GameTavern - Wind Waker 2 Confirmed

My gripe with Wind Waker wasn't that it was a bad game per se, it was a great game, but it lacked the edge that I like in my Zelda games. First off, it paralleled OOT in one to many ways. Second, it fell way short in the temple department.

What was so kick ass about Ocarina Of Time was the amount of gameplay you got. I mean, you had 3 levels to go to as a kid, then you had the Forest Temple, The Fire Temple, The Ice Cavern, The Water Temple, The Bottom Of The Well, The Shadow Temple, The Spirit Temple and then Ganon's Castle.

That's 11 "levels," and considering that the Ice Cavern, The Bottom Of The Well and Ganon's Castle weren't full levels, that equals out to be roughly 9 temples.

And that doesn't even include getting through Gerudo Fortress, getting the Ice Arrows, exploring all the areas around Hyrule, and doing all the minor tasks.

The nice thing about Ocarina Of Time was that there was never any crap in the Temples. You didn't get stupid items in the temples, you got valuable and cool items - Slingshot, Bomb Bag, Boomerang, Bow and Arrow, Megaton Hammer, Longshot, Hoover Boots, Mirror Shield - not once did you get something lame in the temples. And, there was still an assload of stuff to get outside of the temples. All the derivations of arrows, all the other equipment, stuff that was at least halfway essential.

After Ocarina Of Time came out, Nintendo released Majora's Mask, which was also one hell of a game. Majora's Mask was a hell of a good game because it took a shift from your typical Zelda adventure. Instead of hoping from Temple to Temple you had to explore your surroundings. So, the end result was, you would spend as much, if not more time, getting to the Temples, and then you would beat the Temples. And, by the way, the Temples in Majora's Mask were a lot harder then the ones in Ocarina Of Time. But, temples aside, the thing that was still nice about Majora's Mask was, exploring felt valuable. Covering new ground in Majora's Mask helped you out, often times you got new items of importance, and, Majora's Mask took an almost inverse approach to OOT - you would get items like the hookshot outside of the temple, and then you would get the arrow derivations in the temple.

And then there is Wind Waker...which has a much more limited appeal. I, personally, enjoyed playing through Wind Waker. Hell, I enjoyed exploring the vast world that is Wind Waker. But, at the same time, I realized that Nintendo took out a lot of the typical Zelda gameplay, and replaced it with filler gameplay. A lot of Wind Waker involved riding around the ocean, exploring island after island, often to only get a heart piece. 3 essential items in the game, the Power Grip, the Fire Arrows and the Ice Arrows were given to you with very minimal work. Those 3 items right there could have at least spawned one or two new temples. And, don't get me wrong, Wind Waker looked good, and I could give a **** less what the graphics are like.

But, graphics have never been my problem. I'm a gameplay whore. I play Zelda because I like the gameplay. Wind Waker was a really cool game, and exploring its vast world was really cool. But, in the grand scheme of things, Wind Waker was like two steps up and a step down from Ocarina Of Time. It wasn't a bad game for me, but I just can't hold it in the same regard as I can hold the Ocarina Of Time. And, to be totally honest, I doubt any 3D Zelda game will evoke the same sense of fullness that Ocarina Of Time did.

I recommend that if you have yet to pick up and play Wind Waker that you do so pronto. But, I recommend that you play Ocarina Of Time instead if you have played neither.