Tales From The Backlog

While looking through my draft folder, I came across this topic that I never did anything with. Seeing as Zelda is a hot topic these days I may as well take advantage of the analytics.

For some background context, I wouldn’t say that I am a major Legend of Zelda fan. I enjoy the 2D games over the 3D ones, and I find more enjoyment watching someone like my older brother play through them. Due to this, I don’t normally get excited when a new game is announced. I wait to see what the game is like and then give it a try if I am feeling it. I do enjoy the lore of the games.

First let me go ahead and list the games that I have never played. It would get pretty repetitive if the only things that I say about these games is that I have never played them before.

• The Legend of Zelda
• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
• The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
• The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
• The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes
• The CD-I games
• Link’s Crossbow Training
• Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past

Some would consider this to be the quintessential Zelda game to play. Well I have played it, but have yet to ever finish it. The reason? I guess just not committing myself to sit down and play it. I just said that I enjoy the 2D Zelda games over the 3D ones, so this one should high on my list to finish. The furthest I have gotten in the game may be around getting the third pendant I think. At least I am not my older brother who has flat out said that he does not like this game.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Time to really ruffle some feathers with this one if the last one didn’t. I am in an interesting position where I could tell you the ins and outs of this game without ever finishing the game. I have watched my brother and older cousins play this game to death that it feels like I know more about this game than most of the other games that I play. It may be for that reason why I never felt like I needed to finish this game. I know the plot, how to play, where to find certain items, and how to complete side quests just because I have watched many hours of this game. Sure I may do it one day, but as of now I don’t possess that burning desire to do so. When I did play this on my own, I got to about the Forest Temple.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Roleplay with me for a moment here. You are eight years old when this game comes out. You and your nine year old brother are excited to play this game since you had a blast with Ocarina of Time. You get the game, watch the opening cinematic and see the moon for the first time. My eight year-old self was not prepared for that nightmare fuel. Continuing on, you watch the first cutscene where Link gets jumped in the forest by the scary masked kid and think he killed his horse. From there, the psychopath in the mask turns Link into a Deku Scrub where you then have three days to get your body back before the moon nukes the town. All of this while eerie music plays in the background and that smug laugh of the Happy Mask Salesman sinks in your soul.

So yeah. Childhood trauma prevented me from playing this one for a while. Kat and my older brother love this game and consider this as their favorite Zelda game of all time. I know exactly why they love it. I have about the same level of knowledge of this game like Ocarina since I watched him play this over and over again. The thing that prevents me from not playing this game is the 72 hour time limit. I don’t like to be rushed or have the panic feeling of racing against a clock. I have enough anxiety already that I don’t need a game where the time limit pretends to be a threat make me feel uncomfortable at all times. I think the furthers I have every gotten on my own was getting Link’s body back. If I am honest I don’t think I will ever finish this one unless I was forced to.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Wind Waker was the first 3D Zelda game that I was serious about finishing. I like the aesthetic of the game and the overall vibes felt comfortable for me. There was hardly a time where I felt like the game was overwhelming and daunting while I was playing. I actually like sailing the ocean to find treasure and pretend to be a pirate. By this time you probably have guessed why I never finished this game. Two words: Triforce Pieces. I burnt out right as I was tasked to find these stupid items and never went back since. I know I just have to power through it, but it is the worst part of the game. I do want to finish this game at some point though. I have the Wii U version, so I will play that version and get through the Triforce hunt quicker.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Most of my memory of this game is a blur. I do know that I don’t care for the control scheme and that is why I never got Spirit Tracks. I do know that I stopped right at the moment where you have to go through that stupid temple (Temple of the Ocean King) for the last time. The end of the game is right there, but my brother beat me to it so I watched the ending with him and never touched the game since then. Not the biggest fan of this, but I do remember liking the sailing controls.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Let’s talk about my older brother again. The guy who famously told me that he did not like A Link to the Past one day told me that this was one of his new favorite Zelda games. I don’t get it either, but I will agree that this is a pretty good game. I like games that take a concept that seems out of place when you read it on paper but makes total sense when you see it in action. Having Link merge onto walls is a gameplay mechanic that works so well that it feels stupid at times. The only thing that I’m upset about is that I haven’t gone back to finish this game proper. It is partially because it is on the 3DS and I got it at the time where I was playing my 3DS less and less (tragic). I don’t really remember how far I got in it since I was playing my brother’s copy at the time before getting my own. I do getting the wall merging mechanic and beating the first temple after you get it.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

This now brings us to the latest game in the series (at the time of writing this). Breath of the Wild looked like a game that I was ready to play. The big open world where anything was possible seemed like something I was ready for. It was the first game that I played when I got my Switch and the second time I was enjoying myself playing in a big open world. Somewhere along the line, I started to play this less and less. The reason? The world feels too big for me to decide what I want to do. A lot of people like having as much freedom as possible to create the adventure they want with little input from the game to tell you what to do. I have come to learn that I like to be given some guidance on how I should go about doing things. I turns out that ultimate freedom makes me waste time by wandering around aimlessly until I stumble upon a thing.

One thing that might have improved my time was if there were actual rewards for me exploring places. Sure the world is filled with weapons and items to find, but it doesn’t have the same appeal to me when I know that those items are only temporary if I chose to use them thanks to the weapon durability system. Finding a shrine is nice since it goes toward building up my health or stamina, but it doesn’t compare to finding like a new spell or item that you could permanently keep with you. I makes the journey of finding things kinda bland for me. Hopefully Tears of the Kingdom will give me a reason to explore it’s world.

I was making progress in the game for a while. I unlocked one divine beast and found my way through the Lost Woods to find the Master Sword. The last time I played, Link was staring down the path to Death Mountain. Will he ever get there? Who knows.

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So those are all of the Zelda games that I have played but never finished. While I don’t have the itch to play any of them currently, I do want/have to get around to them at some point. This is where I open the discussion to all of you!

Which of these games should I finish first?

I may not motivate myself to finish these, but a push from peers will always get me in motion. Let me know in the comments which one of these games should I work on finishing a write my final thoughts about. You have my word that I will finish it to the end.

Thanks for reading!