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GameTrailers has a new "Timeline" series, starting with The Legend of Zelda franchise. The clip embedded below is like a teaser; you have to go to the main website to get the full 40 minute video. The full version can be found here, at GameTrailers.

I'd also like to mention that Hyrule Historia (which has the official official timeline) is getting translated to English and sold this January. It has the timeline, lots of production art, and other fun stuff.

A Zelda timeline, the very final thing the Earth needed before shutting down for good.

AshburnerX said:

I'd also like to mention that Hyrule Historia (which has the official official timeline) is getting translated to English and sold this January. It has the timeline, lots of production art, and other fun stuff.

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Yep, have this on my wishlist and hoping to get it around Feb.

I still have to get Windwalker or whatever it's called...

Silent Bob said:

I still have to get Windwalker or whatever it's called...

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The Wind Waker. It's probably one of the better ones.

AshburnerX said:

The Wind Waker. It's probably one of the better ones.

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I would have never agreed with that statement until I actually played it (I sadly admit to being one of the ones who judged it on it's art direction). It really really is surprising how really damn good it is.

I liked Windwaker a lot, but I still feel like the series peaked with Ocarina. I've played like 3 hours of Skyward Sword and haven't gone back.

I think the only real problems that the Windwaker had were:

1.) The lengthy amount of time it took to get anywhere by boat.

2.) Getting the Triforce pieces (because you also needed cash AND maps to get them)

It really makes that last 1/10th of the game a drag. Otherwise it's fine.

I think the last Zelda game I actually sat down and plowed through with barely a stop was Minish Cap on the GBA.

To be fair, if I had a 3DS, I would have replayed Ocarina in its entirety in the same week I got it.

I'd argue that Phantom Hourglass was awesome, but I can understand why many people wouldn't have played the portable games.

Since I'm a big old dork, my favorites are in order:

1) Link to the Past (I've played this game dozens of times and I'll still go back and play it again)
2) Ocarina of Time (barely edged out by Link to the Past)
3) Wind Waker
4) Phantom Hourglass
5) Legend of Zelda (mostly this high for nostalgia's sake)
6) Twilight Princess
7) Majora's Mask (I didn't really like the groundhog day premise of the game)
8) Link's Awakening
9) Skyward Sword
10) Link's Adventure
11) Oracle of Ages/Seasons

I never played Four Swords Adventure or Spirit Tracks

As to the official timeline, having the "lost hero" timeline is just a cop out, IMO.

Er yeah, I meant Skyward Sword. So it's not that good?

I really dig that "fallen hero" timeline the video mentions. I'm hoping there's a direct sequel to Adventures of Link in the near future.

It's not my favorite of the series, but I really liked it. Some of the mechanics using the Wiimote were actually pretty slick, like the remote controlled beetle. People complained about the lute strumming mechanic being broken, but I never once had a problem with it. There aren't any games in the series I would call bad except maybe the NES sequel. The only reason I put oracle of ages/seasons below it is that I hated that you pretty much had to get both and use a gameboy link to get the full game.

Oh, I also forgot to put Minish cap up there.[DOUBLEPOST=1354970772][/DOUBLEPOST]

AshburnerX said:

I think the only real problems that the Windwaker had were:

1.) The lengthy amount of time it took to get anywhere by boat.

2.) Getting the Triforce pieces (because you also needed cash AND maps to get them)

It really makes that last 1/10th of the game a drag. Otherwise it's fine.

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The sailing mechanic is the reason there was a 2 year gap between starting to play it and actually finishing it. For some reason the second time around, I didn't find the sailing anywhere near as tedious. It may be because in that period between playthroughs I played Phantom Hourglass and it made me realize how important the frog warps were.

Silent Bob said:

Er yeah, I meant Skyward Sword. So it's not that good?

I really dig that "fallen hero" timeline the video mentions. I'm hoping there's a direct sequel to Adventures of Link in the near future.

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I only played it 3 hours, so my impressions were limited, but having to regularly replace your shield is annoying. Loved the sword controls though.

Silent Bob said:

I really dig that "fallen hero" timeline the video mentions. I'm hoping there's a direct sequel to Adventures of Link in the near future.

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I like the fallen hero angle too. I know they didn't have an ending to the game when Link fails, but they did write back story where Ganon gets the completed triforce, so it had to fit somewhere.

If they would just release A Link to the Past for iOS, I would buy that game for a 3rd time.

Call me weird but my favorite is Adventure of Link. I'm sure I hold it high with Nostalgia Glasses but I played it more than any other Zelda after it. Sadly I've played very few in the series and couldn't really call myself a a -fan-.

AshburnerX said:

I think the only real problems that the Windwaker had were:

1.) The lengthy amount of time it took to get anywhere by boat.

2.) Getting the Triforce pieces (because you also needed cash AND maps to get them)

It really makes that last 1/10th of the game a drag. Otherwise it's fine.

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This. One could go mad trying to traverse this great blue mess, only to remember where it was with help from a creepy ass looking Merman. So...SO MUCH BLUE!

Gilgamesh said:

Call me weird but my favorite is Adventure of Link. I'm sure I hold it high with Nostalgia Glasses but I played it more than any other Zelda after it. Sadly I've played very few in the series and couldn't really call myself a a -fan-.

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I think most fans like that one the least, because of the strange side-scrolly nature of it.

I've actually never played II, so I can't say, I've just always heard it was one of the weaker titles.

At first I was like "this is really a waste of time, but it's neat to run through the games and the music is pretty." Then it got to Skyward Sword and the official stuff and I was like "hold up, this just got interesting." I think it's funny how the narrator expresses the fandom though. "Some fans wondered if there would ever be a consolidated continuity," as if these guys were sitting around contemplating this like Greek philosophers.

Anyway, those clips of Skyward Sword almost make me wish I hadn't sold my Wii before playing it, but Twilight Princess really soured me and people said it was a lot of that again (too linear). The DS games were a lot of fun though and I never get tired of Ocarina of Time.

I think I still have the GBA of A Link to the Past lying around somewhere. Maybe I should finally play it.

Ravenpoe said:

I think most fans like that one the least, because of the strange side-scrolly nature of it.

I've actually never played II, so I can't say, I've just always heard it was one of the weaker titles.

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It's a kick in the teeth in difficulty compared to most Zelda games. It can be downright brutal at times. I'd never played it either until a couple of years ago when I decided to see what the big deal was and played through it. The last boss is an absolute face melting shit beater until you learn he has one gigantic exploitable cheese weakness.

Zelda MMO? Hmmm

Silent Bob said:

Zelda MMO? Hmmm

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Big a chance of happening as the Megaman MMO.

Now I know that each game is based in different periods of each Zelda time-line, but than that begs the question...what is Link? In each time-line there are heroes in each period that look and sound similar to each other, and many of which have no blood relation to each other. Are they reincarnations? It vexes me.

The only ones that are confirmed to not be related to the others are Wind Waker Link and Spirit Tracks Link. The King of Red Lions states this plainly to the Ocean Spirit in Wind Waker. They are ether another destined line (that starts with The Hero of Winds in Wind Waker) or totally unrelated to each other.

It's implied that the Triforce fragments are somehow responsible for bringing these people together each time, as it's their nature or something.

I always liked to think of the Legend of Zelda games to be just that: Legends from different timelines, all pulling from the same source material and interpreted in different ways. So the settings and specifics change from era to era as the story evolves from the people telling it and adding their own flourishes, but it's always about a hero Link and the Master Sword, etc.

According to the Hystoria, every Zelda and Link are ancestors of the Skyward Sword Zelda and Link and Zelda is a direct decescendant of a Goddess hence her powers in every series.

Ravenpoe said:

I always liked to think of the Legend of Zelda games to be just that: Legends from different timelines, all pulling from the same source material and interpreted in different ways. So the settings and specifics change from era to era as the story evolves from the people telling it and adding their own flourishes, but it's always about a hero Link and the Master Sword, etc.

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This has been how I viewed it. Main parts of the series are different tellings of that legend, the way there are different versions of fairy tales, while side games that are direct sequels (Majora's Mask to OOT, Phantom Hourglass to Wind Waker) were expansions on those individual versions. That people have stressed over joining them all in one timeline seems kind of silly.

Gilgamesh said:

According to the Hystoria, every Zelda and Link are ancestors of the Skyward Sword Zelda and Link and Zelda is a direct decescendant of a Goddess hence her powers in every series.

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Then I think there's a miscommunication in the text or the King of Red Lions was wrong; he very clearly tells Lord Jabun that no, he is not the Hero of Time, but he could become as great. Then again, this could just be because Link hadn't acquired the Triforce or Master Sword yet (iconic items associated with the role) or another reason. He gets declared the Hero of Winds later by the King of Red Lions, so maybe that just muddied the issue and he was simply acknowledging Link's status as the chosen one of his age and chose a more appropriate name for him, considering his mastery of the Wind Waker.

AshburnerX said:

Then I think there's a miscommunication in the text or the King of Red Lions was wrong; he very clearly tells Lord Jabun that no, he is not the Hero of Time, but he could become as great. Then again, this could just be because Link hadn't acquired the Triforce or Master Sword yet (iconic items associated with the role) or another reason. He gets declared the Hero of Winds later by the King of Red Lions, so maybe that just muddied the issue and he was simply acknowledging Link's status as the chosen one of his age and chose a more appropriate name for him, considering his mastery of the Wind Waker.

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I really don't know, I actually watched the entire 40mins of the movie twice and everything still doesn't make sense.

The movie doesn't touch on if The Hero of Winds is related or not. But considering the game's actual dialog, he really shouldn't be.

AshburnerX said:

Then I think there's a miscommunication in the text or the King of Red Lions was wrong; he very clearly tells Lord Jabun that no, he is not the Hero of Time, but he could become as great. Then again, this could just be because Link hadn't acquired the Triforce or Master Sword yet (iconic items associated with the role) or another reason. He gets declared the Hero of Winds later by the King of Red Lions, so maybe that just muddied the issue and he was simply acknowledging Link's status as the chosen one of his age and chose a more appropriate name for him, considering his mastery of the Wind Waker.

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He could have just been referring to the actual Link from Ocarina of Time. Saying he's not the same person. That doesn't mean he can't be the reincarnation of the hero of time. I don't see how both can't be true.

Seeing as that particular Link is the key to the timelines diverging, I'd wager that there ARE no other reincarnations that would share the title of Hero of Time.

Thinking about it, I suppose you WOULD want to clarify something like that when one of the Hero of Time's powers is time travel.

It was basically stated that all Zeldas are related through ancestry and that Link + Zelda from Skyward Sword establish the original Kingdom of Hyrule. The only ones that are the -same person- are the splits after Ocarina.
Same Link + Zelda in the Child Saga.
Same Link + Zelda in Adult Saga.
Same Link + Zelda in Fallen Hero Saga.

Prior to those sagas, there were different generations from Skyward Sword to Ocarina of Time.

I feel like because of this timeline Nintendo will end up making a "Crisis on Infinite Hyrules" game.

SpecialKO said:

I only played it 3 hours, so my impressions were limited, but having to regularly replace your shield is annoying. Loved the sword controls though.

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I find that this can make or break Skyward easily. The thing is: don't use it much. If you're used to the previous games where it's "raise shield, INVINCIBLE!" then you're screwed. The shield is overall both less, and more useful than it used to be, but it requires skill. If you treat it like Ocarina's shield, you're going to be breaking it left and right. If you treat it as "situationally useful" then it'll barely get touched or used. Which works too. Only later can you use it as an "oh shit" tool when it's nearly (or actually) invincible. I guess the main problem is that they make the starter one SO fragile that it's too expensive to learn how to use well early game, and thus if you make it to late game without it, you don't care anymore.

I'd say though, go back to it. Get through the first part where it's a big series of "wtf is happening?" moments, and you'll be well rewarded. I do find it's put together very very well, it's just breaking too many conventions, and not enough at the same time. When Zelda went 3D with Ocarina, they (by necessity) broke nearly every convention there was, but that was OK. It was different enough that we were out of our comfort zone, thus no need to fulfill many expectations. Here, it "looks" close enough to Ocarina that we wonder why it's not doing "what we like but better" and thus have more issues, even if it's a nearly as good (or maybe even better) game. I was definitely having a blast by midway through. There's a couple of frustrating fights (Imprisoned can suck sometimes), but overall it's great IMO.

HOY SMALL FRY

It should also be pointed out that you do get a shield later on that repairs itself.

Bowielee said:

It should also be pointed out that you do get a shield later on that repairs itself.

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And there's also a side-quest shield that is immune to damage and looks awesome.