The Wind Waker, Part Eight - Sailing
Apr. 8th, 2016 02:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI've been slowly working my way deeper into the rabbit hole of what the internet has had to say about The Wind Waker, and I'm surprised at just how gendered reactions to the game's sailing mechanic are. It seems that, in male-gendered spaces, people unequivocally hate it. Meanwhile, in female-gendered spaces, people tentatively confess that they might actually kind of love it.
During my current playthrough of the game, I've gone from being annoyed by the sailing to becoming almost addicted to it. After a rough bit of work-related travel last weekend, during which I literally collapsed from jet lag and exhaustion, I came home and wanted to do nothing more than sit down on my couch and sail around in The Wind Waker.
There's just something about the creaking of the mast and the tiller, combined with the sounds of the waves against the wooden boat and the cawing of gulls that I find incredibly soothing. The color of the sky and the quality of the light change as the sun rises and sets and the moon shifts through its phases. Link can see the wind as it rushes alongside him, and the Great Sea can go from balmy to stormy in an instant, with the surface of the ocean transformed accordingly. Between secret caves and strange ruins and sunken treasure and Link's fellow travelers, there are all manner of weird things that the player can discover, and even wandering around aimlessly is a joy.
The world contained within The Wind Waker isn't actually all that large, however. It's also not procedurally generated, so there's only so much that the player can do. In order to explore more of the game, I'm going to need to advance the plot. I just drew the Master Sword, and now I'm supposed to go back to the Forsaken Fortress to fight Ganondorf, even though I'd really rather not.
During my current playthrough of the game, I've gone from being annoyed by the sailing to becoming almost addicted to it. After a rough bit of work-related travel last weekend, during which I literally collapsed from jet lag and exhaustion, I came home and wanted to do nothing more than sit down on my couch and sail around in The Wind Waker.
There's just something about the creaking of the mast and the tiller, combined with the sounds of the waves against the wooden boat and the cawing of gulls that I find incredibly soothing. The color of the sky and the quality of the light change as the sun rises and sets and the moon shifts through its phases. Link can see the wind as it rushes alongside him, and the Great Sea can go from balmy to stormy in an instant, with the surface of the ocean transformed accordingly. Between secret caves and strange ruins and sunken treasure and Link's fellow travelers, there are all manner of weird things that the player can discover, and even wandering around aimlessly is a joy.
The world contained within The Wind Waker isn't actually all that large, however. It's also not procedurally generated, so there's only so much that the player can do. In order to explore more of the game, I'm going to need to advance the plot. I just drew the Master Sword, and now I'm supposed to go back to the Forsaken Fortress to fight Ganondorf, even though I'd really rather not.
