MikeRopini
1986
I had never played the Legend of Zelda series until Breath of the Wild. I was instantly drawn in by the rich world filled with seemingly endless locations, interactions, and items to discover through exploration, all the while the game encourages you to find your own unique ways to get to where you want to be as there are seemingly no set solutions. There is very little to no story or exposition before you begin the game, leading you to discover the plot in real time alongside your character.
As I went back and played the original, I was shocked at how much was the same even back then. You’re dropped into a vast and open world with no knowledge of what to do or where to go, with your only hint being a cave ahead. In order to progress you must explore and find new areas and new items. However, whereas in Breath of the Wild there were many solutions to the same problem therefore encouraging you to find your own within your constraints, this game has one set solution for almost every problem. This makes the game feel very cryptic and causes a lot of frustration when the solution isn’t all that obvious and further exploration seems to lead nowhere. Instead of spending hours bombing every tile and setting every possible tree on fire to find some secrets, you would probably rather use a guide. Unfortunately, using a guide goes against the very essence of the game and robs you of several opportunities to experience the pure elation of finally finding that one item you needed or discovering a new path. However, some of what you need to do to progress is so specific I am not sure how you would ever find it without a guide. This was kind of a lose-lose situation in my experience.
From what I understand, back when this game first came out these weren’t really problems. People spent more time playing just one game and scoured every inch for every detail as that was standard in games at the time. Also, getting stuck and not knowing the solution was a common shared experience by everybody that played this game. Several solutions and secret locations were shared by word of mouth among friends giving a sense of comradery as opposed to looking up a guide that was created many years ago just looking for answers.
Ultimately, I believe the specificity of this game has lead to it not aging as well, especially as a backlog game. Many games have come out since and this game is not one that you can play for a while and complete like most others. If you want to truly experience this game, it takes a lot of time and dedication which is up to the player. In my case, I found that I would rather use a guide and skip some of the essence of the game in order to see it through to the end and finish it, as I was not interested in spending the amount of time required to find the solutions organically. Nonetheless, if spending the time to explore and find everything interests you, I would definitely recommend this game. There is a lot to like in terms of visuals, the music is incredible for its era, and although it took some time to get used to, the combat and its mechanics are intricate and have their own unique charm. Although it was not entirely my type of game, I can see why it is so revered and it’s elements are imitated to this day, especially in the new Zelda games.
As I went back and played the original, I was shocked at how much was the same even back then. You’re dropped into a vast and open world with no knowledge of what to do or where to go, with your only hint being a cave ahead. In order to progress you must explore and find new areas and new items. However, whereas in Breath of the Wild there were many solutions to the same problem therefore encouraging you to find your own within your constraints, this game has one set solution for almost every problem. This makes the game feel very cryptic and causes a lot of frustration when the solution isn’t all that obvious and further exploration seems to lead nowhere. Instead of spending hours bombing every tile and setting every possible tree on fire to find some secrets, you would probably rather use a guide. Unfortunately, using a guide goes against the very essence of the game and robs you of several opportunities to experience the pure elation of finally finding that one item you needed or discovering a new path. However, some of what you need to do to progress is so specific I am not sure how you would ever find it without a guide. This was kind of a lose-lose situation in my experience.
From what I understand, back when this game first came out these weren’t really problems. People spent more time playing just one game and scoured every inch for every detail as that was standard in games at the time. Also, getting stuck and not knowing the solution was a common shared experience by everybody that played this game. Several solutions and secret locations were shared by word of mouth among friends giving a sense of comradery as opposed to looking up a guide that was created many years ago just looking for answers.
Ultimately, I believe the specificity of this game has lead to it not aging as well, especially as a backlog game. Many games have come out since and this game is not one that you can play for a while and complete like most others. If you want to truly experience this game, it takes a lot of time and dedication which is up to the player. In my case, I found that I would rather use a guide and skip some of the essence of the game in order to see it through to the end and finish it, as I was not interested in spending the amount of time required to find the solutions organically. Nonetheless, if spending the time to explore and find everything interests you, I would definitely recommend this game. There is a lot to like in terms of visuals, the music is incredible for its era, and although it took some time to get used to, the combat and its mechanics are intricate and have their own unique charm. Although it was not entirely my type of game, I can see why it is so revered and it’s elements are imitated to this day, especially in the new Zelda games.