For context, I got a Switch 2 back in February and am playing games that I missed out on growing up because I never owned them on my GameCube or Wii. Primarily, those games are all the 3D games in the Zelda series. I had never played them and am going through them for the first time. I started with Skyward Sword HD, then Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and now Wind Waker, all on the Switch ports. I wrote reviews for OoT and MM (which I'll link at the bottom for those interested), and for my own entertainment, I will continue doing so for the Zelda games I complete. My format will stay the same as my other reviews, where I give my prior knowledge of the game, things I liked, things I didn't like, and things I'd change (if any).
The main things I knew going into the game were that the art style was different (and controversial at the time). I grew up during the era of cel shading, so it doesn't bother me now, but I can see how the drastic shift could've thrown people off at the time. I knew there was a lot of sailing and that Ganondorf's character model was VERY large (and he was). The sniffer on that man knows what he's having for dinner next week. I also knew Zelda was a pirate, so the "big" Tetra-is-Zelda twist wasn't some huge reveal to me, but I don't imagine it was for many people at the time because they didn't necessarily try to hide it.
Things I Liked: Just like the other games I have played through, the music was 15/10. My favorites were Dragon Roost Island and Molgera Battle. I don't imagine that's an original opinion, though. The combat in WW is my favorite between it and the two N64 games. I separate Skyward Sword because that combat is such a drastic departure from standard video game combat. The combat felt very smooth, and the new parry mechanic was fun to use. Did I just spam B most of the time? Yes, but it was still fun. Z-targeting was still an issue for me from time to time, but that could've been user error. The Molgera fight might be my favorite boss fight across the four games I've played, and not just because of the music. The fight was intense, and I enjoyed having to constantly be aware of where Molgera was so I didn't reenact the Sarlacc Pit scene. Puppet Ganon and Ganondorf were both great. It took me a minute to figure out the Puppet Ganon mechanic about shooting the tail with the Light Arrows only because it wasn't something you could Z-target, so I ignored it for over half an hour while cutting the strings and trying to figure out the first phase. The actual fight against Ganondorf was phenomenal. It was cool from a story perspective working together with Zelda to defeat him. I don't know if that's a recurring theme in future installments, but I hope to see that happen again. I thought this version of Ganondorf was very interesting because of the depth his character received compared to OoT. I genuinely let out an audible gasp when Link landed the final blow between Ganondorf's eyes. I did not expect that, and it made me want to double-check the ESRB rating because I've never seen an E-rated game have a character death scene like that. One of the biggest things I liked was that there wasn't a fairy in my ear constantly telling me to listen. I know King Daphnes interrupted from time to time, but it wasn't constant. That was nice. Overall, there were a lot of things I liked. The visuals, music, and story were all very good.
Things I Did Not Like: Starting out, I had some of the same issues that keep me from fully enjoying Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. Sailing in one direction for 3-5 minutes at a time slowed the pacing of the game considerably. I explored as much of the world as I could naturally while still focusing on the main story, but I felt like there could've been more islands to discover. At times the world felt a little empty since there was mainly one island per square on the map. The combat while sailing was annoying and frustrating to me to the point where I eventually stopped engaging with it. Having to sail into position, take down the sail, pull out the cannon, then line up a shot just felt like a lot. More often than not, by the time I almost had a shot lined up, I'd get knocked off the ship and have to start over. Maybe I was doing something wrong, but that part of the game simply wasn't fun for me. Launching between the Boko Buds was sometimes inconsistent, but again, that could've been something I was doing wrong. Getting the Deku Leaf made that much easier, but that initial climb up the Deku Tree was frustrating for about ten minutes. I was surprised there wasn't some big reunion shown between Link, his sister, and their grandmother. I thought the grandmother would play a bigger role in the story, but she was mostly just taking a nap the whole time. When I first started playing, I was shocked that the X-axis was inverted while looking around. I immediately changed that setting, which later affected me while playing songs. I just had to remember to mentally flip the left and right notes. My least favorite boss was Jalhalla. It just felt tedious chasing down and defeating all the Poes. The third phase of Puppet Ganon was also frustrating, but that's mostly because of how difficult and unpredictable it was rather than because I disliked the fight itself. Another small thing I questioned was that the bosses didn't get cinematic name introductions. It's minor, but I appreciated those in the previous games I played. I later learned the photographer tells you the bosses' names, but I would've preferred if the game simply introduced them at the start of each fight. Another minor complaint is that I got stuck on Windfall Island for quite some time because I didn't realize you had to stand in a specific spot before talking to the Eskimo-looking guy in order to buy the sail. I spent a long time talking to everyone on the island. I even started and completed some side quests because I assumed that was how I progressed. Nope—I just had to stand about 3 feet to the left before talking to him. The hint for finding the sages was also so vague that it was basically no hint at all. The King of Red Lions just said, "Don't you recognize that instrument?" My response was, "No?" That ended up taking me quite a while to figure out. There wasn't anything major that I hated. If I had to pick one thing, it would simply be the water combat for the reasons I mentioned earlier.
Things I Would Change: I kind of got into most of this in the previous paragraph. I'd make small improvements like allowing the sail and cannon to be used simultaneously, adding boss names at the beginning of each fight, and including a few more islands to explore instead of just one per map square. I'd also add another song or two while sailing. Sometimes the music would play, and sometimes it wouldn't. Having a little more musical variety could've made those long sailing sections more engaging. I also felt like there weren't as many dungeons compared to the previous games. It seemed like many of the smaller mini-dungeons from OoT and MM were replaced by the wooden submarines, which usually amounted to "defeat these enemies to get a reward." The Triforce Shard fetch quest was fine, I guess, but I think it could've been more interesting.
The part where I got stuck the longest was figuring out how to reach the island that held the Fire and Ice Arrows. I believe I was stuck there for two days before finally defeating Cyclos and learning the song. It wasn't until this point in the game that I learned the fish out in the ocean were how you filled in the map.
Overall, I really, really enjoyed this game. I don't know how I'd rank the four Zelda games I've played so far because there are parts of each one that I really enjoy while also having criticisms of each. I'm open to any discussion about the game or things I may have missed in this review.
The next Zelda game I have lined up is Breath of the Wild – Switch 2 Edition, which I'm really looking forward to. The next game would be Twilight Princess, but I'm not paying $100+ and will just wait for Nintendo to announce that they're porting it over.
If you want to read my reviews of OoT and MM, the links are below.
OoT: https://www.reddit.com/r/OcarinaOfTime/comments/1srmxzz/i_just_played_for_the_first_time_im_prepared_to/
MM: https://www.reddit.com/r/majorasmask/comments/1uiui7r/my_review_after_playing_for_the_first_time/
