Anybody get Wind Waker yet?

[DADINK13]

My copy should be coming sometime by the end of this week. I got sick of trying to get 100% item collection in Prime. And I missed FOUR GOD DAMN SCANS TO HAVE 100% SCANS!!!

..and I can't go back and rescan them--they were one-shot deals.



But yea, does anybody have Wind Waker yet?

[fuuucckkers]

Nope.. I don't even own a Gamecube yet.. I still want one though.

[DADINK13]

My copy came today. I played it for like five hours straight. I don't care who thinks the cell shaded "toon" graphics suck--THAT GAME IS UNBELIEVABLE!!! The graphics look stunning. Big, bright, and vibrant.

The mechanics feel just like the N64 Zelda games, with some refinements. But that's about all I'm gonna say. Just go get it.

[rocket733]

Yeah, I think the graphics could be better but the gameplay more than makes up for it. It's such as awesome game, hopefully they're come out with another that's as good. I think they could have made the water more realistic but thats just me.

[DADINK13]

I really don't see why people say the graphics aren't any good. People don't realize just how much power it takes to render cell shading. And plus, if there graphics were more "real" would you be able to include enemies like the ChuChus, the Ghinis, or even some of the more pear-shaped characters? I think not.

A lot of people need to remember that Link was never a real person. A fantasy world such as Hyrule works best when it's not quite so real-looking. Simple reason: If things were more real-looking, you'd expect them to behave a certain way. You have that preconcieved notion. But if it doesn't look quite so "realistic" you have no idea how something is supposed to behave according to the laws of physics or whatever. And because of that, it feels more realistic.


My only real complaint carries over from OoT and Majora's Mask: Why can't you toss magic from the sword like you could in all the others? At least in Link to the Past you were able to do that once you got the Master Sword, but even with the Master Sowrd in OoT you couldn't do such a thing. I found that very annoying. Yea, the swordplay mechanics make up for it, but that's classic Zelda that's missing. I love the little glow that the Master Sword makes and all, but even so, that's a crucial element that's missing in my mind.

But other than that tiny quibble--the gameplay is so engrossing it's not even funny. If Link looked more like the "Adult Link" we see in Soul Caliber 2, I don't think I would've enjoyed it quite as much.

[Big-O Ryan]

I think it looks pretty gorgeous, from what I've seen (I haven't played it yet, but I've watched a couple people playing for very short amounts of time).

I read an interview where Miyamoto explained some of the reasons why he decided on this style, and it was pretty impressive. He didn't cite 'the way it looks' as an influence -- every reason was centered around gameplay. With the cartoon style, they were able to have Link do things that would look ridiculous in a more realistic world, and the big cartoon eyes allow Link to be more expressive and give hints to the player (the player will notice Link looking at something, and know that they should check it out.. I haven't seen this stuff in action yet, but it sounds very innovative). He knows that this radical change is going to put people off, but he said he is convinced that once people play it, they will learn to love it.

http://www.gamespy.com/articles/march03 ... oundtable/

[DADINK13]

I think it looks pretty gorgeous, from what I've seen (I haven't played it yet, but I've watched a couple people playing for very short amounts of time).

It is gorgeous--trust me.

I can't quite figure out what's more beautiful to look at: a bomb explode in a big orange cloud of cell-shaded smoke, or the purple vortex-like cloud when you kill an enemy. Or is it the first boss, with lava dripping from his body, the heatwaves from the lava, the light glistening off his armor, or the real-time lighting effects when he breathes fire....

With the cartoon style, they were able to have Link do things that would look ridiculous in a more realistic world, and the big cartoon eyes allow Link to be more expressive and give hints to the player (the player will notice Link looking at something, and know that they should check it out..

That's my argument too--and I didn't even read that interview. There are a lot of things that would look pretty rediculous if it were more "real" like what we saw in the Spaceworld 2000 GameCube technology video--I mean the video where Link and Ganondorf were fighting. A lot of things just wouldn't work. I guess you could call it anime in essence...

And again like I said, it still takes a LOT of power to render graphics like that. And the way islands just rise up from the horizon as you sail....think of the approach to the Great Pyramid from Serious Sam and you'll know what I mean. You first see the island slowly rise from the horizon, and as you get closer and closer, it just gets bigger and more detailed.

[David]

Yea, it does look really good but...unfortunately I dont have a GameCube

[blAkdraGon]

i don't have a gamecube either...link looks really weird thought...

[DADINK13]

Well, the thing about the game is the graphics. While many people don't like them, you gotta understand just how much horsepower it takes to produce cell shading like that. The game moves at a constant 30fps with no slowdown--and don't forget that ATI developed the GPU for the GCN.


It's an okay Zelda game compared to the rest (LttP and OoT are my two favorites), but it fills a nice little void.

[blAkdraGon]

yea, i can give credit to them for that. Creating polygonic/cell thingies are hard, considering the fact that in all the other game consoles, everything is 2-D. I want to play wind waker, heard its a really really good game.