Ok, here we go. At the end of last year I  wanted to try playing a Zelda game I hadn't tried yet! I have picked up and restarted Ocarina of Time 3DS too many times I wanted a fresh insight to the series, a game series so many friends and fellow gamers love themselves. I needed to know why! ...Plus I've bought my partner tickets to see the symphony concert and I'll feel like an impostor if I go!

So I picked Wind Waker! I had it for free with Mario Kart 8 or something, it looked totally different to ocarina and so many of my friends, who are huge Zelda fans, have said it looks beautiful. They just love the graphics and art style. Surly there is more to this game then its looks. I do admit it is a lush game, why it needed a HD remake I'm unsure but it is lovely either way! But no one had commented on the game play.

First Boss: Auto Target Mishaps

I feel like the first boss was highly unfair and misleading. Links auto target mechanic was pretty frustrating this whole game but I lived with it. I relied on the target system a lot when I played holding down ZL so Link would aim/camera focus at my enemies one at a time or risk aimlessly swiping at the air in an awkward camera view! When an enemy is nearby an arrow appears above their head letting the player know you can attack this guy and initiate the target focus. Frustrating when you're in a room full of enemies and you are aiming for a specific fool but mostly handy.

So when the first boss constantly has an arrow above his eye, I felt this was pretty cheeky. Maybe I'm not the most observant player, and you can blame me all you like, but this felt like it was guiding me towards my objective. The game is telling me this is what I should aim for and it turned out: nope. I got stuck on this for ages until I clicked I should be aiming for the dragon tail in the ceiling! Which involved going into first person view and aim for it with your rope. This was a pain when you are constantly being attacked by the main boss switching you out of first person view and having to start again and realign your shot.

Didn't feel like much fun and man was it hard for me. This first boss felt really intense and i was thinking “Am I expecting some kind of twist like this for each boss?”. Luckily it wasn't too bad for the rest of the game but I did not reach the final boss so who knows!

Guiding the Player: #SendHelp

Let's stick with the first dungeon again. There is a room with a bridge and we need to get under it. You'll see in the video below, I was hoping for an example of how it's done but even they manage to glitch the game. You're supposed to break the bridges ropes with your sword or burn it with the flaming stick. At the time, I'm sure I had never come across this before. I had not once in the game used my sword to break ropes. There is however an enemy strategically placed on the bridge, I assume so you can break the ropes as you attack him...but during my adventures I had fallen off enough platforms with the clunky controls to find a safer option to lure him off the bridge. It didn't cross my mind to try using my sword here. Instead I left the room looking for another way you get down there (which I should have seen there was no option but at this point I struggled with the map...not the game's fault but still wasted time frustrated and lost).

So I finally get down there and after this point I reached a platform that required a spin attack to break more ropes but at the same time. The only indication to this was a swirl on the platform. My quick thought process made me try to slash each rope individually, like the bridge, but none of them cut on a first try so I assumed these ropes were different...again, nothing in the game before this point indicated a swirl = spin attack...unless it was in the manual, heh.

I felt like these conventions could have been taught much earlier on instead of mid dungeon. I don't want huge text pop ups saying "do X by doing y" but subtly points in game teaching me these conventions in safe places would have been much nicer. Maybe I wasn't observant enough and i understand the game is trying to make you think for yourself but not all of us can make that connection from the start. Maybe my designy brain made me think “well I haven’t seen this before why even try it”. I didn’t grow up with Zelda conventions so maybe I was relying on my other game experiences too much.

Too many tools/mechanics & going long times without playing

This game has a lot to it in terms of mechanics, I mean Link has so many tools at his disposal. I didn't finish the game, I was told I was right at the end, but even then I felt they weren't done teaching me new things. Ok maybe they were...but I was still getting to grips with everything in my inventory already! This could partly be my own fault! I occasionally went long breaks between play sessions. Sometimes due to frustration but mostly because I was busy. So at times I did forget that I really did have all these tools. It did feel like the focus on one cool tool was masked by handing out a new one so soon afterwards. It's not always a great choice to drown players with so many new play things.

A lot of the time I forgot how a tool worked or that even had it. Here is an example of how unobservant I am and why these many tools didn't help. I received the iron boots on ice ring isles, way before I need to use them on Gale islands... So when I reach this button below I've already forgotten what the heck I’m doing with it...even though I’ve just used these boots to enter the island! Knowing me i probably used the boots but had to return at a later time because i didn't meet the requirements of future blocks. I know a convention of zelda games it you usually receive a new tools to enter this dungeons/during this dungeon and this is usually your main tool. when I looked at this button I had no idea what to do (long time without playing most likely) so my partner told me it looked like feet, which I raged at but made the connection with the heavy boots.

Fish Aren't Important

When I play games I try to figure everything out by myself even though, as you can see by now, I’m terrible at games! When someone keeps saying "go over there" or "do this!" I make them sit in the other room! However I felt overwhelmed after that first dungeon! So I took my partners advice: "the fish aren't that important..."which meant i gullibly didn't bother with most of the fish! If you've played this game you know how important these slippery talking fish are! I mean they reveal the map after all!

To be fair, the game mostly guided me to grid spaces I needed to go. So I usually looked for fishy at these points. There reached a point in the game where 2 waypoints sat on my map! However once I travelled to each one I was blocked. I couldn't progress... sailing and sailing I did not want to give into the walkthrough. My partner told me what I needed but I wanted the game to tell me! But there was nothing... until the fish!!

So I've just been rereading a walkthrough and familiarizing myself with what each fish actually says and you know what. If i'd had read these at the time it would have been so much easier darn it...DON'T LISTEN TO BACKSEAT GAMERS GUYS.

Super bad on my part, the game had a hint system built into it but it took a little exploration. These fish did feel a bit disconnected to each island but it’s just the game's way of making you work more. Oopsy.

Conclude: Not completely the games fault

There were many parts to the game which had flaws like it’s clunky controls, weird camera angles and guiding players with new mechanics and uses of tools. However a lot of the time it was mostly down to me noticing a lot of the game. I discussed with a friend awhile back that as adults we have such little times for games these days. We want to play! But sometimes being an adult means we only have short play sessions so we try and speed our way through games without even noticing. He particularly noted the part in ocarina of time where you had to listen for music to guide you. However a lot of my friends love taking their time and slowly figuring things out in games...yet they were younger when they played zelda games...just sayin. A lot of us have different play styles and i just think mine did not match Wind Waker at this time. I think if i’d maybe played this during a holiday i would have been able to immerse myself more and really pick up on the connections i didn't make.