Stuff, Zelda:TP Thoughts

Things have been crazy hectic at my new job. As a result, I've been too stressed out to work on Genome or Touchlib after work. Hopefully things will calm down soon and I'll be able get some stuff done again.

I have been playing a little Zelda: Twilight Princess to calm down a bit. So far it has been a really enjoyable game. I was a little hesitant to buy it after FFXII since I didn't want another game that forces you to play for hours or requires you to cover the same territory over and over again. The last Zelda game (Windwaker) suffered from this problem in that the sailing sections ended up being very time consuming and were pretty boring to me. I'm happy to report that Zelda: TP doesn't suffer from any of those flaws - the level design is very tight and there is little or no need to re-cover old terrain so far. Also, you can save your game wherever you want. The puzzles are clever but not so tough that you can't figure them out on the first or second try. It's a great example of how games should be designed. Your goal is always clear, you receive constant feedback when you do something right, actions that your character can perform are always highlighted on screen, dying is only a temporary set-back (you can restart at the beginning of that room), hints are available if you need them, and it's usually obvious when you need to use a particular tool in your arsenal. Also, the levels themselves act as tutorials for learning how to use your tools when you acquire them - they gradually show you all the different techniques you can execute. It's a far cry from the original Zelda when you had to bomb the fourth rock from the right on a specific map screen (a rock that looks exactly like all the other rocks...). Also, all the items provide different abilities rather than just being stronger versions of the same weapon as most FPS games are. This way the game is always throwing at you fresh variations on the gameplay. Overall, I highly recommend it.