Twilight Princess Is Everything Modern Zelda Is Missing
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 มิ.ย. 2024
- When The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom released a few months ago, it ignited a bit of a controversy over the current direction of the Zelda franchise. Many players were disappointed at how similar Tears of the Kingdom was to its predecessor, Breath of the Wild, with the similarities even going as far as the reusing the entire world map from the last game. Never before had a Zelda game been so...comparable to a previous entry in the series.
There were already a few disgruntled Zelda fans (myself included) who disliked the overall approach of Breath of the Wild, but this newest entry in the franchise added another large group of fans to the angry pile: people who liked Breath of the Wild but didn't necessarily want or need more. As one of the more diverse game franchises out there, Zelda tends to attract a fanbase that craves variety, and these days they're not getting it.
If you're one of those disappointed fans, I have only one thing to say: find a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Gamecube, Wii, the HD port for the Switch, it doesn't really matter; whichever way you slice it, Twilight Princess is the culmination of a decade of classic 3D Zelda design, and the last hurrah for a lot of elements that Zelda fans used to consider essential.
But even if you love the current state of Zelda, that doesn't mean that Twilight Princess is certain to leave you cold. There's a lot in this game to like once you peek below the grim, somber surface. And that's exactly what I'm going to explore in this probably way-too-long video, not just the game itself but also how it fits in to the Zelda series as a whole and how it compares to its predecessors.
Thanks for watching, everybody!
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
8:10 The Elements of Classic Zelda
17:09 Twilight Princess Isn't That Bad
27:00 Twilight Princess Is Actually Really Good
42:06 Final Thoughts
45:36 ...This Video Is Way Too Long
P.S. I realized after the video was almost finished that I refer to the Link from Ocarina of Time as "the only forest child with a fairy". That's obviously wrong. Link is the only forest child without a fairy until Navi comes along. Still, the fairy makes him pretty unique everywhere outside the Kokiri Forest, which is probably what I was thinking when I made the slip-up. - เกม
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This video currently has 🤍 *1015* likes and 🖤 *54* dislikes.
P.S. For those of you who are new to the channel, I pin a comment like this on every major video to compensate for TH-cam removing the public dislike count. I think people deserve to know the whole story of how viewers feel about my videos.
P.P.S. I'm completely stunned at how much this video has blown up already compared to everything else I've done. Thank you all so much for your kind comments. It's good to know so many Twilight Princess fans are out there!
Nah, 350 likes and 4 dislikes. don't lie :p
@@xaoz2362 As far as the likes are concerned, I'm always going to be a little behind on that because I don't check this video and update this comment every day. I'm not quite _that_ self-absorbed.
As for the dislikes, which I'd say are more important since TH-cam won't make them public, I'm going by what TH-cam tells me through my account, and it's higher than 4. If you're using one of those plugins and it says 4, either it's malfunctioning or TH-cam is deliberately making me think more people dislike my video than actually did (which would be kind of insane).
Do you know something I don't?
@@cinnamonnoir2487 It was more about the fact you said that you have 21 dislikes which wasn't accurate for me at least... I don't expect you to update it or anything like that.
It was just that your dislikes were way lower than you said they were.
BASED
Can we just get a twilight princess port to the switch already?😅
I've been waiting years for that and since the next console is coming next year, I'm pretty sure we'll never get it on switch.
A millions times over yes🙏
I got tired of waiting so im playing it on the steam seck along with WW
I want this JUST so I can play it on yuzu with 4k graphics.
I just fear they'd mess it up like the wii u port...
Seriously it’s killing me
My favourite aspect of Twilight Princess is that EVERY SINGLE dungeon item made me say "This is the coolest item ever!" until I saw the next one and said the same thing again. And I meant it every time.
But then you didn't get to use half of them again. Situationally useful at best. Its not like rushing for the wand
@a2 True, my comment was about the initial feeling of first getting the item, but you are right in that the item's usefulness does wear off quickly after leaving the dungeon.
There are still a few occasional uses, but it would be nice if there were more.
Making Spinner move faster than running (but slower than Epona) would make it useful almost anywhere, plus it would be super fun to just beyblade around for the rest of the game.
Clawshot would be more useful if more things were valid targets, like how the OoT Hookshot can target almost anything made of wood. So even if you're not solving a puzzle you can still use it to get around by making shortcuts and such.
Ball and Chain is already a really effective weapon against many enemies, I don't think it needs a buff.
Hero's Bow doesn't need a buff, it's the best ranged weapon in the game.
Gale Boomerang doesn't need a buff, it's the best boomerang of ANY zelda game.
Dominion Rod is basically only used to solve puzzles, although it does solve a LOT of puzzles. I'm not sure if people even want to use it again after all the Owl Statues.
If it was to have an additional use, then maybe it could be used to control enemies somehow?
Either directly like in Mario Odyssey, or indirectly like the TotK Muddle Bud effect.
Apart from dominion rod
Yeah, I still think the spinner is pretty cool even though you never use it outside the dungeon except for a few exceptions
@@FinesseFather If it wasn't slower than walking I would use it everywhere, no question. So much fun.
I’m loving the Twilight Princess appreciation I’ve been seeing on TH-cam lately
I've never understood the hate for games that focus on telling a story. When I played TOTK, I just didn't feel super connected to it. I don't love or hate TOTK, it's kind of just there. Twilight Princess on the other hand has stayed with me for a majority of my life since I love the story and world so much. I'm genuinely sad to say that I don't really care about TOTK.
Yeah, me too. My love for TOTK came entirely from the music and the emotions I felt at hearing some of it or seeing Zelda sacrifice herself, but I never really liked the story, or even felt like there was one. I feel really sad seeing TOTK lack the story and emotional connection I felt to other games, like Twilight Princess.
The amount of twilight princess videos popping up is nice to see
I really appreciated this video, Twilight princess is my favourite Zelda game and I always find myself comparing BOTW and TOtK to it. I especially liked it when you said they the storytelling is really good in Twilight and how Link is not just a hero because of destiny but also a personal hero because of how he inspires and interacts with his friends
Yeah, that's always been really important to me. I don't care if they keep making Breath of the Wild-likes from now on, but Link needs a real character arc already.
Wind Waker was also great at portraying Link as an unlikely hero who stands up for his friends.
i think this is why the common critique of "the opening of twilight princess is too slow and boring" really gets my goat. like, yeah... the game takes its time to establish link as a character and his relationships with the people of ordon village. that's a good thing! it gives weight to his journey and gives us a reason to care about his adventure. you care about what happens to him and his friends.
in contrast, botw throws you into the adventure first, and THEN tries to establish link and his relationships after the fact. it made the whole game's story fall really flat for me. i found myself not really caring about botw link the way i did for past iterations.
@@hotgirledits2000 you are exactly right and I fully agree with you
@@hotgirledits2000people say the same shit for red dead 2's prologue. Do people not know what establishing characters and context is???
I've loved Twilight Princess ever since my initial playthrough back when it released for the Wii, but playing through Breath of the Wild was what made me realize that Twilight was my favourite in the series. It is a near-perfect distillation of the series' identity. Expanding on that identity is fine, but the way the last 3 3D Zelda games have worked to outright ignore it has been really disheartening to witness.
Nerrel said it best, TOTK is the Legend of Sloppy seconds. TP actually took the world from OoT and themes from MM and combined them into its own story about Power and corruption and celebrated multiple aspects of past Zelda games as if it were a swan song to the traditional series. That's why I love it.
Another thing about the items, it feels super lacking only having four in BotW/TotK. Sure, they might have a lot of uses, but that's not always the point. There was something special about the little niche tools you pick up in the classic games. There might not be a whole lot of statues to use the dominion rod on, or a whole lot of tracks to ride on the spinner, but that made them feel special. It made the things that used them feel unique. With the slate/ultrahand abilities everything ends up feeling incredibly samey with no progression whatsoever after the first hour of the game.
"Zelda games are not replayable" I've been replaying them over and over for the majority of my life 😂 except botw and totk (which I hate)
So have I. When I say that Zelda games are lacking in "replayability", I don't mean that it's impossible to enjoy them multiple times. What I mean is that they're not _designed_ to be played over and over again. There are games (Resident Evil 4 springs to mind) that have such flexible gameplay that every segment can feel different every time you replay it, and that's what I'd call a really replayable game.
I don't actually want Zelda to be that way, and I don't think that kind of game is superior to a game focused on a player's first-time experience. On balance, I prefer the second type of game to the first.
Im really surprised that the fact that there is zero triforce mentioned, used and emphasized in any part of the game, in game, art design and pubblicity in Tears Of The Kingdom hasnt been a bigger deal.
Its almost like if Star Wars never mentioned and used the Force out of nowhere.
How have people barely talked about it?
Something like this i wouldve expected it to be big news.
And for people who dont remember, in Breath Of The Wild, even tho its not a big focus, the triforce is mentioned and used by Zelda, so i wasnt expecting the sequel to not even mention it.
I'm actually not that surprised. The Triforce has been fading out of Zelda pretty gradually for more than a decade now. Like I said in the video, Skyward Sword totally forgot about it until the end and then just shoved it haphazardly into the plot.
The moment that they retconned the three Goddesses of Hyrule into virtual nonexistence and focused more on "Hylia" (who doesn't seem to be the goddess _of_ anything as far as I can tell), the eventual abandonment of the Triforce as a plot point was probably inevitable.
@@cinnamonnoir2487 it will be very weird in future for Zelda to completely abbandon it but it seems to be invitable like you said
But it makes sense if i think more about it after all Botw e Totk were supposed to be reboots of the franchise so it will be interesting to see where it will go from here and if they're gonna make even more changes, and i wonder what art style theyll use for it because every zelda game has their specific ones so looking foward to that too
@cinnamonnoir2487 the only way I've ever been able to get over SS's lack of the Three Goddesses is that Hylia seems like a lesser goddess than the Three. The Three created everything, and Nintendo never said where evil originated. For me, that seems like Hylia was created as a taskmaster and Demise was, either accidentally or as a balance, created in the process. Course that is headcanon as they never gave any info
37:32 I love Midna. She is really the best written companion in the series. But there is one side character who comes really close to her, that almost everyone forgets about: Zelda from Spirit Tracks. She’s got character, fulfill an important role in their adventure, and shows a lot of emotions. Even the relationship between Links grows deeper during the game progress. Very underestimated companion.
ST Zelda is fantastic, still My favorite incarnation of the princess yet
I like ezlo a lot too
Yes! The only thing that keeps me from replaying Spirit Tracks constantly is the gameplay. It's too tedious and no matter how much I love the story and Ghost Zelda I will never be able to get past the stylus thing.
Twilight Princess is my favorite Zelda game. The story is amazing and so is its more realistic artstyle and it has the most heroic Link. Link has the most times of Link saving the people out off all of the Zelda games. Thanks for talkiny about this.
Edit: Forgot to add that the only complaint is there wasn't more Goron wrestling.
I would say that some of the character models haven’t aged the best.
Maybe not the most instances of rescuing people, as both MM and some of the 2Ds may be able to hold that title.
Twilight Princess has always been my favorite Zelda title. I've put way more hours into botw/totk, but the sheer love I have for this game spans 16 long long years.
The two mechanics I desperately hope return to the franchise are transformations and music as a tool of progression. I miss playing songs. I miss navigating the world in a way that's different from the Link we're presented with at the beginning.
I also love the Hero of Twilight so much as a character. We watch his trials and victories in real time, and that's so important to me as a player.
I miss playing songs as well. That's one of those things that Skyward Sword kind of pretended to do and then they just stopped trying for it.
Current Zelda left J.R.R.Tolkien behind, therefore the most Tolkien-inspired Zelda (Twilight Princess) has the most of what BOTW/TOTK now lacks. It's as simple as that. Zelda used to be very Tolkien, but in recent years the mainline series has literally just been aping Princess Mononoke while awkwardly trying to keep the original Tolkien-esque world around. The massive plot emphasis put on the Shiekah (nippon ninjas) and their comically advanced technology beginning with BOTW was a HUGE hint to the direction the new creators were steering the ship. The series is no longer a unique and well-balanced combination of East and West, but totally Ghibli with a Zelda skin on top.
i feel like an insane person whenever people praise botw/totk because "it's just like princess mononoke!" because to me, the thinly-veiled references to ghibli films in these two games have always felt kind of... cheap? it would be one thing if these games were inspired by ghibli on a deeper, thematic level- eg, princess mononoke's themes of nature vs industrialization could have been a great foundation on which to craft a zelda game. but what it feels like instead is that someone in marketing had the brilliant realization that many adult-aged zelda fans are also ghibli fans, so if you throw them a ghibli reference, they'll go "oh yay, i love hayao miyazaki!" the only purpose seems to be to remind you of a different thing, and hope the positive associations from that thing carry over to the game you're currently playing. just a total lack of substance
@@hotgirledits2000Ironically, the 'nature vs industrialization' theme is extremely tolkienesque as well.
@@Den.Vos.Reynaerde WORD! good point!
Bro I swear you haters would make up ANY type of excuse instead of acknowledging many more people love the new style of Zelda 😂
@@56ty_ mama that’s literally the point op is making
"Over reacting to anything said about Zelda" Nintendo lost money on a game because the western fans didn't want Toon Link, they wanted what was presented at space world 2000 and instead got Windwaker 3 years later, so Twilight Princess is the way it is because of that space world 2000 LOZ teaser trailer.
Okay, maybe "overreacting" was a bit of an overstatement. But it does strike me that the people at Nintendo who make Zelda seem to take criticism a lot more to heart than, for example, the Mario team. And Zelda has seen a lot of crazy tone and style swings over the years.
@@cinnamonnoir2487 you're not wrong, Zelda's one of their longest running game series, even at the time of Windwaker it was their 12th game for the series and it didn't do very well at the time, so they took that criticism to make Twilight Princess, they listened just enough to provide a fun game. As for the tone shifts that's probably to try and make the series seem fresh in new ways given it is somewhat the same story each time, big bad shows up in some form, threatens princess and hyrule, and it's up to Link to thwart those evil ambitions, that core formula for the games hasn't changed much in all this time, with some exceptions.
You really can't overstate that Spaceworld demo's impact! People immediately wanted OOT with better graphics (who can blame them) and Nintendo had not scratched that itch before changing things up with WW, so there was disappointment
I would love a remake of twilight princess including the complemented lore in the manga, I would die happy if that happened
Yes, the manga made the story so much better!
I agree!
I haven't really enjoyed Totk do fsr and by god I don't understand the unbridled praise it seems to garner everywhere. This video has been a slight breath of fresh air. Unfortunately the runaway success of Botw might have entrenched an ironically even more restrictive formular in the frnachise than OOT ever did. However as you pointed out that remains to be seen. You are also correct that I miss the Triforce (and tbh all of the loosely connected lore) far more than I would have ever thought prior to Botw. For me at least Link's Awakening was an Awakening. I was more engaged in it (and even SS's remake) than Botw after a good few hours not to mention totk. There's just something about the absolute boundless nature of modern Zelda that unfortunately doesn't appeal to me. Twilight Princess though is probably worth a replay at some point. It's been quite a while since my last playthrough.
Overall I've gotta commend you for some unique points and perspective! Good job with the video!
Thanks very much. And much as this might seem like an odd sentiment coming from me, I don't think we should despair about the future of Zelda. There are still a lot of creative people at Nintendo, and even they would get fed up with rehashing the same experience if they had to do it over and over again. I've got my fingers crossed.
Its taken me years, but I've learned to love Zant for that exact reason! He is a man child! Zant turning out to be such a joke of a man really highlights TP's themes of maturity.
For a long time I hated that such a cool, scary, and imposing villain turned out to be a total joke. But that fits. He's not the ruler _because_ he's a childish loser who never matured. Midna, by contrast, grows and matures. When she fails, she accepts that it might be her fault and works to fix it. Zant just throws a temper tantrum when things don't go his way!
They're both selfish at the start of the story and blame others for their woes. Their choice to either double down on the behavior or not is such a good story element. Zant is the perfect contrast to Midna.
What we think to be a cold and sinister person methodically attacking Hyrule is in reality a childish loser. He threw a tantrum and the result was the devastation we see in the game. Like it's such a perfect level of fucked up for a story. I absolutely love it.
Zant really captured the essence of a lot of immature people in the real world.
I also want to point out the music in ToTK
its so empty compared to the grand themes of TP and older zelda
Right? I get that the music very much goes along with the theming of both BOTW and TOTK, but it's still so....empty and emotionless for the most part. There's really no BOTW OG songs I remember aside from the shrine theme and the guardian theme. The only other songs I remember from that game are remixes of already known songs. (zelda's lullaby, hyrule castle theme, zora's domain. That's ALL I remember. Zelda's been known so well for their memorable music and I just don't get that at all from the new games. It SUCKS.
Your last point it so hard. TP's my favorite Zelda, but the thing that sticks out the most is how intrinsically tied together all the games are. Like, OoT was designed as a sort of prequel to ALttP. And then the next three games after OoT were all very very different sequels that add so much meaning to the themes and ideas of the Hero. These connections mean the world to me, because the Hero of Time became so much more than the title of the fame he was introduced in.
We haven't gotten that feeling back since TP. If Nintendo wants to tell us all about this new era and the open world Hyrule, then let us see it from different points in time.
Great video! Twilight Princess has been my favorite Zelda game since I first started playing games in general, was the first game I ever played, and usually I get that nostalgia leads me to think it's better than newer releases and I'm just biased. But after pouring well over 300 hours into BOTW...TOTK literally didn't change enough for me to feel anything but exhausted at the idea of giving it fifty or sixty hours. Some of the story and character stuff is cool, and it's maybe not as vague a world as BOTW, but it's really just one of those games where you look up a playthrough on TH-cam because it's too similar to the first game.
Twilight Princess had this world, this masterful atmosphere, and you remember every single character even just the random, unnamed townspeople of Castle Town. Link's story was so much nicer too, a farmboy becoming a hero to protect his friends and the kids who look up to him. Becoming a legend not because he set out to save Princess Zelda, he didn't even know her. He set out just to save his little town, and then he kept going in the end to save the whole realm.
Good on Nintendo for trying to make another game like the one players loved, but I feel they played it too safe and didn't make it interesting enough to try out. But, your video going through everything is great!
I absolutely love Midna.
She's not just the best sidekick of the whole series, she is just such a well written character. It's easy to understand her motives once you learn her whole story and this makes it even more touching when she comes around and changes her goals. And on top of that she's just funny.
Twilight Princess has been my favorite since the moment I finally got it in my hands. It’s been disheartening seeing it get so much hate, especially from the windwaker fans. So I’m happy to see that even though TP isn’t your fav and WW is, you’re still respectful to it. Thank you so much 🙏
I honestly had hoped that Tears of the Kingdom would have taken from Twilight Princess. I had thought that the hand that Link gets would be a companion, housing a spirit or something that would lead/give story elements throughout the game.
Frankly, I had thought that the corruption that nearly killed Link would be a 'link' between him and Ganondorf and we'd hear Ganondorfs thoughts on different locations as well as motivations throughout the game.
I had hoped temples would be added to the environment that were larger than what we got and that we'd be able to explore them for lore and a reward.
Honestly, I don't see why we can't get items in dungeons anymore. Can you imagine getting a Hookshot that would help navigate the terrain better? They could have given us unbreakable weapons that have a recharge time like the Master Sword or need upgrading to be at full power and have lore tied to them. Just SOMETHING to make me want to explore and be rewarded for it. Instead of just randomly having chests in the depths with clothes in it, have temples we'd have to go through to get the clothing of past heroes as well as a weapon/shield they used.
They could still have the 4 items at the start of the game giving you access to everywhere, but it'd be so much more if there were items hidden in temples that opened up exploration even more or were weaknesses to certain enemy types.
Have the Light Arrows be available to get to help with the battle against Ganondorf, but lock them away in the temple in the sky that's difficult to get to.
It's so frustrating to see there are ways to still stay true to the original Zelda formula for older fans to enjoy that they just ignore.
For the story elements of what you're talking about here, I think you're taking a greater interest in the story as a linchpin of the game's design than Nintendo does. Nintendo these days is not that interested in telling stories, and the stories of most of their main-series games are deemphasized in favor of the gameplay. Your ideas are pretty interesting, but they would require Nintendo to spend more time on the story, and draw more attention to it, than I think they want to.
As for the more gameplay-related stuff, Nintendo is clearly very committed to the sandbox design approach, which means they can't put items in dungeons because that would limit the player's exploration until they finished those dungeons; sandboxes are supposed to be totally free and open from the beginning or at least very early on. I don't think the sandbox approach is actually a good fit for the Zelda franchise, but it's what they wanted with Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom really is just a sequel to Breath of the Wild at the end of the day, with all the same fundamental design elements.
Here's hoping they do some of these things next time.
Malo being a young Milo is not something I've connected before, but I love it
You know, even while saying that, it didn't occur to me how similar their names are. But yeah, I've always felt like Malo shares the same "forget about the war, I've got money to make" wavelength as Milo Minderbinder.
Love the vid. My least favorite argument from people who love the new Zelda games is that they needed to drop so many aspects of the old games in order to be "evolve." So they "evolved" Zelda by gutting some of my favorite stuff from the old games and making it more like every other open world game that preaches freedom. If I wanted to play a new release that gives me the feelings BOTW does, I'd have a plethora to choose from. But what other modern AAA games really fit the niche old Zelda games used to fill? Despite the massive sales numbers, I hope they swing the pendulum a bit in the other direction soon!
The games already did this with OOT, which tossed out most of what was created for the games that came before in order to make something new.
We should fully expect that in a decade or two they'll reinvent the franchise again once the current phase runs out of steam.
@@danieladdled OOT has waaay more in common with how the 2D games were starting to shape up. Hell, there are some people who complain that it's too _similar_ to ALTTP in structure. It felt like a natural evolution of the series into 3D, building on what came before with new technology. Whereas BOTW felt like they saw the complaints about linearity in Skywards Sword and chucked everything out the window to prove those people wrong.
@@kingbump6829 by this analogy they saw all of the complaints about how Breath of the Wild was too different from the Ocarina-descended games, but instead of deciding to throw everything out they decided to double down on their design decisions (weapon durability, difficulty scaling, adapting the same map, building on the same story, etc).
It seems like a disservice to the artists that created this piece of work to write it off as overreacting to criticism instead of the sincere intent of the artists. It also seems hard to defend that argument when they did exactly the opposite with this release.
@@danieladdled Why didn't they change TOTK to fit people complaining? Because, unlike Skyward Sword, complainers like me are a large minority. Unlike Skyward Sword, BOTW got unbridled praise across the board, GOTY, and outsold every other game in the series with article after article specifically citing it's massive differences in formula. They didn't do "the opposite with this release;" they just went where the success was. I don't see a clearer example than literally doing the same thing twice, for the first time in the series history, because people loved it.
@@kingbump6829 both you and the video are leaving out A Link Between Worlds, which did reuse a map, story elements, game mechanics, and more with the direct predecessor A Link to the Past.
Reusing a game setting is not unprecedented, and neither is a near total reinvention of the franchise.
There is no defending having a mediocre story like botw and totk when rdr2 had a amazing open world( the best in my opinion) and a really good story
Huh? Botw eats rdr2 for breakfast as an open world game
@56ty_ wym the story is way better in rdr2 as well as the many activities you can do. And Oh god the sidequests are 10/10. Only thing to do in botw is collect korok seeds and the sidequests are mid at best. The shrines are pretty fun though
@@Leonkennedy19992 yes the story is better in rdr2. But they’re completely different games. Also sorry for replying to a 5 months old comment
@56ty_ yes that is true. No worries.
Cinnamon Noir: "TP IS EVERYTHING MODERN ZELDA IS MISSING!!!"
Me, an intellectual: TP is everything modern Zelda is missing!
Yup! I love Twilight Princess and feel incredibly underwhelmed by BotW and TotK.
These Wild Era Zelda games just feel kind of directionless to me. I can't help but think of them as ADHD simulators whenever I play them because they're designed to entice you in every which way and most of what you can engage with is so short and simple that they can be completed before you even need to bother engaging any deep focus at all. These games feel to me like a big empty world full of trivial mobile game-esq challenges, with garry's mod/dev tools enabled (and really these tools pale in comparison to garry's mod or real dev tools). It's just not possible to create the kinds of narrative arcs and player progression that I find satisfying with the kind of lack of direction these games have. Such openness is great for sandboxes, but not for adventures where the gameplay and narrative are coherent with each other.
I've seen people complain that TP's opening takes too long, but that's actually one thing I love about TP. It's opening perfectly illustrates what I mean when I talk about gameplay and narrative coherence. The gameplay of TP's opening is slow and mundane, because Link's life as a farm boy in a little mountain village, before he gets thrust into adventure, is slow and mundane. I love that TP's opening almost feels like a life sim game like Stardew Valley. That's why I never get bored or feel like it's a tedious obstacle to the "real" game. I love to just walk around Ordon village and roleplay like I am just a farm boy, playing with the dogs, fishing, herding goats, and helping the townsfolk with mundane tasks. If anything, I usually draw TP's intro out longer to really soak in that first act of Link's peaceful life. It makes that moment when Link is force-ably transformed into a wolf and imprisoned REALLY impactful. You can feel what it feels like for Link's peaceful life to be taken away from him through the gameplay itself.
TP isn't the only Zelda game to do this. It was a staple of 3D Zelda's (and even 2D Zelda's starting with A Link to the Past) before BotW. Oot had you run around the Kokiri forest like one of the Kokiri themselves, Wind Waker has you spend time on Outset as one of it's inhabitants, Skyward Sword let you live a few normal days on Skyloft. Even Majora's Mask, with it's unique approach, still has you confined to clock town in the early game so you have to sort of live amongst the people whose lives are at stake from the falling moon. BotW and TotK completely skip these kinds of fist act gameplay intros and thrust you right into a weird amalgamation of the second and third acts.
Twilight Princess is my favorite game. Period.
The story is well-written and nicely paced, and as you mentioned in the video, it's mature with lots of nuance and personality. I remember all the emotions I felt as I made my way through it, and those are memories that I keep fondly 18 years later.
The dungeons are so well-crafted and thought out, and there isn't a single one that I disliked. None were really all that difficult, but they were a total blast to crawl. The characters were so fleshed out, especially Midna. She's still my favorite companion.
It's been a while, but I'm gonna give it another replay.
Regarding Navi and Tatl, I think people would be a lot more appreciative of them if they'd realized that the fairies are what allow you to Z-Target.
One of the most useful mechanics in the game is directly tied to those characters, but myself and I think many children at the time simply didn't make that connection.
Even when fighting Ganondorf and Navi specifically says "I can't help you in this fight" and the game takes away your ability to target him, my only reaction was "Why would I need your help? You're useless", completely missing the entire point of her existence.
On a semi-related note, I loved Fi and I loved Skyward Sword. The motion controls were fantastic. Ghirahim is peak character design. Fight me.
That’s actually pretty cool, I never noticed that…! Funny how fans can find something „new“ after all these years. Also, finally someone that doesn’t hate Skyward Sword🥲
What a great and thoughtfully put together video! It deserves more views! I love Twilight Princess. The atmosphere/soundtrack is unmatched in my opinion. While many people play games for the gameplay or story, i play for the atmosphere. Shadow of the Colossus is another favourite game of mine. there isnt much of a story, and the gameplay (atleast on the ps2/ps3 versions) is questionable. but the atmosphere, again, is unmatched, along with the sound design/soundtrack. The dungeons in TP feel like art pieces. the entrance to the forest temple is one of the greatest first impressions ever for a first dungeon. The city in the sky is one of the coolest/surreal things ive ever experienced looking back on it. I adore surrealism, and knowing that this dungeon was based off an Escher painting is just so neat. Ive played OOT, but i didnt have the nostalgia attached to it since i never played it as a child. its a good game but i dont love it as much as TP. BOTW is also a decent game, and i love the atmosphere while just wandering throughout the map. but again, it just feels like theres something missing comapred to TP. The one gripe i have with TP is the whole wolf mechanic. i find wolves boring tbh, and that they probably couldve picked something cooler for Link to transform into. The wolf parts do drag the game down, and i can understand why people would dislike the game due to this. The twilight realm atmosphere is awesome tho, and the music that plays while youre wandering around in it is phenomenal. Also, contrary to popular opinion, i dont find the opening tutorial area that bad. if anything, OOT's opening/starting area was more boring to me despite being quicker. BOTW's tutorial area was great, but it only really has that effect on the first blind playthrough. havent played TOTK and dont plan to. seems like glorified DLC with a high price tag to boot.
The implication is the Forest Temple was once the mansion of the Poe Sisters when they were alive. I theorize it was shelter during the Civil War. That would explain why Link's mother came to the forest in the first place. And if there ended up being Bloodshed there, it may have cursed the place. Thus, the Dream Hallways and the Hands.
Twilight princess is not only my favorite zelda game, but my all time favorite video game ❤
BotW/ToK are great open world games, they are terrible Zelda games
@@IssJa_A good Zelda game, hmm... A Zelda game is any action adventure game featuring a connection and legacy between 3 characters embodying 3 philosophical ideas that show growth, development and conflict. BotW/TotK, the Zelda game aspect seems optional, particularly the 3 philosophical ideas part.
@@IssJa_That is fair, but at the same time a lot of botw fans act like every Zelda after the first one went against the spirit of the series and they botw is setting things right.
Insert anecdote about Miyamoto’s childhood as if he didn’t want the series to be more story focused or have proper dungeons.
I dont think tok is even a good game. Its all samey, the world is big for nothing. The difficulty is out of the window (no challenge at all), the other characters story are cringe and their story arc feel manufactured and fast, etc.
@@IssJa_ Correction, the same people have not been making Zelda games since its conception. Most of the franchise has been under the umbrella of at least three different general "directors" (Miyamoto from Zelda 1-OoT, Eiji Aonuma from Majora's Mask to Twilight Princess, and Fujibayashi from Skyward Sword to TOTK). And that is not even mentioning all the random titles that were handed off to other companies like the Oracle games with Capcom. The Zelda series has been made by a revolving door of countless people, which might account in part for why it's flip flopped so drastically.
Absolutely excellent video. I found it very well crafted. I subscribed 10 minutes in and stayed to the end.
I am noticing people are making vids about twilight princess these days to say that no it is not a remake of ocarina of time
And Ocarina is a remake of aLttP.
Hey this video, and your perpesctive was fantastic. Keep it up!!
I played Twilight Princess for the first time after finishing Tears of the Kingdom, and it was exactly what I needed.
Except now with Aonuma saying that the "open air" style will be the format for Zelda games going forward, I doubt the pendulum will swing back any time soon. Especially because as everyone points out "but the sales numbers!"
At this point the only things I can really hope for with Zelda games are remakes of older titles. And with Pokemon and Sonic also leaning heavily into the open world/pure freedom type of game design, it doesn't seem like this trend is going to die any time soon.
The industry has gotten so fat and disgustingly bloated on fiat currency, it needs another 80s crash, no joke. Something to burn the chaff away and bring back some true creativity and CONTENT that is kept in the game for Launch, and not withheld for DLC... DLC and streaming services allowed the Consumer to destroy >themselves
@@nillynush4899I dont know if it needs a crash but it certaintly needs a widespread boycott of some kind which is unfortunatley extremely unlikely. Typical consumers dont care about quality all that much when they only buy 1-2 EA / Activision games a year. Even other studios commit the same sins while taking advantage of your more experience / demanding consumers through false advertising, poor preformance, microtransactions.etc The entire industry has just learned to abuse the consumer because no matter what, there will always be a loyal fanbase who will buy your content every. Single. Time. Without care nor concern for what effect it might have on the industry as a whole.
That doesn't mean we'll never get dungeons.
@@Krshna28 Oh yeah dont get me wrong the industry is not entirely bankrupt. This year alone weve gotten tons of amazing games even I recognize that. Totk didnt have the best dungeons but I still love that game. Maybe it doesnt hold the same spot that TP does. But that doesnt mean that totk doesnt scratch that open world itch very VERY well. What it lacks in some areas in makes up for in others.
I suppose its about time we recognize that the reason why most open world games feel like a boring checklist is because they are actuallu extremly hard to make. Trying to fit story in is even harder due to the varied and disjointed nature of the players own freedom. Yet, in my opinion totk and botw cracked the code on how to make open-world exploration exciting and fun.
@@Krshna28 Probably not, especially if Aonuma did indeed say they older Zeldas were "too restrictive" and prefer making them like this. Even if we got a new 2D Zelda down the line, it would probably be like A Link Between Worlds, non-linear and giving you the item before you go in.
Totk is absurdly overhyped... I didn't like it. 🤷🏼♀️ I loved Twilight Princess.
Your channel is so underrated. Your Zelda videos are fantastic and I could never get bored listening to you talk about it.
Thank you!
I'd say weather Twilight Princess or the Wind Waker is the best Zelda game honestly depends on the day of the week. 😅
very gratifying video. Thank you for making this. I'm probably going to replay TP again shortly.
Honestly when you mentioned how fans originally disliked Majora for being different. It honestly reminded me how Super Paper Mario was also originally dissed by the Paper Mario fans because it chose to change the gameplay from turn based to instead a platformer. But because it still had most of the elements that the fans enjoyed about the first two Paper Mario entries it’s been gaining more of a fan following in recent years. Especially compared to it's 3DS follow up.
Super Paper Mario was a great game, and I think its biggest strength was the characters. The story in broad terms isn't actually all that mind-blowing, but the character interaction is really fun. I love Bowser's reaction to having to team up with the good guys and Luigi's bizarre face-heel-face turn, and several of the new characters (Dimentio, Mimi, the Floro Sapiens and Bonechill in particular) are among my favorites in any Paper Mario game.
I hope you're right about Super Paper Mario gaining more fans recently, because it hasn't gotten the credit it deserves.
Yeah SPM is an underrated gem 💎
@@cinnamonnoir2487 Honestly to go with even further comparisons I think Black & White also originally got heck by the Pokemon fans for what it changed but nowadays the fans praise this entry.
To me, BotW and TotK are missing almost every important aspect that I think of in a zelda game. The most important bits have always been: The character arc of growth for link, the dungeons that vary in style and provide interesting puzzles and challenges, the varied items that expand what you can do and how you can get around in ingenious ways, the sidekick that gives the game someone to play off with the silent protagonist, and the theme of the game (in oot it was growing up in a general sense, mm was dealing with grief and the importance of forming relationships, ww was leaving home and the impact it has on both the child and the parent left behind, tp was dealing with new responsibilities and leaving behind the childish view of everything as black and white, and ss was about finding your purpose and calling).
BotW and TotK may aesthetically resemble zelda games, with the names of characters, races and areas (though even that's a debate with the casual disregard for link's look and the blatant disrespect given to the master sword), but they have basically no story, only backstory, by dint of being an open world, a small number of dungeons that are normally boring and samey (TotK isa bit better here) augmented by shrines that are basically the same as collectothons like the shanties in Black Flag, Exchanging interesting and varied items for, as you said, a basic garry's mod toolkit that you don't really have to work for, and no permanent character to work off of. They don't even really afaict have proper themes, because there is no story that you actually play through. you can run to the end learning absolutely nothing.
To me, BotW and TotK are almost as far away from being zelda games as Hyrule Warriors was.
Love the video and really loved the analysis. I know not everyone likes SS, but I think it deserves more credit as a Zelda game. Great dungeons, a Disney-esque story, one of the best if not the best soundtrack in the series, it's a quality edition to the IP.
Guess it speaks a lot that my favorite Zelda game of all time IS Twilight Princess and I kinda hate the two new Zelda games.
I would argue that Majora’s mask is closer to the botw/totk relationship than Zelda/zelda 2
genuinely I feel like TotK made BotW obsolete. It's the same core overworld with like 2.5x the exploration, and the mechanics are refined to the point where going back to play BotW almost feels like a beta
Majora’s Mask doesn’t feature the triforce, and Zelda only appears in one single flashback early on.
The difference is that the game has a focus impending doom and grief, and on the hero of time helping everyone he encounters
There's been a lot of Twilight Princess videos on TH-cam in the last 2 or 3 months for some reason.
It’s perfect to bait angry modern day Zelda haters!
Nothing more though, I’ve never seen one of these videos actually coming up with ways to improve the new formula.
And let’s just… ignore the comment sections 😂
25:50 What’s that screenshot from? Is that some sort of fan made thing? The UI on the right also looks different
Yes, it is a fan-made image. Here's a link to what I believe is the original: www.deviantart.com/avatarus-one/art/Ordon-villagers-327521243
...Apparently this person is also making a "sequel" to TP in Unreal Engine 4!
Twilight Princess was my very first Zelda game, and to this day is still my favorite not so much for its art choice but how expansive the world felt to me when I first played it. I felt like I was this whole other world and I grew to care and love for the main characters
I think what made TP special to me outside of nostalgia was the atmosphere it was able to convey through the music and tone every place that visited I was able to smell, hear and taste (metaphorically) as I entered each region (especially Snowpeak and the Twilight Realm) that I didn’t really feel in other games save for the shadow temple and Inside of Jabu Jabu from OoT
Here's to hoping that eventually all the 3D zelda games (especially WW and TP will be ported to the Switch!)
I'll never forget how my 4 or 5 year old brain drowned in awe when I saw my cousins play Twilight Princess and just trudging through the ordon wood at night and hearing the hyrule field night theme. It's been my favorite in the franchise since then and it makes me happy there's a lot of fans showing their love for it today still.
Thank you talking cup
Very good video, describes my feelings about the series as it currently stands completely.
Twilight Princess' flaws for me are in the combat and hyrule field's emptiness. If those were improved I'd think we'd reached the peak of Zelda
Tears of the Kingdom feels like Super Mario 2
It supposed to be a Zelda but it really doesn't play at all like a Zelda game
Nitpicking:
In OoT Link was not the only forest child/Kokiri with a fairy. He was the only Kokiri WITHOUT a fairy, until the events of the game started and the Great Deku Tree sent Navi to bring Link to him.
Yes, I know. That was my bad. I actually address that mistake in the video description.
Thanks for bringing it up. I would never criticize other people for nitpicking when it's something I do all the time.
Oh, I totally overlooked it in the description. I'm sorry!
After watching (almost) the complete video (I will watch the last 5 minutes later today) I have to say the fairy thing was the only nitpicking I found. :D
The rest of the video is really great and I agree with almost everything.
Awesome work!
hey man great video, I really enjoyed it. this is my first time watching you though and I gotta ask-what is the splotch in the middle of your mspaint face? is that your nose? explanation=sub. (I actually already subbed ngl)
Wow, this is apparently becoming quite a common question. Yes, that's supposed to be Cinnamon's "nose", although since he's a coffee cup, it's actually a handle. The black part underneath is supposed to be a shadow being cast on his body by the handle.
Apologies to Chip from Beauty and the Beast, I know I'm not doing the best job of portraying cup-people positively.
Just to give some credit to sidekicks, as annoying as they can be, sometimes all you need is someone to be there as emotional support, as you confront adversary after adversary and experience tragedy after tragedy (which makes me at least understand why the Hero of Time treasures Navi so much though younger me wouldn't have viewed at it as such, Midna on the other hand dips a bit into tragic love story reminiscing at Romeo and Juliet).
What you said about Ganondorf's thoughts at 24:10 does make some sense. When he entered the Sacred Realm to steal the Triforce in Ocarina of Time, the Gods split it up. It seems very rigged, though not impossible. He is destined for part of it, and it seems thats something the Gods just cant control
One of the most interesting things about Wind Waker is that the 3D Zelda game with the most cartoonish aesthetic also had the most realistically written characters. Link actually behaves like a child, albeit a responsible one; Tetra (i.e. Zelda) isn't comfortable with her role as the protector of the Triforce of Wisdom; and Ganon is portrayed as a man first and an irrepressible fountain of evil second.
Even in great Zelda games like Ocarina of Time, Ganon is often portrayed simply as an evil power-worshiper who destroys everything he touches. Wind Waker shook things up by having him accuse the _gods_ of destroying Hyrule just to stop him, as if they didn't care about the fate of Hyrule's people. When he says, "Your gods destroyed you!", he's insinuating that their scorched-earth approach is evidence that they hate and disdain all of humanity, not just him.
That isn't the perspective of the game, though. The King of Red Lions confronts Ganon with another interpretation, which is that the gods meant to free the people of Hyrule from a past where Ganon would always threaten to dominate them. The Great Sea isn't a lush, fertile kingdom like Hyrule, but the people there are happy and free from coercion; it's sort of like the contrast between Greece and Persia in ancient history. This is why he makes a wish on the Triforce, not to restore Hyrule to its former glory, but to let Hyrule disappear for the sake of the future. The king of Hyrule is willing to let the past go, which includes letting his old self die; that's what distinguishes him from his would-be usurper, Ganon.
It's a very thought-provoking bit of writing, and the fact that the gods don't speak for themselves allows you to draw your own conclusions. There's more than just art design that makes Wind Waker my favorite Zelda game.
Until something comes along to top it, I say Twilight Princess was The Legend of Zelda's Last Great Epic, not to say SS or Botw/Totk were not somewhat epic in their own right but none of them truely approached the Emotional Depth of Twilight Princesses themes and naritive and gameplay marrage.
Just because the hero’s shield is called that and nothing more does not mean that that’s current link’s hero name. None of the links are called their respective hero names in their respective games, except botw link. You get his tunic after completing all the shrines, and is called the armor of the wild along with the individual pieces of the set are called “____ of the wild.”
Also, getting all the shrines would mean that this link DID explore the wild, thus earning the title.
Also the hero’s shield in question is from the wind waker as a reference.
amazing video ❤
i played twilight princess for the first time right after my totk playthrough and i feel the exact same way
tp and mm are the best zelda games imo
Great video, I personally love wind WW and TP and really miss the old dungeon and puzzle formulas from the traditional Zelda games. I’m really enjoying TOTK and think its world is one of the best realised open worlds out there but destructible gear makes being “rewarded” with them suck and the temples are too simple and easy. The perfect combination for me would be the open world of hyrule but with traditional dungeons. TOTK with 5-8 well made and creative dungeons would have been epic
Great video
I enjoyed this entire video so much and it really reminded me and put words to why I love Twilight Princess so much.
Are there any similar games in terms of themes and story?
I hate to be a disappointing Dennis here, but I'm finding it very difficult to think of a game with the same kind of plot and story ideas as Twilight Princess, even within the Zelda series. Majora's Mask is similarly dark and creepy, and also features a similar antagonist, but that's about it.
If I had to nail down the important themes of Twilight Princess, I think they'd be more or less the following: a light world and a dark world that interact with each other, an ancient tribe that displeased the gods by becoming too powerful and arrogant, a scrappy hero who rises from obscurity to save a kingdom and his friends, a usurping villain who seems powerful but is weak underneath and can't successfully master the power he uses, and a mischievous sidekick who starts by trying to use the protagonist but ultimately forms a bond with him.
Apart from the last one, this actually kind of resembles the story of Star Wars (light side and dark side, the downfall of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker, and the Empire overall), so you might enjoy a good Star Wars game like Jedi Survivor. I also think it's possible that you'd enjoy Golden Sun and its sequel, since they mix combat with puzzles and feature some of these plot elements as well. And I've also often heard Okami brought up in this respect (dispelling the curses in several areas does feel somewhat like banishing the twilight), but it's a little simplistic with the puzzles.
I don't know, I'm really spitballing here. You may have to just play it by ear and look around until you see a game that gives you a Twilight Princess-y vibe.
Thanks for the suggestions!
I have to agree about Okami, that’s definitely another one of my favorite games from around that time… maybe I’ll replay that :D
Twilight Princess (and Majoras Mask too) always stayed my favorite Zelda game and I‘m happy to see so much tp content recently. It would be nice if Nintendo would go back into that direction for the next Zelda game
I would argue that TotK indeed has Dungeon Items in form of the sage abilities. Though technically not items, they serve almost the same role, beeing keys for most of the puzzles in the corresponding dungeon. The only difference is that you obtain them directl at the beginning instead of in the middle.
Except they're only used as dungeon items within the dungeons, and as basic switches with no real complexity. The runes are closer to the Is actual items of older games, But it's completely useless when you get all of them at the beginning of the game. There's no growth. Even if you get more stats as the game progresses, you're still basically starting out as a god, not a growing hero.
@@amandaslough125 "only useful in a specific dungeon and then a basic switch with no real complexity" is also a good description for ~80% of all dungeon items.
Considering that Bow and Bombs are independent from dungeons in BotW/TotK, which I think should definetly stay especially if the dungeon can be completed in any order, the only really interesting item I can think of is the Hookshot. Which to be fair can make its return. Or the Elemental Arrows in MM, but they are represented through the various elemental fruits.
If you want another zelda game where the sidekick completely earns their relationship with link and has their own character arc and growth, play spirit tracks
As a matter of fact, I have played Spirit Tracks. And I do like the relationship that Link and Zelda have in that game. Unfortunately, I really didn't like the gameplay and level design of Spirit Tracks, and I gave up on it about an hour and a half in.
I still own it, though, so maybe this is a good time to go back and give it another chance.
They're definitely controversial entries lmao, but I personally enjoy them. (Definitely biased though, my first console was the phantom hourglass ds lite).
Of the pair, ST definitely has the better dungeons, though PH has the better overworld in my opinion (hot take, PH's great sea has more consistently meaningful stuff to do vs wind waker).
If you have the time though I do recommend trying again! They're not a modern 3D zelda but if you meet them where they're at they have a lot of charm :)
@@cinnamonnoir2487
10:24 i dont know how true this claim is. i think in ocarina of time link was the only forest child WITHOUT a fairy because he's not kokiri but instead a hylian and had ganondorf never began his pursuit of evil he wouldve never got a fairy.
This dude been making proper edited videos for like 5 years and only now one pops off lmao
Eh, I dunno, it kind of depends on how you define "proper". Technically my videos are more like glorified PowerPoint presentations.
But I appreciate the compliment. Thanks for watching.
Subbed bro
TP did for me as an adult what OoT did for me as a kid. Both came out at the perfect time in my life and i love them both equaly. Great time for videogames in general.
Really glad i got to experience how phenomenal Zelda games were from 1998 - 2006. Skyward Sword and BotW/TotK are good but not worth playing a second time in my opinion. Twilight Princess gets shit on alot and i don't know why. it's truly the best in many ways.
Skyward sword is one of the worst Zelda games imo, the sky could have been great but it’s absolutely barren and the imprisoned fight(s) are the worst in zelda’s history (imo) SS did have a few really good dungeons though, the great cistern is one of my favourites in the entire series…shame it’s in the worst 3D zelda game
@leonc9760 That's what I thought about Skyward Sword until I bought it for switch. They did fix a few things, and my opinion about the game went from bad to mixed. It's definitely not a masterpiece, but it's not a bad game. My opinion respectively stands with OoT, MM, WW and TP being the best zeldas of all time.
Fantastic topic, thank you
Twilight Princess was my first 3D Zelda, so I will always have a soft spot for it, and I love the music. My first Zelda is Link's Awakening which is funny because Zelda's not in that one.
Another aspect of the Alternate Forms is that of the world rather than of Link.
Twilight Princess has both, but many games don't have an alternate link, whereas almost every game has an alternate world.
In fact, the concept of an Underworld as large as the Overworld is part of what defined the very first zelda game to begin with.
Breath of the Wild doesn't have this, but Tears of the Kingdom has two of them, so I guess that makes up for it?
(That said, TotK could use more sky islands. They are hella fun but there aren't nearly enough of them)
At one point A Link to the past was the definitive Zelda. Then Ocarina was. Now, it's Wild. Skyward Sword HD reintroduce me to the concept of linear Zelda's and going back and playing Twilight Princess on GameCube has made me start craving the game on switch.
I replay them every year around Christmas lol 21:39
The Link from Twilight Princess is probably the one who has the most personality and is the most badass of all, it's simple there is no fear in his eyes and in reality that's the image that I have. always made of Zelda heroes in my head unlike the one of the last opuses who smiles like an idiot all the time and who is treated like shit by the most unbearable of all the princesses of the saga.
PS: What the heck is wrong with this nose bro? 😂
Do you know what TP didnt have that other Zeldas have? Not lineal dungeons.
At this point with zelda as it is, the story and major dungeons ARE the side content. And the side content is literally almost the entire game. But it all still feels like side content.
Good video. Please do other zelda titles.
Totk and botw are great games, but ngl sometimes after multiple play throughs of both games they some times didn’t feel like zelda games, like where the heck are the traditional dungeons and the cool items og zelda had. The story is also a problem since the games are too open so you can accidentally do things out of order, in totk I was able to get a sage who you’re supposed to get later in the game, earlier and that made the rest of the game’s story feel wonky. The totk bosses are too freaking easy and have simple patterns unlike botw’s blights which where awesome to fight sucked that they looked the same though not to mention how of a pain in the rear totk is to 100%. This two are going to be the last zelda games nintendo mess with dungeons if they keep giving us this crappy dungeons I fear zelda might be headed in a dark place.
Twilight Princess is my favorite!
I loved Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time based Zelda games all together.
That is where Majora's Mask came from so everything that was based around the Ocarina of Time lore is a major part of Zelda series for me.
Cool Video.
I remember watching one of your earlier videos criticizing Matthewmatosis on BotW. I like this type of video much, much better! You mainly focused on the positives of Tp which is great! You really hit on all of the points on why some of common criticisms of Tp don't necessarily hold up. Good video!
Sad that the Zelda Team is sticking with the current Direction of the series. Also annoyed that Tears of the Kingdom didn't give us no DLC Shrines so we could finally Max Out BOTH Health and Stamina. It is my main gripe with the current series aside from the Weapon Durability System. I LOVED Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess and Wind Waker due to the Gameplay, Story and Soundtrack. I LOVED Skyward Sword HD as it felt much better to play than the Original. Sad that Wind Waker HD made the Second Playthrough into a Hard Mode. As Games go BOTW and TOTK were fun but there were plenty of things that annoyed me about them. As ZELDA games go they were "meh".
I think that Eind Waker Link was supposed to be 17ish, since he looked pretty much exactly like the statue of the Hero of Time and, IIRC, his outfit was given to him when he turned the same age as the Hero of Time, and in the adilt timeline Link only became known as the Hero of Time rather than since random fairy boy who vanished for seven years in his seventeen year old body.
He's 12. He's supposed to be the age the hero came of age. You can argue why you'd think the 17 range, but they originally were thinking of having Link physically stretch to "grow older" over the course of the adventure. So they pictured regular Toon Link at 12ish.
This game I love more than BOTW or TOTK👍
I guess it’s ironic then that tears of the kingdom and twilight princess are my two favorite games in the franchise 😂
It's a little unusual, perhaps, but I can kind of see it. They're both among the darker entries in the series in terms of tone.
Okay, I can see the point you made about the dungeons in games before Twilight Princess not being very organic in their respective games; I guess I've watched so many videos about people discussing these dungeons that it doesn't bother me anymore. The Swamp Temple in Majora's Mask is connected to the Deku (statues of the king in the 3DS version for example) but what they were worshipping isn't really known. It could've been the Giant Odolwa eventually imprisoned, but that's not confirmed or anything. The Snowhead Temple is the most pointless in the world itself. The Great Bay Temple was actually the water purification for the whole Great Bay area, so that's why it's so important to that region! And the Stone Tower Temple is the source of the undead in the Ikana Valley; something powerful and (perhaps) evil had to be stored and protected there, in my opinion. If Majora's Mask was sealed somewhere in Termina, my best guess would be that the ancient tribe sealed it in the Stone Tower Temple. But again, none of this is really explored or explained in game.
On another note, one of my favorite Zelda TH-camrs Zeltik created a theory video exploring Ocarina of Time's Forest Temple and what it was used for. It's an amazing video that I highly recommend, but the conclusion is that it was once an entry into the Sacred Realm before Rauru sealed all other entrances aside from the Temple of Time.
Unlike a lot of other people, I loved playing as Wolf Link in Twilight Princess. It made me empathize with Link even more; he would've been struggling more than we were, right? Not to mention the emotional hurt of being a wolf. While in wolf form, regular Hylians either scream/run away or try to attack him... including the villagers of Ordon. These people Link grew up with and has been worried sick about view him as a monster. The closest thing the Hero of Twilight has to a father figure, Rusl, literally tries to kill him. Midna treats him as a servant at first, an object to achieve her own goals, and Link has no other choice. He depends on her help because there is no one else. Whether as a Hylian or a wolf, Midna is one of very few people who truly understands the true scope of their situation. I really don't like to think about what Link's mental state must've been like after the game ended. I just wanted to give Wolf Link a hug and say, "You aren't a monster, you aren't a bloodthirsty beast. You are the best boy ever!"
If I had tried to write a Zelda video essay, it would’ve been exactly this video except way more rambly, a lot more poorly-written, and not nearly as effective
Hey, you never know until you try. When I started doing stuff like this, most people said it sucked. You should try making videos too; it's fun.
I've been saying Twilight Princess is PEAK Zelda since 2006 but y'all honestly went *Laalaalaalaa!"*