The Legend of Zelda

December 06, 2008

This is just rambling stuff I've written about my experience playing the original Zelda. I had enough Wii Points to download this one after that XMAS REVIEWS topic.

* * *

The familiar Zelda overworld theme plays. I am walking around on sand, destroying countless red circular enemies that shoot balls at me. I continually get hit, and I'm finding the whole experience rather frustrating.

My sister walks in, looks at the television, and asks "What console are you playing?" I explain that it's the Wii, and I've used it to download the original Zelda.

"When was this game made?" she asks.

"1987 I think"

"That's as old as me," she remarks, stating the obvious. Though the game appeared in Japan the previous year, this game is actually older than her. But I was too busy trying not to die to clarify this.

As the screen goes black with a game over for the third time, I say "This game sucks!"

"Why did you buy it?" she asks.

"It's one of those classic games that everyone likes," I tell her.

"Do you like these retro games?" she asks.

"No, not really," I admit.

She shakes her head and leaves the room. I continue playing. After some aimless wandering, I finally locate the first dungeon. I navigate my way through, picking up keys, dying, finding bombs and a boomerang, dying. I find a bow that I can't use. I die again. 6 hits and an enemy can take me down, it seems like a lot until you realise this incarnation of Link is a hopeless swordsman.

I have the map and the compass now, and all I need to do is make it to the boss with all 3 hearts intact. This proves to be impossible. I make it to the boss room with two hearts, and I'm greated by a dragon shooting three balls at me.

I've figured this guy out. I slap him once over the head with my sword, then I run back and avoid the balls, running between them. I smack him over the head with my sword again, again and again, dodging the three balls he shoots at me, and eventually he dies. I pick up my heart piece and in the next room I pick up a golden triangle. Hooray! Only 7 more dungeons, and that was the easy one!

Despite getting frustrated with the game, I do feel a real sense of accomplishment.

The next day I go back out into the overworld, in search of the next dungeon. After wandering aimlessly for a while, and getting killed a few times in the process, I decide to head to GameFAQs for some direction. I then find the dungeon. I only actually die once inside there, as I'm either getting the hang of things, or having four hearts is helping a great deal. I'm on one heart when I stumble into the boss room. The damn thing is beeping at me in typical annoying Zelda fashion.

This limp lizard type thing just saunters over towards me. I remember the sagely advice from some guy sitting in the dungeon: DODONGO DISLIKE SMOKE, so I drop a bomb in its path, run out of the way and after the explosion, I run up to it and smack it with my sword once... and it's dead. Wow. I pick up the heart container, and then go to the next room to pick up the second Triforce piece.

I was glad that I didn't die that time, but at the same time I was disappointed at how easy that was. I've had random monsters on the overworld give me more trouble.

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Feedback

sashanan - December 07, 2008 (12:49 AM)
You needed the advice of the old man for tricks on beating Dodongo? I mean, even though you haven't played this before, DODONGO DISLIKES SMOKE was quoted without fail every time the review board had one of its "let's all start talking in caps" moments.

jerec - December 07, 2008 (02:30 AM)
Well, I only got the hint because I stumbled into that room. And really, the Dodongo has reappeared in other games. In Ocarina of Time, you need to get the bomb in its mouth, then go and slash at it.

JANUS2 - December 07, 2008 (02:37 AM)
Jerec, seeing as how I didn't pester you to be a judge, I demand you turn this into an actual review for my contest!

honestgamer - December 07, 2008 (03:15 AM)
For real fun, Jerec, try going through the game without ever taking a sword. I've made it to the game's final boss without having a single sword in my inventory. I only wish that I could go back to sucking at the game so that running through Hyrule could be a challenging adventure all over again. I really miss the days when I had to explore to find dungeon entrances and where even overworld encounters could be the death of me, but those days are gone and now all I can do are speed runs and such. It's still a fantastic game and one of my favorite of all time, but that one element is gone forever. :-(

jerec - December 07, 2008 (12:39 PM)
Janus, considering I wrote all that down based on the first two dungeons, I'm sure a review is an option once I've finished the game. I'm a pretty old hand at the Zelda series, so that could count as me being an expert. Except that I never really gave the first two games much time. I'm also thinking that this may be the only way to approach this game in a review - my own somewhat frustrating experience at it.

If this all goes well, I may have to move onto Zelda II and give it the same treatment.

bloomer - December 08, 2008 (05:42 PM)
Somehow I also missed all this talk of Dodongo.

sashanan - December 08, 2008 (10:39 PM)
Heathens. You've been posting on the RCB for as long as I have, and here you are making me feel old.

jiggs - December 08, 2008 (11:08 PM)
this topic makes mee feel like 7 years old again, but it's interesting to read it from someone who has played the late Zelda games before tackling the original but yet still be challenged by it and have the same experience as someone like me whose first Zelda game was the original. the only difference was there was no gamefaqs but rather sharing of hints through family or friends and much much later getting one of those fancy official nintendo power tip book with detailed in-game maps and everything.

bloomer - December 12, 2008 (04:01 PM)
Yes, in my day, if you got stuck, you stayed stuck, or jolly well sorted it out yourself!

-shakes gnarled fist-

jerec - December 12, 2008 (06:15 PM)
And you were happy!

Feedback
	sashanan - December 07, 2008 (12:49 AM) You needed the advice of the old man for tricks on beating Dodongo? I mean, even though you haven't played this before, DODONGO DISLIKES SMOKE was quoted without fail every time the review board had one of its "let's all start talking in caps" moments.
	jerec - December 07, 2008 (02:30 AM) Well, I only got the hint because I stumbled into that room. And really, the Dodongo has reappeared in other games. In Ocarina of Time, you need to get the bomb in its mouth, then go and slash at it.
	JANUS2 - December 07, 2008 (02:37 AM) Jerec, seeing as how I didn't pester you to be a judge, I demand you turn this into an actual review for my contest!
	honestgamer - December 07, 2008 (03:15 AM) For real fun, Jerec, try going through the game without ever taking a sword. I've made it to the game's final boss without having a single sword in my inventory. I only wish that I could go back to sucking at the game so that running through Hyrule could be a challenging adventure all over again. I really miss the days when I had to explore to find dungeon entrances and where even overworld encounters could be the death of me, but those days are gone and now all I can do are speed runs and such. It's still a fantastic game and one of my favorite of all time, but that one element is gone forever. :-(
	jerec - December 07, 2008 (12:39 PM) Janus, considering I wrote all that down based on the first two dungeons, I'm sure a review is an option once I've finished the game. I'm a pretty old hand at the Zelda series, so that could count as me being an expert. Except that I never really gave the first two games much time. I'm also thinking that this may be the only way to approach this game in a review - my own somewhat frustrating experience at it. If this all goes well, I may have to move onto Zelda II and give it the same treatment.
	bloomer - December 08, 2008 (05:42 PM) Somehow I also missed all this talk of Dodongo.
	sashanan - December 08, 2008 (10:39 PM) Heathens. You've been posting on the RCB for as long as I have, and here you are making me feel old.
	jiggs - December 08, 2008 (11:08 PM) this topic makes mee feel like 7 years old again, but it's interesting to read it from someone who has played the late Zelda games before tackling the original but yet still be challenged by it and have the same experience as someone like me whose first Zelda game was the original. the only difference was there was no gamefaqs but rather sharing of hints through family or friends and much much later getting one of those fancy official nintendo power tip book with detailed in-game maps and everything.
	bloomer - December 12, 2008 (04:01 PM) Yes, in my day, if you got stuck, you stayed stuck, or jolly well sorted it out yourself! -shakes gnarled fist-
	jerec - December 12, 2008 (06:15 PM) And you were happy!

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