Zelda.in

Every group of people comes with a lot of idiots. No, don’t pretend that’s not true. You know it is. When talking about a video game, including Zelda, it’s sadly very, very easy to apply terrible logic to an argument. Obviously, since this is a Zelda site, we’re familiar with haters coming up with terrible [...]

In my last "Trouble in Skyloft" article, I talked about how Skyward Sword didn't quite live up to its promise of "tons of content." Today, I'd like to focus on the enemies. Sure, the Wii Motion Plus sword and shield controls combined with dynamic offensive and defensive enemy AI made fighting individual baddies more satisfying, and this is definitely an improvement over previous titles. But there's one problem with Skyward Sword's enemies: there just aren't enough of them. Find out what I mean after the jump....

The Legend of Zelda has a long history of story-driven gaming, to the point where an official timeline release has been highly controversial. While in many cases this emphasis on story is praised by the gaming media, the games have attracted a fair bit of criticism for each having the same basic story – and [...]

Nintendo's put together a number of retro series revivals in recent years. Most of them, namely New Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Country Returns, and Kirby's Return to Dreamland, stuck strictly to the formats of their predecessors. All were side-scrolling franchises back in the day and remained so in their Wii sequels. Core gameplay mechanics remained intact, tossed in with new ones that add freshness and depth. But not all series comebacks are quite this by the books. Retro Studios took the Metroid series in a bold direction with Metroid Prime: the first-person realm. It was a decision that was initially met with some skepticism from the purists among the fanbase, but the results proved to the world that Metroid could still find relevance even among modern-day shooters. And how did it do so? By being bold enough to make itself a modern-day shooter... while still sticking to the core framework of its predecessors. We've heard a case from Mike Damiani about why a Zelda reboot is necessary - this is in a way a counterpart to that idea, at least from a gameplay perspective....

IGN seems to love talking about Zelda lately, despite a severe lack of hard series-related news. I won't complain - we're deep in the Zelda business, so articles about where the series should go are like candy around here. Today's piece, by freelancer Jeffrey Matulef, "Building the Ultimate Zelda," addresses the series' formula with an interesting question: "Is taking the best bits of Link's adventures a recipe for perfection?" While on paper this sounds good (and is an idea I've espoused before), I don't think it's quite as simple as that. Last year it seemed as though Skyward Sword was poised to do exactly that, borrowing and improving on things the developers liked about previous games, but the results weren't exactly as pristine as they could have been. There's clearly something more to it than just implementing great ideas. What do I think needs to happen for the "ultimate Zelda" to take shape? Hop inside to find out....

Mike Damiani, known around these parts (these parts being the internet) as TSA, or 'TheSilentAssassin' has risen up in the last few years to become one of the largest names in journalism of The Legend of Zelda franchise of video games. Having had run one of the more popular Zelda news sites on the web between 2005 and 2007, TheHylia, and then moving on to a higher position at GameTrailers in 2008, TSA has been involved in the deep, professional study of the series for majority of his lifetime, so it's no surprise that fans and journalists alike hold a certain regard for his knowledge and opinion of the franchise. So when TSA starts talking about his thoughts on seriously rebooting The Legend of Zelda - something he's been pondering for several years now - obviously, we can't help but hear him out....

As much as I loved The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, I walked away feeling like something critical was missing that severely held the game back from being the best that it could be. When I played it for the first time, I was busy working on prepping our Skyward Sword walkthrough, so at the time there weren't really many people whose experiences I could compare mine with. And since the game was in the process of gathering high levels of praise from most corners of the Internet, I felt as though I was somewhat alone in my incomplete satisfaction. Now that the game's been out for a couple months and most of our longtime visitors have gotten a chance to play through it, I'm glad (in a "oh good, I'm not crazy" sort of way) to see that I'm not as alone as I thought. You guys have shared your opinions on the game's imperfections, but now I'd like to weigh in with a brand-new article series: "Trouble in Skyloft: The Flaws of Skyward Sword."...

You'd expect a headline like that from a Zelda site, wouldn't you? Turns out it's actually prompted by the opinion of a sports columnist over at The Voice - because sports go with The Legend of Zelda like Kafei goes with Anju. (And you thought it was our bias talking!) From the author's praise for the series' deep story and characters to his blatant shunning of more modern phenomena like Call of Duty and Skyrim, it all sounds very much like one of the near-essays we sometimes stumble across in the comments sections. Yesterday I asked you all to put on your critics' hats and sound off on some of the issues present in Skyward Sword - with which I'll join my own thoughts in my upcoming article series, "Trouble in Skyloft: The Flaws of Skyward Sword" - but today I want to focus on the positives. Why do you love The Legend of Zelda? And, should you be like many of our fans inclined to believe it's the "greatest video game series of all time," what do you think sets it apart from the rest of the pack?...

Centuries ago, the parched oceans of sand blanketing the Lanayru province was home to one of the most expansive and treacherous seas. On its shores flourished an ancient civilization whose knowledge of time, technology, and ephemerality would allow them to play a vital role in the events of Skyward Sword…but there are secrets scattered amongst [...]

I stumbled upon an article by Chris Buffa at Modojo that suggested that the long-rumored Final Fantasy VII remake that everyone but Square seems to want should actually come to 3DS. And, having taken a second crack at the game in recent weeks - I never had the time to devote to it the first time I tried it - I have to say that I kind of agree with him. (This is, of course, ignoring the fact that the 3DS should get brand-new titles and not just remakes.) Now, Chris's argument focuses mostly on how it's time for Final Fantasy to come back to its original home on Nintendo systems, but he does touch on a point that I think is worth discussing. Find out what that point is after the jump. ...