Wind Waker? Good or Bad? Best Zelda Game?

[Opti]

Heys Guys

Ive noticed that Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker has a very split following (somewhat like Majoras Mask). Quite a bit I hear people talking about how bad of a game it is.

Personally I like the game, and even like the graphics.

Id like to know whether or not you like it, and if you dont, why specifically you didnt like it.

Would be cool if you also listed the Zeldas in order you liked them. Only list ones youve played.

1. Wind Waker
2. Link to The Past
3. Awakening/DX
4. Oracle of Seasons/Ages
5. Ocarina of Time
6. Minish Cap
7. Original (NES)
8. Twilight Princess

I have majoras mask and have for years and Ive never even booted it. I think I will tommorrow. Also realized I havent played any of the new ones, I need to catch up Im lagging haha

[Tupin]

Wind Waker is my favorite Zelda game thus far. I loved the art style, the story, the dungeons, the characters, the setting, the music, and even the sailing.

Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks are my least favorite. Bad controls and strange gameplay mechanics make them boring to play, especially Phantom Hourglass.

Majora's Mask is pretty awesome, way better than Ocarina of Time in my opinion. The only thing I don't like is that it doesn't place as much emphasis on dungeons, there are only four of them. Still an awesome game though.

Twilight Princess was okay. I really didn't like how Zant just showed up, the story was pretty mediocre.

Every handheld Zelda is amazing, save for the DS ones.

[SpaceHarrier]

I used to despise it overall. I wanted a game that looked 'realistic'. Then Twilight Princess came out. I loved that, and it made me let go of that bitterness toward Wind Waker.

I still can't get into it, however. I feel like I'm being hassled through every single room of every dungeon by really annoying puzzles. Sometimes I just want to kill everything and have a door open, ya know? Though I do feel it is the pinnacle of cel-shaded games, along with the Jet Set games.

[Opti]

The battles in OoT seemed boring and repetitve to me, but I really like the battles in Wind Waker I think thats one of the major reasons I liked it so much. I thought the battles where fun and gorgeous, especially closer to the end. I remeber in the final dungeon I kept wishing there where more bad guys haha.

[SpaceHarrier]

Perhaps I also need to play further into it. I have a certain seething hatred for stealth elements forced into non-stealth games, so right off the bat I was irritated.

[NE146]

I love Zelda and I really really WANTED to love Wind Waker, and I was enthusiastic about the art style from the start (I wish more games could look like it). but to be honest I ended up just giving it an "ok". The truth is the sailing is just so tedious. It's been said countless times before, but that's because it's true... and looking for treasure on the bottom of the ocean is both time consuming and frustrating.

Personally, I like to explore a large overworld The rest of the game is fine though

[heybtbm]

Windwaker is my 2nd favorite Zelda game and responsible for getting me back into console gaming after a 4 year absence (big time PC gamer back then).

I loved the cel-shaded art, the OoT-style gameplay, the soundtrack, and yes...even the sailing. I still plan on beating it for a second time at some point, but I've been saying that for 8+ years now.

[Opti]

The sailing only really got tedious for me when I wanted to do all the side quests and map the whole world. I was never more frustrated at it than I was at OoT though. Seemed like I was always backtracking in OoT and the Wind Waker world is WAY biggers so it didnt bother me too much.

I like OoT and up until last week thought it was amazing then me and a buddy went threw it in a few sit downs last week and Im really not filling it, I got bored real quick and had to soldier through all the sidequests and back tracking.

I am thoroughly enjoying my 3rd play through of WW though.

I keep hearing about how good majoras mask is so as soon as I can get to the game store to get the expansion pack Im gonna do my first play through. I despise games that time me though so Im not sure If ill be able to get over that, well see.

[Opti]

In WW I loved when you restore time to hyrule and when you leave the sword room their are enimies everywhere. I had a freakin blast fighting all the guards.

I think where OoT beat WW is the music. I remeber all the songs from Ocarina (only video game music Ive really even noticed, and I cant recall a single tune from wind waker.

[Zthun]

Wind Waker was too easy. There was only 1 dungeon in that entire game that I got slightly stuck on, but the rest of it was ridiculously simple. Too much water...

I've pretty much played all of the mainstream Zelda games except Spirit Tracks. The best ones are Twilight Princess, Link to the Past, and Ocarina of Time.

I really wanted to like Majora's Mask, but the time limit made me irritated and nervous, so I never really cared for the game.

[JSoup]

One of my favorite Zelda games. Most of the common complaints about the game were never really issues with me. Triforce hunting was the most frustrating part for me, but it's otherwise a great game.

[Flashback2012]

I played Wind Waker quite a bit and didn't have any problem with the graphics whatsoever. I couldn't stand OOT or MM and they almost drove me away from the series. I enjoyed Wind Waker because of the GBA compatibility. The sailing did get a little tedious at times but overall it's one of my more favorable Zelda games after LttP and Minish Cap.

[DuckTalesNES]

Haven't played it, but every time I watched my sister play, she was sailing. And Link's face looks like a Dorito. Kind of stupid looking game.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

Playing Zelda in Super Smash Bros. Good freaking game.

[kupomogli]

Wind Waker and Ocarina are the only two good 3D Zelda's I've played(put any decent amount of time into.)

Majora's Mask though? I only got to keep the first mask and a little bit after that, but that was all I needed to play to know the game is complete garbage. Have to do fetch quests, like hide and seek, find the faeries, etc, etc,and then if the time runs out do it all over again until you memorize the locations. Get past the first part, get the mask, go back inside, and you have to figure out what again, and still with limited time. What a piece of shit.

[GameNinja]

I too just couldn't get into WW. When the art style was announced and most of the world was shatting brix over it I figured the game would still be amazing and I just needed to be patient. I was a mega fan of OoT and MM, and preordered Wind Waker, but something about the game just didn't do it for me. It was too happy or something for me, but then again the dark melancholy feel of Majora's Mask is what I love most about it (along with seeing people going about their lives on a schedule is amazingly appealing to me).

To this day I didn't complete WW, but when I am free to I think I will restart it from the beginning and give it a fresh try.

[Swamperon]

I love Wind Waker. It has by far the most expressive Link out any of the games and probably the most emotive plot out of the Zeldas. (MM fans may disagree) It also has a great sense of exploration and a huge amount of side quests, which TP lacked. It's soundtrack is also phenomenal.

For me I'd rank them:

1. OoT (Sometimes WW beats this)
2. WW
3. LA
4. ST
5. PH
6. TP
7. MM
8. ALttP
9. OoS/OoA
10. LoZ
11. LoZ II

Haven't played TMC or either FS.

[jonebone]

I'm one of the guys who was hugely turned off by the transition to cartoony graphics in Wind Waker. Thus I've never played it and never will unfortunately. Too many games in backlog as it is.

Of the Zeldas I've played, I'd rank them like this:

1. OoT
2. LttP
3. Twilight Princess
4. Majora's Mask
5. NES Zelda
6. NES Zelda II
7. Phantom Hourglass

Man Phantom Hourglass was horrible. That game was actually difficult to finish, but I'm glad I did. The game play was actually decent and the stylus use was cool, but you replay that damn Phantom Hourglass dungeon like 8 times in the game. Whoever thought of that was STUPID. Sometimes I would get to that same dungeon and then not play it for a week because I was dreading the experience that much.

As for every other game on that list, no bad things to mention.

[Robocop2]

Majora's Mask though? I only got to keep the first mask and a little bit after that, but that was all I needed to play to know the game is complete garbage. Have to do fetch quests, like hide and seek, find the faeries, etc, etc,and then if the time runs out do it all over again until you memorize the locations. Get past the first part, get the mask, go back inside, and you have to figure out what again, and still with limited time. What a piece of shit.

THIS! I've enjoyed every other LoZ game I've played for the most part, (being LoZ, LoZ2, LTTP, OoT, TP and MM) but Majora's Mask was definitely the only one out of those I absolutely hated. Twilight Princess I enjoyed what I played of it but I got mad at the fishing and traded it just because I thought that I would rather spend the money on something else. I should have finished it. I may pick it up again just because of this.

[Patney]

Wind Waker was too easy

The best ones are Twilight Princess

This does not compute. Twilight Princess is the easiest Zelda by far and I hate the game because of it. Otherwise it got a HUGE overworld with nothing in it, there is basically nothing to explore, the Twilight/Wolf parts are unbearingly tedious (when trying to replay I always quit on those segments) and the art style/story is so uninspired, it's basically a worse Ocarina of Time with some DARKNESS added in. It could've ended up being the new A Link to the Past, but ultimately it was the biggest disappointment of 2006.

On the other hand you got Wind Waker, which tried something new in a series that were getting a bit stale. The art style is so beautiful and still reigns as one of the most aesthitical pleasing games ever, I truly believe what they did with it is timeless. The music was a nice blend of classic Zelda tunes and folk-ish music. The setting was spectacular: They somehow managed to create a post-apocalyptic era which didn't feel depressive or oppressive (except for the lack of Zoras, that was very sad) and who can forget their first return to Hyrule? The sailing could be tedious but the vast sea held a great deal of exploration, tons of secrets and many interesting sidequests. And yeah, the game was a bit on the easy side but it wasn't nearly as bad as Twilight Princess. It still had a lot of engaging battles, and let's face it: None of the 3D Zeldas are hard at all. Twilight Princess still overdid it though.

Anyway, all of these points makes Wind Waker perhaps the very best Zelda game for me, along with Majora's Mask. I like games that tries something new and actually succeeds doing so. And just to counter some complaints towards MM: the time limit in Majora's Mask makes perfect sense and gives the player a sense of responsibility (and isn't bothersome at all as long as you use the reversed Song of Time), and the sidequests are amazing because most of them give insight to the characters/fleshes them out. It's a lot more immersive than "hey go collect some shiny bugs for me and I'll give you something nice"