The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Retro Playthrough - February 2015

[Addicted]

I was able to finish the game this weekend. I like the US title screen better.  Thanks for the Playthrough!

Spoiler (hover to show)

[img width=700 height=525]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/cisco678/RF/IMG_2088_zpsiyto52qd.jpg[/img]

[singlebanana]

Congrats Addicted! Sadly, we recorded the show last night, so you were not mentioned as a participant who had already finished.

[Fleach]

Awww.. Missed it by 12 hours. So close!

Congrats on finishing.

[Addicted]

@singlebanana: No worries. It was great playing through the game with the RFGen community.

[MetalFRO]

Well, unless I spend all evening tomorrow and Friday playing this (likely not going to happen), I doubt I'll finish this before the end of the month.  Sigh.  Oh well, since I don't have either game for next month's play through, I can feel a bit at ease in finishing the game, and maybe rely less on a walk-through and try to solve some of the puzzles myself, which would probably be more fun.  I've felt like I needed to hurry through it, especially since I got started a week late, so maybe I can slow down and just pace myself a bit

[russlyman]

I'm chugging along as well. Got to through the 3rd dungeon just now. We'll see what I can do before the month is over.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JerryGreenwood]

If either of you guys, Metal or Russ, don't want to use a walk through and wanna ask for a tip here, I'll be checking in as I won't be doing a playthrough in March either.

I've always felt better about asking for a tip and getting a response from someone, rather than submitting to a walkthrough the instant something gets difficult. It's far more satisfying. I view it like - "I beat the game with the help of my RFGen buddies" as opposed to - "The internet and I beat Zelda".

I understand most of you have kids and not a lot of time, and that's fine, but there aren't enough words in the dictionary to explain how much I dislike walkthroughs. I kinda thought that was the point of these playthroughs anyway - to discuss the game. To talk about your likes and dislikes and ask questions and help each other.

Again, if some people are truly too busy and only have time to play in small windows (like 9pm-11pm on Friday nights), then I totally understand. I just don't want the others to be robbed of experiencing a great game and I think relying on a walkthrough zaps a lot of the fun out of it.

[ericeskapade]

Seems like most of you guys finished the game. Congrats!
My next step is the ice palace, and i will finish the game the next days.

I definetely want to find the legendary Chris Houlihan’s Top Secret Room also.

Boy, i think if i would played the game in 1992 at the age of 10 i would have never gotten trough all the dungeons and beaten it.
I enjoyed the first simple palaces, but maybe i am just to stupid or just bad in orientation, but for the most puzzles i needed a walktrough in the last weeks. Also like most you, the time feels to short for endless searches... even if the fun is a litlle bit lesser with not solving every the puzzles for myself.

Every time i visit the fairies, the sound gives me goosebumps, because i have to think of the Scott Pilgrim movie... for example this music was played when he got together with Ramona Flowers Awesome!!!

BTW: When Young Neal is asked, what he is playing (in the band...) and he answers: "ähm, a lot of Tetris, Zelda,..."

Actually it is the great game i expected to find, having never played any Zelda before- HAPPY

I will try out some Game Boy Zelda titles next (oracle of ages/season).

[singlebanana]

I understand most of you have kids and not a lot of time, and that's fine, but there aren't enough words in the dictionary to explain how much I dislike walkthroughs. I kinda thought that was the point of these playthroughs anyway - to discuss the game. To talk about your likes and dislikes and ask questions and help each other.

Again, if some people are truly too busy and only have time to play in small windows (like 9pm-11pm on Friday nights), then I totally understand. I just don't want the others to be robbed of experiencing a great game and I think relying on a walkthrough zaps a lot of the fun out of it.

The primary point of the playthroughs is to come together as a community to play some games and enjoy in the fellowship. I agree that a part of LLTP is the searching (for items, for dungeons, etc.), but the confines of a month are a bit much to ask people to not use walkthroughs if it makes the game more enjoyable to them. I agree somewhat with what Jerry is saying in that if you get stuck on some part of a game, try bringing your questions here first. The hosts play the games early and there are always people like Jerry who have played these games before and are excited to help you out. The landscape of video gaming has changed drastically with the coming of the Internet and so most of you will not have the same experience that I had years ago when I first played this game. This experience is nearly impossible to recreate today. I think that's why people like Jerry and myself love this game so much. Figuring things out for the first time or beating a boss and finishing a dungeon was so super fulfilling and magical when I was younger. We discussed this a bit on our podcast recording the other night, since the 3 of us came in having played that game at different times in our lives.

My thought is, do what is good for YOU and gives you the most pleasurable experience with every game we play monthly. However, I would like to see more chatter about the games, so if you do get stuck, let us know and we will be happy and quick to reply.

For those of you who have not finished yet, best of luck and please don't give up. In the end, you'll be glad you beat this classic.

Glad you are having a wonderful experience with your first Zelda title ericeskapade! 

[JerryGreenwood]

You're right. By all means, I wasn't trying to disparage anyone who uses a walkthrough. It's just my opinion that I dislike using them so much and I do enjoy helping people who are stuck. It makes me feel cool 

Like I said, most of you have kids. I don't. I have 2 dogs...much easier to take care of (although it's probably like having 1/2 a kid. My dogs are pretty young and wild).

[MetalFRO]

LOL, I like that analogy, Jerry, "The Internet and I beat Zelda"

It's true, though.  I used a fair amount of walkthrough material to beat Super Metroid.  Sometimes it was out of frustration after searching for a weapon, upgrade, or item for over an hour and coming up empty, because I couldn't figure out how to reach a new place, or in the process of back-tracking, I got stuck somewhere.  Other times, it was more a case of, "I only have an hour to play tonight and I need to make progress, so I'm going to cave and watch a YouTube video that shows me how to find Item X" kind of thing.  Sometimes, that helped sustain my enjoyment of the game, so as not to get too burnt out by the constant searching w/o anything to show for it (save for the occasional missile or bomb upgrade I'd stumble upon), and other times I did kind of feel like I was cheating myself out of part of the experience.  The nice thing is, now that I have a good understanding of the mechanics of the game, I'll be able to go back to it in a year, and have largely forgotten where everything is, and then I can maybe skip walkthroughs and other tools and just go it alone.

In the case of LttP, I've mostly only done walkthroughs when either I can't figure out a puzzle in a dungeon (usually followed by an "Oh, duh!" moment), or if I get lost and need help going the right direction in a dungeon so I'm getting the item(s) needed to progress.  I've been trying NOT to use stuff like that whenever possible, but I have felt like I've been making very little progress at times, so resorting to a walk through has often been my recourse when I feel like I'm just maxing out my rupees and not accomplishing anything.  I know I probably wouldn't have (on the first play through) discovered the room with the fairy that will upgrade my bomb and arrow max stock without the use of a guide.  Some of the heart containers I might not have found either, though I know I am still lacking several of them.

It's funny that there's an almost perfect divide between LttP and Super Metroid.  SM has a stark atmosphere with often minimalist music, sparse enemies, a lot of empty space, and a foreboding atmosphere.  And yet, it makes you feel like you're accomplishing stuff right away by practically handing you the first 2 or 3 upgrades, and with each successive upgrade, even if you're spending a lot of time going back and forth in each area, trying to find out how to progress, it feels like you're making more progress.  LttP, on the other hand, has a lush, bright-colored atmosphere, many areas and screens with multiple enemies present, mostly bouncy and "active" music, and a fair degree of "presence".  What I mean by that is, you never feel like you're totally alone from screen to screen, because, even when there aren't enemies from one screen to the next, you can almost bet that the next screen over (one way or another), there will be 2 or 3 waiting for you.  And yet, LttP doesn't go out of its way to give you items and/or weapons in quick succession the same way that SM does.  Sure, you get the sword relatively quickly, but you didn't "earn" it like you do the morph ball in SM, it's just handed to you.  But after that, everything else is more spread out and feels a bit more hard-fought.  Has anyone else noticed this interesting parallel between the 2 games?

[russlyman]

I got to play a good 3 hours before work today. I have 3 dungeons left to beat before heading to death mountain. I did a few side quest and got another bottle. I got a bomb upgrade, but wasn't sure if I should have used the arrow instead. it was at some pond where you toss money in and when you get to 100 rupees that you toss in you get a upgrade

[singlebanana]

Russ, you can keep throwing rupees in and continue getting upgrades until you max out.

[russlyman]

o nice good tip I'll have to head back there

[ericeskapade]

mmhm, turns out that in the Pal-Version the Chris Houlihan’s Top Secret Room is just named "the secret room" ... should Chris sue the Nintendo Power that he wasn't made famous worldwide and am i dismissed for the achievement?