Gaming Ramblings: The Legend of Zelda 3DS

So, Nintendo revealed a thing recently….

Now, it’s no great secret that I am a Zelda fanboy.  It is my favorite game series.  But when I saw this trailer, I literally spent most of it holding my hands up to my mouth and/or going “EEEEEEEE” in high-pitched squeals.

I’m just going to take a few moments to fanboy over why this is so amazing.

First: it takes place in the same world as A Link to the Past but with a completely separate story and design.  Obviously, most of the games take place in Hyrule, so they’re probably referring to the same incarnation of Hyrule as the one displayed in A Link to the Past.  This means one of two things: either it is directly linked to A Link to the Past somehow (and is consequently the first game specifically designed to be part of that particular Zelda timeline—there are currently canonically three of them), or it takes place in a different alternate timeline.  Either way, there’s plenty of opportunity to flesh out that particular timeline’s story and world.

Second: It is a top-down Zelda.  My first four Zelda games were Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons, Minish Cap, and A Link to the Past, which were also all top-down games.  These are the games that got me into the series.  These are the games that contain the classic block puzzles.  Don’t get me wrong, the 3D games (by which I mean the ones that use XYZ directional axes as opposed to just XY ones—it’s an odd dichotomy where the first original 3D Zelda is a 2D one) are good and have clever puzzles, but there’s just something to the nature of the 2D puzzles that I love.  Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks for the DS pretended to be this, but ultimately weren’t.  It was like they were a 2D representation of the 3D games.  They just didn’t have the same flavor, and I yearned to play one again.  Well, I’m getting my wish.  I was worried that the 2D Zelda formula was dead, and Ocarina of Time 3D only reinforced that worry.  This video?  Completely reassured me.  2D Zelda is not dead.  They’re just making it better.

Third: It releases THIS YEAR!  I can be playing this game this holiday season!  Wow!  I am getting so hyped right now.  Seriously.

Fourth: The game mechanics they showed look cool.  The transformation into what looks like some sort of hieroglyph (or should I say Hyruleglyph?) in particular looks like it has a ton of potential as a game mechanic, allowing for real brainteasers of puzzles. It’s a new sort of Zelda puzzle: one that the series has never used before, but one that fits in perfectly.

And now for the one complaint I do have: the graphics look sub-par.  I’m normally not a graphics guy, but already they look kind of disappointing.  Link and the enemies look a little too much like plastic inflatables, and it already looks dated.  Too soon to make a judgment, and I really don’t care as long as the gameplay is good, but it’s detracting from my enthusiasm a little.

But just a little.

Because, come on.  This is the Zelda I’ve been yearning for since 2005, when they released The Minish Cap.  It’s a new top-down Zelda that remains true to the roots of the series and utilizes the advances in technology made since then.  There is no reason for me not to be excited.

Project: A Terrible Fate

I know what you're thinking, considering that I write about the Slender Man and I'm a fan of that BEN Drowned creepypasta.  But no, this isn't another horror work.  It IS another Zelda work.

A Terrible Fate is a blog where I'm going to be posting a series of academic articles about Majora's Mask.  Think of it as a dissertation on Majora's Mask that isn't really a dissertation.  A pseudodissertation.  That's what we'll call it.

It's something that I'm really excited for, which is ironic since it's currently something that's driving me crazy.  I've been working on it for about a week, and I've finished the introduction and the plot overview.  I'm about halfway through the glossary, which will need to define characters, races, locations, enemies, Zelda terminology, and gaming terminology.  Basically, I'm hitting the tedious parts of writing it, which is unfortunate.  Necessary, but unfortunate.  At least I've finished the overview now, and while I wish it were better, I do like how I framed it.

Anyway, the next article I'm working on for it is going to go into the game mechanics, which is actually not boring since the mechanics really emphasize the theme.  After that, I'm not sure.  I'll probably cover either Link or the Bombers.

Project: Urban Legacies preview

I've been writing seriously for about seven years now, and in that time, I've grown to develop some rather nasty opinions of fanfiction.  Despite the fact that I know it can put new perspectives on things, that it can explore avenues not canonically taken, and that it's a great way to learn how to write (my first writings were fanfiction, specifically of Star Wars in 6-7th grade, Bionicle in 5th grade, and even some very short stories about characters from the Mandie series when I was just starting school), I have a huge amount of disdain for it.  In my mind, it's not "real" writing.  It's poorly-written self-indulgent fantasies about shipping and how things "should have gone" and is just overall lazy writing that is, by nature, worse than original writing.

I'm telling you this to let you know just how hard it is for me to swallow that pride and say "I'm writing a fanfiction and I'm very serious about it."  Urban Legacies (working title) is a three-part Legend of Zelda modernfic--i.e., a fic that takes place in a modern time.  I've actually been working on it on-and-off for two years (because it's mainly a side-project) but I've done a lot of work with developing my world and outlining my plot.  I do have a ten-chapter draft of the first part, but I'm doing a near-complete rewrite because it was basically the "diet" version of the story I wanted to tell.  This draft will both improve my interpretations of certain elements of the series and expand on the stories that were important but never had a chance to be properly portrayed.

Anyway, just as a preview before I really get into it again and start putting it up in readable places, here's the first segment from the prologue.

The din in the empty lot was growing, but not even the few who braved the night tried to investigate.  Anyone who dared to be out at that hour recognized the noise and, more importantly, knew to stay away.  You never, under any circumstance, risked getting caught in the middle of a brawl between two blin gangs.

This particular fight, faintly illuminated by the bright Malo Mart sign, was a territory dispute being settled by a bokoblin gang leader and a moblin gang leader.  The two were evenly matched, and a jeering circle of both their underlings surrounded them as the struggle went back and forth.  The moblin had dominance, his hands around the throat of the pinned bokoblin, but the latter was still fighting, his punches wearing away at his opponent.  Unable to shield his face or withstand the blows, the moblin released the bokoblin, and the two split apart.

The two were both visibly limping as they circled, locked into their deathmatch by the other members of the two gangs.  The bokoblin grinned as he rubbed his neck.  “I ain’t goin’ down that easy, pal.”

The moblin shot him a death glare, the hair lining most of his body matted with both of their blood.  “You’re on moblin territory, kid.  You’re not leaving here alive.” 

The sole outside observer, watching from the roof of Malo Mart decided that it was time to break the stalemate.  He stepped out of the shadows, his face hidden by a mask—its piglike features providing a mocking caricature of the blins—and drew his gun, measuredly and methodically leveling it at the two figures in the center of the circle.

A shot rang through the night, silencing the throng’s roar.  A bullet ricocheted off the cement, chipping out a mark directly between the two.

“Awww, goddesses,” the failed assassin groaned as the crowd below turned as one to his hiding place.  He dove backwards, flattening himself against the roof as shots rang out from below, indiscriminately rechristening the store “AL ART.”  The man swore, discarding the gun, and listened as the clips emptied and the blins began turning on each other.  Each side blamed the other for the failed interference, and while neither side had particularly high qualms about maintaining their own honor, they were quick to insult the other faction’s lack thereof.

The man, already long forgotten, took the opportunity to climb down.  Somehow, by some fortunate chance, things had turned out better than expected.  Both sides were enraged now.  It would be a complete bloodbath.

The masked man’s feet hit the ground, and he casually strolled around the building.  Yes, it was a chaotic, frantic mess.  And he, he thought with satisfaction as he drew the sword slung across his back, would help clean it up.