Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Yeah. Its been addressed. Personaly, id have liked it if it had better graphics instead of the cartoony stuff, but if i had a gamecube, this game would be my No. 1 pick. Its the game thats more important than the graphics, in my opinion.

 

yea i agree

 

I love the graphics, if only for the appeal of playing a cartoon
_jOBO

 

Good afternoon, inhabitants of The Wind Waker thread. I come to you this eve with impressions from a demo I played today. First off, as my thesis statement, I must say that I truly believe that no other game this year will even touch this. I will say this with pride: The Wind Waker is the best Zelda game since A Link to the Past. Is it better? Can it be better? Is that even possible? Well, as much as I never thought it would be possible... yes. Of course, final judgements lay aside until I finish this artistic masterpiece, but from what I played, it has the chance to dethrone every Zelda game made.

First and foremost, I want to get this out of the way. The visual direction in this game has been widely criticized since its revelation around two years ago. Some people thought it was a good, original and unique idea, while most thought it was a horrible mistake. Too cartoony. Too immature. "That one demo of Link and Ganon fighting was wayyyy better dude!" Heh. Take your "realistic" demo of Link and Ganon fighting and shove it up yer hole please. The way this new Zelda title presents itself is by far and wide the most absolutely amazing presentation, visually, I've seen from any game. It takes every polygonal, realistic game, and laughs at it, hysterically.
Sure, these realistic games look great. But I never had the same reaction to them as I did with The Wind Waker. My friend grabbed the demo controller first, pissing me off in the process, but suddenly my vicious mood was sterilized by what I seen. My mouth, literally, dropped. My eyes opened up like they haven't in a while. My other friend was equally impressed. He played it about 15 minutes or so and the whole time, I was in a trance. I could not believe how utterly amazing this game looked. From the frame rate, to the animation, to the colors, to the lighting, to the particle effects, to the animations on Link's face... wow. Everything was perfect. Absolute perfection. This is, I now call it, a moving piece of art. You could also apply that to a Disney feature film, but you cannot exactly draw out a videogame. It's as if the game designers didn't use a computer at all. For a moment, I forgot I was even looking at a TV screen. Why am I rambling on about this? I'm sure you get the picture. Got it? Good. Summary: this game looks and animates gorgeously. If you have any bad tastes about the visual direction, go ahead and rinse those tastes out: you are going to be amazed.

Okay. With that out of the way, I can talk about the actual game. So what's it like? How's it play? Ocarina of Time. That's all you need to know. If you loved that title, which I'm sure you did, you will feel right at home here. But really, what good is it if it's an exact duplicate of that game? Well, fear not- it's not an exact duplicate, unlike Super Mario Sunshine to Super Mario 64. Sunshine had it's original touches here and there, but it ultimately ended up feeling like a carbon copy of its predecessor. Not here. Although some would argue, I feel that The Wind Waker is definetly a progression in the Zelda series. It may have the same style of its Nintendo 64 brethren, but it has enough of its own style and charm to merit a totally new, original feeling, in my opinion.

What about Link? Yeah... there's always something about a new Link. This time though... we get a little different Link. He's little, has small legs, and the most mischeivous facial expressions I've ever seen. He's always looking like he's up to something if you catch my drift.

[image=http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2002/gamecube/zeldawindwaker/z_screen001.jpg]

Like I stated before, his facial expressions are far and many. This is one of the first things I noticed while playing the demo, and I expect its the first thing many people notice the first time they play it... of course, after they revive after being blown away by the visual presentation. Well, in my opinion, he's hilarious. In many ways, he's like Yoda. He's little, green,

 

Thanks for the impressions. Could you elaborate a bit on the improvements to the combat system? I've heard about being able to target multiple enemies with the boomerang. That sounds cool.

 

Well to be honest, I never fought too much. I killed like two moblins. It was basically a hack and slash affair, but when I said "improvements" I mean like... there's more motions and life to the battles... added special effects and the musical cues... and yes, you can target multiple enemies at once with the boomerang.

 

I played the demo... damn. It=cool.
_jOBO

 

I need to get around to pre-ordering it. I really want that OOT disc.

 

Yeah you played it until you got owned by that boss.

 

Is it wrong that I licked my monitor while reading all that?

Amazing.

 

No it's not wrong

Pooja the game sounds amazing

Can't wait for it!!

 

Was it wrong that I almost licked the Sam Goody clerk chick that preordered the game for me?

 

I should be getting my OOT disk next week as well. I can't wait to get my hands on that game.

 

I cant wait to get this game, what Pooja posted sounded awsome!
I guess the OOT Disk will have to hold me over, but I cant wait!

 

You can pre-order and get OOT for GC?!?! SWEET!!! How do you do that?

 

Can anyone post a link to a video where link is fighting, or any other video of gameplay?

 

Yeah, you can preorder the game at any videogame retailer, or most anyway. As for videos, try IGN, if you can get around thier INSIDER crap.

 

Getting around Insider is easy; when you hit the "daily limit," just delete your cookies and continue on viewing. Repeat as necessary.
_jOBO

 

I got an email that my pre-order disc shipped today!

 

Being a poor college student, I asked for it to for my birthday, which isn't until the end of April. However, I was smart enough to make sure that my family purcahses it by way of pre-orde so as to get OOT and Ura Zelda/Master Quest.

 

Cool! Thanks! I will go pre-order!

 

I thought I was going to get to play the demo last night at the local TRU.......but the damn analog stick is broken!! It's stuck in the up position. Grrr!!

 

But did you look at the beautiful visuals? That's all that matters.

 

Because I love you guys.

[image=http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/0206_zelda_intower.jpg]

[image=http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/0206_zelda_taura.jpg]

[image=http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/0206_zelda_atnight.jpg]

[image=http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/0206_zelda_linkandleaf.jpg]

[image=http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/0206_zelda_town.jpg]

[image=http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/0206_zelda_arrow.jpg]

[image=http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/0206_zelda_tower.jpg]

[image=http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/0206_zelda_flowershop.jpg]

Is that the MIRROR SHIELD I see from A Link to the Past? I know there is a mirror shield in this game but I don't know if that's it. I love the Triforce design on it anyway.

 

Nice pics Pooja.