10.13.08
Linking Up
Some of you folks might be aware of a little shindig we’re doing on the forums called Octorok. It’s a little bit of a deal. Anyway, for the event I’m swallowing my irrational dislike and playing through Zelda: Twilight Princess. The thing about it is that as much fun as it is, I still am not exactly thrilled with it.
Granted, I’m only about halfway through the game (nearing the end of the fourth dungeon, and I’m under the impression that there are nine), so it might do something really clever soon that will blow me away. But the basic tenets I’ve long disliked about the 3-D entries in the Zelda series– that the dungeons sometimes are needlessly obtuse with telling you what can be climbed and what can’t, for example– are still here and still as irritating as ever. I have to admit, though, that some of the puzzles are pretty clever (for the sake of those still going through it, I won’t say anything about the one that really made me smile once I figured it out).
With regards to the controls, I’m wondering if maybe I shouldn’t have opted for the GC version. I like the Wiimote, don’t mistake me, but there are some ways it could have been better implemented, particularly during battle, which basically becomes “hold Z and spastically wave your other arm”. The Z-targeting is also somewhat frustrating in that it has the annoying tendency to lock on to the most inconvenient enemy possible. (Yes, by all means, lock on to the bird in the distance while this leech thing chews out my chest; being seven miles away, it is obviously the greater thrghrklgle.) I do like the Wiimote for using the bow, but I just wish that it was properly usable while wearing the Hawkeye mask. Still, too late to change now, and I do have to confess a certain satisfaction in flourishing the controllers after curb-stomping shield-bearing foes.
The story… wow. That’s all I should really say, but this is markedly different from any previous Zelda game (I think– maybe it got this dark in Wind Waker but I somehow doubt it). While I’m not exactly sold on the gameplay just yet, I do like what’s been going on, and Midna has grown on me from being a snotty little nuisance to being a character I can sort of almost care about. Any time that she curls up to Link and asks him in that “would you kindly?” kind of tone I alternate between sympathizing with her plight and wanting Link to give her the one-two with his sword. I can almost imagine the conversation, too: “I want you to go get (such and such magic item).” “B%$#@, NO! You’ve dragged me through literal Hell three times already, I’ve been bloodied, beaten, chewed on, and covered in scuzz, and to top it all off, two-thirds of the time that I’ve done that I’ve run the very real risk of getting fleas. YOU get the damn (magic thingy) yourself.”
Catch you guys on Wednesday.