Zelda: Twilight Princess | Second playthrough

I now have two saves going, the new playthrough that I’ve just started (two hours in), and the endgame save (as there is no plus-data function as with Wind Waker – shame) in which I’m hunting for Poes, Bugs and doing side-dungeons and challenges.

I realise that this is actually the perfect game for me. Yes, it’s easy, even for someone as non-commital as me, but I realise that it keeps me in game, immersed and totally enthralled. I get frustrated far too quickly and can be over-harsh with game dynamics as Chibi-R will testify to, but overall even the hard bits weren’t that hard, and the second time through I know I’ll appreciate them all the more as Chibi-R did watching me do them.

** Possible spoilers ahead ** though no real details are given.

When it comes down to it, I just really, really love being in the game world. This is what I’ve been after for a really long time – a rich and vibrant gameworld that is simply a pleasure to be in. I don’t know about the rest of you freaks, but I load up Twilight Princess just to go fly-fishing, or just to ride Epona endlessly through the gameworld. I return home and visit the inhabitants even though they say the same things over and over again, I drop by Kakariko village and say hi to the citizens, warp up to Death Mountain and chill-out in the hot-spring (how Japanese!), and drop into the huge Lake Hylia for a swim. Snowboarding is fun whether I win or not as the environment is just too cool, and the waterfall in Zora’s domain is beautiful. Once in a while a quick trip to the Castle Town is also enjoyable as the atmosphere in the town sqaure (that’s really a bit of a circle) is great, complete with its own little band of buskers, plus visiting Agitha once there are a few bugs in her house is just full of awesome glitteriness.

The main reason that I’m playing this through again is because I miss the dungeons and the Twilight realm, both of which pretty much become unaccessable at the endgame, or at least become redundant in the case of the dungeons, as there isn’t much to revisit once they’re completed. I actually enjoyed quite a few of the bosses, even if they were for the most part extremely simple; in-fact some of the mini-bosses were brilliant, especially sumo-wrestling on a constantly tilting disc! I’ve just started the first search for the tears of the first light-god again, and I really just love the atmosphere of the Twilight; those flying screamers are absolutely brilliant, especially the sound they make when you smack them!

This title exhibits so much perfection in regards to production values, but overall, the reason why it works is because it so readily evokes an emotional bond with the world it creates, and the characters in it. It really is a joy to play.