They’ve been replaced by, well, a bunch of weirdos: there’s an old man who is too socially awkward for an in-person conversation but endlessly chatty whenever you call him on the phone, a friendly shopkeeper who turns homicidal if you steal anything, and a whole family of fourth-wall breakers — including a dad who warns you he’ll get lost in the mountains later in the game (he does) and a gaggle of identical kids who give straightforward gameplay tips and then admit they have no idea what they’ve just said. Also there’s a guy who calls himself Tarin but is clearly just a barely disguised riff on Mario; by the end of the game, you’ve helped him track down a mushroom and seen him turn into a raccoon.
In a 2010 interview, Link’s Awakening director Takashi Tezuka revealed the inspiration for this memorably bizarre cast of characters. “At the time, Twin Peaks was rather popular. The drama was all about a small number of characters in a small town,” Tezuka said. “So I wanted to make something like that, while it would be small enough in scope to easily understand, it would have deep and distinctive characteristics.”
This is my favorite game and I think this is why.
I never really thought about the weirdness. I just remember accepting it.