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Ranking the Zelda games...


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http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/07/guide_the_best_zelda_games_-_every_legend_of_zelda_game_ranked

 

I wouldn't go through all of them personally but....

 

1: A Link to the Past.

That game just infatuated me.  Mode 7...  Music...  Story....  Light and Dark World....  And its also easy to replay.... too m any of the new games take too long to go all the way through.

 

2: TLoZ

Obviously the first game had me hooked on the series as a whole.  The dungeons...  The shops....   The secrets....  The music.... The 2nd Quest....   The 2nd Quest shortcut.

 

After that it gets kind of muddled for me in terms of ranking the games I had played.  LoZII would probably be my least favorite even if I did enjoy its differences and improvements and expansion of the original idea.

 

Minish Cap was a strong entry for me as I loved the large/small concept aspect.  I liked the story behind the Master Sword in it.

 

The Oracle games were fun but I kind of got stuck and got to where I lacked motivation.

 

 

As far as the 3D Zeldas go......  personally, while I do play them, and for the most part I do like them.  I found their game designs to be more chore than anything else.

 

OoT was pretty cool with its aspects.

MM was definitely darker and odd ... IMO it was kind of like the 3D Zelda game equivalent to Zelda II.

Twilight Princess ( / HD remake ):  I liked a lot of the elements in it and playing as Wolf Link was cool but IMO, it really needed more Mida/Zant dark realm action.

Skyward Sword: I really liked exploring the world and finding stuff but the repetitive nature of having to cover the same areas multiple times really started wear on me.

BotW: I enjoyed the break in convention.  I thought the graphics were amazing.  The exploration and puzzle solving was top notch.  I think for replayability  I would have to decide how much it would be worth it to go for all the shrines again.

 

The DS Zeldas were a mixed bag for me.  I liked Phantom Hourglass a lot but the end game of that dungeon and having to keep going through it like you had to was annoying.  I tried really hard to get into Spirit Tracks but the forced mic usage for playing the instruments soured me on it with some stuff not registering like it should that I bailed on the game.

 

A Link Between Worlds was pretty legit.  My only thing was though that I kept having that mental break between it and A Link to the Past and the world maps LOL.

 

Wind Waker, for all the hate it got back in the day, I really loved with the expressive, cartoon like graphics and the character animations really brought the whole thing home.  I think most of the hate towards it was it got revealed as the next game was going realistic and then the next time its seen it goes to cartoon / cell shaded graphics.  The shock ticked people off.

Edited by purple_beard
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It really depends for me, how much I put into nostalgia and having great memories with these games. For instance, I appreciate MM for its atmosphere, the time it came out (during the fall) and the time period where me and my friends would rent/play it. But there are also things about MM I don't like. 

 

As far as the best 3D Zelda or even overall Zelda for me, I guess Breath of the Wild? Though, I feel like OoT, even TP had better stories/characters. Nothing against the characters in BoTW though, they were good. Also, while I loved BotW for its exploration, I did miss traditional dungeons. 

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this got extremely out of hand but lengthy rants about Zelda games on a forum really brought back some 2000s nostalgia lmao.
order within tiers doesn't matter that much

Godlike Tier

A Link to the Past: Fantastic dungeon design, smooth mechanics, well-balanced challenge, and a wealth of areas to explore even though it eventually resulted in the trend of horrible linearity with Ocarina.

Breath of the Wild: Almost everything I've ever wanted out of a Zelda game. Never thought Nintendo would actually do anything like it.
Huge world to get lost and fuck around it like the original Zelda, but with a modern game's scale. They absolutely aced the world part.
I love the chucking of the same tired melodies to focus on ambient overworld music. Though they still remixed a few. It's really beautiful at times (like night on a horse) and emphasizes how the music picks up when you're in danger. Kakariko was phenomenal, too.
More shrines could have been more interesting and varied, because stuff like the island and maze were great.
Dungeons didn't need to be themed for the hundredth time but definitely could have been more varied.



Link's Awakening: Nearly everything that's good about Link to the Past. Dungeons not quite as memorable, but still solid.
The world was smaller for obvious technical reasons, but it had a lot of character.
The Marin moments are really cute and it's sad that Nintendo shied away from stuff like that in the future.
Probably the most charming world in a Zelda game.

Pretty Damn Fun Tier

Majora's Mask: I love this game's aesthetics and the focus on following the characters' lives in the 3-day period.
Super cool presentation and concept.
I think the time mechanic is super neat and my first playthrough (which, to be fair, wasn't as a kid) I never ran out of time with the half-speed song.
Held back a bit by how cryptic some of the sidequests and dungeon solutions are. Dungeons I made through without a guide, but quests were really tough.
I didn't wanna look up a guide so I had to give up after a while on those lol

Wind Waker: This game oozes personality and I love the counter system. The fluidity of its controls are a definite boon.
Dungeons were too easy and had the same problems as other 3D Zeldas.
Sailing didn't bother me but needed more interesting islands to be worthwhile.
This is the game that made me fantasize about what an actual open world new Zelda would be like when I was in high school.
Triforce pieces were probably cryptic but I used a guide when it first came out so I didn't struggle with that experience lol.
Basically it's everything outside of what people normally like about 3D Zelda that made me appreciate this game.

You fucking stab Ganondorf in the head and watch him turn to stone let's fucking gooooo

Oracle of Seasons: not as charming or memorable as Link's Awakening, but entertaining throughout.
Pegasus seed shenanigans and animal bros made exploring the overworld a lot of fun. Rings were cool but too cryptic.
The world was neat and it was cool to see it match the high standards for Zelda music.
The mechanic to be able to attack the final boss was out of fucking left field and the game had a couple other frustrating "how would I think of that" scenarios
 

Legend of Zelda:  Gets shit for being NES-cryptic and annoyingly restrictive (bombs), but I still really enjoy this game.
I used guides here and there but solved a lot of it myself too. The non-linearity/openness was way fun and ahead of its time.
People who trash this game often use AVGN-level exaggerations like you have to burn every bush on every screen oh my fucking god
even though that's moronic and the game often makes the hidden overworld spots at least somewhat conspicuous. (dungeon walls get no excuse)
Stuff that juts out a bit or sits separate in some way often lead to secrets. The ones that don't are fine because you don't need to find but so many hearts.
Being able to choose potions over hearts is a mean trap, though, and the bad hint translation was really unfortunate.
I could consider putting this a tier lower but I fully admit concept and nostalgia weigh heavily for me here.

Four Swords Adventures: I didn't get to play through a lot of this but the concept is sick and I had a lot of fun with what I did.
From what I've seen of the game, I'm pretty sure it's consistently fun.

A Link Between Worlds: I've only seen it on stream but the dungeon design and wall mechanic both look great.
I would have played it in 2013 if my 3DS hadn't been stolen.
Seemed to really get down the aspects of ALTTP that made that game so fun. I can't put it in that tier without more hands-on experience, though.
Link sounds like a bird in this game for some reason idk what the hell is up with his voice

Microwaved Pizza Tier
 

Ocarina of Time: It's place in history made it really cool at the time but it's mind-numbingly slow.
The dungeons have really great atmosphere but are boring. I hate 3D Zelda dungeon design's stupid eyeball shit.
Majora de-emphasizing the dungeons and having more unique mechanics helped a ton compared to this.
The world looks big but there's nothing to do. Every hole's the same useless room, and poes and skulltulas are really lame.
Completely devoid of anything charming to make you look forward to progressing.
I get bored of this game some time after beating the Forest Temple every time I play it. I've seen the rest loads of times but it hasn't changed anything for me.
I will say it's a pretty cool speedrun. But mostly just due to how broken it is.

Twilight Princess: Ocarina 2.0 - twice as boring as before!
In case Ocarina didn't drag enough for you, here's a 2-hour intro town with boring characters, and annoying time wasters like stopping the game every single time you pick up a god damn rupee worth any value. It's one thing if it's a 200 or came out of a chest but jesus christ.
Has lots of edgy darkness but so dull that it didn't even hold my attention when I was 14/15, which is the exact age that kind of shit is actually effective.
Like you're gonna let me play a wolf but make me spend all my time digging for shit and have the fighting just be a target system? tongue;

Skyward Sword: I haven't played but from everything I've seen it follows the same Ocarina reboot trend.
Seems to have the most obnoxious partner of them all. Forced hand-holding is nothing but cancerous when you're trying to have actually have fun.
I hope we never ever go back to Ocarina games. Good grief.
Tatl was the only decent one because she actually was tied into the story and had a personality, even if simplistic. And talked sparingly.
Also the design aged like milk. Blows me away every time I see cutscene gifs of it on Tumblr. The characters are so ugly holy moly
I don't have a lot to say because I stayed away from this game for good reason.
It is nice that it made the wiimote sword fighting actually work the way it should have worked for years but idk how responsive it actually is. I've heard mixed opinions.

Oracle of Ages: Really should have been as good as Seasons but it drags, most of the dungeons in the second half are more annoying than fun, and it squanders a lot of potential with the time warping mechanic by just not making it that interesting. It should have had a more interesting overworld than Seasons due to that mechanic, but it just doesn't at all. I had to force myself through, which only really happened successfully because I streamed my playthrough.


Month-Old Milk Tier

Zelda 2: Just more frustrating than fun in every aspect. Cool speedrun to watch, though.

Phantom fucking Hourglass:
quote from that website: "Phantom Hourglass was the first exclusive mainline Zelda game on the Nintendo DS, and one which aimed to take full advantage of the touch and dual screens. It achieved that with aplomb, allowing you to take notes, aim your boomerang and arrows, and solve puzzles directly using just the touchscreen."


you mean that's literally the only thing it did at all. the entire game was "draw a boomerang path" or "hit switches in a certain order." or draw a path and wait for sailing. they somehow made the sailing worse. you draw a fucking line and wait but you can't even go take a piss while nothing happens because you get attacked occasionally. and then horrible forced stealth to top it all off. great.
if it didn't have Zelda in the title people nobody would talk about it because it's god damn terrible.
i played almost to the end and remember nothing that was actually fun. not a single thing. i only played because it was the summer and i was bored out of my mind. iirc almost all the bosses were eyeball monsters too. at least i quit after the seventh dungeon had yet another bland eyeball guy and i was just sick of it.
to add insult to injury there's a line in the game where the dev writes directly and says he wonders if he should have made the touch screen controls optional. lmao. this game is complete trash.

Games I haven't bothered with at all

Minish Cap: looks decent but streams of it never made it seem interesting enough to want to try it myself.
Spirit Tracks: wasn't going near this shit after how bad Hourglass was
Triforce Heroes: emulates FSA, right? so i can't imagine it not being fun. a friend of mine was raving about it a few years back, but she also has very different opinions on the franchise than I do.
 

Edited by Pichi
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My favorite Zelda game is probably Phantom Hourglass. I picked the game up out of curiosity for the series back in Summer 2008 I think, and I figured the Nintendo DS wouldn't give me a bad first impression since it had already been the system to introduce me to other IPs like Metroid. What enjoy the most about Phantom Hourglass is how it made use of the DS's hardware. I miss the boomerang track drawing in nearly every other Zelda game I play, because it just feels like I don't have total control of that item. I like the boss design and how they played with the two screens...One of my favorite aspects in games during the Nintendo DS generation was how developers would use both screens to showcase a large threat, such as Gleeok and Eox in this entry. I think the more creative, and my favorites, for the game were Cyclok and Crayk, which revolved around a concept that incorporated both screens i.e. throwing bombs into whirlwinds on the bottom screen and see them launch into the boss on the top screen. The only problems I had with this game was the waiting around during sailing and the Temple of the Ocean King did bore me at times.

 

A Link Between Worlds would be my second favorite just barely behind Hourglass. While not as open as Breath of the Wild, ALBW had a great balance between player freedom and tighter design. I think it's the only Zelda game that I've beaten without any use of an external guide, so my pacing through the game was never really broken up. I believe I beat the game within the first weekend as I just got addicted to the flow of the experience. I have yet to do a replay of the game, and that's part of the reason why I cannot really put it above PH just yet. ALBW is probably my second favorite game for the 3DS.

 

As amazing as Breath of the Wild was for the first 100 Hours, my opinion of the game has been going down since. The game got some help with the Champions' Ballad DLC, but it just feels like I've ran out of the discovery in the game and that's the backbone of BoTW. I don't feel the game's combat system is that solid compared to the two games above as it usually boils down to using the best weapon and dodging for flurry rushes. It's a shame because I think there are a lot of ways to approach an encounter compared to the experience once the player is in the heat of a fight.

 

Fourth would be Ocarina of Time 3D, the only iteration of the game that I've beaten. I love the personality that Grezzo injected into the game's locales when redesigning the classic for the 3DS and I'm glad that they made gyro aiming a feature in such a notable release. I felt this was the best bow mechanics in a Zelda game until Breath of the Wild. If I were to judge OoT off of its easier child years, I would put the game above Breath of the Wild, because my pacing through the game was pretty much perfect there. The adult years was where the game was a bit rocky for me. With the exception of the Forest Temple, I think I was looking for guides to help me through most of the rest of the game. Ocarina of Time ended on the highest note though as I felt like that encounter with Ganondorf matched all the build up.

 

I guess Nintendo thought that Phantom Hourglass was too easy when it came to puzzles that they upped their difficulty in Spirit Tracks. I didn't have a problem with the game's puzzles for a while, but they really picked up after the first few dungeons. The Tower of Spirits gave me a lot of trouble on those last few visits to the point like it felt like I was trying to force my way through the game with guide assistance rather than use a guide for one puzzle. It's my least favorite dungeon in the series as it was repeated and didn't feel like it had any gimmick occurring to make it feel less generic compared to the rest of the game. The microphone use too was hit and miss with the Spirit Flute, which disrupted the pace of the game often since it's a key part of progression.

 

Four Swords Anniversary Edition would be my least favorite Zelda game. It's not a bad game, it just felt too short and more of a time-waster. I played it because it was offered for free rather than out of genuine interest.

 

The rest of the series I either haven't played or haven't beaten/lost interest in playing. Since I've been playing a lot of Federation Force, I do have an urge to play The Wind Waker since Reggie drew a comparison with those two games' announcements.

Edited by IU
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17 hours ago, IU said:

As amazing as Breath of the Wild was for the first 100 Hours, my opinion of the game has been going down since. The game got some help with the Champions' Ballad DLC, but it just feels like I've ran out of the discovery in the game and that's the backbone of BoTW.

100 hours before you started to get bored and that's a bad thing? psyduck;

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4 minutes ago, Pichi said:

100 hours before you started to get bored and that's a bad thing? psyduck;

 

Honestly though, I get where he's (?) coming from on that one....

 

After doing all 100 Shrines before I beat the game and the town building exercise at that meant nothing to me really nor the final house building...  I was basically done....  The DLC packs didn't mean much to me as I had already beaten the game before they had arrived to play and most of their benefits meant little to me by that point.  Pack 2 with new Shrines and what not did tempt me....but my $20 is still in my pocket.

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33 minutes ago, Pichi said:

Even if you don't like all the content in a big game, I can't imagine going "my opinion has lowered" if I enjoyed a console game for 100 hours. 
Like what's the cutoff nowadays? lol

 

SUiKmXT.png

 

I have a hard time ranking the Zelda games too, especially since some I've replayed repeatedly and some I've only played once, so this is only in the barest, loosest order:

 

Ocarina of Time

Still one of my favorite games ever. Incredible music, some great dungeon designs, and a fun world to explore, even if it is quite bare by today's standards.

 

A Link to the Past

Like a lot of Super Nintendo games ALttP took everything the original NES game did and did it better. I love the pixel art and dungeons, and I really need to get around to replaying it on the SNES Classic.

 

Breath of the Wild

Still quite new obviously but few other games made 100 hours of playtime just disappear like this one. Not just a great twist on the Zelda formula but a great take on open-world gameplay too.

 

Twilight Princess

At release it felt way too much like Ocarina of Time but upon replaying it I'm really impressed with the dungeon design in this one.

 

Majora's Mask

Possibly the best world-building in any Zelda game? It helps that the world is fairly small but MM made talking to townspeople/watching their lives play out engaging and interesting.

 

Link's Awakening

The devs did a lot with the limitations of the GameBoy hardware, and still made a really solid Zelda game that reflects all of the great game design of ALttP.

 

Wind Waker

Great sense of exploration, and possibly the best version of Ganondorf. The HD version made some vital improvements here with the swift sail, though.

 

Skyward Sword

I never had the problems with the controls that a lot of people complain about; I actually quite liked the sense of puzzle-combat that comes from precise sword swings.

 

A Link Between Worlds

Item rental is a neat idea and in a way feels like a progenitor to BotW's total dungeon-order freedom. This is one that I feel like I really ought to play again to cement my thoughts on, but I did love the return to ALttP's Hyrule.

 

Minish Cap

A solid Zelda game that doesn't really stand out in my memory.

 

Oracle of Ages/Seasons

Same as above, and also why I think of them as a unit. I've only ever played them back to back so it kind of just feels like one long game to me.

 

Tri Force Heroes

Personally I don't even think of this as a mainline Zelda game since it really feels more like a spin-off but since it's normally included in lists like this I'll say it's a fun spin-off but doesn't compare to the classic single-player adventures.

 

The Legend of Zelda

Respect for starting the whole series but I don't really enjoy revisiting the original. It just kind of feels outdated.

 

Phantom Hourglass

Another game that I just don't remember super well. The touch controls were novel and fun but it's not something I'm dying to see return.

 

Spirit Tracks

I'm pretty sure I mostly enjoyed the game upon release but thinking back now all I can remember is how annoying the pan flute was to play.

 

Zelda II

Points for trying something different, but man just getting through the game feels like a slog. I'd really like to see a modernized remake though, kind of like Metroid II: Samus Returns.

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Top three in no particular order:

Breath of the Wild - Honestly one of my favorite videogames ever made.  It's not perfect and does have its share of problems (clunky obtuse Nintendo menus and interface like cooking and equipment, shallow story content and a lack of driving force even by the series' standards) but the fact that the game gives me the option to subvert or ignore these problems entirely while what it set out to do it does almost perfectly makes me overlook most issues I have with it.  Over 160 hours and two playthroughs later I'm still in love with it.

Link's Awakening - The first game I played growing up that had any sort of story that unsettled me or made me sad/uncomfortable, while the gameplay is tight as Hell, well-paced and doesn't overstay and wear out its welcome.

Majora's Mask - Wholly unique and there really hasn't been any game like it since.  The pinnacle of the series in storytelling while creating a world you get attached to and invested in.

Hot takes:

Windwaker once you get past the gorgeous presentation, great characters and interesting story is a pitifully easy, extremely tedious, and poorly paced Zelda game.  Its strengths like its interesting dungeons and massive world to explore are actively worked against by low difficulty and monotonous exploring.  Gameplay-wise I think it's bar none one of the worst 3D Zelda games to play through.

Twilight Princess is dull as shit, unadventurous, and a complete slog for half the game.

Skyward Sword actually has good motion controls, a fantastic aesthetic, some of the best puzzles in the series, and some of the best combat in the series.  The issues with the game lie elsewhere in being ridiculously linear, confining, and completely lacking any sense of replay value.

A Link to the Past is bland and outdated at this point but still a good game.

Phantom Hourglass was a decent to good game hampered with questionable and outright stupid design choices.

Zelda 2 aged better than Zelda 1.

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10 hours ago, Pichi said:

100 hours before you started to get bored and that's a bad thing? psyduck;

It's a bad thing because I have very little desire to replay the game. Usually, if I reach 100+ hours, I become addicted to a game and the playtime starts to really add up. Every other game I've played 100+ hours typically gets another quicker than the days it took to get the first 100 hours. I just hit a wall when I got around 112 shrines and then again after I finished the Champions' Ballad. It's not a bad game, I'm just not going to rank it over two games I've had a genuine interest in replaying entirely through. PH has three playthroughs and I give games credit if they keep me entertained with their content after the initial completion.

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Replayability is overrated.  Experiences can be still be memorable even if you don't want to go back to them, some games do what they set out to accomplish with one playthrough and that should be enough.  This over-emphasis on bloat in games to prolong or encourage replay value is stupid.

I can't believe I'm saying this in reference to a sandbox game.

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I loved BotW for what it was and what it aimed to be....  probably one of my favorite 3D Zeldas in terms of exploration and game mechanics.  But, in not being the speed runner, and not being an expert on game play I think any replay I would do would still consist of doing all 100 Shrines again .... and to have the time to redo parts of the game just isn't there for me.  That is one reason it would move down on the list..... its not as pick up and play/replay as some others but I did enjoy it quite a bit.

 

I liked OoT as much as the next guy but I was never the one with the hard on for it being the greatest game of all time either.

 

I didn't get around to playing MM till last year and I liked the darker tone and some of its differing elements from OoT.  I still find its forced time manipulation mechanic a cheap way to extend game play.  But the expanded upon mask transformation idea was pretty well thought out IMO.

 

Wind Waker's time spent out on the ocean was a great idea in terms of exploration and what not, but the time spent sailing was also kind of sleep inducing.  And the game just felt like they didn't put in all the dungeons they should have.  At that was a complaint leveled at the game at the time as well.  Supposedly the limited dungeons were a function of the limited ability of the mini-dvds and the GC hardware in terms of the game doing more.

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3 hours ago, luca said:

Replayability is overrated.  Experiences can be still be memorable even if you don't want to go back to them, some games do what they set out to accomplish with one playthrough and that should be enough.  This over-emphasis on bloat in games to prolong or encourage replay value is stupid.

I can't believe I'm saying this in reference to a sandbox game.

Where did I say Breath of the Wild isn't memorable? I said I got bored with it once I felt I had discovered most of the game's content. I could go and grind to max out all the armor sets, but that isn't something I find all that interesting. I don't think doing so would provide any significant change to how BoTW plays. If Breath of the Wild had a better combat system, mainly more viable options in the heat of battle or just more varied enemies in mechanics, I think I would have already gone back to do Hard Mode. Breath of the Wild didn't necessarily have to keep adding in new areas to keep my interest if it had more engaging gameplay. There's a lot of running, climbing and gliding around with no reward, and when it comes to most battles it's strongest weapon and dodge for flurry rushes. That's what the game has come to for me at 150 hours.

 

A game that I only play through once generally will not be rated above a game I've played through multiple times if they are within the same series, because the latter generally is the game I feel has more engaging gameplay.

Edited by IU
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In all seriousness, though:

 

*Zelda 1: Didn't play it until the week before Skyward Sword came out. Enjoyed it despite its primitiveness, which is more than I can say about Metroid 1.

*Adventure of Link: Haven't played.

*Link to the Past: I can appreciate it for what it brought to the series, but feel that later games did it better.

*Link's Awakening: A seagull is fine too.

*Ocarina of Time: First exposure to the series outside of Smash. I don't know if I'd call it my favorite, but I definitely appreciate the impact it made on the series.

*Majora's Mask: I find all the fan-theories about the game to be more fun than the game itself.

*Oracle of Ages/Seasons: Slightly prefer Seasons, but both are great games that do a good job of expanding upon Link's Awakening.

*Four Swords/Adventures: Have only played through the single-player modes because I have no friends.

*Wind Waker: Loved the story and character interactions; didn't care for sailing.

*Minish Cap: Short but sweet.

*Twilight Princess: Some of the most fun dungeons in the series; sadly mitigated by the fact that most of the cool items become useless after their respective dungeon.

*Phantom Hourglass: HATED the Temple of the Ocean King, liked some of the puzzles and felt that sailing was handled better than Wind Waker. Linebeck best companion.

*Spirit Tracks: Fixed most of the problems with Phantom Hourglass. Unironically liked traveling by train.

*Skyward Sword: HATED the constant repetition of plot points and being interrupted every time I picked up an item after turning the game off, but loved the combat, character interactions, and some of the puzzles.

*Link Between Worlds: I barely remember anything about this game. Would probably enjoy it more if I had grown up with Link to the Past.

*Tri-Force Heroes: Watched TheRunawayGuys Let's Play of it. Didn't look as good as Four Swords Adventures.

*Breath of the Wild: Don't care for weapon durability, but love just about everything else.

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