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The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker Review

Started by SkyMyl, May 21, 2008, 06:56:55 AM

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SkyMyl

This review is an entry for The Sailing the Lostwinds contest. Check it out, and if possible, join.

Welcome, welcome to my Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker Review, by MasterYoungLink. Wind Waker is a great Zelda game, that brought new characters, a new world, a new Link, and a slightly updated combat system. The game also had one other feature that not many people like. Let's explore what this game has to offer, starting with the plot.


Game: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Year released: 2003, March 24
Players: 1.
System: Nintendo Gamecube


Plot: Wind Waker takes place at least 100 years after the events of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, after Link sealed Ganon in the Sacred Realm and returned to his own time. Wind Waker opens on an Island named Outset Island, with Link...sleeping. His sister then finds him and wakes him up, telling him it's his birthday. He goes and see's his Grandmother, and gets the original Link's clothes. After that, he goes outside and sees a massive bird carrying a girl in his (Her?) claws, with a pirate ship behind it in hot pursuit. The pirate ship continues firing cannonballs at it, until it drops the girl into a forest and falls in the ocean. After arming himself with a sword, Link goes to save the girl by going into the little forest, and kills the monsters roaming the forest. It's discovered that the girl's name is Tetra, and that Tetra is a pirate captain, and was the captain of that ship that tried to save her. So after saving her, Link and Tetra exit the forest, and Link's little sister finds him and rushes up to him to give him a BIG hug. Before that, the bird that the pirates defeated swoops by and snatches the WRONG FREAKING GIRL, and carries her away. After arming himself with a shield, Link asks the pirates a favor and asks if they'll take him to where she's being held. Link's new adventure begins...(And yes, the Great Fairies are as hideous as ever.)

Gameplay: And where does every Zelda game shine? Wind Waker's gameplay hasn't changed much from Ocarina of-
Keep the layout in mind.
Yeah, that Ocarina of Time. Fighting is basically the same, save for a few things. One new thing is that Link gains a new ability called Parry. Whenever and enemy is about to attack Link, the A button on the screen flashes. If you press the button when it flashes, Link with dodge the attack and damage the enemy, usually winding up behind the enemy for another set of attacks. Another new feature are the button layouts.

Screw parachutes, leaves are all the rage!

Note how Y Button, the Z Button, and the X button replace the Left C, the Down C, and the Right C, respectively, and how there's a massive A button in the middle. That's your action command, basically. You can talk, lift, parry, and do a number of other things with it, such as sidling. Sidling is a new ability where Link does his best imitation of Solid Snake and sidles onto a wall. He can move left, right and peer corners to see what lies ahead. (Which is only useful on your first trek through the Forsaken Fortress.) Another similar ability is crawling. Hold down the R Button to crouch, then tilt the control stick and you'll crawl. This can help from being stealthy, to crawling through tiny holes in the wall.

Link also obtains items to help him on his journey, such as the Iron Boots, the Grappling Hook, the Pictobox (Even heros can be tourists.), and the Wind Waker. The Wind Waker is Link's new Ocarina of Time, and can hold 8 songs total. He can use it to change day to night, he can warp from island to island, control certain inanimate objects, and more.

Seeing as you have no way to find your sister alone, what better way than with a talking boat with a Lion's head? After Link gets a sail for the boat, he can start sailing the Great Sea, and discover new lands. Sadly, this area is flawed in the fact that there's a wind system. This system works by changing the wind with the Wind Waker in the direction you need to go, and follow the wind. It's okay, but doing it seven times in one minute can get tedious fast. But to ease the pain, you find treasure charts around the Great Sea, and wherever there are glowing holes in the ocean (!?), you can use a salvage arm on your ship to get the treasure in the glowing hole. You can make money fast this way, seeing as most of the treasures are rupees. Also on the Great Sea are enemy ships, big submarines (That you can stop at and enter. You usually find treasure in them.), sea enemies (Octoroks, for example.), small islands (Usually have a hole to drop into or a mini-game on them.), and more for you to discover.

IAnother feature of the game is an item you obtain for rescuing a character named Tingle (Which you MUST do.), the Tingle Tuner, makes the game "two player." You need a Nintendo Gamecube Game Boy Advance cable in the second player slot, with a Gameboy Advance or Gameboy Advance SP. When Link activates the Tingle Tuner (Put it in an item slot.), if you have the Gameboy Advance ON and in the 2nd player slot, a Tingle icon will appear under Link. From this point on, the second player can move the icon around and gain information on the island (Like a little nagivator.), and if your wallet is large enough, you can spend rupees and buy Red Ting (Same effect as a Red Potion.), a Tingle Bomb (By using the A button. A portable bomb that costs money=Crap.), and more. Even a few sidequests come with this item, but it's really just a novelty. But you can tick your friends off in a number of ways with it. Lastly, if you think that you can cheat in certain areas in the game with the Tingle Tuner, Tingle will claim that "you need to figure things out for yourself, Mr. Fairy," and will deny you the right to use certain items.

Graphics: Many people hate the graphics of Wind Waker, and graphics alone. As can be proved by the picture above, the game is cel-shaded. I personally see no problem with this, because I don't think you can play this game with real graphics. The way the characters look this way is perfect, and I can't see any other way they could do Link's expressive face.

Just a normal in-game explosion. Also another example of the graphics.

Sound: Just about every Zelda game has a memorable track, and this one is no different. From sailing on the sea, to walking in a town, to the Tower of the Gods, almost all the music in this Zelda game is excellent. They remixed some of the tracks quite nicely, and I have to say that I'm impressed with the new music they did. Onto sounds, instead of music, they're pretty funny. Some sounds made me laugh when playing this game, and others sounded quite accurate. It's nothing to hype over, though.


Overall Score:

Plot: The plot is pretty simple, but grows somewhat more complex as you progress through the game. 9/10.

Gameplay: The Zelda series shines here, but this game is flawed by the simple Wind mechanic on sea. On the land, it's much, MUCH better. 8/10

Graphics: Again, many people did not like the graphics with Wind Waker, but I love said graphics. 10/10

Sound: The tracks were remixed quite nicely, the new tracks are good, and sound? Okay. Voices? Priceless. 10/10

Multiplayer: N/A, seeing as this is one-player.

Replay Value: After beating the game, Link goes on a Second Quest. There are changes, such as a Colored PictoBox, to take photos, new clothes for Link and his sister, and there's change in some of the text. Other than this, the game offers plenty of sidequests and hidden goodies for you to find on the Great Sea. 7/10.

Difficulty: I rate this on a scale of 1 to 5, so my rating is 4/5. The first two dungeons are easy, save for a few parts. Later dungeons require you to scratch your brain, such as the Wind Temple. From start to finish, the game offers a challenge for Zelda players everywhere.

OVERALL SCORE: 10/10. What is this?
This game is awesome. It's basically perfect. But in this case, it's flawed in a few ways, but it's a fun and excellent game overall. If you haven't, I reccomend picking it up, especially if you want a game that will occupy you for a month or two.



Research done on Wikipedia, images from Wikipedia, all the text you see here is by me and me alone. Do not copy without my permission, and if seen elsewhere without my name or permission, it is stolen. Thank you for reading this.

Allegretto

#1
I dissagree and really your rating system makes no since, how can it be a 10/10 when you only gave it a 10 in three categorys, if I add your ratings up it seems more like a 6-8. 10 being if you rated all of them as a 10.

Still a very nice review MasterYoungLink check out my OOT one, tell me what you think of it good or bad :P

SkyMyl

Quote from: Allegretto on May 23, 2008, 12:34:18 AM
I dissagree and really your rating system makes no since, how can it be a 10/10 when you only gave it a 10 in three categorys, if I add your ratings up it seems more like a 6-8. 10 being if you rated all of them as a 10.

Still a very nice review MasterYoungLink check out my OOT one, tell me what you think of it good or bad :P
Sorry, I was a in a rush when I made this. :P I'm just biased towards Zelda, so I overrated it by instinct. My bad. :|

Triforceman22



QuoteRobotnik: GET A LOAD OF THIS!!!!!!!!

Allegretto

Quote from: MasterYoungLink on May 23, 2008, 07:13:02 AM
Quote from: Allegretto on May 23, 2008, 12:34:18 AM
I dissagree and really your rating system makes no since, how can it be a 10/10 when you only gave it a 10 in three categorys, if I add your ratings up it seems more like a 6-8. 10 being if you rated all of them as a 10.

Still a very nice review MasterYoungLink check out my OOT one, tell me what you think of it good or bad :P
Sorry, I was a in a rush when I made this. :P I'm just biased towards Zelda, so I overrated it by instinct. My bad. :|
Oh I still thought it was a Fantastic review!!!!  8)

Professor Layton

Great review!
By the way, you can give a game 10/10 even though it never got perfect scores in every category. =)

PXD

Great choice of a game to review, I must say. Sure, not everyone was blown away by Wind Waker, but I doubt many can find much to complain in the way of its music.

Your review itself...well...that's another story.

Players: 1-2ish. A good thing to mention here is the GBA connectivity, in case some are a bit confused. And yes, it's likely that most people have played Wind Waker by now, but it's always nice to review a game as though nobody's played it yet.

In other words, never assume everyone knows everything about the game and just wants to see your thoughts on it. Part of reviewing is giving your thoughts, but it's also a chance for you to tell someone that they need to buy/rent this game now, or steer clear of it...at least, in my opinion.

after Link's sealed Ganon in the Sacred Realm and returned to his own time. Make it singular. Sorry, but...a glaring grammar error right there.

Whenever and enemy is about to attack Link, the A button on the screen flashes. If you press the button when it flashes, Link with dodge the attack and damage the enemy, usually winding up behind the enemy for another set of attacks. Drop the 'd' in the first part, and change 'with' to 'will'.

Also mention that Link has two different forms of Parrying - rolling to the side and striking an enemy in the back, or jumping into the air for a vertical slice and landing behind it.

Note how Y Button, the Z Button, and the X button replace the Left C, I think it nice to add 'the' between 'how' and 'Y'. It just seems to sound a bit better.

and how there's a massive A button. That's your action command, basically. This could also work as "and how there's a massive A button, which serves as the action command."

He can move left, right and peer corners to see what lies ahead. Add 'around' between 'peer' and 'corners'.

Link also obtains items to help him on his journey, such as the Iron Boots, the Grappling Hook, the Pictobox (Even heros can be tourists.), and the Wind Waker. The Wind Waker is Link's new Ocarina of Time, and can hold 8 songs total. He can use it to change day to night, he can warp from island to island, control certain inanimate objects, and more. Which brings us to sailing. If you're gonna move on to sailing, don't include it in the same paragraph. Make it into its own paragraph, and remove 'which brings us to sailing' in the process.

Seeing as you have no way to find your sister alone, what better way that with a talking boat with a Lions head! "what better way than with a talking boat with the head of a lion?"

Basic, but most of it are rupees. "Basic, and most of the treasure is Rupees, making for an easy way to fill your wallet."

Other than this, everything's the same. Not too sure what you mean by this. There's still some other unique parts to sailing, like dealing with enemies, submarines, watchtowers, ect.

I forgot to mention something. Do you need to tell the world that, or do you need to tell only yourself that? ;p

You need a Gameboy Advance and a GBA to Gamecube adapter in the second player slot. Take note that a GBA SP works as well, and it's more commonly referred to as a 'Nintendo Gamecube Game Boy Advance cable.' Sure, it's a mouthful, but there's a chance you might get some people confused, so...it's worth the extra typing.

When Link activates the Tingle Tuner (Put it in an item slot.) The part in parenthesis can work better as 'by using it in the same method you'd use any other item'

Many people hate the graphics of Wind Waker, and graphics alone. This, for me at least, could be changed to sound a bit nicer. "While many people love Wind Waker, they aren't equally crazy about the graphics."

and I can't see any other way they could do this Link's expressive face. Remove 'this'.

and sound? They're okay. Voices? Priceless. "Sound? Okay. Voices? Priceless."

Multiplayer: "If you count the Tingle Tuner, 5/10, otherwise it's obviously N/A

Replay Value: After beating the game, Link goes on a Second Quest, but the only changes are that all Hylian Text is revised to english, Link is in his pajamas for the whole quest, and his sister is wearing a different dress. So if you're interested, 7/10. Way to give out some spoilers, in a way. There's also at least two additional things you forgot to mention...

Research done on Wikipedia While Wikipedia may sound like a great source of research (and I'm very curious to see what this research includes, to be honest), be warned that not all the details you find prove to be accurate, and that it's not called 'the people's encyclopedia' for nothing.

If this is your first review, it's not entirely half-bad. True, your graphics and sound sections fall a bit short to gameplay (always nice to have everything evenly-sized), and the fact that you should likely include a section about the replay value (regardless of how great of a value it is), but ah well, no review is entirely perfect.

I hope you continue to improve, of course. My pen and I will be waiting ;p

SkyMyl

#7
My fingers hurt. And again, this is what happens when you're in a rush. Thanks for pointing out all those mistakes so I could correct them. (Which I did.) And one more thing. When I said "Research done on Wikipedia," it was mostly pictures from Wikipedia, remembering the basis of the story, and the gameplay.

Are you sure you didn't steal Lightningsword's title as Critic Extraordinaire?

Macawmoses

Quote from: MasterYoungLink on May 23, 2008, 07:58:22 PM
My fingers hurt. And again, this is what happens when you're in a rush. Thanks for pointing out all those mistakes so I could correct them. (Which I did.)

Are you sure you didn't steal 'Matt''s title as Critic Extraordinaire?
PXD is the reviewer god, there is no arguing that.

SkyMyl

Quote from: mackormoses on May 23, 2008, 08:08:42 PM
Quote from: MasterYoungLink on May 23, 2008, 07:58:22 PM
My fingers hurt. And again, this is what happens when you're in a rush. Thanks for pointing out all those mistakes so I could correct them. (Which I did.)

Are you sure you didn't steal 'Matt''s title as Critic Extraordinaire?
PXD is the reviewer god, there is no arguing that.
Like that's incredibly hard to figure out. :|

Light

Quote from: MasterYoungLink on May 23, 2008, 07:58:22 PM
Are you sure you didn't steal 'Matt''s title as Critic Extraordinaire?
Hey, I'm the Critic Extraordinaire! =O

Decent review.
Holy crap all my sigs were always poop. Best leave this space alone.

SkyMyl

Quote from: LightningSword on May 24, 2008, 10:53:20 AM
Quote from: MasterYoungLink on May 23, 2008, 07:58:22 PM
Are you sure you didn't steal 'Matt''s title as Critic Extraordinaire?
Hey, I'm the Critic Extraordinaire! =O

Decent review.
Sorry, I get you two mixed up for some reason. ._.

Thanks.

whatwewishfor

Quote from: PXD on May 23, 2008, 05:43:37 PM
Great choice of a game to review, I must say. Sure, not everyone was blown away by Wind Waker, but I doubt many can find much to complain in the way of its music.

Your review itself...well...that's another story.

Players: 1-2ish. A good thing to mention here is the GBA connectivity, in case some are a bit confused. And yes, it's likely that most people have played Wind Waker by now, but it's always nice to review a game as though nobody's played it yet.

In other words, never assume everyone knows everything about the game and just wants to see your thoughts on it. Part of reviewing is giving your thoughts, but it's also a chance for you to tell someone that they need to buy/rent this game now, or steer clear of it...at least, in my opinion.

after Link's sealed Ganon in the Sacred Realm and returned to his own time. Make it singular. Sorry, but...a glaring grammar error right there.

Whenever and enemy is about to attack Link, the A button on the screen flashes. If you press the button when it flashes, Link with dodge the attack and damage the enemy, usually winding up behind the enemy for another set of attacks. Drop the 'd' in the first part, and change 'with' to 'will'.

Also mention that Link has two different forms of Parrying - rolling to the side and striking an enemy in the back, or jumping into the air for a vertical slice and landing behind it.

Note how Y Button, the Z Button, and the X button replace the Left C, I think it nice to add 'the' between 'how' and 'Y'. It just seems to sound a bit better.

and how there's a massive A button. That's your action command, basically. This could also work as "and how there's a massive A button, which serves as the action command."

He can move left, right and peer corners to see what lies ahead. Add 'around' between 'peer' and 'corners'.

Link also obtains items to help him on his journey, such as the Iron Boots, the Grappling Hook, the Pictobox (Even heros can be tourists.), and the Wind Waker. The Wind Waker is Link's new Ocarina of Time, and can hold 8 songs total. He can use it to change day to night, he can warp from island to island, control certain inanimate objects, and more. Which brings us to sailing. If you're gonna move on to sailing, don't include it in the same paragraph. Make it into its own paragraph, and remove 'which brings us to sailing' in the process.

Seeing as you have no way to find your sister alone, what better way that with a talking boat with a Lions head! "what better way than with a talking boat with the head of a lion?"

Basic, but most of it are rupees. "Basic, and most of the treasure is Rupees, making for an easy way to fill your wallet."

Other than this, everything's the same. Not too sure what you mean by this. There's still some other unique parts to sailing, like dealing with enemies, submarines, watchtowers, ect.

I forgot to mention something. Do you need to tell the world that, or do you need to tell only yourself that? ;p

You need a Gameboy Advance and a GBA to Gamecube adapter in the second player slot. Take note that a GBA SP works as well, and it's more commonly referred to as a 'Nintendo Gamecube Game Boy Advance cable.' Sure, it's a mouthful, but there's a chance you might get some people confused, so...it's worth the extra typing.

When Link activates the Tingle Tuner (Put it in an item slot.) The part in parenthesis can work better as 'by using it in the same method you'd use any other item'

Many people hate the graphics of Wind Waker, and graphics alone. This, for me at least, could be changed to sound a bit nicer. "While many people love Wind Waker, they aren't equally crazy about the graphics."

and I can't see any other way they could do this Link's expressive face. Remove 'this'.

and sound? They're okay. Voices? Priceless. "Sound? Okay. Voices? Priceless."

Multiplayer: "If you count the Tingle Tuner, 5/10, otherwise it's obviously N/A

Replay Value: After beating the game, Link goes on a Second Quest, but the only changes are that all Hylian Text is revised to english, Link is in his pajamas for the whole quest, and his sister is wearing a different dress. So if you're interested, 7/10. Way to give out some spoilers, in a way. There's also at least two additional things you forgot to mention...

Research done on Wikipedia While Wikipedia may sound like a great source of research (and I'm very curious to see what this research includes, to be honest), be warned that not all the details you find prove to be accurate, and that it's not called 'the people's encyclopedia' for nothing.

If this is your first review, it's not entirely half-bad. True, your graphics and sound sections fall a bit short to gameplay (always nice to have everything evenly-sized), and the fact that you should likely include a section about the replay value (regardless of how great of a value it is), but ah well, no review is entirely perfect.

I hope you continue to improve, of course. My pen and I will be waiting ;p
hey nice
whatever