Playing

11.29.2006 (Wednesday)

More Zelda today, was sick at home and accomplished more than I thought I would in my DayQuil-induced haze. Two more dungeons down and a bunch of heart pieces found. Yay!

Gah, back to bed.

11.28.2006 (Tuesday)

I'm more than a tad sick, so I only played Zelda for a little bit this evening. Got to the mountain dungeon, which - without ruining anything - I can say is nothing like what I expected. I'm only a few sections into it, but it's already the dog's choppers... The question is, how the hell do these dungeons keep outdoing one another?

I mean, really. It's almost getting ridiculous...

11.26.2006 (Sunday)

The last boss in the desert temple is the perfect example of why Zelda is such a great game: he wasn't hard. At all. But man, was he fun. Zelda is not about dying, or presenting the player with near impossible encounters, it's just about having a good time. Sure, some of the fights are perilous, and some of the puzzles challenging, but the player is never overly punished for screwing up. Instead they're encouraged to experiment with different techniques and rewarded with over-the-top experiences. Which is exactly what the desert temple boss was. Wow.

I'm currently on my way to the mountain dungeon, or at least doing the tasks that lead there. Really wish this weekend was longer...

I also started up my Red Steel save, and was happy it only put me back a small ways from the level's boss - I powered through the rest of the area and beat the boss before turning it off for the night. Still planning on beating this, but I'm certainly not in a hurry to see the end credits.

11.25.2006 (Saturday)

I just reached the desert temple in Zelda, and I had to force myself to stop playing. This game is shockingly good. Shockingly. At first I was wondering how they were going to fit 70 hours of gameplay into this world, but the way the story is evolving, I'm starting to get the idea.

Speaking of which, I've always liked Zelda's stories, they were simple and involving. Twilight Princess, on the other hand, is a totally different beast. It's dark - very dark - and compelling in ways I wasn't expecting out of a Nintendo title.

I also played a bit of Red Steel tonight, at the 30-something percent marker right now. I'm still enjoying it, but having a sword-battle boss fight - a fast and hard one mind you - that sticks you back a ways every time you lose it, really sucks. The lady came home so I had to stop at that boss, and I just quit out. I'm really hoping the save doesn't put me back at the beginning of the level, if so it's going to be very difficult to force myself to play back up to where I was...

11.24.2006 (Friday)

Zelda is one of those games that I really enjoyed but didn't love for the first couple of hours - which was almost heartbreaking, seeing how much I was looking forward to it.

That said, my opinion started changing a few hours in, and by the time I finished the forest dungeon - the first real dungeon in the game - I genuinely liked it. Lots.

Now, about 10 hours in and just starting the water temple, I could easily say it's one of the best games I've ever played. And I can do that with a completely straight face.