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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Is it still acceptable to consider The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past an all-time great?

 

Is it still acceptable?

No, gaming needs to move forward. 14 9.86%
 
No, graphics are bad. 6 4.23%
 
I am conflicted. 6 4.23%
 
I am confused. 12 8.45%
 
Yes, but don't tell my wife/GF. 34 23.94%
 
Yes, but I am gay, so... 27 19.01%
 
Scoreboard 43 30.28%
 
Total:142

That wasn't too bad I guess. I've seen better from you though!



                
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Haha, you are funny



RolStoppable said:

Everyone of you should have heard of The Legend of Zelda, and most of you should know about the SNES installment A Link to the Past. It was certainly a great game during its era, but times change and so should our perception of classic video games. Is it still acceptable to consider ALttP an all-time great? I don't think so, and I'll explain why.

The game's introduction is about how the seven sages did their job in the past (I won't go into detail here) which is then followed up by a cut to the present where the sorcerer Aghanim corrupted the King of Hyrule's mind and captured the descendants of the seven sages to break the seal that was put into place in the past. All of the descendants happen to be females, no exceptions. This fact reveals that the developers saw females as the only appropriate sex to fill the victim role, because it is too much of a coincidence for all of the descendants to be female. Meanwhile, the hero of the game is of course male.

The first task in the game is to save the last remaining descendant who happens to be Princess Zelda. She's locked up in the basement of Hyrule Castle. Once you've made your way down there, she doesn't seem to be particularly grateful and instead urges you to hurry up and get to the throne room. Once there, she is quite blunt in telling the hero, "Push the throne. Come on, do it already!" At this early point in the game it's already clear that females do not get portrayed in a sensible manner. They are either helpless victims or nagging bitches.

It doesn't get better once Princess Zelda has been brought to a safe place. The next task is to pay Kakariko village a visit. There you encounter hysterical women who don't ask questions and instead immediately call for the guards before they run off to hide in their houses. Well, of course, it's seemingly not possible for females to behave in any reasonable manner. The picture that the developers paint of women couldn't be further from the truth.

Once the player has obtained the Master Sword and is tasked with saving the helpless maidens from the various dungeons in the world, it's time to abandon all hopes that the female characters in this game would ever see respectful treatment. Every time you save one of the descendants of the seven sages, the hero will be told how awesome he is, how much faith the girls have in him and how much they are looking forward to do absolutely nothing while the hero will go on to do all the work to save the world.

The sexism in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is so rampant and blatant that we as gamers cannot continue to hold this game in high regard. Not only should we be better than this, we need to be better than this. Our medium won't be respected as an art form as long as we keep clinging to the conventions of the past. Conventions which have long been outdated. We must move forward together. If you like A Link to the Past, chances are good that you are a sexist. Don't be like that. Be better than that.

There are a lot of problems with this argument.

First, it is still acceptable to say The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past is an all-time great game simply because it is. Even if it had a terrible story, it would still be one of the best games out there if everything else was the same.

Second, although Nintendo did not have the entire story for the Zelda games planned out and Ocarina of Time was still years away, there is still some things that need to be said about it. First, you claim that it is a huge coincidence that the desendents of the Seven Sages are all female, but who's to say the Seven Sages themselves weren't all female? In the SNES game, they referred to as The Seven Wise Men, but this turned out to be a mistranslation. In the Japanese version, they were always referred to as Sages and their sex was never specified. This was later corrected in the Western release of the GBA version. Even if the Sages weren't all female, most of the time we have seen the Sages throughout the Zelda series, most of them were female, so to have all female desendents isn't too much of a stretch.

Thirdly, you're using the argument because Zelda and the Sages are kidnapped, that must mean the role of the female is to be kidnapped. However, you fail to mention that the KNIGHTS OF HYRULE, THE STRONGEST AND MOST WELL TRAINED MEN WHO ARE ASSIGNED THE TASK OF PROTECTING THE KING all fall under Aghanim's spell. The female characters do not. Is there any sexism towards men here? Is it implied that men are dumber than women? 

Then you go on to complain about the hysterical women in Kakariko village, even though there are other women in the game who don't act that way. So let's say there were two hysterical men instead. Would that be sexist? 

Then you complain that when the females are saved, they do nothing except for thanking the character that saved them. Is there anything wih thanking a hero for saving you? Also, what exactly would they have done afterwards? 

Then there's Zelda's behavior. Given the situation, she was clearly in a hurry. Not to mention, she's much nicer later on.

Finally, Zelda isn't sexist, but it isn't. Men are just as weak as women in that universe. You can argue about how things should have been but keep in mind, it is fantasy, which is why in that game's world it is possible for a young boy who may not have even hit puberty yet to save the entire world, even though Hyrule had an entire army at it's disposal.



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Eh, who cares about all that. Still a fun game regardless.

Though I'm with BraLoD, to be somewhat serious in this thread, Link's Awakening has been stomping ALttP since 1993.



Slarvax said:
Being sexist is wrong now? Oh my.

I think games like Bayonetta and God of War are great. So I wonder wat that makes me, on the bright side I also love Uncharted. Which has the most believable female characters yet in Videogames. Especially Elena in the fourth installment.



Please excuse my (probally) poor grammar

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Mehh.....you can, and should, do better than impersonating Anita. This might be the most boring post I've seen from you



Qwark said:
Slarvax said:
Being sexist is wrong now? Oh my.

I think games like Bayonetta and God of War are great. So I wonder wat that makes me, on the bright side I also love Uncharted. Which has the most believable female characters yet in Videogames. Especially Elena in the fourth installment.

Bayonetta is not sexist.



Vodacixi said:
Qwark said:

I think games like Bayonetta and God of War are great. So I wonder wat that makes me, on the bright side I also love Uncharted. Which has the most believable female characters yet in Videogames. Especially Elena in the fourth installment.

Bayonetta is not sexist.

No game is, really.



If you demand respect or gratitude for your volunteer work, you're doing volunteering wrong.

vivster said:
Vodacixi said:

Bayonetta is not sexist.

No game is, really.

Hmm... are you sure?



Vodacixi said:
Qwark said:

I think games like Bayonetta and God of War are great. So I wonder wat that makes me, on the bright side I also love Uncharted. Which has the most believable female characters yet in Videogames. Especially Elena in the fourth installment.

Bayonetta is not sexist.

Perhaps not but God of War sure is. Besides if entertainment says a lot about a person like think Zelda link to the past is great making you sexist. I can't imagine what Bayonetta makes me. Besides the game is intentionally objectifying woman, unlike OP I am not a SJW and I don't give a crap about that. I think it is humorous in an odd kind of way to strip to summon a demon.



Please excuse my (probally) poor grammar