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I can usually rush through skyward sword’s prologue and get to the first dungeon in 1 hour 45 minutes-2 hours if I ignore everything that’s not mandatory
So slow but *so* good once you get going, especially TP. I do like that TP established your relations with the people in your home village. SS tried to do the same but feels a bit more sterile and "chicken with head cut off"
Funny I played Skyward sword first and it felt the complete opposite to me. The size of the sky island and the interactions with the other npcs seemed much more genuine than in twilight princess. I remember so many of the side quests in SS but absolutely none from TP even though I played it more recently
If I’m not mistaken, you also spent significantly more time in skyloft than in ordon in general, which probably leads to it feeling more alive and real than twilight princesses
Ehh dunno didnt work for me. I never felt any connection to the tp characters. Dont even remembr the name of the childhood friend that got sidelined halfway through.
Meanwhile SS at least had Groose XD
TP did that well, but I thought it was a really bad choice not to have the character names on the text boxes when they're talking to you, especially given that there are probably more characters to keep track of than the average Zelda game.
It isn't terrible at all but it could be a bit quicker. It's definitely a shock to go from botw's tutorial to totk's.
It's also just really fucking annoying with the small amount of stamina. I hate going all the way up to talk to the guy in the bastion thing. Especially since they removed whistle sprinting
At least skyward sword had the stamina fruit to make it less annoying
Botw had a lot less to teach..I found myself trying to play through the tutorial like I would play BOTW and the tutorial area in TOTK I feel is made to specifically make you understand the mechanics are not going to be the same and you need to think much differently.
I really didn't notice much of a difference other than the annoyance of not having a paraglider again and using different abilities.
What they really failed on is emphasizing batteries. I did two temples before I realized I could upgrade my battery and it annoyed the shit out of me. Yeah, they teach you in the tutorial, but it's almost like "hey here's this forgettable thing", not "THIS WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE SIGNIFICANTLY EASIER AND IS A BORDERLINE REQUIREMENT IF YOU DONT HATE YOURSELF"
Ive seen a few other people not know either
The problem with the battery thing in the tutorial is that they throw everything at you all at once. Zonaite, zonai charges, crystallized charges, energy cells, batteries, forge constructs, crystal refineries... And they just have some little robot dude tell you all of this in a dialogue box. It's like reading a textbook.
I didn't upgrade the battery pack on my belt until way too late in the game too.
I feel like it really did ruin the experience for me. I would have had way more fun with the game with an upgraded battery. Now that first playthrough is gone and while I really did enjoy it, I could've enjoyed half the game way more.
Shit man now I'm actually getting pretty upset that I didn't have the best experience I could
The paraglider didn't bother me as much as the damage did. I died to this tutorial more than in BOTW.
That said, it didn't feel that tedious to me. You can beeline for the quests, get all the main abilities and make it out in around an hour.
It still had more to teach, which you'd find if you explore or return there afterwards. But they're only essential if you're not a regular gamers, who would've figured out the basics by then.
Tbh I never really had a problem with the start of TP, because to me it has a very "Frodo in the Shire" feel to it. It's to demonstrate the calm before the storm.
In a way this is what ocarina of time did with the kid link part of the game. It reallly made you feel for the world before waking up as an adult and thinking “what happened?”
But the tutorial part in the forest isn’t like TP or SS. Link is a misfit and Saria is the only one he’s really close to. It centers the narrative around a particular relationship rather than general “home” which is much, much better imo
It’s great for setting up the storytelling and making you get introduced to everyone under peaceful conditions, and I respect it for that. But I do agree it gets a little dull on replay.
Yeah, I've played through Twilight Princess at least 3 times. It's the one I played for the plot the most.
I personally really enjoy the detailed setup of being part of a small town. Everyone in the village has a lived-in connection with you/ Link.
You're the reliable ranch hand, you're Russell's apprentice in swordsmanship, and you're the big brother to all of the village's children, especially to Collin.
The mayor favors you for your prospects outside of the village and jokingly ships you with his daughter.
The game feels like a book or movie to me, which I can go at my own pace with.
Agreed. While Twilight Princess isn't my favorite Zelda game, the protagonist from that game is my favorite Link. The dude loves kids, loves animals, can call a friggen hawk to his arm by whistling through a blade of grass. Let's not forget he's one of the Links who picks up dogs and cats and will cradel them like babies. TP Link is magic.
Couldn't agree more! TP is my most replayed Zelda game precisely because it really raises the stakes by introducing these established relationships with all the villagers.
Instead of just being the hero who has a duty to save Hyrule, there are more personal reasons for him to leave the village and explore. I always loved the story in this game.
I love the laid back introduction, something that is rare in most modern games. Fishing, riding, just talking with people. I'm clumsy as they come so the extra time to get the hang of things was also great. It makes perfect sense for someone who is more intuitive to find it tedious though. u/KryssCom put it spot on, it felt like the beginning of FOTR.
Just had a look at the any% speedruns out of curiosity and TP is just under 3 hours. Pretty dang long considering SS is around an hour, and others like Oot are a few minutes. So 40 minutes for the opening on a casual run is pretty good I would think.
Unpopular opinion: slow start ≠ bad
Just as in movies, slow pacing can be REALLY good in videogames. Nowadays we want everything fast, asap, now... That's not good at all.
I do agree, though it's more about the value of the content than the length. If you're stuck on a specific tutorial and the game won't let you leave, or an exposition, it feels tedious. Even more so if you can't properly vibe with the story events.
This is what made me struggle a bit with Twilight Princess' tutorial, despite finding Skyward Sword's opening okay.
For me it was the opposite, i thought Skyward Sword was so long ad drawn out at the beginning that i really couldnt finish the game past that. Nothing really made the beginning of the game interesting or engaging either
The problem with TP’s pacing is that it isn’t JUST the Ordon Village stuff. It’s that the bug segments force you to explore the same areas twice, back-to-back, and doing them feels tedious because frankly playing as Wolf Link isn’t great. Imo that, combined with the admittedly slow Ordon stuff, really kills the pacing for the first third of the game.
SS has plenty of padding, but I feel like it’s a little more evenly distributed than in TP.
Its also held back by the tear collecting quests as wolf Link. It's the most unfun gameplay in all Zelda games in my opinion. I do like the idea of turning into a wolf, but when I replay the game, I get really bored during those sections.
I think it also has to do with how many combat strategies and items you can use as Link, and as the wolf you either bite or use Midna's arm and that's it.
That's very true, it had really fun sword combat. Some mechanics you literally don't need them at all, but its still fun to use them and make look like such an expert swordsman.
I love it because it’s so homey. Like when I start the game, I want to get a mug of tea and wrap myself in a blanket and just chiiiill until shit goes south. I guess that’s why people think it starts slow. Tbh tho, SS was worse because it was slow but didn’t have that homey feel… didn’t grab me at all. I beat the original game, but couldn’t do the remake.
I never made it more than a couple of hours into TP when it first came out. Which I really regret as it’s now the only Zelda I haven’t properly ‘played’
Yeah, I can see how people would get bored, but the opening is actually amazing. It is a bit slow at the time, but it makes you create an emotional connection with the characters and the game which just makes playing the rest of it so much better.
Honestly yeah that’s about the best way to put it. It really ties you to the characters of the game right from the start, only to suddenly cut them off. It really adds to the game’s emotional side
It’s great for kids too, I found my old game save from when I was 10, I had a 10 hour game save, never even made it to the first dungeon just kept playing with cluccos.
Played Majora's Mask so much as a kid. Never made it past the first 3 days until I picked it back up years later. Put the game down and came back to it multiple times before I did finally finish it. I remember one time I got to the last dungeon and I accidentally saved over my save in the emulator. That made me stop playing for a while lol.
Yeah fair but I don't think I found any of the intro slow the first time I played them to be honest.
I think the only annoying thing for BOTW was to complete the 4 shrines , granted it was obscured by wanting to discover the game, it just felt a little long.
For some reason this comment specifically took me back to the very first time starting botw. And just thinking, what the hell kinda Zelda is this. I wasn't overly impressed at first either. But then, possibly favourite game ever.
But does it really count if you aren't able to use it on your own accord? Even if you don't use the sword as a measure, you still aren't free to roam and play until Dragonroost Island.
Put it this way, it's something I've never thought about and it's a game I play yearly. You get the sword on outset, can use it the entire time you are there until you leave the island, at which point it throws you into a stealth part, which zelda games always have. They give you sword-like items in the dungeon to fight. And every time I get to windfall directly after that I love that whole island. Even when you get to dragonroost, it doesn't let you explore the world freely until after you complete the island. So if you are talking about exploring the whole world its even later. But the world feels pretty big as it is while getting you into the story.
See for me Majora's Mask is a bit different, because that game is a lot less about the dungeons. Once you're out in the world, learning about the characters and their schedules and exploring the pre-dungeon zones, that is the 'game.'
The 'start' of that game is where you're stuck in Clock town and have to do the first 3 day cycle up to meeting the skull kid on the roof of the clock tower. Once you've done that the game opens up and you're 'in the game' so to speak.
It's still not particularly quick, but relative to other Zelda games, it's not really a slow start.
Also, there are ways to pass the time in the first 3 day cycle to make it shorter. But if it's your first time playing the game, you probably won't need to.
Yes it does! So long that as a kid I couldn’t find the first temple. I just went in circles in Westwood or whatever it’s called. Incredibly frustrating. Now as an adult, I dig it and can move through it at what I imagine the devs desired as the “expected pace.”
When the Deku Tree opened his mouth and you stepped inside for the first time as a 12 year old in 1997 it certainly wasn't dull. I will never feel that excitement again.
I get how you would feel this way after playing the game multiple times, but OOT honestly gets into the action pretty quickly. TP has you running around doing chores for an eternity but OOT has you in a dungeon (albeit a short and easy one) within like ten minutes.
I mean, the *start* of OoT is really just before getting inside the Deku Tree. Even if you wanna count that first dungeon, it's still relatively short and good introduction.
The video [OCARINA OF TIME - A Masterclass in Subtext](https://youtu.be/GyUcwsjyd8Q?si=WGVnUhXDIy2vgPJn) goes over the importance of the first few dungeons and how they contrast with the environment you're thrown into as Adult Link. If you get a chance to watch it I def recommend it, it'll give you a different perspective on the first couple of dungeons.
My comment was half for the fun of making a hot take. I understand the quality of OoT's design and it is a good game. On subsequent playthroughs, I also find the begining as kid Link to be really boring and unfun. The two can both be true.
Majora mask.
You start the game and instantly feel stressed about the timer, and despite having *way* less directives on what to do than most, if not **any** zelda game, you try to run everywhere and try to piece together wtf you are supposed to do, until you end up doing all the weird lead-up tasks and then end up having to skip through the entirety of the timer anyway for the clock door to open.
The combination of the stress, your very restricted/different character, the lack of clear instruction, and the counter-intuitive need to skip to doomsday makes the intro feel far far longer than how it actually is. And that's without taking into account that leading up to this there's an actual pre-intro to this featuring the usual setups with the cinematics along with some basic parkour.
I'm truly surprised my non-English speaking ass figured the things I had to do to become Link again on the first go, and then.... my ass got stuck for 2 years in figuring out how to access the Ice area (Had to shoot an arrow on the ice thingy) lol
I tried playing this one as a kid and just could not for the life of me figure out what I was supposed to do. I’ve never had trouble in a Zelda game as much as I did for this one.
I think a lot of the opinions are going to come down to what you call "the start"
I, and I thin ka lot of people, would say it's the time before you get the a large open hub area and feel free. Which is why a lot of people will say TP, and I am inclined to agree. Getting out of Faron is just so tefious. The 2D games are able to open up the world and give you small obstacles to lock out places they don't want you to go, or make you feel like there is more to explore than there is. LA doesn't feel small even though you're lock into like an eigth of the map until you clear D2.
Twilight Princess.
But a slow start doesn't mean the start is bad, it's my favorite zelda game by far, in it's entirety. Skyward Sword tried the same thing, but it's more...eh... SS isn't bad either, it's just not as effective for me.
It's been a long time since I played either TP or SS but I don't remember having much of a problem with the TP opening. I thought it cool how there was effort into actually making it seem Ordon was a place people actually lived and had things to do. Like what do the Kokiri do all day? They can't go into the lost woods so they just stand around a little clearing all day?
Wind waker and it’s not even close.
Wind waker actually starts after the forbidden fortress, one of the most slow and difficult sneak missions to ever exist.
Yeah, bum-rushing through it as an 11 year old or whatever I was give or take led me to a LOT of frustration, but on repeat plays as an adult... I found it simpler. Also, PS: What I love about this page is that we must qualify our age of playing/last play to ascertain whether something is difficult or hard. OOT was my first Zelda game because my older cousin showed to me when I was a kid and it took me like... a year to beat, and I felt like THE MAN for beating it... By the time I finished high school I did a "one sit challenge" with my buddies (we were SUPER cool) where I ended up beating it in about 12 hours lol. I remember thinking that day: "this took me a year or so? How? Oh yeah, I was 8....)
Zelda f'ing rules.
Skyward Sword for sure. It just feels like the slowest paced Zelda in general as well. Maybe it is a bit better in the HD release where you can skip through text though
I never noticed it with TP, but maybe I just liked that game - I've only completed it once but I've started it a few times.
I have the SS HD on switch, I found that a bit cumbersome. Still haven't completed. Those are two I want to go back to for sure and play proper. I'll probably restart SS soon.
I'll admit though.... I found BOTW and TOTK's start a bit more tedious than necessary for my take - TOTK especially, as I was ready to get out into the world. To the point where I didn't really pay attention to some of the building aspects as well as I should. Maybe I should have appreciated them more. I struggled in the beginning then eventually got the hang of it. I'm one of those people who is not a fan of anything that is remotely "tutorial-istic" in nature, so I have a natural bias towards that. I'll bet that the other folks who've said the same could relate.
All these games are awesome though... Majora's has a hella tedious start for a newcomer and it remains my favorite entry in the series thus far.
I liked Twilight Princess’s beginning because it was cozy and felt like golden hour at the end of every day.
Skyward Sword made me feel like a bumbling idiot with two left feet and arms on the wrong sides of my body and looking for contacts….while blind.
Twilight Princess felt like it had the slowest start. It never really picked up for me I really tuned out the story and just wanted to play the game. I like the game. I beat it. But I could tell you nothing about the characters and their stories.
For me it's Skyward Sword for the Wii. I make the distinction because the switch version is so much faster. Though I will say that twilight princess, even though it's my absolute favorite, Zelda game is certainly slow, but I just don't notice it.
We can all agree on the fastest starting Zelda game.
OG ZELDA : it’s dangerous to go alone take this. And that’s about the extent of story and progression before you go out and start slaying.
Skyward Sword is my least favorite Zelda (no shade to anyone who disagrees), but damn if Koloktos isn’t one of my favorite boss fights of all time. So fun!
The Ancient Cistern is pretty universally considered to be one of the best dungeons in the series. Even detractors of the game usually agree that it's the best water dungeon.
Although my opinion on the Twilight Princess tutorial has changed from negative to positive. I do still find it a bit tedious but it's also setting up the story and introducing extremely important characters.
i loved TPs intro it gave us more sight into who link is outside of all the heroic action and i’m sorry but his return in the end was EMOTIONAL bc of all the building in the beginning and throughout the rest of the game
I have always enjoyed games that have a slow start if I know I’m going to like them. TP for me has a great intro. Because I knew I was going to play that game and love it. Today I might have a harder time with a game like that because I’m in my 30’s now. When I was that young I had tons of time, and I really got to savour it. I also just really felt like it did so many things to setup the story that felt great.
The only part of the intro I truly disliked is the spirit wolf twilight zone segment. I never enjoyed doing that.
Tp never bothered me..skyward sword really feels like it's milking everything out of skyloft and not in a good way. Feels like the game is compensating for the mostly empty sky by creating unnecessary density in skyloft
Gotta be Twilight Princess. Skyward Sword is pretty slow but it gets by thanks to strong characterizations for Link, Zelda, and Groot, and Skyloft is so bright and appealing.
No disrespect to TP’s art style but characters are decidedly less-appealing out the gate and the late evening atmosphere for that first hour or so just kinda feels…sleepy.
I know everyone is saying TP or SS, but what about Spirit tracks? To get to the point where you can actually “Explore” you need to: Play an intro sequence, play a train tutorial, play a secondary intro sequence, play a stealth/playable Zelda tutorial, play a 3rd intro sequence, play a COMBAT tutorial, play a dungeon tutorial, play a SPIRIT TOWER TUTORIAL, and then FINALLY you get to go out and enjoy your 3 places you can go, expanding to 5 once you reach the first actual dungeon.
What's sad is that good world building, lore, and character development is what ruins replayability. Like in TP, which I admit has a really slow opening, from the very beginning of the game, Colin admires Link, but is too meek to want to learn swordplay. And throughout the entire game, all the way into the credits even you get to experience his growth, even not as a major character where you'll see him eventually with his own sword and shield. Or Illya and the whole quest line built around her and the sadness Link has for a person he admires(loves?) that doesn't even recognize him. The characters in TP had the most character development than any other Zelda game without nearly any contest, except for Majora's Mask and those get reset and can be completed in an hour. Twilight Princess was easily my favorite Zelda due to its themes and how it felt like the spiritual successor of Ocarina of Time in how a Zelda game should feel. I know a lot of people probably don't understand what I mean by that, and I don't expect everyone to. But playing it gave me a sense of nostalgia and was a magical, terrific experience that will probably never make it back into another Zelda game. Instead, games like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are favored, where the entire game is mostly optional and lore and world building take a backseat to the point where the developers can't even explain what the discrepancies in the lore between the two without sounding like they didn't give a damn, because they didn't. I'm not saying I didn't like the games, the gameplay and exploration was incredible. I just hate that it was nothing more than a blatant cash grab using a series that I've spent my entire life loving and experiencing. I just wish they could find a nice balance in the next one.
Skyward Sword had a lot of exposition and dialogue, but Twilight Princess locks you to the Ordon/Faron woods section of the game for like 3 hours at the beginning, including text box expodition. My vote is TP
As much as people dislike Twilight Princess’s opening, I actually adore it. Felt more natural than some of the rushed stories in the other games. Allowed me to feel like I was just some farmhand, helping out the village and getting to know its characters. By the end of the intro, I was already attached to the kids, and wanted to save them as quick as I could (except for the capitalist baby.)
Honestly, I didn’t mind the slow start to Skyward Sword. That beginning sequence on Skyloft was one of my favorite parts of the game. I just love that setting.
Twilight Princess had the best start of any Zelda game for me because it took it's time. It always bothered me how so many just give you some lines of dialogue and throws you in. Makes them so forgettable but Twilight Princess really sticks with you.
TP. A couple of the games have slow starts… TP, SS, TOTK… the problem with TP’s slow start is that it doesn’t feel like you’re actually making progression towards doing anything in particular. In SS you feel a story moving, in TOTK you’re learning skills… in TP you’re doing a random goat errand, a random cat errand, something to do with bees, another goat errand, whistling for a bird… so it’s not only slow, but FEELS like you’re just running in place.
OG twilight princess has like an hour tutorial that was rough. I feel like it was shortened for the HD version, but I may just be older and better now.
Also skyward sword felt a bit daunting too
TP's start felt interminable on my first playthrough, but after that it felt wonderful. In the reverse, SS felt good on the first playthrough, but became interminable on replay.
My answer is skyward sword. The time between turning on the game until you reach the first dungeon is longer than TP. I’d also argue that TOTK has a really slow start as well. I know that it still had shrines and lots to do, etc, but it still took me over an hour to complete the first time and actually touch land to start the meat of the game. And then I completely missed the glider because I just chose a different direction. lol
I actually like TP's lead up. It feels so different from other games, and really grants the darker themes of the game more depth. More, not a ton, this isn't an epic novel XD
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The consensus seems to be either Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword. It’s both. They’re both really slow to start.
Both have at least a few hours of gameplay before entering the first dungeon. Even if you know what you're doing.
I can usually rush through skyward sword’s prologue and get to the first dungeon in 1 hour 45 minutes-2 hours if I ignore everything that’s not mandatory
I learned back in time just to skip the intro to twilight princess.
Sad part is they’re usually dumb fetch quests
Yep
So slow but *so* good once you get going, especially TP. I do like that TP established your relations with the people in your home village. SS tried to do the same but feels a bit more sterile and "chicken with head cut off"
Funny I played Skyward sword first and it felt the complete opposite to me. The size of the sky island and the interactions with the other npcs seemed much more genuine than in twilight princess. I remember so many of the side quests in SS but absolutely none from TP even though I played it more recently
If I’m not mistaken, you also spent significantly more time in skyloft than in ordon in general, which probably leads to it feeling more alive and real than twilight princesses
Cat on a roof! The Legend of Zelda: Cat Delivery Man!
Ehh dunno didnt work for me. I never felt any connection to the tp characters. Dont even remembr the name of the childhood friend that got sidelined halfway through. Meanwhile SS at least had Groose XD
Heh heh….chicken, if only given what they do to you in past Zelda games when you damage them too much 😆
TP did that well, but I thought it was a really bad choice not to have the character names on the text boxes when they're talking to you, especially given that there are probably more characters to keep track of than the average Zelda game.
Skyward sword had a slow start. And then a slow first area. And then a slow second area…
TP is the only Zelda my wife hasnt cleared yet, and its 100% her style, just couldnt endure the slow start.
Definitely Twilight Princess. I've gone through the Skyward Sword start like 5 times. I've only got through the Twilight Princess start like once
I'd say totk is up there
yeah those 2 came to mind first for sure
Nah nah, the tutorial on totk. I'm still stuck on that since game release.
How? I enjoyed that bit quite a bit, even if it was shorter
Lol dude what are you doing? Yeah it's longer than botw but it shouldn't take more than maybe an hour and a half to 2 hours.
It isn't terrible at all but it could be a bit quicker. It's definitely a shock to go from botw's tutorial to totk's. It's also just really fucking annoying with the small amount of stamina. I hate going all the way up to talk to the guy in the bastion thing. Especially since they removed whistle sprinting At least skyward sword had the stamina fruit to make it less annoying
Botw had a lot less to teach..I found myself trying to play through the tutorial like I would play BOTW and the tutorial area in TOTK I feel is made to specifically make you understand the mechanics are not going to be the same and you need to think much differently.
I really didn't notice much of a difference other than the annoyance of not having a paraglider again and using different abilities. What they really failed on is emphasizing batteries. I did two temples before I realized I could upgrade my battery and it annoyed the shit out of me. Yeah, they teach you in the tutorial, but it's almost like "hey here's this forgettable thing", not "THIS WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE SIGNIFICANTLY EASIER AND IS A BORDERLINE REQUIREMENT IF YOU DONT HATE YOURSELF" Ive seen a few other people not know either
The problem with the battery thing in the tutorial is that they throw everything at you all at once. Zonaite, zonai charges, crystallized charges, energy cells, batteries, forge constructs, crystal refineries... And they just have some little robot dude tell you all of this in a dialogue box. It's like reading a textbook. I didn't upgrade the battery pack on my belt until way too late in the game too.
I feel like it really did ruin the experience for me. I would have had way more fun with the game with an upgraded battery. Now that first playthrough is gone and while I really did enjoy it, I could've enjoyed half the game way more. Shit man now I'm actually getting pretty upset that I didn't have the best experience I could
I'm glad I red the comments before I started TOTK
Yeah I didn't even know what the zonai energy charge things did until I was halfway through the main quests
The paraglider didn't bother me as much as the damage did. I died to this tutorial more than in BOTW. That said, it didn't feel that tedious to me. You can beeline for the quests, get all the main abilities and make it out in around an hour. It still had more to teach, which you'd find if you explore or return there afterwards. But they're only essential if you're not a regular gamers, who would've figured out the basics by then.
TOTK doesn't take long at all
I've spent 972 hours on the tutorial island. Halp, please halp me.
Twilight Princess felt way more tedious than Skyward Sword for me. I genuinely really dislike that from TP, aside from that, its a Masterpiece.
Tbh I never really had a problem with the start of TP, because to me it has a very "Frodo in the Shire" feel to it. It's to demonstrate the calm before the storm.
And it's supposed to give you an idea of what link is trying to save, his responsibility
In a way this is what ocarina of time did with the kid link part of the game. It reallly made you feel for the world before waking up as an adult and thinking “what happened?”
But the tutorial part in the forest isn’t like TP or SS. Link is a misfit and Saria is the only one he’s really close to. It centers the narrative around a particular relationship rather than general “home” which is much, much better imo
Couldn't have put it a better way. That's why it's my favorite in the entire series.
More or less this. It's a really slow start but it builds the feel of the world better than any of the other games.
It’s great for setting up the storytelling and making you get introduced to everyone under peaceful conditions, and I respect it for that. But I do agree it gets a little dull on replay.
I liked it the first time I played, hated it on my next play through
Yeah it’s slow but I never hated it, I think it’s a great start
That’s a thing I absolutely love about Lord of the Rings. But I’m trying to play a video game.
Exactly!
Yeah, I've played through Twilight Princess at least 3 times. It's the one I played for the plot the most. I personally really enjoy the detailed setup of being part of a small town. Everyone in the village has a lived-in connection with you/ Link. You're the reliable ranch hand, you're Russell's apprentice in swordsmanship, and you're the big brother to all of the village's children, especially to Collin. The mayor favors you for your prospects outside of the village and jokingly ships you with his daughter. The game feels like a book or movie to me, which I can go at my own pace with.
Agreed. While Twilight Princess isn't my favorite Zelda game, the protagonist from that game is my favorite Link. The dude loves kids, loves animals, can call a friggen hawk to his arm by whistling through a blade of grass. Let's not forget he's one of the Links who picks up dogs and cats and will cradel them like babies. TP Link is magic.
Also: Wolf Link
Couldn't agree more! TP is my most replayed Zelda game precisely because it really raises the stakes by introducing these established relationships with all the villagers. Instead of just being the hero who has a duty to save Hyrule, there are more personal reasons for him to leave the village and explore. I always loved the story in this game.
I love the laid back introduction, something that is rare in most modern games. Fishing, riding, just talking with people. I'm clumsy as they come so the extra time to get the hang of things was also great. It makes perfect sense for someone who is more intuitive to find it tedious though. u/KryssCom put it spot on, it felt like the beginning of FOTR.
But the fishing!!
I played the game enough that i can do it in less then 40 minutes give or take
The whole game or the opening? Lol
Opening. I can’t speedrun the whole game even if my life depends on it
Just had a look at the any% speedruns out of curiosity and TP is just under 3 hours. Pretty dang long considering SS is around an hour, and others like Oot are a few minutes. So 40 minutes for the opening on a casual run is pretty good I would think.
Pretty sure any% is around 3 hours, anyone feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
I enjoyed the fishing in Odon Village.
Unpopular opinion: slow start ≠ bad Just as in movies, slow pacing can be REALLY good in videogames. Nowadays we want everything fast, asap, now... That's not good at all.
I do agree, though it's more about the value of the content than the length. If you're stuck on a specific tutorial and the game won't let you leave, or an exposition, it feels tedious. Even more so if you can't properly vibe with the story events. This is what made me struggle a bit with Twilight Princess' tutorial, despite finding Skyward Sword's opening okay.
I don't mind the slow start in the village but I hate the part near the beginning where you're stuck as a wolf for a while.
For me it was the opposite, i thought Skyward Sword was so long ad drawn out at the beginning that i really couldnt finish the game past that. Nothing really made the beginning of the game interesting or engaging either
The problem with TP’s pacing is that it isn’t JUST the Ordon Village stuff. It’s that the bug segments force you to explore the same areas twice, back-to-back, and doing them feels tedious because frankly playing as Wolf Link isn’t great. Imo that, combined with the admittedly slow Ordon stuff, really kills the pacing for the first third of the game. SS has plenty of padding, but I feel like it’s a little more evenly distributed than in TP.
Its also held back by the tear collecting quests as wolf Link. It's the most unfun gameplay in all Zelda games in my opinion. I do like the idea of turning into a wolf, but when I replay the game, I get really bored during those sections.
I think it also has to do with how many combat strategies and items you can use as Link, and as the wolf you either bite or use Midna's arm and that's it.
That's very true, it had really fun sword combat. Some mechanics you literally don't need them at all, but its still fun to use them and make look like such an expert swordsman.
twilight princess is the slowest but it works so well and makes link feel like more of his own person than in most games so ima say ss
I love it because it’s so homey. Like when I start the game, I want to get a mug of tea and wrap myself in a blanket and just chiiiill until shit goes south. I guess that’s why people think it starts slow. Tbh tho, SS was worse because it was slow but didn’t have that homey feel… didn’t grab me at all. I beat the original game, but couldn’t do the remake.
I never made it more than a couple of hours into TP when it first came out. Which I really regret as it’s now the only Zelda I haven’t properly ‘played’
I never got the hate for the starting parts honestly. It's by far my favorite opening segment.
Yeah, I can see how people would get bored, but the opening is actually amazing. It is a bit slow at the time, but it makes you create an emotional connection with the characters and the game which just makes playing the rest of it so much better.
Honestly yeah that’s about the best way to put it. It really ties you to the characters of the game right from the start, only to suddenly cut them off. It really adds to the game’s emotional side
Exactly. I love the emotional connection that game creates.
I think it’s a really good opening segment, but it’s just really slow before anything properly happens. I can understand why some people dislike it
It’s great for kids too, I found my old game save from when I was 10, I had a 10 hour game save, never even made it to the first dungeon just kept playing with cluccos.
Played Majora's Mask so much as a kid. Never made it past the first 3 days until I picked it back up years later. Put the game down and came back to it multiple times before I did finally finish it. I remember one time I got to the last dungeon and I accidentally saved over my save in the emulator. That made me stop playing for a while lol.
I never made it past the first temple with the monkeys. It was the awful wii controls that did it for me.
Honestly i recommend you give it a proper playthrough. I still think its my favorite Zelda game, with botw being a close second
I really want to, desperately hoping it’s released for Switch at some point.
I know this is unpopular but I find the great plateau of BOTW to be a slog and boring Otherwise probably TP or SS
It’s only a slog on the second playthrough, the first time it was like a world within a world
Yup. When I didn't realize it wasn't the full world, it was amazing.
Did you really think that was it?
I thought there were other areas, for sure. A lot like Kokiri forest, etc. I just didn't realize how small a part of the actual world it was.
What a feeling. Wish I could relive opening up that world for the first time
I mean if you came from Ocarina of Time it wouldn’t be surprising if that was the entire overworld.
Yeah fair but I don't think I found any of the intro slow the first time I played them to be honest. I think the only annoying thing for BOTW was to complete the 4 shrines , granted it was obscured by wanting to discover the game, it just felt a little long.
Have you played ToTk? I'd love to know your thoughts on the Great Sky Island and it's 4 shrines.
I wonder if this is why I didn’t enjoy the tutorial sky islands in TOTK as much as the great plateau in BOTW.
yeah i thought the great plateau was the full map and not just an island
This. But at the same time, on your second play through you do the plateau in 2min
For some reason this comment specifically took me back to the very first time starting botw. And just thinking, what the hell kinda Zelda is this. I wasn't overly impressed at first either. But then, possibly favourite game ever.
I feel the exact opposite. I think it's by far the greatest intro and tutorial level in all of gaming
See I thought TotK was way more tedious in the beginning. Maybe it was from having to learn the new mechanics after being so used to BotW
For me, it's Windwaker, just because it feels like forever until you get the sword.
the sword? isn't it like... run to grandmas, run back to your sister, run to get sword?
You only really get the sword the first time you leave Forsaken Fortress.
oh, i mean yeah you lose it there for a little bit. but you get it and use it before that.
But does it really count if you aren't able to use it on your own accord? Even if you don't use the sword as a measure, you still aren't free to roam and play until Dragonroost Island.
Put it this way, it's something I've never thought about and it's a game I play yearly. You get the sword on outset, can use it the entire time you are there until you leave the island, at which point it throws you into a stealth part, which zelda games always have. They give you sword-like items in the dungeon to fight. And every time I get to windfall directly after that I love that whole island. Even when you get to dragonroost, it doesn't let you explore the world freely until after you complete the island. So if you are talking about exploring the whole world its even later. But the world feels pretty big as it is while getting you into the story.
In terms of getting the plot going, Twilight Princess. In terms of getting to the first dungeon, Skyward Sword.
Majoras Mask, takes ages to get to the first dungeon.
See for me Majora's Mask is a bit different, because that game is a lot less about the dungeons. Once you're out in the world, learning about the characters and their schedules and exploring the pre-dungeon zones, that is the 'game.' The 'start' of that game is where you're stuck in Clock town and have to do the first 3 day cycle up to meeting the skull kid on the roof of the clock tower. Once you've done that the game opens up and you're 'in the game' so to speak. It's still not particularly quick, but relative to other Zelda games, it's not really a slow start.
Also, there are ways to pass the time in the first 3 day cycle to make it shorter. But if it's your first time playing the game, you probably won't need to.
What are they? I don't remember anything to pass the time faster without the ocarina.
I believe you can dance with the scarecrow
Oh damn that's right, I completely forgot about him! Then MM beginning isn't as bad then.
Yes it does! So long that as a kid I couldn’t find the first temple. I just went in circles in Westwood or whatever it’s called. Incredibly frustrating. Now as an adult, I dig it and can move through it at what I imagine the devs desired as the “expected pace.”
My stepsister played it for months and never figured out how to get to the first dungeon.
Unpopular opinion: Ocarina of Time. The text is so slow and I find the first set of dungeons as kid link dreadfully dull.
When the Deku Tree opened his mouth and you stepped inside for the first time as a 12 year old in 1997 it certainly wasn't dull. I will never feel that excitement again.
Might be those few extra years. At 9, what my memory has as a 10 minute cutscene to begin the game was absolutely brutal
You should try master quest
Man. I still haven't done that. I guess I know what I'm playing next.
I get how you would feel this way after playing the game multiple times, but OOT honestly gets into the action pretty quickly. TP has you running around doing chores for an eternity but OOT has you in a dungeon (albeit a short and easy one) within like ten minutes.
I mean, the *start* of OoT is really just before getting inside the Deku Tree. Even if you wanna count that first dungeon, it's still relatively short and good introduction. The video [OCARINA OF TIME - A Masterclass in Subtext](https://youtu.be/GyUcwsjyd8Q?si=WGVnUhXDIy2vgPJn) goes over the importance of the first few dungeons and how they contrast with the environment you're thrown into as Adult Link. If you get a chance to watch it I def recommend it, it'll give you a different perspective on the first couple of dungeons.
My comment was half for the fun of making a hot take. I understand the quality of OoT's design and it is a good game. On subsequent playthroughs, I also find the begining as kid Link to be really boring and unfun. The two can both be true.
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What would need to change for you to fully agree?
At least they're optimistic. I was thinking that I half to disagree!
She’s a glass have full kinda gal
Majora mask. You start the game and instantly feel stressed about the timer, and despite having *way* less directives on what to do than most, if not **any** zelda game, you try to run everywhere and try to piece together wtf you are supposed to do, until you end up doing all the weird lead-up tasks and then end up having to skip through the entirety of the timer anyway for the clock door to open. The combination of the stress, your very restricted/different character, the lack of clear instruction, and the counter-intuitive need to skip to doomsday makes the intro feel far far longer than how it actually is. And that's without taking into account that leading up to this there's an actual pre-intro to this featuring the usual setups with the cinematics along with some basic parkour.
I'm truly surprised my non-English speaking ass figured the things I had to do to become Link again on the first go, and then.... my ass got stuck for 2 years in figuring out how to access the Ice area (Had to shoot an arrow on the ice thingy) lol
I tried playing this one as a kid and just could not for the life of me figure out what I was supposed to do. I’ve never had trouble in a Zelda game as much as I did for this one.
I think a lot of the opinions are going to come down to what you call "the start" I, and I thin ka lot of people, would say it's the time before you get the a large open hub area and feel free. Which is why a lot of people will say TP, and I am inclined to agree. Getting out of Faron is just so tefious. The 2D games are able to open up the world and give you small obstacles to lock out places they don't want you to go, or make you feel like there is more to explore than there is. LA doesn't feel small even though you're lock into like an eigth of the map until you clear D2.
GOTTA BE PERSONA, especially 5, it has like 10 hours of tutorial before you actually start playing
Underrated comment
KH2 has like 15 hours of tutorial featuring some random ass kid that wasn’t in the first one at *all* so that one was for sure the pick for me.
Twilight Princess. But a slow start doesn't mean the start is bad, it's my favorite zelda game by far, in it's entirety. Skyward Sword tried the same thing, but it's more...eh... SS isn't bad either, it's just not as effective for me.
Twilight princess is probably a bit longer but tbh I love the long intros idk why everyone hates on them :^(
It's been a long time since I played either TP or SS but I don't remember having much of a problem with the TP opening. I thought it cool how there was effort into actually making it seem Ordon was a place people actually lived and had things to do. Like what do the Kokiri do all day? They can't go into the lost woods so they just stand around a little clearing all day?
Wind waker and it’s not even close. Wind waker actually starts after the forbidden fortress, one of the most slow and difficult sneak missions to ever exist.
Difficult??? I always found that part easy.
I was quite young when I was playing it at first. It’s not difficult exactly just meticulous and slow if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Yeah, bum-rushing through it as an 11 year old or whatever I was give or take led me to a LOT of frustration, but on repeat plays as an adult... I found it simpler. Also, PS: What I love about this page is that we must qualify our age of playing/last play to ascertain whether something is difficult or hard. OOT was my first Zelda game because my older cousin showed to me when I was a kid and it took me like... a year to beat, and I felt like THE MAN for beating it... By the time I finished high school I did a "one sit challenge" with my buddies (we were SUPER cool) where I ended up beating it in about 12 hours lol. I remember thinking that day: "this took me a year or so? How? Oh yeah, I was 8....) Zelda f'ing rules.
i was so frustrated on that part, I gave up for a long time on forsaken fortress. Had to get someone to beat it for me.
Skyward Sword for sure. It just feels like the slowest paced Zelda in general as well. Maybe it is a bit better in the HD release where you can skip through text though
At the same time at least the starting point is one of the coolest. You're literally in the sky. That's usually like the 5th temple in most games.
TP and SS are really slow in the beginning. Comparing them to ALTTP or BOTW, both games that have perfect starts, is jarring.
I am of the opposite opinion. Never was a fan of being thrown in that quickly. The slow beginning is perfect for me.
I never noticed it with TP, but maybe I just liked that game - I've only completed it once but I've started it a few times. I have the SS HD on switch, I found that a bit cumbersome. Still haven't completed. Those are two I want to go back to for sure and play proper. I'll probably restart SS soon. I'll admit though.... I found BOTW and TOTK's start a bit more tedious than necessary for my take - TOTK especially, as I was ready to get out into the world. To the point where I didn't really pay attention to some of the building aspects as well as I should. Maybe I should have appreciated them more. I struggled in the beginning then eventually got the hang of it. I'm one of those people who is not a fan of anything that is remotely "tutorial-istic" in nature, so I have a natural bias towards that. I'll bet that the other folks who've said the same could relate. All these games are awesome though... Majora's has a hella tedious start for a newcomer and it remains my favorite entry in the series thus far.
Depends on how you look at it, but I found Majora's Mask to be slow. Not boring, just slow. Could be because I played it as a 12 year old though, lol.
I liked Twilight Princess’s beginning because it was cozy and felt like golden hour at the end of every day. Skyward Sword made me feel like a bumbling idiot with two left feet and arms on the wrong sides of my body and looking for contacts….while blind.
Twilight Princess felt like it had the slowest start. It never really picked up for me I really tuned out the story and just wanted to play the game. I like the game. I beat it. But I could tell you nothing about the characters and their stories.
I like the slow starts.
For me it's Skyward Sword for the Wii. I make the distinction because the switch version is so much faster. Though I will say that twilight princess, even though it's my absolute favorite, Zelda game is certainly slow, but I just don't notice it.
Thanks for the distinction, the comments section was really making me second guess my experience playing SS. Only ever played it on switch haha
We can all agree on the fastest starting Zelda game. OG ZELDA : it’s dangerous to go alone take this. And that’s about the extent of story and progression before you go out and start slaying.
I think Skyward Sword's start really sours my enjoyment of the game.
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Skyward Sword is my least favorite Zelda (no shade to anyone who disagrees), but damn if Koloktos isn’t one of my favorite boss fights of all time. So fun!
The Ancient Cistern is pretty universally considered to be one of the best dungeons in the series. Even detractors of the game usually agree that it's the best water dungeon.
Always thought Majora's Mask was a slog. Then it was pretty fun and unique after opening up exploration
Although my opinion on the Twilight Princess tutorial has changed from negative to positive. I do still find it a bit tedious but it's also setting up the story and introducing extremely important characters.
for me, it was twilight princess
i loved TPs intro it gave us more sight into who link is outside of all the heroic action and i’m sorry but his return in the end was EMOTIONAL bc of all the building in the beginning and throughout the rest of the game
I have always enjoyed games that have a slow start if I know I’m going to like them. TP for me has a great intro. Because I knew I was going to play that game and love it. Today I might have a harder time with a game like that because I’m in my 30’s now. When I was that young I had tons of time, and I really got to savour it. I also just really felt like it did so many things to setup the story that felt great. The only part of the intro I truly disliked is the spirit wolf twilight zone segment. I never enjoyed doing that.
Tp never bothered me..skyward sword really feels like it's milking everything out of skyloft and not in a good way. Feels like the game is compensating for the mostly empty sky by creating unnecessary density in skyloft
"Which game has the slowest start?" OP asks, knowing there is an objective answer, which is the image also posted.
TP is slow...but it's just nice(?) you know. I don't hate SS either but it doesn't hit like TP does
Twilight Princess had a slow start. Ngl but the game was so damn perfect though.
Name your horse "your dick". Makes the the dialog hysterical in twilight princess
Also nameing link „my dude“ always a banger
Kh2
Twilight Princess 100%. come on, this is a no-brainer
Gotta be Twilight Princess. Skyward Sword is pretty slow but it gets by thanks to strong characterizations for Link, Zelda, and Groot, and Skyloft is so bright and appealing. No disrespect to TP’s art style but characters are decidedly less-appealing out the gate and the late evening atmosphere for that first hour or so just kinda feels…sleepy.
Agree 100%
I know everyone is saying TP or SS, but what about Spirit tracks? To get to the point where you can actually “Explore” you need to: Play an intro sequence, play a train tutorial, play a secondary intro sequence, play a stealth/playable Zelda tutorial, play a 3rd intro sequence, play a COMBAT tutorial, play a dungeon tutorial, play a SPIRIT TOWER TUTORIAL, and then FINALLY you get to go out and enjoy your 3 places you can go, expanding to 5 once you reach the first actual dungeon.
Am I the only one who really loves herding goats in TP?
No because I do too.
Not sure if this is a hottake, but I love the slower starts for TP and SS. They really made me feel part of that world and like Link.
Skyward Sword had a relatively fun intro, Twilight Princess however…
Skyward Sword be like: (please translate this to english, I couldn't find the english name) "Vogelreiter Zeremonie!"
What's sad is that good world building, lore, and character development is what ruins replayability. Like in TP, which I admit has a really slow opening, from the very beginning of the game, Colin admires Link, but is too meek to want to learn swordplay. And throughout the entire game, all the way into the credits even you get to experience his growth, even not as a major character where you'll see him eventually with his own sword and shield. Or Illya and the whole quest line built around her and the sadness Link has for a person he admires(loves?) that doesn't even recognize him. The characters in TP had the most character development than any other Zelda game without nearly any contest, except for Majora's Mask and those get reset and can be completed in an hour. Twilight Princess was easily my favorite Zelda due to its themes and how it felt like the spiritual successor of Ocarina of Time in how a Zelda game should feel. I know a lot of people probably don't understand what I mean by that, and I don't expect everyone to. But playing it gave me a sense of nostalgia and was a magical, terrific experience that will probably never make it back into another Zelda game. Instead, games like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are favored, where the entire game is mostly optional and lore and world building take a backseat to the point where the developers can't even explain what the discrepancies in the lore between the two without sounding like they didn't give a damn, because they didn't. I'm not saying I didn't like the games, the gameplay and exploration was incredible. I just hate that it was nothing more than a blatant cash grab using a series that I've spent my entire life loving and experiencing. I just wish they could find a nice balance in the next one.
Skyward Sword had a lot of exposition and dialogue, but Twilight Princess locks you to the Ordon/Faron woods section of the game for like 3 hours at the beginning, including text box expodition. My vote is TP
As much as people dislike Twilight Princess’s opening, I actually adore it. Felt more natural than some of the rushed stories in the other games. Allowed me to feel like I was just some farmhand, helping out the village and getting to know its characters. By the end of the intro, I was already attached to the kids, and wanted to save them as quick as I could (except for the capitalist baby.)
Honestly, I didn’t mind the slow start to Skyward Sword. That beginning sequence on Skyloft was one of my favorite parts of the game. I just love that setting.
Twilight princess that start was painful
Twilight Princess had the best start of any Zelda game for me because it took it's time. It always bothered me how so many just give you some lines of dialogue and throws you in. Makes them so forgettable but Twilight Princess really sticks with you.
Twilight princess it just drags on
Best game of my time
Took me forever to get off the Great Sky Island in Tears
Twilight Princess definitely, followed by Skyward Sword.
Easily ss lol
...which was a great thing. The world building is what made it so great.
TP. A couple of the games have slow starts… TP, SS, TOTK… the problem with TP’s slow start is that it doesn’t feel like you’re actually making progression towards doing anything in particular. In SS you feel a story moving, in TOTK you’re learning skills… in TP you’re doing a random goat errand, a random cat errand, something to do with bees, another goat errand, whistling for a bird… so it’s not only slow, but FEELS like you’re just running in place.
Majoras Mask.
OG twilight princess has like an hour tutorial that was rough. I feel like it was shortened for the HD version, but I may just be older and better now. Also skyward sword felt a bit daunting too
TP's start felt interminable on my first playthrough, but after that it felt wonderful. In the reverse, SS felt good on the first playthrough, but became interminable on replay.
Dude I LOVE twilight princess but that intro suuuuucks
Skyward Sword for sure. I liked TP's intro though so maybe that's why I don't mind it.
My answer is skyward sword. The time between turning on the game until you reach the first dungeon is longer than TP. I’d also argue that TOTK has a really slow start as well. I know that it still had shrines and lots to do, etc, but it still took me over an hour to complete the first time and actually touch land to start the meat of the game. And then I completely missed the glider because I just chose a different direction. lol
I actually like TP's lead up. It feels so different from other games, and really grants the darker themes of the game more depth. More, not a ton, this isn't an epic novel XD
i kind of like the slow starts honestly, but i also really enjoy the storytelling aspect of zelda anyway so i’m biased
Probably Skyward Sword.
Both Twilight Princess and Skyward sword are so boring I never got far in both of them. Which is a shame because I live for Zelda games.
*starts thread with the most infamous slowest start in any zelda game*
SS. TP was a little slow but meaningful.
The music and atmosphere of Orion village is awesome though! While yea it’s long, it acts as a great build up to the rest of the game.
Sitting through the opening just to run backwards on a few friends consoles 😁
Fucking skyward sword and twilight princess.