miyamoto distancing himself from the series so much.

I don't like having so many games, so quickly. I don't like that they don't take much time anymore. Ocarina of Time took... what? 5 years? What happened to that? Now they're just rushed. Loo at the Wing Waker, if you need proof.

Now, despite the fact that I have enjoyed Four Sword, and will undoubtedly enjoy Four Swords Adventure... I don't like it either. It is another sign... a sign that Nintendo is willing to turn Zelda in another Mario... instead of an epic, untouchably amazing franchise, it is just another mascot, one with party games and spinoffs. The quality of these party games and spinoffs is irrelevant.

Finally, I don't like what they've done to the atmosphere of the series. Now, let me put this straight first... I love the celshading present in tWW. I also really love the LttP graphics in FSA.

However, I HATE what they've done to Link. I hate the design they've been using in tWW. I hate the design in the two FS swords. I even hate the FS art, because it is tainted by this new Link.

They also subtley changed how they're doing things... to use a friend's example, it's much like Disney. They went from amazing products that may seem, on the surface, designed for kids, but in actuality are amazing experiences for adults as well (Lion King and aLttP, anyone?)... to one that seem childish on the exterior, AND are beginning to be that way all the way through (Treasure Planet?), with touches like adding child Link's annoying little shrieks to the LttP rerelease for the GBA. God, I HATED those. They practically ruined the best game of all time.

Plus, there's this sudden interest in completely and totally removing any and all difficulty from the games.


Meh. Enough of my complaints. Perhaps it is just me clinging to my love of the series, or just blind fanboyism, but I still love all the games, even tWW, and will continue to buy every Zelda game in the forseeable future.

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Awards:
Voted Best Zelda Theorist twice.
Voted Most Knowledgable Zelda fan at ZU six times.
Voted Most Zelda Obsessed six times.