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Friday 25 January, 2008
GAMEPLAY II:
Well I spent a good twenty minutes trying to remember what I was supposed to do. This was mostly because the game has no menu that tells reminds the player of his/her objectives. Another thing that was a hassle to deal with was the save system in the game. Saving the game means you pick up at the beginning of the map you are currently in but whatever puzzles you have already done you do not have to deal with. The problem with that is remembering what you did before. After I pick up where I left off though the game was pretty fun. After a second round of gameplay the controls start to get easier to handle and you really learn to appreciate the item layout that is set up.
The one thing I noticed about this gaming session from the first was that right off the bat I was already enjoying it. I think the big difference that I noticed was that I didn’t have to put up with a tutorial like first ten minutes. I just went straight into the adventure. The big thing that I liked was that I finally fought a boss. It seems that the boss fight was meant to give the player a feel for what the future boss fights will be like as well as a feel for how the game is set up.
The Story arc is well done and well told. Each character starts to feel more and more real as the story progresses. While it is story that is not very different from other Zelda games, it still has helps the player get into the game. The player gets into the grove of the game and helps give the player a sense of magnitude for how long the game will be.
DESIGN:
I am conflicted about the way the action buttons are displayed on the upper right corner of the screen. While I see that they are useful in that the player always knows what each button is assigned to at a given time, I dislike the fact that it is always there and that it is opaque so that it clutters the screen, therefore limiting my view. Overall I think it is a good feature, but I wish that the designers either made it more transparent or allowed the player to toggle on/off the button icons.
Another thing that I am mixed about is the map system. While I do like the fact that there is a map in the game, I think that the mapping system could be fleshed out. There is no sense of texture in the game so it makes everything on the map look the same making it hard to tell where the player is. The map in the inventory menu is also very hard to read. It doesn’t tell the player where they are on the map but it does show the area in more detail. In my experience, I have noticed that the map system has improved with each game, but that isn’t saying much for this game. It is very easy to get lost in a new map or not be able to tell where to go.
One thing that I originally thought was a drag but have grown to like was the fact that Link cant jump; or at least the player can not press a button to make him jump. By not making Link able to jump on command, the designers make the maps harder more difficult to solve and making the game more fun.
I really enjoy playing Ocarina of Time and look forward to beating it.
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