Game #1200: The Legend of Zelda - The Wind Waker

  The Wind Sleeper.

 I consider The Legend of Zelda to be THE most overrated franchise in the world of videogames, and so what better game for entry #1200 than The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, one of the more beloved and controversial entries in the series.

 Well, graphics. People gave it a lot of flak because it didn't look serious enough, but people 'grew out of it'. Not me. I've always loved darker and edgier, so I absolutely hated the art direction for the game. And upon first booting up the game, and seeing these weird proportions with long arms and stubby legs... I decided I hated it. 10 minutes later and I already changed my mind, once you get used to the proportions, the game looks great. It's definitely not for everyone, and the game looks like Samurai Jack, with the borderless-cell-shaded look as well as the proportions, but I still thought it was charming enough. I particularly loved Ganondorf's design, he looks evil and suave, and the dual swords are just icing on the cake.

 The game play like most other 3-D Zeldas, you've got your dungeons, your heart pieces, your tools... but with one key difference: The entire world is submerged in water. This Link has no horse, instead, you've get a sentient boat to sails the high seas. In this game there actually is too much water, as I don't remember the last time I played a game I felt was so barren and yet had so much stuff to do at the same time.

 First of all... the sailing sucks. The sea is enormous, and it takes a long time to get to wherever you want to go. Many times I just dropped the controller and did something else, occasionally looking at the screen to make sure a cyclone didn't change my direction, as I waited to arrive to my destination. It's a bit boring at times. Eventually you can unlock a Melody to quick-travel to a few key locations, but you'll still have to sail towards certain places. Oh, and much like Ocarina of Time before it, you get three slots for items. When sailing, one slot needs to be the sail, another one needs to be the Wind Waker, to play the Song of Wind most times you want to move somewhere, since you can't travel without wind on your sails, and then the third slot has to rotate between cannons and the boomerang, to protect yourself, or the hook to grab treasure.

  And then there are the puzzles themselves... while in pretty much any other Zelda game you solve a puzzle and you get a worthless rupee reward or a heart container... a bunch of times you'll get a treasure chart instead, adding an extra step, so now you must find the island, and then correctly align yourself with the X and then use the hook to, hopefully, fish the treasure. Oh, and you need to spend money on bait, since the only way to keep track of which Island is where, you need to fish that area's fish some bait. And sometimes, admittedly quite rarely, the fish wouldn't recognize the bait. A finite item. That you need to chart the seas, 'cause just visiting the Island isn't enough. It's downright egregious.

 And that's not even getting into the epic Triforce quest. For whatever reason, this Zelda is a bit shorter on dungeons and bosses than other Zelda games, so, in order to pad out more length... you have to find the 8 pieces of the Triforce. This means that you need to travel to 8 different places, at least you get a chart showing which islands contain a Triforce piece. Oh, did I say a Triforce piece? I meant Triforce chart. Yes, you have to search for a chart to know where to search for the piece. But that isn't enough padding, oh no, you have to pay 398 rupees PER chart to have them deciphered. It's downright ridiculous.

 And I didn't even mention how annoying the final three dungeons are. The second to last and third to last feature a 'companion' that you have to take with you throughout most of the dungeon, picking them up and taking them with you, a la Princess Ruto from Ocarina of Time. But that would've been tolerable. Many times you'll have to take control of them, not to say at least once in each room of the dungeon, by playing the annoying Command Song. Every. Single. Time. And the first one, the Temple of Wind, has light that you must reflect, with your companion's harp and the Mirror Shield. Thing is... Link uses his shield with the R button, but your companion with the A button, as pressing R as the companion will revert you to Link, forcing you to play the tune again.... not fun. The dungeons themselves are entertaining. The puzzles weren't half-bad, and they didn't reuse puzzles from Ocarina of Time, they even introduced new tools such as the Grappling Hook or the magic leaf, as well as new moves, such as sliding on walls or crawling... but these two dungeons are just annoying. As for the final dungeon... it features a boss rush. in which you must fight the four main bosses again. Just so that it can waste a little bit more of your time. On the flip-side, the final boss is amazing. And, y'know, the bosses themselves aren't half-bad, it's just that you have to face them twice.

 The combat has been improved since Ocarina of time, Link's combo is longer(About 5 hits), and holding down different directions change how Link swipes, which is mostly cosmetic, but welcome. You can also parry, and it's completely overpowered, just press A when Link's sword glows. You can also pick up weapons from fallen enemies, none are as good as your basic sword, but it's a cute addition.

 Beneath all the sailing and all the water, there's a genuinely great game. It's more cinematic than OOT, in a good way, the puzzles weren't too bad and I adored the new races... but honestly, the amount of times I felt either bored or annoyed due to some seriously dumbfounding design choices.... I don't think I'll be replaying this one any time soon. That said, I read about some of the changes in the HD port, like doubled sailing speed and only three Triforce charts, probably make it a much more enjoyable game.

 6.5