Following Majora's Mask I decided to replay Minish Cap, since it was a game I was thinking about replaying for the first time in years and cause I've seen some people express ambivalence to it for a couple of years... and after finishing it 100%^, I can see why that is the case, and also why I only really remember the story and setting.
Now granted, it's easy to see how this is one of the stronger cult hit (would it be right to describe it as that?) in the franchise. The aesthetics still hold up so strongly today, the setting and use of Minish and this iteration of Hyrule are very cool and make for some really nice worldbuilding, and both Vaati and Ezlo are some of the more interesting and cool characters in the series, even if they're a bit underutilized in the grand scheme. The shrinking gimmick said Minish provides is something I oddly found to be pretty good, they use it for most cases and there was rarely a time I thought it was pretty arbitrary. It's also nice to play another Zelda game where item usage is very recurring, whether or not that's cause of the 2D nature
Outside of that though... idk, I like it and it provided a decent time, but I can't say anything more than that. The ideas are there, and there's nothing truly awful, but likewise nothing really struck out to me as "wow that was great!" like the past few Zelda games. You could say it's because I'm playing a 2D game now instead of a 3D one, but even then from what I've seen from AlttP, Link's Awakening and the Oracle duology, they play around with the 2D aspect in a much more fun and rewarding way.
I thought Kinstone fusions would suck big-time since that's a go-to criticism, but honestly they're OK. I do hate how the rewards are generally more rupees, shells, or Kinstone pieces, but considering they pretty much loop back to finding another person and fusing them together, also how abundant they are in dungeon and side activities, it's fine, plus Red and Blue fusions more or less being regulated to upgrades and a general growth to the world made that tedium a little easier to digest. Shells are awful though, having to spend several minutes using them for a slot machine to get 130 items necessary for a Heart Piece is the most tedious and aggravating aspect I faced in these 100%^ runs so far, and the fact that my options are to either grind or save scum just made it worse.
All that, coupled with other annoyances like how handholdy this game gets (seriously I did not remember how much obvious dialog was forced onto the player), aside, I still like the game, but it's definitely not one I feel strongly in revisiting.
^ = TECHNICALLY I didn't do 100%, there's medals for getting every Kinstone Fusions, and post-game unlocks like the Mirror Shield and more figurines needed for a medal, but considering those are mainly there for bragging rights, I think I'm fine in saying I at least "mastered" it w/ every Heart, every Tiger Scroll, and every upgrades collected.
Now granted, it's easy to see how this is one of the stronger cult hit (would it be right to describe it as that?) in the franchise. The aesthetics still hold up so strongly today, the setting and use of Minish and this iteration of Hyrule are very cool and make for some really nice worldbuilding, and both Vaati and Ezlo are some of the more interesting and cool characters in the series, even if they're a bit underutilized in the grand scheme. The shrinking gimmick said Minish provides is something I oddly found to be pretty good, they use it for most cases and there was rarely a time I thought it was pretty arbitrary. It's also nice to play another Zelda game where item usage is very recurring, whether or not that's cause of the 2D nature
Outside of that though... idk, I like it and it provided a decent time, but I can't say anything more than that. The ideas are there, and there's nothing truly awful, but likewise nothing really struck out to me as "wow that was great!" like the past few Zelda games. You could say it's because I'm playing a 2D game now instead of a 3D one, but even then from what I've seen from AlttP, Link's Awakening and the Oracle duology, they play around with the 2D aspect in a much more fun and rewarding way.
I thought Kinstone fusions would suck big-time since that's a go-to criticism, but honestly they're OK. I do hate how the rewards are generally more rupees, shells, or Kinstone pieces, but considering they pretty much loop back to finding another person and fusing them together, also how abundant they are in dungeon and side activities, it's fine, plus Red and Blue fusions more or less being regulated to upgrades and a general growth to the world made that tedium a little easier to digest. Shells are awful though, having to spend several minutes using them for a slot machine to get 130 items necessary for a Heart Piece is the most tedious and aggravating aspect I faced in these 100%^ runs so far, and the fact that my options are to either grind or save scum just made it worse.
All that, coupled with other annoyances like how handholdy this game gets (seriously I did not remember how much obvious dialog was forced onto the player), aside, I still like the game, but it's definitely not one I feel strongly in revisiting.
^ = TECHNICALLY I didn't do 100%, there's medals for getting every Kinstone Fusions, and post-game unlocks like the Mirror Shield and more figurines needed for a medal, but considering those are mainly there for bragging rights, I think I'm fine in saying I at least "mastered" it w/ every Heart, every Tiger Scroll, and every upgrades collected.