Hey! My name is Austin and welcome to my humble channel! I've always loved digging deep into the design of my favorite video games and decided to start putting together some analysis videos for public consumption. I know my content might feel somewhat sloppy compared to more experienced content creators, but I'd love if it you give my videos a chance. I love hearing from viewers and promise that I read every comment so please share your own thoughts and memories with me too. Thanks for stopping by; I hope you enjoy and decide to hang around!
My favorite Zelda game, from day one. I grew up with the series; with the first Zelda being _my_ first Zelda game at around 8 or 9 years old. Adventure of Link was cool, but rage-quitting hard. A Link to the Past was great too; only had a chance to play a little bit of Link's Awakening because I didn't have a Game Boy. Ocarina came out when I was 20, so I have no childhood nostalgia, therefore my judgment is not clouded by that, so maybe I look at it more harshly. Ocarina is a good game, but it kinda disappointed me. A lot of tedious tasks, taking forever to get from one place to the next, boring side quests, a crap ton of songs to memorize and so on. The points you made about Rupees and certain weapons/items being implemented too late in the game to show their true potential; I definitely agree with that. It took me several months to beat Ocarina; not because it was difficult, but because it felt more like a chore to get over with at some points. Majora, on the other hand, took all the elements that were great about Ocarina, and dumped all the rest. It's faster paced, not bloated with dungeons and mini-dungeons, had engaging side quests, transformation masks were fun, a warp system that was streamlined to one song, and having a villain without "Ganon" in its name was refreshing, too. In Ocarina, the NPCs don't really act like much is amiss after Ganondorf takes over. I never feel the danger is so urgent. Majora makes you feel for the characters as you see them go about their daily lives, and you (as Link) want to do everything in your power to help them. Anyway, as you can see, I could go on all day about this game, but I've already taken up enough of your time. Keep up the good work!
@@Lady.Luthien thanks for sharing your history with the series, it’s valuable insight to hear from someone who grew up alongside the franchise. While I’m definitely a lot warmer on Ocarina, I do agree with many of your criticisms. Happy to hear all the Majora love though
Every time I replay, watching King Zora scuttle to the side always makes me laugh lol and also… I used to think it was ridiculous the game didn’t tell you how to get into Lord Jabu Jabu but through my many replays I noticed one Zora says something along the lines of “feed him” or “give offering” then the shop sells a fish and the shop-keep doesn’t understand why it’s so expensive when they’re so easy to obtain and finally you’re told princess Ruto would give offerings daily. So hints are there but the fact that so many of us struggled to figure this out shows it needed something a little more on the nose.
@@jamespowers.gpa. haha glad I’m not the only one who missed the Jabu Jabu hint. Many commenters have acted like it was so obviously spelled out for the player but, even if the hints are there, I still think more guidance was necessary.
Glad to know your thoughts on Burial at Sea lined up with my own. Pleasant fanservice, but ultimately contrived plot details. I started watching your videos after your Gen 1 Pokemon retrospective. You got my sub based off that alone. Excited to see your commentary on Judas and BioShock 4. No chance you're a Legacy of Kain fan, are you?
Glad to have you on board! Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver has been on my backlog for many years at this point but I don't actually have any experience with the series yet. Any recommendations for a newcomer to the series?
@@AustinAshworth Definitely dig in first with Soul Reaver. Hands-down the best one. @YourFavoriteSon and other creators do great jobs with breaking down the series. Might be a hot time to do so, too. There's a prequel comic and leaks of a remake that have debuted on social media spheres.
18:00 Exactly that. While it doesn’t account for the fact that they very, very poorly distributed move typing, Gen 1 is best perceived as single player first and meta-aligned second. Meta features came relatively late in development and Onix pretty much only exists to give Brock something to throw at you. Type distribution is an absolute mess (and the singular Special an incredibly bizarre design choice), but I guess at this point they were thinking more on FF5’s job system than a balanced Metagame.
This is and was the best game ever made it taps into everything from the player this game is amazing and will change you for all the right reasons what a crusade against evil
Wonderful video. I really love that. Just one thing: 19:48 That is not actually true. There is a check list for golden Skulltulla ingame! If you found all golden spiders in one location, the game will show a golden Skulltulla symbol on the map screend!
You are absolutely correct, apologies for the error. I do think the point still remains that collecting them all is a gargantuan effort with essentially 0 payout, but it isn't as bad as I made it out in the video
For each location on Hyrule Map, and within each dungeon, if you collect every golden skulltula token within that location or dungeon, the golden skulltula icon will appear next to the name of that place, indicating to the player essentially a checkmark. That is how you ensure what areas you've completed and which areas you need to comb over again. I'm currently at 87 skulltulas, and my goal is in this playthrough is no guide. Also, if a location in the overworld has no icon, ensure the dungeons in that region are completed. I think they count towards the primary location icon on Hyrule Map.
You are absolutely correct and I apologize for the error. Don’t know why I never noticed! I still maintain that the side quest is way too laborious with essentially no payoff for completing it, but it isn’t as unreasonable as I claim in the video because of this tracker.
I agree FireRed/LeafGreen are the definitive way to experience Kanto. Gen 3 was really where the series found its footing mechanically, and the jump to GBA makes it very visually pleasing. The only thing the original releases have on FR/LG is the MissingNo glitch lol
Thanks for the great video and memories. I was 10 years old when Pokémon came out. I remember getting Red and Blue and being on the playground and having the best memories of playing Pokémon in car rides on my old Game Boy and only being able to see the screen as my dad drive past street lights. This was way before Reddit, and the general internet being the way it is today. We all were kids exploring this amazing world and latching onto rumors of Pikablu, how to get Mew, and having battles during recess and excited to talk about what we discovered the next day. Pokémon was such an amazing phenomenon back then. I still play through the original Blue/Red/Yellow series every once in a while. I also remember being young and having dreams of Pokémon actually being real, and waking up so disappointed and literally sad, wanting to go back to sleep and go back to this dream fantasy world where Pokémon existed with us. I'm now 35, and still hold Pokémon close to my heart. I never got attached to any of the other gens, and stopped after Gold and Silver... but I still love the originals.
Thanks for sharing! The original games were a bit before my time so I love hearing from those who experienced the phenomenon firsthand! I definitely relate to the Pokemon dreams haha, I wanted Pokemon to be real so badly (still do!)
The Siren is apparently supposed to hail back to the rise of spiritualism at the turn of the century, where seances and the like were popular, so that's where that came from. (Its inclusion was still very clunkily handled). Also I hate her with a fiery passion as well. A fully upgraded Charge! makes fairly short work of her, with the temporary invincibility and explosive force it grants on impact.
There is an icon that shows up on the map when ypy find all skulltulas in the area. The dungeons and temples have their own that are independent from the overworld map, but child and adult locations are combined. In addition, if there is only one remaining toke to collect, I find the one hiding behind the bombable door in the Deku Tree to be the easiest to miss. The game doesn't do a great job of either telling you to come back or even have it coded as a normal room in the map screen.
A few other viewers pointed that out to me earlier and I’m ashamed I never knew this haha. I very rarely looked at the field map because it isn’t very useful so completely missed this. Definitely makes the skulltula quest a bit more reasonable but the anticlimactic reward is arguably a far bigger issue than the difficulty in tracking them down.
44:30 I now played MM but in the 3ds version and gyorgs fight is two staged there. The first stage does not requrire you to dive into the water and hurt the guy. You just fire at him with your bow. That was a little odd, but wasnt boring. Maybe a little too easy. But the second stage removes the pillar in the middle and you now have to use the zora force field thing. There are now chained mines coming out of some holes over the arena and the fish tries to suck you in if you get close. You need to first detach the mines as a zora and then get close to the boss to initiate his attack and then swim away as hard as you can. The Boss sucks in the mine. That fight felt original and entertaining at first. But it took quite long in my first attempt since the mine placement is random and not aways close to the boss.
I find it so strange that MM3D felt the need to remix all the boss fights. If they really felt they were broken and needed fixing, which isn’t the case imo, why not at least offer an option to play the original fights?
@@AustinAshworth Since i never played the orginal I dont know what else has changed. But watching your video it seemed that only the fish has changed in a major way.
Maybe I'm just not cut out for the more obscure design of these older titles haha, I must have missed the hint. Apologies and I appreciate the correction!
In fairness, I respectfully disagree with your take on the Big Sisters. I thought they were a great inclusion, if only for the purpose of giving a believable possibility of what happens to the Little Sisters over time. Tenenbaum says in the first game that despite their conditioning, that they're "still children". It is not implied anywhere that the Sisters permanently stay young girls while under this conditioning. While Jack did save all the Sisters he encountered (as was shown to be the canon ending in Burial at Sea), he couldn't have saved every one in existence, and certainly one would have to wonder what would happen to those Sisters over time. Or at the very least, it gives an interesting take on something that fans may not have considered before. 🤔
Even if it's fascinating to explore the lifecycle of Little Sisters deeper, I don't know if there was anyway to accomplish this without it coming off as a ham-fisted addition to the worldbuilding. I understand maybe there hadn't been enough time for any Little Sisters to grow into Big Sisters at the point where Bioshock 1 takes place, but without any hints or setup at all in the original game it's hard for me to get fully on board with their inclusion. I appreciate hearing a different perspective though and you did make me think a bit deeper on why they don't feel like they belong to me. Thanks for sharing!
Daisy Fitzroy: “Let me get this straight. So you want me to pretend I’m going to kill Fink’s kid so I can be murdered by the white girl for the sake of her character development. And this just because of some crappy storytelling in the main game that made the Vox suddenly start attacking innocent civilians that you want to retcon. Well, if I hadn’t become a freedom fighting rebel against systemic oppression already, I certainly would now!”
Hi! Sorry to say I have not played it and sadly don't know if I'll ever be able to experience it the way players would have in the day. From what I hear Goldeneye's controls haven't aged well at all and just the idea of FPS multiplayer on console isn't as novel as it once was. If I do ever give it a go, I fear it would fall flat but maybe I'm mistaken. Do you think someone could play it with no nostalgia and still enjoy it today?
I'm currently playing Yellow borrowed from my best friend since kindergarten (we know each other for 26 years) and my old Red version simultaneously after I found out that a new made friend of mine actually ownes a Blue version. 😊 Reliving the old days is kind of strange as I basically know every secret there is in those games. But it is the charm of simplicity that makes the experience so rewarding. And after 20+ years, my best friend and I can finally say that we caught them all. 🎉 You asked for our favorite Gen 1 Pokémon, for me I'd say its Charizard as we had so many adventures together whether it was in Red, FireRed, X and others. Though my favorite Pokémon ever might be Typhlosion as Pokémon Gold was my first real entry into the Pokémon experience. Great Retrospective, looking forward to Gen 2. 😊
@@Leafeagle Ooh that sounds fun replaying alongside a friend! Something tells me you’re a fire type fan haha, do you always pick the fire starter? Thanks for sharing and I’m so glad you enjoyed the video!
@@AustinAshworth Well, it was in fact an accident that I became a fire starter guy for Gens 1-4. In my first run of my first Pokémon game (Gold) I just chose the first Pokéball in Prof. Elm's lab on the left. It happend to be Cyndaquil. I was a young excited kid who couldn't say no to anything so there we go, destiny chose the fire type for me I guess ^^ I have revisited most gens with the other starters but fire was the most appealing for my as in every Pokémon game there are so many options of water types comparing to fire types. Also I don't like the move set of grass types in the earlier games except something like razor leaf. That's why I stuck with fire for the most part.
So idea, if u take the gyromite NES adapter out of its game pak and use it to play the Famicom cartridge on a USA NES can u over ride the way the game lowers your magic life and attack values to the lowest point upon power down/reset/save slot change? I think it will work
Sounds like an interesting idea but I've gotta admit you lost me there haha, I never actually owned an NES/Famicom so I'm not sure how all the hardware fits together in your scenario.
I read the game FAQ website where it lists all text from NPCs. You'd be surprised how many helpful things they assist you with. The heart piece east of three rock palace, bagu location, and much more. Blew my mind. So actually I can be 10 % less pissed at this game. The answers are there. People would just rather play the read and go blind into the fight
That would be interesting to read though to see all that I missed; I definitely know I missed the Bagu in game hint and ended up resorted to a guide while playing that section. I should have been more patient I guess!
I actually think the similarities between Elizabeth in Infinite and Eleanor in Bioshock 2 (story function, appearance, everything) are very deliberate. Constants and variables across the universes. Delta and Eleanor are “the man and the girl” in their universe.
I'm not 100% convinced it's deliberate but it certainly seems like it with the constants/variables. The only thing holding me back is the lingering question on if Ken Levine would really take such liberal inspiration from Bioshock 2, I just can't picture it. Regardless, even if the parallels do make sense with the alternate universe story being told, I think it's a little too similar to the point of making Elizabeth and Booker's story feel less exciting up until all the time travel shenanigans. Thanks for sharing your perspective!
41:10 haven't you seen/read "The Never-ending Story"? The Legend of Zelda (Link and Epona/Atreyu and Artax) and especially this encounter (Morla the ancient one) will make much more sense for you
Ah! I actually have seen Never Ending Story forever ago but it kind of scared me so I don’t remember it much. That’s a cool connection, thanks for sharing!
The “exaggerated versions of real life animals” part is the best thing about Kanto pokemon designs. Some of the newer designs just aren’t appealing in any way and they look more like quickly drawn cartoons rather than thought out designs. Just compare Flechling and Spearow. Night and day. The resemblance to real animals also make these pokemon more “believable” and easier for kids to bond with.
Totally agree, not to say there aren’t great pokemon designs in later generations too, but the early Gen 1 (and Gen 2 imo) designs just feel so much more believable and real to me.
I loved playing Pokemon Let’s Go, but my god! I’ll take zubats over Silph Co. anytime! At least the zubats have a solution in the form of repels. The sippy co. building is just so padded and boring! Especially on repeat playthroughs.
I actually enjoy Silph haha, trainer fights are more tolerable than wild encounters for me because you see them coming and at least they are good source of EXP. It’s fun to navigate the labyrinthian layout
I’ve never actually delved into the world of fan made games or rom hacks. Definitely see some cool stuff floating around thought so I should probably give some a try sometime
Im playing through the new legacy series by smithplays. Both yellow and crystal legacy. Emerald comes after. Very solid games. I also started with red growing up, but my favorite gen of all the games was 2, and crystal was the best version
I really should explore ROM hacks more, I've never delved outside the main series but I've heard so many positive stories about the improvements fan games can make!
I’m glad you enjoyed! Yeah all those recompile developments are so cool! Mad respect for those who understand the programming on that deep level to give the rest of us such cool tools
Dude, playing the first dungeon felt like, "Aw yeah, new Zelda Game, this feels so fun!" And then getting towards Ikana Canyon, "Does anything I do really matter? Does anyone really care if I I'm happy? Do they really think of me as their friend?" Just, like, thousand meter stare, man.
I am sure you have gotten a million comments about this, but at around @27:00 you're talking about how the player is supposed to find out about the bottle in the lake and how to find ruto? Well, the zoras that you find in and near the zoras domain spell it out. If you talk to them they will hint at the fact and say " Have you seen anything strange in the lake? The river carries many things into the lake" Another hint about ruto's wareabouts is a hint given that she "temple of Lake Hylia and has not come back" Although they don't tell exactly where the lake is, the games npcs do hint that something is at the lake. Also regarding Jabu, the zora npcs also do hint at how to get into jabu. One of the Zora npcs says "According to the "Legend of Zora," the act of offering a fish to Lord Jabu-Jabu will make you happy.
Right you are, that is an unfortunate error in the video. And yes, it is one that I am constantly being reminded haha. Of course no offense taken, I appreciate the input!
The ice gate to snowhead mountain village seems intentional, wanting the player to get lost off the main quest line and encouraged to wander termina, clock town & the npcs.
I didn't understand the type advantages when I was a kid and I remember on my blue version finally beating misty with my LVL 32 Chameleon and Gravler 😅
That’s an insane level of grinding haha! I had a lot of patience for mindless grinding as a kid too, I trained up so many lvl 100 pokemon that I never did anything with. They just sat in the PC looking pretty
Overall a very nice video on OOT. As a kid of the 90s I can tell that you are a bit harsh on some of the mechanics of the game. For you either found the bottle at the bottom of the lake in general exploration, or you did what every kid still does. Talk about the game in the lunch breaks at school. For other stuff you have to keep in mind how ground braking essentially the entire game is. For it being the first 3D zelda it went far beyond anything anyone could expect from a N64 game. The game was a monumental leap in game design as you noticed. That leap was far greater at the time then it appears now. I never perceived the last puzzles in ganons tower as left overs which could be used, but I perceived them as a fitting summary and recap of the game. Another opportunity to show the player trough which the player went through and that he is not alone by showing the sages. I remember collecting all 100 skulltulas for the sake of it and beeing disappointed by the lack of a good reward. But i see it differently today. I replayed the game with my son and I was relieved that we just had to collect 50 to get all gameplay relevant rewards. So the entire search doesnt become too exhausting. Just a few thoughts. Its also interesting to hear that they removed bits of music for newer releases. I played the N64 version again.
Thank you! It is difficult to balance my own subjective experience, as someone with modern gaming sensibilities, and the way the game would have been perceived at the time of release. This is definitely something I’m trying my best at but I’m sure I could do better. If some game design element was really frustrating to me today, how can you judge if this is a fair point of criticism or just a result of the game’s age? It’s important to remember the time and place Ocarina was released into but, at the same time, you can’t just chalk every perceived flaw to the game’s age and assume that players of the day wouldn’t have the same complaint.
@@AustinAshworth Absolutely! Of course the game isn't perfect and some of your critisms are absolutely valid. Lets put it that way. The criticism is absolutely valid and these things were also annoying back then, but compared to what the competition and predecessors were doing it was leaps and lightyears ahead. Does that make sense? Back then we were still "recovering" from the arcade coin machine mechanics. For example if you did one misstep in Mario 64 you need to replay the entire level again. Games in the 80s and 90s were purposefully difficult to throw in yet another "last" coin. Sometimes also due to technical limitations. Only slowly the games were getting easier OOT saved the fact that you left the game in a dungeon and let you start the game in that dungeon were you left off. It even saved the location of that fairy warp thing. Mario64 always started infront of the castle For a 90s game there is not a whole lot of back tracking where you just have to run back where you came from. Since these games were mostly pre Internet times, we also used a lot of paper notebooks. When I replayed the Water Temple, I actually used that again. Just to quickly put down very notes of the each level of the map and just quickly noted which room is at which level and which rooms are still to be done with another water level etc. The players were used to come up with things to make their lifes easier. This would be unthinkable today and rightfully so (even tho I would like to have more games which don't insult my intelligence) But of course, I was recently still cursing that I didn't find the last carpenter in the gerudo fortress for ages and I still think that the game should guide me more. So I am glad that devs learned from these things and that todays games learned made things easier. So song story short: I agree with you :) Mostly. I just want to give more perspective :)
It’s funny I don’t remember the controls being tricky as a kid and I just played through OOT for the first time in many years on a 3ds and besides the analog stick on the 3ds being lame it wasn’t bad at all after years of dual sticks. This is truly one of the best most well designed games.
It's the playground rumors that really cemented Gen 1 as a bestseller. Hearing about Pokegods or the mysterious rectangular Pokémon Missingno and how it will mess up your game was fascinating, and in an era before widespread internet usage that was extremely fascinating to a little kid. I didn't even own a copy until like 2003, but I was still privy to all of the cool rumors floating around the game. Also, my favorite is Arcanine. Giant fire-breathing dog is cool as shit.
It was before my time but I especially love hearing about the era just prior to Gold/Silver release. With new pokemon being teased in the anime and rumored spreading from Japan and Spaceworld demo, the rumor mill was running wild! Arcanine is a great pick!
woodfall temple might not be my favorite, but I would not call it "unmemorable". Its the first dungeon, and it is so radically different to how Ocarina of Time designed it's dungeon and bosses, it is memorable in that alone. Odolwa being approachable in a multitude of ways makes him one of my favorite boss fights in the series, a boss that really feels like a BOSS fight. But beyond that, Woodfall is memorable for its mystery, too. The oppressive and sinister atmosphere, the tribal aesthetic, as if this place was build by a civilization long gone and it is haunted by the vengeful spirits of its creators. Odolwa may be lacking in lore, as is woodfall, but that might be due to Majora's Mask rushed development... or on purpose. I think the lack of lore adds to the aesthetic. Odolwa and Woodfall lack lore, because the lore they had was forgotten and burried. Woodfall Temple was literally burried and had to be unearthed with magic, metaphorically speaking. Maybe Woodfall was build by another tribe of people, whom the Deku defeated long ago? Maybe Odolwa's actions are an act of revenge against what happened? Who knows. I think it adds to the mystery.
Maybe I was too dismissive, but it’s just never stood out to me. Especially when you compare the dungeon experience to the other 3 in the game, it lacks any big noteworthy element to make it special for me. I appreciate hearing a different opinion and you raise some good points. Glad it’s not without its fans!
