Anybody playing Link's Awakening? (2019)

[Howard_Casto]

I never had the handhelds growing up, so this is one of those games that I never got around to playing.  I picked it up tonight just for the hell of it.  I've got to say, other than a minor slowdown problem in certain areas, I'm loving it.  It feels more like Zelda 1 instead of LTTP, which surprised me a little considering it's release year.  I can tell it's going to be short though... one hour 1 and I've already completed the first dungeon.  I had heard that the original's inventory system was rather cumbersome, but apparently they've fixed that now with the use of the extra buttons on the gamepad. 

[Osirus23]

Bought it on my way home from work. Haven't started yet.

[thomas_surles]

Played a few minutes. Very visually pleasing

[opt2not]

I plan on grabbing it next week.

Link’s Awakening is my second favorite Zelda game next to ALTTP, and I was happy to see a remaster when it was announced.

[Vigo]

That game looked exactly like what they should be doing with the Zelda franchise. 

[Howard_Casto]

It would be nice if they used this engine for other games.  Still waiting for "Super Zelda Maker"

[jdbailey1206]

Not having a Switch I have to watch game play on Yubetube.  I have not noticed any slow down but have heard it is a minor inconvenience for those playing.  The inventory doesn't seem to be an issue until you get more items and have to assign buttons and then reassign when you need a new item.  All in all this game looks fun and makes me want to purchase a Switch just for this game. 

[markc74]

Picked it up this morning. Definitely noticing the slowdown and the depth of field affect seems a bit overdone but it's still a fun game.

[thomas_surles]

It would be nice if they used this engine for other games.  Still waiting for "Super Zelda Maker"

Have you messed with the dungeon maker yet? Only played up to the forest after the sword so far. Haven't had a chance.

[pbj]

This was probably the last good 2D Zelda game that Nintendo made.  Link Between Worlds was weird and after I spent two hours wandering the map looking for a crack in a wall I quit playing it.

[Howard_Casto]

It would be nice if they used this engine for other games.  Still waiting for "Super Zelda Maker"

Have you messed with the dungeon maker yet? Only played up to the forest after the sword so far. Haven't had a chance.

Yeah when I needed to buy the bow I thought it might be a quick way to earn rupees... boy was I wrong.  Long story short it's lame....  You can merely re-arrange previously visited rooms.  You can't pick which monsters will be in the rooms nor what you get out of the chests.  Chests are auto filled with the door keys and nightmare key.... any additional chests are rupees.... so far I've only gotten 1rp per chest.  I get the feeling it was put in to kind of soft demo a Zelda maker game, so if any Nintendo representative is asking it's great. 

Having almost beaten the dang thing at this point I can see some issues in the game design... not the remake but the original game.  Fetch quests have always been optional in Zelda games... well not in this one.  I just looked it up when I got stuck and I'm glad I did because I could have been aimlessly wandering around for hours trying to figure out parts of it.  I understand that I'll have to do yet another one before the game is done.... yeah I'm not going to wander around for that one either.  Also annoying is the world map....it's a gigantic maze.  It isn't big, but the way you have to worm around stuff to get from point a to point b makes you think it is.  Also just a personal gripe, but they should have given the jump item a dedicated button as well.  You have to jump a lot in the game, so you really only have one weapon slot instead of two....the other sub weapons don't really get swapped out a lot as each dungeon really only needs a particular one to clear (bombs being the exception of course). 

I'm enjoying it though.  It still doesn't have those annoying LTTP tropes inserted yet, which is why I swore off Zelda from the snes until the gamecube. 

[Osirus23]

Also just a personal gripe, but they should have given the jump item a dedicated button as well.  You have to jump a lot in the game, so you really only have one weapon slot instead of two....the other sub weapons don't really get swapped out a lot as each dungeon really only needs a particular one to clear (bombs being the exception of course). 

Still a huge improvement over the original which had you constantly swapping out sword, shield, boots, feather, and bracelet.

[Howard_Casto]

Well I finished it last night.  Pretty darn good.. The 7th dungeon was a pain in the butt... I wasn't going to waste my time with that so I consulted the interwebs, but other than that it was pretty fun.  The game is pretty easy as far as Zelda games go but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.  I might go back and get all the extra hearts and collectables and stuff and maybe give the dungeon builder another try but I think most people will be finished with it in a weekend.  The thing is Nintendo games rarely go on sale so it doesn't make a lot of sense to wait like other titles.... the cheapest this is going to get this gen is around $45 and you can get it for $50 at Walmart right now. 

[opt2not]

A buddy at work told me he finished the game in 4 hours. He apparently did it all in one sitting.
I know he’s played the original a lot, so I wouldn’t doubt this claim. But damn, I can't help but think of the axiom of eating so fast that you don’t even taste what your eating.
I’d like to spend a bit more time on this game and really enjoy it.

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah that's rushing a bit.  To shave it down that much you'd have to go straight to each item/goal and not bother with any of the optional stuff.  That doesn't seem fun to me. 

Like I said, I looked a couple of things up because figuring out the pattern was getting tedious, but I didn't really get in any hurry.  I'd say I spent about 12 hours or so on it, a few each night, but because I got lost and explored a bit, it would be more reasonable for someone to spend 8-10 if they've played the original and already know a few of the more cumbersome solutions. 

I spent a few more hours tonight going back and searching for some of the optional stuff....  There are more seashells and hearts than were originally in the game.  I'm not sure why extra hearts were added as they really aren't needed, especially with the three added fairy bottles, but I guess modern gamers are really bad at the old stuff or something. 

The extra seashells are psuedo useful:

Getting up to 40 will give you the island's sword, which is essentially the master sword.  Double damage and shoots a beam when your hearts are full.  50 (which I haven't gotten yet) gives your a modifier chamber for the build a dungeon.  It's supposed to makes rupees fall from the sky, which would be useful earlier in the game but is completely pointless by the time you are able to get all 50 shells.

I got all the prizes from the claw machine, that took about 15 minutes.    I've got several heart pieces left to get, but it's getting less fun with every trip.... probably time to put it away. 

The go to prize for collecting all the extra stuff are chamber stones for the create a dungeon which will add special rooms.  So far it's really nothing fun added.

[pbj]

What sound effect does this game make when Link swings his sword?  This is very important to me.

[Howard_Casto]

Not sure how to answer that.  He doesn't grunt or anything but it isn't that satisfying Zelda 1 sound either.

It turns out the dungeon maker isn't completely terrible.  As you progress you earn chambers not in the main game and modifiers that change things up somewhat (drop bombs from the ceiling... extra enemies, ect.)  The big item in the shop after you've cleared the game are chamber stones, which give you anew dungeon room.  So I suppose there is a reason to pick up rupees after you've beaten the game.  There are a few more dungeon challenges available and I think I'll finish them up just for the hell of it. 

[pbj]

I still have nightmares about the “hyuh hyuh HYAH!” era of Zelda games.

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah that was one of the reasons I stopped playing them for a while.  Way more annoying than that stupid fairy. 

I keep getting sucked into the dungeon maker... there are some interesting modifiers like adding those hands from Zelda 1 that would pull you back to the start and doubling up the enemy count.  I've got to think that once modders get ahold of this game and start taking it apart seriously we'll get a bunch of rom hacks as the game seems to use tile sets to create the levels even though it's 3d.  Hell your custom made dungeons can be saved to amiibo so it might be possible to hack in new levels that way..... I really need to get one of those amiibo 2 pc transfer devices.