Game Debate #214: The Legend of Zelda - The Wind Waker

[Reed Rothchild | 9,971]

[spacepup | 2,489]

I love Wind Waker.  I love the style of it, I don't mind at all that it went a very different direction artistically and stylistically, including gameplay.  It has been a while since I played it, but I remember being very fond of it back when I played.  It was hard to follow up Ocarina of Time of course, and I think broadly speaking it probably isn't anywhere near as beloved, but I still really enjoyed the game and quite liked it.  

If you are a Zelda fan and looked at the game and passed, definitely give it a try!  If you give it a chance I think it's pretty good - it's just very different!

[Gloves | 12,290]

Never played it. 

[RH | 5,246]

My good buddy in High School use to say he hated "RPGs" which, to him, included fantasy style adventure games. I went to college and he tried something (I can't recall) and he did a 180-degree turn around on his opinion because he hadn't played anything like that since the SNES era.

This was the first game in that general style of gameplay that he played that I hadn't already. He gave it rave reviews but I never got around to even buying it.  In my mind, all I see of this game in Link... in a boat, sailing to tiny islands.  I know it has to be more than that, but that's all I've even observed and it wasn't enough to get me interested.

I don't even know why Link is in a boat?!  It is a Zelda game, so I am interested but, at this point, I don't think I'm interested enough to make it a priority.

[MegaMan52 | 2,590]

9/10 

Great game. Love the cel-shaded visuals, special effects, Link's expressions, and music. Didn't deserve the hate it received in 2002 after it was revealed (though there were also a lot of people who liked it). Different doesn't mean bad.

Wind Waker is the only Zelda game for the GameCube that I don't have, but I've played the demo on the Zelda: Collector's Edition disc and rented the game. I still intend on buying it eventually. I bought Ocarina of Time Master Quest earlier this year.

Edited July 17 by MegaMan52

[Silent Hill | 291]

I'm a huge Zelda fan and Windwaker is probably the most overrated imo. The sailing killed the whole experience for me - there's a reason the Wii U version tweaked it, which I haven't played yet but probably should. Combat has some issues too IIRC. 

[Link | 2,887]

I like it. 

Like many people, after OoT I was excited by the idea of a game like the Spaceworld 2000 demo.

The first WW trailer came out and watching a goofy moblin fall in a pit after scrambling in mid-air like some old cartoon felt like a letdown. And I was never interested in the later Toon Link games. But to Wind Waker's credit, it's worthy as a mainline entry. It built on the great 3D combat system OoT started, with guard /parry /strike /dodge moves which work great and are lots of fun.  The boomerang is better here than any other LoZ game. Some series touchstones started here, like koroks, the red lion (no spoilers) and a parachute item. NPCs and towns have a lot going on. The story is among the best in the series, too.

Collecting quests, the escort dungeon (similar to Princess Ruto* in OoT) and maybe some other things can run rather long. 

8/10
 

*hmm, your charge this time is of the Rito race - coincidence?

39 minutes ago, RH said:

I don't even know why Link is in a boat?!  It is a Zelda game, so I am interested but, at this point, I don't think I'm interested enough to make it a priority.

Have you played Spirit Tracks? 

The boat fits in to the story and the whole mythos well, imo. There is a lot of time in it but once you open up the map and learn the teleport song it gets better. Still I recommend a new player get the HD remake which I hear made QOL improvements, esp in that regard. 

 

[RH | 5,246]

6 minutes ago, Link said:

Have you played Spirit Tracks? 

[DefaultGen | 5,727]

The graphics and world are cool but it’s really easy and the dungeons were just okay. My favorite part was the triforce piece hunt at the end (which I guess everyone else hated and they apparently partially removed from the HD remake). 7/10

[twiztor | 923]

i cannot stand the WindWaker style artwork. i love the Zelda series. i love cartoons. but this particular animation style just looks awful to me.

i haven't played this game, and can't see myself ever giving it a go.

[Webhead123 | 758]

This is probably one of my favorite of the 3D Zelda games, although I struggle with exactly where to rank it in the series overall. Maybe 5th or 6th. I find I'd much rather replay it these days than Ocarina (nothing personal against Ocarina, it's just never been anywhere even close to being among my favorites of the franchise). I really regret not picking up the HD remaster on WiiU. I still have my original Gamecube disc but I just don't have a decent way to hook up my Cube right now.

The art style has grown on me over time, even though there are still some elements that don't align with personal taste. Going more cartoonish has helped it age much better than something like Ocarina, though, so I can't complain much.

8/10 for sure, despite being 3D Zelda. Can't compete with most of the 2D titles but it's still a good game.

[OptOut | 9,040]

Celda! Any of you guys remember that? Celda, they called it. Celda. Good times. 

8/10

[Makar | 2,062]

I feel like windwaker is one of those love it or hate it kind of Zelda’s. I’m on the love side. I really enjoyed exploring all the different islands, finding the treasure maps, getting pieces of the triforce, the cartoony art style, catchy music, fun dungeons. Lots to love. A main complaint is that it takes too long to travel between islands but there is a song to warp you to different spots and you can change the wind direction to make you sail faster. 

[Tanooki | 5,145]

The best of the 3D traditional style Zelda games to me really.  The environments were a good bit of fun, the controls felt nicely polished (camera too) where I never felt I was fighitng it.  The designs learned a lot from the last generation and cleaned up those mistakes especially from the last, and kept the good choices that ocarina laid down.  I too liked the triforce hunt at the end the reveal and hunt trolling the deep for goods was fun.  I never quite got all the whining about the boating, it's key to get around, but it's not a hindrance, it's just not link on foot or link on a horse is all and it made it pretty refreshing.  The art style to me was phenomenal, and seeing people take cheap uneducated digs at it on reveal and after I found a tad bit childish.  You had what you had at the time on there, PS2, and well you had limits.  This style of art was largely just never done, it was fresh and it gave this game a far smoother, more fluid, more balanced sense of characters, environment, life to the world as it uniquely was like this living breathing cartoon you could manipulate.  In the end I preferred this over yet another me-too trying to be more real style visual appearance.  It felt like a pop of the old SNES era of that cartoony style but done with 3D modeling and cel animation.  The ultimate twists of what these islands actually are, what there is not just above but below the sea, how the key players are tied to the histories of Hyrule in very interesting ways made this game truly a high point.  I gave up on Gamecube over the hardware issues growing and touchiness of the discs couple with clown world pricing...but this is a short list of titles I sadly really really miss.  I hope the BS rumors of carrying this and TP to the Switch since WiiU was(is) trash happens...I'm in zero hour on that.  9/10

[DefaultGen | 5,727]

1 hour ago, OptOut said:

Celda! Any of you guys remember that? Celda, they called it. Celda. Good times. 

8/10

Like a CARTOON? FOR KIDS?

[Gentlegamer | 230]

I played the Wii U HD version, with several QoL improvements, 8/10.

One of the best parts was finding messages in bottles from the Mii Verse in-game.

[DarkTone | 1,017]

6. 

[ZeldaFreak | 3,749]

Unapologetic 10 from me. One of my favorite Zelda games.

[G-type | 2,836]

Its the same art style as Phantom Hourglass which I really enjoyed, so I would probably like this one too. I've played almost nothing from Gamecube

[ZeldaFreak | 3,749]

41 minutes ago, G-type said:

Its the same art style as Phantom Hourglass which I really enjoyed, so I would probably like this one too. I've played almost nothing from Gamecube

Oh wow, you've played Phantom Hourglass but not Wind Waker? That's kind of a rarity. Yeah, if you enjoyed Phantom Hourglass you'd almost certainly enjoy this one too I think. Same with Spirit Tracks if you haven't played that one.

[Splain | 2,725]

9. I remember thinking "oh wow, there's more to this game than I thought," like, a hundred times while playing. I might still have the notebook I used to map out the ocean. I liked combing through and grabbing everything from the sea floor.

I'm a sucker for that stuff though, I collect Koroks etc.

[G-type | 2,836]

1 hour ago, ZeldaFreak said:

Oh wow, you've played Phantom Hourglass but not Wind Waker?

From the Zelda series, I've only played the original (made it up to the final dungeon before my save game erased itself. Phantom Hourglass (I beat it). and Breath of the Wild (played about 15 minutes, but lost interest)

[ZeldaFreak | 3,749]

18 minutes ago, G-type said:

From the Zelda series, I've only played the original (made it up to the final dungeon before my save game erased itself. Phantom Hourglass (I beat it). and Breath of the Wild (played about 15 minutes, but lost interest)

Yeah you gotta play more Zelda games you're missing out, haha

[Splain | 2,725]

I hope someone finds VGS for the first time ever today, and sees a guy named ZeldaFreak saying "Yeah you gotta play more Zelda games"

[DefaultGen | 5,727]

2 minutes ago, Splain said:

I hope someone finds VGS for the first time ever today, and sees a guy named ZeldaFreak saying "Yeah you gotta play more Zelda games"

That guy's a total ZeldaFan