It was a very quaint experience to play an adventure game like this. One of the first of its kind, the Legend of Zelda speaks a language of game design that is still understood to this day. At a time where video games were little more than little high score competitions or linear adventures, it is interesting to see the approach taken to an open world game in 1986.
The result is an adventure that still holds up to this day. A shining pillar of this game is its exploration- the clear cut message to the player that is communicated from the very first area. You go into a cave and are rewarded with your first sword. Where do I even go from here? As far as the sword can take you. What I find brilliant for a game of this age is that it communicates direction through its enemies and player capability. In the immediate areas next to the start are enemies that die easily to your sword, usually in one hit. Venture out further and you'll begin to find more menacing foes that can end your journey in seconds.
So exploration is encourage, but enemies are tough if I explore a certain direction? Go another direction! It's a game that is at conversation with its player, giving suggestions but never outright directions. This is the essence of an adventure- picking a direction and sticking with it, not knowing what lies ahead. This gives the environment itself so much more personality too. I didn't have a guide on me, so I wasn't sure what all these enemies or areas were officially called, but I started giving them my own names. To me, Gibdo's were mummies, Keese were bats, Goriyas were goblins. Ascribing names to enemies and places you've never seen before also feeds a personal sense of connection to the player journey. When everything that lies ahead is a mystery, every discovery feels deeply personal.
If the outside world was dangerous, then the dungeons were outright hostile. These are were players are really asked to consider everything they've stumbled upon in the game and apply it. I, through no guide, stumbled upon a secret in the very first dungeon where I pushed a block to get access to a stairwell. I hadn't seen that pushing blocks was possible before, but I couldn't help but feel a nagging feeling at this empty room. Likewise, I ended up finding a secret stairwell again in the overworld after attacking a statue totally by accident. From there I was pushing and poking every block, statue and wall to see if I could find anything else. Finding secrets like these truly invoked a childlike sense of wonder. Again, the word of the day is adventure, and having players experience finding secrets like these does so much for that sense.
Overall, it is a total joy to experience this kind of progenitor of a game. The Legend of Zelda has solid game design choices based around exploration and it hardly breaks its own design rules.
The only real critique I can imagine is the usual mentioning of the ball-busting difficulty and some more abstract secrets, but I find those to charmingly be a product of the time. I imagine kids sharing secrets they found with one another back then, spreading rumors, back when you couldn't look the information up in a matter of seconds. Overall, if you've thought about playing this game to see what your dad was talking about, I'd say give it a go, you might be surprised to how well you take to it.
The result is an adventure that still holds up to this day. A shining pillar of this game is its exploration- the clear cut message to the player that is communicated from the very first area. You go into a cave and are rewarded with your first sword. Where do I even go from here? As far as the sword can take you. What I find brilliant for a game of this age is that it communicates direction through its enemies and player capability. In the immediate areas next to the start are enemies that die easily to your sword, usually in one hit. Venture out further and you'll begin to find more menacing foes that can end your journey in seconds.
So exploration is encourage, but enemies are tough if I explore a certain direction? Go another direction! It's a game that is at conversation with its player, giving suggestions but never outright directions. This is the essence of an adventure- picking a direction and sticking with it, not knowing what lies ahead. This gives the environment itself so much more personality too. I didn't have a guide on me, so I wasn't sure what all these enemies or areas were officially called, but I started giving them my own names. To me, Gibdo's were mummies, Keese were bats, Goriyas were goblins. Ascribing names to enemies and places you've never seen before also feeds a personal sense of connection to the player journey. When everything that lies ahead is a mystery, every discovery feels deeply personal.
If the outside world was dangerous, then the dungeons were outright hostile. These are were players are really asked to consider everything they've stumbled upon in the game and apply it. I, through no guide, stumbled upon a secret in the very first dungeon where I pushed a block to get access to a stairwell. I hadn't seen that pushing blocks was possible before, but I couldn't help but feel a nagging feeling at this empty room. Likewise, I ended up finding a secret stairwell again in the overworld after attacking a statue totally by accident. From there I was pushing and poking every block, statue and wall to see if I could find anything else. Finding secrets like these truly invoked a childlike sense of wonder. Again, the word of the day is adventure, and having players experience finding secrets like these does so much for that sense.
Overall, it is a total joy to experience this kind of progenitor of a game. The Legend of Zelda has solid game design choices based around exploration and it hardly breaks its own design rules.
The only real critique I can imagine is the usual mentioning of the ball-busting difficulty and some more abstract secrets, but I find those to charmingly be a product of the time. I imagine kids sharing secrets they found with one another back then, spreading rumors, back when you couldn't look the information up in a matter of seconds. Overall, if you've thought about playing this game to see what your dad was talking about, I'd say give it a go, you might be surprised to how well you take to it.