So what is the best Zelda game?

I have only played OOT and MM and I like OOT but I also liked MM more than it.

Is there any others in the series like MM or no?

CDI

zelda 2 on NES plus a few choice rom hacks constitute my most enjoyable zelda experience to date. shit's tough in the FP.

Is it okay to confess that I've never played any Zelda games so far?

Cacockcansukmycok said:

CDI

[giggling]True has been spoken![/giggling]

antares031 said:

Is it okay to confess that I've never played any Zelda games so far?

No... It's not. You have to play. Zelda on SNES is the best of the best.

The only ones I can speak for are A Link To the Past (SNES) and Link's Awakening (GameBoy). I never bothered to get past the first dungeon on Ocarina of Time or played any of the others. But the two I mentioned were a lot of fun and have aged quite well both in terms of gameplay and graphics.

Here's a cool article to ruffle your feathers on how Zelda's gotten terrible:
http://kotaku.com/5885595/zelda-just-keeps-getting-worse-but-it-isnt-beyond-saving

I'm still a Zelda fan today, but I'm not an apologist. Zelda sucks, and it has sucked for a long time. It's not the greatest series in gaming, and Ocarina of Time is certainly not the greatest game of all time (it's not even a great Zelda). The original Legend of Zelda is the greatest Zelda, Skyward Sword is the worst, and the trajectory is mostly downhill with a few exceptions (the bold horror of Majora's Mask, the focused charm of Wind Waker).

Zelda II is best Zelda.

In order: Ocarina of Time, Link's Awakening, Majora's Mask. Nothing else needs to be played.

Alundra is the best Zelda.

The original is still the best.

OoT and LttP are #2 and #3, although I'm not sure which order they belong in.

The rest all suck.

I have a soft spot for Link's Awakening.

If I had to pick just one, Links Awakening for Gameboy.

Link to the Past (SNES) and the Windwaker (GC) are both fun as well, the rest seem like decent enough games but aren't really my cuppa.

Majora's Mask is definitely overrated as fuck. Awful game.

I really do love Ocarina of Time but for my favourites I'd have to slate down Link's Adventure and the Oracle of Ages/Seasons pair!

Decay said:

Majora's Mask is definitely overrated as fuck. Awful game.

Glad to see I'm not the only person who thinks this. It's the only Zelda game I've ever played that I've found completely irredeemable at every level.

Chrono Trigger is better.

They're all annoying and dull, especially the 2D ones and especially the first one. I do like how in Majora's Mask you can roll around like Sanic, though.

Cynical said:

Glad to see I'm not the only person who thinks this. It's the only Zelda game I've ever played that I've found completely irredeemable at every level.

why?

I thought the world felt more fleshed out and the dungeons had cooler themes. Termina Field has several enemy types besides the two/three in Hyrule Field and the secret holes are cooler in the area of Termina Field

Mechadon said:

I have a soft spot for Link's Awakening.

My favorite by far. The way they pushed the gameboy cartridge to have all of it in, just wow.

MeetyourUnmaker said:

why?

I thought the world felt more fleshed out and the dungeons had cooler themes. Termina Field has several enemy types besides the two/three in Hyrule Field and the secret holes are cooler in the area of Termina Field

Assuming this is a comparison to OoT, MM's dungeon's are a design travesty and the dungeon items are boring (here's a different type for arrow for each dungeon!). With the time reversion mechanic, there is zero-sense of accomplishment and repeating things is not only tedious but gimmicky in a bad way. The "highlight" of sidequests are EXTREMELY marginal and greatly overstated in reviews. The bosses are jokes (even more-so in the 3DS remake) and despite portraying itself as less linear game (here's 4 directions you CAN go in a big open field!) the game is extraordinarily linear via it's mechanics (other areas are completely inaccessible without a key item from the previous area). Furthermore, due to the time gimmick, it feels like a) you either have to rush everything or b) things were condensed to be done quicker. Don't get me wrong, the themes and overworld map had great potential, but were bogged down by gimmicks and poorly thought out mechanics.

In retrospect, I really like the first game a lot too, especially the second quest, but for some reason it just doesn't stick out as much as the others I mentioned for me. Just something about it, not quite sure what. The other games just have a certain something that make them stick out a bit more.

Also I really dislike the way these games have been going for a long time (I hate windwaker's graphics and the precedent it set for so many games). I recently played through A Link Between Worlds, and while it had much potential I feel again that it was ruined by gimmicks and appealing to young audiences rather than oldschool fans.

MeetyourUnmaker said:

why?

I thought the world felt more fleshed out and the dungeons had cooler themes. Termina Field has several enemy types besides the two/three in Hyrule Field and the secret holes are cooler in the area of Termina Field

It's a Zelda game where you spend all of your time following the notes in your journal and then waiting for the right people to show up for your prompt, at which point you speed time forward and repeat the process. And if you make a mistake on it, you have to replay the last two hours of waiting and doing nothing.

And when you're not doing stupid shit in town, the dungeons are lame, and you have to do all of them twice to find all of the faeries (which is just done as a lame way of padding out a four-dungeon game). And the dungeons aren't as good as the OoT dungeons.

God, Majora's Mask sucks, even by the standards of "Zelda games that aren't one of the three good ones".

I didn't like or finish MM, so I cant say too much about it. I like in this order: Zelda 2 for NES, Link to the Past, link's awakening, OoS and OoA, Twilight Princess, OoT, Minish Cap, Zelda 1, phantom hourglass, spirit tracks, MM, and haven't played the others, unless I'm forgetting one.

Zelda 2.

As far as what I think the best one is, I honestly can't narrow down a particular game. But I will say my favorite is definitely A Link To The Past.

When it comes to Zelda, there was Zelda: ALttP, then there was Ocarina, and then it gets blurry after that, I think there was some other games? Not sure.

Decay said:

snip

OOT's progression is also linear so I don't really understand your complaint.

I don't really care about MM's sidequests. they're nice but the main reason I like the game is because of the artstyle, (there's more a variety of colors without spamming bloom effects everywhere) tone, and the fact the dungeons are pretty original compared to other Zelda games except for maybe Twilight Princess. I mean a dungeon that takes place in a hydroelectric dam and a dungeon that's a reference to a Japanese folklore story are both cool af. You can slow down time giving you several hours to complete a dungeon. The way I did it is I typically did the chain of sidequests you get before a dungeon then I would do the actual dungeon.

Cynical said:

snip

1: I don't remember any of the sidequests being hard apart from the Kafei one
2: You can get the fairies on the first run through the dungeon

I haven't played any of the 3D games past Ocarina and I wasn't much of a fan. I think because I only played it for the first time a couple years ago versus it's release. It suffers from a lot of "early 3D" problems, bad controls and camera problems. The whole time I just kept thinking how more enjoyable the 2D games were.

I'll go with: LttP, Awakening, Oracles, Zelda 1.

I want to like Zelda 2, but it just kicks my ass every time.

Easiest way to beat Zelda 2

Once you beat it and know its tricks, Zelda 2 is a really fun game to play through with handicaps, such as attack level 1 for the whole game.

Scet said:

I want to like Zelda 2, but it just kicks my ass every time.

Link's Adventure is often criticized for this (being too hard), but it's actually extremely easy right up until the end, and even then isn't that hard. It's a matter of learning how to time attacks against specific enemies. Once you get the attack timing down, the first couple sections becoming a breeze because you knock most enemies back, preventing harm to yourself. And once you get the life spell, the rest of the game becomes easy game easy life.

@MeetyourUnmaker

MM pretends to be non-linear. Ocarina doesn't pretend to be non-linear, and in fact can be non-linear if you choose. IE order of fire and forest temple can be switched, spirit and shadow can be switched, etc. You do get options.

Cynical wasn't implying MM's sidequests were hard, just boring and poorly thought out because they are based on waiting. Yea you can get the fairies on the first run through the temples but Cynical is right because it just pads their length unnecessarily, especially in Stone Tower and Snowhead. I was very happy to see in the remake the magic meter increase was in Woodfall temple instead of Snowhead.

Despite disliking it immensely now, I am VERY familiar with it. I used to be a big fan of the game, am very proficient at it, know all the tricks, can complete it very quickly, did work on some speedrunning of it, etc.