Never On Time

A new Zelda game don't come around very often, that's why it's a pretty big event for the game industry and more specifically zelda fans.

I remembered the last few Zelda games launch very vividly, I remember the hype just as much as the games themselves.

I remember A Link Between Worlds getting released with a highly-sought after gold-plated 3DS. The timing of the release around Black Friday made it impossible to get one of those of gold 3DS locally without paying an arm and leg. I wanted both the system and the game as I have yet to own a Nintendo 3DS that time. I didn't managed to get the gold 3DS after all but I did managed to win a copy of the game, A Link Between Worlds shortly after buying a 3DS system. I finally played the game late last year and it was very bit as good as you would expect.

I remember the last Zelda console game the Skyward Sword was such a long wait coming that I actually bought a Wiimote Motionplus in advance. I didn't expect Nintendo to put out a rather affordable bundle of the game and gold-plated wii-mote that would quickly sold out. Once again, I missed out on another fan coveted Zelda piece.

Since the Wii was my first Nintendo home console, I had the grand ambitions of finishing both Wind Waker and Twilight Princess before the Skyward Sword came out. Somehow I could never decide when and which version of Twilight Princess to play and I felt no sense in playing Skyward Sword before TP. So eventually I ended up missing Skyward Sword at launch but the hype was very real and still vivid to this day.

I finally got around to playing Twilight Princess Wii version a few years ago when I already have Wii U system. I think I was also re-playing the HD version of the Wind Waker. Though long overdue, Twilight Princess didn't feel aged to me as the scope and scale of the game was far more than I was expecting. 

This year the hype is back as the new Zelda game is coming out in less than a months' time. I finally have a copy of Skyward Sword now and I'm just starting the adventure despite knowing I wouldn't finish it in time for Breath of the Wild. I have already pre-ordered the regular (and only) version of the game for the Wii U system. No more fancy bundle or special editions, not that there are any available for me to buy on the Wii U system. I just want to play the game and have a copy on my shelf as part of my Zelda game collection. 

This time, I will be on time for the hero of time.

2105 recap: Nintendo Wii

It's doesn't take a whole lot to be a Top 10 most played Wii game on my system. Lol

I didn't finish many Wii games this year but the quality more than makes up for it's quantity.

1. The Twillight Princess
2. Metroid Prime
3. Bully Scholarship Edition

The Twillight Princess is such a massive Zelda experience that I didn't expect to take that long to finish. I really should have started this game a few years ago as now I still have Skyward Sword to finish before the new Zelda on Wii U. That's a nice first world problem to have.

It's been years since I picked up the Metroid Prime Trilogy and yet here I am finishing just the first Metroid Prime. I hope I don't take this long to finish the other two Prime games left. Then again, it's going to be a while before we see the next console Metroid game anyways.

It dawned on me that all 3 of these games are enhanced ports of older games from two generations ago. This will change next year as I actively complete the remaining Wii games on my backlog.

Forgotten Wolf

One of the first games I finished this year was The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess. I felt like playing and finishing this Zelda game was a grand adventure itself.

First of all, I owned a Gamecube copy of the game and while my Wii is completely compatible with Gamecube, it's much more convenient playing the Wii version. That saves me the trouble of hooking up a Gamecube controller and memory card but more importantly, it tracks my playing time on.  So long story short, I was finally able to play the Wii version once I started running roms on the hard drive.

I loved my first Zelda console game The Wind Waker but there is no denying that The Twilight Princess is the better game. The Wii controls integrated into the game late in the development are a mixed bag for me while it's certainly useful when aiming in first person view, the use of Wii controls during combat feels tiring and cumbersome.

What really separates this game from the the Wind Waker were the dungeons, the staple of all Zelda games. The dungeons in the Twilight Princess were simply epic and really make you use each and every tool that you acquired throughout the game. There were a lot of the dungeons featured in this game and each of the dungeon were designed differently so it never felt like more of the same thing. 

I always thought that each of the recent Zelda game has a very clear theme, the Wind Waker was an experience set in the sea while Skyward Sword was obviously an adventure set in the sky. So where does that leaves The Twilight Princess? Well, The Twillight Princess covers all grounds, there was a dungeon buried deep beneath the sea and the last dungeon takes Link all the way up to the skies. Now I can't imagine playing the Skyward Sword and being confined to an adventure in the sky. 

Some fans complained that in between all of these impressive dungeons is a barren wasteland which offer little or not much to do. That's true but complaining about that is sort of missing the point, after all the dungeons are what most fans paid money to play and here they are scarily good. 

Days of Feeling Dumb

As a gamer these days I tend to be more nostalgic about old games than excited about forthcoming new games. Sure there are occasional upcoming games that get me interested but more often than not, those happens to be sequel to a favorite game series I can care about like Resident Evil or Yakuza. Perhaps it's a sign that I'm slowing down or maybe just a lack of fresh games in the current market I can't really say because I'm still clocking about the same amount of gaming time every month.

While reminiscing about past games with an old friend, it occurs to me that sometimes our strongest memory about a game isn't how good or bad the game was but where in the game we got stuck in. Bear in the mind, I don't mean being stuck at a difficult puzzle or a tough boss, I'm talking about the silly things like missing an important route because the background happens to be pre-rendered or over-thinking a puzzle when the solution was much more obvious and simple. I have had my fair share of those and I suspect I will have much more of them to come. 

I'm actually experiencing quite a number of them while playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the very first time. I got stuck in early dungeon and I got lost a few times because everything is so dark and dreary compared with the bright skies of Wind Waker. While it's undoubtedly a great game (some say one of the best), I reckon when I finally finish it, I will remember it more for the parts I got stuck in than how great the game actually is. 

Hear My Voice

The gaming world has played host to a number of silent heroes, most notably Link from the Legend of Zelda and more recently his spiritual successor Amaterasu from Okami. These characters despite being set off on the adventure of a lifetime has the distinction of letting their action define their character rather than their words. Vannesa Z Schneider from PN03 was set to join the list of heroes or so i thought, two-third into the game where she has yet to utter a word. It was certainly fitting for her character and the scenario as she is on a lone mission on a distant planet to destroy every moving mecha under the control of CAMS (Computer Arms Management System). She appears so cool and calm disposing each mecha with her slick moves and she is wonderfully animated down to every last intricate move. Receiving text orders from a faceless contact, it's easy to see why she's the most charming individual in the game despite being silent.

Then about two-thirds into the game, something happened. Faced with what looks like a clone of herself, she begins to wonder aloud what the heck is going on. I have yet to finish the game but i always figured her to be a clone, a terminator of some kind. Now she just sounds European and her thick accent makes her more foreign than any of the fancy aegis suit that she wears. You know, i bet Franka Potente (Run Lola Run) would be perfect to play her character if they ever do a movie adaption.