So, because I didn’t really anticipate how much it would come off as shit-posting [and because I never got around to writing anything for the podcast on it], here is my defense of the writing in LttP:
The main thing is that I appreciate the way that it meshes with the rest of the world-building in the game, by most notably being entirely … un-eccentric? The whole aesthetic of the game is this sort of chibi / playmobil cartoonishness, but then from the music and the various scenarios the whole game acquires a more mysterious and occasionally surreal atmosphere. To be honest, the music does most of the heavy lifting here.
But the writing works precisely because of how unintrusive it is. In the same way turn-based RPG battle systems are sort of abstract metaphors for some kind of activity that your imagination is supposed to fill in the blanks for, the writing gives you just enough to wonder about what is happening behind the scenes without ever being that oppressive about putting any particular interpretations in your head.
This is a quality that a ton of old 8 and 16 bit games have, but what sets LttP apart to me is the fact that the translation is entirely devoid of “wacky” butchered English, typos, and other things to remind you that the ‘mysteriousness’ of the game is probably the result of a botched translation. Even though those things are really memorable, they do tend to “break immersion.”
The other thing I want to acknowledge is that even though there’s nothing particularly colorful about the narration, I consider character names an aspect of writing, and just like the music they do a ton of work as far as helping you imagine that Hyrule is a little bit more complex than it seems on the surface. They’re not obvious references to mythology or generic Tolkein-influenced high fantasy stuff, but have a vaguely middle eastern / central asian vibe to them, which clashes just enough with the aesthetic of the game to create something that feels welcoming yet still exotic.
I don’t think any of the other Zelda games really hit that middle ground between familiarity and inventiveness quite as well, especially since they just keep reusing character and environment designs over and over again until they no longer feel fresh.
Anyway, back to the writing, I also just wanted to say that while I appreciate games that have writing that is like… witty or self-referential or flashy in some way, I usually don’t play games to read them. I wanted to point out that one way to judge game writing is not just “would I enjoy reading this if it was not part of a game?” but “How well does the writing in this game complement the stuff that I’m actually supposed to be paying more attention to?”
And, again, I think that what makes it ‘good’ is the way it balances function with world building, and that both are done in a very minimalist way. On one hand, the clues you are given are functional enough to be instructive and helpful (the lack of mistranslation or garbled English helps here too). On the other hand, the fact that everyone in the world rarely has anything to say other than vague clues about what you should be doing, and that when you do get more plot-based information it is also condensed into pithy statements that are both mundane and cryptic at the same time, gives everything that happens in the game a very unique atmosphere imo.
Here are some examples:
“Who? Oh, it’s you, Link! What can I do for you, young man? The elder? Oh, no one has seen him since the wizard began collecting victims”
“Hi Link! Elder? Are you talking about the grandpa? OK, but don’t tell any of the bad people about this. He’s hiding in the palace past the castle.”
“Collecting victims” is just such an amazingly evocative description but is also so plain and boring. Everyone knows more than you do about everything, and they will never tell you everything. Why does this child know that Sahasrahla is hiding in the palace?
I actually think this is the precursor to the much more overtly mysterious and surrealistic Link’s Awakening. But it works better for me because it’s not as in your face. I also think this is the kind of apex of the never-let-you-forget-you’re-playing-a-video-game style that has become sort of ‘hip’ again for people to imitate in indie games and whatnot. Not to say that they are try-hards but I prefer the organic minor weirdness of the writing in this game to stuff that is like overtly self aware and referential.
