OOT generally looks OK to me but when I put Skies of Arcadia back into my GC after playing OOT for a couple of weeks I was stunned by how good SOA's graphics were. That's really saying something too because SOA doesn't really have good graphics.

OoT looks pretty bad for the first few minutes you're playing it, but it's such a good game that after a short while you just get into that mode and don't even notice the quality of graphics.

I'm really loving Wind Waker so far. The cel-shading is even better than I imagined it would be.

I'm about 2/3 finished with the game. It is not as good as OoT, but it's still better than most games I've played. I'm not a fan of all the wasted time sailing around, but I understand they had to make the game long one way or another.

not sure what to rate it yet. just got done beating the game. VERY nice final battle. all i'll say about the final battle is that its a great change of pace. i would love to give it a 10 because i had a blast playing it, but the sailing got very tedious/slow/boring towards the end. the deciding factor on whether i give it a 9 or 10 depends on the 2nd quest: if its different enough for me to stay hooked and challenged.

Now I know there is another Zelda thread but it is an impressions type of thread and I already gave my impressions...I need minor assistance. Mods, feel free to move or close this thread if you have to. Also, this might be a minor spoiler to some people but I am not using spoiler tags as I assume the only people viewing this thread will be the ones who are currently playing it.

The help I need is this: As Link leaves Dragon Roost Island a Merman jumps from the water and fills in the sea chart for the sector that Dragon Roost Island is in. He says that to call forth other Mermen just throw some all purpose bait in the water. Now I know there is a Merman for every sector but for whatever reason I cannot call forth a Merman in a different sector even after I throw the bait in the water. Usually, a seagull sweeps down and eats it. The specific sector I am talking about is the one where Link comes across the pirates on the way to Forest Haven and they give him treasure map 34. Do the Mermen only come out in the day?

Don't throw the bait out until you're right on top of the merman for that sector. You can usually see them from a distance, since they jump out of the water. When you get close, they'll stay underwater, but there's a yellow arrow and shadow to mark their position.

Just stop near them and throw the bait. They should swim over and grab it. I think they're around both day and night, but I'm not positive about that.

As soon as you get the Hero's Bow, it's possible to gain the ability to move around more quickly:


So I don't want to hear any more complaining about sailing around.

It never occured to me that you need to be in the area they appear. I just assumed that you just threw the bait in anywhere in the sector and they appeared. I've been playing games for years and feel really stupid to make an assumption like that. D'oh! That makes more sense though. Thanks! I always have trouble with that minor stuff in games but I can get through the hardest dungeon or level, depending on the game, without missing anything. Go Figure.

The way the everything that isn't in the foreground is low resolution is pretty annoying. I realize they probably had to do this to maintain framerates and keep the look distance, but it's still pretty annoying.

That is true, but there are limited transport points. You still usually have to sail 2-3 grids to get where you want. It is tedious and boring to do all the sailing, but like I said above, they had to do this to make the game long.

I do the same things. I was stuck for hours at the part where you first see the because I couldn't figure out how to get thoseeven though you just had to
Before I figured it out, I went around exploring the rest of the map, so it wasn't all that bad.

I went and did that sailing "cheat" and man does it make the game even better. Being able to speed that part of the game up made a world of difference.

I don't think they did that to make the game longer. It's not like having a transport point in every grid is a very good solution. What would you have wanted them to do?

I think being able to warp to every grid would take something away from the game. It's definitely not to just add length. Having to sail long distances gives you the feeling that the game world is truly huge. Sure it's kind of a cheap way to accomplish that, but it works. Besides, sailing isn't that boring. With the constant weather changing and the beautiful ocean.. I could stare at that all day

2 gameplay tips needed:

Fire Mountain.


Wind God's Aria.


I've gone around and uncovered the entire map while trying to figure out what to do next, but I think I've done all I can do so far without doing 1 of the above 2 things.

Any help concerning these two things while being as vague as possible?

Fire Mountain:


Can't help with the other one.

Wind God's Aria:

trying to be vague:


a little more help:


and if you still can't figure it out:

I more than appreciate everyone that is using spoiler tags here... I really like this thread, and would have had to abandon it if too many spoilers were in it.

I think I now have about 40 hours logged in now. I'm glad that I'm off on Monday cause I really want to spend the whole day with the game. Some of the guys from work came over tonight to play Halo and Mario Party 4. It sucked not being able to play Zelda for the few hours they were over.

I got back in town and finally picked up my copy last night and played for a couple hours.

I'm pretty impressed so far. I like the graphics a lot more than I thought I would. The blur in the distance that others have mentioned does suck though.

The control is great as always. I really dislike the stealth part of the first dungeon and hope that's not a staple of the gameplay though. It was ok at first, but I've never liked stealth games that well. Too much having to be patient and slowly go through areas, and too much going through the same areas over and over when you get caught and have to keep starting back from the same place.

Are you on the 2nd Quest? I thought the game only took 15-20 hours to beat?

I've already played much more than 20 hours and I'm not that close to beating it. It just depends on how many sidequests you do along the way. Some people want to rush through and beat it(taking 15-20 hours), then go back and do sidequests.. I prefer to do sidequests inbetween the dungeons.

Too bad the game doesn't track and tell you how much time you have played it... and that's my biggest complaint so far! (the sailing may get old, but not yet - to many things atttack me and such while I am sailing - but I'm not nearly as far into it as others I would guess). Still, this is the first game in quite some time that I really look forward to getting back to playing each night after the rest of that real world stuff is taken care of.

Interesting that they "bundled" OoT as a bonus since Wind Waker appears to be almost a sequel. Also, I'm amazed at all the miscellaneous stuff there is to do in addition to the main quest.

Edit: ...and I agree, I wish there was a timer somewhere that told me how many hours I've been playing this game.

Same here... it's just not a Zelda game unless you've walked around in circles for hours trying to finish all the side quests.

-k
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