I just received my preordered copy in the mail today. After craming in 4 hours of play time I am very impressed. The graphics are very impressive and it really does look like you are playing a cartoon.

All the reviews, of course, have to talk about how people might be pissed about the cartoon thing. I was a bit suprised when I first heard about it, but I wasn't too upset. Really, it was the way to go. It's more innovative than an advanced Ocarina of Time.

My only gripe is that after 4 hours I have literally only killed 3 monsters. That's not very acceptable. Sure, it's fun solving puzzles and seeking out treasures, but having all these islands doesn't allow for as many enemies I suppose. I'm hoping that more show up soon.

Has anyone else gotten this game yet? I got it in that preorder deal from Amazon.com for Wind Waker and the GC Ocarina of Time 2-for-1 deal. Amazon told me it would arrive later this week, but the shiping gods were kind to me

This is a GameCube title?

/me goes to check online information on it...

Sure is! Yet another reason to buy a GameCube.

Oh, and this might be a great one for your an your daughter to play, Tony. It has this feature where a second player with a GBA can see where things are located that you can't see as the main player. Some items aren't findable without the GBA (non-essential items, but still). It's meant for a situation where the main player is more experienced at video games, and the second player can get involved.

I got mine last week. So far, I only managed to spend about 2 hours playing it (between having to work my buttocks off and my roommate playing it every free moment). The graphics are amazing, I love the expressions of the characters. In the Fosaken Castle (or something like that - first stop after the initial island), you get to kill a few things (minimum of four), but without your sword.

After watching my roommate play, I can safely say that you get to kill a lot more things.

It's meant for a situation where the main player is more experienced at video games, and the second player can get involved.

That sounds really great, I hope it's successful. I don't have kids, but I've seen my brother in law and his son play Zelda on my N64 enough times to know how useful this would be. His son just wants to get involved somehow, but is too young to really play.

Mine arrives today ... Can't wait ... I also just got my Japanese Soul Calibur 2 import yesterday, and it kicks a$$.

I can safely say that you get to kill a lot more things

Huzzah! Really, the reviewers all say how cool the effects are in this game, including the purple smoke that explodes everywhere when an enemy is killed. It really is stunning.

Another part that I like about it is that the people in this game actually look different from each other. The N64 games sort of had the same type people everywhere. They've got some strange ones in this game, but they look interesting.

Okay, must play it now...

oh my God you lucky bastard.

That is the greatest fighting game of all time. My friends video game store got the import in as well and i spent a couple hours in there playing it Saturday. It is amazing, and Mitsurugi still looks like a badass. Also, I think they did a pretty good job of not making Link look like a pansy.

I agree. Everyone's bitching about the cartoon stuff, but dude, it looks so damn cool. I'm finally in a real dungeon and it's so sweet.

I got it the day it came out on the 24th I've got about 12 hours so far. I am glad that it sounds like most people like the graphics I really like it and was getting sick of hearing about how it must be for kids because it looks like a cartoon.

My plan is to play through the game once then go through it again and do all the side quests.

I stopped at an arbys on the way home from picking the game up from EB and got into a discussion with the guy working there. He thought it looked kiddie because of the cartoon like graphics and thought everquest was the best thing ever. So I asked him well you like anime right and the response was "yeah but that had boobs in it"

Which system did you get soul calibur for ?

I picked it up, and played it all night on the 24th. Unfortunatly the next day, Shadowbane also came out and that has sucked most of my free time away trying to help my guild get a foothold in the world.

Definitly get the link cable for the GBA, the link features in Zelda are well worth it. Even with just one person, the map helps quite a bit in cities.

The one thing I can't figure out, having just started the game, is the freakin relation between the sea chart and the treasure maps you get. How do I tell what each map corresponds to? Have I just not been to the areas they are showing? I have 3 maps so far, and none of them look like areas I've been to.

I'm trying to do all the side quests on the first run through, because I don't think I'll care enough to play through the game again. The hard part is keeping track of all the little things you've done. I think I've got like 10 little missions I could go on right now, and the game has just started! Damn I love Zelda games.

GameCube (Link character)

The one thing I can't figure out, having just started the game, is the freakin relation between the sea chart and the treasure maps you get. How do I tell what each map corresponds to? Have I just not been to the areas they are showing? I have 3 maps so far, and none of them look like areas I've been to.

Ok, I just picked up the game and I've only played it for a day or two, but I'm sure that I read somewhere that you have to feed fish in the ocean, and they'll fill in your sea chart with the islands. Then when you look at the treasure maps you can see where they would fit. Not sure though, work's been getting in the way

Yeah, I've done that with three of the islands, and I still have no idea how to read them. The treasure maps all apear to be 100x100 (100 what?), and all the island charts are at least 200x200 (200 what?).

Sorry, I had to bring the thread back up.

After getting through final exams and projects and graduation, I finally had time to finish the game. I was curious as to what you guys thought of it.

To be honest, I was disappointed. If you want a detailed review of mine, go here. It's long, and I'm sure people will disagree with me, but the short story is that I thought the game was woefully incomplete. There were half as many dungeons as usual, and to get most items, you merely need to solve one puzzle on a random island.

So, that was sad, but the game is so damn fun and fighting is the best of any so far.

Overall, though, Link to the Past reigns supreme, IMO.

I just read an interview yesterday about why they cut dungeons out of the game. Short answer: so it could be finishable by all players in a reasonable amount of time. I for one didn't think it was too short by any means, though they could have cut down the overall mapsize in trade for another dungeon or two... but as you said, it still stands as one of if not the best game i've ever played. Masterful.

That's quite interesting. I chalk that up, once again, to being too aimed at the younger audiences. That disappoints me in another way. If I had played this game straight without a large break for schoolwork in the middle, it would have taken about a week at the rate I was going. That's not very long in my mind.

I should add that I didn't get everything in the game. Hell, I didn't get nearly all the heart pieces. I only ended up with three hearts in the second row, so I'm sure there are a lot more out there. I got through the whole final stage and final fight with Ganon and only used 2 fairies (I had another and a bottle of soup). That rounded off what I thought was an extremely easy game.

But I will admit, it was incredibly fun. That's why I'm so mad that it was over so quickly.

Now that I think about it, what you say makes a lot of sense. That would explain why there are a couple islands with one very small dungeon (often one room), which only serve the purpose of obtaining items or weapons. They probably wanted to turn those into full dungeons at one point. There are also some islands that seem to serve absolutely no purpose (most of those square-shaped islands with dots in the middle, if you know what I'm talking about).

I dunno how much you were playing it daily, but it took me WAY over a week playing it almost every night from around 8 to 2am. I did get almost everything in the game however, except the photos of everything. It was starting to get too long. Actually, it was more repetative than long. I was just tired of sailing around doing the same thing. If i had to play the wind waker song to change wind directions one more time i was going to kill something.

The "dice" islands were kinda random, they mostly held treasures and triforce shards.

More dungeons would have been cool, but game makers are always doing damage control and making comprimises so that they'll be able to make more games in the future. Can't have it all.

I'd have to say my feeling toward the game is pretty much the same as what you guys have said... It was great fun while it lasted. However, I am glad it wasn't too much longer. I felt it was long enough to make me feel I got my moneys worth, but not so long as to bore me. Should I feel a need for more, I can always got back and fine all the other stuff. Boy, is there a lot of stuff...

The development of game content is getting to the point that we'll be seeing linear games becoming shorter. Hopefully this will result in the leveraging of less scripted, more dynamic game play...