After I finished Wind Waker I suddenly got the urge to replay the past Zelda titles that I started but never really finished. These titles include the Minish Cap and, please don't be ashamed of me, A Link to the Past. I also plan to replay the first ever Zelda title that I completed, Phantom Hourglass. Three weeks from now the new Nintendo 3DS will be released along with Majora's Mask 3D, though I'm not sure if I have the ka-ching by that time, I suppose I'll play it sometime within the year as well. Hopefully, also to be released later this year is the hyped The Legend of Zelda Wii U. But for now, as I try to contain all the overflowing emotions that Wind Waker brought me (yes it's still there), first on my playlist is the title that started it all: *cue Overworld Theme* The Legend of Zelda .
So, ready?
As I said in this post I got a digital copy of The Legend of Zelda thanks to the coins I gathered with all my unused Club Nintendo codes. I already tried the demo version that was in the Masterpieces section of Smash 4 Wii U, and though the demo was only for a few minutes I got a good feel of the controls (which were a little slippery) and the general gameplay. But when I played it in the 3DS, oh great gobs of garlic, it drew a wide smile on my face.
This game is very difficult. The controls were tighter in the 3DS but even if they were precise it's still the gamer's fault if you move too much to whichever direction. I can't figure out Link's hitbox. Sometimes enemy projectiles hit his shield, sometimes it does not, but as I travel around the many areas of this game's Hyrule one thing is always certain, I die before I make any real progress. Now why do you think that is? It's because I don't know where I'm going.
Where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do? There is neither order nor explicit quest objectives in the game. Well there is the main objective which also serves as the premise of the game:
And there are some caves with tips(?) from NPCs but the info they give are too small and hardly helpful unless you already have a great understanding of Hyrule. And by my current progress in the game that's a little far off unless I take some notes myself because...the map is a rectangular black void with only a green dot representing Link. Some places are also identical until I finally realized the edge areas repeat whenever you go further outward.
Everything is solely up to whoever's playing. This is something extremely rare in the video games that I've played, absolutely no hand holding. To an extent yes it's good but it takes quite a while to finally get some real progress in the game. All this I experienced on my first thirty minutes playing the game. And my version of the game already has a dumbed down difficulty. But on my silly standards it's still difficult.
Anyway, this game is still pretty fun. While it obviously lacks a lot of Zelda conventions established since A Link to the Past, The Legend of Zelda was able to perfectly nail exploration and discovery. Like I said, there is no hand holding so whatever you discover and wherever place you go is up to you, and when you do get to the right place or find a secret it is very satisfying, rewarding, and you get that sense of accomplishment even with the smallest things.
My current progress puts me back at the entrance of the first dungeon which I shamefully found thanks to a walkthrough I consulted at IGN. I am sorry, and I will never do that again. Walkthroughs really take away the fun and spoils you a lot.
The Legend of Zelda starts off with Link, shield in hand, on an open area in Hyrule.
There's a cave on the upper left of the place and right at the very beginning it gives you the assurance that that cave is the first place you need to go. Sure enough I went there immediately and was greeted by this iconic moment in Zelda history:
After this scene I went on ahead, got lost and died numerous times while trying to find my way to the first dungeon. So for your reading convenience I'll just skip to that part.
The first dungeon is, I think, inside (or under) a tree since the entrance is a cavity on the its trunk. Perhaps this was the inspiration for the first dungeon in Ocarina of Time. This first dungeon is small and pretty straightforward. It's impossible to get lost in this dungeon but as for dying, well that's a different matter. Anyway, I raided the dungeon the same way I do in every Zelda game killing everyone in each room, unless I'm the one with half a heart left, and picking up the spoils. The Bow (yes, just the bow) and the Boomerang are obtained in this dungeon but they aren't used to progress through the dungeon just yet. I do love the fact that the boomerang curves to return exactly to where Link is. The last room before the boss caught me by surprise. Heh, you know this is one heck of a Zelda game if Wall Masters are already trying to kill you in the first dungeon.
The boss of the first dungeon is a dragon (I think) called Aquamentus but ironically it spits out fireballs, three of them. This boss fight reminded me of the final boss in Super Mario Land because the whole fight is almost the same in structure especially if Link has full health allowing him the use of the Sword Beam. Technically it's pretty easy with or without the sword beam because the pattern is pretty obvious. What's hard when you don't have the sword beam is finding the damn dragon's hitbox (which is the head and not the body). After finishing it off we get a Heart Container, and on the next room is one of the eight pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom.
I actually spent a few more minutes travelling around Hyrule but I just can't find the second dungeon. What I have found was another cave with an old man inside who gave me a piece of paper telling me to show it to the old lady. Ok, who the heck is this old lady? And what is that paper? Divorce papers? C'mon! What is an adventurer gonna do?
Where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do? There is neither order nor explicit quest objectives in the game. Well there is the main objective which also serves as the premise of the game:
Everything is solely up to whoever's playing. This is something extremely rare in the video games that I've played, absolutely no hand holding. To an extent yes it's good but it takes quite a while to finally get some real progress in the game. All this I experienced on my first thirty minutes playing the game. And my version of the game already has a dumbed down difficulty. But on my silly standards it's still difficult.
Anyway, this game is still pretty fun. While it obviously lacks a lot of Zelda conventions established since A Link to the Past, The Legend of Zelda was able to perfectly nail exploration and discovery. Like I said, there is no hand holding so whatever you discover and wherever place you go is up to you, and when you do get to the right place or find a secret it is very satisfying, rewarding, and you get that sense of accomplishment even with the smallest things.
My current progress puts me back at the entrance of the first dungeon which I shamefully found thanks to a walkthrough I consulted at IGN. I am sorry, and I will never do that again. Walkthroughs really take away the fun and spoils you a lot.
The Legend of Zelda starts off with Link, shield in hand, on an open area in Hyrule.
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| sadly, I don't have the luxury of a capture card |
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| yeah, I took this outside...bad idea |
The boss of the first dungeon is a dragon (I think) called Aquamentus but ironically it spits out fireballs, three of them. This boss fight reminded me of the final boss in Super Mario Land because the whole fight is almost the same in structure especially if Link has full health allowing him the use of the Sword Beam. Technically it's pretty easy with or without the sword beam because the pattern is pretty obvious. What's hard when you don't have the sword beam is finding the damn dragon's hitbox (which is the head and not the body). After finishing it off we get a Heart Container, and on the next room is one of the eight pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom.
I actually spent a few more minutes travelling around Hyrule but I just can't find the second dungeon. What I have found was another cave with an old man inside who gave me a piece of paper telling me to show it to the old lady. Ok, who the heck is this old lady? And what is that paper? Divorce papers? C'mon! What is an adventurer gonna do?
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