Dungeons Are Hard.....maybe Too Hard?

[Aki Graham]

Speaking from my 'never beaten OoT all the way' point of view, I'm going to have to say that the Stone Tower Temple is probably harder. I have always missed the one key in the hole in the wall with all the Armos's. I mights just play OoT on my old file where I am in the Ice Cavern, JUST to see how hard the Water Temple really is. Is Dark Link hard, too?

[MrMosley]

Difficulty of dungeons, especially in newer-type Zelda games (at least 3D and on), is something that I can't see myself complaining about all that much. Dungeons in Zelda games 1993 and prior were all but easy (for the most part). LoZ was so confusing that players could get to the end, forget an item, have to backtrack. You could go and play the dungeons in different orders. Simply, it was all mixed up, and that made it pretty difficult. Others, like AoL, were just freakin hard.

Since OoT, the dungeons have been aggravating at points, but nothing too bad. I never had much of a problem in OoT or MM, other than the water-based dungeons for those respective games, and a few times on Stone Tower Temple in MM. I enjoy a challenge, especially in a Zelda game. OoT wasn't really all that difficult compared to most others, and MM was only difficult because I believe the developers intended players to have played OoT prior. I can only compare it to Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles. The levels in Sonic and Knuckles were notably, a bit more difficult than those in Sonic 3. That was because those two games were meant to be one, so the levels in S&K were originally a continuation from those in S3. OoT and MM weren't made in this manner, but I believe that they were somewhat intended to be played as such.

When it comes to games like Phantom Hourglass or Minish Cap, the difficulty was simply a joke compared to previous titles. WW was pretty easy as well, but it had a lot to do and some difficult points, and was just all around a very good Zelda game, that it didn't need overly difficult dungeons to stand out. Twilight Princess was also pretty simple 90% of the time, unless you got stuck on some random puzzle you had to do outside of a dungeon (like me) for about 4 hours.

[Aki Graham]

Yes, Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass were, ahem, FRICKIN EASY, but I think Phantom Hourglass had some real difficulty mixed into it. For instance, the dungeons are just big rooms that are made up of traps, which is pretty insane. Majora's Mask is thought by some to be the hardest 3rd dimensional game in Zelda. 4 temples wasn't a hard idea, but I think the bosses were the things that made the temples hard. OoT was just... pathetic in terms of dungeon difficulty. Starting right now, I could probably finish the Dodongo's Cavern before 10:00 EST. And, while we are speaking about it, LoZ and AoL were near impossible for me, especially because of the order of dungeons. 2nd dimensional Zelda games in general, though, were plenty easy for me. But I think that, because the N64 games weren't in a Birds eye view, that it was harder. The limited vision would have contributed to that.

[SuperSilly]

I wouldn't say that OoT was difficult at all. I died a few times, sure. However I never really got to a point in the game where I said to myself, "I can't take it any more!" and put the game down. The only part I remember being stuck on for a while was finding the last carpenter in the Gerudo Fortress. I found him eventually, though it took awhile.

As for MM, while this game is more difficult than OoT, it still wasn't able to aggravate me to the point where I stopped playing. Though I do remember coming very close to quiting at two points in MM:

At the giant column puzzle in the Snowhead Temple, and during the alien sidequest at Romani Ranch. In the end, the answer to the Snowhead puzzle came to me after goron-punching the column out of frustration. And for the alien sidequest I just tried again and again... On the last try I didn't use Epona, apparently this helped me a great deal.

[Judai]

Mm... I hate the Water Temple, but I know where all the keys are now so it's not a pain.

The only one I think I may have given up were both Water Temples in both games.

[Kybyrian]

Of course in most situations a dungeon will be hard when you first play it, but that doesn't make it too hard. You get better if you do a second playthrough of the game, and all of the dungeons are made to have puzzles to where you have to think about things a little bit. If the dungeons were too easy then it wouldn't be fun at all. I think that for the most part all of the dungeons were placed right where they should be as far as difficulty was concerned. Anybody can find the first playthrough of the Water Temple or Great Bay Temple challenging at first it's just the question of whether you want to put up with the fact that you're playing it for the first time and without help it isn't necessarily going to be all that easy.

[Waker of winds]

Ummm, for me, the hardest Temples were the 2D ones, in the older games.

3D Temples were also hard, But solving 2D puzzles is not my thing. I always get stuck.

Nowadays I solve the OoT Temple puzzles without thinking, but I've been stuck in OoA's 6th Temple for days.

[Flagpole]

OOT dungeons aren't that hard, and i wouldn't complain about them, who doesn't want a challenge after beating the spiritual stones thing?

Something i have to agree with is the fact that MM dugeons have a different style, though they aren't that hard: I beated Woodfall Temple in 2 days without using a guide (Also, my stupid self played the Song of time and restarted time).

[Kell]

I use to have serious trouble with the 2D top-down Zeldas, but now I've got the hang of them. All the 3D games are rather easy in my opinion.