I figured I'd mix things up a bit and ask the reverse of my previous video game related question journal and see what games people liked enough that they willingly went back and played through them multiple times. And I'm not just talking about games that required the player to go back and play through them again and again if they wanted to see everything the game had to offer; I'm talking about a game that you enjoyed enough on its own that you decided to go back over and over and play through the game again and again.

There are a bunch of examples of that for me, but one that particularly stands out is 'Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker'. I've always been a 'Legend of Zelda' fan since my older sister bought 'Ocarina of Time' when we were still in elementary school, but 'Windwaker' was probably one of the first console games in the series that I played through to the end and fully enjoyed the experience of. Admittedly, yes, I have heard a lot of the complaints lobbed at the game, particularly revolving around the sailing, and especially the Triforce Shard quest near the end of the game. However, I wasn't really bothered by those that much. For starters, the sailing is accompanied by probably one of my favorite travel melodies in any video game, and even if you encounter enemies while sailing, you get the boomerang after the second dungeon and that basically lets you take care of almost every enemy you'll encounter while sailing no problem. As for the Triforce Shard quest...yeah, I can understand the complaints people have about it and how it feels like it pads out the game needlessly, but I personally felt like it actually captured the experience of being like a pirate and hauling up buried treasure better than 'Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag' did just because, while that game had a lot of the signifiers people tend to associate with pirates, I just never found the game that much fun, or at least not as much fun as most people seemed to have with the game.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING SEGMENT CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR 'LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE WINDWAKER'S STORY! I KNOW THE GAME'S ALMOST TWO DECADES OLD AT THIS POINT, BUT THE WARNING STILL STANDS! IF YOU DON'T WANT THE PLOT OF 'WINDWAKER' SPOILED FOR YOU, STOP HERE!

Of course, what I especially loved about 'Windwaker' was the story. I think I've mentioned this to some of my friends, but I love this game's incarnations of Link and Ganondorf. This game saw its iteration of Link as probably the most expressive he'd been in any of the games up to this point, and even some that came afterwards. This version of Link had probably the most personality, and his motivation for starting his adventure felt a bit less contrived than it did in, say, 'Ocarina of Time', where he was basically told it was his fate to start his adventure. Honestly, that's my problem with a lot of 'Zelda' games, both back in the early days and today: they rely too much on the chosen one narrative. 'Windwaker', however, didn't need to do that. The game establishes several times that this version of Link doesn't have any connection to previous versions of Link, and characters keep apologizing to Link for getting him tied up in events that it's made clear he has no connection to. However, rather than taking the easy way and backing out, Link keeps going. At first it's just to save his little sister, but ultimately, he decides to continue because he's built a connection with the people he's fighting alongside and keeps up the battle against Ganondorf for their sakes as well. As for Ganondorf, while we don't get much characterization for him, the little we do get is more than enough. For starters it's worth noting that this is the same Ganondorf that was banished to the Sacred Realm at the end of 'Ocarina of Time', so this basically continues his story. However, it's what happens near the end of the game that makes me actually like this version of Ganondorf. Before the final battle begins, a cutscene has him talking about how his home country, the Gerudo Desert, was constantly ravaged by winds that brought nothing but death and destruction while the rest of Hyrule was blessed with winds that brought life. This brief moment of backstory gives the king of evil a much needed moment to make him seem less like a cartoon villain and more like a real person, someone who was forced down the path of evil by tragic circumstances that were beyond his control and a desire to allow his people to live in a world where they didn't constantly have to live in fear of death and suffering. It is probably the only time in any of the games in the series where Ganondorf feels like a sympathetic character. It also makes his psychotic breakdown right before the final battle seem that much more believable when his chance at getting everything he'd hoped for, everything he'd basically spent the last hundreds, possibly even thousands of years trying to accomplish, is suddenly snatched away from him at the last second by the King of Hyrule. In a way, it's kind of heartbreaking to see him go through all this, and believe me, I never thought I'd actually end up feeling sympathetic towards the guy who, just a few games earlier, had basically reduced the land of Hyrule to a monster-infested wasteland.

Again though, all this is just my personal opinion about the game, and I can understand if people disagree with me. Regardless, that's my choice of game that I loved enough to go back and play again and again. If you've got one you'd like to talk about, feel free to mention it in the comments below! Thanks for reading, and keep being awesome!