So I picked up The Legend of Zelda: The Link Between Worlds last night, but didn't get a chance to play it until this morning because I was too sleepy! And sure enough, it's just as awesome as I'd expected! Not sure why Destructoid gave it such a low score - they said it lacks "heart" or something? But since when were Zelda games about the plot and characters and stuff anyway? Only Majora's Mask, and to a lesser extent Ocarina of Time, are "true RPG" style Zelda games - the rest are just fun adventure games with innovative game mechanics, and that's exactly what Link Between Worlds is!
I will admit I was a bit apprehensive about the whole "walking in walls" thing - it seems, on the surface, to be just a fancy term for the dreaded sidle maneuver from Wind Waker! But it's actually quite cleverly used in a number of puzzles, including escaping from a trap when you first acquire the power. And you can use it on literally ANY WALL in the game, so there could be a secret lurking around any corner!
I do find some of the game's design choices a bit... odd. For instance, the main villain, Yuga, is rather effeminate - I though he was a she until he was referred to with a masculine pronoun! (Maybe that's why his name is "a guy" spelled backwards?) Is Yuga perhaps Nintendo's second transgendered character, after Birdo? (No, Birdo is not a girl, no matter how much they try to retcon it! One of these days they'll be proud to have introduced the first transgendered video game character... one of these days... or is the fact that they call Birdo a girl now actually a nod to Birdo's gender identity???
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And then there's Princess Hilda. No, I haven't met her in-game yet, but I read about her on some timeline thingy that Nintendo posted on Facebook. So there's Princess Zelda, and Princess Hilda? At least they called the teenage witch Irene, and not Sabrina, so it's not a total ripoff!
I was really excited about the Mega Man style "do the levels in any order" thing - I was hyped up for this to be the most open-ended Zelda game ever, even more so than Wind Waker - but so far I've only been left with a few options of where to go, much like in Link to the Past. I assume it opens up later on, though; I've only played for a few hours (beat the first dungeon, then two more opened up, and I've almost beat one of those).
Surprisingly, I don't mind the new energy/mana/stamina/whatever bar mechanic; it's actually kind of nice not having to grind for bombs and arrows! Though I guess you still have to grind for rupees to rent your items again if you die, but the rental fees aren't all that bad (50 rupees per item, discounts for certain items at certain times, and you get to keep it until you die), and rupees are plentiful enough. For some reason I thought you could only rent one item at a time, but you can actually rent as many as you have rupees for... just remember to take a fairy with you so you have an extra life and your money's not wasted!
I do wish you could "save and quit" though, like in pretty much every other Zelda game ever... it's annoying to have to "continue" after I die, then save, and then quit...
All in all, awesome game. Reviews say it's rather short, at least for a Zelda game, but I'll have to see. They also say there's sidequests and stuff, and even a hard mode once you beat the game, so that should extend replayability a bit!
Oh, yeah, one last thing. I recommend playing on a 3DS, not a 2DS, as the 3D effects are used in some puzzles. They're not impossible to solve or anything without the 3D (due to the 3/4 perspective), but it makes it quite a bit easier to see what's going on.
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Topic: "Lorule? What is this, some sort of romhack?" - Link Between Worlds thread! (Read 786 times)