5. Let Me Just Interrupt You There...
Now, anyone whos read my previous articles will know that one of my bugbears are cut scenes. In the right place, for the right length of time theyre great, but too often theyre intrusive and boring and waaaay too long. Zelda usually gets these spot on. Theyre engaging, fun to watch, and advance the plot nicely. What they dont get right, however, is the little ones. For instance, who groans whenever they come across the Owl in Ocarina of Time? And who has tried to shoot the damn bird without success? Forget infinite hearts, hackers, do me a cheat so I can kill the owl and you can have my PIN there and then. And the lesson isnt learnt. Moving on to Majoras Mask, the Stone Temple (which for the record, is an absolute masterpiece of design) was ruined for me because I had to watch the animation for Elegy of Emptiness play so many times. WindWaker repeated the problem, this time with the Command Melody having to be played a dozen or so times, but it is in the two Wii Zeldas that the frustration-ometer explodes. Firstly: Twilight Princess. Is it really necessary to have a cut scene every time you pick up a rupee thats not green? I know what a blue rupee is worth, you know what a blue rupee is worth, there are undiscovered tribes deep in the Amazon rainforest who know what a blue rupee is worth! I do not need a reminder every time I rejoin a save game. Skyward Sword cleverly picked up on this really frustrating flaw and eliminates it. So how on earth they completely missed the fact it does exactly the same thing with bugs and treasure is entirely beyond me. Its even worse than the rupee thing because not only does it give you a completely useless bit of text that even a goldfish would regard as a bit repetitive, it also opens up the inventory screen so you can see it added to the dozen others youve already picked up. And when you get back to the action (usually treasure is picked up in the middle of a fight) the game has helpfully put away your sword. Thanks. For. That.
Frustration rating: 9.
Now, anyone whos read my previous articles will know that one of my bugbears are cut scenes. In the right place, for the right length of time theyre great, but too often theyre intrusive and boring and waaaay too long. Zelda usually gets these spot on. Theyre engaging, fun to watch, and advance the plot nicely. What they dont get right, however, is the little ones. For instance, who groans whenever they come across the Owl in Ocarina of Time? And who has tried to shoot the damn bird without success? Forget infinite hearts, hackers, do me a cheat so I can kill the owl and you can have my PIN there and then. And the lesson isnt learnt. Moving on to Majoras Mask, the Stone Temple (which for the record, is an absolute masterpiece of design) was ruined for me because I had to watch the animation for Elegy of Emptiness play so many times. WindWaker repeated the problem, this time with the Command Melody having to be played a dozen or so times, but it is in the two Wii Zeldas that the frustration-ometer explodes. Firstly: Twilight Princess. Is it really necessary to have a cut scene every time you pick up a rupee thats not green? I know what a blue rupee is worth, you know what a blue rupee is worth, there are undiscovered tribes deep in the Amazon rainforest who know what a blue rupee is worth! I do not need a reminder every time I rejoin a save game. Skyward Sword cleverly picked up on this really frustrating flaw and eliminates it. So how on earth they completely missed the fact it does exactly the same thing with bugs and treasure is entirely beyond me. Its even worse than the rupee thing because not only does it give you a completely useless bit of text that even a goldfish would regard as a bit repetitive, it also opens up the inventory screen so you can see it added to the dozen others youve already picked up. And when you get back to the action (usually treasure is picked up in the middle of a fight) the game has helpfully put away your sword. Thanks. For. That. Frustration rating: 9.