finalark
SNORLAX
LONG POST, JUST READ PAST THE SECOND ALERT IF YOU WANT TO GET TO THE POINT
A few nights ago, I saw a video on Sonic the Hedgehog that examined the reasons why Sonic's fanbase is so divided. As I am planning on finally giving Skyward Sword a go some time this upcoming week it got me thinking of the Zelda Cycle. If you've been involved with the LoZ community for any period of time it's a phenomenon you're likely familiar with. A new game comes out, is near universally lauded by the community, then another new game comes out, and the once-hated old game suddenly becomes well liked while the new one become's the community's resident whipping boy.
Now, I believe the best way to figure out the cause is to start at the earliest known example. Unfortunately, figuring out what the census on NES and SNES era games at the time of their release is difficult. Reviews are unreliable since games were primarily made for kids back then, meaning that reviews were basically just another form of advertising. The lack of internet means that asking anyone who is old enough to remember these eras is also shaky, since they only had their friend's opinions to go off of. But given sales numbers, I'm willing to say that the LoZ series as a whole was generally well liked until Majora's Mask.
Yes, this makes Majora's Mask the first example of the Zelda cycle. For those of you who only know Majora's Mask though its recent resurgence as its popularity grew with the "games as art" movement, things were different back then. Being the follow up to the most popular and successful entry, MM had a lot to contend with. That being said, the fan reaction to the game was mixed to negative. Most people didn't really care much for its time and mask mechanics. For years it was known as "the weird Zelda game" with the most positive opinions being, "It tried a lot of new things, some of it works, most of it doesn't."
Now let's move onto the next game, Wind Waker. Chances are, even if you don't remember reveal trailer, you know that this game was infamous for its massive shift in art style. When the game came out it was critically acclaimed, but most fan weren't exactly impressed. The game's sailing, cartoony graphics, boring final stretch, cartoony graphics, comedic elements, and cartoony graphics really rubbed some people the wrong way. Keep in mind that at this point, MM was still treated with indifference at best and contempt at worse.
Let's fast forward to 2006, the year of Twilight Princess. Nintendo was obviously aware that fans were not happy with the much more cheery and colorful Wind Waker. So they decided to go dark and edgy with Twilight Princess, hoping to satisfy disappointed fans. The game intentionally made call back after call back to fan-favorite Ocarina of Time. Not only that, but they intentionally scrubbed out the jovial WW by giving TP an ominous tone with more vile antagonists and a gritty, cinematic style. To this day, it's the only LoZ game to carry a Teen rating. That being said, reactions to this game were mixed right off the bat, starting with Gamespot's infamous 8.8 review. Many felt like the over world was too big and too empty, others felt like the game was poorly paced while some pointed to it's attempts to emulate OoT to be its greatest short coming. The fact that Nintendo had drummed TP up to be the be-all end-all LoZ game didn't help.
Maybe it was TP's attempt at going dark that spurred people to reevaluate Wind Waker, because at this point the community started to become much more kind to that game, saying that maybe the chance in tone and art wasn't so bad after all. Interestingly enough, Shadow of the Colossus had come out the previous year, sparking the great "Games as Art" debate. This may have lead to people going back and giving Majora's Mask another chance, as not long after TP's release MM started showing up on a number of "underrated games" lists where many people started pointing to it as how to do dark LoZ right.
So let's jump ahead to five years latter in 2011, which saw the release of Skyward Sword. Now, I haven't played the game yet and for the most part I ignored fan opinions since I figured I'd just play the game for myself to decide how I feel. But once again, it was released to critical acclaimed but was widely disliked by fans. Scrolling through our local Skyward Sword thread it seems like common complaints include the game's motion controls, abundance of hand-holding and its companion character, Fi (which is most certainly pronounced "Fee" and not "Fai" like Hyrule Warriors insists it is). Maybe the backlash towards her wouldn't have been nearly as high if it wasn't for the fact that LoZ fans found something to love about TP while they waited to SS: Midna. The snarky little imp who was painted in a sympathetic light and given more of a personality than any other companion certainly earned herself a few fans. Around the time that SS came out people suddenly started speaking a bit more favorably about TP, and Midna seems to be the centerpiece of the game's much more positive reputation over the years.
SKIP TO THIS PART IF YOU JUST WANT TO GET TO THE POINT
So, now we've gone over the history of the Zelda cycle, but what's the cause? Honestly, I feel like its a number of things. Zelda is a big series that is loved for any number of reasons. Some people love it because of the expansive over worlds, some people love it because of the characters and some people love it for the dungeons, just the name a few reasons. MM is loved for its sinister atmosphere, Wind Waker is loved for its vibrant art style, Twilight Princess is loved for its memorable companion. And I'm sure once Zelda U comes out we'll find something to love about SS. I feel like there's so many different things that people love about Zelda that there's almost no way that any new LoZ game will satisfy everyone. There's always going to be people who won't find what they like in a new LoZ game, as time has proven, a lot of people won't find what they like about LoZ in a new LoZ.
I feel like maybe the LoZ community just has a nasty habit of giving every new game a knee-jerk reaction and shooing out anyone who says otherwise. As time rolls on and attitudes simmer people who loved the game all along are safely able to share what made love the game in the first place, causing other LoZ fans to go back and give the game another chance since their ire is drawn towards the series' current efforts.
Unfortunately, I feel like we're at a point where we'll never truly break the LoZ cycle unless Nintendo releases some miracle game that manages to satisfy everyone. Until then, I encourage my fellow LoZ fan to approach every new game with an open mind and to try and see what people could love in it, even if the game in question doesn't hit all the right notes for you.
A few nights ago, I saw a video on Sonic the Hedgehog that examined the reasons why Sonic's fanbase is so divided. As I am planning on finally giving Skyward Sword a go some time this upcoming week it got me thinking of the Zelda Cycle. If you've been involved with the LoZ community for any period of time it's a phenomenon you're likely familiar with. A new game comes out, is near universally lauded by the community, then another new game comes out, and the once-hated old game suddenly becomes well liked while the new one become's the community's resident whipping boy.
Now, I believe the best way to figure out the cause is to start at the earliest known example. Unfortunately, figuring out what the census on NES and SNES era games at the time of their release is difficult. Reviews are unreliable since games were primarily made for kids back then, meaning that reviews were basically just another form of advertising. The lack of internet means that asking anyone who is old enough to remember these eras is also shaky, since they only had their friend's opinions to go off of. But given sales numbers, I'm willing to say that the LoZ series as a whole was generally well liked until Majora's Mask.
Yes, this makes Majora's Mask the first example of the Zelda cycle. For those of you who only know Majora's Mask though its recent resurgence as its popularity grew with the "games as art" movement, things were different back then. Being the follow up to the most popular and successful entry, MM had a lot to contend with. That being said, the fan reaction to the game was mixed to negative. Most people didn't really care much for its time and mask mechanics. For years it was known as "the weird Zelda game" with the most positive opinions being, "It tried a lot of new things, some of it works, most of it doesn't."
Now let's move onto the next game, Wind Waker. Chances are, even if you don't remember reveal trailer, you know that this game was infamous for its massive shift in art style. When the game came out it was critically acclaimed, but most fan weren't exactly impressed. The game's sailing, cartoony graphics, boring final stretch, cartoony graphics, comedic elements, and cartoony graphics really rubbed some people the wrong way. Keep in mind that at this point, MM was still treated with indifference at best and contempt at worse.
Let's fast forward to 2006, the year of Twilight Princess. Nintendo was obviously aware that fans were not happy with the much more cheery and colorful Wind Waker. So they decided to go dark and edgy with Twilight Princess, hoping to satisfy disappointed fans. The game intentionally made call back after call back to fan-favorite Ocarina of Time. Not only that, but they intentionally scrubbed out the jovial WW by giving TP an ominous tone with more vile antagonists and a gritty, cinematic style. To this day, it's the only LoZ game to carry a Teen rating. That being said, reactions to this game were mixed right off the bat, starting with Gamespot's infamous 8.8 review. Many felt like the over world was too big and too empty, others felt like the game was poorly paced while some pointed to it's attempts to emulate OoT to be its greatest short coming. The fact that Nintendo had drummed TP up to be the be-all end-all LoZ game didn't help.
Maybe it was TP's attempt at going dark that spurred people to reevaluate Wind Waker, because at this point the community started to become much more kind to that game, saying that maybe the chance in tone and art wasn't so bad after all. Interestingly enough, Shadow of the Colossus had come out the previous year, sparking the great "Games as Art" debate. This may have lead to people going back and giving Majora's Mask another chance, as not long after TP's release MM started showing up on a number of "underrated games" lists where many people started pointing to it as how to do dark LoZ right.
So let's jump ahead to five years latter in 2011, which saw the release of Skyward Sword. Now, I haven't played the game yet and for the most part I ignored fan opinions since I figured I'd just play the game for myself to decide how I feel. But once again, it was released to critical acclaimed but was widely disliked by fans. Scrolling through our local Skyward Sword thread it seems like common complaints include the game's motion controls, abundance of hand-holding and its companion character, Fi (which is most certainly pronounced "Fee" and not "Fai" like Hyrule Warriors insists it is). Maybe the backlash towards her wouldn't have been nearly as high if it wasn't for the fact that LoZ fans found something to love about TP while they waited to SS: Midna. The snarky little imp who was painted in a sympathetic light and given more of a personality than any other companion certainly earned herself a few fans. Around the time that SS came out people suddenly started speaking a bit more favorably about TP, and Midna seems to be the centerpiece of the game's much more positive reputation over the years.
SKIP TO THIS PART IF YOU JUST WANT TO GET TO THE POINT
So, now we've gone over the history of the Zelda cycle, but what's the cause? Honestly, I feel like its a number of things. Zelda is a big series that is loved for any number of reasons. Some people love it because of the expansive over worlds, some people love it because of the characters and some people love it for the dungeons, just the name a few reasons. MM is loved for its sinister atmosphere, Wind Waker is loved for its vibrant art style, Twilight Princess is loved for its memorable companion. And I'm sure once Zelda U comes out we'll find something to love about SS. I feel like there's so many different things that people love about Zelda that there's almost no way that any new LoZ game will satisfy everyone. There's always going to be people who won't find what they like in a new LoZ game, as time has proven, a lot of people won't find what they like about LoZ in a new LoZ.
I feel like maybe the LoZ community just has a nasty habit of giving every new game a knee-jerk reaction and shooing out anyone who says otherwise. As time rolls on and attitudes simmer people who loved the game all along are safely able to share what made love the game in the first place, causing other LoZ fans to go back and give the game another chance since their ire is drawn towards the series' current efforts.
Unfortunately, I feel like we're at a point where we'll never truly break the LoZ cycle unless Nintendo releases some miracle game that manages to satisfy everyone. Until then, I encourage my fellow LoZ fan to approach every new game with an open mind and to try and see what people could love in it, even if the game in question doesn't hit all the right notes for you.
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