What happened to the Nintendo magic?
I don't mean this as a troll, so relax!
So I've owned Zelda for better than a week now and I've not played it once in the last five days? And the the thing is, I really have no burning desire to get back to it? I f*cking love the Zelda franchise, and yet after only playing through the first two dungeons I've already lost interest.
I think the game is extremely well executed, I like the cell-shading a whole hell of a lot better than I ever expected, and on the whole think the game is really fun but for some damn reason it's just not calling to me?
I don't want to fall into the "Nintendo games are for kids" routine, but could it be that I've finally outgrown some of my favorite game franchise's? My love of gaming is as strong as ever, but most of Nintendo's big gun's just aren't doing anything for me anymore.
Metroid Prime is the exception. I loved this game and consider it one of my favorite games of the last couple of years but to be honest I thought at first it was going to blow. The move to first person, farming it out to another company alll just seemed like a bad idea, but instead it seemed to breathe fresh life into one of my favorite games.
Maybe Nintendo need's to think about re-tooling some of their other big name games. I just keep getting that "I've been there, done that" feeling with Zelda, and it's the same problem I had with Mario Sunshine.
Like I said I'm not trying to knock the game or anything, but for the life of me, it feels like something is really missing. Anyone else?
"Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin
I don''t think anything is really missing from the new Zelda, but I think I get what you''re saying. It''s not vastly different from OoT, kinda like Mario Sunshine wasn''t much different from Mario 64, and maybe this is where your problem is coming from. After all, Metroid was completely new, and yet still felt recognizable.
You might be on to something... Maybe Nintendo needs to try something risky and innovative with their big AAA franchises. But for the life of me, I don''t know what they could do... How else would you pull off Zelda?
"Even though that place should only be fifteen or twenty minutes away geographically, in actual practice - between the hours of four and seven - Redmond might as well orbit the Earth." - Tycho, Penny Arcade
I don''t know, we play plenty of FPS games and sequels that contain very few differences aside from minor improvements and graphical tweaks all the time. Zelda: WW isn''t much different in that regard. It takes an extremely popular formula, improves it and adds a bunch of content and dynamics you''ve never seen before.
Like you seem to indicate there, it''s not so much a problem with the game, you just lost that feeling of newness that Zelda 64 and Mario 64 offered when you first played them. Nothing wrong with that but I do find it interesting considering how much time has passed between those games and their respective follow-ups. It''s not like we''ve been buried under a ton of Zelda-like quality titles between the original Zelda 64 and this new one.
All I could suggest is stick with it and at least get to the point when the plot loosens the leash a bit and lets you explore at will. There is a lot of stuff you''ve never done before in the world and it''s a ton of fun.
All that said, I''m always up for innovation and new properties from Nintendo. Maybe we''ll get lucky and the rumors of a more ""mature"" Zelda game will come to pass.
Certis beat me to it. - Elysium
I played Zelda for 4 hours when I first got it, LOVED it, and haven''t played it since. It''s not that I don''t want to, just haven''t gotten around to it. So I know exactly how you feel.
It''s easier for me lately to play PC games because the wife has been watching more tv as of late. So, I''ve been playing Praetorians and enjoying it, also editing video and making dvd''s (finally).
I know I''ll finish Zelda, but I have no burning desire to run home and play.
It''s weird.
Actually Pulse, I feel pretty much the same way. When I''m not playing it I don''t feel a real burning desire to do so but once I load up the game I usually can''t break away for at least an hour or two.
It''s a strange thing.
Certis beat me to it. - Elysium
That''s strange, as I seem to be exactly the opposite. I loved ""A Link to the Past"", but I could never really get interested in Ocarina of Time.
I couldn''t start playing Wind Waker until the weekend after it came out, and before I knew it, I''d played until 3 in the morning. I can''t wait to get back to it, but it looks like I have to allocate a solid two hour block each time I play it
I also have to be very careful what message boards I look at. I was over at QuarterToThree and apparently someone gave away the boss fight but luckily I didn''t see it.
"What I'm looking for in a game is to shoot magic guns at two monsters while wearing a really striking coat." - Tycho
I almost started a post like this yesterday, but wanted to play ZWW one more time first. I am not enjoying this game. I have no problem with the graphics or gameplay. I just think I have outgrown quest games. My brain does not think the way it used to. For god sakes I am stuck in the first dungeon! (Don''t tell anyone!)
I don''t have the time to not make progress when I play. I have so much fun with my PC games right now that I might get rid of most of my console software. I am addicted to C&C Generals still. The ability to jump into a game and you know what to do and it is just a matter of how you do it. Fast, fun, and straight forward.
I want that nostalgic feeling of Zelda lovin'' again, but it is just not happening.
Wow. You hit it on the head there. I feel the exact same way.
Between two jobs and a social life, it''s damn difficult to find time for essentials such as laundry, much less time for my video games. It''s the same way for me: I don''t have fun just exploring anymore, I must progress, and if I don''t progress fairly quickly, I lose interest because I just don''t have the time to burn.
I''m really not finding Nintendo franchises to my liking at all anymore. I played Super Mario Bros. on the NES when I was 7 years old until all hours of the night. I used to stay home from school ""sick"" to play Zelda 2 on NES. I used to burn many a Friday night playing Super Metroid with a friend of mine. I was nearly obsessed with amazing games like Super Mario World (OMGYoshi!) and Starfox.
Post NES/SNES, I got caught up in the magic once again with Mario 64. After that, when games didn''t come out, I ditched all of console gaming and went through long stints with Quake, StarCraft, and finally EverQuest. I then re-entered console gaming with PS2. I also got a Cube this generation, and guess what - I''ve found that while in the last six years I''ve grown, Nintendo hasn''t. My tastes seem to have changed with age, and not only am I not good at Zelda/Mario, I just don''t have the patience for them anymore. It''s weird, but I was notably better at platformers when I was a pint-size.
Is that Nintendo''s fault, or mine? Neither, in my opinion. I think Nintendo simply hasn''t changed in the last 15 years since I started gaming, and yet, I don''t find them enthralling the same way I used to way back in the day. I submit that as evidence that you can indeed ""outgrow"" Nintendo, or at least grow sick of it.
"People in general have no principles, they do not believe in property rights (except as those rights apply to them), and they will steal all they want as long as they stand no risk of getting arrested for it. -GreatAjax on Piracy
Glad I''m not the only one feeling this way. Like I said I have nothing bad to say about the new Zelda game. I just am having a hard time wanting to find time to play it. Once I''m playing, I realy enjoy it, but as soon as I stop I the urge to come back and play again just is not there.
"Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin
Don''t take this as a trolling either, but this thread is just a longer-winded example of ""Nintendo is for kids."" I agree 100% with the people that say ""I can''t play a game and not progress."" I too am addicted to C&C Generals and NFL2k3 on XBL. You know why? Get in, play, win or lose, get out. Quickly, efficiently. What does one get when they play a platformer such as ZWW? Some credits at the end of a 20 hour game. Not much reward for an adult.
There''s nothing necessarily wrong with Nintendo sticking with their formula -- there will always be kids, and they''ll always want those kind of games. However, what we''re seeing is a generation of adults that play games too, and guess what -- they shell out much more money for games for themselves. So, I don''t think Nintendo is losing fans, but rather market share to two console manufacturers that are tapping our demographic, which is a much bigger market.
I generated a virtual world in the toilet bowl this morning.
-- Podunk on the PS3's mystical, magical abilities
I will have to agree with Luda and the others. Sometimes too much exploration on a limited game time budget can make your interest faulter. I''ve not felt it to any major extreme, but sometimes you don''t want to solve another damn puzzle, you want to see another part of the story.
Couldn''t have said it better myself. I think it''s a product of every game being a little too storydriven nowadays. It seems every game designer wants to be a Shakespeare, and it''s been taken to a new extreme with Xenosaga. Fun game, and there is gameplay in there, but too much story; too clunky.
I don''t really need much story at all outside RPG''s; to me, the two best examples of good, concise storytelling in action games are Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Max Payne. In Castlevania, there was just enough story to make sense of what you were doing, but the gameplay was fun enough to keep you going between those brief cutscenes. Max Payne, on the other hand, had a bit more storytelling, but it was just done so timely and appropriately that it built interest in continuing, as opposed to merely sustaining it. What great games.
It''s titles like those I''m not seeing on GameCube.
"People in general have no principles, they do not believe in property rights (except as those rights apply to them), and they will steal all they want as long as they stand no risk of getting arrested for it. -GreatAjax on Piracy
Yeah, Mojopin. I''m with Luda. That statement was Spot On!
"I think Elysium has the right of it" - Certis
I have to agree with just about everything said above as well.
I find that nowadays I need a game to be giving a big payoff straight from word go.
Then the payoff''s have to keep coming or I will just lose interest.
Perfect Recent Example: Black Hawk Down.
Just a bit of story there (probably more because of the movie) and the action was just great, kept the pace moving just right.
I would even go so far as to say that I enjoyed it more than Splinter Cell.
Same thing with MOH: Spearhead.
There wasn''t a point in either game were I felt like I was killing time or looking around for something to do.
If a game doesn''t basically do the above, then I don''t have much time for it. Ocassionally I will bust out a RPG style game and really get involved, though I always have a good action game to fall back on for breaks.
I guess it comes down to being cash rich and time poor having a big influence on my gaming decisions.
You guys have made good points. That the story could be to involved for it''s own good is something you don''t really think about.
"Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin
So are we complaining about 20 hour games being too long now? What happened to the whole Unreal 2 argument that 20 hours wasn''t long enough?
Have you tried an MMORPG lately? While I can sympathize with your arguments to an extent, Wind Walker has to be the most polished and easily accessible rpg/adventure game I have ever played. I finished the game which is a rare feat for me, and never did I feel that I wasn''t making progress. In fact the first time I died and saw the game over screen was in Gannon''s tower. The puzzles were all very well balanced to where I was never stuck too long on one. Further the way some of the items in the game are integrated into gameplay are fairly ingenious.
This is not to say the game was perfect, one thing I definitely think needs to be improved is the save system. That is if I save in a dungeon I don''t like having to make my way back to where I was previously. However I am sure this is due to the designers need to keep the save files small. Also I agree the core mechanics of the game are very similar to OOT, of course the same argument could be made for any of the bioware infinity engine based games and Baldurs Gate.
Despite its few shortcomings if you can''t get into Wind Walker you really need to ask yourself if you like rpg/adventure games in general.
PSN ID: Stric9
At this point in time I no longer like RPG/adventure type games. I hope in time I enjoy them again.
Gamespot''s latest Gamespotting had an interesting editorial that i think addresses this subject quite well
http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/gamespotting/041303/7.html
*wakes up screaming*
AAHH! The nightmare, again!
The man wears a bucket of KFC on his head. I wouldn't expect anything less. - Pred
Lol, got to admit though, my first and only foray into Nintendo gaming has been Super Mario Bros., got my NES very late (and cheap, in ''91) and soon afterwards my dad brought a shiny new 486 home. I fear I am part of a younger generation than most of you guys, not growing up with Mario, Link and Samus but rather with Doom, RotT and C&C
Do you know what "nemesis" means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an 'orrible c*nt... me! - Brick Top