I'm glad I finally played it properly, but I'm not really seeing where all the love for this game is coming from. Outside of the bizarre enemy cameos, the game's just not doing anything we haven't seen done better in both earlier (LTTP) and later Zelda titles.
You mentioned not getting further than the second dungeon or so, but did you play it in the 90s? I think that’s largely where that it comes from. As a big Link to the Past mark, I was thoroughly impressed by how much of that game Nintendo managed to squeeze into a Gameboy cartridge. It isn’t
that close but still really good for a black and white handheld. Completely remaking Link’s Awakening takes some of that away. The first few dungeons are pretty simplistic; the last three are some of my favorites in the entire series, especially Eagle Tower. Also, Turtle Rock in Link’s Awakening > Turtle Rock in A Link to the Past. It isn’t even close. Turtle Rock in A Link to the Past
sucks. So much.
Anyway, I completed the Switch version this weekend. 100% item collection (I cheated by googling the last six or seven Secret Seashells because the reward wasn’t worth randomly digging around Koholint Island). The only thing I didn’t do was the last set of Dampe’s chamber dungeons, and I doubt I’ll go back to it (see below). Fishing was infuriating at times. After a while, I did get good at it. Probably was not worth the two to three hours it took to get all the rewards. I got stuck trying to catch the Cheep Cheep. According to my 3DS, the last time I played Link’s Awakening was in September 2014. I was surprised by how much I
didn’t remember considering this is probably my fifth or sixth play through. I know Grezzo added heart pieces and Secret Seashells. I’m specifically referring to parts of dungeons. I definitely wandered at times.
Link’s Awakening is still fun though it weirdly lost some of its luster by getting a new coat of paint. I love the graphics, just not of this game. I’m tired; I’ll regroup in the morning.
Besides the high definition graphics, the Chamber Dungeons are the biggest addition. I didn’t put hours upon hours into dungeon creation because I really just wanted in-game items. I created the requisite 12 dungeons. At best, it’s an okay starting point for a Zelda Maker. At worst, the limitations are so glaring, I’ll probably never spend time creating dungeons. Has anyone used Microsoft Visio? I use it at work to make flowcharts. Sometimes, I’ll try to move a box or maybe a few boxes then Visio has a stroke and fucks up all the arrows/connectors. Unless
I’m having a stroke, that’s what adding rooms with a staircase in the Chamber Dungeons feels like. For one arrangement, Dampe wants you to make a dungeon with staircases and isolates a couple rooms so you’re forced to use staircases to reach those sections. The game automatically chooses which two staircases connect, and just kept choosing the wrong ones. On top of that, the last chest is
always the Boss Key. It got to the point where I just cheesed my way through. I used as few rooms as possible and created intentional dead ends without chests just so I wouldn’t have to go there when I adventure through the dungeon for the Secret Seashell or whatever.
Ultimately, the Chamber Dungeon mode feels like a free trial version. It wasn’t very enjoyable to me. Sure, I’ll make some dungeons for the items, but without a bunch of wild customization options, I won’t go back to it now that I finished the main quest. I have no doubt Nintendo can absolutely make an fun and initiative dungeon creator. I got the sense the team was merely testing out the waters.