Organic anticipation

Tonight's time with A Link to the Past ran a couple over the usual 20 minutes. Not that a lot was done, rather just that the game doesn't offer a quick way to get from major place to major place until its final third. True, once you get the flippers you can use the "magic waterways of the sea folk," but those sea folk don't have any business on land, and that's just where Link is busiest.

So running over to get those flippers, finishing a heart container and briefly looking for a mushroom used up quite a bit of time. In fact, the run back to the Desert Palace and subsequent whooping handed out to the three sandworms that are the dungeon's boss took little time in comparison.

In no way does the game's lack of a quick way to get around so early in the game work against it, though. Because it's not easy to run from one side of the world map to the other, the game effectively railroads you.

You could go and explore between dungeons, yes, but if you get all of the Light World's goodies (and some of the Dark World's, too) first, then you'll run into fewer insurmountable obstacles. Running into fewer insurmountable obstacles means making fewer return trips to places, which means a more efficient experience. Though there's something to be said for wandering around an area, bumping into some gap or immoveable rock and realizing that there must be something that can help you out further into the game. It's actually an ingenious way to create organic anticipation.