Hi everybody! Time for *fanfare* Zelda:TOoT praise! First off, so I dont get flamed to hell by anti-zelda fans, I don't think Zelda:TOoT deserves game of the century award. That should go to FF3 or FF8 or maybe Chrono Trigger (11 endings, I was in heaven). Anyways, I agree with some anti-zelda people on a few points:

1. Yes, Navi was an annoying freak! I spent approximately 4 and a half hours hunting the net searching for some way to kill her or get rid of her. Voice acting, when done, should be done throughout the game, and done well (Metal Gear Solid did that perfectly, but it was TOO DAMN SHORT).

2. The auto-jump feature. I am going to hunt down and kill the bastard who made up that thing. Sometimes, its just fun to mess aroudnd if u have such a huge and lush world (I spent an hour or two screwing around in and out of the castle in Mario 64), and with the "helpful" (note the heavy sarcasm) auto-jump, you couldnt really do that. They pat themselves on the back for making a great environment forever, but dont let us jump around in it.

Anyways, now I sound like a Zelda-hater, but im not, so ON WITH THE PRAISE. Kevbin Cogger claimed that when there were 2 targets on his screen in Z-Lock mode, it switched back and forth between the two. I never had that problem, the Z-Lock was designed almost flawlessy, so almost anyone, no matter how bad hand-eye coordination, couild use it. Also, the soundtrack for Zelda was quite good, I liked it, not comparable to such soundtracks as FF3 and Evangelion(not a game, its an anime series. it rules). It was a bit annoying to have to start in the woods or wherever all the time (miles away from your goal), but hey, I had fun running throughout Hyrule, chopping up giant, flying, spinny plants and just generally messing around on my way (good way to releive the stress of an unbeatable dungeon, but i COULDNT JUMP. stupid autojump). Someone compared Myst to Zelda in the March 24th column. Myst was a pile of crap, an excuse to make pretty rendered backgrounds, but the game was awful. Zelda was a great game (not an excuse to make a "big, pretty world"), and if you actually played it for 5 minutes without nitpicking, you'd enjoy it a lot more (nitpicking even a bit, puts a damper ont he rest of a game). No im not running on the hype of Zelda, im just expressing my opinion.

Anyways, im outta stuff to say.

--The Cabbit =^-^=

Legend of the Crystals takes place 200 years after part V. The world seems to be shaping up fairly well, considering that V is supposedly the War of the Magi. I take it Linaly's Summon spell doesn't count as magic?

Is part V really the war that reduced the world to a scorched wasteland? And do Linaly, Prettz, Rouge, Valkus, and the Deathgyunous force count as "real" FF characters? (I'd say so, but that' s just MO)

ALso, who's your fave RPG villain? Mine's Kefka. Y'know, I just found out the other day that the guy who directed OIngo Boingo's Farewell Live video is named Scott Palazzo. Ironic, ne? That's Destructo Boy's last name. And consider that album has the (really kick-ass) song "Clowns of Death"...

JUst one of life's little ironies. Especially for us BOingoloid Fanatic HArleyites...

- Blackjack Gabbiani

Greetz, Allan

A question has been bothering me for quite some time, and since it'syour business to answer questions, I thought I might ask you insteadof someone who's business it isn't.

While playing FF7 for just something to do, I noticed an interestingcredit on the opening screen that read something like: "Based on astory by". I don't think I've ever heard of the man who wrote thegame. Shouldn't I have? I mean, it was basically -his- game, wasn'tit? The plot, the story, the characters...all his idea. Yet, thisman has a small little credit somewhere back there next to the"Assitant Coffee Boy's Second Cousin". Basically, I ask this...whatrole does the writer have in making a RPG? If we're basing hisposition on how well he's known, he (or she) obviously doesn't domuch. Is it more like the director comes up with the basic plot, andthen leaves it to this writer to fill in the holes? This certainlywould make sense, considering how well known most directors are. Isthis true?

One more thing: I don't know if you Canucks get the Sci-Fi channel,but we in the U.S. do, and there's this neat little show on it called"Mystery Science Theater 3000". Probably most of the readers knowthis show, but for those who don't, let me -briefly- explain: A manand some robots are stuck on a spaceship. The people who trapped themthere force them to watch bad movies, and they keep their sanity bycracking jokes at the movies while they watch it. The show obviouslyappeals to the smarter viewing audience, and has lasted 10 wonderfulyears. Now, the evil and incredibly stupid Sci-Fi channel iscancelling it after only having it for 3 or so seasons. Best Brains(the producers) has expressed interest in continuing the show afterit's final season, but Sci-Fi and USA (Sci-Fi's parent company) seemsto rather spend money on picking up more tasteless, cheesy shows, andhas decided to cancel MST3K in favor of shows like Sliders. Allan, Icertainly hope you could help us by telling people that the show isgetting cancelled, and referring them to www.mst3kinfo.com, theofficial site of the MST3K info club, for more information and howthey can help to keep the show alive. Thanks.

I've been through the desert on a horse with no name--(and how cool isthat?)

Aaron Littleton

Dear Double Agent,

OK, if you want my two cents on Zelda 64, here they are. I think Zelda64 is a wonderful game. It is the second best game I have ever played, anddefinitely the game of the milleneum. I say second best only because ofsome fond memories I have of an older game that absolutely took me in.Zelda is an obsession, that game was a life. But enough romanticism, thisis Zelda's letter.

Zelda 64 is unsurpassed, IMHO, in graphics, game play, and intuitiveness. I realize that Z-Targeting can get annoying, but it's not so bad if youbother to take the time to go to your options menu and switch to the "Hold"method. It's a little harder on your fingers, but solves most of theproblems. As for music gripes, this game is best played with the volumeslightly up so as to catch subtle undertones I think most gamers aremissing. The whole game revolves around a musical instrument, and themusic does reflect that if you pay attention. I think some people havebeen approaching the game with an "I'm going to prove the hype wrong."bias, and little things like musical nuances are always the first to go ifyou block out parts of a game. I love music more than anything else, andwhile I see places where it needs improving, it is magnificent as it is.Not as good as some other games, but excellent none the less. As forauto-jump, that probably should stay but with manual-jumping as an optionor addition. It can get VERY annoying.

I realize that some people disagree with the changes from the old Zeldagames just like many people, like myself, are disgusted by what Sierra didin King's Quest: Mask of Eternity. Some people don't mind or even approveof certain changes, some don't. True, Nintendo changed a perfect formula,but they lost no more than they gained. The new recipe is just as sweet asthe old one. In my opinion, and those of many others, it is sweeter.

--BruceKid

While reading Wednesday's column, one of the reponses you gave was that some people can't stand Tactics Ogre. I know that this is true, but I never understood exactly why except for the graphics department. I think that when most people express critcism against TO, it's about the game's "horrible 16-bit" graphics. Is graphics the game's only fault? I for one thought the game to be great. It wasn't the overall/classy RPG package like FFT, but it is was the deeper/challenging strategy game. What are your thoughts about the game? And it really gets me angry when someone claims that Tactics Ogre ripped off Final Fantasy Tactics since that's simple not true.

As the former webmaster of the web's biggest Zelda website of all time,I was there with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time from the veryfirst two screenshots, to the actual release. Three years long I wasobsessed with that single game. I don't think I need to say I could be abit (just a bit!) biased.

I disagree with a lot of people that wrote in yesterday. For one, itseems like a lot of them just didn't play the game all that far, andmore importantly, just didn't want to enjoy it. I can tell you, if youdon't want to enjoy something, chances are you won't.

If people don't want to enjoy a game, chances are they won't even fullyread the instructions the characters in the game give you. "Mommy, Ican't turn off the Z-targeting because it keeps switching between thetwo enemies." "But Kenny, don't you remember that the green elf told youpulling back the analog stick and then pressing Z allowed you tounlock?"

I have to laugh, when I see someone calling the people who luckily canenjoy the game for what it is "obsessed". While it's obviously thepeople desperately trying to prove things are wrong with Zelda who areobsessed.

Of course the game isn't perfect, but that doesn't keep it from being ahighly playable, inventive and innovative game. I feel there shouldn'tbe a doubt about that.

--Niels 't Hooft

Why is Zelda getting so much praise, Legion007 asks? Well, if you ask me, Iabsolutely love Zelda. To me, Miyamoto has made another work of art. If youreally want to know why, here's a review I recently did and sent to somesite (who never printed it, grumble, grumble)...

Zelda: Ocarina of Time was originally scheduled to be released more thana year ago. However, Video Game God, err, Miyamoto decided that they neededmore time. The game was hyped up to the sky. Nintendo predicted salesbeating the best selling US game of all time: Super Mario Bros. 3. Nintendo64 machines were sold just for Zelda. "The perfect combination of action,adventure, and RPG" was the message brought out. Limited Edition cartridgeswere out for only those who pre-ordered. Now, November 24, 1998, the gamehas finally been released to the American public. Does the game live up tothe hype? Does this game deserve purchasing an N64 just for it? Is it trulythe best game of all time?

Answering all three questions: Yes, now shut up, I'm playing.

When Shigeru Miyamoto was a young lad, he wandered alone for hoursexploring the Kyoto countryside, hoping to stumble upon an new adventure atcaves, lakes, even tiny villages along the mountains. Perhaps many of hisintelligent ideas come from the time spent as a child. It is quite apparent,no matter how you look at it, that Zelda: Ocarina of Time had a lot of workput into it, and firmly places Shigeru Miyamoto as the Steven Speilberg ofvideogames.

The game is set at a well designed world known as Hyrule. Each location inHyrule is so elaborately designed with little touches like chairs, torches,clocks, puddles, everything about the world is just so beautiful. Somecomplain about the blurry filtering, but if the whole world wasn't blurry,it would just be a blocky mess, and when you look at those computer CGmovies out in the theaters, you may notice the overall blurry effects inmany of the scenes. At certain places (such as a few houses and towns), thegraphics are pre-rendered (but 3D scrolling), but most of the world is instunning real-time 3D polygonal environments. The whole world has a sense ofcontinuity and a certain feel that can't be explained in words, which makesthe whole world that much more believable, despite the fairies and magic.Sure, Zelda: Ocarina of time might not have the most compelling story, butit's a story fit for legends and totally intertwines in with the wholeenvironment to create a whole new place that you'll just want to visit. It'sa world with setting suns, rising moons, a world with a forest with neveraging elves, a world of monsters and dungeons and a world of the mysticalTriforce, a world of epic proportions, a world you'll never want to leave.It wouldn't be a lie to say OoT is a world in a cartridge (a 256 megabitcartridge, in fact. That's no more than 32 MBs, which shows the incrediblegenius the game possesses). The story is set by many real-time 3D cinematicsequences, so it doesn't feel like cut-scene after cut-scene because of howit interconnects with the world. These sequences are excellently executedwith excellent camera angles and movements. They may not be as cinematic as,say, Metal Gear Solid, butsometimes it doesn't have to be. At the beginning of the game, a fairy iscalled to meet you and take you to the "Great Deku Tree". As she travels,you see the Kokiri Forest (Link's home) through the eyes of the fairy, asshe speeds through the houses and trees, even bumping into a fence, showingthe extreme genius of the whole event. It's not cinematic at all; it's trulyimmersive.

Many people were worried Zelda would lose its RPG roots and become a Mario64 type game. Not so. The game has an adventure feel, and the emphasis isdefinitely on exploration and interaction with the enemies, creatures, andthe environment around you. The extremely huge and well thought out dungeonconsists of many different puzzles and cliffs that could send you to yourdoom (although the automatic jump feature solves that problem), but don'tthink of it as like Myst, where the puzzles involve solving a complicatedpuzzle which will give you a harp to go play a song that you learned wayback in the beginning of the game to play at the front door of a gate thatleads you to a room where you have to learn some base 5 numbering system orsomething. Each puzzle is so incredibly designed, involving extremeinteraction of with the environment, a feature not found in many games(cough, hack, Final Fantasy VII, cough cough). In fact, many puzzles makeyou think "Now what would I do in real life?" A brilliant puzzle involvingcarrying a tomboy Zora around the inside of a big Fish's mouth isexcellently executed. In many situations you are even required to hide fromthe enemy! If you are caught, will you be slaughtered with a butcher knifeand your blood flowing all over the screen? Of course not, it somehowdoesn't fit the world (however, there IS blood in this game, and it'sincredibly violent considering it's "Everyone" rating). The Ocarina of Timeis not just a gimmick, it's an instrument essential to Hyrule life. The useof it to transport you to temples, to open legendary doors, to perform manyimportant events, even to make it rain, is a stoke of genius and only addsto the interaction.

Control is brilliantly executed and definitely one of the best innovationsthe game brings. Items are assigned to the Left, down, and Right C buttons,which makes items extremely fast and easy to use, especially when you needthem most. Only Metal Gear Solid has a better designed item system. The topC button allows you to look into the eyes of Link and view his world ofHyrule. However, at certain times, Navi, the fairy that follows you, asksfor your attention. Pressing the C up button these times allows her to speakwith you. This type of interaction with a NPC is unheard of in any genre.She can also tell the enemy's weakness when targeting an enemy (which I willdiscuss later). The A buttons has many uses, too many for a player toremember (although in a nutshell, it's the "action button"). Because ofthis, the top of the screen shows exactly what the A button does at thattime, whether to dive underwater, read a sign, or climb a ladder. Not onlyis this extremely helpful to casual gamers (also that it's color coded andalso shows the weapon in another green circle representing the B button) butis an excellent tool. However, the real innovation of Zelda's control systemis when you are fighting an enemy (in real-time, by the way, as this is anaction RPG). Pressing Z (the trigger like button on the back of the N64controller) most of the time places the camera right behind Link. Duringfighting, the Z button actually targets the closest enemy, similar to TombRaider only in that you chose which enemy to target and when to target it.In Tomb Raider, if you have your weapons out you automatically target theclosest enemy, but in Zelda, you have to press the Z button to target sothat you aren't forced to fight all the time. This feature allows you tomove around the enemy and still have the enemy in sight. This feature isespecially useful during a sword-to-sword combat, when holding up the shieldblocking the enemies attacks while circling the enemy is especiallyimportant. The battles are well-thought out, but the real genius is in theboss battles. The bosses aren't simple button mashing. Bosses are tests ofnot only reflexes, but also of the mind. Every boss hasa weakness, and by learning that weakness, you can effectively fight theboss. The targeting system explained above can also be used to target faraway items and people. It's yet another feat for Miyamoto and the team atNintendo and proves that Nintendo has always and will always make some ofthe best videogames in the world, bad reputations aside.

We all make fun of characters in RPGs like Crono for not ever speaking aword, but the fact is, in most of those games, it is so noticeable.Surprisingly, Link doesn't talk ever in any part of the game ever unlessmaking a choice, but we don't notice it because of the extreme intelligentexecution of the interaction between characters and the world as a whole.You feel as though you ARE Link, YOU are putting the words in his mouth,which was the goal of Chrono Trigger (but failed because of somewhat poorexecution and the overall feel screamed for him to say something). The wholefeel is put into the somewhat simple story, but a story that deeplymotivates you into going through the game. Sure, it's a bit clichÚ(Ganondorf has become The King of Evil") and sometimes a bit weird ("You'renot a man unless you have a fairy!"), but the story as a whole isbrilliantly executed, as is the character interaction and emotions. As achild everything in the world seems big, and the characters put you off asjust some kid, but as an adult Link understands his responsibilities, andthe characters also treat you with more respect. The world also seemssmaller than before, which adds to the immersion. It seems like a long trektraveling through the world as a child, but as an adult the trees feelsomewhat smaller and the world is seen from an adult's perspective. Timetravel from child to adult is not only essential to the game, but alsosuperbly executed.

For an N64 game, Zelda has some surprisingly excellent sound. The music canbe sometimes repetitive, but many times brilliant (Mmm.. Gerudo Valley). Theemotional scenes are given an extra oomph with the music, and although thetraditional overworld theme is not present, the overworld theme in Zelda:Ocarina of Time is excellent, especially given that many people are angrythe Zelda theme is not there. The best Sound effects of Nintendo 64 can alsobe heard in Zelda. Everything, from stepping on puddles to walking inside abelly to hearing the wildlife in the morning and the wolves howling at nightto even a few voice samples show off what you can do on an N64.

The graphics, the music, the sound, the story, the puzzles, the environment,it all interconnects with each other to create a brilliant world with aunique feeling that cannot be described in words. This videogame, The Legendof Zelda: Ocarina of Time, deserves to be played by every man and woman inthe world, so it can be fully appreciated and get what it deserves. Thewhole game makes you realize why you play videogames in the first place. TheLegend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, is a work of art worthy of loving.

If you haven't been scared away yet, that is why I love Zelda: Ocarina ofTime. Oh yeah, and Next Generation was simply stating Tales of Destinywouldn't appeal to newer RPG fans who recently got hooked cuz I FF7 becauseit's true.

-Clyde "D'oh!" Hudman