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One More Shot

by J.P. Corbran - April 24, 2013, 8:09 am EDT
Total comments: 10

J.P. sees the new Zelda announcement as a reason to go back and give a classic another chance.

It’s no secret to anyone who has frequented this site for a while that I kind of hate The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Calling it hate is really exaggerating – I really only shit on it the way I do because it’s fun to annoy the rest of the people on staff and in the forums. Really, I just don’t like it, despite trying.

It’s a weird feeling when you don’t like a game that virtually everyone else calls one of the greatest of all time. You sometimes feel like there’s something wrong with you and that you’re the only one who can’t see why it’s great. I played through most of A Link to the Past on the Game Boy Advance and just couldn’t get into it, and then I tried again when the game hit the Wii Virtual Console, but I still didn’t really take to it.

Meh.

I keep going back to games like this, thinking that if I just keep playing a game, it’ll click at some point. This has worked at times. When Metroid Prime came out and was immediately heralded as one of the all-time greats, I rented the game and returned it after playing for a few hours and not liking it at all. Years later I would give the game another chance and I fell in love with it. I want that experience with Link to the Past.

Last week’s announcement of a 3DS sequel to the game sparked disparate feelings in people: some ecstatic at the thought of a new game in that style; some wary at the thought of this new game tarnishing the reputation of the original. For me, it was a sign that I should give the original game another chance. I hope I don’t have to wait long for it to come to the Wii U Virtual Console. Once it’s out I’ll pay my $1.50 and play it with every hope of understanding what everyone else sees in it.

Talkback

Aero LeviathanApril 24, 2013

Thanks for writing this, because I feel exactly the same way. I've completed and enjoyed OoT and all of the console ones (and some handheld ones) after it, but not LttP or anything earlier. My main problem with it is that it's just too hard. I just can't figure out how to not die.


I'm very worried that the 3DS one will have the same awful combat as LttP. I hope not.

Ian SaneApril 24, 2013

Here's what I don't get, J.P.  Do you specifically not like LttP or 2D Zelda in general?  Like I can't imagine someone liking Link's Awakening, the Oracle games or Minish Cap and disliking A Link to the Past.  All of those games follow the general blueprint of LttP, while throwing in some unique twists of their own.  Now I can see someone liking the original Zelda and then not liking LttP and all 2D Zeldas that come afterwards because the prefer the higher difficulty and very non-linear design of the first game.

I played LttP last year after not having touched it for a long time.  It still held up very well but I felt like there was some nostalgia affecting my feelings.  The first time I played LttP I had never played a game that went beyond typical sequencial level progression (I didn't have an NES, so I had not played the earlier Zeldas) so LttP was a huge step up in terms of depth and scale for me.  In a vacuum, next to modern 3D Zeldas, that game feels rather small.  The game holds up in that it is still playable today but it loses some of its "wow factor" as it is no longer cutting edge.  If you didn't play it when it was still fairly current you might not get it.

Link's Awakening is my second-favorite game in the series. I don't understand it either.

UncleBobRichard Cook, Guest ContributorApril 24, 2013

Do you have the ability to stream your playtime?  Consider doing a live fundraiser thing so you have the proper encouragement to finish it.

I *like* LttP, but it's not in my top 5 Zelda titles.  Link's Awakening, Wind Waker, Majora's Mask, Four Swords Adventures, then Oracle of Seasons.  Ages next, so LttP would probably fall in 7th.  Maybe 8th, as I really liked Skyward Sword...

There's nothing wrong with disliking a game when everyone you know seems to love it.  I've tried over and over again to get into Majora's Mask, especialy given my unfettered love for Ocarina of Time, but I just can't get into it.

Opinions and tastes are mostly subjective.  For me, I love LTTP so much because of the unforgettable music (IMO), sweet-looking 2D charaters and environments, and it gives you just enough direction to where you shouldn't have trouble finding where you're going. 

It also doesn't hurt that it was one of the first Zelda games I got my hands on, im sure.

This is another one of those things that came from me not owning a Super Nintendo. My first Nintendo console was an N64, after playing a lot of the original NES at friends' and family's places. I've spent about a couple hours total with actual SNES hardware; the vast majority of my time with the system's library comes from GBA ports and the Virtual Console.

That all changes my perspective on these things. The one exception being Super Metroid, which I played for the first time in 2007 on the Virtual Console and consider to be one of the absolute best games I've ever played. But I don't like LTTP and don't like Mario World.

I just hope this goes better than my Majora's Mask experiment.

Glad0sApril 24, 2013

I feel identical to you, JP. Hell, I even had an identical experience with Prime, which is now my favorite GameCube game. I recently restarted LttP, and while I'm still not loving it as much as any of the 3D games or Awakening, I'm still enjoying it. My main beef so far is that I wish there was just a bit more of a helping hand for knowing what to do next. I'm all for exploration, but I like the idea of having a clear cut objective with some minor things being hidden and optional. The instructions for going from dungeon to dungeon are just a bit too opaque for my liking.

MagicCow64April 24, 2013

Quote from: Glad0s

The instructions for going from dungeon to dungeon are just a bit too opaque for my liking.

Never play the original NES game! It took me literally 15 years to find the 7th dungeon in the second quest.

On a separate note, is Four Swords Adventures worth picking up if you're going to play it by yourself? I skipped it initially, because I could not get the people/equipment together to "do it up right," but I keep seeing people lauding it, and apparently it fits into the canon?

SonofMrPeanutApril 24, 2013

Thanks, J.P.  Thanks to this entry I'm now listening to "One More Shot" by C-Bank!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_Oqp-TtPmw

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