How Link to the Past Redefined Zelda

[Music] in my video on the original Legend of Zelda I mentioned that while the game is absolutely a landmark title and can be a lot of fun it is inherently flawed and doesn't quite deliver on its core conceit both for the time it was released and for people visiting it today for context a good chunk of its design is quite impressive if you stick to areas where you're most comfortable exploring you'll be able to find your next objectives and the sense of discovery is still there however a lot of the methods of discovering secrets were relegated to the manual for example the game never directly communicates that you can bomb walls or burn bushes once you have that information secrets are slightly less cryptic to uncover although as the game opens up it becomes more and more confusing trying to find everything I could just tell you to complete the dungeons and beat Ganon but The Legend of Zelda is not an easy game and it encourages you to upgrade your arsenal as best you can thus you need to uncover more and that can lead to both excitement and frustration if you'd like to learn more about what I thought of the game you can watch the video by clicking the card on-screen it's important to put the game's conflicted design into perspective though because without those points of contention existing The Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past simply wouldn't be the game that we know today the game attempted to address the cryptic nature of its progression and secrets while refining what made zelda special in the first place to say it succeeded in doing so would be a massive understatement but creating a game like this took a careful reexamination of its predecessor and today we'll be breaking down precisely how Nintendo were able to do this I'm Liam Triforce and this is the Legend of Zelda a link to the past you [Music] the Super Nintendo released in 1991 and Nintendo made it their goal to develop new software in conjunction with hardware this is how super mario world came to be and the team went all out and utilizing the super Nintendos technical capabilities she gave to me he know and the art team were able to draw more detailed sprites koji kondo could use more than eight sounds at once and he also used a plethora of instruments to sell the super Nintendos flexible audio chip Shigeru Miyamoto could finally have his prodigal son ride a dinosaur and yet despite these technical leaps forward Super Mario World shares a lot in common with its predecessor Super Mario Brothers 3 that's because Mario didn't need to be reinvented it had such a rock-solid formula anyone could pick up a Mario game and immediately understand it the interconnected world map with unlockable levels to discover in the addition of Yoshi as an extension of Mario's abilities made for what I believe to be the definitive Mario game other games in the series have their unique merits that make them enjoyable too but at the time Super Mario World did everything it could to be the best damn Mario game it could possibly be during Super Mario worlds development the crack team at Nintendo were all like oh man we're doing a great job with Mario let's give Zelda the same treatment on thus Ness it can't be that hard right this was their first mistake the Zelda series was amidst an identity crisis of sorts the Zelda 1 was an open-ended puzzle box kind of game despite having a recommended route Zelda 2 would bring this recommended route to the forefront but it also carried with it even more cryptic solutions to puzzles and completely different methods of handling progression from the looks of things that seemed like Nintendo needed to rethink the series entirely take what worked in both games and streamline their next Zelda game for all players to enjoy well that's exactly what they did and now let's examine how Link to the Past was able to redefine Zelda the original Legend of Zelda doesn't teach the player anything you have to seek its mechanics out and this can be a good thing and a bad thing for example the sense of discovery is there when you stick to an area you're comfortable with and you uncover your first dungeon on the flipside looking for a specific indistinguishable wall to bomb so you can retrieve a specific upgrade that'll make the game a lot easier doesn't feel nearly as rewarding for Link to the Past the game creates a streamlined sequence that introduces you to the world you'll be immersing yourself in you first awake to a princess pleading for her rescue and your uncle mysteriously heads out from here the game creates a legitimately tense atmosphere which is something that had to be left to the imagination in the original game with so many layers for artwork and animation as well as the multitude of possible sounds at once the thunderstorm outside hyrule castle became one of my favorite settings in the entire series not only was it fascinating at the time but it felt like the start of a real adventure gathering your courage in order to infiltrate the big bad Castle in terms of design it feels like a godsend it breaks down the various things you'll be doing in the game into easily digestible pieces in order to gain access to the castle you'll have to follow the path and lift a bush the game doesn't tell you how to interact with the bush but once you do you'll be subconsciously aware that you can discover things in the overworld by lifting a rock or something sometimes marked by patterns around the rock sometimes not it's a simple idea that's been planted in your brain and the tutorial continues to do this after retrieving your uncle's sword and shield and following in his footsteps you enter what is technically the game's first dungeon in the first room there are two paths for you to take you can either travel up the stairs or fight your first enemy defeating the knight will reward you with five rupees in a chest most people would do this without thinking and that's what makes it a great subtle introduction to exploration a lot of this would be taken in without thinking in terms of your average playthrough but this dungeon has a way of teaching the player how to path find and fight enemies without them even being conscious to it if you've followed this channel for a short while you'll know that I love tutorials like this for example half-life 2 subtly teaches you about its physics and how you can interact with the world as you mess around with dolls on the ground or throw CP officers Pikmin teaches you about its open-ended level design with the forests of hope a considerably smaller level that loops around and acquaints you to many of the game's mechanics with enemies to fight and tasks to clear it's all stuff that the game presents to you and yet it never explicitly tells you what to do sure both games give you the basic controls but they aren't going out of their way to tell you what to do as far as I know the only part of this tutorial that relays information is when your uncle tells you how to perform a spin attack other than that there's no babysitting here and this moment where you are rewarded with rupees for defeating an enemy in your path is a subtle example of how you can benefit from traveling outside of your comfort zone this feeling that Zelda won flourished in creating most of the time but it's being presented in a world that's much easier to traverse for the average player of course we'll discuss why that's so important soon enough as you emerge from the basement and enter the castles for yay you'll notice that there are a lot of paths for you to choose from but there's only one correct way to go however finding that path is what zelda is all about think about it although dungeons in the original game may have had you go all over the place and dungeons in this game even make you think about floors there's still a final boss to meet and an item to collect you're still going for a single objective well I guess two objectives it's about how you find those objectives and Hyrule Castle as a tutorial represents this well there aren't any other rooms to consider when solving the giant puzzle that is a Zelda dungeon instead it's about finding that one staircase amidst a plethora of different paths to take in addition to this you're given a full introduction to the game's revamped combat system if you recall Zelda ones combat only allowed for a flimsy sword thrust in four directions and only if you were at full health could you shoot a beam here we've got eight directions to move in and a wider slash at our disposal the slash covers a decent amount of space and while it's a shame you can't swing in eight directions - I believe the four directions give the combat itself challenge as in you actually need to master sword fighting like a real Knight would it's a small detail but it consistently keeps combat tense and it's once again an unconscious thing you might be surprised to be taking hits from simple enemies late in the game but that's only because combat takes master from timing your sword swings to recovering from a sword clash to blocking arrows with your shield mastery is an important part of every battle this for directional sword swipe would become the standard for combat in 2d Zelda games there's no lock on or mashing the B button there's no parrying system it's just simple mastery once you enter the basement again things get a bit more traditional in this tiny room you're introduced to both dungeon maps and keys they function identically to previous games but I always appreciated how this lone room is enough to convey how you retrieve them it's subtle teachings like these that carry you through the dungeon for example they even teach you how useful throwing pots can be there are two dark nuts walking around near edges here and pots have been placed in such a way that they're basically begging to be thrown most dark nuts go down in one hit when you throw a pot at them and that's a neat fact to learn but what this segment is actually teaching is critical thinking during combat a vital part of Zelda's appeal in this situation you're learning that there are alternative methods of dealing with enemies be it by using items nearby or by completely sneaking around them and this is crucial as when you acquire the boomerang your first instinct will be to try it out against another enemy it's essential in taking down the ball and chain wielding Knight outside of Zelda's self from this point on the game encourages you to apply what you learn as you progress and think outside the box a standard that all games should follow and Link to the Past demonstrates how the player can feel their way around the game within minutes link to the past tutorial balances a brooding atmosphere with subtle tutorials through engaging and focused game design if you haven't noticed the importance of some or all of the stuff I've talked about beforehand that's because the tutorial has done its job you're not supposed to notice what the teaching tools are they should click with you based on natural instincts and subtle clues perhaps with some complex games these text-heavy tutorials are necessity but not in simple games like this Nintendo noticed there was an opportunity to teach the player organically and they took that opportunity when you compare a segment like this to the lack of communication present in most areas of the original game it's like night and day and yet just like that game it doesn't treat you like an idiot but more importantly it doesn't make you feel like an idiot it makes me feel smart and genuinely excited to set out on an adventure this kind of design isn't limited to the first area however the game's teaching tools are as intelligently implemented throughout the game and you're not meant to notice them the idea of Oh a new item let's see how I can use it has been planted in your brain and it plays a part in everything you do for example bombs you get them in Kakariko village and your first instinct will be to blow a hole in those fragile walls by the way Bominable walls can finally be distinguished no longer do we have to use vague clues and guess where we may need to bomb like in the original game instead we find the wall and reap the rewards some may say it's less rewarding this way but I would rather save myself the unnecessary frustration plus it's still a mystery as to what is actually behind those walls some chests a minigame a fairy fountain you never know I could go on for a long time about this this philosophy is present throughout the entire game and in turn the rest of the series the original game almost did this well but not quite so it communicated enough so that common sense could guide you but the rest of the game could cause confusion here everything is crystal clear it allows you to solve puzzles and fight enemies with a feeling of satisfaction and yet it doesn't treat you like you're a useless buffoon to this day Link to the Past opening minutes remain some of my favorites in zelda history now that we've addressed how link to the past sets you up for an adventure why don't we discuss the adventure itself The Legend of Zelda was originally a completely nonlinear game sure the dungeons are numbered and it's recommended that you upgrade your arsenal before blowing a hole in Death Mountain but you can go about solving the game however you like this means a lot of wandering around and putting the pieces together on your own everything in the game can be solved from the moment you turn it on what matters is how are you going to solve it this created an engaging puzzle box experience wherein you comb sections of the map based on whatever equipment you have at your disposal you might find dungeon 2 before dungeon 1 for example you might burn a bush with a candle you found in a previous dungeon and discovered dungeon 8 way before the others again it's all about applying what you've learned unfortunately this approach was not without its problems due to how dependent Zelda 1 is on combat and dungeons you were expected to comb every inch of the world for upgrades like heart containers armor new swords and much more there's a lack of clarity on what you need to do or where you need to go although that wasn't always the case it was inconsistent link to the past is all about rethinking this philosophy what constitutes freedom what defines an adventure of course the miscellaneous problems were going to be addressed but how could they recapture Shigeru Miyamoto's open-ended world of discovery well let's look back at Zelda twos best area the introduction there were two towns you could visit with a small amount of information that would lead you to the game's first and second dungeons the game also required you to visit each dungeon in order to prevent confusion or aimlessness how you go about finding the dungeons in Zelda 2 was where problems arose but as you can see the game was decidedly more linear than its predecessor however it didn't railroad you it asks you to take the clues you've gathered and use them when proceeding towards new dungeons linked to the past is structured a lot like this opening area except the dungeons and themselves are actually marked on your map by the way it feels really good to finally have a detailed map outside of an instruction manual this time around some dungeons can simply be entered upon their discovery but others require some problem-solving to enter and that's where the influence of Zelda twos opening moments is made apparent for example getting into the desert palette after completing the eastern palace you're given the Pegasus boots these rad kicks allow you to charge with his sword out in order to blast through enemies charged into things and generally traverse the world faster there's a use for them that ties into this game's philosophy on tutorials and applying your knowledge in order to progress first off the game never explicitly tells you how you can use the boots it tells you that you can use a charge attack but that's it after experimenting with them for a while you'll find that the desert palace requires a book to get in so where can you find books if you explored Kakariko at least somewhat thoroughly before setting off for the eastern Palace you'd remember that there's a library south of the town square upon entering you'll see a book sitting precariously atop a shelf I'm sure you can guess what they do next the game gives you free rein to play around with the Pegasus boots and then asks you to solve a puzzle using your knowledge of the world and the boots in tandem tasks like these further connect you with the world a world that has more detail than it ever did before it's easier to distinguish where you are and what you can do and this is true in every area as you're venturing through the world you'll notice things that you can't interact with and areas you can't get into as your arsenal expands a seemingly barren and inaccessible over world becomes your playground and since you're running around in it to get from dungeon to dungeon you're further acquainting yourself with it thus you might come by something that was once insignificant but is now a path towards your next dungeon a useful collectible or a necessary upgrade the overworld also allows a great deal of freedom despite the shift in progression from Zelda one to this game if you can find it and there's nothing stopping you from obtaining it you can collect it here's one of my favorite examples I was tipped off to the Zoras flippers being up the river so I traveled as best I could and found the waterfall the flippers cost 500 rupees but after that I could freely explore all bodies of water and Hyrule which opened up so many possibilities for goodies with the flippers I was able to find a new empty bottle and the ice rod all in my own things that aren't required but are very useful and the cool thing is I didn't even know they were there initially the game lets you go wild while the game is perceived as linear its overworld is definitely not it can still feel like a puzzle box just like the first game another great addition that complements the design of link to the past is the way they've changed how you gather heart containers instead of finding entire containers in the overworld you can now freely piece together a new container using pieces of heart linked to the past has hidden 24 of these throughout its overworld and there are a couple of reasons I think they've been in nearly every Zelda game since number one is the freedom they allow depending on where your strengths lie in exploration or just depending on what you notice in the world you can create heart containers at your own pace and in any way you like most of them are rewards for being good enough at assessing your surroundings and using the right items the game first conditions you to this kind of overworld puzzle solving with a quick heart pace and a pitfall in Kakariko but they do lay them out as you progress through the game linearly there's a couple you can find with bombs on your way to the eastern palace there's a lake you can train just south of the Palace by solving an underground dungeon there's a couple you can obtain by utilizing your Pegasus boots and so on you might not notice every single opportunity to grab a piece of heart but they're placed in such a way that a person who decides to railroad themselves when playing the game could still feel intrigued to explore and that's an important balance to strike number two is the genuine feeling of progression and accomplishment they create it feels great to work towards new heart containers because it means having more leeway in combat and you're becoming more familiar with the world around you it's something that stayed consistently exciting ever since link to the past was released and it's something I kind of missed in breath of the wild but nevertheless link to the past initially benefited from the decision to include hard pieces no matter who you are or how you decide to play the game it gives you an excuse to explore and that is awesome perhaps one of my favorite things about finding heart pieces overall is seeing how they intersect with the dark world a parallel to the light world that a genome casts you into the developers got away with saving cartridge space by making the dark world a mere overlay of the light world it works beautifully in design to the dark world is comparatively much more difficult to traverse due to the powerful enemies and lack of reliable paths to take but because the overworld here is filled to the brim with dungeons there are in turn less heart pieces to find and nearly all of them involve travelling between the two worlds enter the magic mirror a tool that allows you to do just that you're introduced to the parallels just before you enter the Tower of Hera and you can use them to position yourself so that when you spawn in the opposite world you'll have a new heart piece essentially there are certain land formations that will be similar between worlds and all you have to do is figure out how warping between worlds will get you the heart piece it's an enthralling bit of gameplay that rewards players for exploring both over worlds that's another thing that the overworld strives in it requires attentiveness from the player I mean some of the examples are obvious and I've touched upon them before but let's take the medallions as an example the quake medallion can be found in the same manner you find heart pieces between worlds as you use the mirror in the Zoras lake you'll see a peculiar circle of stones resting in the water once you throw something in you'll get the medallion the bombo's medallion requires travelling between the two worlds once again so that you can reach what seemed like an inaccessible area at first I'm pretty sure at least two of the medallions are required for entering dungeons but the medallions themselves are actually really powerful magic attacks so it's worth it to seek them out no matter what attentiveness freedom of exploration knowledge of your arsenal memorization things that the tutorial has taught you and things that you are now applying to the overworld as you solve it linked to the Passover world was already designed with such care in detail and is structured in a way that complements both linear and non-linear play styles a hard balance to find but they managed to do it and speaking of which let's talk about the big buildings that reside in the overworld dungeons [Music] previous Elda games were more focused on combat in dungeons than anything else zelda once dungeon layout didn't involve much puzzle solving aside from pushing blocks or bombing into a secret room from time to time instead most rooms would be filled with difficult enemies you couldn't find outside of the dungeons and while that is true about some Zelda games that released afterwards they don't take it to the extent Zelda one does enemies essentially carry the dungeons and that's what made the game challenging you really had to prepare for each dungeon you'd approach and when the overworld design is as cryptic as it can be in some areas the result would be frustration Zelda 2 uses the same philosophy however the dungeons themselves could be the subject of unusually cryptic puzzle solving well puzzle solving a shitty guessing game you decide anyway things needed to change they were already a significant cornerstone in the game they'd test you on your combat abilities and simultaneously improve your dexterity and resourcefulness but in order to maintain their enjoy ability they needed the puzzle solving the overworld allows for mixed with the challenges that new enemies invite another significant part of Zelda ones dungeon design were the items you could find while most of them are used in the overworld to find the next dungeon the first dungeon is noteworthy for giving you two items that you can immediately use the bow and the boomerang you technically don't need to find them to complete the dungeon so they feel like proper rewards for thorough exploration using the boomerang to momentarily freeze enemies in place is hella satisfying Link to the Past takes this idea and runs with it dungeons are built around finding a significant item to progress thus allowing the player to become accustomed to and understand the practical application of each item this detail makes each dungeon engaging and gives you a proper reward to work towards each time to this day it's become a staple of the Zelda series as dungeons rarely deviate from this standard but it isn't the biggest change Nintendo has made to dungeons this time around certain floors have two levels of elevation for more intricate puzzle solving and best of all they can also have proper theming and layout and enemy design no longer we restricted to staring at boring tiles that alternate through flat color palettes and enemies that are just there because the designers felt like they should be there instead we have fully realized dungeons that are distinct and rich for example the desert palace has sand in desert centric hazards like quicksand and sand worms the ice palace functions as you'd expect it to and you'll need the fire rod to melt away certain enemies there's a lot of potential for creative dungeons here thanks to new technology and ideas the first three dungeons felt like mere introductions to what you'll be up against post dark world but they're pretty fantastic in their own right the eastern Palace introduces you to the rhythm dungeons will follow from here central ideas that are carried throughout overlapping floors and level layouts as well as a few puzzle and enemy concepts that are expanded upon throughout the game from here things get wild I remember being so astonished when I had to work my way out of the desert palace through interconnected and open-ended buildings and when one of the paths outside led to a peace of heart exploring outside is something that is tested later on in Skull woods linked to the past is great at following up on concepts the Tower of Hera has you solving puzzles by thinking about the floors above and below you spatial awareness and all that it's an adaptation of what the eastern palace taught you presented in a new context the Palace of darkness could leave you lost if you don't piece together all the branching paths or use the switches effectively which was taught to you in the tower of era and that's the kind of exploration that works best in a Zelda game you need to apply your knowledge of the layout in order to solve it the swamp Palace has you draining the water in the light world so that you can enter in the dark world and the whole dungeon is focused on raising the water levels so that you can access new areas I seem to have a fetish for dungeons with overlapping level design so the swamp Palace is for me speaking of overlapping design can we talk about the den of thieves essentially there are two levels of elevation in the main room it's structured like a maze and you're restricted from entering certain parts of the maze you need to open different rooms in order to access different parts of the maze and it's a pretty incredible subversion of expectations in terms of traversal I loved nearly every dungeon in this game 4 first attempts at creating dungeons this complex Link to the Past continues to impress me in dungeon design and that's because there's so many of them it's easy for me to replay the game due to the sheer variety that awaits with that said there is at least one dungeon that I hate revisiting it's late in the game and it's rather infamous the ice palace a dungeon with potential that is crippled by awful design first off why is this dungeons idea of challenge obnoxiously slippery floors that you barely have control over I always perceive to challenge in video games as testing the players abilities not hindering them by introducing something new and unfamiliar in order to have them relearn the controls it wouldn't be so bad if it was manageable but traversing around copious amounts of enemies and projectiles is absolutely painful in addition the dungeons dependence on magic isn't exactly made apparent until it's too late although they at least place rooms filled with a certain type of enemy that dropped big canisters for you despite this managing magic can be nightmarish and you may be forced to exit the dungeon and buy more potions not just magic refills but health refills as well you will get hit a lot all you need to do is glance at a few of these rooms in order to understand why the combined annoyances make for a frozen hell of a dungeon even the puzzles are rather lackluster here at this point in the game I know how to use different floors to solve puzzles multiple dungeons before this have used that idea remember the Tower of Hera remember the dark palace that early on I was learning about this stuff why am I being tested on this again and if you're gonna test me can you be a little more creative please these uninspired puzzles end up becoming a nuisance when you die because you'll have to traverse through the same rooms over again in order to make it back to where you were which once again puts you in danger of using all your potions just [ __ ] this dungeon I hate it you at least get the blue tunic here and it's incredibly helpful for traversing the dark world overall considering the increased amount of damage you take there but is the tunic enough to save the ice palace I shouldn't have to answer that the ice palaces reliance on magic ended up plaguing the next dungeon to turtle rock you'll need to repeatedly use the cane of Sumeria to traverse the dungeon and magic is essential in efficiently dealing with the dungeons boss using the opposite elements to counteract each of the beasts heads structurally the dungeon is a fun maze even if it doesn't have much going for it but if you make a wrong turn you'll most likely have to waste magic once more with the cane of Sumeria Turtle Rock isn't ideal in that regard and the ice palaces tendency to repeat puzzles from previous dungeons without iterating on them makes misery mire wrath forgettable dungeon yet despite my criticisms I don't think either of these dungeons are bad despite being plagued by the ice palace both dungeons are still structurally functional and challenging all the same the puzzles and enemies place throughout make them engaging although uninspired they're fine I can at least thank the ice palace for showing me what a bad as el de dungeon could be if there are consistent elements that plague a dungeons design then that can make for one hell of a nun enjoyable experience even if that dungeon were to have merits overall though Link to the Past dungeon design is excellent they take a lot of what made dungeons in the original game fun but flesh them out conceptually the dungeon design would set a gold standard for Zelda from here on out but what about boss design as mentioned before Link to the Past took the leap and made items a central part of a dungeon well that's usually the case with bosses too you use the item you found in the dungeon to kill the boss this was only the case with certain bosses in the original game for example you had to feed the dodongo bombs to blow it up but you can obtain bombs basically anywhere at any time here the item can be a clue in defeating some of them an obvious clue sure but the practical application is what makes a boss fun to fight for example the dark palaces boss to defeat him all you really have to do is wail on his mask with the hammer but his fire breath and swift tail strikes make the task of doing so difficult think of it like starfox all you have to do is shoot the glowing area but it's making that goal challenging that makes for an engaging starfox boss same philosophy in a Link to the Past remember when I talked about turtle rocks boss you know what to do there it's about how to do it and what to avoid the rest of the bosses test other concepts the game is put in place for example spacing and positioning Magnum is all about this you'll need to position yourself correctly in order to deflect the balls of magic he shoots but there's an alternative ball of magic that will divide into projectiles that you'll need to avoid when agna appears at the top of the screen he'll summon a lightning attack and it's up to either get the hell out of the way by standing next to him when he appears in cannons tower he'll have clones that only shoot fireballs and you can use them to your advantage there's also the den of thieves as boss that separates its head from its body and shoots everywhere or the statues in the eastern palace the game simulated z-axis a vital role in the desert palaces boss fight although I haven't talked about this much the super Nintendos multiple sprite layers is what allowed from multiple dungeon floors and enemies that fly over you and especially the unique maze before the dark palace that has you finding paths through hedges however the game still exists on a two-dimensional plane thus in order to simulate a z-axis these flying enemies appear to fly over you except they're not actually and they'll just fly into you if you touch them the reason the simulated z-axis works in the desert palaces boss is because it allows you to swing at it while it's technically supposed to be above you it's convenient and it helps give certain combat scenarios depth it isn't consistently impressive however the cracks become visible in the swamp palaces boss fight wherein I was hit by the boss while it was descending from the ceiling across the room it's clear to see here that the game still only exists on the X and y axes and it couldn't simulate depth without a few perspective issues anyway what about the big bad final boss the pig man named Ganon well before you meet him you'll have to climb his tower it's a vast endurance based dungeon that tests everything you've learned over the course of the game including blocking out a path for yourself over an invisible floor with the Kanis amariah or navigating a room through enemies that copy your every move there's even a room with an icy floor that doesn't make me happy but it makes sense in the context of this dungeon you'll also refight the first three bosses and go up against Eggman before you finally come face-to-face with Ganon the fight with Ganon is pretty intense due to how much is going on and when you're finally able to deal the final blow everything you've worked toward suddenly comes into view as you make a wish in front of the Triforce the game fades into a credits montage showing you the impact that you've made on Hyrule a great way to round out an adventure and it becomes a staple of future Zelda games to end on a montage like this speaking of future Zelda games where does that leave link to the past in the modern day [Music] while link to the past is an incredible game it's been a long time many many Zelda games have released in the almost 30 years this game has been around as such it's only natural that some new players aren't gonna be super enthralled by how traditional this game is as a Zelda game imagine going all the way back to this game after playing a handful of modern Zelda games the bear concept for the light and dark world shifting has been adapted into ocarina of time and the game's direct sequel link between worlds that direct sequel created a true nonlinear Zelda game for the first time since the original game and considering it uses the exact same map as the first game imagine how difficult it must be to play Link to the Past for the first time today there are a lot of factors to be considered when you're asking on modern Zelda fan to play a Link to the Past for the first time so let's address all this right now what does it have going for it that future Zelda games haven't experimented with or iterated on and what makes it feel largely dated what link to the past has phenomenal pacing it's virtually unparalleled by any Zelda game after only 65 minutes I had retrieved the Master Sword and made my way towards Agnon that's including four full dungeons and the assortment of side quests I decided to tackle in 15 to 16 hours or so you're tackling twelve dungeons or 13 if you count AG names gauntlet 24 heart pieces and other miscellaneous tasks in order to increase your overall strength that's a lot of content packed into that time frame whereas it takes about double the amount of time to get through the same amount of content in games like ocarina of time or Wind Waker even comparable to DS eldest take longer like minish cap or a link between worlds the amount of fun and variety that link to the past is able to pack into such a modest time frame is incredible it's also a very focused game there isn't anything aside from the shitty orangie based shoveling minigame that really drive a wedge between completion ism and simply beating the game take a look at this metric on how long to beat calm look at how small the divide is between any percent and a hundred percent when you compare that to a game like Majora's Mask or wind waker yeah that's focused with the quaint number of heart pieces to collect and no secondary collectible it's easy to appreciate just how well the game incentivizes finding these pea no matter how you decide to play but of course not everyone is okay with just going through dungeon after dungeon and finding a few heart pieces in between for example Majora's Mask is all about connecting with the world you exist in and learning about the characters within its wealth of side content complements that and it's basically not even about the main quest some people prefer their Zelda games to be more like that and less focused on being filled with dungeons too many dungeons may put some people off - a Zelda game as our scapegoat majora's mask only features for in the face of this games 13 perhaps some people may have a deeper appreciation for how Ocarina of Time adapted the games light world dark world dichotomy into time travel or how a link between worlds appropriated the games map into something freeform basically it's been a while since link to the past came out there are many reasons to love it but those reasons may have been adapted into future Zelda games much better people look for different things in Zelda do the many forms that has taken on in subsequent years even here I talked about how Link to the Past changed and redefined what Zelda was and yet there are only a few instances of things in this game that you can't get anywhere else like the pacing the tutorial or a few of the dungeons in short Link to the Past is a very traditional Zelda game at the time it redefined the series it gave Zelda conventions that were excellent guideposts for what future games should be even if it drove some future installments off a cliff everything it does it does really goddamn well I'd sure as hell call it a masterpiece but timeless I don't really think so it's aged beautifully and there isn't anything about it that feels like it belongs in the era it was released it it's timeless in that sense but after so many years and so many Zelda games with different central themes and ideologies there's a lot of uniqueness to digest out there and for a game so decidedly traditional and definitive it may lose the interest of some Zelda fans looking for something new that's how a Link to the Past has deteriorated with time you might be surprised to hear me talking about this who hasn't played a Link to the Past well a lot of people a lot of people haven't played a Link to the Past a lot of people have gotten into the series with future games like Twilight Princess Skyward Sword breath of the wild it might be hard for them to go back to something that doesn't have a unique idea or its own defining identity I hope I made myself clear with that point because it definitely is a problem my friend Dan made a video about it as for me link to the past hasn't lost its luster I can replay it without hesitation and it'll never get stale with a game world so densely packed with exciting secrets to uncover brilliantly crafted dungeons tight combat and a focus on redefining what Zelda is I have no doubt that Link to the Past succeeds in every way it's a game I hold near and dear to me and the fact that it was their first attempt at creating a Zelda game of this type blows my mind while writing for this video I was able to consider all of the work that was put into defining the Zelda formula I think link to the past biggest strength is how it strikes a balance between linearity and open-endedness it's heavy focus on dungeons and linear progression fixes the aimless and occasionally cumbersome design of the first game despite its merits and had its issues you might think railroading the player would be the wrong way to go but the truth is Link to the Past gives the player enough time along the routes to each dungeon to become engrossed in its world you begin to memorize layouts you start to dig deeper things that don't seem relevant become immediately apparent thus allowing you to unearth a secret link to the past is simple and I think that's to its benefit it doesn't go out of its way to do anything fancy its focuses on refining the formula my philosophy of the focus going from Zelda's about finding dungeons in an overworld to Zelda is about using the overworld as a means of getting to the dungeons kicked into full swing here but I don't necessarily think that every Zelda game handles this poorly Link to the Past knows how to guide the player around the world subtly yeah there's an order for you to follow dungeon wise but that's not the point the point is how the game beautifully acquaints you with its overworld as you follow the order of the dungeons because of its pacing its focus and its persistence in being the definitive Zelda game even if that doesn't ring true in the modern day I see it as a great gateway into the series it includes everything that majority of Zelda games feature it never seems to slow down and it rarely confused or frustrated me if you've somehow never played a Zelda game I'd recommend playing link to the perhaps this game led the series astray in your eyes it drove Zelda in a linear direction when it should have stuck closely by the original games open-ended philosophy but as demonstrated in this game a linear Zelda game can still accommodate and encourage the freedom of exploration and even then a linear Zelda game that is really good at being a linear Zelda game can still succeed in its own right but these are stories for another day next time we visit The Legend of Zelda I'll be looking at the series debut on a portable console Link's Awakening both the original and the remake before starting the series retrospective I couldn't recall much about Link's Awakening but things have definitely changed since then I hope you look forward to that video for now I've been Liam Triforce and I'd like to thank you for watching [Music] [Music]

Channel: Liam Triforce

Views: 369,009

Keywords: zelda, link to the past, analysis, critique, review, retrospective, liam triforce

Id: yBCvUZHWMIs

Length: 39min 15sec (2355 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 12 2019