Call me unexplored, but a few years ago, this game opened up a whole new world for me as a video game player and gave me a magical experience of the kind I hadn't had since Super Mario Galaxy introduced me to the potential of games.
This game is magic. The environment is huge and inviting, with something to discover everywhere you look. The sound design is classy, timeless, and beautiful and wisely leaves off melody for most of the open-world exploration, successfully using ambience to bring forth the world's beauty.
This game is difficult. It asked me to rise up to a challenge in a way I'd never seen before, with the game only getting easier when I got smarter and more skilled. It was very rewarding.
The design is genius. Exploration is the emphasis and the means of progress. There's no EXP, there's exploring to get upgrade materials from shrines and nature. There's no challenge you can't leave and come back to later so you can always keep moving when you find a roadblock. The map design is huge but compact at once so nothing feels small or takes too long to reach. The game also emphasizes playing smarter, not harder, with stealth and intricate physics mechanics allowing for less dangerous attack strategies, and permits the hard route, but often rewards a player who can recognize the safer solution.
The story is lacking. This was my first Zelda, and I've seen later that other titles are better-written. Princess Zelda herself is compelling, but the other cast members don't quite land, least of all Link, who desperately lacks emotional interaction and weight. The voice acting was an okay step, but not always done well, especially not for a game aiming to be more epic and serious. Still, for the game to impress so much on me without the story being part of that is an achievement on its own.
I love this game. It changed my world as a gamer and opened my horizons of play. Whatever flaws it has will never outweigh the experience it gave me. It's one of my favorites of all time.
A paradigm-shifting experience.
Call me unexplored, but a few years ago, this game opened up a whole new world for me as a video game player and gave me a magical experience of the kind I hadn't had since Super Mario Galaxy introduced me to the potential of games.
This game is magic. The environment is huge and inviting, with something to discover everywhere you look. The sound design is classy, timeless, and beautiful and wisely leaves off melody for most of the open-world exploration, successfully using ambience to bring forth the world's beauty.
This game is difficult. It asked me to rise up to a challenge in a way I'd never seen before, with the game only getting easier when I got smarter and more skilled. It was very rewarding.
The design is genius. Exploration is the emphasis and the means of progress. There's no EXP, there's exploring to get upgrade materials from shrines and nature. There's no challenge you can't leave and come back to later so you can always keep moving when you find a roadblock. The map design is huge but compact at once so nothing feels small or takes too long to reach. The game also emphasizes playing smarter, not harder, with stealth and intricate physics mechanics allowing for less dangerous attack strategies, and permits the hard route, but often rewards a player who can recognize the safer solution.
The story is lacking. This was my first Zelda, and I've seen later that other titles are better-written. Princess Zelda herself is compelling, but the other cast members don't quite land, least of all Link, who desperately lacks emotional interaction and weight. The voice acting was an okay step, but not always done well, especially not for a game aiming to be more epic and serious. Still, for the game to impress so much on me without the story being part of that is an achievement on its own.
I love this game. It changed my world as a gamer and opened my horizons of play. Whatever flaws it has will never outweigh the experience it gave me. It's one of my favorites of all time.