Here is what IGN said:

"The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is, in my opinion, the greatest Zelda game ever created and one of the best launch titles in the history of launch titles – second only, perhaps, to the at-the-time ground-breaking Super Mario 64. It is also one of the finest games I have ever played. The experience is made better and not worse on Wii. The Wii remote and nunchuk add accuracy and speed to exploration and combat for a heightened sense of immersion. While the game has just about everything going for it, including improved controls, a long and engrossing quest, brain-teasing dungeons and some beautiful graphics, it's not perfect. The difficulty has been upped over Wind Waker, but I wish it were harder still – the boss fights are oftentimes too easy, for example. Additionally, while the visuals are generally impressive, some textures remain blurry to the point they are noticeable. And finally, I still question why Nintendo refuses to add either voice work to the side characters (especially since Twilight Princess features such an improved, dark storyline) or orchestrated music to the soundtrack.

Nintendo's new console ships with Wii Sports, which effectively demonstrates a new breed of games only possible on Wii. The Zelda franchise is equally exclusive to the machine and Twilight Princess is must-see, must-play and must-own entry into the series that proves over and over again why Nintendo is the best developer in the world."

cheers,

-avatar!

Considering it's been 3 years since the WW disappointment, I'll be interested to see how much of an improvement this one is. Hopefully, it doesn't suffer from a distinct lack of enemies that WW had...and it appears to be land-based, so that's definitely a plus.

Not sure how I feel about Nintendo holding it back a year just to launch it with the Wii, but it was a sound business decision. Anytime you can launch a high-profile game with a console like that, it's a big deal. I'll be interested to see the Wii vs GC Zelda sales.

(BTW, my local Wal Mart had NOTHING for PS3...No games or anything. They had some Wii accessories and plenty of games, but not a sniff of anything PS3).

http://wii.nintendo.com/iwata_asks_vol5_p5.jsp

Iwata's interviews are quite insightful in general.

Quite...Not that I can pretend to know how far along the game was, but I seriously doubt the Wii launch was as little a factor as they said and they didn't say much about the console switch/porting the game. I still believe Iwata wasn't satisfied with the GC and has always seen its' eventual successor as a much more viable contender. I mean, he was the loudest supporter of the GBA Connectivity thing...It was Bernie Stoler and the Saturn all over again.

Not that I'm complaining anymore, but...Man, it's been a wretched past 2 years for GC owners. Hopefully, they'll get it right this time...They're already getting plenty of help from Sony. Wii wouldn't look quite as rosy as it does if PS3 wasn't fumbling everywhere.

Worst thing is: I like the name "Zelda 120%" much more than "LoZ: Twilight Princess."

Hahahaha, absolutely. I second that.

I'm not sure if this'll be the best Zelda game ever, but after spending 4:37 on the game and finishing one temple, I'm going to say that my experience in the Forest Temple was better than all of Wind Waker combined. I am absolutely loving this game.

So how's the music so far?

Do you guys find it more challenging than Wind Waker combat-wise/puzzle-wise?

EDIT:  I'm too lazy to look for the thread, but how does it compare to Okami this early on?

Meh. Sounds like an N64 with some very bizarre Silent Hill-ish sounds in the more... shall we say, "creepy" parts of the game.

Moderately, yes. It's also more fun with no dull moments. Makes Wind Waker look like a cell-shading tech demo more than a full Zelda game.

Okami seems very empty now. Not only is TP higher in quality in almost all levels (Okami's visuals are still bomb), but it doesn't drag at all like Okami did... like when you had to get the wolf souls (or colored beads, whatever it was - see how much I paid attention?) before going into the windmill dungeon. Too many boring manditory side quests in Okami... yet, the "trivial" stuff in Zelda doesn't feel that way at all. Aside from one brief frustrating part, I don't feel like a single minute has been wasted on this game. And that one part I had trouble with was *my* fault, not the game's.

I've put in over 8 hours with Zelda since dinner last night, and I still can't put the damn controller down, but I only put in 8-9 hours in Okami over the course of a week. Okami just didn't hold my interest, despite looking awesome. But yeah. Zelda FTFW.

So far, so good.  I have no problem with the synth.  I haven't actually heard that much music yet, it's been mostly ambient for me.  The stuff I have heard has been pretty good.

I'm only about 7.5 hours into the game, so this is probably too early to judge seriously, but combat wise it is definitely more challenging than WW.  Puzzle wise, I've only seen one dungeon, and that was about on par with WW's puzzle difficulty, but that's just the first dungeon, so it's hardly a fair comparison.

So far?  I'd say better.  Okami is more stylish and has a better story (again, so far), but Zelda's gameplay is (as expected) noticeably better.  Okami is a great game, and definitely one of the best PS2 games ever released, but it's not Zelda. :-)

Cool.  Just two more questions for you guys:

1).  How is the Wiimote/Nunchuk combo working with the Zelda interface?  Any complaints?  Better than the N64/Cube pad for Zelda?

2).  I saw the Lava Boss video over at IGN a while ago.  And I noticed in the cutscene just before the battle, the boss wasn't announced (i.e. Subterranean Lave Dragon - VOLVAGIA or Masked Mechanical Monster - GOHT, etc.).  If they took that out, I will be pissed.  So do they announce the bosses with a short description and give you their names? 

It's little things like this that go a long way for me.

The nunchuk/reomte works better than the joystick in a lot of situations.  You can now point to items or buttons in the menu and activate them.  Combat is not awkward.  The spin attack is a little easier to activate than the traditional joystick. (move the nuncuk side to side fast instead of moving a joystick 360).  Fishing with the remote (there are fishing mini-games) works very well.  When you have a slingshot or projectile, you can now point at the target.  If you can Z-target an object, you don't need to point at it, because it will be automatic.

On the whole, it works better since projectile weapons now have precision aiming and, as Stephen mentioned, the spin slash is easier to do.  Grass chopping is my only issue since moving the remote back and forth takes more work than simply pushing "A" a bunch of times.  With the easy spin slash, though, you can knock out more grass at a time if you're willing to wait for it to recharge (takes about 2 seconds).

I've done two bosses so far and both were announced in the way you describe.

Ok, I've now put over 22 hours into Twilight Princess.  All the hype is true.  This is absolutely the best Zelda since Ocarina, and it's every bit as engaging.  Like a true Zelda game, you just can't stop playing.  Seriously, I played about nine hours of it today.  Granted, I'm on vacation, but I never play that much in one day.  It's that freaking good.

Damn, this  thread /almost/ makes me want to buy the GC version when it comes out.

-Joshua

I'm on the same page as you, man. I turned off my console last night around 10:30 and realized that I had 23 and a half hours banked into this game... it's intense. There are no moments of boredom, something exciting is always going on (or right around the corner), the dungeons are awesome... it's amazing. I'm still in awe that this is a launch game. Launch!

As far as progress goes, I just made it to the sixth dungeon, and I have maybe 11 or 12 hearts. The Heart Pieces aren't that hard to find so far. I will say in the most spoiler-free way possible that the weapon in the fourth dungeon is hilariously awesome, and that boss fight was one of the most fresh fights that I've played in a while. It reminded me of a really awesome Minish Cap-esque type weapon brought to full fruition in 3D.

But, yeah. This has been the best Zelda for me since the original LTTP; I was a late bloomer with OOT, having only played it for the first time when it was released on Gamecube when WW came out, although I did play it twice back-to-back... I think this is the first time in recent memory where a game was hyped beyond belief (both externally and internally - I was fired up for this game) and actually delivered what was promised. The Wii is a must have, and Twilight Princess is the system's first must have title.

Wow, you're moving a lot faster than me.  I'm now at 27 hours and I'm at the end of the third dunegon.  But then, I'm known to explore the hell out of everything before I will move on.

I couldn't all-night the game like I wanted to because my sub-conscious wouldn't allow me after spending the most part of Friday morning in the Black Friday mob trying to snag this Wii.  As soon as I woke up, I was at it.  I'm about three hours in, and I just met Zelda for the first time.  I have a few errands to run, but I will definitely have 15 - 20 hours put in by weekend's end.

My clock just hit 28 hours, and I'm almost at the 7th dungeon. I am going through it fairly quickly, only doing some moderate sidequests (I'll catch a bug or kill a Poe if I'm near it), but other than that I'm mainly cranking through the game and loving it. I will go back and get all the Heart Pieces, bugs, etc... just not yet.

I just finished TP this afternoon, and I'm going to say that it's my favorite Zelda, up there with LTTP. I enjoyed this more than OOT. It's hard to find much fault with TP, aside from the fact that there are too many chests with rupees in them and your wallet's too damn small all the time.

What a shame life doesn't imitate Zelda like that

-avatar!

LOL!

Zane the speed demon!

I have 14 hours and I'm pretty close to the third dungeon.  This game is gonna take me well into next month to finish...  I have to savor this, because there probably won't be another game that's even close to being this damn good coming out in a long, long time.

Congrats on finishing it.  I probably won't be done until early January.  Now that my vacation is over, I'll probably only be able to put about 3-8 hours per week into it instead of the 33 I put in last week.

And I totally agree about the wallet thing.  The bank was the one really great feature of Majora I wish other Zeldas had.

Sounds like a great game... I hope the Gamecube version matches up.

Where are you now, X? 

I'm exactly 17:45 in and trying to do a clean-up with these new abilities before I take on the third dungeon (but everythings blocked off  )...

I'm at around 36 hours and about half-way through the fourth dungeon.

After having logged in nearly 24 hours, completing the third dungeon, and seeing the events that have transpired thus far...  I can honestly say, without hesitation, that this has dethrowned what was my favorite game of all-time and arguably the mightiest Zelda ever, OCARINA OF TIME.

There... I said it.  And it's only gonna get better from here...

I just solved the 'Sacred Grove puzzle' this morning and I was late for work because of it.    New Zelda games have a way of re-prioritizing my life...

Let's go, Kenology. Where are you in the game, man? SPILL IT!

I've been slackin' off lately because finals are here, but...  I'm exactly 43:02 in and I *just* started the 6th dungeon.  I've been doin' A LOT of side-questing though.  I caught every last one of those damn bugs, and I have more than half of the Poes.  I have 13 and 1/5 hearts.

**SPOILER** 

I've been messing around with that pit in the Gerudo Desert that never seems to freakin' end too.  I haven't made it to the bottom of it yet.  I'm thinking it's something I really can't complete until after I'm done at least the 8th dungeon.

**END SPOILER**

Speakin' of dungeons.  I know where the seventh dungeon is... *looks up*    And I pretty much know where the 8th dungeon will be.  I'm not sure what the 9th dungeon might be, but if it is Hyrule Castle like I'm guessing, is it a true-blue dungeon?

EDIT: My definition of true-blue dungeon = you get a dungeon map and compass (if you don't get those two things, it's not a real dungeon.  Boss and Boss Key isn't necessary).

Awesome, dude! Enjoy that shiiiiiit. Sip it like fine wine. I shot it back like a cold glass of Jager, but I'll bet I would have enjoyed it even more if I took my time with the game.

About that spoiler-ish question: yes. You can't do that until way later. Wait until you complete the first seven dungeons before finishing that.

About dungeon number nine. I'm not telling you where it is, but there is a map and a compass, yo.

Well, you passed me.  I just got to the fifth dungeon the last time I played and I'm around 43 hours, I think.

Finally finished Okami so I'm letting myself play this.  Glad I did, as Okami wouldn't seem nearly as good after going back from TP.

In any case, just crossed 12 hours and am about to enter the 3rd dungeon.  Have no idea how that time compares to anyone else's because I'm so far behind.  Have played over 5 hours each of yesterday and the day before, though.  So engaging...

Ackk...
I'm jealous of you all.
I have to wait...

I just got my component cables, and apparently it causes vertical hold problems on my 480i (not 480p) TV.  In Zelda' sword training segment, z-lock causes a vertical hold problem.  In the Wii Channels, new, weather, and VC is screwed up the same.

What is a vertical hold problem?

The screen scrolls in one direction, so the screen cannot be vertically steady.  I am also getting some ghosting on my screen in certain screens. I think my TV cannot deal with the video signal that the Wii puts out, even though I set it to standard resolution.

Due to somewhat admirable restraint on my part, I convinced myself that the Wii was out of my budget for several months to come. So it's been a long wait for the GC version of Twilight Princess.

Finally fired it up after Standoff and House M.D. last night, and forced myself to stop at about 1 in the morning, just as I was doing the first few rooms of the Forest Temple.

But yes, I'm really liking it so far. I love the look of the twilight realm, and Wolf Link is just too much fun.

And finally...Navi and Tatl don't stand a CHANCE against Midna. I like that saucy little creature already.