Man... I still need to play Wind Waker...
Just for curiosity, if you had to rank it among the other 3D Zeldas, where would you place it?
Wind Waker was my first Zelda game ever. It holds a special place in my heart because of that. Still, I manage to hold it to a more critical lens than some people. Many people say that your first Zelda game is destined to be your favorite, but Wind Waker probably isn't in my top 3 or 4.
It has amazing art direction. One the things people gush about most with the game is that its graphics still hold up today and will forever, and they're not wrong. With the HD rerelease on Wii U (which is only $20), that's now certain. It's a gorgeous game that's full of personality in almost every aspect of its presentation. It's no wonder that Nintendo still uses its art style in many of their spinoff games.
Sailing is fun, especially with the Swift Sail in the HD version. There's enough to come across while sailing from Point A to Point B to keep it from being boring. There's a good amount to explore and discover, though by today's standards there's not much. Talking to every single fish for every single tile of the map to fill it out is tedious, though.
However, the world is quite empty due to the limited nature of the GameCube and technology at that point. I feel like the core ideas of Wind Waker would be better executed today with the kind of technology used to bring Breath of the Wild to life, creating a much more dynamic and interesting ocean to explore, rather than a firm grid. It was fascinating and impressive for its time, and is still good fun today, but I wouldn't say it's anything extraordinary.
They also pad out a good chunk of the islands with these reefs, Fairy islands, and the triangle islands that are just the same thing but with minimal variation, leaving a good fraction of the map space as deadzones with no reason at all to revisit unless you're a completionist.
As for the story, the characters and presentation are all fairly good. Certainly a step up from Ocarina of Time (though that's not a high bar). The beginning is really strong, and the ending is climactic as hell, though there are parts throughout the middle where things get pretty slow and unfocused, particularly after you get the Master Sword. That was the part of the game that I dropped off on back when I first played it, and didn't go back and finish it until some time later. The game definitely picks up at the very end, though, so it's worth it just to see that.
People gush about Ganondorf having so much characterization in this game, but... there's really only two lines/moments where he displays said characterization, and otherwise he's nothing special, so I'm constantly baffled by how people act like he has as much depth as Thanos from Infinity War or something.
Which is an issue with the discussion surrounding the game, in my opinion. Back when it was revealed/came out, there was a lot of cynicism about the game, since the previous games were OoT/Majora's Mask, there was the Spaceworld demo showing a realistic Ganondorf and Link swordfight, and everyone wanted that style of Zelda. Wind Waker was the polar opposite, so it wasn't too well-received back then. Nowadays, no one criticizes it for that reason, and almost everyone agrees that it's a fantastic game, as most Zelda games are, but some people blow it up to be this perfect, amazing gem, leading them to exaggerate Ganondorf's (still unprecedented) characterization, among other things.
The game is unfinished. Majora's Mask got away with four dungeons because it was developed in like 18 months on a dare, but Wind Waker only has 6. There were supposed to be more, but they were cut, which is why there's only two dungeons in the beginning and two regular dungeons in the second half of the game, as opposed to the typical three. In the original version, this was made worse by the Triforce search at the end that was just a really grueling fetch quest. It's cut down and revised in the HD version, at least, but compared to Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess, the game is rather lacking in core content.
The combat also isn't a substantial upgrade from its predecessors. It adds a new "parry attack" feature where if you wait for your enemy to strike, you'll get a prompt to press the A button and automatically roll around or jump over them and land an attack. It's fun to use, but completely automatic, so it doesn't really add any depth. It's a precursor to the Hidden Skills found in Twilight Princess, or the timed dodge attack in Breath of the Wild, but nothing too remarkable. What is worthy of note is how music notes play for each hit during combat in a subtle way that makes fights a bit more dramatic, which is something no other game has done to my knowledge.
Overall, it's definitely a great game and worth a playthrough. But many people overhype it too much, perhaps to compensate for the unfair criticisms it got back in the day. I still go back and replay it every now and then, like I do all Zelda games. If you like the other Zelda games, you'll enjoy this one, too.
For reference, here's my personal Top 3 3D Zelda games:
1. Twilight Princess
2. Majora's Mask
3. Breath of the Wild
I can't tell whether I like Ocarina of Time or Wind Waker more, hence why I cut it off at 3, since I'm at least certain in my ranking of those. I still haven't really played Skyward Sword, though from what I have played and what I've heard from others, I don't think it'd shake up my list any.
eats the dog, the duck and the sharp shooter though?
