A beautiful game with loveable characters, and heartwarming moments that will even bring the manliest men to tears.
It's Link's birthday, he wakes up, gets the clothes that boys becoming of age must wear, sees a pirate girl fall out of the sky, and his sister gets kidnapped. Sounds like that would be the greatest birthday ever. There are some plot twists in this game, and although the cel-shaded graphical style may make you think the story is light hearted, but it really isn't. The story is much darker than it seems, and it is one massive story, at the time it was the most cinematic Zelda game at the time. Although when I was a child it was hard to understand due to so much text, now it is just a fantastic story to breeze through, some of Nintendo's finest. I'm serious.
It plays just like Ocarina of Time, except you use a better controller. You have your three buttons that you can assign items to, you got the Wind Waker which is a baton and can control the wind and many different things. This is handled by using the C-stick and is done in a different style with how you used the ocarina in Ocarina of Time, but it works just as good even if you need a big better timing. The character moves so smoothly, and the art style really enhances the gameplay. You got new parry moves which help you attack enemies without getting hit. It may be a little on the easy side, but some puzzles are brutal, and it's the perfect way to attract more of a younger audience for Zelda (which is what they wanted at the time, and it worked for me).
It sickens me how people think the graphics for this game are "horrible", "childish", and "stupid", etc. The art style in this game enhances how cinematic and colourful and expressive characters can be, it's not all about being realisticly portrated. The graphics are very cute, they make you happy, and no matter what, they will put a smile on your face and turn your day around. This is one of the greatest looking games ever!
There are so many memorable tunes in this game, such as Forest Haven, Earth Temple, Zelda's Lullaby, Hyrule Castle, Forbidden Woods, Outset Island, etc. I can go on and on, but I'd basically be posting the entire soundtrack to this game. Koji Kondo did an amazing job once again, which is why he stands as the greatest video game composer ever.
If you're looking for a game that will take you a lot of time to beat, this is it. The main quest the first time through can be anywhere from 15-20+ hours, and fully finishing it can add dozens more. It is a very long game if you ask me, I still haven't collected everything and I've played it for so long.
I can sit down and replay this game any day, serious. It's not one of those games that get boring after you beat it a few times, no matter what, I still enjoy myself playing it.
Pros:
+Beautiful art style
+Heartwarming music
+Perfect gameplay
+Deep, dark story
+Lots of play time
Cons:
-Nothing
Story: 9.5/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 9.8/10
Lifetime: 10/10
Replay Value: 9.9/10
Overall: 10/10