Author Topic: Forum Retrospective #4: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages  (Read 3281 times)

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Offline pokepal148

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Let's do this.

You can get these game on the 3DS eshop.

As for which order to play them in: I remember Ages being a lot more difficult than Seasons so I recommend starting with Seasons if you haven't played the games before.

Offline Stratos

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Re: Forum Retrospective #4: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2019, 01:22:41 AM »
I played Seasons first for these, then Ages, don't think I ever beat Ages or got the final joint ending.
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Offline ejamer

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Re: Forum Retrospective #4: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2019, 09:01:17 AM »
I played through these games back-to-back last year.

My impressions were that Ages hasn't held up very well from a world design aspect, and having played Seasons first made Ages feel like a real slog afterwards. (Maybe that was just fatigue with the series though?) There were some cool items/weapons to find, and more focus on enemies/combat... but also more focus on linear progression and tedious fetch quests.

Seasons felt a bit easier to progress through, although required more time exploring and trying to discover where to go next. It was also a bit heavier on puzzles, as you have to switch seasons to uncover secrets in different areas.

If playing them again, I would probably start with Ages and then do Seasons afterwards. Sort of a "save the best for last" approach - although other people might disagree about what aspects of the games are the best parts. If I could change one thing about the games themselves, it would probably be dropping the connectivity required to see the "true ending". Although I kind of enjoyed the sending codes back and forth to unlock little bonuses, I found it tedious to have to beat both before being allowed to fight the real boss. Neat idea, but maybe not as good in execution when I look back so many years after release.

Very curious to hear what people think of these games. They might end up being some of my least-loved portable Zelda titles... but were still pretty solid adventures.
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Offline Adrock

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Re: Forum Retrospective #4: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2019, 09:10:09 AM »
There’s something off about the Oracle games. They feel like fan games even though they were developed by Capcom. I remember liking Ages more. Veran was a better villain which is tossed right the F out the window because surprise, guess who the final boss is when you link the games?



Offline Luigi Dude

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Re: Forum Retrospective #4: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2019, 12:23:22 AM »
When I first played the Oracle games I did Season first and then Ages.  I liked Ages better since I found the more puzzle focus more engaging with more clever dungeon design.  After completing them and getting the true ending, I decided to replay them again except with Ages first and Season after because I wanted to see the story differences.  This time I liked Season better and Ages a little tedious at times.

The focus on puzzles made Ages a stronger first playthrough, while on my second since I knew the solution the gameplay wasn't as engaging.  While the greater action focus of Seasons, was still just as fun the second time as the first.  Of course I haven't played either game since 2011, so I've probably forgotten most of the puzzles by now so I'd probably enjoy Ages more if I was to replay both games again in the future.

Of course I will say I think both games have some of the best boss fights in a 2D Zelda.  I mean the final boss of Seasons in particular is a clear homage to Sigma from Mega Man X1 and pretty awesome for it if you ask me.  I feel the advantage of Capcom's involvement who had more experience with action games, is they created more engaging and challenging boss fights then what Nintendo usually provides.

I also really love this song.


Would certainly like to hear it remixed in a new Zelda or Smash Bros someday.
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Offline pokepal148

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Re: Forum Retrospective #4: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2019, 12:42:05 AM »
There is actually exclusive content depending on which order you play the games in. There's a part of Ages' overworld that's inaccessible unless you played Seasons first in a linked game and Seasons has a rather neat cutscene where Queen Ambi is reunited with her boyfriend or whatever, who is revealed to have been that cap'n bloke.

Offline Stratos

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Re: Forum Retrospective #4: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
« Reply #6 on: June 04, 2019, 02:52:12 PM »
Couldn't you play them in tandem and get all of those locked parts?
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: Forum Retrospective #4: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
« Reply #7 on: June 04, 2019, 03:21:57 PM »
These were some of the first titles I got when I bought my GBA, having not owned a prior Game Boy of any kind.  At the time I really dug them as they were like more Link's Awakening.  At that point however there weren't as many Zelda games released so today I would think of them more as good games for Zelda fans that can't get enough as opposed to essential titles that everyone must play.

Getting two new games on the same day was pretty sweet but the linking became a bit of a problem for me early on.  I started with Seasons as my brother was playing Ages but I eventually got stuck on some boss I couldn't beat.  My intention had been to not start Ages without beating Seasons but I eventually gave in and started it and then lost interest at some point and beat neither game.

In theory the concept of two connected games is cool but having to complete them one after the other isn't ideal.  These days with game saves being stored in the system memory you could have a similar concept where it was possible to play both games at the same time and switch between them as you wish.  It would pretty cool if you got stuck on one game and then making progress in the other would enable something to make it easier to get past where you're stuck.  You could make one game star Link and one star Zelda (save the CD-i jokes) and have the story be such that both quests take place concurrently but they can help each other through time travel or dimensional stuff or something like that.  Hint hint, Nintendo.

Offline ejamer

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Re: Forum Retrospective #4: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
« Reply #8 on: June 04, 2019, 03:47:05 PM »
I'd be up for that. Maybe instead of two games, it's just one game where the characters are separated (one in the light world, one in the dark world) and have to work together with only limited ways to interact directly.

I'd really love to see a Legend of Zelda game actually starring Zelda sometime - she seems like a capable and heroic figure, but no games come to mind where she takes the lead on Nintendo platforms. Hopefully her special abilities wouldn't be "emotion" powers like Super Princess Peach.
 :(
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Offline pokepal148

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Re: Forum Retrospective #4: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
« Reply #9 on: June 05, 2019, 02:31:58 AM »
I cleared the first two dungeons in Seasons and got Ricky the Kangaroo as an animal buddy. I dunno what's with the Gameboy era and animal buddies but tearing through the overworld with a boxing Kangaroo will never get old. It's a shame that the other two aren't as enjoyable to play with I feel.

Offline Louieturkey

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Re: Forum Retrospective #4: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
« Reply #10 on: June 07, 2019, 07:07:57 PM »
I remember playing through seasons and enjoying it. But I never ended up beating the final boss. Due to that Ages went unopened. I may still have a copy shrink wrapped somewhere in a box in storage. I enjoyed seasons but I don’t think I’d want to go back to it at this point.

Offline Stratos

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Re: Forum Retrospective #4: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
« Reply #11 on: June 07, 2019, 11:52:15 PM »
If it is still unopened, you might be sitting on a high priced item there. Mint unopened Nintendo 1st party games tend to ratchet up in value.
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Offline pokepal148

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Re: Forum Retrospective #4: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
« Reply #12 on: June 08, 2019, 02:43:37 AM »
Ages is well worth checking out and once I finish seasons I'll be willing to send you my password so you can play a linked Ages game and fight Ganon in the end.

Seasons is a lot more difficult than I remember and it took me a while to figure out why that was but than I realized: Because I played Ages first and than Seasons I had started seasons with the Level 2 sword and since Seasons has a lot more of a focus on combat than Ages does.

To be clear, Ages is the Puzzly one and Seasons is that combaty one but they do still both have puzzles and combat as a core part of the experience. It's just that Seasons is a lot more likely to throw you in a room with 80 enemies while Ages has some, if not pretty much all, of the most complex puzzles in the series.

One reason why playing Seasons first and than ages is better: Ages has an actual final dungeon. Another one is that Seasons takes a lot of inspiration from Zelda 1 and Link to the Past while I remember Ages feeling more like a modern 3D zelda with it's more focused narrative and stuff like that. You're basically playing the evolution of the Zelda series in a way.

Offline ejamer

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Re: Forum Retrospective #4: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
« Reply #13 on: June 09, 2019, 08:27:27 PM »
...
One reason why playing Seasons first and than ages is better: Ages has an actual final dungeon. Another one is that Seasons takes a lot of inspiration from Zelda 1 and Link to the Past while I remember Ages feeling more like a modern 3D zelda with it's more focused narrative and stuff like that. ...

Interesting. I didn't really feel that way while playing the games, but prefer the older-style Zelda games and did find that Seasons resonated more... so maybe true and just something I never noticed?
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Offline pokepal148

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Re: Forum Retrospective #4: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
« Reply #14 on: June 19, 2019, 04:43:32 PM »
Ricky the Kangaroo is fun as hell and it's a real shame he hasn't returned for other installments of the series. Eat your heart out Epona.

Offline pokepal148

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Re: Forum Retrospective #4: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
« Reply #15 on: July 22, 2019, 06:37:50 PM »
I like how this game actually has good Boss fights. It's something I feel like 2D Zelda games generally struggle with, with many of the boss fights the game's have ending up being pretty hit and miss overall.