DOES CONTAIN TP SPOILERS
Just beat it, GameCube version, at about 28hours max. (Dunno, since you can't save after you finish the game). To that question, I must say no. At first I was very, extremely delighted by the game, but then everything became too linear. Finding the tears of light was extremely boring, except for the last insect, which was a nice battle. On top of that, you always KNOW where to go, or what to do, which is not true for the previous 3D games or even LTTP (only official 2D Zelda game I've beaten).
I must say I'm extremely disappointed by the game, here goes my rant :
First of all, the music. Most of it doesn't fit the game at all. Listen to OoT's Forest Temple theme, and then turn on your Wii/GameCube and go to TP's Forest Temple. I mean there is a HUGE difference, OoT's music was grand, epic, awesome, a Goron compared to the Minish which is TP's music... I can't remember any temple theme from TP, not one! Eventhough, the Twilight Palace's music was the best of all dungeons. I also liked the dawn and overworld music. Majora's Mask had fine tunes too, I loved the Giant's song, what a game. Wind Waker's music was captivating, mixed along the graphic style, it made everything look good, which doesn't happen in TP...
As many have stated, the game could have been much more grandiose, I mean the central overworld is pretty empty, there are parts on which I set foot once, to catch a Golden Bug... Why did Nintendo decide to make a City in the Skies if the overworld itself was not fully used? Not a good move.
Speaking of which, I can't stand the idea that a chicken-like being is superior to a Hylian. Furthermore, the Temple of Time plainly pawns the City in the Skies. Once you complete the Temple of Time, the game stresses on how powerful the Oocca are, and how closely they were linked to the gods. Well I wanted to have more of a background history of those beings upon arriving at the City in the Skies... But I had nothing. Why would you introduce such an interesting tribe and not show their true power/knowledge? I hope answers will come in the next installments.
I mentioned the Temple of Time, it was a good idea to bring it back, it looked splendid. I still feel something is
missing in the game, the Temple of Time should have had a connection with the rest of the main quest. Various things make me feel the game was rushed, especially towards the end.
At first I told myself : "Ahem, the ending must be good, it has always been good", but no. I beat the Twilight Palace in less than 20 minutes, the Hyrule Castle (excluding final battles) in less than 15 minutes. You can't deny that it was overall too short! Even Wind Waker had much longer dungeons, with true enigmas! Just look at the Tower of Gods! TP's dungeons are a piece of cake, you always carry a maximum of 1 small key. At least in the other games you could carry multiple keys and had to really
search to find the correct door.
A good point I'd like to give though, is having brand new boss fights. We never had a nice dragon fight (you fought Volvagia on the ground, whereas here you really go up into the sky and take him down), nor a kickass skeletal fight. Impressive looking bosses, but way too easy, I never had to restart any of the battles, which is not true for the other 3D games.
Moving on to items, there are some nice new ones, but most of the newer items are for a one-time usage. Dominion Rod? What the heck? I've never seen a more useless item ever, even the Pictograph Box was fun! The spinner had some idea into it, and many things could have been made around it (Spinner races anyone)? Good ideas but many of them are not fully exploited.
My biggest concern still goes for the story. In general, it's good, and I like to think that there are some links between OoT and TP that no one has thought of (and that I have in mind
, plus Midna is a very mysterious character. Unlike Navi or Tatl, she barely bothers you, but if you ask her to help you, she gives good advice. Introducing the Twilight Realm was a good idea, and I loved the Twilight parts of the overworld. Zant was looking uberly nasty (especially during the Lanayru cutscene, after you beat the Lakebed Temple), until you fight against him. BUT! The story explains that he was never meant to be a king, so it kinda makes you want to kill him even more. Ganondorf however, is too absent in the game, at least in Wind Waker it really surprised me to see him on top of the Forsaken Fortress, and from that point on, he was very present in the game. In TP, you see him twice. He is the main villain after all, and TP was meant to be a full Zelda game, unlike MM which was more of a sequel, thus completely excluded Zelda and Ganondorf.
Speaking of which, I loathed the beast battle against him. His design pawned everything, maybe not OoT's Ganon but still, it was really good. That nice feeling vanished when I started seeing him running around like a dog who has just lost its playing ball. I mean come on, OoT's Ganon felt oppressive, the music was thrilling and his screams were cold-blooding (as in freezing your blood). Fortunately, the horseback fight was alright, and the sword fight was the best thing the game has. I still prefer WW's fight though, as the scene is much more enigmatic, in TP you're fighting him on the open field... They could have made the battle on top of Hyrule Castle or some place more intriguing. As I was saying the story was alright, too bad you don't get to see the Kokiris or even that tree being which appeared in one of the early trailers. I'm pretty sure a Kokiri Forest was planned but removed... The best part of the story though, is when you meet the sages. I like to believe that those are the true sages, in their true forms. They look like spirits, and that's what they are, the spirits travel through time and choose a host according to the needs of fighting evil. As in, the Forest sage chose Saria, then Fado, in the previous games. That's where things disconnect though, why would they be in their true forms here?
The Twilight Realm is also very interesting, and I love the way the story keeps secret how Ganondorf ended-up there. How are the Sacred Realm and the Twilight Realm connected? Are they the same? Impossible, otherwise Ganondorf would have taken over that realm a long time ago, when he was imprisoned in OoT. The Twili do impress me, I've never seen the true power of the Triforce, whereas you get to see a glimpse of the Twili power, through the Fused Shadows. Now that's what I call strength!
Ah well, I just threw some things I had in mind, but overall I really didn't enjoy the game, it's the first Zelda I've played through that I will never touch again. I mean I don't feel like turning on the GameCube ever again, I have this feeling of disgust... At least I had a good laugh with the Yetis, and even more at the very ending of the game, when the mirror is shattered. The music keeps getting in the higher tones as the tear approaches the mirror, and once the mirror breaks, the music stops, and the breaking sound was the same as the pot breaking one. That's what made me laugh, instead of stopping the music at that point, they should have played something deeper, which would emphasize on the emotional aspect of that scene.
Finally, I hope the next Wii installment will be something everyone will really enjoy, but someone over at Ninty said TP was the last "classic" Zelda game, which is sad considering how (relatively speaking) bad it is.
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