A Link to the Past is too hard?
I don't know if this is the right community for this, so I am sorry if it shouldn't go here. I am currently playing through a link to the past for the first time and have noticed a steep increase in difficulty once I unlocked the dark world. The dark palace was okay but I am honestly kinda stuck at the swamp palace. I would love to play through the game because it was a lot of fun up to this point but I don't feel like the game is mechanically fun enough to beat my head against the wall repeatedly. I have already noticed I can swap between the worlds with the mirror so I guess I could go to the normal world at any time to stock up on fairies. Are there any other tipps or hidden mechanics to make the game easier? I don't really want to spend a lot of time aimlessly searching the world for heart containers and following guides to them also seems kinda tedious.
The 3D Zeldas rely a lot less on aimlessly wandering I think. And up to this point I was actually delighted at how easy it was to find the next objective, it just seems now that the side content is kinda necessary due to the difficulty. In a sense that is a nice thing because it makes finding heart pieces more rewarding, but it also makes it less appealing to those that want a bit more of a guided experience. Personally, I really love exploring in games, but only if I am absorbed in the game world and atmosphere. So far, a link to the past did not achieve this for me.
Yeah, unfortunately that's kind of how it is. I don't know how many SNES or earlier games you've played but it's a similar design philosophy for that era of games. You were expected to be a kid with massive amounts of free time - and generally back then our game libraries were only a couple games.
When I had ALttP on the SNES my only other games were Wizardry 5 and Mortal Kombat - so it was easy to remain on-task with ALttP and not get frustrated/distracted by other games.
There was no handholding or guided-ness to games. Usually a notebook by your side to keep track of locked items, hand drawn maps, and etc to keep track of everything in between sessions.
It didn't matter much as a kid back then because that's just how games were. I mean look at the mega man games - those are brutal to try and play now. But for someone going in fresh, without the nostalgia factor, I can see how it would be considered difficult to get into.
But there's no shame in not finding it enjoyable. Just because it's a classic doesn't mean it's for everyone.
If you're set on it though - and you have a 3DS - A link between worlds is a good medium. That's a bit more modern and not as difficult, while maintaining the core gameplay. I think I died a total of 3 times on my first play through so it wasn't difficult at all.
Playing through that then going back might make ALttP more enjoyable on a second attempt.
The only game from the SNES era (or before) I have played so far is super metroid. That game was a lot of fun though and I really enjoyed the exploration there. Other than that I have played the remake of link's awakening, but I have an inkling that it may have been easier than the original?
I have actually played through a link between worlds without realising just how heavily it is inspired by alttp.
SNES had two of the best RPGs ever: Chronotrigger and FF6 (which was marketed as FF3 at the time outside of Japan). If you've never given them a shot, I highly recommend them.