or is the first Zelda game actually not very good.
It's an early NES game, what did you expect?
Crystalis was better, though.
The first Zelda was very interesting due to its open-endedness.
A 'sword-less' quest, and a 'play through Level-8 dungeon first' attempt are fun. Of course, so is the second quest!
Heh, 8-bit nes rpgs are worthy only in the nostalgic sense these days. Yuck.
I never got through to finish the first zelda game.. and the second game was just LOL and to fkn hard :/