I feel like all three of these Zelda games fall into this similar spot where they have their fans and they have their haters and it all kind of averages out to them being considered "not quite" up there with the best Zelda games (I'm talking consensus-wise, obviously individuals will put one or many of these are the top of their lists.) I guess you could say the same about Majora's Mask, but it seems to be a bit more loved overall around here

These three are also all really close in our ratings, at 9.29/10(Wind Waker), 9.27/10 (Skyward Sword), and 9.24/10 (Twilight Princess). So I'm interested in how they will stand against each other in a head to head poll. And I didn't include any cop-out answers for Communists who are afraid to put one above the others... you have to pick one or go home.

I also didn't include Four Swords Adventures because that's really a different thing there. And I didn't include Link's Crossbow Training for the same reason and also anyone insane enough to vote for that is insane and should not be allowed to vote anyway.

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I'll never understand the bitching about Wind Waker's overworld. Favorite part of the game for me.

@kriswright

What, I thought that was just a Bingo board...

@TheBigG753

Well, stop sailing while looking at the map, then. The organization is a lot less apparent that way.

@Pokefreak911
You mean that barren landscape with a few shrubs and nothing else?

@carlosrox
It's called Hyrule FIELD for a reason. It's a FIELD.

@kriswright

You mean sail blindly with no regard for direction? Ok


@carlosrox

Trees, hedges, cliffs, canyons, rivers, pools, bridges, caves, a GODDAMN RANCH PLUNKED RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE.

...Yeah. Nothing.


It had plenty. Sure it looks relatively bare now, but for it's time it was a big thing.

I dunno, at the time I found it to be rather empty and boring too. Maybe it was impressive tech or something but I wasn't a tech guy, I was just a young lad in college who wasn't particularly interested in running around in huge open areas without much to do.

@Zero
There was a bunch to do! And you barely ever had to run across it either.

@Shadowlink
Never was to me. Always thought "this is it?".

Some copy pasted items an interesting world does not make.

I meant the core overworld aka Hyrule Field, not the entire game. Duh I love Zora's River and Gerudo Valley and shit like that.

@Zero
The fuck is this noise?!? I thought we were the same age! I was 11 and you were in college when this released?? I'm probably making you feel old but *I* now feel like a little shit!

Hyrule field absolutely always was and always will be a barren boring load of FUCK. Awful music doesn't help.

Oh, and it had all of...2 enemies recycled in it the WHOLE GAME?

Wind Waker. Less world destroying flaws.

Twilight Princess has the worst opening in Zelda history. Slow to the point where I can never get beyond it. Further compounded by a cast of incredibly throw away characters, a story that drops off the planet, a villain who gets the shaft, and a whole lot inbetween.

Skyward Sword, linear, limited areas, great gameplay marred by bad ideas.

@Pokefreak911 Yeah there was tons to do! Bomb huge rocks to find holes that had nothing interesting in them.

@carlosrox I'm 34 so I was born in 1979... when did this release again? 1998 or something? So second year of college I think.

@Zero
Hunt for big poes. Mess around with Running Man. Look for holes in the ground. Even if the holes have little in them , it's still discovery. It's better than an empty ocean, better than an empty sky and better than a super large landmass with little in it apart from it looking pretty.

I guess Wind Waker wins by default.

There's also just a huge section between the second and third dungeons in Wind Waker where it feels like you're not doing anything. It's like 40 minutes of sailing before you can get to the third level. And then the third level is disappointing.

I like WW a lot but it by far had my least favorite Zelda dungeons, at least in a 3D game. The first one was the best and then they all went downhill from there IMO.

Hinph said:

Yeah, the giant ocean is easily my least favorite overworld "design" in the series so far... if you can even call it that.

At least TWW has an overworld though. TWW's overworld is far down my list as well, but I have to at least give it credit over SS, for example, given how the latter just had segmented-and-empty-outdoor-dungeons-with-no-bosses mixed in with its dungeons... no overworld to speak of. (Actually I take that back. The sky does count as SS's overworld. But it felt even emptier than TWW's to me, and flying was somehow less fun than sailing.)

As a disclaimer, I don't particularly "hate" any Zelda. I don't really consider myself a fan in the first place. As such I never really felt compelled to pick up Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword after reading reviews for it. Well, until recently anyway, I actually would like to play Twilight Princess one day and also Skyward Sword to a lesser extent.

Long story short I looked at gameplay videos/ read and watched reviews and extrapolated that it wasn't for me. I never really felt the need to experience something many people had already described as linear, artificially padded, etc. I rather take my money elsewhere.

@Pokefreak911 What is the super large land mass, Twilight Princess? That had WAY more to do in its overworld than Ocarina of Time, and some of it was substantial too... the secrets were more than just bombing rocks, some of them had their own little mini-stages and such connected to them.

Except for the fact that it was still a bit hub-world-ish, I feel like Nintendo was on the right track there. Albeit the Skyward Sword "stuff leading up to dungeons can be dungeon-esque too" progression really worked for me too. I'd like a combination of both.

@PogueSquadron

What third level?

There was no third level. They took it out and you just get *handed* the pearl. What a crock.

Maybe you mean the Tower of the Gods thingy. Which is really the fourth level.

@Shadowlink

You know, you get the first pendant before the first dungeon in ALBW. Does that make the first dungeon suddenly the second dungeon?

@Shadowlink

You get the Spirit Medallion handed to you in Ocarina of Time, without having to do a dungeon. Is that a crock? Is the fourth dungeon actually the fifth, then?