Wind Waker makes me SO SAD because it's SO CLOSE to being an exceptional adventure!!

There's so much to love about it (especially when you consider its original 2002 release window). A seemingly endless ocean to explore and loot. An INSPIRED cartoon-y art style that makes every single character, enemy, and object POP. The visuals still hold up over two decades later because of this! By far the best incarnation of Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf at this point in the series, settled in a world AFTER Hyrule has long since fallen, looking towards the future ahead! Even the combat ends up way more dynamic than the previous titles.

But even with all those points in its favor, Wind Waker can't help but feel fundamentally crippled thanks to two fatal flaws - a simplification for a younger audience, and a rushed development to ensure the game would hit store shelves by Christmas.

The first of those points is mainly visible with the game's dungeons. I ADORED Ocarina of Time's dungeons (for the most part), especially with their unique atmosphere and complex navigation. Not only do WW's all blend together, but they're pretty mindless to solve. You're nudged exactly where you need to go, and combine that with simpler puzzles compared to Ocarina, there's nothing that really stimulated me during the most stimulating parts of the game. Add the fact that there's only five dungeons and they're incredibly disappointing despite the MASSIVE leap in hardware power.

And as for the second point, The Great Sea can feel hopelessly empty for most of your playtime. The HD remaster's addition of the Swift Sail helps quite a bit, but even with it, there's just not enough in-game content to justify its size. Ocarina's Hyrule may have been small, but it was filled to the brim with interesting things to discover. Nearly half of Wind Waker's islands are copy-pasted with slight alterations or otherwise provide little reason to visit them. The fact that many require late-game items to even visit only gives the player LESS reason to stray off the deep end, and the fact that many islands devolve into cave challenges only accentuates the issue.

I actually quite enjoyed the Sea during the infamous Triforce Hunt, but it can't make up for the lack of meaningful dungeons or how stretched-thin the content feels. I think the by the 10th time a Treasure Chart or reward chest handed me YET ANOTHER 200 Rupees I felt like the game was actively taunting me for giving it my time. If there's barely any meaningful rewards for exploration or combat challenges, what even IS the future of Hyrule??

But even with all my above points...there's something so special about it. You can feel the cut corners nearly every step of the journey, but...I don't care THAT much when the strong parts of the game hit SO hard. Even now, writing this, I can kind of overlook so many of my issues when the ending was SO strong and climatic. It's just so fun to set sail on your own adventure and absorb the overflowing level of charm at every angle. Think of this as my most frustrating 4/5 I've ever given before, if that helps.

It's kind of sad, then, that the developers' clear hopes for the series never took off. Despite the sacrifices made to make Wind Waker a holiday success, the "console war" of the generation had already lost. A Zelda that most fans at the time hated for looking "childish" couldn't even hold a CANDLE against the dozens of exciting exclusives releasing on the PS2. And despite the clear goals to leave Hyrule behind for new horizons, Nintendo ended up backpedaling and gave the fans exactly what they wanted: a realistic & broody sequel to Ocarina of Time. It would take another 15 years before the series could truly try something new again with Breath of the Wild. I'm certainly excited to play Twilight Princess (and actually finish it this time), but still. Perhaps with a bit more time in the oven, and some more challenging dungeons for good measure, The Wind Waker could have TRULY matched its incredible ambitions.

But even as-is, it's still pretty damn cool :)

I cant believe i've been sleeping on this for so long. This game is straight up better than botw. To me,what botw was lacking was dungeons like this game. There were times when i had to spend half an hour on a single puzzle...(Yeah you win,game). Combat is also satisfying.The final fight with ganondorf has to be my favourite from the series.

The story is surprisingly good for a zelda game. I dont think i hate even a single character in this game. Heck,even some NPCs are well written. I also like ganondorf's character a lot. Most zelda games tend to give him 0 personality.

The only thing stopping me from giving it a 10 is exploration.Yeah exploring the vast empty sea,its not my thing. And its not like they give you a choice either. It is essential to explore random islands in search of items which will help you progress in the main story. They do give you hints as to where you need to go to find the thingy,but it was such a slog for me. Completing the game without a walkthrough was the real challenge.(Except for the seagull segments...hate those)