Beating every Zelda in timeline order 18/20:
To say I beat Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is a bit of an exaggeration. Thank the lord for save states because this game is a motherfucker. I thought the original Legend of Zelda was difficult and enemy placement was a bit arbitrary but still a fun time overall. Zelda II, from the very beginning, kicks you in the shins and spits in your face. Whether it be the erratic overworld enemy encounters, the esoteric item usage or retrieval (maybe the manual cleared this up) or the fact that I just can't seem to fucking figure out to consistently hit those god damn iron knuckles. Every single enemy is extremely annoying to deal with. I'm not a huge fan of the level up and magic systems either. All it really resulted in was me grinding before dungeons to get my levels up so I'd stand a chance. At least 3 hours of my 9 hour playthrough was grinding. The dungeons are a series of dead ends and required secret passageways that are easy to miss unless you accidentally stumble upon them. Not that the first Zelda had too many actual puzzles but the game at least made me enjoy experimenting with bombing walls, burning bushes, etc. Zelda II feels like beating your head against a brick wall and then sometimes your head goes through the wall and actually that wall was a secret passageway, didn't you know that? You stupid fucking idiot! You dumb bitch!
However, despite all this, I weirdly do enjoy the combat. If the enemies fought a little more fair, I could see myself really getting into improving at this game. With everything Link can do with his sword in this game, it feels snappy and in player control way more than any other Zelda game. At some points, I found myself having a weird amount of fun with the amount of time the game was telling me to go fuck yourself. I could see Zelda II being fun. You've just gotta be like, REALLY good. And I'm not. I'm dogshit. I also like the music.
Even though I enjoy the gameplay at the most basic level, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is a frustrating, overly difficult, esoteric grindfest of a game and absolutely deserves the reputation it has.
To say I beat Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is a bit of an exaggeration. Thank the lord for save states because this game is a motherfucker. I thought the original Legend of Zelda was difficult and enemy placement was a bit arbitrary but still a fun time overall. Zelda II, from the very beginning, kicks you in the shins and spits in your face. Whether it be the erratic overworld enemy encounters, the esoteric item usage or retrieval (maybe the manual cleared this up) or the fact that I just can't seem to fucking figure out to consistently hit those god damn iron knuckles. Every single enemy is extremely annoying to deal with. I'm not a huge fan of the level up and magic systems either. All it really resulted in was me grinding before dungeons to get my levels up so I'd stand a chance. At least 3 hours of my 9 hour playthrough was grinding. The dungeons are a series of dead ends and required secret passageways that are easy to miss unless you accidentally stumble upon them. Not that the first Zelda had too many actual puzzles but the game at least made me enjoy experimenting with bombing walls, burning bushes, etc. Zelda II feels like beating your head against a brick wall and then sometimes your head goes through the wall and actually that wall was a secret passageway, didn't you know that? You stupid fucking idiot! You dumb bitch!
However, despite all this, I weirdly do enjoy the combat. If the enemies fought a little more fair, I could see myself really getting into improving at this game. With everything Link can do with his sword in this game, it feels snappy and in player control way more than any other Zelda game. At some points, I found myself having a weird amount of fun with the amount of time the game was telling me to go fuck yourself. I could see Zelda II being fun. You've just gotta be like, REALLY good. And I'm not. I'm dogshit. I also like the music.
Even though I enjoy the gameplay at the most basic level, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is a frustrating, overly difficult, esoteric grindfest of a game and absolutely deserves the reputation it has.