October 15, 2007
Zelda games offer entertainment for all ages and skill levels
By OLIVER EISLER
Columnist
OPESOOO@PSU.EDU
Long ago, there existed a kingdom
where a golden power lay hidden. It
was a prosperous land until the day
when a man of great evil found the
golden power and took it for himself.
With its strength at his command, he
spread darkness across the kingdom.
But then, when all hope had
died, a young boy clothed in green
appeared as if from nowhere.
Wielding the blade of evil’s bane,
the boy sealed away darkness and
delivered light to the land. This boy,
who traveled through time to save
the land, was known as the Hero
of Time. The boy’s tale was passed
down through generations until it
became legend.
Does this sound familiar to you?
If not, put down this newspaper and
proceed immediately to your nearest
gaming store to purchase The
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
for either the Nintendo 64 or the
Nintendo Gamecube (this version is
also playable on the Nintendo Wii).
Ocarina of Time is universally
recognized as the greatest game
ever made by almost all reviewers.
Despite being released in late
November, the game’s total sales
were higher than that of any other
game in 1998 and most importantly,
Ocarina of Time was the first game
New role playing game comes at a steep price,
By MATTHEW MAHONEY
Columnist
MLMSO39@PSU.EDU
World of Warcraft (WoW) has
become the dominant Massive
Multi-player Online Role Playing
Game (MMORPG) of our time, but
there are a handful of titles coming
up that could make converts out of
some WoW players.
WoW just made headlines recently
by tipping the scales at over 9
million players around the world.
While no one thinks that WoW
players will leave in mass droves
some new titles coming out may
seriously slow the number of new
players that sign up for WoW.
Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa is
a new MMO set to come out within
the next couple weeks. Tabula
Rasa has been met with delays in
its release, but according to the
developers at NCsofit this was done
to fix server problems and ensure
that gamers would have a fun
gaming experience
One of the key differences
between Tabula Rasa and many
other MMORPGs on the market
today is that the combat system for
Tabula Rasa is done in real-time. It
is geared more as a shooter game
rather than a one click “whack-
THE CAPITAL TIMES
to ever get a perfect
score from Famitsu.
As people who have
beaten Ocarina of Time
are aware, Link the Hero
of Time split time in two
in order to seal away the
evil Ganondorf at the
end of the game.
Once Ganondorf was
removed from time
itself, Link traveled to
the untainted past. I
n this past, he went on
many other adventures
and fought great evil in
the lands of Hyrule and
Termina. However, in the
dark future he left behind
(or more technically,
forever ahead of
him), Ganondorf was
able to escape from
the dark realm he was
sealed in and he flooded
the world with water.
The people believed
that the Hero of Time
would once again come
to save them, but the
Hero did not appear.
Thus a new hero, also
named Link, took up the mantle
of the first Link. This new hero
was known as the Hero of Winds.
After much effort, and help from
a dysfunctional pirate crew, the
Hero of Winds managed to put a
more permanent end to Ganondorf
a-mole” style of today’s online
gaming.
The game still uses behind the
scenes “dice throws”, or for the
more mathematically inclined a
series of permutations and statistics
done at random to determine the
amount of damage given and
received. Cover, concealment,
stance, ammo type, weapon type,
and basic abilities are taken into
account.
The game features a variety of
classes and areas of expertise so
players can specialize as they see
fit. While the game doesn’t seek
to destroy the mold set by MMOs
previously it does seek to greatly
expand on it and provide new
angles.
The beta of Tabula Rasa will have
ended at the time of this paper’s
publication, but that only means
that the full game will soon be
available to everyone.
The downside is nothing small
though. To run this game at its
full potential a player will need
a near “Super Rig”. The basic
requirements include 2.5 GHz
processor, 512 MB RAM, and 128
MB Video card with an NVIDIA
5700 or ATI 9600 chipset. The
recommended go higher and then
some weighing in at 3.5 GHz
PhotoCourtesyofOoo9le.com
Zelda, a video game staple, has been around since 1998 and offers entertainment foe the masses.
than his predecessor...by plunging
a sword straight through his skull.
The story of the Hero of the Winds is
chronicled in the game The Legend
ofZelda: The Wind Waker.
Now that you have some back
story, let me get into what I really
want to discuss in this article:
processor, 2 GB RAM, and an
ATI xlBoo or NVIDIA 7800 series
chipset video card.
The cost isn’t cheap either. The
game itself has a price tag of $5O.
Then there is a $l5 per month fee,
Photo courtesy of Goo9le.com
Although it is popular, WOW comes at a hefty price.
Nintendo’s latest installment of
the Zelda franchise, The Legend of
Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass.
Picking up where The Wind Waker
left off, the Phantom Hourglass
continues the adventures of the
Hero of Winds. The first aspect of
the game that strikes the player is
or $ 180 for the entire year. Good
online gaming does not come cheap
in the world of MMOs.
The biggest difference Tabula
Rasa offers gamers, compared to
other MMOs of today, is a science
Penn State Harrisburg
Gospel Cnoir
Tuesdays
Town Square
the quality of
the graphics.
I feel confident
in saying that
The Phantom
Hourglass has
the best graphics
I have ever seen
on a handheld
system. Not
only are the
characters and
environment
beautifully cell
shaded, but the
graphics load
so smoothly
that there is
no time for a
loading screen
to appear.
As expected
of Zelda games,
the music
throughout
The Phantom
Hourglass is
very good and
fitting in most
stages. However,
I would be lying
if I s aid the
music quality is as great as that of
Ocarina of Time or even its sequel
Majora s Mask.
The Phantom Hourglass uses
the Nintendo DS’s revolutionary
stylus controller, which definitely
takes some getting used to.
but is worth the cost
fiction back-story that many claim
is unrivaled in the MMO industry.
Narrative is quickly becoming a
key selling point of many games,
but unfortunately so has graphics
as witnessed by the immense power
needed by a PC to run this game in
its full glory.
And the term PC is used for a
reason. Macintosh users, unless
they are running Boot Camp, will
be missing out on the adventure.
Another MMO slated to come out,
with much anticipation, is the game
Agent, developed by Sony. Not too
many details have been released
about this game considering that it
is still in development and hasn’t
even hit Beta yet. This is another
real time shooter-style MMO that
offers a new twist on combat in
game play.
Some fans may be turned off by
this game purely for the fact that
it is Sony made. Recent follies
surrounding the PS3 and PSP slim
have turned American Consumers
off to the notion of Sony video
game products, but this new MMO
looks to be interesting.
If it turns out anything like what
they are touting
then we can expect to see some
high paced, high octane online
gaming on a massive level.
If you have trouble getting used to
the game’s controls, try going back
and practicing on earlier stages.
Trust me, it’s worth the effort!
The Phantom Hourglass, like in
any Zelda game, has it fair share of
puzzles and dungeons. My primary
complaint about this game is how
straightforward and simple these
I realize that Zelda games are
designed for people of all ages to
enjoy. However, I imagine that
even most 5-year-olds would find
this game’s puzzles repetitive
and redundant (and you need
to go through a lot of them).
It is of no help that, of all the
great music themes in the game,
the dungeon theme is one of
the worst as it repeats over and
over like the puzzles themselves.
Thankfully, the numerous bosses
throughout the game are much more
imaginative than the dungeons
they rest in and the theme for
the bosses is different than for the
rest of the dungeon. Also, unlike
in some Zelda games, you will be
spending most of your time in the
over-world.
In this game, that is a very good
thing. Because of how new The
Phantom Hourglass is, I will not be
going over its story, but I will say
that tnere are some very interesting
surprises.
I highly recommend that you play
through it and see for yourself.
This game will also require a
serious hardware upgrade to play.
The specs have yet to be released,
but expect Sony to give gamers a
run for their money as they load
every possible byte of information
they can into this game.
The interesting characteristic to
Agent is that it claims the need
for people to act within their class
structure. If a player chooses to
be a spy then they will need to be
stealthy.
If they choose to be a mercenary
then the player will need to be an
out right fighter.
The game also has an
unprecedented NPC aiding system.
A player can recruit NPCs to do
things on the side for them. Such
as gather ammo, scrounge for gear,
find money, and a host of other
things to make your campaigning
easier.
Either way the MMO market
has been and will continue to
be flooded. It will be next to
impossible to ever take down the
beast that is WoW,
but there are some new games off
on the horizon that look promising
for an adventure or two.
Just be sure not to sell a kidney
for upgrade money in your zeal to
play them all.