Veknoid_Outcast on 18 November 2018
| Runa216 said: Wind Waker: Most timeless art design, still looks good today (Something other Zeldas outside of Breath of the Wild can't say.) Most fluid and impactful combat One of the best soundtracks with possibly the single best song in Zelda (The Great sea) Best writing/characters of any zelda game OOT has more iconic imagery and LTTP has the most dungons with BOTW having the biggest world with the most content, but overall Wind Waker wins in the most categories without any significant downsides. BOTW is a close second (Even though I liked it more than Wind Waker). As for the main series, my favorites go Link to the Past, Breath of the Wild, then Wind Waker, all three of them getting 9.9, 9.7, and 9.6 scores. OOT is a good game and super important to the history of gaming but it hasn't held up very well (Neither has Twilight Princess but I felt TP was better than OOT). Point is, for overall presentation and quality, Wind Waker is arguably the best. It has the best graphics both for its time and will hold up, it has some of if not the best music in the franchise, it has the most heart and soul by a wide margin with the best facial expressions by far, easily the best story/characters of the franchise buoyed by arguably the best writing and the combat is arguably at its best in Twilight Princess and Wind Waker. Breath of the wild is also quite good but I felt the more refined combat of TP and WW were a better, more refined version of OOT's Z-targeting. Basically, OOT was good but had far too many issues and despite being important is not timeless. TP is just OOT but more refined with prettier graphics. Wind Waker is as timeless as Link to the Past, as refined in combat as any game in the franchise, and has the fewest issues with conveyance. That is not a game in which you'll get lost, like you would with OOT or LTTP. it's the overall best game in the franchise. You're allowed to like other games more but to say it's mediocre or 'just good' is plain wrong. |
I definitely lean more toward you than others in the thread—I'd rank The Wind Waker the sixth best Zelda—but thinking the title is mediocre or good is totally valid. It's all subjective after all.
I do agree the art direction is phenomenal (I was startled by the negative reaction in 2003 and remain surprised today), the music is among the series' best, the combat was the best at the time, and sailing/exploration was a joy, at least for me. The dungeons are unspectacular compared to the greatest of the franchise, but I feel like strong gameplay overrides that issue.
While I don't think WW has the best writing—I'd give that prize to Skyward Sword—I do think it has some of the best, most shocking narrative moments in the history of the series.
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