Ambidextrous Link?

[Chancellor Valium]

Originally Posted by Infinite Improbability

The fact that more than one of you is FORTRAN-saavy is, frankly, very very VERY frightening. That's not just nerdy, that's ubernerdy! (See what I did there? )

Yeah, I'm a proud member of the DOS generation. I had Apple IIe's back in elementary school (go Number Munchers! Go Carmen Sandiego! Go go GO Oregon Trail! ), but FORTRAN?

Oh, and as an aside...yikes computers have advanced in just the last twenty years, haven't they? I know, I know, once again the upstart 24-year old is showing his supreme ignorance by feigning to be wise in all branches of wisdom. Well, I had to come to grips with my identity as a pompous upstart a long time ago. It's actually interesting work if you can get it.

Actually, I have no idea about FORTRAN - click the link

[Nate the Great]

I did. Neither do I. That's the point.

[PointyHairedJedi]

I pretty much cheated and looked up a list of programming languages that use the GOTO command. This is the Internet, after all.

[Nate the Great]

Oh, it is? I hadn't noticed...

[Zeke]

To return to the original topic, it turns out we didn't know the half of it. It's not just Link's handedness that's reversed in the GC version... it's the entire game. Every asymmetric object is flipped; every left turn is a right. As far as I'm concerned, that's just laziness, and it's gonna make talking about the game very confusing.

[ijdgaf]

The real downside there is, the map (so far, anyway) seems to resemble Ocarina of Time's map in terms of where everything is... only it's all reversed. Which makes the nostalgia not quite so nostalgiasmic.

Regardless, the game is fantastic.

[Nate the Great]

Come to think of it, that does make sense, flipping the entire world. I suppose it would be a much simpler algorithm to flip the coordinates on the y-axis or whatever than to flip Link's sprite.

I can bet that the writers of the strategy guide are just gonna LOVE that. Informal poll, how much you wanna be that they won't even bother with the Gamecube version, except for a little disclaimer at the start that mentions the flip and basic control movements for the GC controller?

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Zeke

To return to the original topic, it turns out we didn't know the half of it. It's not just Link's handedness that's reversed in the GC version... it's the entire game. Every asymmetric object is flipped; every left turn is a right. As far as I'm concerned, that's just laziness, and it's gonna make talking about the game very confusing.

Actually, I think I had read that a while ago. It makes sense from a programming standpoint. Just put in a little flip function and route all input and output through it. Assuming they did that though, it seems strange that they wouldn't just put a "right-handed/left-handed" option in the game that flips the direction or not.

[Nate the Great]

Um, given that this game is supposed to be HUGE with a capital HUGE, I'm not sure that squeezing it onto a Gamecube disc and then tell it to flip the entire world or not would be that simple. Remember, the world may be flipped, but there are a lot of things like the icons, words, etc that have to stay the same. I also hope that whenever we see Hylian words on the wooden signs and so forth that they stay the same one version to another.

[Hejira]

Uhm...2D sprites were flipped all the time, which saved space. 3D polygons and the textures that coat them should work under a similar principle (yep, even the signpost exceptions.)

Of course, I predict the my left or your left gag will be dusted off and abused once more.

Friend 1: "'k, now turn left."
Friend 2: "Which left? Wii left or 'Cube left?"
Friend 1: "See which hand Link's using to hold his sword? That way."
Friend 2: "Oh, okay. Wait, you got the Gamecube version?"
Friend 1: "Yes, yes I did."
Friend 2: "Never speak to me again. Neanderthal."

[Nate the Great]

Been awhile since anyone's read me through a game.

Once again I've deleted my usual preachy rant that I write when I get riled up, this time about whether I think a TP GC is necessary in the first place.

So, I presume that there are people playing it now, and I was curious as to how long it takes for Link to go from his patchwork leather wrangler outfit to his traditional green garb.

[ijdgaf]

I was about five hours into the game when that happened.

[Nate the Great]

Okay, is that five hours in "learning mode" time i.e. with enough repetition you can make it faster, or five hours in "real" time i.e. the tasks required take that much time.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Hejira

Of course, I predict the my left or your left gag will be dusted off and abused once more.

My side, your side! My side, your side! My side, your side!

Friend 2: "Oh, okay. Wait, you got the Gamecube version?"
Friend 1: "Yes, yes I did."
Friend 2: "Never speak to me again. Neanderthal."

Oh yeah, 'cause it's SO EASY to get a Wii. Really really easy. And it's not like Nintendo promised GameCube owners another Zelda game two years ago. Friend 1 may be a Neanderthal, but Friend 2 is downright australopethicene.

[Nate the Great]

I have yet to own any game less than ... a year after it was made? Console? Two years, at least. I don't feel deprived. Even if I had five hundred bucks right now, I still wouldn't buy a Revolution. I'd wait until a few versions had passed, let them iron out the bugs, let them release Brawl, then I'd consider it.

Even if I had a Gamecube, I wouldn't buy TP GC because it's the the faded carbon copy version of TP Rev. I can wait.

[ijdgaf]

Originally Posted by Infinite Improbability

Okay, is that five hours in "learning mode" time i.e. with enough repetition you can make it faster, or five hours in "real" time i.e. the tasks required take that much time.

I'm talking about five hours according to the save file. Which wouldn't include times you die, turn off without saving, cut scenes, etc.

I'm currently about 11.5 hours into the game and I've only beaten two dungeons.

They weren't kidding. It's huge.

[Nate the Great]

My question still stands.

[ijdgaf]

Does it really? I'm not Supergamer. I don't automatically play a game on the first try in the most efficient order possible. I don't abstain from exploration in favor of perfectly linear, nearly-precognitive pathways toward objectives.

Oh, yeah. Nobody does. Save maybe developers and/or people who employ strategy guides with their video games in the same way that old people employ walkers with mobility.

[Nate the Great]

That wasn't my point, nor was it my intention. The question is simply "given a dozen attempts at achieving this position in the game, how long will it take?" If the step A, step B, etc. that lead to Link assuming the green tunic require five hours as an inherent component of gameplay, then that's the answer I want. If five hours leaves room for improvement as familiarity increases, then that's the answer I want.

[Zeke]

I don't see how you expect IJD to know that on his first playthrough, Nate. Just find out for yourself when you get the game.

Originally Posted by Infinite Improbability

Even if I had a Gamecube, I wouldn't buy TP GC because it's the the faded carbon copy version of TP Rev.

That seems unlikely. The game was in development for GameCube for at least a year, probably more like two, before the Wii entered the picture. So TP is probably a GameCube game with extra stuff for Wii, not a Wii game cropped to fit on GC.