Link's Awakening - The Fleeting Beauty of Escapism
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- Опубликовано: 1 мар 2023
- Now that I think about it, I bet Marin's name is supposed to be pronounced as marine. That's how that would be said in Japanese, and it fits with the ocean-themed vibe this game's got going on. So please pretend I pronounce her name like that the whole video lol.
One thing I opted not to mention as I think it's very self explanatory is how Marin states she wishes she could be a seagull to fly out into the world. And the true ending shows her image and fades off into a seagull flying into the distance. A nice little thing that ties into the themes of the game. She did get what she wanted, in a way.
I was surprised how long this ended up being. Was originally planning on saying all this during the main review. But clearly, that would not have done it justice.
Really enjoyed doing a story breakdown for something other than Sonic. Looking forward to doing more.
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I like how the thumbnail for the gameplay videos is always the main character, but for the story videos it’s a character that’s exclusive to the specific game.
And that exclusive character always has a lot of story significance in that game.
Great attention to detail Pariah!
Dr Gerald & Metal Sonic 2’s thumbnails are haunting.
I also kinda love how all of his thumbnails are in greyscale. It gives off this weird vibe that just feels really simple yet so attracting???
Yeah, I especially like the main character of Shadow the Hedgehog, a gun.
(Seriously, though, that's a neat detail about his videos indeed.)
Who suffered more?
The hero of time: Never got to live a normal childhood and died in obscurity
Link from Link's awakening: Had to choose between real life or his imaginary girlfriend
Outside of the main story, I think my favorite moment in this game involves one of the Heart Piece sidequests. A ghost latches onto you as you're passing through a graveyard and asks you to take it to the abandoned house on the cape. When you do so, the ghost simply wanders around the house, looking at everything for a moment or so, before telling you "This is all I wanted, you can take me back to the graveyard now." And it dawns on you that this ghost was the house's former resident, and they just wanted one more look at the life they lived before finally being put to rest. And the older I get, the more that sort of wistful feeling resonates with me. That feeling of times long past that you can never reclaim, and accepting that those times are gone and that it's okay to move on.
What a beautiful fucking game.
Little bit of trivia: even though it's not canon, the LA manga develops several characters better, one of which is the ghost. It's revealed to be a former soldier/fighter that fought and died facing the same monsters Link is fighting. Link gets very emotional and distraught in the manga after seeing the Southern Face Shrine, but he eventually begins to question why the ghost fought. It helps him to build up the courage to fulfill his role in the dream. If you haven't seen the LA manga, it's definitely worth checking out. I think it's one of the few Zelda stories that actually deserves and really flows nicely in a written story.
Characters understanding that they're in a dream and having an opinion on that shows a certain level of awareness... Of intelligence... All the monsters are defending themselves. They never attacked the townsfolk before Link arrived, and when they have, it was to try to stop Link. They kidnapped Bow-wow to keep him out of the swamp... They moved Marin to the bridge so the egg wouldn't hear her song, etc... Their existence may be as parts of a god's dream, but that god has imbued them with life. Waking the god up kills them. Link comes into their world and unleashes its apocalypse for his own goal: to return to his own world. He'd destroy an entire world just for that.
Link's Awakening is the darkest Zelda game in my opinion, because you're playing the entire time as this world's harbinger of the apocalypse, killing those that are only trying to defend their own lives and home, and ultimately betraying what friends you've made there with their deaths at the end. They show at the end, scenes of the NPCs fading away.
There's also the reward for beating the game with 0 deaths... I think the implication is supposed to be that this allows Marin to live on as a seagull, but in the first version of the game, it showed her fly passed the "The End" at the end, singing (with her normal in-game singing sprites), and wings on either side of her sprite. This feels more "angel" than "seagull" to me, which would indicate her going to the afterlife.
I really like the interpretation that the seagull seen after the credits is some sort of remnant of Marin, as she expressed earlier how she wished she could just turn into a seagull and fly away from Koholint Island.
It IS the intended meaning of the scene, seeing as the seagull flying off is exclusive to completing the game without dying once.
When he mentioned how the player would consider not waking up so they can stay in the dream world forever, the first thing I thought was "I can't do that because then Marin would have to live forever being unable to leave the island. I can't take her off the island, but at least when I wake up and she disappears, she won't have to live in that kind of reality anymore."
That's kind of ironic, isn't it? Realizing that your perfect reality is a dream means that it's actually a living nightmare for everyone in it and a regular nightmare for you. Not because none of it matters, but because you have to deny everyone's right to happiness and essentially kill them just so you can open your eyes. And you can't even refuse to do that because it would mean denying the happiness of the person in that reality that you care about most. It feels awful, yet for some reason I still love the game for putting me through it all. What a game.
Even beyond all the Marin interactions that are part of the plot, during the part where she follows you to Animal Village, you can do a bunch of things that get a reaction out of her and make little cutscenes. You can go to the cliff at the bottom left of the map where the game strengthens the romantic implications. You can go to the claw game for a really funny moment. You can play her song, dig, and break pots to get a funny comment from her. It's awesome.
Love this video. I thought I'd have more to add but you basically summed up entirely why this is my favorite story of all time.
I also love the subtle themes of existentialism, both in the way Koholint really did exist as an experience, as you said, and in the way the children of Mabe literally can't fathom anything being outside the island, it makes their head hurt. Not very in-your-face, but it's just enough for the player to chew on mentally for a while.
I wonder if Marin was a truly sentient being who exists solely within a dream pocket dimension, or was just a very complex illusion that only appears to have individuality
A 30 minute video over a story in a gameboy game? Thank god I've been missing these
I always thought of Link's Awakening as the 2D equivalent to Majora's Mask in terms of story and tone. Lots of the same themes of learning to accept that things must always come to an end. And Termina also feels very dreamlike compared to Hyrule just how LA is very dreamlike.
Lovely overview of link's awakening's story, but I gotta say I highly disagree with the statement at the beginning that most zelda games "don't have much story". Sure at face value zelda stories may just seem like your run of the mill "good vs evil" adventures, but there's so much more buried beneath the surface, especially in the 3D games.
Ocarina of time is a coming of age story where as link progresses and heals the world, he loses more of his childish innocence and at the end he is once again thrust into the shoes of a child even though at that point the damage is already done.
Majora's mask explores grief and how people deal with it in different ways, how people act under stress of an unstoppable looming threat, and your progress in the game is directly tied to the people you help which is effective in making you emotionally invested in this weird world you're thrust into.
Wind waker is a story about letting go of the past, while twilight princess revels in that legacy. But what both games have in common is a theme of taking responsibility for past mistakes, and how the lengths link is willing to go for his friends and family positively affects those around him.
And that's not mentioning how each game expands the lore of the series, but I know not everyone is interested in that. I think most zelda games, 2D ones included, have deeper messages that give these otherwise simple stories more emotional weight, and that's what makes the series resonate with so many people.
i love watching these 'story of' videos
It should be mentioned that it could be interpreted in the secret ending where a seagull is seen flying away as Marin's image fades, that Marin got her wish granted: to be become a seagull and fly away to distant lands. Or it could also be interpreted that, like Link, Marin was also a captive of the Wind Fish's dream and that a seagull was her true form.
while zelda awakening is the first story to have a real story to it , i think it is important to note that previous zelda games did lore that were made in manuals with slight changes there and there between english and japanese manuals , with some fascinating information , like in zelda 2 manuel , when it mentions about hyrule's king who had a daughter named zelda and a son who eventually become a king , but after hiring a magicien to help him find one of the triforce pieces , and being agressive to people for some reason , he insist on zelda to tell him about the triforce piece's location he is searching for , only for the magicien to become angry over her not willing to share information and using his magic to put her in a deep sleep , and with the magicien dying because of that , the king have regrets over what happened and made a tradition for every new born girl in the family to be named zelda to not forget this incident , with a japanese manga released around that game's release that did a FANTAAAAAAASTIC job adapting zelda 1 and this game's story , with some ideas from it like link using slingshot , and an art style that ressembles a looot the cover art of ocarina of time and majora's mask , that make it clear that zelda team took a lot of inspiration from this manga , a channel named "GTV japan" made you tube videos covering this manga
in a link to the past japanese and english manuels , it mentions about the imprisoning war and how ganon dorf along with a thief gang that mastered black arts made it to the golden land , but ganon dorf eventually made it to the triforce and become a monster after he made his wish , with a dark cloud covering the land causing those with greed to transform into monsters , eventually the king of that time made a demand of seven sages , who have depections from the manuels with them looking like old men with coats to seal the gate to golden land with hyrule's knights ended up with war against those monsters to give time for the sages to do their thing ,
a lot of this information contradict a lot of what ocarina of time did with its story , althought that in a japanese inter view , developers mentioned that it was a retelling of the imprisoning war , though , some thing important to note is that there was a web site before the game's release that tells that the game's story take place in an earlier age of hyrule before ganon dorf become the monster we se in later zelda adventures , but what ever , i hope you cover that lore some day
Admittedly, I've played this game so much that I've taken the Marin stuff for granted. However, one aspect of the game that fascinates me to no end is the setting itself. Unlike most other stories that deal with dreams, this isn't a dream that Link himself is having, it's someone else's dream that Link happened to stumble into. For all intents and purposes, Koholint IS a real place, it's just a place that was created from a dream by a deity with powers beyond our comprehension. Just the entire concept of what the Wind Fish and final boss are in relationship to the Zelda universe is just really interesting to me. It almost reminds me of the recent revelation of what devil fruits are in One Piece.
I really appreciate how this game introduces weird unexplained phenomena into the Zelda universe. Typically in fantasy worlds they focus more on explaining and fleshing everything out, there's a clearly outlined mythology and logical magic system, even the majority of Zelda games are like this to an extent. However, even though I think verisimilitude is an essential part to well written fantasy, sometimes I feel even more immersed when everything isn't explained to me and there are aspects to the world that go far beyond our limited human brains. Heck, the final boss is presumably the physical manifestation of nightmares itself, which feels right at home in a cosmic horror story.
Honestly my favourite kind of games are series that don't normally have narrative doing exeptions and doing them well
I think that botw actually tries to make it seem like despite the mute character thing link is an actual character, maybe like your thoughts going through the game are links thoughts
I see the dream world of Link's Awakening as more of a vision of another timeline of the hero. Link's Awakening is in the downfall timeline, so as link is struck by lighting in the intro he may die or may just go into a dreamlike coma. Either way he sees a distorted vision of the other timelines as a dream. Malin and Talin are analogous to OoT's Malon and Talon as well as many other references like the Windfish who can be seen partly as a reference in Breath of the Wild's leviathan bones. The Mario world characters are a dreamlike substitute that are weird to us as outsiders but are accepted by Link and the occupants of Koholint just like in dreams everything is accepted until it isn't. Maybe all the Zelda games are a dream, or dreams within dreams..
That ending got me crying
I think Link is sailing back to Hyrule after defeating Ganon in the ending of the Oracle games, I don't remember if Link's Awakening released before the Oracle games or this is something that was canonized by the Hyrule Historia but I think that is more or less what happened.
The Oracle games were super late, released in 2001. The Game Boy Advance was already out.
I think for a channel celebration you should talk about the archie Sonic story. I always watch ur sonic stories while I'm going to sleep, and I enjoy them, bro
Not only does Link help unmake Koholiht but the Wind Fish doesn’t even help him afterwards. Link stays adrift at sea. A literal flying deity could’ve given him a ride anywhere. But nope, just a massive lack of gratitude.
It’s easily one of if not the top favourite Zelda game for me especially the story. It’s so hopeful, endearing and melancholy. The feel of it reminds me of my partner a lot.
something thats interesting is that at some point the owl tells us Marin was in Tal Tal heights because she got lost trying to go to the egg to wake the wind fish. Marin singing the ballad of the wind fish, or the song of awakening, might mean that unlike all the other residents, she was on some level aware that she was part of a dream and waking the wind fish would in some way or another free her. She's the only character who even mentions anything beyond the island and her desire is reflected in the secret ending.
Man, you KILLED IT on this one!
also , YESSSSS , zelda story videos , i wish you best luck in doing your best covering them man , and thank you for this video
For two decades, I've believed with full sincerity that almost everybody missed the twist in Link's Awakening, including the development staff for DX and the remake.
The point was that from the very beginning of the game, even before you put it into your Game Boy, you read the title "Link's Awakening" and got a hint that the game was a dream. Throughout the story, you are constantly battered over the head by people telling you that the entire island is a dream, it wasn't some kind of hidden secret. And this leaves us to struggle throughout the entire game with the concept that we are going to be ending the island entirely. The twist that made Link's Awakening came at the very end after the credits if you haven't lost a single life throughout the whole game. A marooned Link looks up into the sky of the waking world and sees Marin. That was the twist and purpose of the game. Not only do you see the wind fish in the waking world, which proves that things that you experienced in the dream are not necessarily confined to the dream, but then you see Marin and it's confirmed that you didn't actually become the villain of the story by destroying all of Koholint. You actually just defeated the nightmare but the dream lives on.
Games today think they need a big enriching story but they don't a simple story can be just as good If not better
also can we all appreciate the fact that zelda a link past / zelda awakeing / zelda oracles of ages / oracles of seasons is the most amazing iteration the character had ever existed , from going his first advenutre with an arsenal of magic items that makes him a force to reckon with especially with the medals that do an incredible amount of damage that affect all enemies on screen or kill them with a sprite effect that makes feel the sheer power of them , some thing that you could probably feel with an other specific item that is fierce deit mask , then his adventure in link awakening that started with him going on an adventure to train and become stronger , than his two other advenutres when he went through time and change seasons in certain locations until his other fight with a botched ressurection of ganon a again ending that fight victorious , this link meant business , and i doubt that there is ever going to be an other link this strong any way
This is a good video. I feel like another game that captures that cognitive dissonance related to escapism really well (and more explicitly) is Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.
And then the implicit, implied romance is captured well in EarthBound between Ness & Paula imo, in a similar way.
"TL,DW: *Wow*"
That made me laugh
I’ve heard that the seagull that appears after seeing Marin in the sky in all versions of the game might imply that she reincarnated into that seagull.
It helps how at least in the gameboy versions, you can only see this if you beat the game without losing a 1up.
But I’m not sure if that was confirmed or not, and is just something to make the player imagine what was happening in that scenario.
But it would be weird if she didn’t reincarnate into a bird in at least the gameboy version and this was just an unrelated seagull.
While if it was, than it kinda ruins the story’s message a bit.
It Very refreshing to see a Pariah Story video that is not about Sonic.
The good news for link is that Marine is real.
Bad news is that it's a different timeline in Hyrule Warriors.
Quite eye opening to realize just how in my own head I was in the game about being in links head lol
Ooo, Zelda story vids?! How you spoil us, Pariah
Hey there! This is pretty good! You’re gonna do a link to the past next, right?
Alttp video is already on his channel
@@grimey3480 oh cool! Imma check it out
How did link survive the shipwreck
Link and Marin is better than Link and Zelda. I wish she miraculously made it out of the dream with Link but it was not meant to be “don’t ever forget this song…or me”
Well, normally, I try to comment something worth reading, but this time I got nothing to say.
Still gonna leave a comment for the algorithm though.👍
Soooo...great content as always & as expected from this channel. Agreed with everything you said here.👍
*YES* ZELDA STORY VIDEOS
The game is a dream, and when you beat the game, the dream comes to an end.
Slay IT queen
As much as I love RPGs, I hate when they don't give me the option to act how I want in certain scenarios. Like if a character I find annoying won't leave me alone, and there is no option to tell them I want them to shut up. Even if they are a major part of the story, the simple idea of changing how they react around you based on how you treat them feels like a perfect inclusion for the RPG genre, and yet it doesn't get utilized often. I'm sure it's a lot of work, but how cool would that be?
bro kept repeating the same sentence slightly differently every time