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Twilight Princess: Remarks on a Stalled Journey

February 12, 2007 By Glenn Turner

Zelda Twilight Princess Title

Since Mr. Riley's Twilight Princess article went up recently, I thought I'd chime in with my own, incomplete, thoughts on the subject. Just bear in mind that I hit 'the wall' roughly halfway through the game, and have yet to finish it.

I have to agree with Mr. Riley about the length of the game. Well, not so much the length but the pacing of the experience – it all feels rather exhuberantly drawn out, simply for the sake of it. There's not enough carrot to lure me from one dungeon to the next with this one. I'd say some rather unflattering aspects about the story & its emotional moments, but it wouldn't be prudent to do so until I at least finish the game so, for now I'll simply bite my tongue (hopefully preventing myself from putting my foot in my mouth – again)!

Still, the gameplay is fun enough, but has become incrementally less satisfying as the game's progressed. Like Mr. Riley, I'm a big fan of the hookshot, especially with the Wiimote, but most of the Wii-specific gameplay I can live without. However, my big problem is with the Zelda save system, which is severely showing its age, especially with the less-finely deliniated dungeons. Half of the reason why I simply stopped playing Twilight Princess was because I felt that I couldn't pick the game up without devoting a several-hour block of time to it, as I had no idea how far back I'd be positioned upon reloading a saved game. I don't insist on 'saving anywhere' or even specific save points, I simply just want to know where I'll start my game back up when I save. Is that so much to ask?

There's also the matter of visual design. Ignoring the predominantly washed out color palette of the overall game, the blocky twilight effects contrast rather poorly with the otherwise organic enemies, and just seems extraordinarily out of place. And while I reckon that's part of the 'alien' nature of 'the twilight', that look never feels visually cohesive enough – it simply feels 'striking' just for the sake of appearing different and seems to lack motivation or intent. Sure, it looks pretty, but I can't shake the feeling that it just looks wrong.

Lastly, ever since hearing about how the world was 'flipped' for the Wii version for the majority of right-handers out there (I'm actually a bit surprised Mr. Riley didn't remark on it, as he's quite a vocal southpaw), I've had a nagging feeling about how that visual change affects the game. Conceptually, it just sounds wrong to me, but since I haven't had the opportunity to try the Gamecube version, I can't really remark about how a change like that impacts the game.

As I stated, I have half of the game in front of me, and a lot can change in 15-20 hours. However, given Mr. Riley's review, I've lowered my expectations and, at this point, I just hope I can muscle through the game, although given the wealth of quality games piling up on my shelves, that might be easier said than done.

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3 comments for ‘Twilight Princess: Remarks on a Stalled Journey’

#1 D. Riley Feb 12, 2007 09:32pm

G. Turner wrote:
Lastly, ever since hearing about how the world was 'flipped' for the Wii version for the majority of right-handers out there (I'm actually a bit surprised Mr. Riley didn't remark on it, as he's quite a vocal southpaw), I've had a nagging feeling about how that visual change affects the game. Conceptually, it just sounds wrong to me, but since I haven't had the opportunity to try the Gamecube version, I can't really remark about how a change like that impacts the game.

I've basically given up on left-handed game due to two decades of institutionalization, save for on the DS where using the stylus can be really hard on certain games. Plus, like there's any remote functionality for Zelda anyway. Waaaaaaaaaaaaste of time.

I didn't realize the Wii was flipped from the Gamecube version, I thought it was vice-versa. How odd.

#2 HektiK Feb 13, 2007 01:34am

Quote:
There's also the matter of visual design. Ignoring the predominantly washed out color palette of the overall game, the blocky twilight effects contrast rather poorly with the otherwise organic enemies, and just seems extraordinarily out of place. And while I reckon that's part of the 'alien' nature of 'the twilight', that look never feels visually cohesive enough – it simply feels 'striking' just for the sake of appearing different and seems to lack motivation or intent. Sure, it looks pretty, but I can't shake the feeling that it just looks wrong

i thought that was the point. Designed in a way to be so different from the normal world. Contrast between the organic light world and the blocky dark portals the black fluid like enemies pour from makes the statement that Its not their world and are made to look like they dont belong there.

Maybe theres more reason to it, i havent finished it yet either. Picked it up saturday. im about 10 hours in and just got the iron boots.

#3 D. Riley Feb 13, 2007 07:17am

I thought the Twilight stuff looked ridiculous, like Tron. It really had no point in the game.