Miyamoto Says Wind Waker Was Boring 143
Eurogamer has a talk with Shigeru Miyamoto, maker of the Legend of Zelda series, where he reveals frustrations with The Wind Waker. From the article: "At the end of the production we fought against the clock and there were parts that I was forced to approve even though it didn't feel complete...I apologise that we didn't fix the triforce hunt at the end of the game. It was slow and dull." Seems like designers slagging their old games is a growing trend.
Ironic that he forced it through production (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Ironic that he forced it through production (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Ironic that he forced it through production (Score:1)
When it comes out, and it will, see if it doesn't achieve great game status.
Better delayed a couple decades and have a great game than rush it and have a chunk of mediocriy, right?
Re:STUPID FUCKING JACKASS, SHUT UP (Score:2)
Re:Ironic that he forced it through production (Score:3, Insightful)
I was very disappointed, particul
Re:Ironic that he forced it through production (Score:3, Insightful)
The problems with Mario Sunshine came down to two things:
1) The various coin hunts made up something like 1/3 of the shines in the game.
2) By placing the game on a vacation island, they really limited what options they had for level design. The levels weren't nearly as varied as in Mario 64.
Re:Ironic that he forced it through production (Score:1)
I'm thinking of the supposedly 'bonus' levels, where the camera constantly moves around you in a largely uncontrollable way (usually in such a way you couldn't see what Mario was doing) and you are on a precarious moving platform trying to collect Shine's and avoid falling to your death in order to proc
Re:Ironic that he forced it through production (Score:2)
Re:Ironic that he forced it through production (Score:2)
Difficult jumping puzzles are a big part of the reason I play Mario games. It is good they were there. They should not merely be a "bonus". I bet you hate Mega Man too.
Deadlines? (Score:2)
Re:Deadlines? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's funny how when developers wait to get something right and people complain about it taking forever and then when they release it early people complain about patches and things not being finished.
Re:Deadlines? (Score:2)
Re:Deadlines? (Score:2)
People like to complain, and their complaints about how long a game is taking to develop only means that they really, really want to play it. All of these complaints are also fleeting, and will be conveniently forgotten if the game is good when it finally ends up in their hands. Is there still a public outcry
Re:Deadlines? (Score:3, Interesting)
Agreed (Score:1)
Re:Deadlines? (Score:2)
I wonder why the Metroid games never "took off" in Japan. They really are quite awesome.
Re:Deadlines? (Score:3, Interesting)
Sucking is the newest cool. (Score:1)
Re:Sucking is the newest cool. (Score:1)
* * brain assplodes * *
ah well, i'll just grow another one.
Actually (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Actually (Score:2)
Re:Actually (Score:2)
Everyone says the last fight and ending are meh, anyway ;D
Re:Actually (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Actually (Score:3, Informative)
Main Zelda story lines aren't a concern... (Score:4, Insightful)
I have to admit, I don't play the Zelda games for the storyline! What I love about the Zelda series is that there are so many side-quests to play with.
What I loved was all the little islands that each had something to do. I also loved the towns, where there were little side stories to get involved in. There were people in love, the shop keeper, the auction house, the schoolhouse, etc, etc. Despite the "boring" storyline near the end of the game, there was plenty to do - and almost all of it was carried out brilliantly.
This is why Majora's Mask is one of my favourite games ever. Despite the "weak" storyline, the sheer number of side quests made it an absolute blast to play. I worked 80% of my time to fill out my journal, especially figuring out the marriage side quest (which in itself could be a huge chunk of the game).
Re:Main Zelda story lines aren't a concern... (Score:3, Interesting)
My problems with Windwalker:
1)Too few dungeons. There were what, 3 or 4? 5?
2)The sea was too large, and the actual land too
Re:Main Zelda story lines aren't a concern... (Score:1)
Forsaken Fortress I*
Dragon Roost Cavern
Forbidden Woods
Tower of the the Gods
Forsaken Fortress II
Fire Mountain**
Ice Ring Isle**
Earth Temple
Wind Temple
Ganon's Tower
*no boss - but you were reclaiming your sword
**mini-dungeon - you need the items here
Re:Main Zelda story lines aren't a concern... (Score:2)
Re:Main Zelda story lines aren't a concern... (Score:1)
Re:Main Zelda story lines aren't a concern... (Score:2)
Re:Main Zelda story lines aren't a concern... (Score:4, Insightful)
From my viewpoint, as a person who does every and all side-quests, the sea was the best part. There were treasure chests the pull up from the bottom of the ocean. There were the phases of the moon to worry about, which spawned a ghost ship. There were TONS of treasure maps, enemy maps, island maps, etc. There were hints all over the land as to what you would find in the water - such as massive octorochs and ship battles.
If you're someone who only looks on land for the dungeons, then I can see your point. For someone like me, who explores every nook and cranny, this game was great for me.
Re:Main Zelda story lines aren't a concern... (Score:1)
Re:Main Zelda story lines aren't a concern... (Score:1)
Wind Waker's dungeons, by contrast, felt very linear and contrived to me. Take the last dungeon, for example. First you predictably fight every
Re:Main Zelda story lines aren't a concern... (Score:2)
Blah (Score:2)
Re:Blah (Score:1)
I've never even finished Ocarina of Time. I've never been beyond the Fire Temple. I just can't control Link quite right. Well-received as it was, I don't think the N64 was quite the right time to move Zelda into three dimensions.
Re:Blah (Score:2)
Re:Blah (Score:2)
What if they went further and made it with a grittier, more detailed style? Picture a bad-ass adult Link drawn with as much detail as a character from Akira or Ghost in the Shell. That would make my day.
It wasn't that bad (Score:2)
The important thing is that he's apparently learned from this so that it doesn't happen again. Considering that the Revolution (I think they decided to produce this for their next gen console instead of the GameCube, or at least it seems possible [wikipedia.org]) probably won't be released until around this time nex
Re:It wasn't that bad (Score:2)
Re:It wasn't that bad (Score:2)
This Always Happens (Score:3, Interesting)
In the past there have been countless things that I would have loved to have coded into game X but just didn't have time. From the publisher's point of view: Adding this neat little feature isn't going to sell any more copies, so just fix these crash bugs and let's ship it. The bigger the publisher the worse you see this. Sad but true.
Also I agree that Windwaker was boring. It got cut a lot of slack just because it was a Zelda game. Anytime I actually put down the controller to wait for my guy to get where he's going in a game is a bad sign. The dungeons were cool in Windwaker, but the rest of the game was dull.
All the little sidequests I found resulted in more and more rupees. My bag was always maxed out and I had no idea what to spend them on anyways. Wow a 500 rupee reward! Sounds great right? Well I get 0 of those because my bag is already full.
The actual dungeons were fun enough, I really wish there were more of them. The sailing was incredibly tedious and the triforce quest was the most tedious task I've had in a game for quite some while.
Hopefully Twilight Princess is more focused than Windwaker was.
Re:This Always Happens (Score:2, Interesting)
It was cut some slack because it was a Zelda game? I think it's just the opposite, it was scrutinized more because it was a Zelda game, it had a standard to live up that was set by what many consider the best games there are. If Wind Waker had been released by a different developer and without the Zelda property, it would've been hailed as a masterpiece. But because it was a Nintendo game, and especially bec
Re:This Always Happens (Score:2)
Not my biggest complaint. (Score:1)
Re:Not my biggest complaint. (Score:2)
Neither did I, but the Triforce hunt that most of us outside Japan saw isn't the way it was in the Japanese version. I've heard that there were twenty-some-odd pieces to find before it was changed for the North American and subsequent versions.
Slagging??? (Score:1, Informative)
1 entry found for slagging.
slag n.
1. The vitreous mass left as a residue by the smelting of metallic ore.
2. See scoria.
tr. & intr.v. slagged, slagging, slags
To change into or form slag.
Re:Slagging??? (Score:2)
Yeah (Score:1)
I hope Twilight Princess has lots of big dungeons. The dungeons are the best part of Zelda games.
Sooo boring... (Score:3, Insightful)
He's right, but it goes beyond Wind Waker (Score:5, Insightful)
As for the trend of developers trashing on their old games, I'm just glad that developers are finally realizing that many of the games in the recent past have been complete shit. The Wind Waker is probably my favorite 3rd person 3D game to ever be created - yet, I agree that it gets insanely dull. I've been itching for a new game or two, as I haven't bought any in quite some time, but I can't find a single game for any of the three consoles that I really want to play. Virtually all 3D games are the same - you run, you jump, you fight, and you collect cleverly hidden things that let you advance. About 90% of the games that have come out on consoles in the past several years are damned Tomb Raider clones, and I didn't like that game to begin with.
What am I playing to get my gaming fix? Currently, I'm playing Super Mario All-Stars, Super Metriod, and Zelda III: A Link to the Past. All are about 10-years old, all are completely dated in terms of graphics and gameplay, and I've beaten all of them several times. Yet, these games are far more fun, and far more interesting, than any of the garbage gaming companies are spewing out today.
Nintendo's money-makers have been Mario, Zelda, and Metroid - their 3D counterparts have not impressed me in the slightest. Mario and Zelda fit the run, jump, and fight cookie-cutter 3rd person game, and Metriod is now Yet Another First Person Shooter(tm). The rise of 3D graphics has basically taken all creativity out of gameplay - you have a 3D world, you do stuff in it. Without any limitations, all of the games kind of blend together... and, well, they pretty much all suck.
If Nintendo made modern games based on their old 2D counterparts, they'd probably be the #1 console within a year. Just imagine a side-scrolling Metriod with modern graphics, and absolutely huge worlds to explore. Or, a Mario game or Zelda game along the same lines. Sounds good, doesn't it? Right now, Nintando is struggling to produce more 3D crap to compete with the rest of the 3D crap... I wish they would wake up, and make the games that made Nintendo the best.
Re:He's right, but it goes beyond Wind Waker (Score:1)
Re:He's right, but it goes beyond Wind Waker (Score:1)
The best RPGs I have played recently were Golden Sun 1 and Golden Sun 2, the restrictions of the GBA are a blessing and gave us those gorgeous cla
Re:He's right, but it goes beyond Wind Waker (Score:2)
Why aren't you playing Game Boy Advance? (Score:5, Insightful)
I completely disagree with your trashing of all 3d games. Mario 64 and the two Zelda games on the N64 stand as three of the best games of all time, an opinion I share with a great majority of the gaming community. To claim that these games are all just clones of Tomb Raider is... just inconcievable.
You're about seven years too late to start complaining about the ubiquity of 3d games.
Re:Why aren't you playing Game Boy Advance? (Score:4, Interesting)
Same thing for Metroid Prime. I'm a huge fan of the original 2d metroid games, and MP completely and utterly nails the feel of those games. It's an incredible game (MP2 is great as well), and more than worthy as the current bearer of the metroid standard.
To claim that it's "just another FPS" is simply bizarre.
Re:Why aren't you playing Game Boy Advance? (Score:2)
Metroid Prime was, to me, nothing more than Turok with space pirates instead of Dinosaurs.
Ocarina of Time gets ranked #1 all the time (Score:2)
Ironically, Ocarina of Time gets consistently ranked at #1 or thereabouts precisely because it wasn't a "generic 3D world" experience of the sort you're bemoaning. That game's not graphically amazing, and wasn't when it was released. It's just got years worth of deep, rich gameplay, period. The thing is chock-a-block full of quality experience. My daughter
Re:He's right, but it goes beyond Wind Waker (Score:2)
And exactly, how is this different from the standard 2d "run, jump, and fight cookie-cutter" games? Technically, both generes change it up a bit occasioanlly, the fighting changes the way it's done, or the character uses a bionic arm insted of jumping, but it's really stil the same thing. When you get right down to it, there aren't that many different things you can actually do in a game. It's all once form, or another, of:
Re:He's right, but it goes beyond Wind Waker (Score:1)
You're right; it is. Probably even moreso, since there's no real "fighting", just running and jumping. (Super Mario All-Stars is a compilation of the first three NES Mario games, by the way.)
I agree with you completely; sticking to that mold doesn't make it a bad game, as the GP implied. Like you said, nearly eve
Re:He's right, but it goes beyond Wind Waker (Score:1)
Re:He's right, but it goes beyond Wind Waker (Score:1)
The end of The Wind Waker was boring as all hell - I stopped playing halfway through the triforce hunt, and haven't picked it up since. That's unfortunate, because the game was quite excellent.
You didn't miss much. All you do after the triforce hunt is fight a dozen weak enemies, the same 4 dungeon bosses, and then the easiest, weakest, most pathetic Ganon yet. I got so tired of collection those miserable pieces of heart that after 12 heart containers I said, "Screw this crap, I'm just going to beat the d
Re:He's right, but it goes beyond Wind Waker (Score:1)
Re:He's right, but it goes beyond Wind Waker (Score:2)
If you're going to try and insult someone based on their words, you should make an effort to understand those words first. The word appreciate is not synonymous with the word experience. I can experience something without apppreciating it, just as the person you quoted can play a game without liking it.
Try replacing appreciate with enjoy or like (which are closer to it in meaning) in the sentence you quoted a
Let me skip cut scenes (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Let me skip cut scenes (Score:1)
CHALLENGE EVERYTHING!!!
Slashdot.org
Digital Vomit Studios
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I'm sick of the unskippable video clips at the beginning of games, too.
Re:Let me skip cut scenes (Score:2)
Re:Let me skip cut scenes (Score:2)
Re:Let me skip cut scenes (Score:2)
Re:Let me skip cut scenes (Score:1)
Re:Let me skip cut scenes (Score:2)
Prime 1 on the other hand, just had a bunch of needlessly unskippable cutscenes. In Wind Waker you can't skip anything... which is my biggest complaint about the game, or just about any game that pulls that crap.
Re:Let me skip cut scenes (Score:2)
Re:Let me skip cut scenes (Score:2)
The higher the pedistal, the harder the fall. (Score:1)
I hope Blizz will confess to the same thing about WoW once its expansion is released.
I think this happens to most large video game companies with popular products. They have a reputation to live up to. The small ones, on the other hand, have a smaller mouth to feed and won't hear much gripe if their games are delayed. One exception is ValvE, they delayed
Re:The higher the pedistal, the harder the fall. (Score:2)
Still one of the top games of the year... (Score:3, Informative)
Don't believe me? Read the reviews from Metacritic. [metacritic.com]
Zelda Games (Score:1)
Are you sure? (Score:1)
Re:Zelda Games (Score:2)
But (Score:1)
Bad Games can sink you (Score:1)
Hmmmm (Score:1)
It's hard to tell who to balme nowadays, the Dev or the publisher.
Too hard on himself (Score:1)
I'll accept the apology for the triforce treasure hunt though. *yawn*. And to tell the truth some of those side-islands could have been a little more involving. And do
Um, damn right! (Score:1)
Wind Walker should have been called Zelda: FedEx! I mean all you did was sail back and forth getting this piece of something for someone in order to deliver something to someone else all in the effort to collect 8 of something else so that you can get something for yourself to fight the final boss!
Don't get me wrong, Wind Walker had a lot of novel and innovative ideas, but after about the 3rd cross world FedEx mission, it got a little dull quite quickly.
Re:Um, damn right! (Score:2)
Last good modern Zelda game was Ocarina of Time. Though I'll play Adventures of Link on NES 8-bit anyday over all of today's Zelda game.
Re:Um, damn right! (Score:2)
I'm tired of you Nintendo fanbois flip flopping this issue!
Re:Um, damn right! (Score:2)
The dull end as they call it (Score:1)
Am I the only one not pissed off? (Score:2)
I never understood the hype behind this game (Score:2, Interesting)
* Relatively few puzzles and easy boss fights marred the game. This is the biggest problem I had with WW. A game cannot be fun without being challenging.
* Sailing the ocean was enjoyable at first, but became tedious very quickly.
* The stealth bits in the game were just plain obnoxious.
* The swordsmaster minigame where you had to land one thousand hits was equally terrible.
Personally I liked the Ocarian of Time far more than this. Which
The new trend (Score:2)
Not dull. (Score:1)
Shorter worked for my daughter (Score:2)
I think the story was beyond her (especia
Re: (Score:1)
Oh really. (Score:1)
obligatory slashdot reply to an insertcredit link (Score:1)
I've read the first paragraph so far and I still have no idea what the writer is trying to say. I still have no idea what kind of game this game is supposed to be.
Where are the screenshots?
In closing, that site's layout fucking sucks. My eyes! My eyes are burning!!
I think its good (Score:1)
Next up: Derek Smart! Admit it you bastard!!!
Re:I think its good (Score:2)
Re:Marketing... (Score:3, Insightful)
Their track record re: LoZ looks good from where I'm standing.
Re:From TFA (Score:1)