[Aquamarine]

IGN Editor Matt Casamassina will get to play Zelda: Twilight Princess on October 30th for a whole 48 hours! I believe this is the final and full version of TP, which means he'll probably be able to finish the whole game and give a good review before it is even released.

http://blogs.ign.com.../10/23/34660/p1

Discuss!

EDIT: Just to note that this topic is, and will hopefuly remain, spoiler-free. I ask anyone who posts in this topic not to tell us any spoilers. You have the TP thread for that.

[Golden Legacy]

I heard about that. I'm looking forward to his insight and overview of Zelda, certainly. However, I doubt that the game can be completed in 48 hours. Or rather, I doubt he'd be able to explore the sidequests, etc., considering Nintendo promises over a 100 hours of gameplay.

Still, should definitely be something to look forward to next week.

[Blink]

I think the 100 hours is like Tales of Symphonia's 80 hours. Really, ToS is a 40 hour game, but it has a "second quest" where you play through the game a second time, much like in the original Legend of Zelda, with more difficult settings.

[TheEnglishman]

I hope he doesn't play 48 hours straight. No matter how good TP is, I couldn't do that!

[Aquamarine]

Yeah, I couldn't do that either, and I wouldn't even want to. I want to be able to sleep when I wish and take my time playing it, I wouldn't want to hurry finishing the game.

And GL, Nintendo said not too long ago that the game is about 70 hours long, including all the side quests. Considering Casamassina will play as fast as he can in order to finish the game and he probably won't be doing any side quests, I believe he will finish it.

[Toasty]

Me111, on Oct 29 2006, 02:46 AM, said:

I hope he doesn't play 48 hours straight. No matter how good TP is, I couldn't do that!

I'd probably be able to do that, but I'd need 4 or 5 pepperoni pizzas, and about 3, 2 liter bottles of Classic Coca-Cola. ;)

[Aquamarine]

I found out that it's not only IGN who are getting to play TP, but also many other sites, including Planet GameCube. Here is a link to the first part of the impressions of the game:

http://www.planetgam...cfm?artid=12340

This is a spoiler-free impression, the only kind I read. They also have a spoiler-full preview. If you read it PLEASE DO NOT SAY ANY SPOILERS IN THIS TOPIC! I don't want to find out anything important story and also item-wise about the game before I play it.

[Blink]

Aquamarine, I suggest editing the first post of the topic to note that this topic is spoiler free.

Matt talked with some guys and found out that the 100 hours isn't total bull: on average, the main quest takes 70 hours to complete, and that's with all these pro gamers who design games testing it out.

...woooooow. I cannot wait for this.

[Aquamarine]

Edited first post.

This mailbag is a very interesting read. Once again, there are no spoilers:

http://www.planetgam...cfm?artid=12352

[Neon]

He said in his blog that he thinks it might actually be too long. Nonsense! The longer it is the better I say :).

And this game is going to kick alot of arse. It's got me hyped about the Wii again, I might actually buy one at launch like I originally planned O.o
Might have to preorder too if I want to actually get one, lol :>

[Aquamarine]

As I've already said, this is probably going to be the best game I'll ever play. I'm quite sure of that since Zelda is my fave franchise and TP seems like it is going to be the best Zelda yet. But still... I have a feeling Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3 AND Brawl will all have a chance of being my fave games ever. Twilight Princess has a bigger chance though.

[TheEnglishman]

Well that's assuming it plays as good as it looks. It's happened to me before, when I've seen something that looks good, but the end product is awful. Still it looks brilliant I can't deny that.

[Someone Else]

70 PLUS HOURS?!?! HOLY SHIZNUT!!! I feel relieved when I finish a 30 hour game!!

Don't get me wrong though, I'm enthusiastic to hear that they made such a deep Zelda!

As for a graphical point of view, all I'll say is that it looks fine. Not amazing, just fine. Buut... once you've played Oblivion, (possibly the best looking game released) you start to see other games with a more critical eye on pretty much every standard, so I'm probably just being picky. :)

[Golden Legacy]

Zelda's graphical style emphasizes its large world, vast dungeons and lands to explore, as opposed to individual detail in a specific character or item.

[Someone Else]

Err, so is Oblivion. Oblivion probably has more caves and dungeouns to explore than Zelda does. Oblivion is a HUGE, practically seamless world. I'd be very surprised if the overworld in Zelda was as big as any region in Oblivion.

[Aquamarine]

The overworld in TP is acually said to be absolutely huge. IGN said that the OOT Huryle Field is pathetic compared to the TP Huryle Field. But still, if an area is huge but has nothing to do in it but travel for hours then that is not good. I bet that is what Oblivions overworld is like. I saw the game, but I didn't play it enough to know.
Anyhow, I really don't give a frickin' damn what the graphics look like. They're amazing for me, but they didn't even have to be so amazing and I would still be totally crazy about this game.

[Blink]

Don't worry Aquamarine, even if you don't care, Twilight Princess still looks really really good.

http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/744/744044/the-legend-of-zelda-twilight-princess-20061103051520539.jpg

http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/744/744044/the-legend-of-zelda-twilight-princess-20061103051517992.jpg

http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/744/744044/the-legend-of-zelda-twilight-princess-20061103051538632.jpg

[Toasty]

Yes, the graphics are amazing. Though there are games out there with better graphics, like FF, or Oblivion, those don't set the standard, they set the above standard. But even by those, these are pretty good.

[Someone Else]

I'd be very happy if they added in some AA because some of the edges are looking a bit jagged, and if they put in some dynamic grass instead of just leaving a grassy texture.

BUT, looking at the last two pictures, is that high dynamic range (HDR) lighting I'm seeing? Yay, Nintendo is looking at the next generation of graphics for once! 8D

[Aquamarine]

Yeah, I've seen those pics Blink, and I agree, they are absolutely amazing. But, I'll repeat myself, I don't need such good graphics to enjoy a game. I think the Metroid Prime 2 graphics are as far as people should go, they're good enough, and making 'em even better is a bit pointless. I mean, I love playing Super Mario Bros. and that has pretty crappy graphics compared to this. That just shows how much the looks of the game means to me.

[Someone Else]

I used to think like that. But, c'mon, the better the graphics, the more fun the game's world is. Yes, graphics are second to gameplay, but wouldn't you rather have a game that gives awesome gameplay AND great graphics?

Zelda has good graphics now, yes. I'm just spoiled from looking at Oblivion. =P

[Aquamarine]

Wind Dude, on Nov 11 2006, 02:07 AM, said:

I used to think like that. But, c'mon, the better the graphics, the more fun the game's world is. Yes, graphics are second to gameplay, but wouldn't you rather have a game that gives awesome gameplay AND great graphics?

Yes, I would rather have a game that has awesome gameplay AND graphics, of course. I too like good graphics more than bad graphics. I'm just saying that good graphics does NOT mean the game is better, and the proof is that we all here play GBA games. If good graphics truly meant it was a better game, than we(and everyone else) wouldn't want to even look at the GBA.

[Blink]

Actually, I'm a tad worried for Zelda now. I got Gears of War over the weekend, rather, before it (only started playing it on Friday) and the game would lose it's epic feeling if the graphics weren't this good. Zelda deserves to feel just as epic...here's hoping Nintendo can still pull that off (of course, you know they will. They even made Celda awesome!).