Right.
Tonight, I could take the easy way out: refer to my last post, and simply substitute Burnout Paradise for Ridge Racer 6. After all, it’s been another work-affected week, I met up with pretty much the same group of people for Paradise burning a-plenty (and my 400th Challenge), and played Majora’s Mask… pretty much the same as last week.
But I won’t take the easy way out. Instead, I’m going to write a few more paragraphs about That Which Tortures Me So – Majora’s Mask.
Now, I’ve only just finished the second Temple, after more stumble-heavy to-ing and fro-ing that feels more like a point-and-click adventure than a 3D action RPG-lite. I’ve abandoned my quest for Purity and now have an accessible GameFAQs walkthrough by my side; I’ve been driven to bloody-minded anger by some of the “puzzles” that are being presented, and that second Temple was just fucking infuriating. And that’s the thing that’s most annoying, in a way: the first Temple was a delight, reminding me of the delight that can be found in the Zelda canon. It’s just that, after the second Temple kicks you in the balls, drops you four stories, then says “walk back up here the long way, loser”… well, I get a little discouraged.
And let’s be quite clear here – I’m really not trying to be a difficult contrarian in taking an active dislike to this game. I fully appreciate that some people love and cherish this game (such as oft-commenting Steven O’Dell – thanks for the comments mate, I really appreciate them :)
But I just am not clicking with this Zelda outing. And it could be partly due to the fact that this game simply does not feel polished, does not feel tuned. A simple example would be watching the Goron form of Link play his drums in place of the ocarina; there’s no animation sync to the notes played, so it just looks… well, lame. As for the Songs themselves, they also display a lack of polish – in Ocarina, all the Songs you input were small fragments of larger tunes, giving a feeling of interaction – your initial inputs trigger off a beautiful tune. Majora’s, on the other hand, has principal Songs lasting just your input notes, leading to an unrequited cliffhang. The Song of Soaring is really shitting me off in that regard.
Is Majora’s Mask an ugly duckling? I bloody hope so, I really do – I still hold some belief that the last half is going to bring forth some amazingly heartfelt emotion and deliciously grinducing (that’s grin-inducing, folks) gameplay. But at the moment I’m considering practicing Astropop instead, because this is simply not enjoyable.
Hm, as a fan of the game it is disappointing to see that you are not enjoying Majora’s Mask but at the same time I can’t say I am surprised. As I think I said in one of my other comments, it certainly isn’t for everyone.
With that said, this is your first time with the game which is where many other gamers get put off. Maybe sometime in the future you will be able to give the game another go and perhaps then it will resonate with you in a similar way it does to me. I know my first playthrough with the game was frustrating and at times, tedious, but subsequent playthroughs saw my opinion change and now I hold it as one of the best Zelda games as you know. Or maybe the game’s second half will change your opinion of it – I guess time will tell but yeah, too bad you aren’t enjoying it at the moment mate.
As for Burnout Paradise I am preparing myself for a big return to the game with the release of the upcoming DLC for it. It will have new Achievements waiting to be obtained as well as the Bike pack and online challenges from last year so it is something I am looking forward to. I love the game but pretty much ditched it after getting that last Achievement, allowing myself to get distracted by many other games and the quest to get them finished. Speaking of which, making progress on that completion percentage is REALLY hard at the moment when the developers keep on releasing DLC and new Achievements for the various games! I’m fine with Burnout Paradise and GTA IV doing it, as it has been a while since they were released and it will be great to return to them, but the newer games released in the holiday rush last year all getting content/Achievements too? It’s hard work but hey, at least the games are all good enough to keep me playing I suppose. Pushing 100 hours in Fallout 3 alone and I still am nowhere near finishing that. Loooong road ahead.
Well, I certainly went on a tangent didn’t I? Nothing new I suppose. Oh and by the way, I’m happy to comment so much – we are similar gamers after all. ;)
I think another roadblock to my enjoyment of Majora’s is that I’m chomping at the bit to re-visit Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. But, in true cut-off-my-nose behaviour, I may insert Master Quest before them ;)
Sigh :}
Paradise is just ace with mates. I’ve got a group of various skill levels – from n00b to ninja – and, though we don’t hammer through the Challenges at a great rate of knots, there’s tons of fun to be had. It’s a game that keeps on giving… bring on the Island!