Hey! My name is Austin and welcome to my humble channel! I've always loved digging deep into the design of my favorite video games and decided to start putting together some analysis videos for public consumption. I know my content might feel somewhat sloppy compared to more experienced content creators, but I'd love if it you give my videos a chance. I love hearing from viewers and promise that I read every comment so please share your own thoughts and memories with me too. Thanks for stopping by; I hope you enjoy and decide to hang around!
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41:10 haven't you seen/read "The Never-ending Story"? The Legend of Zelda (Link and Epona/Atreyu and Artax) and especially this encounter (Morla the ancient one) will make much more sense for you
Ah! I actually have seen Never Ending Story forever ago but it kind of scared me so I don’t remember it much. That’s a cool connection, thanks for sharing!
@@AustinAshworth you're welcome 😊
The “exaggerated versions of real life animals” part is the best thing about Kanto pokemon designs. Some of the newer designs just aren’t appealing in any way and they look more like quickly drawn cartoons rather than thought out designs. Just compare Flechling and Spearow. Night and day. The resemblance to real animals also make these pokemon more “believable” and easier for kids to bond with.
Totally agree, not to say there aren’t great pokemon designs in later generations too, but the early Gen 1 (and Gen 2 imo) designs just feel so much more believable and real to me.
I loved playing Pokemon Let’s Go, but my god! I’ll take zubats over Silph Co. anytime! At least the zubats have a solution in the form of repels. The sippy co. building is just so padded and boring! Especially on repeat playthroughs.
I actually enjoy Silph haha, trainer fights are more tolerable than wild encounters for me because you see them coming and at least they are good source of EXP. It’s fun to navigate the labyrinthian layout
I love ROM hacking Gen 1, if you have any suggestions to add respond this game
I’ve never actually delved into the world of fan made games or rom hacks. Definitely see some cool stuff floating around thought so I should probably give some a try sometime
Im playing through the new legacy series by smithplays. Both yellow and crystal legacy. Emerald comes after. Very solid games. I also started with red growing up, but my favorite gen of all the games was 2, and crystal was the best version
I really should explore ROM hacks more, I've never delved outside the main series but I've heard so many positive stories about the improvements fan games can make!
ty for this video. I just finished my first all mask playthrough recently on the recompile. felt so good.
I’m glad you enjoyed! Yeah all those recompile developments are so cool! Mad respect for those who understand the programming on that deep level to give the rest of us such cool tools
Dude, playing the first dungeon felt like, "Aw yeah, new Zelda Game, this feels so fun!" And then getting towards Ikana Canyon, "Does anything I do really matter? Does anyone really care if I I'm happy? Do they really think of me as their friend?" Just, like, thousand meter stare, man.
At this point I'll watch anyone talk about Majora's mask.
Now that’s a benchmark I can reach haha. I am a person and I am talking about Majora’s Mask. What more could you ask for!
I am sure you have gotten a million comments about this, but at around @27:00 you're talking about how the player is supposed to find out about the bottle in the lake and how to find ruto? Well, the zoras that you find in and near the zoras domain spell it out. If you talk to them they will hint at the fact and say " Have you seen anything strange in the lake? The river carries many things into the lake" Another hint about ruto's wareabouts is a hint given that she "temple of Lake Hylia and has not come back" Although they don't tell exactly where the lake is, the games npcs do hint that something is at the lake. Also regarding Jabu, the zora npcs also do hint at how to get into jabu. One of the Zora npcs says "According to the "Legend of Zora," the act of offering a fish to Lord Jabu-Jabu will make you happy.
Right you are, that is an unfortunate error in the video. And yes, it is one that I am constantly being reminded haha. Of course no offense taken, I appreciate the input!
The ice gate to snowhead mountain village seems intentional, wanting the player to get lost off the main quest line and encouraged to wander termina, clock town & the npcs.
You could be on to something! Thanks for sharing!
I didn't understand the type advantages when I was a kid and I remember on my blue version finally beating misty with my LVL 32 Chameleon and Gravler 😅
That’s an insane level of grinding haha! I had a lot of patience for mindless grinding as a kid too, I trained up so many lvl 100 pokemon that I never did anything with. They just sat in the PC looking pretty
Overall a very nice video on OOT. As a kid of the 90s I can tell that you are a bit harsh on some of the mechanics of the game. For you either found the bottle at the bottom of the lake in general exploration, or you did what every kid still does. Talk about the game in the lunch breaks at school. For other stuff you have to keep in mind how ground braking essentially the entire game is. For it being the first 3D zelda it went far beyond anything anyone could expect from a N64 game. The game was a monumental leap in game design as you noticed. That leap was far greater at the time then it appears now. I never perceived the last puzzles in ganons tower as left overs which could be used, but I perceived them as a fitting summary and recap of the game. Another opportunity to show the player trough which the player went through and that he is not alone by showing the sages. I remember collecting all 100 skulltulas for the sake of it and beeing disappointed by the lack of a good reward. But i see it differently today. I replayed the game with my son and I was relieved that we just had to collect 50 to get all gameplay relevant rewards. So the entire search doesnt become too exhausting. Just a few thoughts. Its also interesting to hear that they removed bits of music for newer releases. I played the N64 version again.
Thank you! It is difficult to balance my own subjective experience, as someone with modern gaming sensibilities, and the way the game would have been perceived at the time of release. This is definitely something I’m trying my best at but I’m sure I could do better. If some game design element was really frustrating to me today, how can you judge if this is a fair point of criticism or just a result of the game’s age? It’s important to remember the time and place Ocarina was released into but, at the same time, you can’t just chalk every perceived flaw to the game’s age and assume that players of the day wouldn’t have the same complaint.
@@AustinAshworth Absolutely! Of course the game isn't perfect and some of your critisms are absolutely valid. Lets put it that way. The criticism is absolutely valid and these things were also annoying back then, but compared to what the competition and predecessors were doing it was leaps and lightyears ahead. Does that make sense? Back then we were still "recovering" from the arcade coin machine mechanics. For example if you did one misstep in Mario 64 you need to replay the entire level again. Games in the 80s and 90s were purposefully difficult to throw in yet another "last" coin. Sometimes also due to technical limitations. Only slowly the games were getting easier OOT saved the fact that you left the game in a dungeon and let you start the game in that dungeon were you left off. It even saved the location of that fairy warp thing. Mario64 always started infront of the castle For a 90s game there is not a whole lot of back tracking where you just have to run back where you came from. Since these games were mostly pre Internet times, we also used a lot of paper notebooks. When I replayed the Water Temple, I actually used that again. Just to quickly put down very notes of the each level of the map and just quickly noted which room is at which level and which rooms are still to be done with another water level etc. The players were used to come up with things to make their lifes easier. This would be unthinkable today and rightfully so (even tho I would like to have more games which don't insult my intelligence) But of course, I was recently still cursing that I didn't find the last carpenter in the gerudo fortress for ages and I still think that the game should guide me more. So I am glad that devs learned from these things and that todays games learned made things easier. So song story short: I agree with you :) Mostly. I just want to give more perspective :)
It’s funny I don’t remember the controls being tricky as a kid and I just played through OOT for the first time in many years on a 3ds and besides the analog stick on the 3ds being lame it wasn’t bad at all after years of dual sticks. This is truly one of the best most well designed games.
Transphobic for putting Jynx last!
Found your channel with this video! Looking forward to gen II!
Thanks! So glad you enjoyed it!
It's the playground rumors that really cemented Gen 1 as a bestseller. Hearing about Pokegods or the mysterious rectangular Pokémon Missingno and how it will mess up your game was fascinating, and in an era before widespread internet usage that was extremely fascinating to a little kid. I didn't even own a copy until like 2003, but I was still privy to all of the cool rumors floating around the game. Also, my favorite is Arcanine. Giant fire-breathing dog is cool as shit.
It was before my time but I especially love hearing about the era just prior to Gold/Silver release. With new pokemon being teased in the anime and rumored spreading from Japan and Spaceworld demo, the rumor mill was running wild! Arcanine is a great pick!
We need a series out of this one bro. 🔥
That’s the plan! Glad you enjoyed!
Squirtle Squad let's go
woodfall temple might not be my favorite, but I would not call it "unmemorable". Its the first dungeon, and it is so radically different to how Ocarina of Time designed it's dungeon and bosses, it is memorable in that alone. Odolwa being approachable in a multitude of ways makes him one of my favorite boss fights in the series, a boss that really feels like a BOSS fight. But beyond that, Woodfall is memorable for its mystery, too. The oppressive and sinister atmosphere, the tribal aesthetic, as if this place was build by a civilization long gone and it is haunted by the vengeful spirits of its creators. Odolwa may be lacking in lore, as is woodfall, but that might be due to Majora's Mask rushed development... or on purpose. I think the lack of lore adds to the aesthetic. Odolwa and Woodfall lack lore, because the lore they had was forgotten and burried. Woodfall Temple was literally burried and had to be unearthed with magic, metaphorically speaking. Maybe Woodfall was build by another tribe of people, whom the Deku defeated long ago? Maybe Odolwa's actions are an act of revenge against what happened? Who knows. I think it adds to the mystery.
Maybe I was too dismissive, but it’s just never stood out to me. Especially when you compare the dungeon experience to the other 3 in the game, it lacks any big noteworthy element to make it special for me. I appreciate hearing a different opinion and you raise some good points. Glad it’s not without its fans!
Just a side note - this game play was hella rough to watch with how much unnecessary damage was being taken 🤣 great retrospective though!
Haha when you’ve got the HP to spare…
Of all the Pokemon nostalgia videos I've watched so far, this one captures the vibe I've been looking for the most. Please keep it up
Thank you so much! That really means a lot to me! Glad you enjoyed!
Burial at Sea: Me: Look how they masscarued my [daughter]. This DLC feels like its it hates Elizabeth.
Opposite for me, it feels like it idolizes Elizabeth above all else when it makes the entire Bioshock story revolve around her! Definitely made parts of the fan base hate Elizabeth though haha
@@AustinAshworth I also feel that. It idolize her but I also feel it wrecks her character further by making her a psycho and revengeful b***h. Her whole thing with liking Booker but hating Comstock. Comstock/Booker in this DLC felt remorseful for what he did to Anna, but Elizabeth is like "No. Time to die." Did she planned all this in Burial at Sea to have him come out in order to kill him here and there? If so, not only is she bloodthirsty but a unremorseful person that help cause the cause of countless others for no reason. I know this shift started with Infinite but Burial at Sea was a brutal.
Majoras mask and Twilight Princess are my favourite Zelda’s hands down. I love the darker atmosphere, the worldbuilding, the genuine sense of dread and looming devastation always visible in the distance. I love for Majora specifically how naturally integrated you feel. In OOT and before , even in WW, you’re just some fuckass nobody from the boonies who wakes up one day and needs to be a hero. TP and MM make you feel like it’s personal, yknow? You bond with the people around you and gain emotional connection with the NPC’s of the world. Though for MM it’s more like you don’t really have a choice, as the world will literally end if you don’t do something, but it’s still like “I didn’t ask to be a hero, but now that I’m here and people are being hurt I’m gonna step up” and there’s a deeper sense of justice there. I also love Majora and Zant as villains, their quirky and malicious nature then breaking down into a fit of insanity when they’re being defeated is a crazy change. You go from being helpless and getting ragdolled around to beating the ever loving shit out of them and it’s peak
Twilight Princess is another of my favorite Zelda games but it’s not so much for the story as it is the gameplay and epic scale. The TP dungeons are some of the best in the entire series and there are tons of them - the game is so big! Zant is an awesome villain at first but he kind of fell apart for me when Ganondorf was revealed to be the real villain. Anyway, thanks for sharing! I love hearing different perspectives on these games that we all love!
Majoras mask and TOTK have a lot in common in terms of development history
Yup! Unfortunately those similarities didn’t extend to the rapid development cycle… I was so impatient in the years between BotW and TotK!
I was in the hype mood when they this game first came out. Me and my sister even cosplay Booker and Elizabeth Summer Supercon in 2013. At the time I kinda ignored the second half of the game and focus in the first half, so that might be what made me overlook the game's problems with the story. Overtime, as I look more critically at the game I feel less incline to like it that much. There's just too many problems, especially the ending. It felt like the first and second half of the game's stories (and styles) were two different game stories merged, going from the protagonist who saves the damsel in a racial-rationalistic setting filled with fun aesthetics to becoming a tragic time travel story with a plot twist and less interesting aesthetics.
I was a die hard infinite fan when it first released as well, but that passion has slowly been tempered with time as I’ve reflected on it more and more. I do still really like the time travel story overall though!
It's a shame we didn't learn more about Charlie 😅
I always thought Daisy's last words were very out of character, like a script but that's just me
cant wait for mm3d retrospective since mm3d is different enough with how many things are changed like odolwa being decent difficulty to the difficulty of a living person breathing
Haha don’t hold your breath. Not planning any videos specific to the remakes. MM3D was a big letdown though I agree, so many weird changes that detracted from what made the game specific. OoT3D was great though!
Lol everyone's reaction to Bioshock Infinite was like "The story and ending didn't make sense, and it felt like an unnecessary entry and doesn't feel like its apart of the Bioshock universe. But I can accept it." Then Burial at Sea happened. It forces a unnecessary crossover with Columbia and Rapture. It makes Elizabeth the one to link the ENTIRE Bioshock universe by being the one for being behind everything. Not only that but retcon the first two Bioshock games, the book, and even Infinite itself. LOL what a mess.
Navi....Navi... BRING ME THE PEPTO BISMOL
Considering they established the many worlds theory with Elizabeth, couldn’t this just be a different Rapture than the one from the original game? With the games own lore it can explain away your major problems with the story. Literally anything is possible any outcome is never too insane.
I’ll try to think of it that way to preserve the sanctity of the original Bioshock story, but it think it’s a bit of a cop out. The Burial at Sea is definitely intending to be setting up the events of Bioshock 1 with “would you kindly” and even showing cutscenes from Bio1 with Jack and the Little Sisters. I believe Levine even shared that it definitively was the same Rapture we knew from the previous games.
This was great, I'm glad youtube randomly recommend it to me. I played Infinite a long time after it came out and I remember the ending made me feel a little hollow. It wasn't necessarily bad but it felt to me that if they were going an infinite multiverse route then the ending they gave wasnt really possible. So I was very hopeful that BaS was going to tie it up in a better bow, or at least give a better explanation how it all worked. Sadly it just created more inconveniences and questions (I was so happy when you pointed out there there shouldn't be a "last Comstock" based on the multiverse rules they presented). And because I played it so far after it came out I really had no one to vent about it too lol. It felt good to see this and see someone else picking it apart (not in a vicious way) like I did when I finished it. I am going to go watch your Infinity retrospect now.
Thanks! I was actually very pleased with Infinite’s original ending which made it frustrating when BaS retroactively ruined it but I can see how you’d have the same reaction if you didn’t like the original ending and then BaS failed to improve it. Thanks for sharing!
Infinite was announced to be released around my birthday. I was so excited I picked up 1 & 2 and braved my fear of the ocean to properly dive into Rapture. Over the course of...maybe a week I played through 1 & 2, then happily picked up Infinite a few days after it's release. I have never felt so disappointed in a game (until Starfield). Bioshock 2 is my favorite due to the relationship between Delta and Elizabeth. I was personally motivated if only because I really enjoy that type of character dynamic. Booker rubbed me the wrong way, the very early and very very racist inciting event icked me bad, and there was not nearly enough of Songbird in the game. There's a lot I don't like about this game, and I really feel like you got a lot of the points I felt.
Bio2 is my favorite as well! However I wasn’t disappointed with Infinite right away, I was in love with it on my first time and then subsequent playthroughs without all the hype brought its shortcomings to light.
Just bought pokemon yellow today, playin it right now on my gameboy
A retrospective well worth the wait, and yes I too missed out on the weapon wheel on my first playthrough for that exact reason. I think the progression system in Minerva's Den was enjoyable enough, real speedy-like. The progression in Burial at Sea was far inferior I agree. Solid points and views all round, some nastiness can't be avoided with Burial at Sea. This is about what I expected and a great way to conclude the Bioshock series (for now).
Thank you so much! Glad to hear I’m not the only one who missed that feature lol, I felt like such an idiot when I finally figured it out. Didn’t mention in the video, but the same thing happened with the stored health packs in Ep2 haha.
47 minute nit pick
Such a treat to wake up to this! I found your channel recently and been binging your content since Zelda and Bioshock are among my favourite series, but yeah I hated everything about BaS. Infinite was already a mess, but BaS completely shat the bed in my opinion, retroactively ruining pretty much everything that came before.
Thank you! The enthusiasm really warms my heart haha. Truly a shame BaS ended up being such a disappointment story-wise. Otherwise I do enjoy it and it had so much potential as a big finale to the whole series.
@@AustinAshworth yeah I can't fathom how Levine managed to ruin his own masterwork. A real shame. Btw I'm glad my comment got that reaction out of you, I'm genuinely happy if I could make your day a bit better like you did mine with your video 😊
Bioshock infinite is almost great... But being almost great is far worse than just being bad. I have hope for Judas
Infinite is certainly frustrating from a missed potential angle. Was so close to being a masterpiece! Judas has my utmost confidence and hype, everything I’ve seen from it makes me more and more excited!
I enjoy Burial at Sea, on its own it’s a great DLC and I like seeing Rapture in its prime. However my biggest issue with it is lore wise. Its attempt to link Rapture and Columbia fails and is very confusing, and a lot of stuff is confusing and not explained. There are also a lot of inconsistencies with 1, 2, and Infinite. Not that there weren’t plotholes at all before but this is a lot just for one dlc. I also don’t like how Columbia-like Rapture feels, maybe it’s a separate Rapture. That makes the most sense to me. I mean why does there need to be skylines or drinkable plasmids simply cause infinite did? I do dislike how 2 was reduced to small references instead of any major characters or locations being mentioned more, that game is amazing and it’s worth playing and remembering
I thought Rapture was largely recreated really well, yes there are some elements that feel off but they are pretty easily ignored. It’s Burial at Sea’s story and the repercussions on the rest of the series that really bothers me personally.
Im replying Yellow on an emulator now, and I agree it’s hard to revisit this gen. We are really spoiled in today’s gen lol having to deal with critical hits galore, limited move pools, horrible item inventory, OP moves like wrap and bind, as well as the comically strong Alakazam line is crazy. But despite that…. I can still immerse myself into the game and lose track of time like I did as a kid on my Gameboy, thats the magic of Pokémon and why its had its spell on me for nearly 30 years.
Absolutely. despite all the jank (and there is a lot to overcome), the core experience is still magical.
@@AustinAshworth jank indeed, found a Dragonair in the safari zone and I get a message that my box is full I can’t use the safari ball lol 😂 I took a break after that, I can’t. What if it was Moltres on victory road
I remember getting OOT3D from my Dad and immediately falling in love with the game, i got all the way to the water temple before, well, take a wild guess 🤣 now that i’ve played the original i have to say, there was something about the remake that just missed the charm of the original, same with the MM, either way, it was awesome, i remember getting stuck on the Forest Temple for hours, then totally beating the tar out of Phantom Ganon, and asking my dad what to do when i got stuck, now i’ve read the manga books for OOT and MM and even though they’re not *technically* canon, i like how they add some extra story and have to be at least partially true, it was my first Zelda, and it will forever be my favorite, with MM as a close second ironically, i’ve never beat MM because the timer is pure stress for me, (and my save corrupted before i could beat it 😭) but i love the story and characters, especially Tatl
I personally adore the OoT3D remake but there is something cozy and nostalgic about the original N64 visuals and sounds, I know what you mean about the missing charm. Thanks for sharing!
I haven’t beaten this game because the timer is just super stressful, and my save corrupted, but dang for some reason i just love it otherwise
The stress is part of the appeal! Very few games give you that same feeling
You started off great then literally bashed every aspect of the game lmao wtf
Wow this is a truly great retrospective/review. I was there for you "birth" of Pokémon and it was amazing. I never had any of the Game Boy games but I did play stadium and snap and of course the trading card game. I remember so vividly finding my first Pokemon card it was a Ponyta and I traded that Ponyta for two lesser cards took those two lesser cards and traded it for one good card took the good card traded that for five lesser cards took those five cards and continued to trade up like that until I eventually had a pretty good deck, almost for free. I have course did eventually Buy starter and booster decks but I'll never forget how I started. Anyway good job and I'm excitedly awaiting the next installment.
Thank you so much! Thanks for sharing your memories, I personally never got into the actual TCG, just liked collecting the cards for my favorite pokemon and appreciating the art.