Today in Joystiq: May 22, 2007
by Ross Miller 
{ May 22nd 2007 at 11:59PM }
Joystiquery
Joystiq hands-on: PlayStation Home
Joystiq interviews BioShock LE cover artist Adam Meyer
Readers pick best webcomic: Wii and my shadow
Today's goal-reaching videos: Mario Strikers Charged
News
Smash Bros. site now up, music detailed
Skid Row, Poison, Extreme in 80s Guitar Hero
New Metroid Prime 3 screenshots
Step right up for Carnival Games: more minigames for the Wii
Riddick remake confirmed for PS3, Xbox 360
Sony's High Velocity Bowling started 'literally right before' Nintendo announced Wii Sports' Bowling
No DirectX 10 update for Supreme Commander
Konami expects Metal Gear Solid 4 by March '08
Tom Clancy's EndWar to be fully voice-controlled
Haze will have four-player co-op campaign
Halo 3 beta adds Banshee on Valhalla
WoW patch 2.1 helps feed the habit
Rumors & Speculation
Unlikely Kane & Lynch director under consideration
New Wii download service (not VC) coming, hints Impossible Mission dev
Culture & Community
The Arsecast reborn in bite-sized bits
Dave Karraker's attempts to restore Sony's PR
Ubisoft CEO Guillemot dismisses E3 as 'only for the US'
Famitsu gives Resident Evil 4 Wii a 9.5 out of 10
Engadget's how-to make an Xbox 360 laptop (part 3)
Shrinky Dinks + 8 bit gaming = BitKits
PC World products of the year: Wii, 360 Elite ... um, no PS3
Leipzig benefits for E3 death, gets 40% larger
Getting deep on Dead Rising
Blizzard grants dying child's wish
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Craigo @ May 23rd 2007 12:05AM
I personally never had a problem with WW's art - it looks beautiful in motion, very fluid and stylized.
The gameplay - "Wait, I have to sail around looking for EIGHT of these goddamned things?"
kingofwale @ May 23rd 2007 12:07AM
the game will sell. Although I never understood why Zelda games are more celebrated in US than in Japan. *shrugs*
Decent graphics there, Looks more like FF games than Pokemon games. Kudo for Zelda, I think it will be a must have for a lot of DS fans.
serotoninzero @ May 23rd 2007 12:11AM
I like the WW graphic style a lot better than TP's style. However, I got sick of the whole sea thing so I'm hoping that cover isn't a glimpse into the gameplay of the DS game.
Craigo @ May 23rd 2007 12:12AM
2: Metroid's the same way. Two of Nintendo's biggest franchises are only moderately successful in their home region.
Of course, they probably look at us and wonder why Dragon Quest isn't more popular here.
Blanko4 @ May 23rd 2007 12:13AM
Link finally discovered steam power. I guess there's no use for the Wind Waker now with coal on his side.
And I have no complaints with a younger Link or cell shaded graphics.
sheppy @ May 23rd 2007 12:16AM
My problems with Wind Waker were the following...
-Lame ass story, even for a Zelda game
-Lame overworld and sailing sucked
-Too few dungeons
-Fairly anticlimatic
-Artificial game lengthening tactics abound (worst offender... Triforce Pieces)
kingofwale @ May 23rd 2007 12:16AM
>: Metroid's the same way.
I can TOTALLY understand why Metriod isn't, because it's a shooter. and we know how much Japanese embrace a great shooter like Gears and Halo (and xbox as a whole), but it makes NO sense at all to reject Zelda.
do they hate Action/Adventure games? I know they don't buy God of War for some reason. lol
MosquitoControl @ May 23rd 2007 12:40AM
I adored Wind Wakers graphics. Bright and beautiful.
Hell, Twilight Princess is the exact same engine with the exact same effects, only the graphics are dulled out greys and browns and the cell shading was removed.
But yes, being told I had to sail around forever has turned the game into a two year long process for me. I'll beat it some day... but I avoid many miniquests because I don't want to deal with sailing. More distinctly, I don't want to deal with watching the animations whenever I do something with the wind. Seeing the change-wind-direction animation for the billionth time makes me want to shut the game off. Knowing I need to change the wind to get somewhere actually makes me shut it off.
Platy @ May 23rd 2007 12:46AM
Wind waker is the true style that folows the zeldas from the 2d age. but unfortunatly they can only sell it as a portable game.
so i vote for ocarina/wtilight for wii and wind waker/minish for ds
The_aNew @ May 23rd 2007 12:50AM
I love when people complain about sailing in a The Legend of Zelda title. LOL
sailing is part of the jouney, and people say they don't like the sailing aspect in WW is like saying they don't like the adventure/jouney aspects of the Zelda series LOL
sailing in this huge world of Zelda form dusk to dawn, visiting unique islands, and hunting down Zelda goodies... don't get any better than that!
Ninegauger @ May 23rd 2007 1:03AM
The sailing I thought became a bit tiresome... they should've had an item to give so the wind would always be at your back. However, I adore the style to this day... probably the best looking Zelda ever.
At least Wind Waker was fresh... I felt Twilight Princess to be a bit formulaic and stale, it was still better than most games.
samfish @ May 23rd 2007 1:11AM
NOOOOO! LINK'S BEEN ABDUCTED BY A PEDOPHILE!!!
*ahem*
I love to Wind Waker style. I really hope Nintendo goes back to the cell shaded style for the next Zelda game. I guess they should make it a more mature style, but I wouldn't mind either way.
"-Lame ass story, even for a Zelda game"
I disagree, Shep. I personally felt WW had the best story of any Zelda game. We finally had some continuity between Zelda games. TP, however, I felt was kind of lame because it acted like Ocarina and WW never happened.
I still think the greatest moment in any video game ever was when you enter Hyrule Castle and it's frozen in time. That's the only time I've ever gotten goosebumps playing a game.
"-Lame overworld and sailing sucked"
Agreed.
"-Too few dungeons"
Agreed. I was kinda confused at first when I went around collecting Triforce shards. I was thinking, "shouldn't these be in dungeons??"
"-Fairly anticlimatic"
I liked the ending. I thought it really wrapped Ocarina and Majora's Mask up really nicely. Nintendo should have rebooted the series after that with TP, IMO.
"-Artificial game lengthening tactics abound (worst offender... Triforce Pieces)"
Absolutely. People complain that TP phoned it in, but WW just got lazy, if you ask me.
BPM @ May 23rd 2007 2:29AM
Wind Waker was rushed. People complained about it taking too long to be released.
But, like Samfish, I agree with Sheppy on all points except the story. I thought it was one of the strongest stories for the Zelda series. Zelda was in it, sure, but it wasn't about rescuing her until late in the game (if memory serves me right). It started about Link trying to save his sister, Aryll. Someone he had a true bond to, not some princess he never knew. And then we don't even know there WAS a Zelda until late in the game, as well.
Anyways... I'm tired, and don't feel like talking about this anymore.
Tim @ May 23rd 2007 6:02AM
I enjoyed Wind Waker a lot (although yeah, the triforce pieces was a big drag), but I liked it as a new branch of the series. Zelda has gotten its fame with multiple styles of graphics and gameplay. The style of the GB/GBC versions are a particular favourite of mine. This cel-shaded style is just one new branch, it's not going to be a replacement for the OoT/MM style so stop critiquing it as one.
Kite @ May 23rd 2007 6:40AM
I know I shouldn't answer, but I can't help it.
Just a piece of information to samfish. TP did act like ocarina happened, but the timeline supposedly split at the end. There was a future without link, and a 'past' with the yound link. Since there was no descendant in that 'future' timeline, the events of wind waker occurred.
But twilight princess could be the story about the evil that consumed the lands(in the intro of WW). Only now, since there was a descendant of the hero of time, this time someone could stop Ganondorf before the gods flooded the land.
The last paragraph is entirely speculation, and I do know I might be too serious about it. But the zelda series is something I actually like to follow.
Bah, for the on - topic part. I though TP suited the series more, I really felt immersed. But I see that I still sometimes start up WW, just for sailing a bit, watching the waves of looking for treasures. Everything looked so nice, while in TP you see the tiniest flaw.
So I think I prefer the flawless WW-style only slightly more.
Just my opinion :p
vidGuy @ May 23rd 2007 8:12AM
I agree with post 1. Wind Waker's graphics perfectly fit it's storyline. Any game that is going to follow only young Link could have that visual style and I'd be happy. I think the more realistic style fits Twilight Princess's darker storyline just as well. I don't think adult Link should ever be cell-shaded.
McWeen @ May 23rd 2007 8:29AM
Personally going from Wind Waker to Twilight Princess was painful graphically. TP is boring to look at and most of the shadow stuff looked like crap.
JodyAnthony @ May 23rd 2007 8:40AM
Wind Waker is my second favorite Zelda game, after Link to the Past (SNES Represent!)
I remember when I saw the first trailer for wind waker, it was the absolute best looking game I had ever seen, hands down. I absolutely love cel shading and wish more games took advantage of it. Cel-shading is the only reason I played Crackdown, and the reason I bought Okami the day it came out.
Best part about wind waker or okami and the like, you can put that game in ten years from now and it will still look gorgeous. Something realistic graphics will never be able to do. I was actually playing Jet Grind Radio on dreamcast over the weekend and the graphics still hold up. Style > realism any day of the week.
I really wish they'd bring the wind waker look back to a home console though. Something about cel shaded graphics on a big screen melts my heart into a lovely pile of goo.
JodyAnthony @ May 23rd 2007 8:43AM
and I have to say, there were times when the sailing was annoying when I was just trying to get from point a to point b when I was trying to do something quickly, but any other time when I was just sitting with the game and relaxing and playing at my own pace, i loved the sailing. I loved setting out from one island during the day, sailing into the night, into a rain storm, back into day to some other island. I actually wish the world was bigger.
shivr @ May 23rd 2007 9:46AM
Man I loved WW so much when I first got it... thought it was the best zelda ever. It was only after I got online and people pointed out the flaws that I noticed them. And I still play through at least once a year, as I used to do for ocarina and majora when I had my n64 hooked up.
The sailing did get tedious at times, and the triforce thing was a cop out (though finding them didn't really bother me... I liked the treasure hunting aspect though). Compared to TP, there was just a lot to do and a lot of hidden stuff. Not as much as majora, of course, but more than ocarina. It added a greater sense of depth and mystery to the world, to think there was stuff going on and characters having their own story that you didn't even know about, and didn't have to know about to finish the game. lol, I just explained sidequests like nobody here knows about them D:
Anyway, if PH can pull off the same charm of WW, then I will be inseperable from my DS for quite a while this fall (I hope).
Jodyanthony, yeah I agree about the sailing... though perhaps instead of a bigger world, it would have been nice if more of the islands were larger and more complex ^_^
nullset @ May 23rd 2007 10:03AM
@ 18 JodyAnthony
"Style > realism any day of the week"
2nd'd
JodyAnthony @ May 23rd 2007 10:07AM
"it would have been nice if more of the islands were larger and more complex"
I could totally get behind that.
damn, now I want to go play wind waker again. Thanks alot joystiq! :)
X_Arre @ May 23rd 2007 3:50PM
Now, if there were a game just like Wind Waker, but with a larger world set on a continuous globe (when your ship stops you from going further it just feels boxed in.) and have some of the islands be way bigger and more complex, having tons of people with their own little problems/requests/personalities, and have different shops on the islands instead of the shop ship, And had the wind actually change sometimes, have lots of different weather that was dynamic and area contained, and had more dungeons/large sidequests, THAT would be perfect.
Damn that's long. But I think the charm of wind waker was that you could go anywhere, and unlike other games (like having some little car cutscene or something) you actually went there yourself. It was awesome....
BACK ON TOPIC: The WW art style is very crisp and clean. I love it. But I just want them to keep the two Zelda art styles seperate, as tey both have their positives.
That box art is pretty nice.
BPM @ May 23rd 2007 6:32PM
X_Arre, I thought the world of Wind Waker was continuous? It's been a while since I last played it, but I thought when you sailed to one end of the "map" you would then wind up on the other end of the "map."
And didn't the wind change from time to time?
Still, it did need more dungeons and sidequests (wouldn't it have been great if all the Triforce shards were in dungeons?).