Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD: completed!
At least my thoughts have been consistent. The top tweet is eleven years after the bottom.
Having bought Twilight Princess alongside my Wii on launch day in December 2006, but then being captivated by other games (and with a general desire to not play the game until Kieron and John were going to do so as well), I didn't get around to actually playing it until 2011, after I finally gave up on my friends' lackadaisical attitude to Zelda gaming. As I was more active here at the time, you can read several posts about my progress then, where I completed the forest temple, was whisked away to the twilight, had trouble with controlling Wolf Link, met Midna, and scouted for the three parts of the Fused Shadow. I seemingly got as far as the temple at the bottom of Lake Hylia, including defeating the boss, before giving up.
Giving up? I don't think it was a conscious decision. Instead, Mario Kart 7 was released, I was also playing a Layton game, and other stuff just seemed to grab me instead. I always intended to go back, but I never did.
Skip forward a decade, and I realise that I bought a copy of Twilight Princess HD for the Wii U when it was cheap somewhere, I have no big story game on the go, and I quite fancy crossing this off my list - particularly because I was bought Skyward Sword HD for the Switch for my birthday and I'd like to play that sometime. So, rather than resurrecting my old save and complaining about being lost, I unwrap the new game and start it.
After a few hours I remember why I lost interest in the early days of my first playthrough. It's just a little dull to start with, meeting people around the village, fishing, running down narrow corridors between areas. There is some interest when children are captured ...
... but the muted (brown, C64-like) colour palette does its best to dissuade this interest. And then you get to the twilight, which (as my tweets above show) I found pretty difficult to progress through.
And yet I did.
I remembered very little about my original playthrough other than chasing monkeys through a forest and the aesthetic. I suspect that this is largely due to the relatively generic nature of the world; the art direction isn't as recognisable as Breath of the Wild, for example. It wasn't until I was many hours in that I started to remember my routes through places; but those many hours became more and more exciting as I progressed. It was clear to me that the story of Midna and the story of Zelda were somehow intertwined, but it wasn't until I met up with the scary-floating-faces crew that things became clear.
Midna is probably the best thing about the game, and having her constant companionship and annoyances throughout the story meant that the end was quite affecting. Having traversed through Hyrule, back and forth to collect hearts and rupees and equipment and whatnot, there was a definite shift in the endgame once you travel to the skies and then to meet Ganon. On the way there's a few non-surprises ...
And then once you get to Ganon, it's a pretty standard big boss Zelda game fight, with a few tricks with Midna and Zelda and unexpected but expected changes. You know you're coming to the final fight when you come across a room full of chests.
Midna doesn't like Ganondorf, by the way.
And then the end of the game. I think I've mentioned before about the final blow in the Wind Waker, and how no other Zelda game has quite met it - but this came close. After taunting and attacking and generally making those I cared about suffer, it was nice to make Ganondorf wear a new brooch.
It isn't the best Zelda game. It's not even the best Zelda game on the Gamecube. But it is a Zelda game, in the classical form, and the dungeons are well designed, and the characters are (mostly) distinctive and fun, and the puzzles and equipment is intuitive and challenging, and the story is a bit rubbish but you want to see the end of it, and the enemies are enjoyable to fight, and ... it's good. Overall it went on a little too long, even if the story did take some interesting twists and turns, and the oppressive nature is a huge barrier to enjoyment. But it's good.
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD: completed!
Having bought Twilight Princess alongside my Wii on launch day in December 2006, but then being captivated by other games (and with a general desire to not play the game until Kieron and John were going to do so as well), I didn’t get around to actually playing it until 2011, after I finally gave up on my friends’ lackadaisical attitude to Zelda gaming. As I was more active here at the time, you can read several posts about my progress then, where I completed the forest temple, was whisked away to the twilight, had trouble with controlling Wolf Link, met Midna, and scouted for the three parts of the Fused Shadow. I seemingly got as far as the temple at the bottom of Lake Hylia, including defeating the boss, before giving up.
Giving up? I don’t think it was a conscious decision. Instead, Mario Kart 7 was released, I was also playing a Layton game, and other stuff just seemed to grab me instead. I always intended to go back, but I never did.
Skip forward a decade, and I realise that I bought a copy of Twilight Princess HD for the Wii U when it was cheap somewhere, I have no big story game on the go, and I quite fancy crossing this off my list – particularly because I was bought Skyward Sword HD for the Switch for my birthday and I’d like to play that sometime. So, rather than resurrecting my old save and complaining about being lost, I unwrap the new game and start it.
After a few hours I remember why I lost interest in the early days of my first playthrough. It’s just a little dull to start with, meeting people around the village, fishing, running down narrow corridors between areas. There is some interest when children are captured …
… but the muted (brown, C64-like) colour palette does its best to dissuade this interest. And then you get to the twilight, which (as my tweets above show) I found pretty difficult to progress through.
And yet I did.
At least my thoughts have been consistent. The top tweet is eleven years after the bottom.
I remembered very little about my original playthrough other than chasing monkeys through a forest and the aesthetic. I suspect that this is largely due to the relatively generic nature of the world; the art direction isn’t as recognisable as Breath of the Wild, for example. It wasn’t until I was many hours in that I started to remember my routes through places; but those many hours became more and more exciting as I progressed. It was clear to me that the story of Midna and the story of Zelda were somehow intertwined, but it wasn’t until I met up with the scary-floating-faces crew that things became clear.
Midna is probably the best thing about the game, and having her constant companionship and annoyances throughout the story meant that the end was quite affecting. Having traversed through Hyrule, back and forth to collect hearts and rupees and equipment and whatnot, there was a definite shift in the endgame once you travel to the skies and then to meet Ganon. On the way there’s a few non-surprises …
And then once you get to Ganon, it’s a pretty standard big boss Zelda game fight, with a few tricks with Midna and Zelda and unexpected but expected changes. You know you’re coming to the final fight when you come across a room full of chests.
Midna doesn’t like Ganondorf, by the way.
And then the end of the game. I think I’ve mentioned before about the final blow in the Wind Waker, and how no other Zelda game has quite met it – but this came close. After taunting and attacking and generally making those I cared about suffer, it was nice to make Ganondorf wear a new brooch.
It isn’t the best Zelda game. It’s not even the best Zelda game on the Gamecube. But it is a Zelda game, in the classical form, and the dungeons are well designed, and the characters are (mostly) distinctive and fun, and the puzzles and equipment is intuitive and challenging, and the story is a bit rubbish but you want to see the end of it, and the enemies are enjoyable to fight, and … it’s good. Overall it went on a little too long, even if the story did take some interesting twists and turns, and the oppressive nature is a huge barrier to enjoyment. But it’s good.
Shadow of the Colossus: bringing down the knight
I have owned this on the PS2, in a lovely art set with postcards, and twice on the PS3: once on a disc alongside Ico, and once digitally. I have owned this on the PS4 on disc, bought for a birthday. I also acquired it when it was given away with PS+.
There are some games I own many copies of because they are classics that I wish to enjoy in many places. Sonic and Sonic 2 are the obvious examples; Populous the Beginning on PS, PC CD-ROM, and now GOG; Journey; Peggle. This is not one of those games. I own this many times because I keep promising myself that I will play it.
And now I have.
The game is breathtaking in its scale, particularly when you consider its PS2 origins. The world feels huge and intricate, and while not up to GTA3 levels of detail it feels alive. There is a real sense of belonging and duty, to keep the world functioning, and to save the life of the girl you bring to the temple at the start. It also feels oppressive, with you being commanded by an unseen deity to go and vanquish the giants that inhabit the land.
Off we pop, then.
Given the size of the world, luckily you have a horse to ride to get you to the far off places quickly. The horse is well coded, responding to your commands with a bit of leeway to allow for animal eccentricity. I found quite quickly that you can lean off the horse to fire arrows or use your sword while the horse carries on running, though as soon as you start to aim the horse's path changes. Not sure I'll use that much.
Other than a light game of exploring the world, with some lizards that seem to increase your stamina bar and some fruit that increases your energy, the main aim is to find and defeat large monsters - seemingly half living, half stone - by climbing up them and reaching a glowing area which you then repeatedly stab until the colossus dies. They don't like being stabbed, so you have to stop stabbing them from time to time to hold on as they shake and try to dislodge you. After a lot of stabbing the monster collapses, you get transported back to the central temple, and repeat.
I have, so far, stabbed three monsters, and they have been varied and clever. I tried to stab the fourth but so far haven't worked out how to climb up it. Something to ponder.
Shadow of the Colossus: bringing down the knight
I have owned this on the PS2, in a lovely art set with postcards, and twice on the PS3: once on a disc alongside Ico, and once digitally. I have owned this on the PS4 on disc, bought for a birthday. I also acquired it when it was given away with PS+.
There are some games I own many copies of because they are classics that I wish to enjoy in many places. Sonic and Sonic 2 are the obvious examples; Populous the Beginning on PS, PC CD-ROM, and now GOG; Journey; Peggle. This is not one of those games. I own this many times because I keep promising myself that I will play it.
And now I have.
The game is breathtaking in its scale, particularly when you consider its PS2 origins. The world feels huge and intricate, and while not up to GTA3 levels of detail it feels alive. There is a real sense of belonging and duty, to keep the world functioning, and to save the life of the girl you bring to the temple at the start. It also feels oppressive, with you being commanded by an unseen deity to go and vanquish the giants that inhabit the land.
Off we pop, then.
Given the size of the world, luckily you have a horse to ride to get you to the far off places quickly. The horse is well coded, responding to your commands with a bit of leeway to allow for animal eccentricity. I found quite quickly that you can lean off the horse to fire arrows or use your sword while the horse carries on running, though as soon as you start to aim the horse’s path changes. Not sure I’ll use that much.
Other than a light game of exploring the world, with some lizards that seem to increase your stamina bar and some fruit that increases your energy, the main aim is to find and defeat large monsters – seemingly half living, half stone – by climbing up them and reaching a glowing area which you then repeatedly stab until the colossus dies. They don’t like being stabbed, so you have to stop stabbing them from time to time to hold on as they shake and try to dislodge you. After a lot of stabbing the monster collapses, you get transported back to the central temple, and repeat.
I have, so far, stabbed three monsters, and they have been varied and clever. I tried to stab the fourth but so far haven’t worked out how to climb up it. Something to ponder.
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