Zelda vs the colossus

man_o_mule

Does anyone else think thatShadow of the Colossus look more like a dark and realistic Zelda game than the new Zelda does.

IMO the new Zelda game looks like a joke. Apparently not that many people liked the cell shaded wind waker...dont know why. That game looked amazing. But since everyone complained they decided to make the new one more realistic....... but it still looks cartoony. It still looks like a japanese styled game, just not cell shaded. It doesn't look dark or realistic imo.

Now look at Shadow of the Colossus. This game looks very realistic, and very dark. Not to mention that the main character looks a bit like Link, and horses seem to be a large part of both games.

I havn't played Twilight Princess yet, but i did get to see it up close (YAY Penny arcade expo and Nintendo's HUGE display there). And after playing the Shadow of the Colossus demo, i have to say that Shadow looks much much better.

So what do you guys think? Do you agree that Twilight princess looks like it's a step back artisticaly? Or do you say "What is this Colossus game, and why do i care?"

Justin Meisse

Zelda is a franchise, they don't have the freedom that the creators of Colossus has. I'm pretty sure the look of the new Zelda is trying to find a middle ground between Japanese fans and westerners. That's the conundrum with franchise games like Zelda, when you try to innovate it alienates the fans but if you keep doing what the fans want, people get bored with the game.

hawken

I'm sorry but do you really think Nintendo care what fans outside Japan want? Windwaker was a hit in Japan and Europe. A few wingey fans aren't going to make them suddenly bring out a more realistic version, it's more of a natural progression of the series, which if you look at it, varies from game to game.

I was hoping that they would make the sword play a little more realistic in its damage, by hacking off parts of your enemies etc.

aesir

hawken, do you really think that Nintendo only cares about what their fans in Japan want? America makes up a HUGE portion of their profits. And the day zelda has the ability to hack off a person's limbs is the day pigs fly...


As far as Zelda's art, I know that a lot of people really like the style and can't wait for the new Zelda game. Shadow of Collosus also looks great. What you've got to understand is that theres no single "correct" style for a game. They're all going to be different. Saying zelda should look like SoC just because you like the way it looks better is a bit naive. Nintendo chose their stylistic choice well in my opinion.

cholden

Sure, I might agree that certain aspects look less zelda and more realistic. Reckon I'll have to play it to give that the offical thumbs up, though it seems the natural progression from the N64 games. I was a HUGE fan of the Wind Waker style, and enjoyed the diversion. SotC is ICO sequel to me, and I never really thought of the LoZ visual link. Either way, I can't wait for both.

Sean McBride

I can see how you could see that. But its just as similar to zelda as ico was similar to zelda. From what I remember link didn't have horns though.

Of course i'm a huge fan of every zelda game (aside from the crazy ones on CDI because I was young and i can't find one now...) AND a fan of ICO.

Both will be amazing. just enjoy them! Don't count zelda out just yet.

malcolm

And just to add some random stats to this post I did not play wind waker because I hated the cell shaded art style even though everyone told me it was the best zelda ever. I played the Minnish Cap however and it was awesome, best Zelda I have played, and the art looked great too.

KDR_11k

All I remember about the Wanda demo was that the framerate was lower than Ocarina of Time's. And that I couldn't figure out what you're supposed to do.

Aesir: Nintendo started caring about the US a year or two ago, as crazy as it sounds. Many of their decisions were very Japan-centric, they've made a few more US-centric decisions afterwards.

Man-o-mule: The fans wanted a style closer to Ocarina of Time, which was pretty much anime style.

Moz

the animation in the new zelda looks so robotic, even OOT had smoothing movement

KDR_11k

Did you play the demo or is that just from the trailers?

man_o_mule

I may be totally biased twords the cartoony link. I startd playing zelda games when the first one on NES came out, didn't really play Zelda 2, then went straight to A Link to the Past. Imo link should always be cartoony, and a cell shaded link seemed to be the perfect way to translate that to 3D.

I never owned a N64 and only played OoT when it was ported to Gamecube as the extra disc you got when you pre ordered windwaker. I thought it was decent, but i kept getting stuck. and eventually just stopped playing. Didn't really think the art style was that great, most 3D games on the PS1 and the N64 looked about the same imo. Just not enough processing power to pull off stylized 3D art.

And my Zelda fainboyness wore off after windwaker. While i loved the game and the art, there was just too much damn sailing about. I used to point the ship where i wanted it to go, head into the kitchen, make a sandwich, come back and be able to eat the sandwich before i got where i was going. Now they are adding a horse to the new game.....which seems too similar to the boat imo....yet another reason i'm not really excited about the new zelda.

I guess you could compare Ico to Zelda as well, but i was too busy yelling "DAMNIT!!! STOP CHASING THE BIRDS!!!" when i was playing it to think about it much.

And my god, i LOVE the animation in ico and in Shadow of the Colossus. Beautiful, and realistic. I love how you can actually trip over stuff, and the main character stumbles a bit.

thomasp

woah, nice find. that title just made it on my wishlist. a heartbeat later i ordered wind waker - feeding the gamecube

is ico any good judged by todays standards? screenshots didn't look very promising and people complained about the battle system, so i never really investigated.

Weiser_Cain

Yeah, I do think nintendo cares what we think, why else would there be a nintendo of america?

There is a lot of diffrences between the two games. Ico/SotC is a game more sutiable for adults than children(never mind the morbid, isolated feel of the game) while the zelda series can pull in a younger audience. The atmossphere is entirely diffrent between the two, for instance I don't think I'd ever feel joy while playing SotC. Plus how the game is played is diffrent with Ico/SotC's heros being much more frail than just about any incarnation of link(or good or bad thing depending on your stance) and having a much smaller selection of weapons and no magic at all. Half of the zelda experience is running around playing and meeting people. Link also does a lot more dungeon crawling, and has more backstory to draw from to create and populate the world you adventure in.
SotC and Zelda are in the same genera that's all. Riding around and shooting stuff is only a minor part of what makes zelda zelda. I played the demo for SotC and I can tell you it's a fun game and it's no threat to zelda for the forseeable future as far as I'm concerned.

Ninjas

OT(
Ico is one of the best PS2 games. Read some reviews for christ sake. It pops up as a 'best ever' game all the time. That being said, it is a puzzle platformer in the style of Out of this World. SUPRISE! It doesn't play like Devil May Cry. It is a puzzle game.
)

What does Zelda and Shadow of the Colossus have to do with each other? They both have characters with pointy ears and horses! That is it!

I don't even know what you are talking about because it doesn't make sense. Oh, you're pissed because you wish that they named SotC Zelda instead? Because you think Sotc is ripping off Zelda? You're pissy because Zelda didn't have you as an art director? I don't get it? What is the connection between these two vastly different games?

malcolm

If you have not played ICO this is a must play title no matter how old it gets. The animation is the most realistic I have seen and the entire mood and feeling you get while playing the game can't be matched. The battle system was indeed somewhat frustrating but did not take away frome the awesomeness of the game as a whole. I played the game about 3 years after it shipped and I was blown away at how I missed out on this game?

killingpeople

bah whatever. they are both rad.

man_o_mule

apparently most people here are missing my whole point. It was not that these games play similar. I was comparing the art and graphics in each. and how everyone was saying "OMG!!! REALISTIC Z3LD4!!!!11!!!1!eleven" and drooling on themselves.

When they could look at Shadow of the Colossus and get a game that has similar characters, but looks oh so much nicer imo.

and Ico rocked. One of the few games i own that i will NEVER consider trading in....and you can get it for about $15 now. and it does look amazing.

Ninjas

Okay. I get it. I totally agree that calling the new Zelda "realistic" is retarded and if they really wanted a realistic japanese fantasy game they could play SotC.

My experience with Zelda games was very close to yours in that I played the 8-bit zelda games and thought Wind Waker had a good realization of Link. I thought Zelda OoT sucked, and I couldn't get past the tedious open ended portion of Wind Waker.

The way I see it, Nintendo could have pulled another Mario 64, and make me wait 10 years for a true sequel, but instead they are taking another shot at the Zelda franchise. MAYBE they will get it perfect this time.

I'm sure I will end up buying both games, and I only buy about five games a year. I think SotC will be mind blowing, and I think Zelda could be great if the stars align, though to be honest I think the aspect of turning into a spirit wolf will, sadly, suck ass.

Weiser_Cain

If the demo was finished graphics-wise I'd say the graphich for epona are better than the horse in SotC. You can't argue style. The enviroments are very impressive but then I haven't seen much of the eviroments for the new zelda.

Moz

I loved OOT, never finish MM though.