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Whoa.
This game is awesome. Seriously, if you have a 3DS/2DS, and you don't have it, get it. NOW. Or soon, at the very least. Maybe for Christmas? Yeah, sure.
So, as I said in my last post, I got the game on Friday when it came out, and I played it pretty much that entire day. The next day I went over to my friend's house and he got the honor of watching me in envy as I played the game for 6 hours straight. I did let him start his own file, but I wanted the game back before he got very far... whoops...
And then there was Sunday, and I played it pretty much all day then, too. On Monday I beat it. And it was awesome.
Quickly, before I delve into analyzing the game, I need to talk about a few things. First, Miiverse arrived on 3DS today (or was it yesterday?) and I've been having fun in the ALBW community. Right now I'm playing through Hero Mode, and I've already 100%'ed my first file. Secondly, I ordered the limited edition A Link Between Worlds posters off of Club Nintendo, and they arrived a few days ago. I don't really have much room on the walls in my room to put up all three, so I'll probably just hang one up at a time and see which I like best. They're really awesome, and I wish Nintendo had made more of them to give more people a chance at this cool reward. Annnnnyway... back to the topic.
Now, my single complaint with this game is that it's a bit too short. I finished the game within about 18 hours, and 100%'ed it within 20 hours. On a side note, this is actually the first Zelda game that I've 100%'ed on my first playthrough. Anyway, while 20 hours is relatively long compared to other handheld Zeldas, it's pretty short when compared to console games. Which totally isn't fair at all, because this is a handheld game. But still.
In case you need something to compare to, I 100%'ed A Link to the Past in 14.5 hours. So it's longer than that.
Other than that one complaint, the game is absolutely phenomenal.
So, if you're a 3DS owner, you're probably familiar with that annoying feeling you get in your eyes after you've been playing with the 3D on for a while. In A Link Between Worlds? Gone. I never once felt the urge to turn off the 3D effect. This probably has something to do with the game running at 60FPS. I played it probably about 95% of the time with the 3D on, and the only time I turned it off was when I was moving around, since you need to be looking at the 3DS perfectly straight-on, unless you want the screen to go all wacky. And yes, I'm pretty sure that was a run-on sentence.
What I'm trying to say here is that you just can't get the same experience out of the game on a 2DS. If you have the option, play with the 3D on, at least for part of the time. It really helps out in dungeons, too, because most of the dungeons are semi-vertical, and you can see multiple levels at once. Especially Tower of Hera.
The graphical style isn't my favorite, but it does grow on you after playing with it for a while. Everything in the game runs so smoothly. All of the animations are smooth, and the controls are extremely accurate. The first thing I thought when I gained control of Link was how precise and smooth the controls are. Again, this likely all amounts to the game running at 60 FPS.
Next up is the music. Ohhhhh, the music. It's absolutely stunning. I've found the game is best played with headphones, because the 3DS speakers really don't do some of these songs justice. A large portion of the songs were in A Link to the Past, but they are totally remixed this time around. Oh, and did I mention they're fully orchestrated. In a completely different way than Skyward Sword (no offense, Skyward Sword, but while I love you to death, your music wasn't very memorable. Aside from Ballad of the Goddess and Fi's Lament).
If you've seen the trailers, or better yet, if you've played the game, you've probably heard this song:
Lorule Castle Theme
I LOVE THIS SONG. SO MUCH.
Especially when it starts to pick up at 1:03. But the entire thing's amazing.
You've probably heard that Ballad of the Goddess is actually Zelda's Lullaby in reverse, right?
Well, Nintendo's done it again. They've turned an already amazing piece of music into something debatably even better. If you haven't caught my drift yet, I'm saying the Lorule Castle Theme is the Hyrule Castle Theme (here) in reverse.
How do they even think of this? I honestly didn't know it was possible to come up with a song that sounds THAT good both forwards and backwards.
Here are a few more of my favorite songs, excluding Hyrule Castle/Lorule Castle themes:
Yuga's Battle (Eastern Temple)
Yuga's Acquisition Tour
Hilda's Theme
Death Mountain (Lorule)
This was my favorite song in ALttP, too.
There's so many songs to choose from... and they're all so good! Lastly, we have two versions of the same song. The Dark World Theme, remastered as...
Lorule Field!
And also, Lorule Field (Version 2)
What's awesome about these two songs is that not only are they great remixes of an amazing song, but that they really contrast each other. The first version plays throughout the majority of the game, but after picking up the *spoiler alert* Triforce of Courage *end spoilers*, it switches to the second song. While the first song was catchy and laid back, the second song is where it really starts to feel epic and heroic. It seems to say, "we've had our fun, but now this is serious" in preparation for the final fight. There I go, overanalyzing songs again... XD
I really can't decide which version I like better. I think I'm leaning toward the second one right now, but that could easily change again.
Now that we're through with the music, assuming you're still with me, I really don't have much else to talk about but the dungeons, bosses, story, characters, and the awesomeful amazingtastic epicly huge ending. Okay, I still have a lot to talk about.
I've been thinking about it, and I think I'll continue this in a second post. I've been working on this for almost two hours now, and you're probably getting bored of reading...
I'll continue this post hopefully soon... -ish. This is honestly the first night free I've had since Thanksgiving break ended, and I've got finals coming up next week...
Eh, I'll fit it in sometime. See you then! Bye.
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