AWKWARD ZOMBIE

Dark Souls: A Link to the Past

YES. PLEASE.

I can't say that I totally agree with him, but I do like the idea that

He must be allowed to be defeated, not blocked, by the world and its inhabitants.

YES instead of saying "lol cannot enter without bombs" say "FUCK YOU ILL TEACH YOU TO COME HERE WITHOUT BOMBS!"

I especially disagree when he says that Zelda games should kill you a lot. Dying over and over does not make a game hard it makes it tedious, repetitive and annoying as fuck. I think that requiring you to use more strategy and skill is what would make it hard. And I think that Skyward Sword improved on this a bit, but it is still just "Use the item that you got in this temple and you'll be fine". Bosses should require you to apply many items and skills that you have already mastered previously.

I think that for that sort of game to work nowadays, it'd need to be less punishing than the original was.

For example, it'd be frustrating to know there are secrets out there, but waste all your bombs looking for them so that by the time you're near a bombable wall, you can't actually find it. That's getting very close to bad game design, not enjoyable difficulty.

I'd prefer if there were still specific uses for limited use items like bombs still working on cracked walls, but then apply the dude's ideas to the rest of the game.

And keep level sequence obvious, for sure. It's cool if a game doesn't stop you from wandering to your death, but it's also nice to know where to go.

talkin about TP dungeons here's my impressions (I haven't played in a while though)
Forest temple:pretty fun, sometimes it's annoying
Goron mines:pretty fun, really cool atmosphere
Lakebed temple:EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeh.....it's okay. the claw shot is the only thing worth it though. The boss battle wasn't to bad either.
Arbitors grounds:I really liked this one, It got really fun when I got the top
Snowpeak ruins:Meh. It was okay, the item was cool, plus free soup. It wasn't bad.
Temple of time:another eh one. nothing remarkable
City in the sky:Probably my favorite. Double clawshot, rad atmosphere, Fucking epic boss battle
Temple of Twilight and Hyrule castle: both pretty meh, both some fun boss battles

GUYS

GUYS I'M CRYING GUYS

WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE A LIMITED RUN

IF I HAD CASH I'D BE STUFFING IT IN THEIR FACES

HELP THE TEARS AREN'T STOPPING

Dang. Not a TP fan but this is definitely a very cool thing.

So I finished Skyward Sword on Saturday, completed 100%.

I felt... unsatisfied.

See, when I first started out I disliked the gameplay and motion controls, and many of the choices Nintendo made. I felt the story was kind of lackluster (why would a goddess play favorites and send her precious humans to the sky and leave the rest of life on the surface to deal with Demise?) and the overworld felt awfully empty. But the characters were gorgeous and remain gorgeous and I love them all.
Yet halfway through the game, about the time Zelda sealed herself away, I got really into it. The dungeons were beautiful and I got pretty emotionally invested in the characters. It was all a fun time.
But then, probably right before the final boss, that all deflated. I felt that I had to finish the game out of obligation, not a desire to do so. The end plot felt really tacked together, much like Twilight Princess. When I finished I felt like I didn't do anything of importance, like the whole plot was insignificant. Of course, the fate of the world rested in my actions, but it didn't seem like it. Probably because only a handful of people even knew about the shit that was gonna go down. It all felt really anticlimactic and left me feeling frustrated.

Not to mention the game made me feel like a child being led by the hand the entire time, ugh.

So now I've started Twilight Princess over again since I haven't played it in so long and that symphony really brought out some memories.

My two cents on Twilight Princess dungeons:
The music in the City in the Sky gives me a fierce headache. That's probably why I hate that level so much.

:/ He does bring up alot of good points. He also kind of puts the reason why Im NOT getting the new Zelda, or the Wii U. Im sick and bloody tired of the Super Guide modes they try to force you through. A few straws I witnessed:

Sonic Unleashed: Chip attempts to give you a tutorial on how to move and to jump.... When I was 3 playing my first game, I did not take longer than 5 seconds to figure out how to bloody jump and move. If you need a tutorial on how to jump and move, you should not play ANY game. You should also go in for a labotomy

Donkey Kong Returns: Just HAD to see what Super Mode did for a second on the Golden Banana temple 3. To my shock and horror, what did not transpire was Cranky handing my booty to me on a plate (What I expected) but Donkey Kong in a glittery gold suit doing my level for me. I found this extremely depressing, as I had spent a good chunk of time gettign through the puzzles manually...

Mario Games: Difficult as hell, but die more than 3 times now, and some item pops up and seems to wave tantalizingly under your nose as if to say, "Pick me pick me! Ill help you win!" Any braindead idiot who requires the use of an overpowered crutch to get through a game would be better off just giving up and doing something more productive.

Skyward Sword: Alot of history was told about the Master Sword, but I did not in fact know that my sword was originally an accountant, ready to give me facts and statistics about everything in the world, as well as the Rupee price on the latest fashions in Skyloft.... All in all, this was the final straw. Half the time Fi was trying to tell me about dousing through the first half of the game, I kept trying to tell her to "SHUT UP!" And she would still continue trying to help, whether by telling me my health was low (Zelda fans KNOW when their health is low, the bloody beeping wont shut the hell up!) or how to beat down a boss.(The fun was in getting my butt beaten before figuring it out myself, why play a puzzle game when the puzzles going to be solved for you anyways? ) Advice, Rumors, Play Time, she had PLAY TIME. That was completlely derailing when I checked it up.

So in the end, because you people at Nintendo wanted to tell me so much how to beat the game, beat the games yourself. You folks obviously know how to do it better yourselves than I do. Im hanging up my Skyward Sword and my Ocarina of Time, and Im going to take a seat next to the Skull Kid and watch as the WiiU Generation play their Super Guide and get immersed in the Majoras Mask of tutorials and explanations. (I really do hope Majoras Mask comes out on 3DS though, I would love to be able to play the fruits of Project Moonfall)

Because every player uses the super guide features available in the game.

It's there for the people who need the extra help, who otherwise, may, you know, never buy a console of their own at home or may not buy any extra games.

I don't see how having a way to get past a frustrating part of the game, usually at the cost of bragging rights (SMG2 gives you a bronze star for doing it), tarnishes the game. Most "gamers" will choose to use the guide to skip a part they'll go back to later (too frustrated, maybe it's a scrolling level that they hate, they're close to a good boss fight, etc.) or will grind through it until they can finally beat the level. Considering how much flak Super Mario Sunshine got for how many levels you had to complete to beat the game, including some very annoying boss fights, I'm not really surprised that they've given people an option to bypass annoying levels without compromising on difficulty.

And Fi wasn't nearly as annoying as people made her out to be. Yes, she reminded you about things you already knew, but you could shrug it off and get back to it. Oftentimes when your health was low, she'd remind you of how to find extra hearts, including telling you to use stools. I'm sure to a few new players, she was a good guide to not dying.

I think it's easy for the older gaming people to take for granted both how simple and gradual gaming used to evolve (Mario jumps on things to kill, but then later, he couldn't jump on fiery things, or on spiky things, and then spinning jumps was needed for more difficult enemies,...), and that oftentimes, the only way to know how to control a game or even what to do was something that was in the manual, or worse, had to be figured out alone with hours spent doing simple things. As much as we worked to triumph over things, and as much joy we felt when we finally figured things out, most of us wished we had someone or something to just tell us what the hell to do. I remember when cheat codes and "perfect passwords" were shared and talked aboutlike they were the holy grail.

But how many of you would like to go back to that? Go back to a time where knowing the right code could take you to the final boss so you didn't have to deal with the entire game. Or be able to make yourself invincible for the whole game?

I think it's easy for us to look at these features and balk about how it's insulting to be treated like we're idiots and say that this is what happens when "casuals" get involved, but at the same time, games like Zelda and Mario have 25+ years of refined gameplay with nuances that not everyone is going to pick up. It's like expecting a new player to be able to beat a ghost gym first in a Pokemon game, when almost all of their Pokemon only know normal moves. This is why games have options for new players. This is why Pokemon has Clyde to tell you what's best against gym leaders (or in BW2, why your xtransciever numbers are all for helping you figure out types, evolution, friendships, objectives, and notable things to do in locations). Maybe some is better implemented than others, maybe some sit well better with people, but frankly, I disagree with the mentality that these games beat themselves. Rather, the game gives you the choice on whether you want to give in to taking hints/cheating/bypassing a frustrating part of the game, or whether you want to do it yourself.

And I personally disagree with your opinion.

I believe that the gamer should be able to not rely on a crutch to complete an obective, but learn through it. Cheats and codes were only for the wimps who couldnt be stuffed, and that cookies and gold medals should not be given out just because you walked forward the linear path...

That said, it is shameful to see games where they shove the hints in your face, even if your not a new player. That doesnt help the player, it shortens the lifespan of how long the gamers will take it until they go look for a game that doesnt insult their intelligence. And its not the casuals I am mad not entirely, the audience that the company caters to has changed. I know im not in the demographic of who Nintendo's trying to please. But then again, when I was 3, I didnt get hints and tips in game, and I sure as hell didnt treat Cheats as a way to get a leg up on everyone else. I figured, if I cheat, then why even play the game?

I actually praise Mario Sunshine (Cept the Mama Peach scene, that bastard Bowser Jr. scarred me for life) for being so difficult and annoying. There were good parts and bad parts Ill admit, but just because there were bad parts doesnt mean its technically bad. Sometimes a bitter draught will make the candy taste all that much sweeter when you get to it. Games that force you into difficulty dont often appeal to all audiences, but to beat one feels like a real accomplishment, and leaves me (notice I said me XD )feeling really satisfied.

Kitsune Dzelda wrote: Sonic Unleashed: Chip attempts to give you a tutorial on how to move and to jump.... When I was 3 playing my first game, I did not take longer than 5 seconds to figure out how to bloody jump and move. If you need a tutorial on how to jump and move, you should not play ANY game. You should also go in for a labotomy

Every video game should make it evident how to play it. There is no ligament difficulty in not knowing what the buttons do. Tutorials are a major part of good games; even Dark Souls tells you how things are done. There are subtler ways to teach one how the controls work, but few are as direct.

Sonic Unleashed also has very little to do with the game design decisions of Nintendo, so I don't see why you chose to lead with it in your rant against Nintendo.

Kitsune Dzelda wrote: Sonic Unleashed: Chip attempts to give you a tutorial on how to move and to jump.... When I was 3 playing my first game, I did not take longer than 5 seconds to figure out how to bloody jump and move. If you need a tutorial on how to jump and move, you should not play ANY game. You should go in for a labotomy.

I use it because it was released on the Wii, and thus had to have Nintendos okay first. Correct me if Im wrong about that 8===D

All the Nintendo approval has to be is quality. There are games on the Wii that are a bit more subtle with their tutorials, and Nintendo doesn't force 3rd Party developers to create tutorials that are hand-holdy. I've also played Unleashed on the PS3 and the tutorials are still there, so it bodaciously has nothing to do with Nintendo besides association.

Nintendo's not going to take a game that's perfectly okay otherwise and say "nope, the tutorial's too specific! Change it or we won't approve your game!"