A Multi-Console Household
The entertainment center got more interesting this week as Shwayder’s Wii is now perched just a few feet from my PS3. Given the enormous size of my unit (double entendre intentional), it’s a wonder that my PS3 doesn’t devour the petite Wii. The only thing stopping it from happening is the presence of a tiny PS2 between them. The PS3 wouldn’t eat a PS2; that would be incestuous.
The Wii is a hell of a lot of fun, though. The sports title is the clear winner around the house, though the boxing game makes me long for a version of Fight Night that uses the Wiimote. Bowling is great, and doesn’t leave your fingers all gross… assuming you’ve wiped down the controller after Shwayder last used it, of course.
We’ve also got Zelda, but Shwayder boycotted it due to his frustration at being unable to figure out that you’re supposed to send the bird to attack the monkey so it gives up the basket. Yeah, I know how that sounds.
My PS3 is patiently waiting for a time when it can play original games that are as fun as what’s currently on the Wii (come on, MotorStorm!). Until then, it’s going to be watching the Wii… hungrily.
re: Bird/monkey/basket No Fucking shit! I mean seriously, was that supposed to be inferred standing on a stalagmite-like landform at least 200 meters away?
it is weird, for some reason i just haven’t been as hooked with wii-zelda as I have with past Zeldas, but the virtual console more than makes up for this with Link to the Past and such.
Yeah… Here’s the (almost) short version of my complaint:
I knew almost immediately that a) I could get a fishing pole from some kid’s mom, and b) I could buy a slingshot from some other kid’s mom. So I rolled out to the village.
The first thing I saw was a beehive up in the trees. Cool, I’m sure I’ll do something with that later. Then I saw a pregnant mom with a baby carriage missing. So I swam down the river, saw the monkey on the rock with the carriage, and decided I needed to shoot him with the slingshot to get it after attempting to hurl large rocks at him.
So I swam back and found the shop with the mom that sold the slingshots. She wouldn’t sell me anything because her cat was missing. “Oh yeah, I remember seeing a cat!” I thought. So I ran over to where the cat was and tried to pick it up like I’d picked up the chicken and dog earlier, but couldn’t. “Hmm, he’s near some water, maybe I can get fish out of there!”
So I decided that I probably had to get the fishing pole to catch the fish and entice the cat, after which I could make that shopkeep happy and buy a slingshot from her (I’d been collecting money for that very purpose). So I searched for the mom who would give me the fishing pole. Unfortunately, nobody has a visible name so I had no clue who the mom was, and there were no visual cues (or dialog cues) telling me who had the pole or who was that one kid’s mom.
So I explored and explored, and finally got stopped by some guy on top of a pillar. I looked up, climbed up, and jumped to the next pillar to “play” some grass. “Neat, an eagle! This appears to do me no good, I guess I’ll let it go. Oh I see! It shoots straight! Maybe I’ll look around… Ah ha! The beehive!” So I shot the beehive, and it sure as Schilling fell to the ground.
So I ran around for another 15-30 minutes and couldn’t for the life of me find the mom with the fishing pole that would start my wonderful chain of events, so I quit. Later, I looked it up. Apparently, I had to jump PAST the initial piece of grass to the roof of the nearby hut, and find ANOTHER piece of grass to fire the eagle 200 yards toward the monkey.
What. The. F? Completely illogical. It is absolutely bad design to tell someone to go use that piece of grass as a whistle, then have yet another just beyond it even though you believe you’ve done what you were supposed to do (shoot the beehive, which shouldn’t have worked with the eagle given that I was apparently supposed to shoot it with the slingshot).
Anyway, I haven’t played it since because it pissed me off. But the Wii rocks my socks.
Zelda lost its charm for me after Z3 on sNES.
None have ever held a candle to Z1 though. God what strokes of genius Z1-3 and FF1-3 were.
All I can say is KEEP PLAYING! There are vastly more impressive well-designed elements than illogical ones. The game really didn’t get so many perfect 10 ratings because of the Zelda-name alone. Anyways, I’m still nowhere near finishing the game, but I’ve had a wonderful time playing it with what little time I’ve had to so all I can say is definitely go back to it and you’re sure to have fun. Cheers!
We’ve been trying to get our hands on the Wii, so that I can play that boxing game and tell my thai boxing instructor that i haven’t been slacking off since I haven’t been at class lately. He doesn’t need to know details, does he?
Since you guys share a household, make sure that when you play games like tennis, boxing, etc, your armswing arcs are aimed at each other’s expensive furniture items. I’ve heard Wii controllers like to “be free” in motion and act as flying destructive projectiles in the heat of the sweaty-handed moment.
I suggest this because many of us are still wondering who’d “win” if it came to blows- Moorgard or Blackguard, since the simulated angst between the peat bog guards with respective names seems to have been suppressed by apparent promotions.
Aside from the games, another fun feature: It took me a month and a half to get around to doing it, but I finally dropped an SD card from my camera into the Wii a week ago. That photo channel is a blast, and actually does a decent job of rendering pics and videos for television. The best part? After playing a video, the Wii gives the option to play it in reverse, with audio. Watching my kids sled up a hill with me babbling something sweedish sounding was pretty darn cool.
I went out and bought a PS3 and so far I have played Sonic the Hedgehog (which is actually quite fun) and thats pretty much it. I have used it for a few Blue Ray DVDs which I have to say look kick ass on a 51in LCD. Other then that I am just standing by till some better games come out.