The Friday After - Ocarina of Time 3D

I love any chance I get to play Ocarina of Time, but this is different. A.) It's portable, B.) It's got enhanced graphics, and C.) It's in 3D!

I'm really enjoying the game so far. I've just gotten past the Water Temple (not nearly as difficult as I remember or have heard other people griping about). The 3D isn't intrusive, and doesn't rely on gimmicks. It increases the overall depth of the game, and compliments the game's established efforts at creating depth in the scene.

I've seen several small aspects of the game that I've enjoyed immensely. For example, in the first scene after Link's opening dream, we see the Deku Tree talking to Navi. In the original version, this was a fixed, uninteresting camera angle of Navi in front of the Deku Tree. In OoT 3D, the camera follows Navi as she enters the grove, and cuts to different angles to make things interesting. The camera in various cutscenes behaves in a much more sophisticated fashion than in the original.

The design of the settings is much improved as well. Shops and buildings have much more personality, especially when you see the insides. Shops have various merchandise and such scattered about, and houses have individualistic identities that reflect their owners in some ways. The Mask Shop even reflects some small references to OoT's sequel, Majora's Mask.

The interface is much improved - the dual screen works quite well. Along with that is the inclusion of the iron boots as an item rather than a piece of equipment - this made the Water Temple SO much easier.

Nintendo also included a new feature, objects called Sheikah Stones. They resemble Gossip Stones, yet they are placed at key points (next to Link's House in the Kokiri Forest and inside the Temple of Time, from what I can tell). They allow the player to view hints about specific areas if they are having trouble. I haven't used it (hey, I don't need to, I've played the game so many times I've practically got it memorized).

I'll post again whenever I start the Master Quest after beating the main game. It shouldn't be too long at this rate.

Continuity in The Legend of Zelda (Part II - Timeline Theory/Theories)

So, we've already discussed the Replay Theory. Now the obvious next step is, of course, some sort of Normal Timeline Theory. There are several ideas on how the Zelda games may fit together chronologically.

BS Zelda's Timeline theory
An incredibly in-depth look at the Zelda chronology, outlines the various different incarnations of Link.

The Nintendo Dude "Making Sense of the Zelda Timeline"
The Nintendo Dude, aka Steve Bogda, had a good article on the series progression (if there is one). He actually brought up the fact that A Link to the Past is apparently a confirmed prequel to the original Legend of Zelda (I had previously heard this theorized but didn't know it was canonized continuity), which means that the A Link to the Past - Link's Awakening - Legend of Zelda - Zelda II progression is canon. That essentially makes a more concrete case of four-game sequelage than even the Ocarina of Time - Wind Waker - Phantom Hourglass - Spirit Tracks set makes, since the former is a case of direct sequelage.

Both of these theories utilize the idea of the "Split Timeline Theory," which arose when in an interview Zelda developer Eiji Aonuma stated that Ocarina of Time actually had a split ending that diverged the series timeline:

Aonuma: Oh, right, let me elaborate on that. Ocarina of Time basically has two endings of sorts; one has Link as a child and the other has him as an adult. This game, The Wind Waker, takes place a hundred years after the adult Link defeats Ganon at the end of Ocarina. (from zeldawiki)

This led to the beginning of the idea that some games followed the timeline in which Link had returned to the past (leading to Majora's Mask) and another timeline which involved a future where Link no longer existed (leading to Wind Waker ~100 years later).

Zeldawiki also seems to state that a quote from Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto actually revealed that A Link to the Past was actually after LoZ/Zelda II, but that seems to be debatable.

Zeldawiki's own Split Timeline Disciplines page is also interesting to check out.

[LINK] Majora's Mask Theory - Fierce Deity as the Spirit of the Moon

Here's an article I found regarding another theory on Majora's Mask. An interesting read.

Fierce Deity: Spirit of the Moon

Props to poster Dathen Boccabella of Zelda Informer.

Random Thought - Spirit Tracks

I like to go on about how I didn't like Spirit Tracks all that much. I do this because I didn't see it as that new of an experience, and it followed directly after Phantom Hourglass, which I also wasn't overly impressed with. Well, it's not so much that I didn't like Spirit Tracks... it just seemed somewhat boring.

However, Spirit Tracks does something that I didn't think about until shortly ago - it presents a (spoilers, maybe?) newly established Hyrule, complete with large landmasses rather than the small and scattered islands of the Great Sea in Wind Waker.

The interesting thing about this is that it reaffirms the possibility of "normalized" Zelda continuity in the Wind Waker timeline (also [one of the] Ocarina of Time timelines, depending on your views of that whole conundrum).

By "normalized" I mean it reestablishes the Zelda continuity on a fixed landmass rather than having it moving between oceans, allowing the story to resume its general formula that it maintains through all its land-based games, even lending itself to the possibility of linking up with one of the other games (though I'm not sure which, I'd have look more closely at the overworld map), or perhaps a future title.

Of course, that means that the cycle of extension from the Ocarina timeline could end up being the most extensive confirmed temporal progression of all the Zelda games (heck, it's definitely four games already with Ocarina, Wind Waker, Phantom Hourlgass, and Spirit Tracks).

Then again, that means we'd be abandoning the possibility of revisiting the Great Sea and the drowned world of Old Hyrule from Wind Waker.

Just a thought.

Link's Awakening Ethics

Whenever I find an article about theories on the world of The Legend of Zelda games, I'm always interested. This time I found (through a post on Reddit, thanks to user tomrhod) an series of forum posts on the ethical implications of the major plot point of Link's Awakening, one of my favorite games in the series.

Check it out! (WARNING SPOILERS) http://boards.ign.com/legend_of_zelda/b5188/169925536/p1/?11