Zelda: Twilight Princes - 100+ Hours of Gameplay?

[bapenguin]

According to Aussie-Nintendo.com (http://www.aussie-nintendo.com/full.php?subaction=showfull&id=1132194566&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&), the new Zelda title coming for the Gamecube will feature over 100 hours of gameplay including sidequests.

It's great that the game will have so much content. There's a good thread (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7145) going on in our forum regarding game length and Quake 4. Some people like it short...some people like it long...others....they like it just right (whatever that is).

Thanks Joystiq (http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000910068425/)

[fitbabits]

I simply don't have the time or patience to sit through 100+ hours of gameplay. Give me 10 or 15 hours of fantastic gameplay over 100+ hours of boring and repetitive gameplay any day.

[BleedTheFreak]

I simply don't have the time or patience to sit through 100+ hours of gameplay. Give me 10 or 15 hours of fantastic gameplay over 100+ hours of boring and repetative gameplay any day.


What if it's 100+ hours of fantastic gameplay? You wouldn't want to play it for a while just to experience it, until you got tired of the over-stimulation? Just curious. 100 hours is way to much for me as well, but maybe the main quest will only be a more work-able 35-45 hours, like any good RPG/Adventure game should be.

The suck is this will be out right around Oblivion. Craptastic.

[Worldcrafter]

I like long games, if they have a good reason for being long. FEAR was short, but that's okay because it didn't need to be any longer. Morrowind is long, but that's okay because there is so much to explore. I would prefer a Zelda title be longer because they always include so many things to do, and places to explore.

[Kefkataran]

That, uh, "news story" you linked to about Zelda having 100+ hours... I'm not so sure I trust that. It seems a little strange that they're reporting on a story from a Japanese site that they do not link to or even name.

Me? I'm with Fit mostly. I just don't have the time for uber-long games. But the truth is, if a game is insanely long and still tons of fun to play the whole time, I'll probably go through it... will just take me a lot longer. The longer a title is, though, the more likely it is that I'll end up getting bored and moving on before the end.

[fitbabits]

What if it's 100+ hours of fantastic gameplay? You wouldn't want to play it for a while just to experience it, until you got tired of the over-stimulation? Just curious. 100 hours is way to much for me as well, but maybe the main quest will only be a more work-able 35-45 hours, like any good RPG/Adventure game should be.

The suck is this will be out right around Oblivion. Craptastic.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I would love to play a game with 100+ hours of fantastic gameplay. Whether I would ever finish it is debatable. And that's the bummer - I don't want to have to wade through 100+ hours of gameplay to get to experience all a game had to offer.

[Xerxes]

I mean by the 90 hour, my character would have to be damn near godlike by then with new amazing armor, weapons, and powers. Plus of tons of animations so I don't feel like I'm doing the same damn thing over and over and over again.

[Morratut]

Lets hope 70 hours of it isn't endless searches finding different bits of Triforce :(

[phantomhitman]

by the 60th hours i will realize i didnt level up like i was suppose to, didnt do the super secret sidequest in cityville, so I didnt end up with the megafuck sword, so now i cannot beat a mutant chicken that has a key to fight the final boss.

i always end up skipping, or just missing, the side quests. however, i have always liked zelda games and i am sure there will be some fun side quests and mini games.

[ben_bot]

Well, after playing MMOs, 100 hours of gametime is nothing. On my main character in WoW, I have about 42days play time invested. So bring it on Big N!

[Savok]

Man, now this is just fucking special, bitching about a game having too much content, come the fuck on. Besides, these are always gross exagerations, I expect a solid 30 hours tops.

[automaton]

As long as it isn't 15 hours of main game and 85 hours of Tingle quests, trophy collecting, and map making that results in a chest of 100 rupies like Wind Waker. I loved the main quest, but it was too short. The side quest stuff was complete bullshit.

More dungeons please!

[TrackZero]

I simply don't have the time or patience to sit through 100+ hours of gameplay. Give me 10 or 15 hours of fantastic gameplay over 100+ hours of boring and repetitive gameplay any day.

Agreed. I just really hope that most of that is optional sidequests, I don't mind having that content available, so long as I'm not forced to do it to "beat" the game.

[MaiXu]

That, uh, "news story" you linked to about Zelda having 100+ hours... I'm not so sure I trust that. It seems a little strange that they're reporting on a story from a Japanese site that they do not link to or even name.

Me? I'm with Fit mostly. I just don't have the time for uber-long games. But the truth is, if a game is insanely long and still tons of fun to play the whole time, I'll probably go through it... will just take me a lot longer. The longer a title is, though, the more likely it is that I'll end up getting bored and moving on before the end.

I'm with you on calling shenanigans on that "news" story. It reeks of a fanboy who just learned about Frontpage posting his own AOL website or something. When the “writer” adds this little nugget as fact – that the new Zelda will “supposedly [be] the new benchmark for the Zelda series” – well, all I can say is, that’s some brilliant “reporting.”

Nintendo, in my opinion, can make the best games out there. (That is, when they're trying to make amazing games. A lot of their DS and GBA stuff smacks of cash-in novelty, but I digress). But even they know it’s difficult to make a great game great going on 50 hours. I hope TP is nice, long, and fun, and more in the vein of Ocarina of Time than Wind Waker, but I don't think I even want a 100+ hour long Zelda.

[Kefkataran]

by the 60th hours i will realize i didnt level up like i was suppose to

No levelling up in Zelda games, silly. So no worry.

Besides, these are always gross exagerations, I expect a solid 30 hours tops.

That's a good point that no one's said yet. Even if this story is really from Nintendo in some roundabout way, it's almost definitely an exageration.

More dungeons please!

Lucky us, Nintendo has said this game will have more dungeons than even Ocarina had. Woo!

that the new Zelda will “supposedly [be] the new benchmark for the Zelda series” – well, all I can say is, that’s some brilliant “reporting.”

That's why the guys over at Aussie-Nintendo.com are obviously getting paid the big bucks. That shit is hard-hitting.

[crashedout]

AS long as you can save easily I am on board for 100hrs but sounds like it is a little high. 40-50 sounds right to me.

[Everlost_MI]

Well at least with a 100+ game, my 'cube will get some serious use. The last time I turned it on was for RE:4.

[MosBen]

I immediately think of the making of movie for Halo 1 where they talked about having your 30 seconds of gameplay that you then stretch out over the span of a whole game. Sure, maybe that's a little short and maybe it doesn't apply quite as heavily to RPGs as action games, but I just don't know if there's a single type of gameplay that can maintain my interest for 100+ hours. I find that with most long games the majority of all that extra gameplay is filler, fetch quests and such, that don't really add much to the game; they're just there to get that hour total up. If a game actually managed to incorporate enough variety to make it interesting over 100+ hours I think the company would certainly be better off, and I think game players as well, just releasing it as two games.

[Goronmon]

Man, now this is just fucking special, bitching about a game having too much content, come the fuck on. Besides, these are always gross exagerations, I expect a solid 30 hours tops.
QFT.

Questionable sources aside, you guys are shitty gamers. It just goes to show you how lazy our society is getting when people even want their video games to be less time-consuming. :p

[Rommel]

For MMOs - limitless.
For RPGs - 40-50 hours
For FPS - 20-30 hours
For Side Scrollers - 5 hours
For 3rd Person Action/Adventure - 10-15 hours
For Fighting Games - Try and make the tournament last longer than five minutes, excluding transitional screens.

A big no-no for me is when a title is really short to play through, and easy, yet there is extra content. If the extra content results in different endings or storylines that is fine, but collecting stars that have no reward value other than to say you did it is tedious. What is worse is when the additional content is in the form of difficulty levels. I am an adult now. I do not want to replay the same game three times over so I have a chance to play a mode where only two full clips of shotgun blasts directly to the lower spine weak point can kill even the meat and potatoes enemies. I play games to experience the gameplay.

Edit:

It just goes to show you how lazy our society is getting when people even want their video games to be less time-consuming.

There are only twenty-four hours in a day. Remove 8 to 12 hours for sleep, and another 8 for whatever work or school your life consists of. That leaves 8 hours for gaming, family and social life. Assuming a very generous 4 hours of gaming each day, you would have to play every day for 25 days in a row to complete that much content. I myself have been able to do such because I got my girlfriend to play WoW with me, which has been an entirely different headache in and of itself.

This is why I am a proponent of streamlining usability in a game. I want to be able to experience more gameplay, less tedium in my gaming. If that means strapping a mailbox and auction house display (The Gnomish Communicator XD111983 Pro Mrk II~!) to my Rogue - so be it. I would rather sacrifice some immersion for ease of use.

But no, I will not buy a Mac. Bitch.

[superherotaco]

QFT.

Questionable sources aside, you guys are shitty gamers. It just goes to show you how lazy our society is getting when people even want their video games to be less time-consuming. :p

It's not that we're lazy, it's that we want something solid and fun, not something that might start out great, meander in the midde and end fantastically.

I mean apply that mentality to a movie, too much exposition and detail, even if it is great, can get long and boring. The family guy movie is a good example, I like family guy, but by the end, and hour and a half of family guy is just too much family guy.

[agentgray]

60 hours of unskippable cinematics and 40 hours of gametime.

I can't stand it when I start a game and have to watch 20 minutes of a movie I cannot skip.

[The Iron Weasel]

Didn't Miyomoto say that games are getting to long? If so, this is hella ironic.

[TrackZero]

QFT.

Questionable sources aside, you guys are shitty gamers. It just goes to show you how lazy our society is getting when people even want their video games to be less time-consuming. :p

Excuse me? We have fucking jobs and lives to live. We aren't all in high school/college anymore and can afford to piss away our time. Try considering that maybe you've just got too much free time to waste.

[Venkman]

What if it's 100+ hours of fantastic gameplay?

That ain't gonna happen.

Anyone like all the ridiculous sailing in windwaker? Kill me now!

[Kelegacy]

I simply don't have the time or patience to sit through 100+ hours of gameplay. Give me 10 or 15 hours of fantastic gameplay over 100+ hours of boring and repetitive gameplay any day.
Zelda? Boring gameplay? I'll take 100 hours, please and thank ya.

10-15 hour games should be reserved for FPS's, not RPG's, adventures, and other in depth genres. I'm goddamn sick of short games.

[trip1eX]

WEll Windwaker could probably be a 50hr plus game if you wanted it to be. If you thorougly explored the whole world and did all the extra little stuff in the game.

This is probably where the 100 hrs of the new one is coming from.

[Stormwatcher]

It's Zelda. I want it to be as long as possible.
And BG2 was like 300hs of excelent gameplay. I miss it a lot.

[puglas]

First of all, I highly doubt any Zelda game will top 100 hours.

Second, let me ask everyone: How Long did other Zelda games take you?

I would guess around 15 hours or so for Ocarina, Wind Waker, and A Link to the Past. A lot less for Zelda I and II. I never played the gameboy games.

Do you really think Nintendo could fill a game with 7 times the content of Wind Waker? Seems doubtful to me.

Would you WANT to play the same adventure game for 7 times as long? How many Boxes does one man/elf need to push. Honestly. Would you want to play Shadow of the Colossus with 100 Bosses? It would certaintly cheapen the experience for me by the 10th times I killed the same boss except that he is holding a sword instead of a mace this time.

My main point is this: I highly doubt any adventure game could ever hold my interest for 100 hours. Thats around a month of dedicated game time for me. Give me a solid 15 hour experience over a stretched out 100 hour adventure anyday.

[endrom]

As long as its fun, and not just retarted delivery missions im happy.

[Captain Awesome]

Hell yeah, just as long the long hours are justified.


BRING IT ON!!!

[Magnanimous Gnome]

60 hours of unskippable cinematics and 40 hours of gametime.

I can't stand it when I start a game and have to watch 20 minutes of a movie I cannot skip.


This is Zelda. That's not going to happen. The same message goes to the guy who complained about getting 60 hours in and realizing that he had leveled up incorrectly.

Zelda != Final Fantasy

There is no way that a Zelda quest is going to take 100 hours. It just won't happen guys. Morrowind maybe, Zelda no. Nintendo isn't going to spend five years making this game. I'm putting my money on a tight 20 or so hour quest, just like the other games. Miyamoto has also said that he regrets putting in the Triforce quest in Wind Waker, so none of that going on here either, although I somewhat enjoyed it, at least for a while.

Of course if you gather every item and explore every nook and cranny it is going to take longer than 20 hours. Gathering every little statue in Wind Waker would take forever.

[MajSheppard]

Morons should make it for the Revolution.

[omnithrope]

I simply don't have the time or patience to sit through 100+ hours of gameplay. Give me 10 or 15 hours of fantastic gameplay over 100+ hours of boring and repetitive gameplay any day.

Not me, man. The more the better!

[fitbabits]

Morons should make it for the Revolution.
But can you imagine 100+ hours of waving the Revolution controller in the air (like you just don't care)?

[omnithrope]

Excuse me? We have fucking jobs and lives to live. We aren't all in high school/college anymore and can afford to piss away our time. Try considering that maybe you've just got too much free time to waste.

Uh, have you thought that, instead of assuming people play for longer periods in one sitting, that they just take longer to complete the game?

My wife and I played Wind Waker together, and we spent an hour or two a night for quite a few weeks.

That play model suits me just fine. Why play multiple games for a total of 100 hours when you can play just one? Why is that bad?

[gsmith]

I usually find that I finish games in 1/3 or 1/2 of the time that I'm promised it will take. Thus, I'm expecting 30-50 hours of gameplay from this new Zelda game, which is on the high end but not too unusual for an RPG.

I guess they include the "spend hours and hours going back through the game to get all the items you missed" in these estimates. This isn't something that I personally do.

Some RPGs will say on the box how many hours they expect it'll take you, might be interesting to compare those to the saved games on your memory card.

[bardockkun]

Why the hell does everyone keep comparing this to Windwaker? Miyamoto himself admited the triforce searching sidequest was tedious and he apologized, more reason he's shining up Twlight Princess so there will be no dull moments like that.

And youre not goddamn sailing for christs sake. Bitching about riding a horse is different from sailing a boat.

Also it's 100 hours...of ZELDA. I honestly people who act like theyve been scorned from the Zelda franchise because of Windwaker should just stop complaining. I have complete faith in this game in delivering what i want.

[AversionFX]

I wouldn't mind Twilight Princess being 100+ hours long unless the game was as tedious and boring as Wind Waker.

[Goronmon]

Geez, I just meant my comment as a tongue-in-cheek remark. Its just funny to hear people say that I game could be too long, when they would have just spent the time they saved with a shorter game playing a second game.

You people are too tense.. :p

[omnithrope]

Also it's 100 hours...of ZELDA. I honestly people who act like theyve been scorned from the Zelda franchise because of Windwaker should just stop complaining. I have complete faith in this game in delivering what i want.

Honestly, I thought Wind Waker was the best of the bunch, but that's just me.

[DaXIthR]

I'll admit that Wind Waker had more bad parts than any other Zelda title...

But if you've been gaming for longer than the current generation, you should know what it means every time a Zelda title is released.

Even in Wind Waker, the best parts were absolutely incredible.

I do everything there is to do in a Zelda game and enjoy it (apart from some side-quests in Wind Waker).

I expect something like 15 or so dungeons in this one. And all the minigames from hunting rare animals to target practice in the town shooting gallery.

And to the dumbass who says that a 100 hours of gameplay will simply require too many blocks to be pushed...STFU! It's a gameplay mechanic. It performs a specific function in a specific fiction. How many Goombas are you fucking required to stomp out? How many mindless, namesless soldiers are you required to gun down in a shooter?

[puglas]

To be fair,

This dumbass would like to point out in most shooters, you are not required to shoot nameless soldiers for 100 hours. Game makers know that 100 hours of the same task becomes tedious. Just because something is a game play mechanic doesn't mean I would still want to repeat the same action thousands of times to complete a 100 hour game.

Yes, obviously, if Nintendo can capture my imagination in someway that I get 100 hours of enjoyment for the same cost as a 15 hour game, I will choose the 100 hour game.

However, how many 100 hour action/adventure games have you played that relied on Single Player game play? Any game of that length is going to focus on Story, Multiplayer, or level treadmills to keep people interested.

[dr_wily]

For MMOs - limitless.
For RPGs - 40-50 hours
For FPS - 20-30 hours
For Side Scrollers - 5 hours
For 3rd Person Action/Adventure - 10-15 hours
For Fighting Games - Try and make the tournament last longer than five minutes, excluding transitional screens.



So me spending 30 hrs on paper mario 2 would make it a bad RPG?

I personally think the long time frame started small with Dragon warrior 3, then bloated to the bigtime when FF7 changed everything. All RPGs before that were like 10-20 hours long (consoleish, i dont know pc rpgs that well..)

I can do everything and win in FF2 in about 12 hours, and about 20 for FF3/chrono

-windwaker:20 hrs of sailing
-twilight: 80 hrs of horseback riding

[thecrazyd]

But can you imagine 100+ hours of waving the Revolution controller in the air (like you just don't care)?
Are you stupid? I generally don't take you for being stupid, but that is a very stupid thing to say.

[fitbabits]

Are you stupid? I generally don't take you for being stupid, but that is a very stupid thing to say.
I'm not stupid (at least I don't think I am). It was, however, a very intentionally stupid thing to say. Don't worry, I haven't lost all my senses.

[novicius]

I have *easily* punched through the 100-hour mark with Morrowind. Easy. Was barely getting my fix on at that point. :D

Not that I'm a Zelda fan, but if you are, if you love Zelda and being Link and doing Link-things, why not have 100+ hours of it? Why not have a world of it? Would you want an MMO of it -- your own, private MMO-esq game where you're not bothered by BudKing420?

Complaining about more content, sheeit -- I'm dead-serious when I say there are some lazy-ass-gamers on this board... :rolleyes:

[Kelegacy]

Excuse me? We have fucking jobs and lives to live. We aren't all in high school/college anymore and can afford to piss away our time. Try considering that maybe you've just got too much free time to waste.
But we still seem to find the time to come on Evil Avatar and run our sucks.

Dragon Quest VIII is 100 hours long. I work for a living, and only game on the weekends. Still, 100 hours of FUN intrigues me to no end. You could play an hour a day and savor the experience for 3 months, or you can have extended sessions. Long games are good for everyone. We don't have to beat them in one sitting. Stretch out that time over weeks and you'll get the most out of your money.

Beating Stubbs in one sitting made me ill.

[fitbabits]

Slightly off-topic...

How do you review a game with 100+ hours of gameplay? Do you play it for a while to get a feel for it then base your review on that, or do you work your way through the game and do everything you can before writing your review?

[thecrazyd]

I'm not stupid (at least I don't think I am). It was, however, a very intentionally stupid thing to say. Don't worry, I haven't lost all my senses.
Good... I was worried for a second there.

[askheaves]

I've got well over 100 hours into Virtua Tennis on my PSP...

[Zeal]

That, uh, "news story" you linked to about Zelda having 100+ hours... I'm not so sure I trust that. It seems a little strange that they're reporting on a story from a Japanese site that they do not link to or even name.

I agree. The news is starting to get sloppy around here.

Verify the sources before posting.

[Kelegacy]

Geez, I just meant my comment as a tongue-in-cheek remark. Its just funny to hear people say that I game could be too long, when they would have just spent the time they saved with a shorter game playing a second game.

You people are too tense.. :p
I know, it's messed up. People would rather buy and play 3 or 4 very short games instead of one long game.

Rationale = zilch.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Morons should make it for the Revolution.


Thus delaying it for probably another year? Keep in mind that making it an actual Revolution game would requiring redoing the whole interface. This is going to be the last shebang for the Gamecube. Mario will almost undoubtedly be the big Revolution launch title - they switched that game off the Cube quite some time ago.

Besides, there is already a Zelda in development for the Revolution.

Remember that Nintendo makes most of their money off of their first party titles - hence why they are always spaced out. Releasing Metroid, Mario, and Zelda all at the same time would actually hurt them much more than it would help.

[Kelegacy]

Slightly off-topic...

How do you review a game with 100+ hours of gameplay? Do you play it for a while to get a feel for it then base your review on that, or do you work your way through the game and do everything you can before writing your review?

1Up just reviewed Dragon Warrior VIII and it took the reviewer 90 hours to beat it. All of the other sites reviewed it too, so I'm guessing you just work your way through, occasionally stopping and writing a few things down that you notice good/bad about the game, and keep plugging away.

I'm hoping that people write their reviews AFTER beating the game. I'm sure there's some sort of NDA and/or the reviewers receive their copies very early in order to beat them by the release date. This would make sense because suddenly everyone throws up a review on the same day, after all having nearly the same amount of time to beat it and write up a review.

[Kelegacy]

Keep in mind that making it an actual Revolution game would requiring redoing the whole interface.

Nope. Remember, the Revolution supports Gamecube controllers. Same controls, same everything. Just on a new system.

It sure would sell the Rev to me at launch. So would FF12 for the PS3. The 360 launch has nothing I want to play (at least nothing I can't get on the other consoles and for 400 bucks cheaper). But those two games for their respective systems would sell me instantly.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

I guess they include the "spend hours and hours going back through the game to get all the items you missed" in these estimates. This isn't something that I personally do.

This really isn't much of a "problem" in the Zelda titles. Sure you can miss some of the heart pieces or a jar or something, but you are NEVER going to miss something necessary to the completion of the game. The Zelda titles are too tight for that - they are programmed to let you get the items about when you need them, so you will never miss anything important.

A lot of people on here seem to have Zelda mixed up with JRPGs or something. They are certainly not the same thing. There are not hours and hours of cinema in Zelda, you don't level up, you won't have to go back and get the item that lets you kill the lame end boss, etc.



Honestly, I thought Wind Waker was the best of the bunch, but that's just me.

I'm going to concur with this view. LTTP was great as well, and it is a close battle, but I'm going to have to give the win to Wind Waker. Maybe it's just because I played it most recently of them all. I just loved the style of it, and I though sailing was a blast. The characters were a lot of fun too - I really like Tingle, I think he's quite funny.

The Zelda series has a special place in my heart. It is one of the few game series that has ever affected me emotionally. I actually cried at the end of Link's Awakening. :o

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Nope. Remember, the Revolution supports Gamecube controllers. Same controls, same everything. Just on a new system.

It sure would sell the Rev to me at launch. So would FF12 for the PS3. The 360 launch has nothing I want to play (at least nothing I can't get on the other consoles and for 400 bucks cheaper). But those two games for their respective systems would sell me instantly.


I know it supports the GCN controller. Notice I said an "actual" Revolution game - as in one that uses the touted new interface system. I can't see Nintendo just porting it over to the Revolution and having it use the GCN controller. What would that really do besides a slight visual upgrade? People who want to play it on the Revolution certainly can, with the backwards compatibility. Maybe they will even tout that.

[Vileblitz]

The original Zelda was 12 hours of gameplay? I must getting senile. I thought that was for a Mario game? Or a time demo. Where the guy looks like the one from Rolling Thunder jumps across a pillared chasm, zig zags, does a 90 degree roll around a enemy, jumps over one "maybe" hitting it on the head for coolness, backflips up a hill and jumps threw a castle window.

Role Playing Games or Action RPG's should be difficult and time consuming. Interesting enough to want to explore the map and do the optional quests that futher inhance the story or gameplay. I think there should be a penalty for not doing them in where you have to level up more and buy more shit before you are strong enough to take on the later part of the game.. time demos notwithstanding. I dont mind cool near impossible leet stuff.

[bardockkun]

Honestly, I thought Wind Waker was the best of the bunch, but that's just me.
So did i honestly, but merely stating most of the complaints people had with it.

Also other websites say the 100+ hours consists of solving the main story, every event and solve every mystery.

[Player 1]

Didn't Miyomoto say that games are getting to long? If so, this is hella ironic.

Well spotted ;)

Not the first time Nintendo have blatantly contradicted themselves. I recall them slagging off the Sony and the PSP for 'diluting gaming systems by making them jack of all trades with movie and music playback' and then, a week later, announcing the MP3 and media addon for the DS.

Still, 100+ hours of block-pushing puzzles, lifting rocks and slashing at tall grass? I can barely contain my excitement.

[Kelegacy]

Well spotted ;)

Not the first time Nintendo have blatantly contradicted themselves. I recall them slagging off the Sony and the PSP for 'diluting gaming systems by making them jack of all trades with movie and music playback' and then, a week later, announcing the MP3 and media addon for the DS.

Still, 100+ hours of block-pushing puzzles, lifting rocks and slashing at tall grass? I can barely contain my excitement.
I'm curious as to what types of games you enjoy. I am guessing they don't require too much brain power, because you'd be shit out of luck otherwise.

[Player 1]

I enjoy all great games.

But Zelda's got a lot more competition than it used to. I was amazed when I saw the images of TTP. My heart leaped, it reminded me of the early Zelda tech demo at the GC's unveiling. (Although, I feel Windwaker's art style was a bold and brave step too).

You have no idea how disheartening it was to see, in that later video, Link, sliding a block around. It was then that I realised that I shouldn't expect too much from this. The nice thing about pessimism is that it's great when you're proved wrong.

Zeldas are great games - but I don't cloud my perceptions with romanticising about them. I take them for what they are and I put them amongst their peers. Yes. They have peers now - and, in a few cases, there's action adventure games that I'd consider to be as good as (if not better) than the 3D Zeldas.

Not for lack of trying, I have *never* got into the 3D ones. I adore the 2D Zeldas (including Minnish Cap) but I threw 20 hours at Ocarina of time *wanting* to get bitten by the Zelda bug. It never happened to me. We've all got games like that - the world loves them but it just doesn't happen with us. Heck, I hear of people that don't like Tetris. I'm sure they're only saying it for effect.

So, yeah, my personal opinion of 3D Zeldas is one where I shouldn't get excited. Of what I've seen of TTP I'm *really* not that excited. It looks lovely, but if it's more of the same (and everything suggests that it will be) then I probably won't enjoy it like I do the 2D Zeldas. I'll still end up buying it though..for some reason.

Now, if you want a great dungeon based action adventure then, by god, you have GOT to play DROD. The later designs in that game are a hundred times more cunning than anything I ever saw in Zelda.

No block pushing either.

[Goronmon]

What's DROD?

[Player 1]

It's fucking fantastic. You should play it.

Seriously.





Oh... ok. Me love you long time (http://www.drod.net)
I reccommend the free and extremely cunning DROD: Architects' Edition

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Well spotted ;)

Not the first time Nintendo have blatantly contradicted themselves. I recall them slagging off the Sony and the PSP for 'diluting gaming systems by making them jack of all trades with movie and music playback' and then, a week later, announcing the MP3 and media addon for the DS.

Still, 100+ hours of block-pushing puzzles, lifting rocks and slashing at tall grass? I can barely contain my excitement.


Okay, this is bordering on trolling. Nintendo themselves NEVER said the game would be over 100 hours. It's just more internet rumors, and we all know how true those turn out to be. Just another excuse for you to bash the company though, bravo. :rolleyes:

Your second paragraph is even more ridiculous. I could do that with ANY game. Damn, another Elder Scrolls? 100+ hours of looking at ugly characters, walking, and so-so combat? Why the hell did anyone like this game?

Another Castlevania? 20 hours of swishing a whip around like a nancy boy, listening to melodramatic "dialogue", and fighting demons again?

I could go on, but hopefully at least one or two people get the point. :p

[The Iron Weasel]

I still haven't beaten Wind Waker, I totally plan on it, but I just can't bring myself to play the game anymore. Its not because its too long or anything, I just don't get the urge to play it anymore.

[WileE.Coyte]

I can't believe their are so many complainers out there. Any Zelda game is a great addition to the cube, and if it really is 100 hrs that would be even sweeter. I must have put about that in playing the original Halo going through all the difficulty levels by myself and checking out some of the glitches. No Zelda title has disapointed me yet and only graphic snobs would say Wind Waker was a bad game, a little tiedious but still fun. I'm hoping for 100 + hrs of gameplay.

[Kelegacy]

I still haven't beaten Wind Waker, I totally plan on it, but I just can't bring myself to play the game anymore. Its not because its too long or anything, I just don't get the urge to play it anymore.

The sailing turned many people off. Think of it as a load screen, as you wait to get from island to island. It got on my nerves eventually, even with the warp wind song.

But the game was still great...if only you could get around all the repetetive sailing. After you've explored most of the world, the sailing loses its charm. It was a great tool to stumble upon islands almost Columbus-like, though.

[Savok]

That ain't gonna happen.

Anyone like all the ridiculous sailing in windwaker? Kill me now!
Oddly enough I did, I've always enjoyed travel in games, but I can see why so many folk hated it.

[gsmith]

This really isn't much of a "problem" in the Zelda titles. Sure you can miss some of the heart pieces or a jar or something, but you are NEVER going to miss something necessary to the completion of the game. The Zelda titles are too tight for that - they are programmed to let you get the items about when you need them, so you will never miss anything important.


My point was that these things that are not necessary to the completion of the game can still be counted into the estimated time the game takes to play, though many players don't go back and spend the time to get every heart piece.

[The Iron Weasel]

The sailing turned many people off. Think of it as a load screen, as you wait to get from island to island. It got on my nerves eventually, even with the warp wind song.

But the game was still great...if only you could get around all the repetetive sailing. After you've explored most of the world, the sailing loses its charm. It was a great tool to stumble upon islands almost Columbus-like, though.

I can't even remember what I'm soposed to be doing in the game anymore. I'm soposed to get some boots or something. No wait, I got the metal boots so I could get something, then I had to get something else after that. Jesus, I need to play that again. At least I don't have any games that I've never played like our good friend fitbabits.

[Montgomery_Python]

I'd rather have a game I could play for 1000 hours.

I'm always sad when I beat a good game before it really gets going. Hello, HL2.

[Player 1]

Okay, this is bordering on trolling. Nintendo themselves NEVER said the game would be over 100 hours.

No - but Evil Avatar are happy to reproduce that rumour so you should be equally happy to receive criticism of it. If I went to Nintendo and expressed my thoughts of a 100 hour Zelda then that would be inappropriate - I'm doing it at Evil Avatar - the place where the news story was reported.

I really fail to see why you should expect anything less and have asbolutely no sympathy for your apparent disdain of any level criticism. Perhaps if I just responded with "Zelda is teh ghey" you'd be happier?

Your second paragraph is even more ridiculous. I could do that with ANY game. Damn, another Elder Scrolls? 100+ hours of looking at ugly characters, walking, and so-so combat? Why the hell did anyone like this game?

Yes, you could. But any other games doesn't get instant fanboy ejaculation and cries of "Best game evar!!!" the moment it's mentioned. It's a counter reaction to the ridiculous reception and Zelda rumours get.

It's also been scientifically proven to be precisely 37.64% less ridiculous than your typical reception of any news with the word "Zelda" in it.

I could go on, but hopefully at least one or two people get the point. :p

So could I - and I expect I'll have to as I can guarantee that nearly everyone will do their utmost to avoid the point being made and attempt to distract the issue with and insult or two.


Still, if you love cunning dungeon design you'll be in heaven after you play DROD for an hour or so. Hmm. I might even start a thread on it so you can all thank me for bringing it to your attention..

[mister_slim]

I expect a 35-40 hour main quest and another twenty hours of side quests. I think Nintendo realizes this game can't have any filler.

[Savok]

If Zelda isn't the best of its kind, Player 1, then what is?

[Rirath]

Ya know, I'm getting tired of long games lately, but it's mainly because a whole lot of games just aren't worth more than 15-20 hours of my life. There's so many RPGs that just simply aren't worth their 40+ hour marks. There are a lot of games that while fun to play, I want them to be over quick enough that they don't wear out their welcome. It's one of the reasons I'm enjoying handheld gaming more and more lately.

But on the other hand, there are games that are more than worth a hundred hours. Zelda would be one of them. People, it's not like you have to beat it in a 3 day rental here. Play a little bit, over a long time. To me this topic sounds like the folks who complain about the LotR extended set being so long. LotR is a special case, it's an amazing set well worth the time, not some cheesy B movie.

Back in the days of NES when I had school and a bed time, I remember writing down the rental numbers on the Zelda NES cart, and hoping nobody erased my save before I next played. I remember leaving the NES on pause with the TV off for days to beat the various SMB games. It was all well worth it.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Yes, you could. But any other games doesn't get instant fanboy ejaculation and cries of "Best game evar!!!" the moment it's mentioned. It's a counter reaction to the ridiculous reception and Zelda rumours get.


Come on, are you serious? No other game gets people so excited? I must have dreamed up all those Halo, MGS, Half-Life, ICO, etc. threads then.

Zelda has many fervent followers, therefore it must be crap.

I did think that your colored text was cute though. #1 point for cleverness, -2 points for trying to make me like you. :p