First, before I get into my lengthy introduction into this heavily controversial topic, I have to make sure that you are all in the proper mindset. To be sure that you are, I have one question to ask:
What do you think of when you see this picture?
Now, before you think of an answer, I want you to forget all about the b|tching and complaining that has taken place over the past 4 days or so. I want you to forget about your opinion of the "new" Zelda game. I want you to form an opinion about this game before I go on. Got a good idea? No? Well, I\'ll get things rolling first.
When I take a good look at that picture, I remember the first time I ever played a Zelda game. For me, that first trial came in the form of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Honestly, as a younger child, I thought the game sucked. I didn\'t understand what I had to do, I didn\'t know what the tools were for. Traveling through the world and not being able to traverse many areas because of my characters frailty was just unacceptable in my opinion.
However, once I watched a friend of mine play for a good solid two hours, that\'s a lot when you\'re a kid and you\'re not even touching the controller, and after he advanced through roughly 2 dungeons as I sat just eating away at the story, I was intrigued to say the least. Immediately afterwards, I jumped outside, friends copy of the game in hand, and started swinging my arms forward as if I had a sword of my own attempting to save the fair princess and bring the Tri-Force together to thwart the evil-doer\'s plans.
Never before had I ever stumbled upon a game this rich and eventful with an original lush enviornment as the staple for the game\'s ongoing story. The puzzles chipped away at my sanity for hours as I searched for the next area to explore and the next great sword that will do the most damage. Tools, sweet beautiful tools that assisted me through and through with those difficult challenges while also showing me that being creative with how you play is just as important as defeating the more powerful enemies.
With a firm set of how Zelda should be in my mind and an understanding of how original, cartoony, and innovative this world truly should be, I first set eyes on the original demo screenshots of the Ultra 64 and a little game being displayed called Zelda 64. After stepping out of the pool of urine beneath my feet and waiting an entire two years before actually laying hands on my own copy, I was finally playing Zelda in 3D. However, for some reason, the game failed to grip me in the same way A Link to the Past did. What was it? Link had not changed, but the world around him had. That same cartoony story book feel that was present originaly had been lifted away.
As an adult, I\'m not sure if I cared much about that fact as the game was still a great deal of fun, but to me, it just didn\'t have that essence I had come to know and love from the previous games. Where was the cartoony little sounds I had come to love every time I fell down an area? Where was the odd dances performed by our hero to recieve new items and advancing the quest? Since when did Link ever need a horse? These things sound petty and very trivial and I know many people who would say that the 3D Zeldas are better than anything available today, but I really don\'t see the artistic creative world that I had envisioned in these 64-bit games.
Enter the Legend of Zelda demo from SpaceWorld 2000 for the Dolphin. Wow. What an amazing technical demo. Wait a second, technical demo? That\'s right, Miyamoto and all of Nintendo claimed that the Zelda video was nothing more then a real-time tech demo. Nevertheless, hordes of fanboys were quick to plaster the video into the faces of Sony and MS bigots all over the net. The phrase "Technical demo" never seemed to enter the minds of these gamers and instead promised it would be a sign of things to come. However, this couldn\'t have been further from the truth.
One year passes and Spaceworld 2001 rears it\'s ugly head up and into the faces of gamers all over the world. The mature Link that seemed to have been envisioned by so many from last years Spaceworld event would soon become a fond, yet painful memory.
Now, what do you see when you examine this picture? I see a world that was born in 2D and now represented fully, and more importantly,
accurately, in 3D. I see trees that are the same design as before with a cartoony world that I had originally fallen in love with. However, would this game be the same Link we had come to love when A Link to the Past was released? Not exactly. Instead, this Zelda combines the overworld style present in A Link the Past with the same combat system of Ocarina of Time. Nintendo has taken the best 2 versions of Zelda ever created and combined them in a successful amalgam of unique style and unique gameplay.
Shigeru Miyamoto has grabbed the original Zelda and thrust it upon us in a world where originality comes second to polygon power. Miyamoto has placed us in a world full of uniqueness and presented us with original gameplay that is so great nowadays as to put most games to utter shame. Zelda was the original pioneer of adventure games and now it has returned in a faithful representation of its roots to slay that evil "improved graphics equals a better game" fallacy.
"Link looks like a girl."
What\'s your point? With over a year and a half to go before it releases and you\'ve already formed a solid opinion of how great the game will be based on the main characters stylistic look? Since when was Link a tough Elvan adult? As far as I can remember, Link has always been a young boy trying to do the impossible. Why do you think he needs an item to help him lift a vase? Perhaps understanding that he is actually supposed to be a child is a thought that escapes most of us thanks to the fact that we recognize Link in 3D moreso with the current games rather then what has been released in the past. Have we forgotten and chosen not to remember what made this game great in the first place or what made Link a great character?
Don\'t tell me his eyes, his face, and his hair were Link\'s most heroic assets. When I see this Link of the present, I see exactly what he originally was intended to be: A young clever child. To say that your opinion was incorrect would be an incredibly biased thing to say, but I am asking you to see it from my perspective. Don\'t try to see Link as a girl, or a doe-eyed freak, but rather as a 3D version of what was once loved from the past.
You can all pine away at the misinterpretation of your labeling ways, but I for one see Link as nothing more than a young clever child that represents what we always wanted to do as a child. Perhaps now that most of us are older, we can\'t help but see Link as a little sissy girl, but to me, that sounds simply jaded. Hopefully, when the game nears completion, you will all grow to understand and love this fresh representation of the past.
Until then, I\'d love to hear any comments on this. Please, feel free to keep this as a IDO* topic.
*Intelligent Discussions Only
