MYK1217's WIND WAKER review.

I want to take the attention off Twilight Princess and discuss one of all-time favorites, Zelda: Wind Waker.

This game was super fun. For me, this was the second most replayable game of the series, with the first being Ocarina of Time. I could play this game forever if I had the technology to do so.

I'm just doing a simple pros vs cons review. Gonna try to make it easy to read.

PROS:

1. Storyline. I really liked how it made Hyrule into the Lost City of Atlantis, basically. Having the events of Ocarina of Time feel like an ancient legend worked really well in this game. And I liked how everything led up to Ganondorf's role in the game. Yeah, we're tired of the G-Man now. But I was happy to see him back in WW. His role in the story made sense.

I was really into the story from the start. When Aryll (excuse the spelling if it's wrong) was kidnapped by the Helmeroc King and taken to the Forsaken Fortress, I was wondering, "Why does that bird want her?" When I noticed all sorts of blonde girls captured in that cage, I was wondering why they were all blonde girls. Then Ganondorf reveals Tetra to be Zelda and everything made sense to me.

Though the games have done this before, where Zelda's identity is hidden in some other person, I just liked how it was done here. (Also liked the way it was done in OOT) To be surprised twice by this kind of thing was impressive. I wonder if Nintendo can fool me again.

Anyways, I also liked how Link is drawn into become the hero. He first has to save his sister, then he finds out that he is the Hero of Winds and must defeat Ganon.

It was an easy-to-follow storyline that I thought was very well done. In fact, I thought it was the best storyline of all of the Zelda games.

2. Exploration. Okay, this goes hand-in-hand with one of my cons, the sailing, which I'll write about later. But though the sailing was rediculously boring, I liked being able to explore the overworld in this game. It was great going to each square on the map and discovering what island lies there and what lies on that island. It came really close to that old exploration style of the original LoZ.

3. Graphics. It's funny how this was a major turn-off to most fans when trailers for this game were being shown. I remember some people thought this was a joke and even said they were not going to buy the game (even though they did anyways).

Well, it turns out that the odd new look was beautiful and highly praised. And there were games that followed in Wind Waker's path by making their graphics cel-shaded. I hope this isn't the last 3D Zelda that has cel-shaded graphics (DS Zeldas are technically not 3D; plus, it's ugly on the DS).

4. Side quests. You can find a side quest almost anywhere in this game. Windfall Island, in particular, had alot of side quests. I really don't have much else to say about this, except this was a large reason why I could play this game forever.

5. Dungeons. This is no surprise. To me, the dungeons are what make Zelda games, so it'd be a shame if this was on the con list for any Zelda game. These dungeons again gave me that satisfying feeling of solving puzzles and progressing my way to the boss. Not much else to say. It's a Zelda game. This is the specialty of the series, IMO. WW did not disappoint.

6. Music. The Zelda series overall has fantastic music and this one has one of the better scores of the series. The Great Sea music was outstanding. It actually is THE REASON I have music as a PRO in this game. And the cursed version with the Ganondorf theme was great too. Dragon Roost Island is also a favorite of mine. However, there is a con related to the music, so stay tuned.

CONS:

1. Sailing was boring. I just want to get this one out of the way because this was probably the most complained about aspect of WW and I don't want to beat a dead horse, so I'll make it quick.

I was fine with the idea of sailing for a change. But if you're going to make us sail forever to get around the Great Sea at least give us something to do while we're sailing. Now, there were times when enemies attacked you while you were sailing, which was fine. But why couldn't it happen more often. Why couldn't there be more obstacles, like in Phantom Hourglass's Great Sea? Even the thing where the barrells pop up with rupees over them, why couldn't we have that more often? Just give us SOMETHING to do while we're sailing!

2. Wind directing. I feel bad to including this, because it was an interesting idea. But I can't help it. Sometimes it wasn't a problem, but other times it was just so freaking annoying. For instance, when you're trying to round an island for whatever reason, you're constantly changing the wind to get around. I guess that's the only time it got annoying, so you can call this more of a nitpick. But I felt like I needed to mention it.

3. The bosses. The boss battles felt too straightforward and seemed pretty uncreative. I knew exactly what to do on each one. I like having to think when I'm battling a boss.

4. Not enough music. Yes, I said I liked the musical score; however, I didn't think there was enough of it. What was a real shame was when there was NO MUSIC when you were on an island that wasn't a major island. Again, you can call this a nitpick. I think it's a legit complaint. Show off what Koji Kondo can do.

5. What's with the skipped dungeon? Honestly, this can be debated. It's been debated. I know a Water Temple probably was unlikely in this game because Link could only swim for a short amount of time and couldn't even dive under the water. But then again, it didn't have to be a Water Temple; I would have preferred for it not to be. I just thought they could have had something more than just blowing up a wall in order to get that third pearl.

And just to add onto this, I thought there could have been a few more dungeons overall. I mean, why the heck not?


And that's really it. Overall, I loved this game to death. If I had my Wii here (I'm at college w/o my Wii) I'd so be playing WW right now after just writing this review. It certainly has its flaws, but it also has so much going for it. Wind Waker was one of the most addicting games that I have ever played.

If I were to score it out of 10, I'd give it an 8 out of 10.

Hope you enjoyed reading; looking forward to your comments. I really haven't heard as much about what you folks think about this game because there's so much bickering going on about Twilight Princess. So I thought I'd put WW in the spotlight for this thread.

This thread won't go far until someone mentions Twilight Princess.

I think The Wind Waker is a great game. A couple of days ago I was so sick that my temperature was at 103. While I was real dizzy I wanted to play TWW. It was an odd craving, but the bright colors and siezure ridden lights of the TV made me reconsider.

I just thought it was odd that my, almost acid trip moment made me want to play TWW. I still want to start a new file, I'm just not sure If I'd be willing to go through with it. I'm very busy. I have a bad tendency to play TWW in fragments instead of all the way through like I would with other Zeldas.

Originally Posted by Zeldablue777

This thread won't go far until someone mentions Twilight Princess.

I think The Wind Waker is a great game. A couple of days ago I was so sick that my temperature was at 103. While I was real dizzy I wanted to play TWW. It was an odd craving, but the bright colors and siezure ridden lights of the TV made me reconsider.

I just thought it was odd that my, almost acid trip moment made me want to play TWW. I still want to start a new file, I'm just not sure If I'd be willing to go through with it. I'm very busy. I have a bad tendency to play TWW in fragments instead of all the way through like I would with other Zeldas.

That reminds me... Wind Waker was the only Zelda game I've played straight through from beginning to end in one sitting. I even did some sidequests in that sitting. And I was wiped out after I was done. I must say that was one of the most memorable days of my life. Nothing like going on a beginning to end marathon with anything; a book, a film trilogy (did it with the LotR trilogy), a video game.

Lol. I've only done that with OoT and TP. Just me and my friends, cracking jokes and screwing around while going through Zelda beginning to end.

I actaully have to use breaks between TWW, because...the graphics are harsh on the eyes. @_@ And my friends simply don't like Wind Waker...at all. They basically just walk in and then immediently turn around unless I stop playing. xD

I must be weird because I loved sailing. It didn't feel boring to me at all. Something about traveling the Great Sea with the epic music playing and the seagulls flying around me made me feel great. I never got tired of it; I consider that a plus for the game because it drew me in so much that I didn't care. Sometimes I'd volunteer to sail instead of using a cyclone. Call me crazy. I just like a sense of adventure and wilderness in my games. The Great Sea felt like a vast mystery, beckoning me to explore every nook and cranny.

I don't think your gripe about the smaller islands not having music is very legit. When an island didn't have it's own music, that's when you knew it was somewhat secret. Also for something so small to have music would feel unnatural. The islands were small, meant to be more like pit stops; to have the music stop and change would feel a little clumsy. That being said, I don't think there was a lack of music. Each important island, dungeon, boss, and character had a theme. That'll do it for me; the music was adequate.

Also, for you to "love this game to death" and want to "play it forever"... an 8 out of 10 sounds like an understatement. Are you sure that's what you give it?

The other islands have no trouble transitioning from Great Sea to...whatever. Compared to the rest of the soundtrack, I really didn't like the Great Sea's music. I remember being on Dragon Roost...and slowly....slowly moving away because I didn't want the song to change. :U

I have to be in the right mood in order to want to sail. It's usually a "sigh, let's get this over with" type of thing. Since I have more fun on the main islands, all the "bonus" islands are just...meh in comparison. I like finding them, but I'm usually off of the island not even 10 minutes after finding it. I wish they had actually done more with those islands instead of making the illusion of content filled landmasses. Before TWW came out they promised some of the islands would be really big...and they weren't.

Then I saw Hyrule and thought I could explore all of it...Geez, then I was introduced to the invisible wall. I was so upset.

Originally Posted by Earth

I must be weird because I loved sailing. It didn't feel boring to me at all. Something about traveling the Great Sea with the epic music playing and the seagulls flying around me made me feel great. I never got tired of it; I consider that a plus for the game because it drew me in so much that I didn't care. Sometimes I'd volunteer to sail instead of using a cyclone. Call me crazy. I just like a sense of adventure and wilderness in my games. The Great Sea felt like a vast mystery, beckoning me to explore every nook and cranny.

This. Exactly this.

8/10 seems more what I would give TP, WW is 10/10 no question.

The only complaint I have with the game is it's difficulty. But I'd rather play an easy game that is ridiculously fun than a ball-bustingly hard game that's ****.

I don't think an eight is fair to TWW or TP. =/ Not even close.

Originally Posted by Earth

I must be weird because I loved sailing. It didn't feel boring to me at all. Something about traveling the Great Sea with the epic music playing and the seagulls flying around me made me feel great. I never got tired of it; I consider that a plus for the game because it drew me in so much that I didn't care. Sometimes I'd volunteer to sail instead of using a cyclone. Call me crazy. I just like a sense of adventure and wilderness in my games. The Great Sea felt like a vast mystery, beckoning me to explore every nook and cranny.

I don't think your gripe about the smaller islands not having music is very legit. When an island didn't have it's own music, that's when you knew it was somewhat secret. Also for something so small to have music would feel unnatural. The islands were small, meant to be more like pit stops; to have the music stop and change would feel a little clumsy. That being said, I don't think there was a lack of music. Each important island, dungeon, boss, and character had a theme. That'll do it for me; the music was adequate.

Also, for you to "love this game to death" and want to "play it forever"... an 8 out of 10 sounds like an understatement. Are you sure that's what you give it?

I don't think the small islands should have their own personal score. But do you know when you unequip your sail, the melody of the overworld theme stops playing? That's all that really needs to happen when you're on a small island. I just want something playing.

And I would feel weird giving it a perfect 10 after just listing some flaws. I dunno, maybe it's a 9. But the score doesn't matter.

Originally Posted by Zeldablue777

I don't think an eight is fair to TWW or TP. =/ Not even close.

I didn't mean it like I would give TP an 8, just that if ANY of the 3D games deserve an 8, it's TP.

I should've been more clear.

I wouldn't give the 3D games anything lower than an 8.5-9.

I still don't agree. None of the 3D Zeldas deserve an 8...especially not Twilight Princess. =/ Can it get an 8, sure...(though it hasn't) Does it deserve an 8? Absolutely not.

yeah especially TP it was horrible for a zelda game

i would have to rate WW 9.9... only because there was no 3rd playthrough with a different outfit

i loved how much exploration was in that game

Stop talking about TP, geez guys... it's a WW review, not a TP review.

I 100% loved The Wind Waker. It's in my top 3 all time favourite games. And like you said in your opening post, the story was easy to follow, but didn't fall victim to a simple story. It was structured very well.
Link having a personal family connection was also a nice addition over just deciding he should go out and save the world. Makes more sense this way.
Well, anyways, props for the very detailed review.

Originally Posted by Ty

Stop talking about TP, geez guys... it's a WW review, not a TP review.

Yeah, this.

Excellent review, I agree with pretty much every point... Besides the sailing bit, really. But that may be because I play games in my own room, next to my computer, so I can keep myself busy on the internet during boring times, hahaha.

(And, well, I don't think the dungeons were that great. They were kind of fun to play through, but needed a lot more challenge, imo. They get kind of boring after the third replay.)

Originally Posted by Zeldablue777

I still don't agree. None of the 3D Zeldas deserve an 8...especially not Twilight Princess. =/ Can it get an 8, sure...(though it hasn't) Does it deserve an 8? Absolutely not.

I have to wonder what's with you and scores. 8/10 is a great score and no game should be ashamed to get it. If we assume 10/10 to be a perfect game, then a 8/10 game would be a great game.