I think the time has come.
Those of you who know me know that I can quite easily be drawn in to a story and that the completion-ist that lies within me sometimes is allowed to watch several seasons of a show with the intent of having heard the "whole story." (Even while the logical individual is acutely aware that they are often just making this shit up as they go, and that their ability to do so is based entirely upon how many people watch the show)
That having been said. Some stories are worth exploring to as much of a degree as is possible.
The Legend of Zelda has proven time and time again to be such a story.
My acquisition of this recently released "Hyrule Historia" may have admittedly influenced my decision to take this on.
However, I love the Zelda franchise. Always have. Always will. And while I still plan to complete my longer questline/goal of beating Final Fantasy I-XII (some of which I've beaten previously) chronologically, I imagine that given the 30-40+ Hour nature of those games that that goal is set over the course of many months, perhaps even a couple years.
This wouldn't be true if I had more time at my disposal, but I'm a student (though I'm graduating in about 2 months) and will be fulltime employed post graduation. My life currently has music obligations, school obligations, work obligations, video game obligations (or so I like to imagine) and social obligations. Suffice it to say this all will take a bit of time.
BUT! LOGISTICAL COMPLAINTS NOT WITHSTANDING (You might see where this is headed)
I wish to complete and document a bit of the process of completing Every Legend of Zelda Game.
(Cue music!) in order!
This does however raise a couple of questions.
First! Since the publication of the aforementioned Hyrule Historia, there are two was in which to complete the games in sequence:
The first and most obvious being chronologically in terms of release date:
Beginning with 1986's The Legend of Zelda,
this has the advantage in many ways in that you play through the games in the way that the originally were played through. Each new game acts like a newly released game, a new bit of the story.
However, the problem comes in when one considers what has been taught to us by Hyrule Historia.
This is kind of like the first time you realized that the first Star Wars film had the additional moniker of "Episode 4." The chronology is not quite what it seems. For a long time the chronology of the series was a subject of debate amongst fans. It no longer is.
In short, "The Legend of Zelda" (The first game) is not actually where the story began, at least retroactively. Personally I believe less in this arrangement of the story than I do that George Lucas had some serious thought as to what Episodes 1, 2, 3, could be when episode 4 was released. But that having been said, compliments to a translated version of Hyrule Historia on wikipedia, here is the true order to the story of THE LEGEND OF ZELDA:
This proves to be a little too convenient in my mind. The release this huge book, which is of course amazing I should add, comes a short time before the release of Skyward Sword and of course it becomes the earliest point in the chronological story. "You simply must see where the story began!"
Now, the completion-ist in me wants to care. It really does. Because this does seem cool. But it also bothers me. To be honest, when playing through a more than substantial number of the Zelda games as a child I was, as were many of my friends, convinced that the games were only loosely connected in terms of plot. That basically these were alternate universe type stories, or at the least re-tellings, perhaps (when I became a teenager and began thinking of such things) a form of purgatory. A game you could not truly win, because there would be a new adventure where things had gone wrong again.
Which should I choose in the end? I'm not sure. If you have input, let me know.
Also: From a purely pragmatic standpoint there are some challenges. I don't own all of these games. I have some games to buy. Also: I don't even own a Wii. Skyward Sword is Wii exclusive... that is a problem. Also, while writing this, I missed the copy of Ocarina of Time MasterQuest that I was going to bid on, on ebay. Woops. Oh well.
With this in mind and acknowledging that I would perhaps like a partner in this endeavor, to keep me honest, or divide up the games with and have them write on here as well (there are something like 18 games)...I may contact Juice or Andy M about such a thing.
We shall see. For now, wish me luck on my new questline.
I like that this blog began with the goal (for Jenna of course, not me) of beating Zelda: Ocarina of Time and now, it returns to Zelda.
-Aerick
Soundtrack of the Moment: Ocarina of Time's Song of Storms
