A Link Between Worlds

This Monday I got the latest Legend of Zelda-game, A Link Between Worlds. Sort of a sequel to the SNES A Link to the Past. I finished it today with a playtime around 20 hours (it was like 18 hours) so it was like double as long as A Link to the Past. Was it fun? Yes, and nostalgic at the same time. If you played the first game you will instantly recognize most of the locations and a couple of the NPC's you run into since they are the spiritual reincarnations serving as the same quest or item givers, like he who was under the bridge and gives you a bottle or the shady looking runner in Kakoriko Village who in this version actually is a thief, but the counterpart from Lorule (the dark world equivalent in this game) having more in common with A Link to the Past shady guy. This recognition is both a blessing and a curse. Since I know the layout I never get lost and I know things someone completely new to the games wouldn't like the certain heart pieces sharing the same spot and how to get to. Then that knowledge can be deceiving as certain things have been mixed around and I guess due to just those reasons.

The story this time is that some villain is transforming the descendants of the sages into painting and it is your job to gather the three pendants in order to gain access to the Master Sword, the bane of Evil. Basically the same story as A Link to the Past. Then you face off with the villain and of course he drags you into Lorule where you have to free the seven sages and they will help you save Princess Zelda. Another difference, and I might add I really good one, is that they introduce the seven sages early so you know them and can recognize them in their painting form, making it a bit more personal when it's your friend and employers son, the witch that helped you and a miner who gave you the strength armlet than seven unknown female sages (as I believe the original had). The only inconsistency I can detect is that Zelda isn't one of the sages even though she was it both in A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. It's not impossible, it makes me wonder though.

Other things to mention is that the game is really easy, I had maybe three or four problems with puzzles and those things was just me rushing a bit too fast and not analysis the situation correctly. For example reaching the red mail chest in the final dungeon stumped me for a while, I knew it was the end of the game, I knew where the chest was, but I couldn't get to it... and I cheated there a bit and looked it up. Had I been observant I should have noted the dark shadows on the walls and realized I needed to extinguish the two flames to see an invisible railing to walk over too. I blame myself for that, but in an earlier example in the Dark Palace I can see the chest on the map, but how to get there, there seems to be no sign on what to do. The solution was placing a bomb on a switch opposite the wall, run back hit the switch that takes you to the wall and then the bomb goes off and the wall turns with you. You can't see that on the screen that they control each others wall and not just the elevator. That was a bit harder. Then we have the 100 challenge, get 100 of the items an NPC need and get rewards. I got to 97 and then stumped on the three last. I knew which areas and the game tells me that they cry if I'm near. These last three? One was in a mini-game area which was fair enough. The other two was in a cave and a hut. I was under the impression they only was out in the open so that threw me off. It didn't feel fair, but then again, did they say they weren't inside of caves and houses?

Lastly, the music. Mostly updated versions of the SNES soundtrack which I like and the intro sequence with the swirling triforce and the fanfare gives me nostalgic goosebumps. Sadly the dark world theme and the boss defeat track doesn't feel as powerful, and in the case of the boss defeat it's too short. They aren't bad, and when the final confrontation is upon us the dark world theme gets an orchestra punch to it. Who would mostly enjoy it? People like me I would guess who can see the call backs to the earlier games. Link is yet again a blacksmith apprentice, the thief girl utters the famous line of "it's a secret for everybody" and so on. In the end probably anyone would enjoy it so have a go at it if you want.

Phantasy Star

 

Played the classic RPG Phantasy Star for some time now, released in the amazing year of 1987 it was one of the earliest JRPG's to enter the western world. Funny enough it was one of the latest of the big ones, like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. And it shows in the graphic department. Amazing sprites, creatures move and the same for the rolling oceans. That is the good stuff, the bad is more in the story-telling. More or less the end. The beginning is fine and they do tell you what to do in most cases. The only exception being how to get a road-pass so that you can enter the spaceport in order to get a new ally that has a potion that can revive another ally that has been turned into stone. This particular road-pass must be bought in a second-hand shop and the item is referred to as secrets. But does the salesmen want to sell it? No, he wont, he throws you out instead. You must ask him three times which is a bit random. The only way I found out was running out of ideas and do everything again, that's when I noticed he said something else so I visited him again and what do you know, I got the road-pass. The other problem is the end. You defeat the evil dictator and return to the governor that helped you, but instead of praise you fall down a pit and walk trough a dungeon until the end where you meet Dark Falz (or Dark Force if you prefer that). Who is he? I don't know. He doesn't say anything, he just attacks. Afterwards the governor mentions that he was some cosmic horror that threatened to possess him and destroy the solar system. No one else mentions this apparently dark demon. The only hint I could guess pointing toward this is that you were attacked in your dream when you stayed at the governors palace at the beginning of the game.

Aside from that the gameplay mechanics makes the game a bit... boring. You can't decide which enemy to attack which makes it a bit harder when your party leaves one enemy with 1 hp to deal with the others having 100 and still get pummeled by the 1 hp guy. Meaning there is no strategy other than either randomly attack, randomly cast a magic spell or flee (talking to the monster I never succeeded in). Overall an interesting game that at least should be experienced once, if you play it through depends if these games are of your liking and taste. It is a bit dated, but it holds up a bit better than it's rivals of the era... or that might be due to it being more modern than the others.