I don't know, man; I can't really admire the restraint.  The Wii is a must-own, in my opinion.  I mean, if you can't afford it, $250 is still $250 no matter how expensive the competition is, by all means don't break the bank getting one.  I'm just saying...

Where are you now, X?  I haven't touched the game since my last update.  Now that finals are over, I'm gonna relapse and pull an all-night tonight.

I'm at around 15 hours now, and just about to enter the 3rd dungeon, although I've still some exploration to do around Lake Hylia. Damn, Hyrule field is HUGE.

I finished the 5th dungeon and did some side stuff.  I haven't tried to find the 6th dungeon yet.  I'm at around 46 hours.

I'm gonna take some time out from dungeon crawling and do some serious exploration now that I just got this new toy from the 6th dungeon... 

Good thing I've been keeping notes!

Having finally got Zelda and having played it the last day or so, I can tell you that you could well be better off with the GC version. There's nothing wrong with the Wii version of course and I wanted the widescreen option but there's nothing here that needs or benefits from the remote setup to be honest. More than that, it may impress more on your trusty old Gameube than it does on a brand new shiny Wii.

I'm loving it but I can't help wishing it came out years ago. It would have been an instant GC classic.

I played the GC version at a friend's house and it's utterly fantastic. I played for almost four straight hours and made it to the first dungeon. While I like Okami, I'm only able to play it for two hours or so before I get bored (mostly because of the thankless battle system). With TP, it's like I can't stop playing.

I mostly like the music (especially the first village theme) but I wish the synth were better. At first, I thought they went this direction because the music is more interactive but a good chunk of it seems to be streamed so that can't be it...

I'm slowly starting to wish I'd done that too...
Well, here's to replay value, eh?

Don't I know it.

I started getting a cold on Wednesday - no, seriously! - and ended up leaving early on Thursday. Since then, I've put in a TON of Zelda time. Staying up that late so many nights in a row CAN'T be doing me any favors...

Of course, there was a brief break in the action last night due to the season finale of Dexter. I certainly didn't want to miss THAT!

Nothing like a well-timed cold for some quality game time. I got sick for a week when FFVII came out.

Yeah, I rocked a little bit of a light flu when I was playing Zelda. Not sick enough to be bedridden, but sick enough to call into work and slay some temples. It was probably just my mind being like, dude, you just made it to the Forest Temple and you have to work tomorrow. Ready chills and nausea.... OK GO!

Oh, my misery was real. But yeah, what timing...

Of course, if I was thinking rationally at the time, it would have been "Sleep to get better!"
Naturally, it didn't quite work that way.

Actually I managed to get sick during Zelda time too... came down with a horrible flu last weekend, which was bad enough that it prevented me from playing any Zelda for the first day of it.  After that, though, I was able to sit up in bed and play a good 24 hours or so of the game in two days.

Finished last night at about 52 hours with everything complete except the poes without having used any walkthroughs.  Not quite sure how people are taking 80 hours in the game.  I sure wish I'd missed something, though, as I'd love for the game to have lasted even longer!  It may well have dethroned Ocarina as my favorite game, but I'm gonna wait some time to let it sink in.

I think getting the last few heart pieces are going to take 80 hours.  I hate snowboarding so much now.

Edit: I'm at the last dungeon having clocked 45 hours.

Man, I loved the snowboarding!  I actually went back and raced her a few times just to do it.  Actually being able to play it with the control stick makes me definitely feel I would've preferred the Gamecube one for the flying mini game.  I had an *awful* time controlling that with the Wiimote.

Nah, the flying game I aced the second try...but this snowboard game has made an ape out of me endlessly.

Man, you guys beat it already?  I just hit 50 hours and I'm about half way through the seventh dungeon.  I'm gonna try to get all the heart pieces, now that I think I figured out how to find out where there all are.  I'm really determined to get all the poes too, just 14 more to go!

Question:  Do you guys play with the aiming on the Wiimote or aiming on the control stick?  I do the latter, only because I play laying sideways on my bed (as I'll eventually have to rearrange my room to accomodate the Wii) and I rather not hear that fairy sound effect constantly while I'm playing.

And no guides.  I don't know how people can play Zelda with a guide, it truly kills the experience here than in most other games.

The Wiimote aiming is much more precise, so I use that.  To avoid the noise, just point the remote off-screen so the fairy is locked on the edge of the screen.

So true.  My Zelda rule is no guide until I beat the game.  Once the credits roll, then I whip out the guide to get whatever I couldn't find on my own.  I was really tempted to go for the guide last night when I got stuck in the 6th dungeon, but after trying freaking everything, I had that "a-ha!" moment and then all was well.

I'm a little over 49 hours having just finished the 6th dungeon.

I found a special little trick for that part of the game. I went into the options and turned the cursor off... which turned my 'chuck and 'mote combo into a really funky shaped GCN controller, basically. I was able to use the analog stick to steer in the flying mini-game instead of using the Wiimote... because it was awful trying to get through the cave like that. Once I got through (both in the story part and the balloon mini-game), I turned the cursor back on and, viola. Back to normal.

Ha, I finally beat the Snowboarding mini-game...now I just have 1 more heart piece left!  47 hours now, going to finish the game once I get that last piece of heart.

Ok.  Finally finished last night.  The game doesn't create a clear file, so I'm going to estimate my final time at around 64 hours.  I found all the heart pieces on my own (a first for a Zelda game) so I agree with whoever said they weren't hidden as well as in previous games.  More cleverly hidden are the bugs and poes which, now that I've finished the game, I will use the strategy guide to finish collecting.

Overall game thoughts:

Twilight Princess is fantastic, one of the most complete and beautiful adventure games I've ever played.  That said, I still think Ocarina is better, mostly because it has more surprises in the gameplay while Twilight Princess is more of an evolution and refinement of Ocarina.  With that comparison out of the way, there's no doubt in my mind that Twilight Princess is far and away 2006's game of the year.  I do not feel, however, that it surpasses Resident Evil 4 as the best 4th generation game.

Component parts:

Graphics: From a technical standpoint, they're nothing special, but Nintendo makes up for this with EXCEPTIONAL art and lighting design.  I can't believe it's taken Nintendo this long to figure out how to use lighting properly in a game, but holy shit did they nail it this time.

Sound: Competent.  No complaints.

Music: Very good, but lacking any new catchy tunes.

Story: Poor by game standards, but good by Zelda standards.  Comparable to the quality of the stories in Ocarina and Majora.  My main complaint here is that (like most Zelda games) the story starts off incrediby strong and then completely falls apart in the last third.  At least the cinema scenes are directed with a level of care and quality Nintendo has never delivered in the past.

Difficulty: More or less appropriate on the whole, which is a good thing.  The bosses should have been more difficult, but the dungeons were toughened up after Wind Waker's cake walk, though I guess they could have been a bit more challenging.  I'm not saying they should be as ball busting as Majora's dungeons, but maybe closer to Ocarina's challenge level.

Control: Superb.  The game controls fluidly on both Wii and NGC, though I recommend Wii for the more comfortable controller and precision aiming, despite the slightly fatiguing motion-activated sword swinging and lack of free camera control.

I would also like to give special kudos to Nintendo's designers for designing this game to have far less back tracking and retreading than most games.

Finally, I am I the only one who got a very pleasant Zelda II vibe from this game?  Some of the enemy and architecture designs tugged at the heartstrings here.

Damn, everyone is beating this before me.  Though I admit, I'm dragging my feet because I just don't want it to end. 

Yeah, I ran across a lot of Heart Pieces on my own.  I don't think they were as well hidden this time around either, but we also got the benefit of having the fortune teller give you their locations.  Otherwise, I would have never gotten them all on my own.  The bugs weren't too hard to find, and I'm stuck at 54 Poes - I admit defeat with that... I just don't know where else to look.  Not to mention it'd be nice if you got an icon symbolizing you got them all in a given area (similar to OoT with the Skulltulas), and a Sun's Song would've been nice (since the freaks only come out at night).

Agreed.  The game becomes a straight dungeon crawler after about the first three dungeons are complete.  And yes, the cinema scenes are superb.

I'm still a bit disappointed in this area.  I made my way through each dungeon steadily, and I didn't get stuck once (I still have the last dungeon to do yet), and the bosses are total pushovers.  I was hoping for some more challenging puzzles, at least on par with OoT: Master Quest, which I thought was the most devious of all the 3D Zeldas.  I made my way through those pretty steady too, but as far as ingenuity and design is concerned, their the series' best (in 3D).  I want to be stumped in my Zelda games.  I love those "what the f--- do I have to do?" moments, because the feeling of solving a puzzle and hearing that classic chime is one of the most rewarding parts of playing Zelda for me.

I'm gonna go on and knock out the Cave of Ordeals and the final dungeon sometime this week. 

I hope the ending is good...  What did you all think of it, how does it rank compared to other endings in the series?

I finished a couple of weeks ago at 50 hours.  Best ending in the series, imo.

And for those who complain about the way the game unfolded...to be honest, I thought that the first third (three dungeons) dragged and that the game didn't get started until about 10-15 hours in.  Honestly, to me, it was one of those games that started off really slow but got ridiculously good near the end. 

Game of 2006, for sure.  While I played FF12 more obsessively, I actually felt like I *played* Zelda, whereas with FF12, a lot of the time, I was sitting there letting my characters play the game for me.

The ending is nothing special.  It's not bad, it's not great.  It just is.  For my money, LttP still has the best Zelda ending.

Man, the Cave of Ordeals wasn't nearly as challenging as everyone made it out to be.  All 20 hearts, three bottles (filled with blue potion, fairy's tears, and special chu-chu jelly), and strategic use of the Magic Armor will see you through successfully.  Though I did get owned in the rooms with the Freezards and Ice Javelin throwing dudes.  The Dark Nut rooms too.  But those were the toughest parts and they only made up about five floors.

I'm leaving for Toronto this Sunday, so I'll have the game finished when I get home tonight, or sometime tomorrow.

A'ight, I finished it tonight, just now.  My last save time (just prior to entering the last dungeon) was 60:19. 

I have a few questions about the end of the last battle and the ending.  It seems a bit unclear as to what just happened.  But I'll wait to discuss this when the Cube folk (Square Tex, Jon, etc.) have finished it.

The ending theme was superb. 

I just made it to the third dungeon and I'm having a great time. I'm about 13 hours in but I'm thinking of leaving the dungeon to look for things because I don't have many heart pieces (or much of anything, really). I'm wondering how much I'll be able to find without a walkthrough...

I've been enjoying the game quite a bit (just started the fourth dungeon) but I admit there are disappointments. The game is a pushover, quite possibly easier than Wind Waker (although that's up for debate). The bosses I've fought so far I've killed within minutes. Much of the game feels like an expanded version of Ocarina (but with a better story). Still, Nintendo has this formula down to an art and the game is never boring.

Also, the music. While I admit to enjoying the town and field themes (ESPECIALLY the latter), the dungeon themes are disappointing. When it comes to the 3D Zeldas, I think Ocarina did the best with those (who can forget the creepy Forest Temple music?). The stuff in TP is ineffective and mostly inaudible.

The battle music is just as boringly bombastic (and painfully synthy) as Wind Waker's.

Wow!  You're the first person who's said this, that I've heard.  While it's true that the bosses are pretty easy, I found that the rest of the game is more difficult than Wind Waker.  It seems everything causes more damage and I died a lot more often than I ever did in WW (actually I can't ever remember getting a game over in that one).  Or maybe it's just that I played TP right after Okami, which has truly pathetically easy combat and has Issun forcing you to listen to him telling you how to solve every single puzzle you come across.  Woo, tangent.

If they wanted to make Okami harder, they could have gotten rid of the vengeance slips.  I only used half a dozen during the very hardest of the boss-character marathon battles when I wanted to finish my bead collection.