Zelda II: Does It Really Suck?

[Alianger]

I recently had a huge discussion about the game on another forum so I'll try to keep it short this time. I don't think the game is completely bad, meaning I can see the potential for a good game somewhere in there. I'm actually working on a remake, though it's in the early stages. It's called Z2E and can be found with google.

I played the first two LoZ games for the first time about a year ago and I didn't really care for either of them, even though I played and loved both Wonder Boy 3 and A link to the past back when those were new.
The problem wasn't the innovation, it was just that the game (Zelda 2) was too unpolished and confusing. It did grow on me after a while, but the first 2-3 hours of playing it were just terrible!

When you get out of the "castle" you're in the middle of a field and you have no idea where to go, so you start walking into enemy encounters pretty much at random. It turns out they're just flat screens with a lot of guys coming at you from both directions, some of them respawning endlessly. The controls take a long time getting used to (it's no super mario), your sword is very short, and sometimes you just can't dodge all the enemies on the screen. Also, the amount of exp given is way too low. This left me with a bad impression of the game to begin with, and when I eventually walk in the right direction, I enter a town full of people that either act like living pages of a walkthrough or just say something completely uninteresting like "hello" and walk away (which still takes some time to read because the message speed is so slow). I later find out that it's the same thing everywhere you go, with random people knowing lots of secret stuff and the town elders just giving you vague descriptions of the spells you're given. I did like that there were these small sidequests in the towns, but the quests themselves mostly range from ridiculous (i'm thirsty) to confusing (bagu, kasuto). You might think I'm being unfair to an old game, but there were other games at the time with better dialogue and quests than that, and even if there weren't, why should anyone accept it today?

Well, I just realized this is getting long :P, so I'll sum the gameplay up as leaving me wanting much more depth and polish to it. The palaces lack puzzles but they're still huge, the overworld is pretty empty but still huge, the battle system is frustrating as hell until you learn the right "tricks" (Edit: jumping and hitting enemies in the head so as to skip the whole swords & shields thing that I find very cheap) or get downthrust ability.. Actually downthrust makes it possible to skip all those annoying enemies, and I ended up not fighting about 2/3 of them when I got it. There's more that I don't like but I'll hold for now...
To end on a positive note I can say that the final stage and battle were pretty cool, and I like most of the music. : )

[Zebbe]

Alianger: That "living pages of a walkthrough" you said about the town folks can be applied to Phantasy Star III. It is EXACTLY like that most of the game.

[Drixxel]

Alianger: That "living pages of a walkthrough" you said about the town folks can be applied to Phantasy Star III. It is EXACTLY like that most of the game.

Innkeeper: What are we gonna do?! Those eels in the bog outside of town have been acting up again!! ..Oh, hello there, that'll be 10 G for the night.

OR..

Innkeeper: GO TO EEL BOG AND FIND KEY. REST Y/N.

[George Foreman]

When you get out of the "castle" you're in the middle of a field and you have no idea where to go, so you start walking into enemy encounters pretty much at random. It turns out they're just flat screens with a lot of guys coming at you from both directions, some of them respawning endlessly. The controls take a long time getting used to (it's no super mario), your sword is very short, and sometimes you just can't dodge all the enemies on the screen. Also, the amount of exp given is way too low. This left me with a bad impression of the game to begin with, and when I eventually walk in the right direction, I enter a town full of people that either act like living pages of a walkthrough or just say something completely uninteresting like "hello" and walk away (which still takes some time to read because the message speed is so slow). I later find out that it's the same thing everywhere you go, with random people knowing lots of secret stuff and the town elders just giving you vague descriptions of the spells you're given. I did like that there were these small sidequests in the towns, but the quests themselves mostly range from ridiculous (i'm thirsty) to confusing (bagu, kasuto). You might think I'm being unfair to an old game, but there were other games at the time with better dialogue and quests than that, and even if there weren't, why should anyone accept it today?

Well, I just realized this is getting long :P, so I'll sum the gameplay up as leaving me wanting much more depth and polish to it. The palaces lack puzzles but they're still huge, the overworld is pretty empty but still huge, the battle system is frustrating as hell until you learn the right "tricks" (Edit: jumping and hitting enemies in the head so as to skip the whole swords & shields thing that I find very cheap) or get downthrust ability.. Actually downthrust makes it possible to skip all those annoying enemies, and I ended up not fighting about 2/3 of them when I got it. There's more that I don't like but I'll hold for now...
To end on a positive note I can say that the final stage and battle were pretty cool, and I like most of the music. : )

Seriously, this game isn't that hard to figure out. I got to the final castle when I was five. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest was a heck of a lot harder to navigate without a FAQ.

Anyway, this was my first Zelda title too. I recieved it from a cousin when his parents made him get rid of his NES(he got held back). This game was so freak'n fun to me. I loved the bosses. The Zebra Head, Thunderbird, and Iron Knuckle & horse were my favs. Also the music is the best out of any Zelda game I've played. Hell, I spent time just bouncin' to the beats(in the game... ).

Also this post is George Foreman's opinion and does not reflect the opinions of all Sega-16 forum goers.

[j_factor]

I didn't like Zelda 2 myself. I'm totally in favor of change (I wasn't that attached to the original), but Zelda 2 just wasn't fun IMO. The controls sucked and the overall gameplay was just annoying. If I want an RPG with side-scrolling gameplay, I'll take Cadash or Ys III.