Season of Ages -
July 25, 2001 - Chris Jones
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed
within this column are those of the participants and the
moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the
GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive
material afoot.
Conspicuous consumption makes our love stronger.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
The eerie resemblance between Xenosaga characters and Japanese Barbie dolls is even further heightened when they talk and move around. Add to that the recent resurgence of the unholy Lucky Dan fan club/cult, and it hasn't been a great day.
Onward.
| The future has arrived, and it's 1993 all over again |
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The Oracles games? Genius. Not QUITE as genius as Link's Awakening - some of
the dungeon design is a tad lacking in comparison, and the music isn't all
that good, besised the tunes recycled from LA, but they're very close. The
updates to the existing engine more than make up for all that.
What I find prety interesting about the games is that they weren't really
made by the series' original creator, but they still retain the feel of all
the previous games. Now, I don't know if this means that the developer was
extremely good, or that the games have become cliched in their age (and, um,
season. forget i said that). Either way, it's a great comfort playing
oldschooly Zelda games - besides that, two came out on the same day, there's
the Pokemon style ring collecting, the brilliant link system, and all the
other goodies.
Besides all the unanimous gushing about the game that's been done everywhere
else, I can't think of much else to say. Yum.
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I haven't played through most of the Oracles games myself, but at the moment I'm of two minds about the whole "classic" feel of most modern Zeldas. The original Zelda was pure genius, and Nintendo could do a lot worse than slowly refine it as they've been doing, but I remember the sheer scale of the original game, and I can't help but wish for something similar on the GBA or Gamecube.
Admittedly, part of the reason The Legend of Zelda seemed so daunting was sheer gaming inexperience on my part, coupled with generally lousy puzzle design on the second quest. (Seriously, there wasn't any way to find some of those dungeons without bombing every rock and tree in existence.) Still, I'd like to see a Zelda that makes me feel Hyrule (or whatever other kingdom o' the month Link's in) is a little bigger than my backyard, and maybe a slightly more in-depth plot to go with it. I know, I know, that'd ruin the game's "fun for all ages" angle, but the Gorons have lost a lot of their appeal for me by now.
| Minigame THIS! |
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I'm a rabid Legend of Zelda fan, and I had been
eagerly awaiting the oracle series to be released
and of course snapped them up right away. I
think Capcom did a wonderful job with the
franchise and managed to combine tried and true
Zelda challenges with brand-new puzzles. And the
best part of the whole thing is that they're not
two different colored Zelda games, it's two whole
brand spankin' new adventures. Sure, the plot is
nothing new, but once again I think that the
series has proven that fun gameplay is more
important than a brilliant story anyhow.
I will say that at least Ages was a bit
frustrating with the progression aspect--having
to win two separate keys to open the same dungeon
through mini-games was a bit too tedious for my
tasts. Mini-games are best left as a side note
for a game rather than a vitally important
aspect. Well it could also be that I have
horrible rythym and maybe that's why the goron
dancing game was hard ^_~ I'm glad that we got
brand new 2-D zelda games rather than a port of
Zelda 1 or 2. I hope that we can expect more
games of this caliber in the future now that the
GBA has arrived.
-Heather |
I have to take issue with your minigame comment here; in a game like Zelda where you live and die by the sword 90% of the time, it's practically a necessity to have something else come along and spice things up, whether it's riding Epona or doing Goron-style demolition derbies. Everybody has their own gameplay weakness that might prevent them from doing well at a given game (I suck at rhythm games too) but since the minimum required competency for most minigames is so damn low, it's really not that big a deal.
Besides, it gets incredibly interesting when what was a minigame in one context becomes a vital skill in another - my favorite moment in any Zelda game may be the UFO target practice in Majora's Mask.
| Hate Oracles, love CotM *Oracles spoiler* |
| After months and months of waiting for a Gameboy Advance and my two Zelda: Oracles cartridges, I impatiently opened the boxes and began playing Ages hours on end. While I felt a bit of nostalgia upon finishing Ages, I simply got SO DAMN TIRED of Zelda games after that.
I swear. I started playing a Seasons linked game, and it's so annoying to have to continuously swap cartridges, find a character in the game, and give them the stupid secret code. Maybe it's because I played too much Zelda: OoA to begin with, and I suppose good things don't last.
Or possibly it's because I became addicted to Circle of the Moon and the Oracles series became so boring to me. WAHAHAHAHHA! EAT ROSES, VAMPIRE!!!!!
OR possibly it's because Zelda's characters are idiots. What kind of princess runs out of her castle, travels some odd miles because of a "feeling" of danger surrounding Link, only to be kidnapped by minions of Ganon.. AGAIN. It's Mario over again...
But on a good (yet odd) note, my SAT scores improved during the time I played the two Zelda games. Yes... Nintendo should use that tidbit for advertising.
In any case, I have come to a single conclusion:
Link is overweight. Yes, it's true. He can't haul his lazy ass up a few feet without a stupid magical feather. He's FAT I SAY!!
- Xelloss
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If you get all warm and fuzzy for the password system in Metroid, you'll love Oracles, otherwise, maybe Nintendo should have thought this through a bit better. (Like maybe a Sonic and Knuckles-style add on?)
Meanwhile, think about what you're saying for a moment. Given that we're dealing with handhelds which will almost always be 2D, do you really want to return to the non-fat "adult" Link in Zelda II?
Didn't think so.
| Hate CotM, love Oracles |
| I would like to comment on the Oracles games. However, I was unfortunate enough to have lost my eyesight after playing them on the GBA and attempting to get the angle right. Now, I wish I had left Circle of the Bun and its yaoi plot for a later date.
machka drek
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Yet another reason to home a linked GBA and Gamecube lets you play portables on the big screen... although that brings up the question of if the GBA is still a lousy controller when you don't have to use the buttons and look at the screen at the same time. My guess is no.
| It needed to be said... part of it, anyway |
| Chris,
the sword shoots across the room again...nuff said...
~b
ps:class of 90 rules!
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The sword throwing in Zelda I was A) one of the coolest things ever at the time, and B) completely unexplained. Why did it happen? What did Link being at full power have to do with anything? Does Link suddenly gain psychic powers when he's at peak condition? And what was with those pathetic little sword throws in Zelda II? Those things were so worthless they might as well not even have been in there...
Er, I'm rambling again, aren't I?
| Behind the times |
| NOW you discuss the Zelda games.....
Uh, well, geez... oh, yeah, the O-ra-cle games.. I remember those. I think! :)
Hm. I guess I could add something of value here. I think the Oracle games, Ages and Seasons, truly represent the innovation this industry so vitally thrives on. For me, being able to interact and communicate between worlds; knowing your actions will reap consequences (both miniscule and monsterous) in VERY dynamic ways is just unreal! I mean the possabilities are outright staggering. In fact, I'm "spiraling into a beautiful coma" right now thinking about it, heh.
Oh, and to those who think this was a brazen ploy of Nintendo's to steal your money *cough*POKEMON*cough*, it's absolutely not. It's a damn fine effort at being creative--and the Zelda series definitely needed it. Sure, Suikoden did it first but not to this tune, my friends.
- Justin, who awaits this feature via a GBA & GameCube RPG (actually, we've been designing ours specifically around this feature for awhile now. The GBA half anyway; may be awhile. ;)
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It wouldn't surprise me at all to see this sort of thing carried out in the next Zelda release on the Gamecube and GBA - Miyamoto's been playing around with the parallel worlds aspect of the series for quite some time, and I'm sure he could do some damned interesting stuff by interlinking a 2D GBA Zelda with a 3D Gamecube Zelda, either in the form of unlocking dungeons for one on the other, or by working with some sort of generational system between games (ie, 2D Link is the ancestor of 3D Link). When you think of what Nintendo's been able to do with just the GBC and N64, there's really a staggering amount of potential in the next generation... which reminds me, I need to look in to a Gamecube preorder pretty soon...
| Just for form's sake |
| I hate you,
I have yet to play the new Zelda games. But I know that you will burn in
hell for making fun of them, as you did yesterday in merely mentioning them
in such a dispicatone of voice. Just as all of GIA will burn for ever
bringing Dragon Quest/Warrior into a conversation when you're nowhere near
cool enough to even use and of those letters in conjunction with one another.
Because you are all Square whores who refuse to enjoy anything with real
substance, like everything 989 studios makes these days. I just sarcasted
myself out. Can't form more sentence that be coherent.
Gilbert
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I just don't feel like my day's complete anymore, unless I've printed a letter accusing me of being biased, even in jest. It's a sick, sad compulsion, really...
| Our consumer service good deed for the day |
| My wife bought me a GBA for our six-month anniversary (she bought the
friggin' pink one though; guess who's been playing it more?) I
immediately went out and bought both Oracles (I couldn't find Link's
Awakening)...
I decided to start with Ages...I became immersed. It had all of the
classic elements of the original NES Zelda with greatly improved
graphics, sprinkled with some references to A Link to the Past, Ocarina,
and Majora. What more could a hard-core Zelda fan ask for?(save an
entirely original Zelda quest devised with the GBA engine...MMmmmm)
Anyhow, I'd have more to add to this discussion if my GBA didn't keep
shutting off on me in the middle of gameplay. With some investigation,
it seems that the cover for the batteries is slightly lose, and I fear
that may be the problem. I am not sure, though, because I don't know how
it is "supposed" to feel.
My wife bought a $10 warranty from Babbages, but, unfortunately, it had
to be filled out within 10 days of purchase (which I forgot to do), not
to mention, she lost the sales receipt...
Am I screwed, or what?
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Nope, far from it. One of the cool things they did with the GBA (or frightening things, depending on how Orwellian you want to get) is put a bar code on each individual system that could be seen through the packaging - this is what got scanned by the bar code reader when you bought your system, so Nintendo knows when and where each individual unit was purchased. Since the system has a 12-month manufacturer's warranty and hasn't been out for hardly any length of time, you should be able to call up their customer support line (1-800-255-3700) and have them help you out.
And if they have to replace it, see if you can get a different color.
Closing Comments:
Blue sky topic tomorrow: obviously the Gamecube and PS2 are better polygon-pushers than their predecessors, and somewhere deep in Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft R&D, somebody's thinking about what the next-next-gen machines will look like. But what else, if anything, do you expect from the PS3 and other such equivalent consoles? Will there be another jump equivalent to 2D -> 3D, or will it just be bigger, louder, faster? Let me know.
-Chris Jones, preparing for Lucky Dan 2: Judgement Day. Hasta la vista, Mojoy.
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