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A link to the past is one of those games regarded as a masterpiece that still stands the test of time. Its widely regarded as one of the best games ever made and with good reason. It was a bold step forward for the Zelda series and its impact is still being felt in the series today. Nintendo has decided to create this sequel in the form of "A Link Between Worlds" for the 3Ds and it measures up well to its predecessor. The visuals are amazing and whether you are playing on the 3DS where you can see amazing 3D effects in this game, or the 2DS which doesn't have the 3D but is still an amazing system (affordable and comfortable and won't have hinges that break) you will get an amazing experience. The overhead view calls back to A Link To The Past but also creates its own style. So to with the music, which calls back to A Link To The Past but also creates its own thing and is awesome for it. The new game mechanics are fun and there are amazing new things you can do. The ability to become a painting on a wall to move around in new ways is innovative and changes the gameplay immensely.
But there is something more that must be said. A Link Between Worlds does something that so many have wanted. It brings back a nonlinear approach to the series. You are given the option to rent items ( or later buy the items) instead of finding them in dungeons ( which can still be done) but there is also a risk. If you die while holding rented items then you lose them which can create problems if in a dungeon but that just adds to the challenge.
And challenge is a good word to say because this is a game that does not hold your hand, there is a hint system but it is optional and the game is better for it. There is also a hero mode available that drastically ups the difficulty of the game and its very much worth trying out
There is a detailed story in the game I don't want to spoil here which involves a villain named Yuga and Hyrule's twin world Lorule, which Link must journey between ( hence the title). There are cut scenes in the game that are well done and the story is great.
This game is a huge step forward for the series but there are also cameos and shoutouts to past games like Majora's mask ( you might see a familiar location reappear)
This seems like a working blueprint for the new Wii U Zelda and if this is any indication of what that game will be, then I am very excited!
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GENERAL OVERVIEW: "The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds" is the first top down Zelda game since the 2005's Gameboy Advance title, "The Minish Cap". This game is also first new handheld title in the Zelda franchise that Nintendo has released for one of their flagship products, the 3DS. The game is a direct sequel to the 1991 SNES title, "A Link to the Past", which is one of the most highly acclaimed games in Nintendo's bountiful back catalogue, featuring all new dungeons.Make no mistake. "A Link Between Worlds" is the best Zelda game since "Ocarina of Time" or, barring that, "A Link to the Past" itself. For longtime Zelda players, "Link Between Worlds" may first initially lull you with its emotionally powerful, highly nostalgic rendering of Hyrule circa 1992, only to discover how deeply Nintendo is rearranging the Zelda template. "A Link Between Worlds" casts off series conventions (while still retaining its identity as a Zelda title).
To compare notes with another franchise, Hideo Kojima is radically restructuring the inherent design of the Metal Gear universe by making "Metal Gear Solid 5" an open world game rather than a tightly controlled stealth game. In order to ease players into the radical shift and new reinvention of Metal Gear's signature stealth play, as adapted for an open world environment, Konami is releasing "Ground Zero", which is a prologue to the main game, as a separate, introductory primer for "Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain".
"A Link Between Worlds" is a reshuffling of the deck, a "Ground Zero" if you will for Zelda. Unlike the Metal Gear comparison, this game isn't about charting new territory though it's about returning to the very roots that made the series so special in the first place. Before we get into the ramifications and what this game may mean for Zelda in general, here are some pros and cons.
PROS:
Link navigating via merging into walls as a painting is both highly imagitive and drastically opens up new ways of solving puzzles and transvering Hyrule, breathing much needed life into Zelda's [intellectual side] cerebral side.
Excellent level design almost goes without saying. Nintendo has always excelled at level design.
-No farming for items. All usable items are manna-based, with a meter that regenerates over time. You never have to worry about running out of bombs or arrows again! (We so needed that in the original 1987 Zelda!
-Mini-games, including baseball (!!!) and chicken dodging
-Has a dual world setup (Hyrule and Lorule), like the original SNES game.
NEUTRAL:
-Borrows the overworld map of its SNES predecessor almost to the pixel. For veterans of the series, this borrowing will be highly nostalgic, though others may complain they are just rehashing "Link to the Past". One benefit of using the same map is that it helps provide continuity for a series renowned for how disconnected each game appears in relation to others. (In 2011, Nintendo finally published an official timeline in "Hyrule Historia". Guess what! There are THREE SEPARATE OFFICIAL TIME LINES, and all three branch off from "Ocarina of Time".)
-The story is pretty simple. While some may think that detracts from the overall experience, I am fine with a simplified story. Nintendo has never been about story, and when they do get tangled into in-depth story-telling, you end up with three timelines and soap opera disasters like "Metroid: Other M" which by the end you lose almost all respect for Samus. There's a reason why they keep narrative out of Mario games (though to be fair, the Mario RPGs have some good stories).
CONS:
-Visually feels little more than an upgrade to "Link to the Past", rather than a distinct artistic style.
-The Overworld, while expansive in 1991, feels a little small by today's standards.
-Lorule (as opposed to Hyrule) just sounds like an idiotic linguist pun. This is just a minor personal complaint though.
THE MORE PROBLEMATIC ELEMENTS OF MODERN ZELDA: It's not a secret to everybody (to lightly misquote a certain Mobin) that Zelda has grown increasingly stagnant in recent years.
"Skyward Sword" is by far the most devise of the mainstream "Zelda" installments, even more so than initial responses to the art style of "Wind Waker" circa 2003. The more flawed elements of that game are all game design decisions that became codified in the sacrosanct "Ocarina of Time" and over the years finally met their logical conclusion in "Skyward Sword".Eiji Anouma, the main overseer of the series, has even stated in post ‘Skyward Sword' interviews that Nintendo is rethinking Zelda conventions in order to keep the series fresh and relevant due to lackluster response by players to recent titles.
Tevis Thompson has written a great, lengthy essay regarding the issues he believes is plaguing modern Zelda games. (The title is "Zelda Just Keeps Getting Worse. But It Isn't Beyond Saving". It is well worth reading). Thompson is discussing "Skyward Sword", the 2011 Wii game. "Skyward Sword" is by far the most devise of the mainstream "Zelda" installments, even more so than "Wind Waker". While far too long to address Thompson point by point for an Amazon review, the essential summary of his complaints are three fold:
1. Zelda has gone from a vast, overworld experience to an increasingly narrowed, mechanical by rote design, rather than organic gameplay which invites multiple methods of play. Key quote: "Modern Zeldas do not offer worlds. They offer elaborate contraptions reskinned with a nature theme, a giant nest of interconnected locks." Thompson describes "Skyward Sword" as a culmination of "reducing the world into a series of bottlenecks". In other worlds, Zelda games have become so mechanical in nature that they have lot their sense of wonder and adventure and even (or perhaps especially) danger. The worlds also feel empty, a complaint I first voiced against "Ocarina of Time". For all the grandeur of "Hyrule Field", save for some Stalfos knights that appear after sunset and an occasional Peahat or too, it's a pretty empty field. The sky in Skyward Sword is also notoriously void of any real exploratory content worth mentioning.
2. Lack of Difficulty. The two NES Zelda games (especially "The Adventure of Link") can be brutal at times. Beginning with "A Link to the Past", the difficulty of the Zelda franchise has been on a steep downward slope. Saturo Iwata, Nintendo's President, has directly addressed this decrease in difficulty in Nintendo products.
3. No respect for the player. By design of bottle-neck environmental roadblocks (first heavily featured in "Zelda II"* and culminating in "Skyward Sword"), greatly reduced difficulty, and extemly intrusive "journey companions" that hold your hand every step of the way, Zelda feels more like a guided tour of Hyrule than a daring adventure with real danger at every turn. The puzzle elements have been greatly minimized due to constant direction.
RESTORING ADVENTURE TO ZELDA: "A Link Between Worlds" largely addresses Thompson's concerns. These are the practical, concrete game play mechanics in which A Link Between Worlds" is reinvigorating Zelda.
-Death has consequences. When renting your items, you are able to keep said items for as long as you stay alive. However, if you die you lose your items.
-Challenge: Directly ties to the first point. The overworld isn't the grandiose, but almost entirely devoid of enemies, Hyrule Field. Instead, there are well armored foes intent on killing Link and LOTS OF THEM. Likewise, the dungeon bosses are more difficult than we've seen in a long time. They take skill and cunning to beat as well as figuring out how to best exploit their weak spot. The dungeon enemies themselves are no pushover either.
-Enemies are used as boundary markers. From Thompson's essay: "Link must be allowed to enter areas he's not ready for. He must be allowed to be defeated, not blocked, by the world and its inhabitants." You can get into some areas that will push you to your max to escape alive, let alone in stunning victory.
-"A Link Between Worlds" returns to the open world feel of the original NES title, albeit in the confines of Hyrule as shown in "A Link to the Past". Due to renting items, dungeons are largely (but not entirely) completeable in any order, rather than a pre-defined set path that must be followed at all costs.
-Item renting restores some of the wonder and adventure to the series, because this time around you are truly interested in the contents of treasure chests, knowing that they will hold something other than series trope items such as boomerangs, bows, etc.
-Fast Travelling: If you find yourself without necessary items for a dungeon, you can quickly get to the shop to get said item via warp points without excessive backtracking.
-No more "Hey, Listen!" For the first time in years, Link is on his own, left to figure out what he must do without constant rejoinders from the game helper of the week. To compensate, if you need assistance there is the very unintrusive Hint Glasses which are mentioned briefly and then never forced upon the player, or visiting fortune tellers, which is entirely at the player's discretion. Just like the statue in the 1st palace of the Dark World where you must shoot an arrow in its eye to proceed or the backtracking in the Ice Palace, there will be moments you are left puzzling what to do.
WHAT "A LINK BETWEEN WORLDS" MEANS FOR THE ZELDA FRANCHISE: There are two main camps in Zelda Fandom: those who think "Ocarina of Time" is the best and those who think "Link to the Past" is best. While predictions are a dangerous venture at the best of times, "A Link Between Worlds" clearly indicates that Nintendo is not above radically rewriting conventions for one of its most successful IPs, returning them to earlier times. To return to the Metal Gear comparison with "Ground Zero", "A Link Between Worlds" is laying the groundwork for the still unnamed (at the time of writing) Wii U Zelda game which we know is in development.
Appropriately enough for a series with three time lines, developmentally and in game design "A Link Between Worlds" has effectively ignored the last twenty years of its own franchise. Nintendo has returned to the original ethos and game philosophy of the first Zelda titles and have created an alternate point of development in which Aonuma has indicated he is fully intent upon pursuing. Anouma has confessed to never completing the original Zelda title and wanting to never make a game like that. Before this game, this attitude would explain why there is such a disconnect between the recent games and the trail-blazing originals.
When the game was first pitched to Miyamoto (before it was a "Link to the Past" sequel or even featured the painting), he declined, saying that it "sounds like an idea that's 20 years old!". While the context is not exactly the same, Anouma and his team are finally returning to the hallmarks of Zelda that so captivated us in the first place (at least, gamers of my generation), returning to the older ideas of the series.
"A Link Between Worlds" is a course correction LONG OVER DUE, and if this game is any clear indication, not only have Anouma and his team learned from their mistakes with "Skyward Sword", but are going all the way back to the very foundational elements of the series before "Ocarina".
Aonuma has stated based on user feed back (now so readifuly plentiful via the Internet and Miiverse) that the new Wii U Zelda game will focus much more on the open-world feel so pioneered by the original NES classic that has been largely untouched by the series since then. Games such as the The Elder Scrolls and the Grand Theft Autos are more closely kin to the original "Zelda" than "Skyward Sword" If Anouma is to be believed, then the Wii U Zelda will be a reinvention of modern 3D Zelda titles. If Nintendo follows the direction established in "Link Between Worlds", then the Wii U Zelda will be a grand reinvention indeed!
While Miyamoto is ultimately responsible for Zelda, the last fifteen years have largely been spearheaded by Anouma, and for the first time I feel that we are seeing how Nintendo would develop the series based on the original four games. We are returning to Miyamoto's original vision for the series at long last!
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*Whereas almost the entirety of Hyrule in "The Legend of Zelda" is open to the player, in each successive game the ability to explore became increasingly more and more confined either by necessity of the plot or that to progess to Dungeon 2, you must have an item from Dungeon 1, etc. Thompson points to "A Link to the Past" as the starting point of this mechanical trend in Zelda games ("Oh, there's a wall with weird rocks. Use a bomb."), which is not wholly accurate. While minimally present in the original NES game, "Zelda II" is the first game that really locked you into a defined order of dungeons and locked off worlds. While ‘Link to the Past'‘s Dark World dungeons are tremendously flexible in the order in which you complete them in "A Link to the Past", there is absolutely no possible way for extensive sequence-breaking in "Zelda II". Want to go to the Island Palace? You have to have the Faerie Spell, which can only be obtained by use of the hammer. Want to go to Maze Palace? Have to have the Raft from the Island Palace in order to cross over into eastern Hyrule. Want to go to the Sea Palace? Have to have the boots from the Maze Palace. To get into Three Rock Palace (or even access the southern portion of Hyrule in which that palace is located), you have to have the Flute from the Sea Palace to get by the River Devil guarding the bridge.
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Disclaimer: no major spoilers.For over 20 years I've been waiting for a Zelda like this. My favorite game in the series is A Link to the Past, and this newest release is like that excellent game on steroids. In my opinion, the last great Zelda game was Wind Waker. The previous two home console games, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, were very good but lacked the magic that gave me any motivation to play through them again, and the two DS games were average. Boredom kept me from even finishing Phantom Hourglass.
This one is different though. I like the fact that the item acquisition and usage system has changed. You have access to pretty much everything from the beginning of the game, so no waiting until the midpoint of your adventure to acquire the hookshot like in all the other games in the series. All items are used and replenished through a magic-type meter that automatically replenishes itself, so no more need to roam around the overworld slicing down bushes to replenish your arrows and bombs. These two significant changes are a drastic departure from the typical Zelda formula, and it's a welcome change because it allows the player to focus more on the one thing that I always felt was one of the best parts of playing any Zelda game: exploration. Since you have access to most of the essential items from the start, the quest is not nearly as linear as it has been in the previous games, and this encourages one to just walk around shooting and blowing up stuff and seeing what happens. Even more so than A Link to the Past, the heart and soul of this game is very reminiscent of the original NES Legend of Zelda where you just walk around exploring and discovering things as you go along.
One drawback that I hope Nintendo addresses in the future: I wish there were an option to turn off the hint system. At times, there's a little too much hand holding in the game, and while this may be necessary for a novice, if you're a seasoned Zelda veteran, it really does detract from the experience.
I'm a little over halfway into the game, and I can say with confidence that A Link Between Worlds is at least in my top 3 favorite Zelda games of all time. Until I finish the entire game, I can't say for sure if this one will stand the test of time and beat out Zelda III for my number one spot. But either way, this game is a spectacular masterpiece, and if you have a 3DS you should go out and get this right now.
Honest reviews on The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past introduced many of the great traditions of the series with its release for the Super Famicom (Super Nintendo) on November 21, 1991 in Japan. Now that world comes full circle with The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, released for the Nintendo 3DS on November 22, 2013 in North America.NOSTALGIA
The references to and carryovers from A Link to the Past make this game incredibly special. They are tastefully incorporated to leave a balance between nostalgic content and fresh content. I didn't feel like I was playing A Link to the Past again rather, I felt this was a new game inspired by the original. If you enjoyed A Link to the Past you may literally scream with delight when you encounter certain carryovers from that game.
STORY
I think of Zelda games as retellings of the same basic story: literally, Link saving Zelda from Ganon; figuratively, the danger of greed and power, and the importance of courage. The plot here is familiar, along similar lines as A Link to the Past; Ocarina of Time follows a similar pattern. It can sometimes be too simplistic, but is deeper than with most handheld Zelda games. The ending is astoundingly good. It's one of my favorites from the series.
CHARACTERS
The people that call Hyrule their home are well thought out and usually likable, although some can seem rather childish and simple. More so than in many Zelda games, they are engaging to speak with, encouraging you to venture outside the main quest. I spent a good amount of time in a village just going door to door and talking to people. There is a healthy mix of old stars seeing some cameos from old characters made me absolutely delighted. The game also introduces a large cast of new characters, which keeps things interesting.
ITEMS
A Link Between Worlds features a clever system that marks a departure from other games. Instead of finding items in the dungeons, you can rent and purchase them from a store. This system is refreshing simply because it's different. While I would probably not want it as a mainstay of the series, it provides a nice break from the regular method of finding items.
COLLECTION QUESTS
A staple of the series, collection quests are back and as engaging as always. You'll find yourself collecting 100 of a certain thing encouraging you to venture across the land to find where they're all located. It's a clever way of encouraging exploration. While they are often found in plain sight some are rather tricky to get to, forcing you to use your special abilities and problem solving skills.
MUSIC
The music is superb as with every title in the series. Many of the tunes from A Link to the Past are brought back, but in a remixed form that makes them fresh and modern. Tracks are well-suited to the areas in which they play. The overworld themes stay true to the original while adding a depth not possible in the days of the Super Nintendo.
GRAPHICS
Superb. They fit the game extremely well. They may look cartoony but are sophisticated and carefully drawn. It's something of a cross between top-down sprite graphics from The Minish Cap and cel-shaded 3D graphics from The Wind Waker. While you can see similarities between this style and the style of the previous DS Zelda titles (Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks), this style seems more mature.
The game incorporates 3D throughout making for sumptuous views on the 3DS screen. Puzzles also take advantage of depth perception. You'll want to play with the 3D slider one, both to solve puzzles and simply to take in the world in such a magnificent way.
CONTROLS
A Link Between Worlds was clearly designed hand in hand with the 3DS hardware. Controls are smooth and responsive much better than A Link to the Past. You control movement using the Circle Pad (an analog stick), giving you much more precision and control than with an eight-directional D-pad. Link also moves more easily, walking and turning in a more fluid way. Simply walking around is a joy to itself. The control mappings also feel intentional, with the D-pad actually serving a unique role (viewing other areas of the screen) rather than duplicating the functionality of the analog stick. The touch screen isn't used much, but it's useful for inventory management and map viewing. Gone is any control gimmickry the controls are designed to the task at hand rather than to show off the capabilities of the system.
LENGTH
My only considerable gripe with this game is the length. I wanted the game to last several dozen hours but I finished in a bit less than twenty. Those twenty hours were absolutely joyful and packed with adventure which is all the more reason I wish the game was longer. The content after the game will keep you busy for a while, but you can conceivably be finished with everything you want to do by 30 hours. On the positive side, this title lacks the filler content that made Skyward Sword and Spirit Tracks feel interminable. The game doesn't last longer than it needs to, meaning that what does exist is carefully thought out and exceedingly well executed.
CONCLUSION
Put simply, I had enormous fun with this game. It's packed with nostalgic references and is a sheer joy to play. The puzzles are interesting, the storyline is appealing, and the attention to detail is superb. Play this game.
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This game is outstanding in every way! The person giving it a one star rant needs to be banned from reviewing.. Amazon should only let you review if you bought the game from them!
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