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The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD Discussion (Nintendo Wii U) [game]
 
  Stephen B  
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD on the Wii U
9.51/10 from 19 user ratings

Welcome to the official discussion thread for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD on the Wii U!

To start, please add this game to your log, add it to your collection (if applicable), and (when you are ready) rate it using the link above!

The game doesn't release at retail till early October, but gamers can begin playing this title soon if they buy a special edition Wii U next week. That said, Welcome to the official discussion thread for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD! Whether you're someone who played and beat this game back in 2003, or maybe you're new and eager to get your Link wet, come here to discuss the game!


IGN.com just released their review and I believe that makes it the first review score for the title. What did they give it? You might not be surprised, but you can look at their review here. For the lazy,... 9.8/10

I have fond memories of picking the original game up from my non-standard Gamestop the night before release. They opened the doors at 10pm and let us get the game early just as the box literally arrived. I don't understand why things went down like that but I was always proud that I was nerdy enough to have been the first person to leave that Gamestop with Zelda that night. Now, I have it pre-ordered at another Gamestop, my normal one, because I want that badass statue offer. As Carlosrox continues to point out, the game looks beautiful and now that I've had an awesome Samsung HDTV for a little less than a year now, I am excited to finally embrace HD with Zelda and see how beautiful this game is at 40 inches and 1080p.

Bring it on Nintendo. I have what it takes.

URL to share (right click and copy)
09/18/13, 05:44    Edited: 09/18/13, 06:03
 
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  chrisguy  
Don't get me wrong. I love the exploration aspect of WW. But, I had some trouble last time backtracking and trying to remember where I'd been and whether I'd already cleared a sea space or not. I decided this time I wanted to have most of the tools before doing a ton of exploring.

I just cleared the fourth (?) dungeon - the Tower of the Gods. Think I'll still want the hook shot before I get serious about exploring.
05/13/16, 06:18   
  cusideabelincoln  
As much hate as the original game got (from the IGN boards) back in the day, Wind Waker has the most timeless graphics of all time. Fucking ironic, since the element people hated on the most was the graphics.

I booted up the GCN version through Dolpin at 4K resolution... and wow. Colors are so vibrant. Art style is great. Textures hold up better than other games of the period because of Nintendo's design choice. It feels like I'm playing and looking at a modern game, and the same cannot be said of any other game from that generation. I've played, on Dolphin, other games. Metroid Prime looks dated (but still pretty good). The Conduit looks so dated. Twilight Princess looks dated. PC games of that era look dated. But Wind Waker is looks timeless. I appreciate the game more and more as time goes by.

While these games did come out later, and for the more powerful Wii, I'd have to say the only other ones to rival Wind Waker's timeless graphics are Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2. When they're running at 4k they look really good as well.
08/18/16, 21:49   
  GameDadGrant  
@cusideabelincoln

I think a lot of people just didn't like the art style the game used. Cel-shaded graphics for a Zelda game would have been fine. But a lot of people were put off by the fact that Link looks like a 4 year-old.

The "hate" was also just a consequence of the era that game was released. No one was looking or asking for a cartoony Zelda. That's not what the GCN crowd wanted, generally speaking. And anecdotally, I know that art direction actually killed a few potential sales of the system. Sad...but unfortunately true.

If I could re-write the past, I'd have Nintendo swap release dates of Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker. I think the latter would make a better 'Cube "swan song" AND if they did a dual release on Wii, potentially could have been an even better fit on that system.

I mean, c'mon. Who WOULDN'T want to conduct the wind with the Wiimote?!?
08/19/16, 03:19   
Edited: 08/19/16, 03:20
  Shadowlink  
@GameDadGrant

Nah, the reaction was due to the bait and switch that Nintendo pulled.

We went from the Spaceworld 2000 trailer:




To this:




If you'd been hyping yourself up for a year based on the first trailer, a reaction of 'WTF?' when confronted with the 2001 trailer makes complete sense, regardless of how the graphics eventually turned out and were received. Had the first trailer never been shown, the reaction may have been more subdued.


On the flip side it also contributed to the massively positive reaction that the 2004 Twilight Princess reveal got.
08/19/16, 03:55   
Edited: 08/19/16, 03:56
  cusideabelincoln  
Yep, the Spaceworld trailer is what did it. I was hyped for that game! But now, that demo doesn't even look remotely impressive, while Wind Waker is still gorgeous.
08/19/16, 09:10   
  Shadowlink  
Just nabbed the Swift Sail. I assumed it was just faster boat travel. But the wind thing is HUGE. So good. Charting islands like a boss.

Also reading through the old posts in this thread is funny.

Kris and Pokepal's audition for NW's upcoming buddy cop flick aside, this caught my eye:

carlosrox said:
Haven't played this in a number of days. I'll try to get some time in tonight. Missing the game already.

Just entered the Wind Temple basically. I forgot how much is left in the game after that. Isn't it just the Triforce hunt and the last area before Ganon? Gotta be the shortest Zelda, and the new sailing seriously cut out a LOT of time. I think the reason I've taken a small break from it is I hate feeling like I've finished a game too quickly.

2 years later:

carlosrox said:
I need to finish this game.

Did you ever finish it Carlos?

.
08/22/16, 17:04   
  Shadowlink  
So I just cleared floor 50 of the Savage Labyrinth (3 fairies and half a bottle of soup later), and got the Hero's Charm. I didn't even know this was a thing?!

I thought I must have just stopped at the Triforce floor last time, but I could have sworn I did all 50 floors. So I did some research, and there's been some item movement between the GC and HD versions. Interestingly though, in the original Japanese version of the Gamecube game, the final reward for floor 50 was....

10 Rupees.

Nintendo can troll pretty hard sometimes.
08/29/16, 12:27   
Edited: 08/29/16, 12:27
  Shadowlink  
Whoa. Did anyone else see this?

http://kotaku.com/14-years-later-zelda-fans-discover-new-way-to-kill-win-1787459259

Would have been super useful in my playthrough a few months ago. It took me more than a few tries on Hero Mode to kill this jerk. Stupid Gyro controls.
12/18/16, 05:20   
  kriswright  
Shadowlink said:
Kris and Pokepal's audition for NW's upcoming buddy cop flick aside...

I don't know if anyone noticed, but I carried that beef over to the Beatnik Tone Poem, too, where I compare Pokepal to a 19 year old smoker.

But I ain't mad at Pokepal. He's probably told 3 times as many jokes on Negative World than I have since those posts were made. So kudos to him.
12/18/16, 07:06   
Edited: 12/18/16, 07:08
  Mop it up  
@Shadowlink What surprised me about that article is the statement that Wind Waker apparently has a reputation for difficult bosses.
12/21/16, 23:04   
  pokepal148  
I finally dusted off and finished this game. I do want to replay it sometime though, probably via the second quest with Link in his pajamas or whatever.
10/26/21, 21:10   
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