Twilight Princess vs Wind Waker

BreakABone · 03-03-2009, 05:12 PM

I know many on these boards, and around the world, share the opinion that Ocarina of Time is the best Zelda game of all time, I won't bother going down that path.

I'm curious as to what people's thoughts on the two Zelda games that followed in its wake. Granted, Majora's Mask is also in there, but since it was a direct sequel to OoT, and it had a completely different gimmick, I want to excuse it from this debate.

TP

Wind Waker

Jason1 · 03-03-2009, 07:02 PM

Twilight Princess is a better all around game, from nearly every standpoint. Of course its a matter of personal preference if you prefer a more realistic looking zelda or not. That matter being thrown aside, TP is still better in multiple ways, the biggest being more dungeons and the annoying fetch quest at the end was wayyyyyyy more bearable in Twilight Princess.

Dyne · 03-03-2009, 07:04 PM

Wind Waker was a great game that shook up the Zelda formula. However, I was disappointing by the serious lack of dungeons. But, the overworld made up for it. I loved the sailing and the feeling it gave me of conquest.

Twilight Princess was also a great game for different reasons. Since it had more dungeons, it definitely felt like a real sequel to Ocarina of Time. However, it didn't expand too much on the formula to be "next-gen" enough.

If anything, I would liken Wind Waker to Majora's Mask, and TP to OOT.

What's next after these two games? I hope it's a game that combines the innovation of Wind Waker and the expansiveness of Twilight Princess. Also, combining a huge ocean + a huge continent to explore would be heaven for me.

magus113 · 03-03-2009, 10:42 PM

While I can say that I've completed both games (even if there was that really annoying quest to get the Triforce pieces in the middle of Wind Waker) both games really hit me and touched me with their endings and story all around. Each of the games had outstanding visuals in their own right, because Wind Waker was definitely a milestone in cel shading, and Twilight was just...good. Very very good.

Both had the Zelda gameplay we both know and love, each with their own different gameplay hitches, Wind Waker being the sailing across sunken Hyrule on the King of Red Lions, and Twilight Princess with Link's transformation to a wolf.

The plots? Each is great, although Wind Waker strays from the norm by not being a true ancestor of Link as I guess you could call it, but it does lead to some interesting plot twists regarding his sister Aryll, and Tetra. Midna's involvement in the plot for Twilight Princess was also interesting and I guess you could say humorous due to her..interesting personality.

Wind Waker kept it simpler with the gadgets, staying with the tried and true grappling hook, then later on hookshot, bows and arrows, etc. Twilight Princess upped the ante just a tad especially with the double hookshot (and although it isn't fair to compare the two because there was a version of Twilight Princess made for the Wii) the Wii controls made it a lot more interactive and precise. This I feel made puzzles more difficult (at points) and more complex to complete.

So what do I think? Wind Waker and Twilight Princess both have good plots, but the Wind Waker's gameplay hitch became much more annoying, especially in the middle of the game with the aforementioned fetch quest, and gameplay segments as the wolf added a more interesting aspect to the gameplay in my opinion. Newer, more useful weapons, in Twilight Princess, and a riveting ending + boss battle really just makes Twilight Princess take the cake for me. I've always said that it's pretty much on par with OoT, despite the place in my heart that the game holds after playing it when I was much younger, but Twilight Princess was a much more darker, and enjoyable gameplay experience that showed me that Zelda is ready to keep going as the years progress.

GameMaster · 03-04-2009, 02:05 AM

I loved Wind Waker, it was my first Zelda experience and I'll never forget that awesome sailing tune while riding the ocean.

I loved the art style too.

I almost want to replay that game now.

Typhoid · 03-04-2009, 05:02 AM

I've never played Wind Waker (Always wanted to, never found someone with it), and I've never fully beaten Twilight Princess.

Angrist · 03-04-2009, 08:05 AM

Although I've come to appreciate The Wind Waker after a few years, I like TP so much better. The realistic graphics made the world more capturing for me, even though the cartoon style of TWW got pretty nice after a while.

TWW just had so many annoyances:
Bad puzzles
Not enough dungeons
Slow travel
Boring items (who ever came up with that slow graple hook animation?? Why does the sail always stay a usable item instead of a standard feature of your boat??) (although the Deku Leaf and Pictobox are items I'd love to see again)
Bad gameplay choices, like when you fall down and have to walk all the way up again.

The story of Twilight Princess really moved me. At 3/4 it sududenly got boring... no more story elements between the last few dungeons.

If we're comparing steps forward in the genre, I guess TWW would win. TP didn't add that much, it was more of a perfection of past ideas.

Fyacin · 03-04-2009, 09:21 AM

I would say TP barely beats out WW. But it's close. The fetch quest in wind waker also annoyed me, as did that stupid sneaking around section at the beggining of the game. I also think TP's story was a wii (hehehehehe) bit better.

thatmariolover · 03-04-2009, 10:22 AM

I'm gonna start replaying Wind Waker when I get home from work. Is it snobbish that I'm bothered by the fact that the game has a progressive scan mode but no widescreen option?

mickydaniels · 03-04-2009, 11:33 AM

Wind Waker is a better all around game, from nearly every standpoint. Of course its a matter of personal preference if you prefer a more realistic looking zelda or not. That matter being thrown aside, TWW is still better in multiple ways, the biggest being more original dungeons and the annoying fetch quest at the end was wayyyyyyy more bearable in Wind Waker. At least they were marked on your map.
In TP, if you didn't do them all in one go, you were screwed.

tornadothrasher · 03-04-2009, 02:43 PM

My vote is for Wind Waker. Although I played through all of Wind Waker but only a few minutes of Twilight Princess, even after watching many of my friends play it and reading up on it, my vote stays the same. I went into the game a little 'shaky' because of the whole cell-shading controversy but it was a ton of fun and so unique.

KillerGremlin · 03-05-2009, 05:21 AM

As I griped to BaB, I cannot get sucked into TP. I've played through 10 hours or so of the game TWICE now, and I just keep getting bored.

I did beat Wind Waker twice, and while the fetch quests got boring at the end, I found if you balanced them with the rest of the gameplay they were not too bad.

Having said that, I REALLY enjoyed the art style and character development in Wind Waker. Had the game featured more dungeons, perhaps I would have enjoyed it more than OoT.

By default I think Wind Waker is better, more after I beat TP....

Jonbo298 · 03-05-2009, 07:31 AM

Hard choice. TP was great since it was the first "realistic" zelda since OoT which made it refreshing and was decent even if it seemed slightly bland for some reason.

WW was great because of the art style, the way things blended. Downside was the gigantic ocean since it did get repetitive.

I can't choose!

KillerGremlin · 03-06-2009, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonbo298

Hard choice. TP was great since it was the first "realistic" zelda since OoT which made it refreshing and was decent even if it seemed slightly bland for some reason.

WW was great because of the art style, the way things blended. Downside was the gigantic ocean since it did get repetitive.

I can't choose!

You forgot Majora's Mask, the lost Zelda game.

I feel like Majora's Mask will be reflected on like Zelda II for NES.

It's a shame because both MM and Zelda II have a lot to offer.

Honestly though, I was initially put off by MM. In fact, I think I wrote up quite a few number of posts on this very forum about how I wasn't a fan. But I've gone back and played it recently, and in today's world of sequels and hard-to-find-innovation, it really is a breath of fresh air.

thatmariolover · 03-06-2009, 09:43 AM

The only issue I had with Majora's Mask was how long you had to initially play in order to be able to save. Sooooo annoying.

Aside from that, it was a fantastic game. From a technical standpoint it was one of the most impressive games on the N64. I think it would have found more success on the GC or Wii.