E3 2005: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

And now, it's time for individual impressions from both of us, because we just didn't see any way we could reasonably write this part together.

Chris

Twilight Princess plays like a dream. The battle mechanics borrow from the best of past Zelda games. Nintendo has brought back pretty much every sword strike and evasive maneuver from the old games, and has added in all those little touches that really take it to the next level. The parry maneuver, while in its current incarnation flawed as it's far too easy to use, is still a great addition and something that, with minor tweaking, could be fantastic. Being able to slash while running is something that, by the time I got done with the demo, seemed entirely necessary to me. You can dash, at a full run, right by an enemy, hacking it down as you run past, before spinning around on your heels and jumping into the air to thrust your sword directly into that same enemy's skull, finishing it off. And it's not all dark, either. Even in the dungeon, the monkeys were light-hearted friends and the Baboon, the main villain, was downright silly, slapping his ass and laughing wildly to taunt us. Bomb insects are as tall as Link on fully extended legs, and look absolutely absurd as they skitter off. Back in the village, the verbal beating Ilia gives Link when she realizes he's gone back on the promise he made to her about jumping gates with his horse is absolutely hilarious, and actually made me laugh out loud.

You've seen the screenshots, you've seen the trailers, and you've read pages upon pages of coverage. I'm sure you all have your opinions of what you're getting into, but try not to put too much stock into them. Even I don't really know what to expect. I didn't even get to play as the wolf yet, which is obviously a major gameplay element. But let me tell you, to put it quite simply, the game is a lot of fun. Whether it's trying to be dark and suspenseful or funny and silly, a spectrum the game seems to run the full range of, it's always flat-out entertaining. You'd be doing yourself a disservice to spend a great deal of time thinking about anything else. But given that, we all do care what it looks like. I'd like to get up on a soap-box and preach the importance of gameplay over graphics, but I long ago realized that's the wrong argument to be having. Gameplay is more important, without a doubt, but it's impossible to pretend we all don't care about the way a game looks, myself included. I have eyes, and I like having them dazzled as much as anyone else. To look briefly at the past, so we can understand how we've arrived where we are, let's compare the last two major Zelda games: Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker. While the graphical styles of each were wildly different, it takes quite a bit of denial to not see that they're both damned pretty. So if Ocarina of Time was gritty and stoic, and Wind Waker was wild and cheerfully imaginative, where does that leave Twilight Princess?

Precisely in the middle. The bad-ass, darker look is back from Ocarina of Time, but with so much from Wind Waker injecting its way into everything. Link has an almost fearless, heroic look to him. The earring is back, and he shows courage that betrays almost no emotion. I sung the praises of Wind Waker, and I still do, but I've got to admit, he looks damned cool. I can accept both styles existing within one universe. But don't think it's the new edgier generically dark Zelda. Link does still emote and the world still has its bright and cheery shades when those are more fitting. There's really nothing dark about Toaru Village, for instance. And if you thought Nintendo had shied away from cel-shading, go back and watch some videos of the Twilight Realm. That's the darkness, as far as this game goes, so it's mostly pastel grays and shades of dead, but it's definitely cel-shaded. And take a look at the bright colors displayed in Midna. Don't think everyone, or even Link, is going to be cold and dispassionate either. Aonuma has said there was a prevailing manga inspiration in the graphical style, and if you've ever looked at the pages of a well-drawn manga, you'll understand what he was talking about as soon as you start playing -- especially in the facial expressions of everyone from Link right down to the most insignificant NPC. Even the goat we never managed to wrangle in the first village seemed expressive. I swear he emoted before he sent us flying and ran off. I absolutely loved playing through the village because while watching Link speak to people, especially the children that teach you the sword combat mechanics, it was not uncommon to hear people gasp when they saw just how expressive everyone is. The way the oldest child's face twists in awe when you first strike the dummy is a picture I can still draw perfectly in my mind.

To sum up, one of the first things I noticed is that the game is just plain gorgeous. Link is about as brilliantly detailed as you'd expect. But what is so impressive is that you'll find nearly as much detail on some guy sitting off in a corner that only says one thing and will never play another part in the game. Link's horse was unbelievable. Fur textures, finally, instead of fur colored flatness? I'll take that. The blur effects in the horse battle and the boss battle and the detail on the monkeys in the dungeon were all impressive beyond belief. The hawk Link has the ability to call is absolutely stunning. The rubble left behind from an exploded boulder rather than it simply vanishing was a great touch. And, oh my, the water effects. Do yourself a favor when you play. Find the nearest water and just swim around for a while. Watch the way the parts of Link that are under the surface blur and distort; watch the way the water ripples at your movements, and be floored. I do have some issues with aliasing, but it's an E3 demo. The game is unfinished and unpolished. I have no doubt it'll be fixed by release. I only bother to mention it to be fair in my evaluation. As soon as you get over how pretty it is, you'll see how amazingly fun it is.

Going to E3 is like drinking from the Holy Grail of gaming. But let's face it; the Holy Grail is just a cup. I don't know how this year stacks up as far as they go, given that it's the first time I've ever been to E3, but after the initial euphoria wore off, I really wasn't anywhere near as blown away as I had expected. That's probably partially due to building the experience up on a pedestal, but that's not the point. The point is, while the show may not have blown me away, Twilight Princess did. When everything else started to feel lack-luster, I'd just head back into the dungeon. I didn't even have to be playing the game. I'd pet the wolf, watch the dungeon door slam shut, and just look around and watch everyone else's faces light up. People walked into the booth and were instantly stunned by the forest, the Koi pond, the Stalfos, the wolf, the ghost. And then as soon as they grabbed a controller and started playing, even the most hardened of gamers simply lit up. Pure, unfiltered enjoyment. That's the Nintendo difference; that's their magic. It's why we call ourselves Nintendo gamers and Twilight Princess has it in spades. I had a blast playing it and I had a blast writing about it for you guys. And there's so much more that wasn't in the demo -- the Twilight Realm and Midna especially -- that I'm now looking forward to with pretty much all of my being. Believe me, I'll be first in line to get it with the rest of you when it ships later this year.

Travis

The Legend of Zelda is, without a doubt, my favorite video game franchise of all time. This is partly due to the fact that when trying out the next game in the hit series I have no doubts going in. Nintendo has never led me astray. Every single Zelda game out there is a game I enjoy. There are some I enjoy more than others, of course, but all are quality. As such, I had no doubts going into my playtime with Twilight Princess.

Even at this incomplete state the game is beyond amazing. The gameplay, all the little details, the graphical touchesthey all work together to produce a product that is unbelievable. And oddly enough, despite the move from the toon shading of The Wind Waker I feel as if characters are actually showing more emotion. The playful shared looks between the mayor of Toaru and Link while Ilia is yelling at them about the horse's leg is priceless. In fact, I don't think I've ever been more entertained by Zelda dialogue as I have been in the demo for Toaru Village. Zelda titles have always contained NPCs that are filled with personality (a nice contrast to the uninteresting NPC # 1 and NPC #2 some traditional RPGs feature), but in Twilight Princess NPC personality is increased ten-fold. The villagers of Toaru village are more interesting than my next door neighbors.

That's not to say that all is well. Despite what we've seen in screenshots, there appeared to be a lot of aliasing problems in the E3 demo. These were the kind of jaggy edges I'd expect from a shoddy PS2 game. I was shocked. However, in spite of this sign of unpolish the graphics still looked phenomenal. What's more, I am 100% convinced that the jags will be fixed for the game's release. Everything I saw is nothing you, the gamer, will see. Still, I am here to report on the demo and those jaggy edges were most certainly a part of it.

Despite the amazing graphics, wonderful character, and intriguing story elements, there is one thing I am most excited about. I am, of course, referring to the game's combat system. Admittedly, it is almost identical to the system in Ocarina of Time at a first glance, but I dare say that's the reason I like it. The Wind Waker's combat system left me slightly disappointed, as very few enemies seemed to require any strategy beyond pressing B repeatedly. The slightly slower paced and strategic combat of Ocarina of Time was always more my style and the little tweaks to the system only help matters. As said before, though, hopefully the parry system isn't finalized as everything I've said in praise of the combat system is moot when a player can stun an enemy with a parry every time. That's not what I call challenging gameplay.

Finally, I must comment on the horse combat as I know it is the one feature most are interested in. First of all, I am enormously pleased that combat while riding a horse is just as deep as combat on foot. Any fears about horse combat being too simplified to be fun need no longer exist. It's just as well that horse combat is equally deep too, seeing as the game will reportedly feature quite a bit of it. Though the Horse Battle demo made it seem as if horse combat may happen at certain points in the story I theorize that it will be a casual occurrence within the game's overworld. Though this casual occurrence may only involve one enemy or so. Needless to say, though, I am interested in fighting an enemy that isn't a mounted rider while on horseback, if the game even means to allow that.

Even though my mind has essentially taken up residence in the land of Hyrule since the late 20th century I am still impressed with every new incarnation of the franchise and Twilight Princess is no exception. I expect everyone to pre-order this gem.