Here's the second installment of my Windwaker VS Twilight Princess articles, so you should know that I'm going to make a lot of comparisons here to WW since I played that first. I was initially more excited by Windwaker, but I have to say that I've been pleasantly surprised by Twilight Princess. The beginning of the game has a much more homely feel than WW; you have to do lots of jobs for the Ordon villagers that really builds up the sense of a little community. The woodland setting is beautiful, and all the characters are charming and memorable. I particularly like the chieftain/mayor guy, he has rad mustache game. There's a really funny scene where him and Link being scolded for pushing the horse (whom I have aptly named Fukboy) too far, and they share a really comic glance at each other.
Speaking of characters, my favorite scene has been the opening, where Link and Rusl are sitting by the pond and chatting about the Twilight hour. Theres no music, but the scene is incredibly powerful in its simplicity and sincerity. Rusl also acts as a form of mentor for Link, giving him a wooden sword and tasking him with delivering a package to Hyrule so he can see the world outside of Ordon village. It's a homely and warm set up for the game, which only makes the dark comparisons later even more shocking.
Before I talk about the darker side of the story, I want to address visuals and controls. My main peeve with WW was the terrible camera setup, but here TP vastly surpasses it. Now this is majoritively because of the advancement in technology between the Gamecube and the Wii, but still TP gets the points this round. Links controls very easily, I was apprehensive about the motion control sword-play, but there are ways to attack without swinging the Wii remote around. I particularly like the slingshot, its great fun to actively aim at targets, or just Z-target and smack B to launch a barrage of pellets at your target.
I was stuck with the fishing rod for a while, and I doubt I'll ever use that again for the rest of the game, but all the other items are useful and easy to use. I find the horse kind of hard to ride when turning corners, but that just be me screwing up. I suppose thats karma for calling the horse Fukboy.
If I was hanging off a cliff and so was Midna and my girlfriend could only save one of us... she'd probably jump to Midna's rescue. Everyone loves a bad guy (or girl-imp-twilight-thing) and Midna fits the part, even though I got super freaked out when the Wii remote laughed like her for the first time. She ushers in the darker side of the game, taking Link across the beautifully bleak remains of Hyrule castle. Oh plus Link is a wolf now. So that happened. I like dashing in the wolf form, its pretty satisfying, but I really miss the green hero's garb. Windwaker instantly satisfied my desire to don the tunic in around the first 10-odd mins, but I'm having to work a little harder here to gain the right to wear it. Half of me is like "Ugh this is boring I just want my cool green hat" and the other half is all like "No but its building up a sense of achievement, it'll be so much cooler when you finally get it!". You're either going to love it or hate it, it's not as fast paced as WW but it really makes you work for that sense of adventure.
So in conclusion I liked what I played of Twilight Princess. I thought I would like Windwaker more by miles, and I kinda do a little, but both games are very individual. They're both beautiful in their own way, complex in their own way and have their own individual quirks.
I have got as far as the first spirit, Ordona, and plan to play a bit more tonight. I'll keep posting updates on both games, right now I can't determine a favorite because they're so different, and good for different reasons. So what your favorite? Leave me a comment and a +1 if you liked my first impression.
More game related things coming soon, I've been a bit weighed down by Zelda recently but I'll start posting other game theories and reviews. I played the original Sims the other day so who knows what articles the future of this blog holds...
(spoiler I killed my Sim in the first 5 mins it wasn't fun.)
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