While the world outside was a gloomy apartment filled with depression, domestic dysfunction and poverty, I could always escape into the vast seas of Windwaker. Sailing the seas, island-hopping, doing my thing in one of those perfectly-crafted Zelda open worlds. I'm not sure what I would have done without books, or this game. It provided solace and some brightness in my otherwise shitty teenage years. Windwaker is such a beautiful and free world where you never knew what you'd discover on that unexplored island on the horizon. What a great game. Personally my favorite in the beautiful Zelda series.