Josh H

I put in a marathon session this evening and finished the statue hunting and the 7th and 8th dungeons and saved at what I assume is the final dungeon at 43 1/2 hours.

I did finally have to give in and glance at at the 1up.com guide as I couldn't find the statue in the swamp. I spent over an hour trying to find it from the mark on the map before getting frustrated and looking.

Boss battle in the 7th dungeon was pretty awesome, 1 in the 8th was pretty lame.

I'm looking at probably around 45-46 hours to finish it on pretty much a straight run through.

That's pretty damn good bang for your buck, considering how much I still have to do (still missing 2 bottles, the magic armor, 5 hearts (whole ones not pieces), haven't got any wallet upgrades, haven't encountered the lure fishing, haven't stumbled on the cave of ordeals others have mentioned, only have 19 poes and maybe 5 golden bugs etc.).

OldBoy

Josh,
how are the boss battles overall? and what is the level of difficulty throughout the game?

Josh H

The boss battles are great, easily the best of any game I've ever played, and the game is pretty easy overall at least from a combat standpoint (some of the puzzles are pretty hard to figure out).

I've died several times, but mostly early on and from falling repeatedly in pits, lava etc back when you didn't have many hearts to absorb such missteps.

I think I've only died once or twice during boss battles.

Being too easy is probably the one gripe most people have with the game, though I don't have that complaint as I think the difficulty level is just right.

The challenge lies in figuring out how to beat enemies, not in requiring cat like reflexes and hand eye coordination to pull off the moves like many action games (cough**Metroid Prime series***cough).

I'm looking at 50-60 hours of play time once I go back and do some of the side quests, and I'll have never gotten really frustrated or pissed off once. Nor will I have ever gotten bored or tired of the game.

That's the perfect game in my book.

OldBoy

wow! Josh that sounds like my perfect game as well. I played for a few hours before and though i am only at the "Dark Tunnel" stage or a little thereafter I am having a ball. Everything in the Ordon Village (hawk flying) was so much fun trying to figure out what to do with him. i do admist i needed help with the cat, but a lot of stuff i figured all by myself. i still think i will need a ton of help and do have the book, but i son't think that will take away from the enjoyment that this game already is.

thanks for comments.

Josh H

Finished Zelda tonight, save before the boss battle (the second time, after dying and then running around some to get some potions etc.) was about 45 1/2 hours.

Last battle was pretty cool, but a bit of a let down as it wasn't nearly as epic as the one from Ocarina of Time IMO.

But in all a phenomenal gamer, and definite 10/10. Best game in the Zelda series, and maybe the best game I've ever played period. Perfect puzzle design, perfect pacing, tons of variety, and gigantic world to explore, tons of hidden stuff etc. It just doesn't get much better than this.

45 1/2 for pretty much a straight run through is impressive, and there's still so much to do. Aside from finding the heart pieces, golden bugs, and Poes I'm still missing a set of armor, two bottles, any wallet up grades, and I've not come across the lure fishing, the canoing section, or the cave of ordeals!

So I still plan on putting a good bit more time into it, albeit more leisurely from now on.

Wick

I haven't been playing it as much as I should be, but I'm half-way through the Water Temple.

spainlinx0

Just so you know Josh, the canoo section is the lure fishing.

Josh H

I thought I saw some screens of taking the canoe through some rapids, looked like a mini-game or something?

UncleGramps

That's correct. There's a canoe mini-game that involves traveling through rapids, completely separate from the lure fishing mini-game.

OldBoy

this is a game that you actually yearn to play and think about playing when you have any free time. in my estimation, at least for me, that is a great game.

is it important to get all the "pieces of heart"? i missed the first one in and can't go back because i gave up my wood sword and turned wolfie. i'm thinking about starting from the beginning which isn't so bad because this game is so much fun!

Josh H

It's not that important and you'll be able to go back their later on.

There's no place in the game that you can eventually get back to.

spainlinx0

Damn I had no idea about this canoo rapids part. I really do have to play through this game again.

The Bus

I'm about two hours in and this game still hasn't grabbed me. I hate to be a pest, but after playing Oblivion this game is kind of blah to me. I know graphics aren't everything, but this game could use better graphics -- some of the stuff is unclear and lacks detail (2D games don't need HD, Wii Sports doesn't need HD).

I'm still going to give it a shot but so far outside of Wii Sports no game has really felt like $50 worth, including this one. I was immediately drawn in by Ocarina of Time but half of the time when I try to attack I end up doing something else and my character dies. I'm a bit nonplused so far, to tell you the truth.

Josh H

Give it time, the first 6 hours or so suck. It's pretty slow until you get to the first dungeon, and it really picks up after the third dungeon when the whole world opens up to be explored.

There's a learning curve with the controls as well, but after a few hours it feels second nature.

Josh H

Best Buy has the hardcover limited edition Zelda guide for $17.99 (cover price is $29.95).

It's a pretty sweet looking book, nice cover, gold trim on the page edges, comes with a cloth map etc., so it's a nice collectors item. I picked one up despite having beat the game.

It's sold out online, but you can pop in your zip code as see if your local stores have it in. Mine showed up as in stock, and they had 3 copies on the shelf.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1162594204759

Josh H

That guide is now showing up at $9.99 on the best buy site, and come people at CAG have said it's ringing the same in store.

Guess I'll have to swing buy in the morning with my receipt and see if I can get the $8 adjustment.

argh923

Damn...it's sold out everywhere around me.

Anyone care to pick up a copy? I'll pay for it to be shipped to me @ $9.99 + shipping.

GreenMonkey

Thanks for the tip. I've got a $5 RZ cert to burn. Says in stock at my local store (and OOS elsewhere in the state).

Wick

I just beat the Snowpeak Ruins this morning.

I'm having issues with the game's audio though. I just hooked my Wii up to my new HD-TV, and I'm using $50 ("Ditech"?) HD cables that I got from Future Shop. Everything is fine, except I occasionally get a weird audio pop when I go through doors. It just lasts for a couple seconds, and it rarely happens (once or twice an hour, maybe.) Anyone know what that could be?

The Bus

The hardcover guide was free with the purchase of Zelda and Excite Truck on sunday.

Looked pretty cool.

UncleGramps

Just a heads-up: someone at CAG said that the online stock indicator is acting weird for the guide. They said that it was listed as "Not in Stock" at his local store, but he stopped by anyway and they had a bunch. So you may want to stop by a store if you were going by the website's stock indication.

I'll be stopping by a BB on the way to work to try and pick one up for myself. If there are two, I'll pick up a second just in case. I'll post here later to let you know if I found them, and if I do and you still want one, it's yours.

argh923

I ended up checking a few minutes ago, and they didn't have any.

If you can get ahold of one, I'll definitely want it still. Thanks!

Josh H

I had no problems getting my price adjustment to the new $9.99 price this morning. Just a heads up for anyone that bought it at $17.99 before it dropped the second time.

The store was all out of them this morning, so no luck picking up one for you abrg923.

UncleGramps

The BB that I stopped at this morning only had one copy left.

There's another BB I can check on the way home. Also, you might want to check the thread over at CAG (for some reason the forum software isn't allowing a link to it, but go to cheapassgamer.com and check the first page of the Video Game Deals forum) , especially the last page or two. Some people have extras, so you might have some luck buying one off of them.

argh923

That's cool. Thanks to the both of you for trying. If anyone gets ahold of one, please let me know!