#why is twilight princess the most underrated zelda game

[girl4music]

Honestly, it’s all about the characterisation. Twilight Princess is a great game for me mostly for that reason. The gameplay is pretty average for most RPG games. Might be a little more unique for a Zelda game but the mechanics are largely the same as they always were.

But it’s the characterisation that keeps me going back. Especially Midna. I mean let’s be honest. This game is about Midna. It’s called TWILIGHT PRINCESS. It’s not a “Link’s” title or has anything to do with any object, weapon or environment. It’s literally who she is. The Twilight Princess. They just get characterisation SO RIGHT and that makes you really care about the game when you likely otherwise wouldn’t. The music is great - but, like you, I HATE that it’s MIDI files and not full out orchestral pieces just like the previous games in the series before it. It’s not until Skyward Sword do they actually change this. Electronic music will always be a poor substitute in effort to save money. It’s essential to the experience as you said. When it’s done properly it makes a huge damn difference to the way you experience the game.

It is my favourite game of all time but it’s only because characterisation is massively important to me. Otherwise - I can understand why it’s so underrated.

[knightdawn]

Favorite Game Meme

but different

Got tagged by @curiousartemis for this and I’m also just going to list mine, I’m too lazy today to use the template (but you can find it here!)

I’m very bad at choosing favorites, so some of these have multiple answers.

Favorite Game of All Time: Ocarina of Time - but Skyrim has quickly become one of my “most played” games

Best Story: Hades Game, Golden Sun (The Lost Age), The World Ends With You, Dragon Age Origins

Favorite Art Style: Radiant Historia (Original), Skyward Sword, Majora’s Mask, The World Ends With You, Hades Game

I’ll finish it someday: Oblivion, Xenoblade Chronicles

Big Personal Impact: The World Ends With You, Ocarina of Time, Golden Sun (The Lost Age)

Best Combat: Dragon Age 2 and Radiant Historia - it has a really clever twist on turn based combat that I really like

You like, but everyone hates: Dragon Age 2

You hate, but everyone likes: Breath of the Wild - hate is a bit strong, I just didn’t like it much but it kinda sucks to feel “meh” about a game in one of your favorite franchises that everyone else seems to adore

Underrated: The World Ends With You, Radiant Historia, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky

Overrated: Kingdom Hearts - I love it, but it’s definitely not for everyone

Why do I like this?: The Sims 4

Game you always come back to: Skyrim, Pokemon, Fire Emblem, Zelda

That atmosphere: Skyrim, Golden Sun, Twilight Princess

Bad day cure: Pokemon in general - right now I’m working on Moon

Favorite protagonist: Hades Game, Dragon Age 2, The World Ends With You, Golden Sun (The Lost Age), Radiant Historia

After work relaxation: Fire Emblem, Dragon Age, Pokemon, Skyrim

Biggest letdown: Breath of the Wild

Back in the day game: Pokemon Yellow and Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Not the best, but having fun: Fire Emblem: Fates

Criminally overlooked: Radiant Historia, Golden Sun

Depressing game: Oblivion - I realized the reason I’ve never finished it yet is because I know the main quest is going to make me sad

Favorite ACTIVE franchise: Dragon Age

Indie pick: The Wayhaven Chronicles - technically counts, it’s an Interactive Novel

Not usually my thing, but: Hades Game

tagging: @toastnekohime, @amatusvanitas, @kita-lavellan, @ma-serannas-vhenan, and anyone else that wants to do it! :D

[only-by-the-stars]

the annotated Tome of the Wild

I don’t know how many people are interested in this sort of thing, but let’s go for it anyway! There are a lot, and I mean a LOT, of series references and cameos in this story, as well as tons of foreshadowing of various plot points, that may or not have gotten noticed, so I’ve been thinking about making a series of posts talking about it all for anyone curious. So here is part one, covering Chapter One: The Old Grist Mill.

(spoilers for the whole thing, obviously!)

- First up is the attire Link and Aryll are wearing. In the show, the protagonist, Wirt, is wearing a Halloween costume, though this isn’t immediately apparent that that’s the case. For Link’s costume, the choice was obvious: his Wind Waker clothing that you can get via amiibo in Breath of the Wild. Aryll, of course, is wearing the alternate pirate dress that you see her in when doing a second playthrough of WW.

- Then there’s the lengthy list of possible names Aryll tosses out for her frog. This is something that Greg, Wirt’s little brother, does at the beginning of the show, so I thought it’d be a fun way to sneak in a bunch of names that I wasn’t going to use otherwise.

Rauru: The Sage of Light in Ocarina of Time

Zauz: The blacksmith who forges the Phantom Sword in Phantom Hourglass

Snowpeak: For the Snowpeak Ruins, one of the best dungeons in Twilight Princess (and the series IMO)

Lorule: The “Dark World” of A Link Between Worlds

Vaati: The villain of Minish Cap (UNDERRATED GEM)

Swamp: Self-explanatory, there are multiple swamps in the series, like Misery Mire in Link to the Past and Goponga Swamp in Link’s Awakening

Lynel: The infamous, terrifying enemies we all know so well I hunt them for fun sometimes

Poe: Ghostly enemies that recur through the series (perhaps most memorably in TP)

Zonai: The mysterious long-lost race that built some very cool structures in BOTW

Ancient Columns: An area in BOTW where you find a memory and the Tena Ko’Sah shrine

Stealthfin: For the Stealthfin Trout in BOTW

Orca: The old swordsman on Outset Island

Ankle, Knuckle, David Jr.: Tingle’s brothers from WW

Guru-Guru: The Terminan version of the guy in the Windmill who teaches you the Song of Storms

Astor: The villain of Age of Calamity

Molduga: The sand-dwelling bosses in BOTW

Ook: A very hilarious and memorable mini-boss from TP

Tingle: The infamous Tingle, who of course Aryll thinks would be the worst name for her frog. Greg is cut off from saying what he thinks is the worst name, but I had to let Aryll speak for this little gag.

Phew, that was long. Moving on!

- “Rule one of the researcher's code is to never give up! That's what my teacher says, anyway.” Yes. Robbie is Aryll’s teacher, that is a line he says during the cutscene just before the “Relentless as a Waterfall” battle in Age of Calamity. As you might expect, Aryll finds him very amusing.

- Aryll stuck a piece of candy on a tiny black turtle that dripped an oily substance onto the forest floor as it crawled along. Dekuwood oil sighting! This is the very same turtle that gets swallowed by the dog that accosts them later, and the oil is what caused its transformation, just as it did in the show.

- “Why are we in the woods? How did we even get here? I don't... the last thing I remember is...” He screwed up his face in concentration. “Gah, why can't I remember? We were—” So Link goes into water and wakes up in a place he doesn’t know, with no memory of how he got there? Sound familiar?

- A shudder went through him and he resolved to ignore it, even as the sounds of ghostly laughter seemed to reach his ears from far off. And did the mists seem to be growing thicker? A reference to the Lost Woods from BOTW. Quite appropriate, given they’re lost in the forest.

- The mysterious woodsman is, of course, Rhoam. Who was also the first person that Link met in BOTW on the Great Plateau. He has a lantern there too, and carries around an ax, and is separated from his daughter. Just. Too easy.

- I’ll talk about this more in later posts, but, Midna in Beatrice’s role was one of the first and easiest choices I made when casting this thing. Also, notice how she takes off as soon as Rhoam shows up? This is a thing that happens in the series with the Woodsman and Beatrice, who have no prior connection, but Midna definitely knows this guy, and that reveal was held back for later via keeping that bit from the show.

- Also, in the show, the wood is called edelwood; here I chose dekuwood not just because of deku trees and whatnot in the series, but. well. Also to invoke the memory of the Deku Butler’s son in Majora’s Mask who became a victim of the Skull Kid and thus Link’s first mask.

- Link saying “Hey, listen” to Aryll is a callback to Navi’s infamous phrase from OOT.

- “Not in any way that would be beneficial to you.” Link will remember this later when the Beast is trying to get him and Midna to choose whose soul will be in the lantern.

- She leaned up on her toes and retrieved what looked like a compass. Compasses are, of course, a dungeon item in most of the games.

- The owl statue Aryll plays with, and subsequently breaks the beak of, is a reference to the owl statues in Link’s Awakening. Their eyes do indeed glow when you talk to them in the Switch remake, and in the dungeons you have to retrieve their broken-off beaks to converse with them.

- In the show, you don’t find about Wirt’s crush until much later, but I wanted to establish the plotline of Link’s love for Mipha and what he’s been doing about it right here at the beginning. His avoidance of her and what Aryll tells him about how its caused her so much pain is the beginning of his descent into despair near the end of the story. Not to mention that I hinted at the tape’s existence with Aryll’s reference to him making “that thing” for her.

- Aryll decides to call her frog “Blupee” after the glowing, rabbit-like spirit creatures in BOTW.

- “Sheikah smoke! Poof!”  A reference, of course, to how the Sheikah can appear or disappear in a puff of smoke.

- “He is the death of hope, a cunning calamity... he steals life, steals children... he, he...” A calamity, eh? Now where have we heard that phrase before? And Rhoam is, of course, alluding to his belief that the Beast is responsible for the disappearance of his daughter, Zelda.

- “Leave me now, young man... take your sister and go east.” In the show, the Woodsman tells Wirt to go north. But here, it’s east, because their next destination is Ikana, which is located in the eastern portion of Termina in MM.

- A half-moon the color of yellowed pages had risen in the sky by now, and by its light Link guided Aryll onto a path that he was reasonably sure led east. This bit of description is not just there to be pretty. I established a specific phase of the moon here so that I could go back and use the exact same description in later chapters, when more time had passed and it wouldn’t make any sense for there to actually be the same moon phase going on. This is a hint to the fact that everything in the Wild, takes place during the same night in Link’s world. This is something that you see visually in the show, but must be described in a fic.

and that’s it for chapter one! stay tuned for chapter two!

[malo-mart]

Which zelda is your fav? Why? (This is full on permission if you wish to write a like, 30 page cited essay on it, i wanna read)

Anon this is such a loaded question you have no idea <\3 I love the zelda series so much and I've played it for so long that my favourites all kind of blur together. I was thinking I could tell you what my favourite aspects of my top 5 games are though lol? I would love to write a cited essay for you but I am basically illiterate hehe

Anyway so because I can't pick one here are five

Minish cap:

for a long time I said minish cap was my #1 favourite game! I love that it's a Gameboy game with that early 2000's pixel graphics it's so cute <3 and I loved the gameplay of big/small (it has that classic overworld/underworld Zelda feel) along with collecting the kinstones, it was so charming. I'm always really obnoxious about it on Tumblr because I think it's massively underrated and more people should play it! Also ezlo is a good companion and he reminds me the most of Midna!!

Twilight princess:

um is this not every single persons guilty pleasure game ?? It's so good. It's just. So good. People call it edgy and trying too hard to be Majora's mask but at the end of the day it was a solid and fun Zelda game that I love so much !! How can you not love turning into a wolf. How can you not love midna. I think it has a great plot twist and some of the mechanisms were really fun. The fact that you can hold cats is a huge highlight for me as well. Also I think I should mention that I don't ship anything in loz it's not that kind of fandom for me but I do enjoy a little midzel....as a treat

A Link Between World's:

i LOVE this game !!!!!! It was a breath of fresh air while also being a sequel to alttp? Botw 2 could never (we'll see).. I think albw brought back that classic loz feel while still being its own unique game! I thought ravio and Hilda were so loveable and they deserve so much more attention then they get. This while game in general deserved a lot more love. It's a favourite for me because the wall puzzles were so simple and clever n just so much fun!!!! I think I could write an entire essay about albw if I wanted to there's so much to commend!!

Skyward sword:

ok I know I said twilight princess was my guilty pleasure favourite but skyward sword is ALSO that. I'm replaying it atm and when the music started playing I teared up it's such an emotional game for me. The fact that it came out almost a decade ago?? Insane. I used to watch skyward sword zelink AMVs in 2011 so this game is crazy nostalgic for me lmao. I know people have a problem with the gameplay but I just think once you get over it it's such a fun and rewarding game? The plot is my favourite of all zelda games. I enjoyed actually having a relationship with zelda, it made me more motivated to play through the game because I wanted to save her <3 also it's low-key my favourite soundtrack (tied w wind waker) so like to all the people who don't like skyward sword- it's a good game i swear you just have to open your heart to it

Wind waker:

OBVIOUSLY wind waker is on this list it's a MASTERPIECE!!!!!!!! The MUSIC the ART STYLE the CHARACTERS !!!!!!!!!!! Anyone here give me one good reason why you don't like ww I dare you. Wind waker is the most fufilling and beautiful games I've ever played. It's beautiful it's gorgeous it's wonderful. Tetra is such a delight and ganondorf actually has a backstory and good dialogue!!! AMAZING!!!!!!! a really strong plot and interesting underworld/overworld dynamic. I love wind waker omg

Majora's Mask:

So I had to pick between Majora's and ocarina and honestly I think I do like mm more? I've only ever played it all the way through twice but I love how the whole game is dependant on how you interact with the side quests. Both times I played I made sure to get every mask because to me it just feels so fufilling to know I am getting the most out of the story. And like for every edgy game that has ever come out...mm did it first. It was creepy it was anxiety inducing but it did it so well. It didn't feel forced at all and I think it's my favourite game I've ever played that has a time dynamic to it. It feels so good to watch the credits of Majora's mask and see everyone be happy! Its a lot more unconventional hero in Majora's mask because I don't feel good for defeating majora I feel good for helping all these characters who I got to know. It's a good game I think everyone should try playing it but I can acknowledge it's not everyone's cup of tea

Anyway that was definitely six not five but I couldn't leave any of them out they're all so important to me !! I've played a myriad of other zelda games that didn't make the cut but trust me I also love them. I'm sorry this is the worst answer to your very specific question haha but hopefully it's not too boring. Feel free to tell me what your favourite game(s) is I'd love to hear. If ppl make it to the end of this you should reply with ur fave game and why! I'd love to read them :)

[breath-of-the-gay]

1 and 6?

 1.Top 3 incarnations of Link?

- Sky Link

- Wild Link

- Time Link 

6. Most overrated and underrated game?

(i’m just going to speak for those that I’ve played, which are: Breath of the Wild, Twilight Princess, Wind Waker, Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Skyward Sword, and part of A Link Between Worlds)

Overrated, definitely Ocarina of Time. Yes I love it, yes it’s a fantastic game and I see why it’s so many people’s favorites, but the series has only gotten better from there and most of what I love about it (with the exceptions of some of the characters and the Sheik/Zelda stuff) has been built upon in later games.

Underrated is a bit harder... pretty much every game is underrated compared to OOT with perhaps the exception of BOTW. Skyward Sword probably, but I would consider that game more unfairly hated than underrated per se...it’s a fantastic game and does not deserve the hate it gets. Twilight Princess I think is maybe the most underrated of the more recent 3D games...it’s weird, and doesn’t quite deserve being called the “darkest” Zelda game (that’s definitely Majora’s Mask), but it’s really great; the dungeons are fantastic, I honestly really like the artstyle, and cmon... Midna is in it.

[astralescent]

M A R T H

VIDEOGAME ASKS 

M: Favorite Game of last year?

Breath of the Wild, hands down

A: Favorite Game of all time?

Answered previously but tl;dr, MM & BOTW

R: Most underrated game?

At this point I’d probably say like… A Link Between Worlds ? I feel like people thought it was great when it came out but they forgot about it so quickly, whereas it’s still one of my top favorites, possibly better than even Ocarina of Time or Wind Waker. I honestly don’t understand why it’s never listed up there with other ‘greater’ Zelda titles

T: Best game memory?

I’d say anytime when I was a kid and got to watch my brother play OoT is very nostalgic to me, but let’s see… more specifically, during spring break in fifth grade I spent the week at my grandma’s with my two cousins. Honestly the three of us really got along back then and we had fun no matter what, but that specific time we had the GameCube and Twilight Princess and we played it non-stop. We each had a file and we could play half an hour each before passing the controller to someone else (unless we were in the middle of a dungeon in which case we were allowed to finish it). We pretty much just played through the whole game together and watched each other play through the game again. Also, my younger cousin didn’t actually play, she was too scared of monsters to play through the story, but she wanted her own file so she could run around with Epona at the end during her 30 minutes, so she had me and her brother play through the story to get her there. I don’t even remember what made it so special honestly, we just had an amazing time playing through it over and over all together

H: Favorite local multiplayer game?

I’m really not one for multiplayer games so this one is easy haha, definitely Smash 4

[repeatsfate]

A, K, R!!

vidya games!

K – game you’re most looking forward to? 

at the moment it’s super mario odyssey and pokemon ultra sun and moon! and, uh… my inner 12 year old is rearing her ugly head to force me to admit i’m also pretty hyped for sonic forces, oops. lOOK IT LOOKS FUN, OKAY…

i’m looking forward to fe musou too but also i’m pretty neutral on it– everything they’ve revealed has been super incredible so far and i’m looking forward to maining my birb, but i’m more interested in the confirmed fe16 and i’m looking forward to hearing more about that when the time comes.

R – most underrated game? 

hmmmm… while xenoblade chronicles itself would certainly fit the bill despite shulk being a giant meme now, i think i’ll take it a step further and go on to say xenoblade chronicles x deserves a bit more love than it got– 

despite the very real flaws with the game and some aspects of the story, a thing that draws me to it aside from the ‘if you can see it, you can go to it’ MASSIVE open world and setting on a foreign planet was just how human its supporting cast and even minor npcs are. the game does an excellent job of portraying raw humanity in both ends of the spectrum– where there are heroes, there are people even in man’s most desperate hour that took that second chance as an excuse to be horrible, horrible people. the encounter of alien life goes as swimmingly as you expect, with the remaining fragments of humanity split on how to deal with these new beings in their midst. some choose to try and form alliances and bonds, the others shun and fear the outsiders– many quests actually revolve around the racism in what’s supposed to be a safe haven for the aliens pledging themselves to humanity’s side. the conflict taking up the last leg of the game is one born of human grief and the sting of loss– and when you really get into the motivations behind it it’s so easy to understand why the person did what they did but also acknowledge yeah no you did bad buddy you gotta pay for it now. i just???? it’s so good????

the planet and creatures that make up the game’s setting are imaginative and beautiful, i honestly love just booting it up and wandering. sometimes it’s scary as all heck because OH GOD GIANT MONSTER OUT OF NOWHERE but also… that just adds to the immersion and feeling like you’re a tiny fish in a big, big sea… and when you’re strong enough to stand up to those monsters it’s the most satisfying thing in the world.

the musical direction is honestly up to taste- i personally adore xcx’s soundtrack, but those not a huge fan of hiroyuki sawano’s works might find it lacking. here’s a personal favourite! 

point is, it’s super fun, i want to do an araceli run sometime if i can ever be arsed to go back on my wii u or it gets a switch port, and a verse would be fun to play around with… i’m not a huge jrpg person, but i really really like xcx. also, fans of matthew mercer– he’s in this one, too! he plays lao huang, one of my all time favourite characters tbh

point is it is flawed, yes, but it’s also a very solid jrpg that i had fun sinking hours into and i’d totally do so again

A – favourite game of all time? 

my top fave game of all time? easy! it’s the legend of zelda: wind waker! 

it wins in both nostalgia points and a critical eye as i’ve gotten older– as a little kid, it was the first game i ever actually beat all by myself! the gamecube was the first home console i ever got to own– for a while i lived with my granny, who wasn’t very big on gaming if that makes sense? and then after moving back in with my mom she got me one for christmas and a friend lent me wind waker after i tried playing it at his house and repeatedly got stuck in the forsaken fortress. the excitement of finally making it past that and seeing this big, bright, beautiful world and story unfold before me has stuck with me to this day?? idk how to explain it i just. wind waker was an important game in my childhood, and i’ve played through it a loooooot– mostly i’ve noticed it was during times of stress or particular loneliness. everyone has that one game that’s been there™ for them during times of duress, and wind waker has always been mine. 

okay i’m read more-ing the rest of this because i… went on for a WHILE. which is also why i answered it last oops. tl;dr there are many reasons why i love this game and it’s still my fave even now that i’m nearly 23. 

as an adult, i’ve found that from a technical standpoint the game holds up really well, too– even without the hd remake on the wii u wind waker is still a very beautiful, stylistic game; a major benefit to having taken the art in a more cartoony direction is that it prevents the game from aging too much; if you were to look at the vanilla gamecube edition now, it still holds up amazingly! (meanwhile, i find that while twilight princess is still lovely, the more realistic art direction tends to date it a little. i could look at the original and just know the era it was made in, whereas if i never saw wind waker before, i would question it.) 

the textures are rather blurry, sure, but that was a product of the time– hypatia on tumblr actually produced a mod with hd textures for roms of the gamecube version– check out these comparasion shots of the then-work in progress mod versus the original textures… and then here’s a few polished shots of the mod with a few extra effects dolphin/ishiiruka can provide. in short, the original wind waker is a very, very beautiful game and age has done very little to tarnish that even with the remake’s updated graphics. 

but obviously graphics don’t make or break a game, though proper presentation is important– wind waker’s story also resonates with me deeply in various aspects. as an older sister, the initial quest to set out and rescue your younger sibling in danger caught my attention and held it fast; they do a very good job of making you feel attached to aryll, and the scene where she is kidnapped always tugs at my heartstrings every time i see it. watching this young boy who lived the world’s most quiet little life on a tiny island suddenly get swept up into this grand, big adventure to rescue someone dear to him and becoming an actual hero – despite having no relation to oot link whatsoever! – is the quintessential coming of age story that most people can relate to, and watching that change as the game plays out is always really sweet???

 it was nice watching link’s development through his little actions: the backing away from helmaroc king when he first storms the fortress and then confident staring it down the second time and then giving it what for– aside from ganondorf himself that’s my favourite boss in the game if only because of those moments of development. link’s not just some kid from outset in over his head anymore– he’s a hero who overcame the trials of the goddesses himself in the name of protecting his baby sister, and he will not fail again. and then, after he could easily just throw in the towel and take his sister home because he accomplished what he set out to do, link goes on and sees it through to the end anyways because restoring order to the world is the right thing to do– there’s no legacy of knights looming over his head like several of his other incarnations. there’s no grand kingdom, there are only desolate little islands. there’s a princess, but… he barely knows her. hell, she didn’t even know she was a princess until that moment. 

the story also touches on themes of death and the ends of eras… but also ends on a note of hope and new beginnings– clinging to the past only leads to ruin, and we must create opportunities for ourselves and the world to grow. hyrule is actually completely washed away by the end, and ganondorf goes with it– unless we assume breath of the wild is in the adult timeline, that’s it. he’s gone FOREVER in the subsequent games, with bellum and malledeus taking his place as the main villain. the kingdom link and tetra found is called new hyrule, but that’s all they share in significance– it’s their own land, just like the king said. that final scene of wind waker with the king always got to me– that message of hope is so poignant and powerful, i just. i don’t know how to put it into words, but it’s a scene i love dearly. 

then there’s the music and cast of characters, and even quests and gameplay? i know the sailing could get tedious but i always liked it; it was relaxing to me just watching the virtual waves and listening to that beautiful score?? the characters are all bright and unique and fun– they’ve got their own little lives and you can impact them in so many different ways and things definitely change once you do?? like starting windfall vs windfall after you do a few sidequests or even turn on the ferris wheel and lighthouse again feel so different? it’s a neat little detail i’ve always found!!

…i really need to stop rambling about wind waker now i actually dozed off a bit typing this post, oops.

[gwydionae]

I Love Zelda Games

I’m a bit Zelda crazy at the moment (not that that has ever not been a thing - Link has been my avatar most of my internet going life for a reason lol), but at times like these, I tend to make lists. Because I love lists! So, because I have been lethargic all day and I could, here are 35 random Zelda facts about me. Feel free to ignore (or even steal if you’d like lol).

Games Played: The Legend of Zelda, The Adventures of Link, A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening (original and DX), Ocarina of Time (original and HD), Majora's Mask, Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Minish Cap, Skyward Sword, A Link Between Worlds, Breath of the Wild, Four Swords Anniversary

Games Beaten: Link's Awakening (original and DX), Ocarina of Time (original and HD), Twilight Princess, Minish Cap, Skyward Sword, A Link Between Worlds, Breath of the Wild, Four Swords Anniversary

First Game Played: The Legend of Zelda (I was always terrible - I watched my brother more than I played myself)

Favorite Handheld: Link's Awakening (yes, that includes BotW - I adore this game)

Favorite Overall: Ocarina of Time (cliche, I know, but it genuinely feels like the best Zelda package, even if individual aspects are better in other games)

Most Underrated: Minish Cap (I swear I never hear people talk about this one and I don’t know why)

Favorite In-Game Art Style (2D): Minish Cap (this game is so pretty you guys)

Favorite In-Game Art Style (3D): Skyward Sword (THIS GAME IS SO PRETTY YOU GUYS)

Favorite Story: Ocarina of Time (simple but satisfying; heroic but melancholy)

Favorite Gameplay: Breath of the Wild

Favorite Mechanic: Climbing/Paragliding (Breath of the Wild)

Least Favorite Mechanic: Stealth/Timed Events

Favorite Common Weapon (sans Master Sword): Hookshot/Clawshot/Longshot/etc

Favorite Unique Weapon: Spinner (Twilight Princess)

Favorite Soundtrack: Twilight Princess

Most Underrated Soundtrack: Link's Awakening

Favorite Song: Gerudo Valley (Ocarina of Time) (this was so hard to narrow down... so many could go here honestly)

Favorite Cast: Skyward Sword

Favorite Character Designs: Breath of the Wild

Favorite Design of Link: Oracle of Ages/Seasons

Favorite Design of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (et al)

Favorite Design of Ganon: Twilight Princess (Ganondorf)

Favorite Race: Zora

Favorite Link: Skyward Sword (oh gosh he’s such a cutie in this one lol)

Favorite Zelda: Ocarina of Time (one word: Sheik)

Favorite Ganon: Ocarina of Time (I just really loved how he played into the story)

Favorite Overall Character: Midna (Twilight Princess) (excuse me while I cry)

Favorite Non-Companion NPC: Marin (Link's Awakening) (EXCUSE ME WHILE I CRY)

Scariest Overworld Enemy (as a kid): Redeads (Ocarina of Time) (...I don’t think I can properly explain how terrified I was of these)

Scariest Overworld Enemy (now): Guardians (Breath of the Wild) (*piano music intensifies* NOOOOOOOO)

Favorite Boss (sans Ganon): Stallord (Twilight Princess)

Most Disappointing Boss: "final boss" (Breath of the Wild) (exact spoilers withheld)

Most Hated Boss: The Imprisoned (Skyward Sword) (FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF)

Favorite Ganon Battle: Twilight Princess (SWORD FIGHT. ON HORSEBACK)

Favorite Ending: Ocarina of Time (another hard one, but OoT won out <3)

(...I was really bored today but too tired to actually do anything thanks to going to sleep too late and my nephews waking me up way too early lol.)

[burningcedar-blog]

LoZ fandom

I told myself I'd wait until March 31 to get BOTW so I can focus on my first thesis draft. Well, one of the stores happened to have one copy left and I decided to buy it because why not right? Let's see how this game is. It is way more than I expected. Yeah it has some flaws I can criticize like lack of diversity in monsters and too short of a main quest that I'm trying my hardest to prolong, but the amount of things you can do plus all of the witty dialogue has sucked me in. You get lost and suddenly oh hey there's a new town or a special horse or a shrine. During my past couple years in graduate school, I have been a hot mix of stressed and burnt out. Half the time I'm wondering if what I'm researching even matters and the other half I'm avoiding academic politics. Don't get me wrong, I love reading Chakrabarty, Said, Jean Taylor and all of the other amazing scholars plus the novels my advisor loves to assign. Some of those books are going to stay with me for the rest of my life. Seriously, Southeast Asian authors are INSANELY underrated. What I lost though was my love for embracing creativity and getting creative myself whatever form that is. Breath of the Wild and the community surrounding it has changed that for me. It's been so long since I've been absorbed like this. Skyward Sword never did that for me. Twilight Princess was stunning and comes close. Storyline was long enough and the characters all had personality to them. Some may disagree, but the last Zelda game I fell completely in love with was Majora's Mask. I still remember walking back to the car with that rectangular box in my hands. Frustrating countdown aside, I loved getting the masks and discovering the stories attached to them. I'd play the game over and over just to watch Anju and Kafei reunite. I'd hang out at the Milk Bar just for fun. But most of all, I loved the Zora. OoT, MM, TP, whatever. Most of all MM though. I seriously fangirled hard over the Indigo-Gos. Their music. Mikau's love for Lulu. The creepy fanboy. The turtle. Saving the eggs. The Zoras were officially the coolest race in the Zelda universe. That game gave me the spark of inspiration to create when I was a kid. They left just enough space for my 8 year old self to fill in the blanks about their lives and what else happens. Needless to say, the Zora did that again for me. They rekindled that spark. I haven't found all of Zelda's memories, but Link's flashback of Mipha hit me hard. It's one of the first times I thought wow this pairing with Link is so sweet. Why did she have to die? And since the Indigo-Gos (Who will always be my number one Zoras), Prince Sidon has to be the coolest Zora. Why did he get so little time on the screen? Come on. But what I'm getting at I guess is it's nice to see so many Zora fans, whether veteran or new. You guys are awesome. Thanks Nintendo for making this happen. I honestly needed this.

[lockescoles]

Gaming asks! 4,6,7,8,11,12,13,15,18,19,20,23,24,29,30,35,36,38,40,44,48,49,51,54,57,59,66,67,69,72,73,74,75. I know this is sooo many (haha sorry) so just whichever or how ever many of them you want! :3

OMG LOL thank you ;D I answered 35 & 36 here and 24 & 59 here and 8 & 11 here. I’ll answer the others under the cut :P

4. Longest consecutive hours yo ’ve played a game? Probably like 8-10 hours. 

6. An underrated game from within the last few years? Mmh… I can’t think of one :/

7. Most disappointing game you’ve played? I had huge expectations for the Witcher 3, and even if it’s still a good game, I really didn’t find it THAT good. I don’t like Geralt so that doesn’t help :/

12. Most bizarre game you’ve ever played? I’ve always found Pikmin weird, I don’t know why xD

13. Scariest game you’ve played? The Last of Us can be horrible sometimes. I was so nervous when I played at night LOL

15. Favorite animal in a video game? I love dogs, so Umbra in Final Fantasy XV and the Mabari in Dragon Age ;)

18. Worst game you’ve played? I can’t enter into Fallout, and I’m sad about it because the story is great. But I hate the gameplay :/

19. Hardest game you’ve ever played? Mmh… The Last of Us can be really hard when you try to take every item!

20.Favorite publisher and/or developer? Square Enix for sure ♥

23. Favorite genre of video game? RPG. I love to meet new characters and to spend time with them.

29. Watch cutscenes or skip them? WATCH. They’re so important. The story is a huge part of the game so I absolutely need to watch them :) 

30.On average, how long does it take you in the character creation screen? It can be very long, like 2-3 hours. I want my character to be exactly how I want them :)

38. Have you tried a game, hated it, then tried again, and loved it? I didn’t hate it, but when I first played Final Fantasy VII, I was very disappointed by it. My favorite one is FFVI, and many people had told me that FFVII was as great as FFVI, so I had high expectations, and it wasn’t as great at all. But when I played it again, I knew it was not as great as FFVI, so I enjoyed it for its own universe, and it’s in my top 6 FF games now ;)

40.Favorite voice actor? RAY CHASE. OMG he’s the best, we feel all his emotions so much. I’m so glad he voiced Noctis and Edgar (he’ll probably voice him in a remake too *-* )

44.Do graphics matter? I love to play a game with beautiful graphics, but it doesn’t really matter because the story, the characters and the gameplay are more important. My favorite game is a SNES game ;)

48. A game you’ve always wanted to play but have never gotten to it? I can’t think of one…

49.A game you haven’t played in forever, but want to replay? The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. But the friend I used to play with passed recently so I just can’t. I open the game and I want to cry :(

51.First character you’ve had a crush on? I was in love with Locke Cole from FFVI when I was young, and I still love him so much. He’s caring and sweet and funny, and he also has a tragic backstory that makes him even more lovable ♥

54.A sequel you really want? None, but I want a remake of Final Fantasy VI :P

57.What is an overrated game you’ve played? Final Fantasy VII, like I said before. It’s a great game, but it’s not the best.

66.Game with the yummiest looking food? Final Fantasy XV. I want Ignis to cook for me LOL

67.Most violent game you’ve played? Probably The Last of Us, I don’t usually play really violent game though.

69.Your first LI? Alistair Theirin in Dragon Age Origins. He’s so sweet and funny ♥

72.Have any guilty pleasure games? Not really ?

73.A game with the best fandom? I can’t say… Any fandom has its flaws :/

74.Which game has the best lore? Final Fantasy X one is amazing. I just love Spira’s universe.

75.Do you focus on main storyline/quest or do sidequests first? Sidequests because I am a huge competionist, and I want to make sure I still can do all of them xD 

Send me a number

[retrorevelations]

Thoughts on Nintendo Switch

Yup. I've been a Nintendo fan since 1990 (the earliest my poor kid ass could finally get an NES), most of my life, and I love a lot of their franchises. But this past gen they really lost me a bit, really damaged my trust in them as a company. Wii U is underrated in some respects, but it's also a console I ran out and bought at launch (the only new home console I've EVER yet done that for), and while I remained hopeful for literally years that they would recover and pick things up and that Wii U would be awesome...it never was. They never did fully recover.

Games like Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros. were amazing in some ways, but then totally let me down in others (no real Battle Mode, not any kind of even watered down Adventure Mode). There were games that were cool, and fun, but hardly amazing, like Lego City, and NSMBU, and Mario 3D World, and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, and Yoshi's Wooly World. And THEN there were games that were, to me, outright massive disappointments, for various reasons, like Pikmin 3 and Star Fox Zero, both games/franchises I had been waiting for another entry in forever.

The cherry on top, if you will, to me, was Zelda. It may seem odd, or even silly, to some, but to ME, Zelda being a Wii U exclusive, and actually coming out in late 2015 or at least 2016, literally made the difference for me, between feeling like the system had been a fully worthwhile purchase for me, and not. This Zelda, art style aside (which is fine, pretty even, just not my ideal), SEEMS like exactly the type of Zelda game I've been wanting for a long time. I love Twilight Princess, and it is still, at this point, my favorite 3D Zelda, but it still had flaws, namely in how damn SLOW it is to really get going in it for the first several hours. Once you DO get going, it's amazing, for the most part, but still could have been better. TP actually does have a fairly large world, for it's time certainly, and most of the near 80 hours I put into my original game file (the GC version), was me dicking around and exploring, in BETWEEN dungeons and fetch quests.

To me, some Zelda dungeons are cool, but honestly, I don't play Zelda for dungeons and boss battles. That isn't what Zelda is about, or what does (or at least SHOULD) make it great, to me. To me, Zelda, starting from the original game, is about exploration. It's an "adventure" game, because you wander around, and explore, going on an adventure. It HAS action, and other elements. But at it's core, Zelda is about exploring your environment, or at least should be. So having said that, the very IDEA, to me, of a Zelda whose major focus, is NOT dungeons, but rather, providing you with a massive land, to just go EXPLORE? That sounds like a dream come true. And to go one even better, they’re ACTUALLY adding the ONE thing I’ve said they need to, and wished they would, ever since Ocarina of Time came out: MANUAL JUMPING!!! I’m fucking stoked for that alone. I'm certain there will probably be SOMETHING or other I don't love about this game. But IF it comes close to living up to even half of the POTENTIAL that the idea, and what little I've seen, actually has? Then it might very well overtake TP as my favorite 3D Zelda of all time.

And to me, THAT type of game, THAT massive, epic HD Zelda, as a system exclusive, and a timely release, would have made Wii U feel fully "Worth It" to me. It would have made the sheer lack of third party retail support, and even, in my opinion, the rather lackluster FIRST party support, of the entire console, feel like it was worth tolerating. There is not a single game on Wii U I can personally point to, and say "Here, THIS is why I own this console, THIS is THE game to own for it". Not one. Every other Nintendo home console has had one. Breath of the Wild easily would have been that game for Wii U, for me. Except that they pushed it back so they could treat it as a Switch launch game. So the Wii U release, even though that is almost 100% the version I'll be getting, as I won't be rushing out to get Switch at launch, feels like an afterthought. I just think BotW should have been the crowning masterpiece for Wii U. It should have been the console's last hurrah, going out with a bang. Instead, it just so happens to also be getting a version of the game, and especially considering how sparse and sad 2016 was for Wii U, the system is going out with a quiet whimper.

I won't be getting a Switch at launch, not only because nothing really GRABS me that they've shown for launch, but also because I was incredibly burnt by my Wii U owning experience. The first Nintendo system that made me feel that way. And AS a lifelong "Nintendo Guy", I don't like that. Don't like feeling animosity or disappointment towards a company that has given me SO many great games and memories in years past. But it is how I feel, with good reason. So while I am encouraged and positive about some elements of Switch that I've seen, I also am far from "sold" on it, or the fact that Nintendo has actually learned from their mistakes, yet. I certainly dislike the fact that now we're going to be expected to pay for online play in games we've already paid for, a shady practice that Nintendo now seems to have finally caved into. In general, it seems as if the console is going to be rather pricey anyway, the core price, the accessories, the tiny SD cards we'll be limited to, paid online play, etc. That doesn't exactly warm the cockles of  a gamers' heart.

But what it comes down to, ultimately, is games. Which I feel Wii U was sorely lacking. So I definitely feel that I need to see more. A LOT more. I need them to prove that they're not just going to have a STEADY flow of games within the first year, but for years to come. The GC, for all it's flaws, had decent third party support, and a release list that saw, on average, at LEAST a couple of retail games a month, often more, for it's first several years. The Wii, for it's flaws, also had decent third party support (even though it missed out on some multi-platform releases), and in it's first year on the market alone, Nintendo ITSELF on average released no less than 1 game per month, for that ENTIRE first year. THAT was strong support. It also remains to be seen just how serious this "third party support" will be this time, and whether or not they'll all just jump ship again like they did with Wii U.

So I need them to prove that they're going to at least get back to something closer to that. If Switch really is going to be the replacement for BOTH Wii U and 3DS, that they're no longer going to have two separate systems, but instead one unified platform, then unless they make major cuts to studios, they SHOULD be able to produce a steady flow of two systems' worth of games, being made for one system. If Nintendo expects my money in the future, they need to re-earn my trust, and re-establish themselves as a company that I feel like I can rely on.

[prxncessophelia]

Magdalena Bay /r/Popheads Discord AMA [16/08/2019] Transcript

Q : Did you get your name from this iconic bop? [Sandra : Maria Magdalena]

MB : hahah no, Matt stole it from a literal person named Magdalena Bay // (they called her maggy bay)

Q : whats your biggest influence that sounds nothing like your own music

MB : we love PC Music even though we don't really sound like it

Q : out of everything you’ve made, what song is your all-time fave/which one are you the most proud of?

MB : We think Set Me Off is super underrated, but usually our fave is whatever the newest thing we write is

Q : Did Matt take up that offer at the DMV?

MB : hahaha NO

Q : whats the song you guys most had trouble with?

MB : hmmm probably move slow, we re-did the melody and production a few times before we settled on the disco vibes

Q : What made you guys decide to go for shorter song lengths, or was it somethjng that just happened naturally?

MB : We got tired of waiting so long to release official singles, wanted to do low-pressure quick songs that we could get out to our fans sooner!

Q : So like, where’s Voc pop on Spotify?

MB : hahah does anyone actually like that song?! It was the first pop thing we ever made and it was more of a learning experience for us than an actual song to us

Q : are you planning to tour europe anytime soon?

MB : we'd love to tour just need the right opportunity

Q : what's both of your favourite songs right now? also have you heard any of Caroline Polachek's music

MB : Actually one of our favorite songs right now is Door! Another is Ever Again (Robyn)

Q : one more: do you have any plans for an album in the future? Or are you just going with the flow

MB : yes we have album plans! Maybe next year

Q : Did you have a specific inspiration for Neon's music video, or was it just the whole vaporwave aesthetic in general?

MB : that video we actually didn't do ourselves, we found that archival footage of the couple and had that intro sequence sone but we sent it to our talented friend Matt Lewis who added the whole vaporwave element, we really weren't too aware of that whole world at the time! But it really worked well with Neon

Q : do you like the band Superorganism?

MB : haven't really listened to Superorganism, we'll check them out!

Q : Only thing I don’t like is the redbone cover to be honest with you and I’ve gone through your YouTube and soundcloud

MB : lol we respect that

Q : I really like your Redbone cover! What other songs would you like to cover?

MB : we always struggle to think of covers, was thinking of sourcing suggestions on Instagram so maybe we'll do that soon

Q : What is thr most difficult song of the creative process for you guys, is it, say, the lyrics, the melody, the mixing?

MB : probably lyrics, it's not that it's HARD but I get very particular about it and sometimes a little slow haha - Mica

Q : i just have to say, i think i've streamed your one song Only If You Want It a million times. it's such a bop and i think it's a great song to introduce people to your work. what was your inspiration for that song and the retro style music video?

MB : yes we think OIYWI really encapsulates what we're aiming to do musically, really glad you like it! Spice Girls, specifically Say You'll Be There, was a huge inspo. We really love that video but didn't have a plan for it AT ALL when we filmed all that footage of me with our vhs cam hahah so it was a mess but then we figured out the word art aesthetic and the bugs and it all came together

Q : How does it feel to be the highlight of my terrible day? Because once I saw the tweet I felt quite a bit better, plus my magbae playlist keeps me calm

MB : Thank you!! We made that cover ourselves so means a lot, and there's a little nod to each mini song in it which is fun

Q : have you ever covered songs that you decided against releasing?

MB : yes lol how did you know?? we did really weird attempts at promiscuous girl and rod stewart's if you think i'm sexy that will never see the light of day

Q : https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/264810236500639745/609503125677670418/magdalenabay.gif

MB : love the gif!!

Q : if a blackpink stan is called a blink is a magdalena bay stan called a mabay

MB : we think magbae is a good stan name

Q : what is the best/worst thing you've guys have encountered so far in the music industry??

MB : best/worst thing we've encountered in the music industry: one of the best things is finding our stuff being posted on r/popheads, we used to have to do it ourselves hahah, worst thing is dealing with shady industry people

Q : Any plans for shows in the Los Angeles area by the end of the year?

MB : re LA shows: we're working on it! probably yes

Q : Oh shoot i just thought of a very very improtany question i must know - Simply : Cats or Dogs

MB : DOGS

much later // we like cats too just dogs more :/

Q : Did you start making music for the fun of it, or did you actually have asperations to be famous?

MB : we started making music back in high school in a rock band and it just evolved from there. I (mica) never thought I would really do this until i had to graduate college and was like wait!!! I don't want a real job!! // Matt always knew he wanted to work in music

Q : magdalena bay, how would you guys describe your songwriting process?

MB : it's pretty different for each song, only thing that stays the same is that we write lyrics after melody, not all writers do that! but a song can start with a beat or chords or sometimes melody, from either of us!

Q : ooh I actually have one more question! what song of yours has the most meaning to you? whether it’s bc of the inspiration behind it or something else

MB : probably some of the unreleased stuff, but you'll hear it soon! a song called airplane is prob the most personal to me (mica)

Q : what artist(s) would you collab with, if you could pick any?

MB : soo many but Rina Sawayama is near the top of our list

Q : If you could travel back in time and impart one piece of advise to your early teenage selves, what would it be?

MB : START MAKING POP SOONER

Q : So do you sit down for hours and work on thinking of melodies or do they come to you randomly and you're like "whelp, time to record"

MB : both definitely happen, iphone voice memos are key

Q : Actually I do have a question, if y'all had a bigger budget, what would you be doing differently?

MB : blackpink-level music videos

Q : Favorite video games?

MB : We've just started playing video games and love zelda twilight princess but we're dumb and bad at it and are always stuck lol

Q : there are several users here in popheads who are trying to get into the music industry, if you have one tip you can give them, what would it be?

MB : try to do everything you can yourself- from music production to videos to graphics you will learn a lot and be less reliant on other people!! and you'll save money haha

Q : If yall dont thats chill but if yoy do whats your fav song from blackpink

MB : we like the one that goes dudududu

Q : Were you ever worried about a song with hashtag as a title/lyric? Or were you just that damn confident?

MB : yes we were worried lol

Q : would you play Minecraft

MB : don't know anything about it but matt's little sister plays it so sure

Q : we spoke about artists you'd like to work with so...what producers do you get inspiration from / would like to work with?

MB : definitely ag cook, Sophie, grimes, toro, also get a lot of influence from the classics like max martin, quincy jones, pharell

Q : What's one thing people might be surprised to learn about the both of you, respectively?

MB : Maybe that we started music playing in a progressive rock band (the opposite of pop) also matt is an amazing chef and mica is argentinian??

Q : if there is one, favourite Britney Spears album/song?

MB : BLACKOUT we listen to it every day

Q : is there any of your progressive rock stuff on the internet 🧐

Also: (you may have answered this already, skip if you have lol) why did you guys make such a genre switch?

MB : Yes but we're not gonna link hahah, and we started making pop because we were at school in different cities and pop is easier to make long distance.... didn't know we'd fall in love with making it! Also mica discovered art angels around that time and that was that

Q : will you continue to be in the server and chat with us? we enjoy having you and hope you'll stick around

MB : thank you!! @hals#0013 yes we'll be around

Q : what do yall liste to outside of pop

MB : NOTHING and with that, goodbye! :heart: :heart: :heart: thanks again!!

[dustywings]

fanfiction questions: 23, 29, 30, 39, 40, 47, 50, 51!

Thank you for sending these in!

23: Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

That would be Scarlet Cross.  It remains to be my most popular story to date, and I just loved writing about Peggy and Angie in my own way.  They’re amazing to write about, and they flow beautiful together.  I’m not the type to read my own work, but I am proud of not only writing it the way I did, but also finishing it.

29: Do you have a beta reader? Why/Why not?

I used to, many years ago.  My writing is quite unusual, so I tend to be given constructive criticism on elements that make my writing the way it is.  So I just gave up.

30. What inspires you to write?

Love.  Pain.  Women with a story they’re desperate to tell.  I’m rarely inspired by own life, because my life and my writing are different lives that I lead.

39: What is your greatest strength as a writer?

Ummmm... I don’t really know.  I guess I’m not really deterred by criticism, and I don’t compare my writing to other people’s. 

40: What do you struggle the most with in your writing?

My writing always focusses on emotion, and, on bad days, I find it very difficult to display the amount of emotion going on powerfully.  Sometimes, the English language is just too limited.

47: Archive Of Our Own, Fanfiction.net or Tumblr - where do you prefer to post and why?

Archive Of Our Own.  People are much more mature on there than FF.N., and nobody really cares about writing on Tumblr––pictures are preferred. 

50: How did you get into reading and/or writing fanfiction?

I’d say about a little over a decade ago now.  Never been away since.  I loved the game The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and I adored the ship Link/Midna.  I discovered FF.N when I searched for any material on them online.  Found an amazing story, and started writing myself.

51: Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction! Go!

I’m an optimist, so I’ll gush ;)

Fanfiction is underrated.  It brims with positivity for flourishing writers, new and old, and it’s the one place––when I was younger––where I felt myself.  I was allowed to be myself, and write about my favourite characters and write about them falling in love and being happy together.  Fanfiction allows you to express yourself in the most private and amazing ways, and we’re all in the same boat.  There are times when you are treated cruelly, but I find them to be rare.  Fanfiction is a site I will always celebrate and always be grateful for.  I wouldn’t be the woman/writer I am now without it.