I am doing a Brother Check-In. I need 6 other GORONS to like this Review.
Boomer Skyrim.
"o fluxo do tempo é sempre cruel... sua velocidade parece diferente para cada pessoa, mas ninguém pode mudá-la..."
tive muitos pensamentos ao finalizar Ocarina of Time, a transição do jovem Link para o herói adulto é extremamente triste, pois ele é lançado em um futuro sombrio e sem esperança, onde Hyrule está em ruínas e as forças do mal dominam. não há espaço para a infância florescer. entendo isso como uma metáfora para a vida real onde muitas vezes somos privados da oportunidade de experimentar uma infância antes de sermos lançados ao mundo adulto, temos que ser nossos próprios heróis. meu primeiro contato com o jogo foi nesse ano e me arrependo de não ter tentado antes, é uma obra prima.
tive muitos pensamentos ao finalizar Ocarina of Time, a transição do jovem Link para o herói adulto é extremamente triste, pois ele é lançado em um futuro sombrio e sem esperança, onde Hyrule está em ruínas e as forças do mal dominam. não há espaço para a infância florescer. entendo isso como uma metáfora para a vida real onde muitas vezes somos privados da oportunidade de experimentar uma infância antes de sermos lançados ao mundo adulto, temos que ser nossos próprios heróis. meu primeiro contato com o jogo foi nesse ano e me arrependo de não ter tentado antes, é uma obra prima.
single handedly increased worldwide ocarina sales by at least 200%
dudes who call this game overrated use bleach to wipe their ass
To appreciate Ocarina of Time as a new player is to appreciate a game as the sum of its parts. No individual element will blow you away as "the greatest of all time" because everything ever since Ocarina has outclassed it in individual ways, but it might just be the most solid game you can get when looked at as a whole. As a follow-up to a Link to the Past it does pretty much everything right in steering the series in a new direction; better dungeons, better progression and structure, and more interesting items for the 3D space it now utilizes. Each dungeon has a great gimmick to it with extremely memorable setpieces compared to prior games which often repeated themselves aesthetically to a tiring degree. The game lacks the overall charm and mystique of prior Zelda's on a surface level but maintains a large degree of weird shit (seriously, what is a Dead Hand) and a genuinely solid coming-of-age story under the surface, with an emotional hook to it with how far the journey will take you. This isn't to say it's flawless, far from it; the overworld frankly sucks, combat relies too much on waiting, there's still occasional directional crypticism that involves fucking around and finding out and Ganon's Castle was largely underwhelming. But as far as a game goes, that's a sum of its parts, that sells you the idea of a classical Hero's Journey so thematically powerful you can taste it in the gameplay? Ocarina of Time knocks it out of the park.
This review contains spoilers
I think my favourite moment has to be leaving the Temple of Time as an adult for the first time, seeing Hyrule Town all barren and desolate as a result of your actions. Such a shockingly sombre, heavy twist in contrast to the lighthearted whimsicality of what you played leading up to it. And the final boss, his intro cutscene, the music, the way he’s shrouded in darkness, occasionally illuminated by the lightning, his roars, Zelda’s screams, it’s one of the most unforgettable finales ever in a video game. It’s a powerful story about growing up and the loss of childhood innocence and it’s a masterclass in ludonarrative storytelling, something that can only work as well as it does as a video game.
When it comes to story and atmosphere, this game is absolutely top notch and I understand why it’s considered a masterpiece. But me, I’m a gameplay first kind of guy, and on that front, I don’t think it holds up quite as well. It’s not even that I think it’s dated, I just think combat in this game is really awkward, with enemies being pretty repetitive in design (exceptions being bosses) and Z-targeting often bugging out on me. I also think there’s a lot of padding, be it how it gives cutscenes to things that really don’t need them, the way Navi and the owl yell completely obvious things at you (yet NEVER have anything to say when you’re actually stuck), or just how slow animations are in this game, remember that staircase in Dodongo’s Cavern where you have to take the time to vault up every step? The biggest thing keeping this game down for me though is how guided it is. Not to the extremes of say, Skyward Sword, but there really isn’t much reason to venture off the main path outside of a couple fairy fountains because most areas are gated off until you get up to a certain point.
Despite these hiccups though, the game is still fun, and I still think that what’s good about this game is so above and beyond that it needs to be experienced by everyone hands-on.
When it comes to story and atmosphere, this game is absolutely top notch and I understand why it’s considered a masterpiece. But me, I’m a gameplay first kind of guy, and on that front, I don’t think it holds up quite as well. It’s not even that I think it’s dated, I just think combat in this game is really awkward, with enemies being pretty repetitive in design (exceptions being bosses) and Z-targeting often bugging out on me. I also think there’s a lot of padding, be it how it gives cutscenes to things that really don’t need them, the way Navi and the owl yell completely obvious things at you (yet NEVER have anything to say when you’re actually stuck), or just how slow animations are in this game, remember that staircase in Dodongo’s Cavern where you have to take the time to vault up every step? The biggest thing keeping this game down for me though is how guided it is. Not to the extremes of say, Skyward Sword, but there really isn’t much reason to venture off the main path outside of a couple fairy fountains because most areas are gated off until you get up to a certain point.
Despite these hiccups though, the game is still fun, and I still think that what’s good about this game is so above and beyond that it needs to be experienced by everyone hands-on.
I originally played Ocarina of Time the year it came out when I was a kid, and the feeling of "this is the greatest thing ever" has stuck with me for a while even though my detailed memories of the game faded. I'd been wanting to go back to it for years but I've sort of been worried that my replay of it would reveal more flaws as I view it with an older, critical eye. But after finishing my replay, I love it just as much as I did as a kid. Yeah there are some annoyances like the occasionally finicky Z-targeting, or the entire Water Temple, but as a whole, Ocarina of Time holds up remarkably well. And even though I really had forgotten a lot of the game, I was shocked by how much was still somewhere in my brain waiting for me to blow the dust off.
i refuse to write a review of oot in 2020
My happy place. I love playing this game so much. Yeah it's maybe one temple too long, as I was ready for it to finish by the time I'd beaten those witches, but it's so good to play. Everything works so well.
Also, anyone that says the water temple is the worst, is a fuckin fraud.
Also, anyone that says the water temple is the worst, is a fuckin fraud.
This review contains spoilers
Zerar esse jogo num n64 foi a melhor experiencia que eu podia ter
O jogo se inicia com a Deku Tree enviando a fada Navi até nos. Somos link, o garoto sem fada, em lugar onde todos tem fadas.
A fada chega até nos e diz que temos que salvar Deku Tree, um monstro está dentro dela, corroendo-a por dentro, de maneira dolorosa e lenta. Partimos então, não antes de juntar rupias, pegar a kokiri sword e comprar o Deku shield. Quando chegado a Deku Tree, temos uma visão assustadora, monstros dentro dela, somos fortes, lutamos com eles e no fim matamos o tal monstro que está corroendo a Deku Tree.
Foi atoa, ela morreu, deixando a nós uma joia, contando a nos a historia da criação de Hyrule. Três deusas criaram o mundo, as três partiram e se fundiram, se tornando a fonte de poder infinito, Triforce.
A historia se desenrola, ficamos adulto após tentarmos pegar a espada lendaria, master sword. O mundo mudou, passamos por templos, os quais eu vou falar agora
Templo da floresta
O templo da Saria, tem uma bela apresentação diga de passagem !...todo o o templo em si é bem mais dificil que as dungeons que passamos até agora, todos os inimigos são os mesmos, com pequenas exceções é claro, como os fantasmas por exemplo. O visual é interessante e remete a algo abandonado pelo tempo, a musica é bem florestal e lembra a natureza, não posso deixar de explorar tambem, o novo item que nos é apresentado aqui, um arco e flecha, bem basico, porem util mais pra frente em nossa jornada. O boss é bem easy e é tipo um ganon fantasma, ou algo assim.
Templo do fogo
perdi a maioria das coisas que escrevi nessa parte, posso apenas pontuar que a musica na versão antiga do jogo era bem creepy e que a atmosfera do templo te consome vivo com aquela fumaça quente e densa.
templo da agua
Sua reputação o persegue, ele de fato é muito infame, mas tambem é muito injustiçado. O templo exige duas coisas para sua progressão
1: botas de ferro(usadas para andar no fundo da agua)
2: a túnica azul(usada para respirar no fundo da agua)
Tendo essas duas coisas em mões podemos prosseguir, pelo o que se tornaria o maior pesadelo dos player da época, sem motivo aparente, pois no propio n64 original eu não tive dificuldade alguma em terminar o templo. Mais tarde, nos pegamos uma evolução do hookshot, o longshot, que será muito uitil mais pra frente jogo, alem disso, nos tambem temos de lutar com um boss ridiculo de tão facil e aguentar o famoso tira a bota, põe a bota.
Templo das sombras
Desgosto desse, não sei al certo o porque, ele só não me agrada, nele a muitas sessões chatas que temos de usar o longshoot, e muitas armadilhas tambem. A musica é bem mais ou menos, sendo ela apenas um remix da musica do templo do fogo, o item que pegamos aqui é a bota que anda no ar por um curto prazo de tempo, o boss é bem facil e sem graça, acho que a unica coisa legal que temos aqui é a lore do poço e do templo em si.
Templo da areia
O melhor, muito bem feito. A musica aqui remete muito bem o clima de deserto e tudo é bem balanceado, nem tão facil, nem tão dificil, o item que pegamos nele é o mirror shield, que fora do templo não tem quase nenhuma utilidade, para avançarmos nele é nessessario usar o link criança e o link adulto. O boss é muito bom, contendo duas fazes. Na primeira você luta com as duas bruxas e na segunda elas fazem um junção, virando um boss só.
Castelo
O final do jogo. Nele temos que abrir todas as portas referentes aos templos que já passamos até agora e liberar a porta do centro, onde estará a princesa Zelda e o Ganon, pronto para a batalha, que é muito boa por sinal. Após derrotado nós temos de fugir do castelo enquanto tudo desmorona, lutamos de novo com ele, só dessa vez sendo a forma javali dele, derrotamos ele de novo e finalizamos o jogo, assistindo uma tela de créditos muito bonita. E é isso ai, acho que terminei o que eu tinha pra falar, esse de fato é um jogo maravilhoso que sobreviveu muito bem ao tempo. Obrigado caso tenha lido até aqui, saiba que esse texto horrivel deu muito trabalho então não critique por favor, não aguento mais chorar no banho.
O jogo se inicia com a Deku Tree enviando a fada Navi até nos. Somos link, o garoto sem fada, em lugar onde todos tem fadas.
A fada chega até nos e diz que temos que salvar Deku Tree, um monstro está dentro dela, corroendo-a por dentro, de maneira dolorosa e lenta. Partimos então, não antes de juntar rupias, pegar a kokiri sword e comprar o Deku shield. Quando chegado a Deku Tree, temos uma visão assustadora, monstros dentro dela, somos fortes, lutamos com eles e no fim matamos o tal monstro que está corroendo a Deku Tree.
Foi atoa, ela morreu, deixando a nós uma joia, contando a nos a historia da criação de Hyrule. Três deusas criaram o mundo, as três partiram e se fundiram, se tornando a fonte de poder infinito, Triforce.
A historia se desenrola, ficamos adulto após tentarmos pegar a espada lendaria, master sword. O mundo mudou, passamos por templos, os quais eu vou falar agora
Templo da floresta
O templo da Saria, tem uma bela apresentação diga de passagem !...todo o o templo em si é bem mais dificil que as dungeons que passamos até agora, todos os inimigos são os mesmos, com pequenas exceções é claro, como os fantasmas por exemplo. O visual é interessante e remete a algo abandonado pelo tempo, a musica é bem florestal e lembra a natureza, não posso deixar de explorar tambem, o novo item que nos é apresentado aqui, um arco e flecha, bem basico, porem util mais pra frente em nossa jornada. O boss é bem easy e é tipo um ganon fantasma, ou algo assim.
Templo do fogo
perdi a maioria das coisas que escrevi nessa parte, posso apenas pontuar que a musica na versão antiga do jogo era bem creepy e que a atmosfera do templo te consome vivo com aquela fumaça quente e densa.
templo da agua
Sua reputação o persegue, ele de fato é muito infame, mas tambem é muito injustiçado. O templo exige duas coisas para sua progressão
1: botas de ferro(usadas para andar no fundo da agua)
2: a túnica azul(usada para respirar no fundo da agua)
Tendo essas duas coisas em mões podemos prosseguir, pelo o que se tornaria o maior pesadelo dos player da época, sem motivo aparente, pois no propio n64 original eu não tive dificuldade alguma em terminar o templo. Mais tarde, nos pegamos uma evolução do hookshot, o longshot, que será muito uitil mais pra frente jogo, alem disso, nos tambem temos de lutar com um boss ridiculo de tão facil e aguentar o famoso tira a bota, põe a bota.
Templo das sombras
Desgosto desse, não sei al certo o porque, ele só não me agrada, nele a muitas sessões chatas que temos de usar o longshoot, e muitas armadilhas tambem. A musica é bem mais ou menos, sendo ela apenas um remix da musica do templo do fogo, o item que pegamos aqui é a bota que anda no ar por um curto prazo de tempo, o boss é bem facil e sem graça, acho que a unica coisa legal que temos aqui é a lore do poço e do templo em si.
Templo da areia
O melhor, muito bem feito. A musica aqui remete muito bem o clima de deserto e tudo é bem balanceado, nem tão facil, nem tão dificil, o item que pegamos nele é o mirror shield, que fora do templo não tem quase nenhuma utilidade, para avançarmos nele é nessessario usar o link criança e o link adulto. O boss é muito bom, contendo duas fazes. Na primeira você luta com as duas bruxas e na segunda elas fazem um junção, virando um boss só.
Castelo
O final do jogo. Nele temos que abrir todas as portas referentes aos templos que já passamos até agora e liberar a porta do centro, onde estará a princesa Zelda e o Ganon, pronto para a batalha, que é muito boa por sinal. Após derrotado nós temos de fugir do castelo enquanto tudo desmorona, lutamos de novo com ele, só dessa vez sendo a forma javali dele, derrotamos ele de novo e finalizamos o jogo, assistindo uma tela de créditos muito bonita. E é isso ai, acho que terminei o que eu tinha pra falar, esse de fato é um jogo maravilhoso que sobreviveu muito bem ao tempo. Obrigado caso tenha lido até aqui, saiba que esse texto horrivel deu muito trabalho então não critique por favor, não aguento mais chorar no banho.
The 3D remake was my favorite game from my childhood and I finally got to play the original. And even if it is a downgrade in some ways, whether it's the framerate or the god-forsaken water temple, this game was still a joy to play through again and I cannot recommend it enough ^ - ^
there's not really anything new I can say about this game, but I will say that even as someone born after this game came out it's held up incredibly well. there were virtually no other companies at this time that had the same grasp of designing for 3d space as nintendo did, and how they somehow extrapolated this version of hyrule from the square rooms of the previous games is a miracle to be honest. it's bare by today's open-world standards but thankfully you don't spend too much time retreading old ground, and the bulk of the game is spent in the excellent dungeons. whereas the game structure derives much more heavily from link to the past (some would say too much so), the dungeons are designed much in the same way as link's awakening, where there is a key item in each that must be found and then utilized for puzzles in earlier parts of the dungeon. each dungeon's layout is memorable and unique, with a clear progression and enough hints to help you understand what you should be doing. the controls reflect super mario 64 much in the same way that they aren't as refined as they would later become, but offer an excellent amount of movement options that make traversing the game much less annoying. the item variety here is also top-notch, with old weapons like the hookshot transferring perfectly to a 3D space. I won't say that elements like the first-person aiming are particularly great, but at the very least these aspects don't lead to any major frustration. the characters are sweet and fun to talk to, and even navi can be useful at times; this isn't on par with many of the later entries but it still has the typical whimsey of a zelda game all the same.
I feel like I could spend a lot more time thinking about talking about this game's details but from a broad perspective, this is simply an amazing early 3D adventure game, and the bedrock for many design conventions that developed into the 2000s and 2010s. I'm very happy that I finally was able to sit down and play through the whole thing, even with a year and a half break in the middle
I feel like I could spend a lot more time thinking about talking about this game's details but from a broad perspective, this is simply an amazing early 3D adventure game, and the bedrock for many design conventions that developed into the 2000s and 2010s. I'm very happy that I finally was able to sit down and play through the whole thing, even with a year and a half break in the middle
With BOTW 2 allegedly coming out this year, I realized that I have a pretty big Zelda backlog I need to get through beforehand. I mean, I haven't even played BOTW 1, and the only 3D Zelda I've played are Wind Waker and Majora's Mask 3D. So I'm going to be dedicating the next couple months to playing through several Zelda games, not because I need to know the lore, just because I really want to see the evolution of this series over the years, and why some games get the reputations they get.
The first thing that really pops out about Ocarina of Time is it's ambition and presentation. In my head, when you wanted to make a "cinematic experience" during this era, with big cutscenes that constantly change camera shots, a large cast of characters, and a story that feels mythological in its scope, you did that kind of stuff on the PS1. And yet they pull it off on the N64 to an impressive degree. I understand why people were head over heels in love with this game on release, it conveys the grandness of this world and story so well both in cutscenes and in the environment itself. It's funny, nowadays the word "feels like a movie" is used as an insult, but Ocarina of Time definitely borrows from film and anime in order to present its story and world, but in ways that never betray the gameplay and only enhance it. I mean, z-targeting literally adds letterboxes to the screen and it does usually make fights feel way cooler. You're doing backflips, blocking attacks, trading blows, and while the camera occasionally freaks and ruins the moment, a lot of times it really enhances the drama and scale of these fights, whether it be giant bosses or an enemy with their own sword and shield. The Dark Link fight would be raw as fuck if it were in a movie, but it's in a game and it's raw as fuck to play.
The cutscene direction really gives off this feeling of excitement the developers had over finally being able to tell a story like this, a whole new dimension for expression. There are some cutscenes where the camera just fucking swings all over the place, some that use first-person, some that cut rapidly between different shots and angles, it really has the energy of "look at what we fucking did!" I've gone on about the presentation too much already, but it can't be understated how good this game is at making this story and setting feel huge, like I said at the beginning, mytological. Ocarina of Time obviously borrows a lot from Link to the Past, but ends up feeling more like the sacred text that every other Zelda game has to respond to.
Despite this grand feeling, Hyrule Field itself kind of feels both big and small at the same time. Like, it does take a while to get from place to place on foot, but also it's very funny that Hyrule Castle is like a couple minutes away on foot from Kokiri Forest. Coming back to this feels like when you go back to your elementary school and feel like a giant, which is pretty fitting considering the whole premise of the game. It's kind of genius, the game is all about seeing the world in two different ages, the things that change and the things that stay the same despite everything, and interacting with the game at different points in the player's life changes how the player sees it. Part of me feels like I'll never really completely "get" this game the way its greatest fanatics do because I wasn't there when it came out and I didn't interact with it the way they did and still continue to.
But the thing about playing Ocarina of Time right now is that, well its kind of hard to get through its most obtuse moments knowing that later on there are games that fix them. Obviously its kind of foolish to hold an old game like this to modern standards, but throughout my playthrough there were little moments that just made me think "man, I really wanna move on to the next game". Part of it might be the fact that I know so much of what happens in this game already due to hearing about it from other people, whereas games like Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword are mostly unknown to me outside of very basic parts of their premises. Especially in the beginning, when you don't have the conveniences of adulthood, the urge to drop the game was honestly something I had to fight. While the dungeons have some cool moments and real nail their atmosphere, I didn't find many of them mechanically interesting until you get to the future.
Another thing that bothered me was the lack of substantial side stuff. This is probably a selfish expectation to put on this game, but Wind Waker and Majora's Mask have a huge amount of side things to do, in Majora you could argue that the side objectives are just as important as the main ones. But I found myself constantly going "Okay what side stuff is there to do before the next dungeon...oh nothing I guess". I love WW and Majora for their side content, so this ended being one of my biggest turn-offs for this game. I was also surprised how there wasn't that much interaction between the past and future timelines, in terms of doing something in the past to affect the future, outside of the actual story of course. I mean, there were definitely moments that did that, the Spirit Temple being one of my favorite instances of that, but I don't know, I guess I thought it would be more like the Dark World in LTTP.
But the game does do a really good job of making Adult Link feel so much more empowering and in control than Child Link. You go from every adult talking down to you to basically every NPC falling in love with you, you actually have a ride instead of walking everywhere like a high schooler with no license, and you can wear red clothes instead of the clothes your tree dad told you to wear. Plenty of great writing has been done about how Ocarina of Time portrays growing up and having to leave the innocence of childhood, so I won't try to write a worse version of those reviews. I'll just say it's all really effective and smartly done, and it being done in an N64 game with, compared to other large game stories at the time, not a particularly long script, is kind of mind-blowing.
I'm glad I finally finished this game, but I understand why I put it down several times in the past. It's a fairly bumpy road but I understand why it has the status it does, and why someone could still find a lot of value in it even when more modernized takes on this game exist. Some stray thoughts that I couldn't fit in the review:
- No wonder so many kids had this game invade their nightmares, it's terrifying and isn't afraid to just show you some fucked up shit. Honestly huge respect for never holding back on the horror and grotesque aspects.
- Water Temple wasn't as bad as it could be, but that's unfortunately because I saw a video of someone analyzing it before playing this, and while I didn't remember everything in the video, a lot of the things they brought up helped me navigate it in a way most people were not able to. Still died to Dark Link and still had a "damn it I need to find a key" moment so I still had some of The Water Temple Experience.
- Music is firing on all cylinders in this game, Kondo shows an insane range here between the Ocarina songs, the overworld themes, and the dungeon themes. Love in general how otherworldly and intimidating the dungeons present themselves as. Also being able to pitch bend on the Ocarina is so cool, it really feels like an instrument, which is something Wind Waker honestly missed out on.
The first thing that really pops out about Ocarina of Time is it's ambition and presentation. In my head, when you wanted to make a "cinematic experience" during this era, with big cutscenes that constantly change camera shots, a large cast of characters, and a story that feels mythological in its scope, you did that kind of stuff on the PS1. And yet they pull it off on the N64 to an impressive degree. I understand why people were head over heels in love with this game on release, it conveys the grandness of this world and story so well both in cutscenes and in the environment itself. It's funny, nowadays the word "feels like a movie" is used as an insult, but Ocarina of Time definitely borrows from film and anime in order to present its story and world, but in ways that never betray the gameplay and only enhance it. I mean, z-targeting literally adds letterboxes to the screen and it does usually make fights feel way cooler. You're doing backflips, blocking attacks, trading blows, and while the camera occasionally freaks and ruins the moment, a lot of times it really enhances the drama and scale of these fights, whether it be giant bosses or an enemy with their own sword and shield. The Dark Link fight would be raw as fuck if it were in a movie, but it's in a game and it's raw as fuck to play.
The cutscene direction really gives off this feeling of excitement the developers had over finally being able to tell a story like this, a whole new dimension for expression. There are some cutscenes where the camera just fucking swings all over the place, some that use first-person, some that cut rapidly between different shots and angles, it really has the energy of "look at what we fucking did!" I've gone on about the presentation too much already, but it can't be understated how good this game is at making this story and setting feel huge, like I said at the beginning, mytological. Ocarina of Time obviously borrows a lot from Link to the Past, but ends up feeling more like the sacred text that every other Zelda game has to respond to.
Despite this grand feeling, Hyrule Field itself kind of feels both big and small at the same time. Like, it does take a while to get from place to place on foot, but also it's very funny that Hyrule Castle is like a couple minutes away on foot from Kokiri Forest. Coming back to this feels like when you go back to your elementary school and feel like a giant, which is pretty fitting considering the whole premise of the game. It's kind of genius, the game is all about seeing the world in two different ages, the things that change and the things that stay the same despite everything, and interacting with the game at different points in the player's life changes how the player sees it. Part of me feels like I'll never really completely "get" this game the way its greatest fanatics do because I wasn't there when it came out and I didn't interact with it the way they did and still continue to.
But the thing about playing Ocarina of Time right now is that, well its kind of hard to get through its most obtuse moments knowing that later on there are games that fix them. Obviously its kind of foolish to hold an old game like this to modern standards, but throughout my playthrough there were little moments that just made me think "man, I really wanna move on to the next game". Part of it might be the fact that I know so much of what happens in this game already due to hearing about it from other people, whereas games like Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword are mostly unknown to me outside of very basic parts of their premises. Especially in the beginning, when you don't have the conveniences of adulthood, the urge to drop the game was honestly something I had to fight. While the dungeons have some cool moments and real nail their atmosphere, I didn't find many of them mechanically interesting until you get to the future.
Another thing that bothered me was the lack of substantial side stuff. This is probably a selfish expectation to put on this game, but Wind Waker and Majora's Mask have a huge amount of side things to do, in Majora you could argue that the side objectives are just as important as the main ones. But I found myself constantly going "Okay what side stuff is there to do before the next dungeon...oh nothing I guess". I love WW and Majora for their side content, so this ended being one of my biggest turn-offs for this game. I was also surprised how there wasn't that much interaction between the past and future timelines, in terms of doing something in the past to affect the future, outside of the actual story of course. I mean, there were definitely moments that did that, the Spirit Temple being one of my favorite instances of that, but I don't know, I guess I thought it would be more like the Dark World in LTTP.
But the game does do a really good job of making Adult Link feel so much more empowering and in control than Child Link. You go from every adult talking down to you to basically every NPC falling in love with you, you actually have a ride instead of walking everywhere like a high schooler with no license, and you can wear red clothes instead of the clothes your tree dad told you to wear. Plenty of great writing has been done about how Ocarina of Time portrays growing up and having to leave the innocence of childhood, so I won't try to write a worse version of those reviews. I'll just say it's all really effective and smartly done, and it being done in an N64 game with, compared to other large game stories at the time, not a particularly long script, is kind of mind-blowing.
I'm glad I finally finished this game, but I understand why I put it down several times in the past. It's a fairly bumpy road but I understand why it has the status it does, and why someone could still find a lot of value in it even when more modernized takes on this game exist. Some stray thoughts that I couldn't fit in the review:
- No wonder so many kids had this game invade their nightmares, it's terrifying and isn't afraid to just show you some fucked up shit. Honestly huge respect for never holding back on the horror and grotesque aspects.
- Water Temple wasn't as bad as it could be, but that's unfortunately because I saw a video of someone analyzing it before playing this, and while I didn't remember everything in the video, a lot of the things they brought up helped me navigate it in a way most people were not able to. Still died to Dark Link and still had a "damn it I need to find a key" moment so I still had some of The Water Temple Experience.
- Music is firing on all cylinders in this game, Kondo shows an insane range here between the Ocarina songs, the overworld themes, and the dungeon themes. Love in general how otherworldly and intimidating the dungeons present themselves as. Also being able to pitch bend on the Ocarina is so cool, it really feels like an instrument, which is something Wind Waker honestly missed out on.
I think one of the reasons this game manages to stand the test of time so well, at least for me, is its message. It's one that constantly changes and evolves with you the older you get. So many people have talked about this already, so I won't parrot what they've said, but I can't think of any game or even piece of media has managed to share this specific message and pull it off nearly as well, with such rich subtext too. I'm the same age as this game and it's one I still think about often, especially as I get older.
Ocarina of Time was my first game in the Zelda franchise. Not this version tho, Ocarina of Time 3D. I won't get into the details with that version, but I very much enjoyed it and wanted to play other games in the series. The same year, or the year after, my one uncle gave me his N64. I'm pretty sure there was only two games that came with it. Star Wars: Episode 1 - Racer and this game. Barely touched Star Wars at but OOT, well I already really enjoyed the 3D remake so I was excited to actually give the original a try. I loved it. At least I'm assuming I did, for some reason I replayed this version so many times back in the day..it became my most replayed game ever for a while. I memorized the entire game, every major bombable hole location, every gold skulltula. I don't know why I played this game so much but I think I ended up overplaying it to the point I started not loving it as much. With this Zelda marathon, I was able to replay this once again after not replaying it in like 10 years. Even now, I still felt some of those overplayed woes I had back then, but mostly in the early game. Even now, 90% of the collectables came right back to me. Even now, it was still fun playing this game and I still love it for getting me into Zelda and into other Nintendo games in general. This game is not perfect, and I do have some criticisms for sure, but this is an important game in regard to the history of gaming and an important game to me.
One of the best aspects of this game is its story and world-building in comparison to past games. The main plot is actually pretty similar to ALTTP. You are tasked with collecting 3 Spiritual Stones (pendants), have to obtain the Master Sword in the Temple of Time (the Lost Woods) and then you must awaken the seven sages (seven maidens) so you can destroy the barrier in Ganondorf's castle and defeat him. Very similar to ALTTP, except instead of traveling between the Light and Dark world, you must travel between the present and future. See, you actually start as young link but when you obtain the Master Sword, Link is sealed in it for seven years and becomes an adult. In terms of the story, this is much more interesting than the light and dark world was. The world changes around you as you travel to the future, and so do the characters. Speaking of them, this game is chalk full of em and they're way more interesting this time around. Link himself has way more personality than he ever did in past games. I still definitely prefer future iterations of him but he's solid here. Zelda is MUCH better here and actually plays a big part in the story. She has way more scenes and due to that and her Shiek persona, she's absolutely one of the best if not the best character in the game. Ganondorf is actually seen with his non-pig design here and there's a reason this game made his human form iconic. The sages, unlike the unnamed maidens, are actual characters here. Not just throughout their temples, you meet pretty much all of them as young Link throughout Hyrule and you help them out along the way. This helps in making them memorable and let me tell you they very much are. Whether it's your childhood friend Saria to the rough and tough Goron Darunia, they're all pretty different characters and again are actually characters this time around. The little side characters you meet in each location are memorable to as the dialogue they are given is translated much better. ALTTP I found to a decently plain and straight-forward English translation. Here tho, they like to be quirky and make a lot of the side characters say weird and interesting things which helps the world feel alive. Something else that makes the game feel alive is the many races that are found in this world. ALTTP had Hylians and Zora. Not only does OOT have those (and they're more fleshed out) it added Kokiri, Shiekah, Gerudo, Deku, and Goron's. All of these helps add to the world-building immensely. Something that would make the dialogue better in this version of the game is if you could skip to the end of single textboxes. You either have to read each one slowly or if you try to make it go faster, it skips to the very end of a set of textboxes. Majora's Mask fixed this and so did the 3DS remake, but I thought it was worth pointing out here because it can be a tad bit irksome.
The combat in this game is very different from ALTTP, simply because it's 3D now instead of 2D. This game introduces Z-Targeting. When you hold the Z button in front of an enemy, you will automatically target and face their direction the entire time. This is incredibly helpful and is almost needed with a game like this. Because this game is in 3D, this changes Link's moveset dramatically. You still swing your sword but now depending on your button inputs, you'll do different swings. You can do a vertical, horizontal swing and a jab. If you z target, have your sword out and press the a button, you do a jump attack. You can backflips, you can do side jumps. Link now auto-jumps whenever you go off a platform or a ledge. Just your basic move set is fun and imo more fun than 2D Zelda. This isn't even getting into other items like the hook-shot which had an amazing transition into 3D. That and the bow puts you into first person and it just works marvelously. The slingshot and boomerang puts you into like a over the shoulder third person view. Funnily enough, each set of items I mentioned are exclusive to each form of Link. Young Link can only use certain items and vice versa for Adult Link. Along with the enemies being more fun and interesting in a 3D environment, the combat in this game was improved from past games and it's honestly amazing for a game from 1998 and amazing for Zelda's first foray into 3D.
The overworld honestly is not the best, I think. It was their first 3D game, I'll cut them some slack but I don't care for Hyrule Field. The size was most certainly impressive back in the day, however now I just see it as wasted potential. It's pretty empty, not very interesting to look at and it's "secrets" are lame. Basically any secrets it has are holes under boulders or completely invisible holes you bomb to unlock. You can find these with the stone of agony but you need a rumble pak to even use it. Otherwise, you either have to randomly guess where they are like Zelda 1 or memorize where they, are after looking them up, on future playthroughs like I did. Wouldn't be much of an issue if some of them didn't have important stuff like gold skulltulas or a heart piece. Outside of that, you have a tedious big poe quest and a single NPC that's used in quest. Honestly if the secrets were just a little better, it was more visually appealing and there were a couple more NPC's, this main overworld, that's connected to every area, would be so much better to me. Honestly I feel like Majora's Mask fixed this issue with Termina Field, which is way better imo, but as it stands this is my least favorite part of the game imo. The area's connected to Hyrule Field are good however, Visually distinct and they have plenty of actually good secrets and collectables to find. However, actual side quests in this game aren't too great imo. The Biggoron one is memorable, but all the others aren't too great imo and are very much overshadowed by Majora Mask's fantastic side quests. Like there's literally a mask side quest where you have to obtain masks and sell them to NPC's. The reward isn't great, another mask, and it just reminds me of how MM handled its mask items way better. Tho alas, I should not be comparing it to a future game like that so I will stop.
My least favorite part of them game, besides Hyrule field, is young Link's portion. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad but the dungeons you go through don't compare to Adult Link's Temples. The Great Deku tree is a solid starting dungeon but it's also very simple. Same with Dodongo's Cavern and Jabu-Jabu's Belly. None of them are bad, they're just very simple compared to temples. Something that is great tho, and this applies to every dungeon in the game, is how visually distinct and memorable they are. 2D Zelda dungeons are great and all but they just don't compare to 3D ones. The type of stuff you can do in 3D dungeons can't be replicated in 2D ones. Jumping from the top of a tree and feeling the full depth of your fall as you land on a spider-web and bust through it due to gravity. Just can't work in 2D. I can see why people might prefer 2D ones tho. As long as they're well designed, they're usually more complicated and technically better "dungeons" where its easy to get lost. However, they lack the spectacle that I prefer in 3D ones. The first 3 young Link dungeons are very linear for example. They have puzzles ofc but it's hard to get lost in them unlike 2D ones. However, I don't mind that (tho in these first 3 dungeons case I guess I do cuz they're a bit TOO simple) and that's proven by the five temples in this game. Adult Link temples, while still probably more linear than some 2D Zelda dungeons, rock my socks. I'll just get into this now, Water temple is not bad. It was my least favorite temple this playthrough, but it's not bad..just can be a little tedious. It's the most complex and backtracky dungeon in the game, and feels kinda like a 2D dungeon but that's at the cost of being a little more tedious than the others (not only due to the design of the place but the iron boots ofc). It can be tough to figure out but I can apprecauet that. Fire temple is also good but just doesn't stick out as much as the other three. Shadow has a very disturbing atmosphere and relies on tricks and traps. Forest and Spirit temple are easily the best dungeons in the game. Forest is very atmospheric and is a very nicely designed dungeon with a great temple theme. Spirit temple is the only one to make use of both young and adult Link, and it does it well, as well as having the best dungeon boss in the game. Not every dungeon in this game is like amazing, but when it hits..IT HITS. Oh also the dungeon bosses vary in quality. Twinrova is the best boss in the game I think. She makes great use of the mirror shield and the witch sisters have actual dialogue and are actual characters that make the boss that much better. Phantom Ganon is cool as well and Ganondorf/Ganon himself is ofc badass. There are some weaker bosses like King Dodongo being piss easy or Morpha being very easy to cheese, however even these weaker bosses are cool to see now that the games in 3D.
Quick thing on the visuals. They don't look bad but they can be a bit ugly at times. Obviously, this is a game from 1998, so I can let it slide somewhat. I played on an actual N64 so the resolution and framerate are pretty bad. They had to be to even run this game at the time, so with knowledge of that and how the game looks its impressive. Still, I know I'd say I wouldn't compare it to Majora's Mask again...but that game is on the same system and looks way more vibrant to me. I know it's using the expansion pass but still..
The soundtrack is absolutely iconic. ALTTP is where Zelda's Lullaby originated, howevrr this version is way more iconic to me. Same with Kakariko Village tho I honestly might like ALTTP's version of it hehe. As for original songs, Lost Woods, Song of Storms, Gerudo Valley, Lon Lon Ranch are all bangers and are super duper iconic for good reasons. The Ocarina songs are all really good, and I actually like how the Ocarina plays a much bigger part in this game compared to the last two games it was in. My absolute favorite song in the game funnily enough, is Requiem of Spirit. Always has been, always will be. Something about it is kinda eerie yet mysterious. It's such a short song yet it's my favorite, idk why lol.
I was honestly very conflicted while playing this. Due to my complaints with Hyrule field/sidequests and me overplaying this game back in the day, part of me wanted to keep this at an 8. However, this game really was important in expanding my taste in games and is just an important landmark of a game in general. What really pushed me to bump it to a 9 though, was the ending. I've already seen it before, but I teared up. Not just teared up, I actually started to cry a bit. I don't know if it's just because the ending is very sweet and emotional, or because it reminded me the days I'd used to play this game a ton (insert anology of how I longed for my days of being a child just like Adult Link does at the end of the game or something idk). Either way, yeah I'll bump it to a 9. Game's not perfect but it is awesome, that's all that needs to be said.
I'm going to play Katamari Damacy after this and then move on to my personal favorite Zelda, Majora's Mask. Look forward to those reviews in the near future!
One of the best aspects of this game is its story and world-building in comparison to past games. The main plot is actually pretty similar to ALTTP. You are tasked with collecting 3 Spiritual Stones (pendants), have to obtain the Master Sword in the Temple of Time (the Lost Woods) and then you must awaken the seven sages (seven maidens) so you can destroy the barrier in Ganondorf's castle and defeat him. Very similar to ALTTP, except instead of traveling between the Light and Dark world, you must travel between the present and future. See, you actually start as young link but when you obtain the Master Sword, Link is sealed in it for seven years and becomes an adult. In terms of the story, this is much more interesting than the light and dark world was. The world changes around you as you travel to the future, and so do the characters. Speaking of them, this game is chalk full of em and they're way more interesting this time around. Link himself has way more personality than he ever did in past games. I still definitely prefer future iterations of him but he's solid here. Zelda is MUCH better here and actually plays a big part in the story. She has way more scenes and due to that and her Shiek persona, she's absolutely one of the best if not the best character in the game. Ganondorf is actually seen with his non-pig design here and there's a reason this game made his human form iconic. The sages, unlike the unnamed maidens, are actual characters here. Not just throughout their temples, you meet pretty much all of them as young Link throughout Hyrule and you help them out along the way. This helps in making them memorable and let me tell you they very much are. Whether it's your childhood friend Saria to the rough and tough Goron Darunia, they're all pretty different characters and again are actually characters this time around. The little side characters you meet in each location are memorable to as the dialogue they are given is translated much better. ALTTP I found to a decently plain and straight-forward English translation. Here tho, they like to be quirky and make a lot of the side characters say weird and interesting things which helps the world feel alive. Something else that makes the game feel alive is the many races that are found in this world. ALTTP had Hylians and Zora. Not only does OOT have those (and they're more fleshed out) it added Kokiri, Shiekah, Gerudo, Deku, and Goron's. All of these helps add to the world-building immensely. Something that would make the dialogue better in this version of the game is if you could skip to the end of single textboxes. You either have to read each one slowly or if you try to make it go faster, it skips to the very end of a set of textboxes. Majora's Mask fixed this and so did the 3DS remake, but I thought it was worth pointing out here because it can be a tad bit irksome.
The combat in this game is very different from ALTTP, simply because it's 3D now instead of 2D. This game introduces Z-Targeting. When you hold the Z button in front of an enemy, you will automatically target and face their direction the entire time. This is incredibly helpful and is almost needed with a game like this. Because this game is in 3D, this changes Link's moveset dramatically. You still swing your sword but now depending on your button inputs, you'll do different swings. You can do a vertical, horizontal swing and a jab. If you z target, have your sword out and press the a button, you do a jump attack. You can backflips, you can do side jumps. Link now auto-jumps whenever you go off a platform or a ledge. Just your basic move set is fun and imo more fun than 2D Zelda. This isn't even getting into other items like the hook-shot which had an amazing transition into 3D. That and the bow puts you into first person and it just works marvelously. The slingshot and boomerang puts you into like a over the shoulder third person view. Funnily enough, each set of items I mentioned are exclusive to each form of Link. Young Link can only use certain items and vice versa for Adult Link. Along with the enemies being more fun and interesting in a 3D environment, the combat in this game was improved from past games and it's honestly amazing for a game from 1998 and amazing for Zelda's first foray into 3D.
The overworld honestly is not the best, I think. It was their first 3D game, I'll cut them some slack but I don't care for Hyrule Field. The size was most certainly impressive back in the day, however now I just see it as wasted potential. It's pretty empty, not very interesting to look at and it's "secrets" are lame. Basically any secrets it has are holes under boulders or completely invisible holes you bomb to unlock. You can find these with the stone of agony but you need a rumble pak to even use it. Otherwise, you either have to randomly guess where they are like Zelda 1 or memorize where they, are after looking them up, on future playthroughs like I did. Wouldn't be much of an issue if some of them didn't have important stuff like gold skulltulas or a heart piece. Outside of that, you have a tedious big poe quest and a single NPC that's used in quest. Honestly if the secrets were just a little better, it was more visually appealing and there were a couple more NPC's, this main overworld, that's connected to every area, would be so much better to me. Honestly I feel like Majora's Mask fixed this issue with Termina Field, which is way better imo, but as it stands this is my least favorite part of the game imo. The area's connected to Hyrule Field are good however, Visually distinct and they have plenty of actually good secrets and collectables to find. However, actual side quests in this game aren't too great imo. The Biggoron one is memorable, but all the others aren't too great imo and are very much overshadowed by Majora Mask's fantastic side quests. Like there's literally a mask side quest where you have to obtain masks and sell them to NPC's. The reward isn't great, another mask, and it just reminds me of how MM handled its mask items way better. Tho alas, I should not be comparing it to a future game like that so I will stop.
My least favorite part of them game, besides Hyrule field, is young Link's portion. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad but the dungeons you go through don't compare to Adult Link's Temples. The Great Deku tree is a solid starting dungeon but it's also very simple. Same with Dodongo's Cavern and Jabu-Jabu's Belly. None of them are bad, they're just very simple compared to temples. Something that is great tho, and this applies to every dungeon in the game, is how visually distinct and memorable they are. 2D Zelda dungeons are great and all but they just don't compare to 3D ones. The type of stuff you can do in 3D dungeons can't be replicated in 2D ones. Jumping from the top of a tree and feeling the full depth of your fall as you land on a spider-web and bust through it due to gravity. Just can't work in 2D. I can see why people might prefer 2D ones tho. As long as they're well designed, they're usually more complicated and technically better "dungeons" where its easy to get lost. However, they lack the spectacle that I prefer in 3D ones. The first 3 young Link dungeons are very linear for example. They have puzzles ofc but it's hard to get lost in them unlike 2D ones. However, I don't mind that (tho in these first 3 dungeons case I guess I do cuz they're a bit TOO simple) and that's proven by the five temples in this game. Adult Link temples, while still probably more linear than some 2D Zelda dungeons, rock my socks. I'll just get into this now, Water temple is not bad. It was my least favorite temple this playthrough, but it's not bad..just can be a little tedious. It's the most complex and backtracky dungeon in the game, and feels kinda like a 2D dungeon but that's at the cost of being a little more tedious than the others (not only due to the design of the place but the iron boots ofc). It can be tough to figure out but I can apprecauet that. Fire temple is also good but just doesn't stick out as much as the other three. Shadow has a very disturbing atmosphere and relies on tricks and traps. Forest and Spirit temple are easily the best dungeons in the game. Forest is very atmospheric and is a very nicely designed dungeon with a great temple theme. Spirit temple is the only one to make use of both young and adult Link, and it does it well, as well as having the best dungeon boss in the game. Not every dungeon in this game is like amazing, but when it hits..IT HITS. Oh also the dungeon bosses vary in quality. Twinrova is the best boss in the game I think. She makes great use of the mirror shield and the witch sisters have actual dialogue and are actual characters that make the boss that much better. Phantom Ganon is cool as well and Ganondorf/Ganon himself is ofc badass. There are some weaker bosses like King Dodongo being piss easy or Morpha being very easy to cheese, however even these weaker bosses are cool to see now that the games in 3D.
Quick thing on the visuals. They don't look bad but they can be a bit ugly at times. Obviously, this is a game from 1998, so I can let it slide somewhat. I played on an actual N64 so the resolution and framerate are pretty bad. They had to be to even run this game at the time, so with knowledge of that and how the game looks its impressive. Still, I know I'd say I wouldn't compare it to Majora's Mask again...but that game is on the same system and looks way more vibrant to me. I know it's using the expansion pass but still..
The soundtrack is absolutely iconic. ALTTP is where Zelda's Lullaby originated, howevrr this version is way more iconic to me. Same with Kakariko Village tho I honestly might like ALTTP's version of it hehe. As for original songs, Lost Woods, Song of Storms, Gerudo Valley, Lon Lon Ranch are all bangers and are super duper iconic for good reasons. The Ocarina songs are all really good, and I actually like how the Ocarina plays a much bigger part in this game compared to the last two games it was in. My absolute favorite song in the game funnily enough, is Requiem of Spirit. Always has been, always will be. Something about it is kinda eerie yet mysterious. It's such a short song yet it's my favorite, idk why lol.
I was honestly very conflicted while playing this. Due to my complaints with Hyrule field/sidequests and me overplaying this game back in the day, part of me wanted to keep this at an 8. However, this game really was important in expanding my taste in games and is just an important landmark of a game in general. What really pushed me to bump it to a 9 though, was the ending. I've already seen it before, but I teared up. Not just teared up, I actually started to cry a bit. I don't know if it's just because the ending is very sweet and emotional, or because it reminded me the days I'd used to play this game a ton (insert anology of how I longed for my days of being a child just like Adult Link does at the end of the game or something idk). Either way, yeah I'll bump it to a 9. Game's not perfect but it is awesome, that's all that needs to be said.
I'm going to play Katamari Damacy after this and then move on to my personal favorite Zelda, Majora's Mask. Look forward to those reviews in the near future!
Mute kid starts a rock collection, then takes a nap. After waking, decides he's too old for dumb rocks, he collects coins now.
Understands that the true Dark World is adulthood and that Time will mold us all into adults, whether we want it to or not. Collect your spiritual trinkets if you want some illusion of choice, but those in charge are pulling up the strings of your playpen from the shadows. Seven years will pass and the apocalypse will arrive with droughts and flames and frozen wastes, the leaders and heroes of youth rendered useless against the unstoppable forces of evil, leaving you to pick up the pieces. Masterpiece. You had to be there. Each playthrough allows you to see your past gaming selves as Young Link; you now naively see yourself as the more capable and wise Adult Link who is too embarrassed to use the boomerang. A Nintendo game that forces you to grapple with mortality and innocence and the cycle of fathers and sons in ways that grim Atlus JRPGs about demons could only dream of. Godlike!!! Majora's Mask stans will talk about their little stories that they write down in their little bomberman notebook or whatever, but it was all in here too - you just didn't have a checklist or trinkets to reward you for engaging with the material. Gameplay is still rock solid (on Nintendo's first try!!), but you come to this thing for mood, atmosphere, text, subtext. OCARINA OF TIME BABY
It's the beginning of autumn. I'm done configuring a fanmade PC port of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It's 2022. Four years. It's been almost over four years since I originally played this game, on my old 2DS system. I have many memories of experiencing OOT, whether it be from it's humble but impactful story, appealing atmosphere, masterful music, and most importantly, seeing if it held up to my expectations. For 20 years (at the time), it was, and still is, one of the most critically acclaimed and important video games of all time. I remember being drawn into the world and story of the game, and it quickly became an all time favorite for my younger self. It's an experience I held near and dear to my heart, and here we are again, four years later. Would the game still be as good as I remembered it four years ago? Or would it be where my memories failed me?
There's something awe inspiring about OOT's sheer polish for the first 3D game in the series. Link controls exactly how you expect him to, he has a handy arsenal of weapons, several means of fast travel the further you get through the game, and has now dawned one of his most iconic designs in the franchise. The land of Hyrule is interconnected brilliantly through many different shortcuts and pathways that tie the cohesion of this world together, it makes it feel like a real place. There's all of these dungeons, while not very difficult in the slightest, are designed so tightly and have a satisfaction to figuring out practically anything in them. Lastly, there's the combat. While simple in terms of control and enemy variety, it works excellently, having no clunk or questionable design choices. I feel that's a great way to describe this game- it all just works. I rarely felt like "what were they thinking???", because it's put together with so much competency.
Ocarina of Time, while not exactly a game that has gracefully aged graphically, puts a lot of effort into giving a heavy atmosphere and mood. Dungeons like the Forest and Shadow temple have so much weight to their feel, especially with the dark and grueling context to the Shadow Temple's history. The lost woods has such a feeling of magical whimsy and mystique with its emphasis on guidance of music and fog. The Final Boss is still one of the most visually impressive things the N64 has EVER pushed out, with the shadows interrupted by lightning to emphasize the horror of the opponent before you, the fate of Hyrule completely on your shoulders. It's immaculate.
The story of the game isn't exactly peak fiction or excruciatingly dense, but there's just something about it that leaves a profound feeling when it's over. Throughout my revisit, I was expecting some bit of emotion due to my past experiences and how time has changed me. I felt some chills here or there from a song in the game I remember loving, sure, but it took the ending to finally break me. A pedestal with the Master Sword, sitting profoundly as it can finally be put to rest for many, many, years. The bells ring as the curtain begins to close. This time, it broke me. The feeling of four years passing finally crushed me and I had to let it out. I cried. I cried for a solid minute. It made me completely shut down as I saw the ending come to a close. But when it was all over, I felt so much better. All that stress just melted away as I knew i had truly experienced something that I loved.
It's no surprise that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a game about growing up. The game taught me this well. I've grown a lot over four years, believe it or not. After Link turns away, leaving the Master Sword behind forever to further his own life, the life he deserved, it connected with me on a much greater level. I still have a lot of things to learn and grow from, but this game definitely reached out to me, and what I'm experiencing. It's simply amazing.
It's Ocarina of Time.
There's something awe inspiring about OOT's sheer polish for the first 3D game in the series. Link controls exactly how you expect him to, he has a handy arsenal of weapons, several means of fast travel the further you get through the game, and has now dawned one of his most iconic designs in the franchise. The land of Hyrule is interconnected brilliantly through many different shortcuts and pathways that tie the cohesion of this world together, it makes it feel like a real place. There's all of these dungeons, while not very difficult in the slightest, are designed so tightly and have a satisfaction to figuring out practically anything in them. Lastly, there's the combat. While simple in terms of control and enemy variety, it works excellently, having no clunk or questionable design choices. I feel that's a great way to describe this game- it all just works. I rarely felt like "what were they thinking???", because it's put together with so much competency.
Ocarina of Time, while not exactly a game that has gracefully aged graphically, puts a lot of effort into giving a heavy atmosphere and mood. Dungeons like the Forest and Shadow temple have so much weight to their feel, especially with the dark and grueling context to the Shadow Temple's history. The lost woods has such a feeling of magical whimsy and mystique with its emphasis on guidance of music and fog. The Final Boss is still one of the most visually impressive things the N64 has EVER pushed out, with the shadows interrupted by lightning to emphasize the horror of the opponent before you, the fate of Hyrule completely on your shoulders. It's immaculate.
The story of the game isn't exactly peak fiction or excruciatingly dense, but there's just something about it that leaves a profound feeling when it's over. Throughout my revisit, I was expecting some bit of emotion due to my past experiences and how time has changed me. I felt some chills here or there from a song in the game I remember loving, sure, but it took the ending to finally break me. A pedestal with the Master Sword, sitting profoundly as it can finally be put to rest for many, many, years. The bells ring as the curtain begins to close. This time, it broke me. The feeling of four years passing finally crushed me and I had to let it out. I cried. I cried for a solid minute. It made me completely shut down as I saw the ending come to a close. But when it was all over, I felt so much better. All that stress just melted away as I knew i had truly experienced something that I loved.
It's no surprise that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a game about growing up. The game taught me this well. I've grown a lot over four years, believe it or not. After Link turns away, leaving the Master Sword behind forever to further his own life, the life he deserved, it connected with me on a much greater level. I still have a lot of things to learn and grow from, but this game definitely reached out to me, and what I'm experiencing. It's simply amazing.
It's Ocarina of Time.
Edit (2023)
I originally wrote this in a salty mood. Now I still think the dungeons aren't particularly fun - they're nice when you're not super stuck or dying to a bat - but I like the jank ambition of OoT a lot. And the atmosphere is still great. And all the npcs and little item interactions are great .. I sort of wish they'd try making this scale of Zelda again, but with the better design knowhow of 2023.
--
In summary: https://twitter.com/han_tani2/status/1529794146617421824
(Edited to add some positive things about the spatial concepts of the dungeons and towns)
Would you put a health bar into a 3D block / hidden object game, so if you die at the end of three puzzles, you have to redo all of them? Probably not!
Now imagine that there was a game that did this - and in fact, it sold well - not only that, but it became so unimaginably popular, that its idea - adding a health bar to a 3D puzzle game - became considered 'good practice' in thousands of games, and in fact, this game went on to have dozens of sequels with the same idea: put a health bar in a puzzle game.
Ocarina of Time strikes me as absurd. Having played through the water temple, there hasn't been a single truly interesting idea in any of the dungeons. The base mechanics are so flat and uninteresting - imprecise combat (even with the Z targeting), finicky auto-jumping, slow climbing, a camera that almost always points into the ground, and the need to walk slowly everywhere. When the atmosphere and setting do work, it feels more like a welcome distraction against the task of trying to play through the game.
Every room in OoT boils down to:
- Get oriented, see the obvious thing you need to do, and then do it.
- Sometimes doing it is hard: you might die (often from an enemy that's incidentally in the room, and not the conceptual focus of room puzzle), you might fall and need to re-do rooms. Sometimes it's slow and boring: you need to push a block around some ice.
(One room in the Water temple carefully makes you shoot a water-level-changing crystal 5 times to make it through. Nothing about this idea is interesting, the solution is obvious from the get go!)
Or worse, it might be a combat room, where you're subjected to a camera and combat system that's impossible to aim with, with enemies whose design concepts tend to be "invincible 90% of the time, maybe vulnerable in a weird, awkward window".
Every dungeon is dozens of these rooms stitched together, in a way where it's easy to miss a key you need, only to find you need it later - after completing 10 minutes of boring puzzle rooms. Then, you get to backtrack, and do the boring puzzle rooms again.
In this way, OoT feels like it was a 2D Puzzle game on paper, naive concepts hackily translated into 3D with a combat system grafted on.
Each new item you get is a failed answer to 'how do we make this interesting?' Pointing your bow around the room, bombing a dodongo, equipping the iron boots over and over. These new items are never fundamentally interesting, they just create a new paint job for a switch sitting on a ledge.
To OoT's defense, I think it succeeds with interesting spatial setups and dramatic pacing (deku tree web, etc, water temple water level) but the moment to moment execution of how you traverse those setpieces just really doesn't work. It's super cool to think about the process of climbing to the ceiling of the Fire Temple, but it's kind of shrug when you think about the moment to moment process of getting there.
The layout of the world is cool (on paper), it's just a slog to walk across. Likewise with the execution of the towns like Zora's Domain or Goron City - they're neat to be in, up until you need to Do Something.
If you knew exactly what to do and when to do it (to avoid backtracking or costly dead-end-investigation), I think this game would be a lot more tolerable. I can see why it became people's favorites if you're intimately familiar with it - breezing through dungeons and slowly making progress is actually a little fun.
Unfortunately (for this review) it doesn't make sense to review something in such a context of having played it 10 times...
--
In some ways, OoT fundamentally feels like a mix of Hidden Object games, the puzzle genre, and even mystery games/JRPGs. It's less a visionary step into 3D than it appears, it's more a hackjob of genres whose saving grace was the production value, hang-out-vibes and atmosphere.
It's very easy to get stuck or lost in the sections between dungeons. E.g., stopping the goron and waiting a minute for it to uncurl, in order to get into the entrance to the Fire Temple. And it's all hampered by slow movement and easily getting disoriented, making what might be a fairly straightforward puzzle into a nightmare.
--
What angers me about this game the most is how much Nintendo - and nostalgic developers - doubled
down on the travesty of mechanics the game has. Having a terrible core moveset, tons of stupid items with one-off uses has become 'good practice'. You can probably find a dozen youtube videos on what makes OoT's dungeons "work". None of the fundamentals here are 'good' - they're merely passable ideas that can become palatable through fancy art or story design.
To me, every game reproducing these ideas feels like a child-like grasping at recreating the magic of childhood favorite. And they ironically miss the point: what does manage to work about OoT is NOT those fundamentals of bad puzzles and combat and poor level design, it's the atmosphere and tone, it's the fun of uncovering a dungeon.
Even future Zelda games do this. I don't know how they became so fixated on this uncomfortable mix of tedious puzzles and sloppy action.
Most of what is required in OoT to progress the game is at best calmingly repetitive (it can be fun to breeze through a dungeon and slowly uncover its treasures), and at worst offensively tedious.
What's good about OoT is the strange NPCs, the quiet little subplots on how parts of the world change over time, the random horror, the way you can kind of just hang out and roll around in it. The sense of inhabiting a grand myth. But even that, to an extent, feels cheapened by a story that's too willing to make everything you do as an adult easily fix every single problem. The Kokiri Forest comes back to life! All the Gorons are safe! Zora's Domain melts!
As far as Japanese Anime story set-ups go, Young Link's stuff was not bad. But the follow through in Adult Link's repetitive romp through dungeons, at least through the Water Temple, feels like it's just going through the motions.
--
I originally wrote this in a salty mood. Now I still think the dungeons aren't particularly fun - they're nice when you're not super stuck or dying to a bat - but I like the jank ambition of OoT a lot. And the atmosphere is still great. And all the npcs and little item interactions are great .. I sort of wish they'd try making this scale of Zelda again, but with the better design knowhow of 2023.
--
In summary: https://twitter.com/han_tani2/status/1529794146617421824
(Edited to add some positive things about the spatial concepts of the dungeons and towns)
Would you put a health bar into a 3D block / hidden object game, so if you die at the end of three puzzles, you have to redo all of them? Probably not!
Now imagine that there was a game that did this - and in fact, it sold well - not only that, but it became so unimaginably popular, that its idea - adding a health bar to a 3D puzzle game - became considered 'good practice' in thousands of games, and in fact, this game went on to have dozens of sequels with the same idea: put a health bar in a puzzle game.
Ocarina of Time strikes me as absurd. Having played through the water temple, there hasn't been a single truly interesting idea in any of the dungeons. The base mechanics are so flat and uninteresting - imprecise combat (even with the Z targeting), finicky auto-jumping, slow climbing, a camera that almost always points into the ground, and the need to walk slowly everywhere. When the atmosphere and setting do work, it feels more like a welcome distraction against the task of trying to play through the game.
Every room in OoT boils down to:
- Get oriented, see the obvious thing you need to do, and then do it.
- Sometimes doing it is hard: you might die (often from an enemy that's incidentally in the room, and not the conceptual focus of room puzzle), you might fall and need to re-do rooms. Sometimes it's slow and boring: you need to push a block around some ice.
(One room in the Water temple carefully makes you shoot a water-level-changing crystal 5 times to make it through. Nothing about this idea is interesting, the solution is obvious from the get go!)
Or worse, it might be a combat room, where you're subjected to a camera and combat system that's impossible to aim with, with enemies whose design concepts tend to be "invincible 90% of the time, maybe vulnerable in a weird, awkward window".
Every dungeon is dozens of these rooms stitched together, in a way where it's easy to miss a key you need, only to find you need it later - after completing 10 minutes of boring puzzle rooms. Then, you get to backtrack, and do the boring puzzle rooms again.
In this way, OoT feels like it was a 2D Puzzle game on paper, naive concepts hackily translated into 3D with a combat system grafted on.
Each new item you get is a failed answer to 'how do we make this interesting?' Pointing your bow around the room, bombing a dodongo, equipping the iron boots over and over. These new items are never fundamentally interesting, they just create a new paint job for a switch sitting on a ledge.
To OoT's defense, I think it succeeds with interesting spatial setups and dramatic pacing (deku tree web, etc, water temple water level) but the moment to moment execution of how you traverse those setpieces just really doesn't work. It's super cool to think about the process of climbing to the ceiling of the Fire Temple, but it's kind of shrug when you think about the moment to moment process of getting there.
The layout of the world is cool (on paper), it's just a slog to walk across. Likewise with the execution of the towns like Zora's Domain or Goron City - they're neat to be in, up until you need to Do Something.
If you knew exactly what to do and when to do it (to avoid backtracking or costly dead-end-investigation), I think this game would be a lot more tolerable. I can see why it became people's favorites if you're intimately familiar with it - breezing through dungeons and slowly making progress is actually a little fun.
Unfortunately (for this review) it doesn't make sense to review something in such a context of having played it 10 times...
--
In some ways, OoT fundamentally feels like a mix of Hidden Object games, the puzzle genre, and even mystery games/JRPGs. It's less a visionary step into 3D than it appears, it's more a hackjob of genres whose saving grace was the production value, hang-out-vibes and atmosphere.
It's very easy to get stuck or lost in the sections between dungeons. E.g., stopping the goron and waiting a minute for it to uncurl, in order to get into the entrance to the Fire Temple. And it's all hampered by slow movement and easily getting disoriented, making what might be a fairly straightforward puzzle into a nightmare.
--
What angers me about this game the most is how much Nintendo - and nostalgic developers - doubled
down on the travesty of mechanics the game has. Having a terrible core moveset, tons of stupid items with one-off uses has become 'good practice'. You can probably find a dozen youtube videos on what makes OoT's dungeons "work". None of the fundamentals here are 'good' - they're merely passable ideas that can become palatable through fancy art or story design.
To me, every game reproducing these ideas feels like a child-like grasping at recreating the magic of childhood favorite. And they ironically miss the point: what does manage to work about OoT is NOT those fundamentals of bad puzzles and combat and poor level design, it's the atmosphere and tone, it's the fun of uncovering a dungeon.
Even future Zelda games do this. I don't know how they became so fixated on this uncomfortable mix of tedious puzzles and sloppy action.
Most of what is required in OoT to progress the game is at best calmingly repetitive (it can be fun to breeze through a dungeon and slowly uncover its treasures), and at worst offensively tedious.
What's good about OoT is the strange NPCs, the quiet little subplots on how parts of the world change over time, the random horror, the way you can kind of just hang out and roll around in it. The sense of inhabiting a grand myth. But even that, to an extent, feels cheapened by a story that's too willing to make everything you do as an adult easily fix every single problem. The Kokiri Forest comes back to life! All the Gorons are safe! Zora's Domain melts!
As far as Japanese Anime story set-ups go, Young Link's stuff was not bad. But the follow through in Adult Link's repetitive romp through dungeons, at least through the Water Temple, feels like it's just going through the motions.
--
No it is not overrated.
Fuck you.
Fuck you.
Ocarina of Time nunca esteve num pedestal pra mim. Posso com segurança dizer que nunca o superestimei. Tem jogo melhor, tem até Zelda melhor. Mesmo em seu lançamento, apesar de sua excelência artística e técnica, isso já era verdade.
Por outro lado, não creio que sou similarmente culpado do pecado de subestimar Ocarina of Time. Se é contestável dizer que ele é o "melhor jogo de todos os tempos", é inegável que ele é um dos melhores. Mesmo 26 anos depois, isso permanece verdade.
OoT é uma aula de como se fazer uma aventura 3D, aula que até hoje muitos desenvolvedores não absorveram plenamente. Seja em ritmo, controles, world design, dungeons, variedade, atmosfera, temas... Cada um de seus elementos é feito com uma excelência tão profunda que é até compreensível alguns fãs mais animados o conclamarem como perfeito. Isso, é claro, é exagero. Mas bem menos do que se imagina...
P.S.: Joguei a versão decompilada, Ship of Harkinian. Ter a oportunidade de jogar OoT em 1080p, 120fps, com loadings praticamente inexistentes e vários QoL é prova de que pirataria, principalmente de games da Nintendo, é belo e moral.
(pelamor, eu sei que decompilação não é pirataria, me deixa em paz)
Por outro lado, não creio que sou similarmente culpado do pecado de subestimar Ocarina of Time. Se é contestável dizer que ele é o "melhor jogo de todos os tempos", é inegável que ele é um dos melhores. Mesmo 26 anos depois, isso permanece verdade.
OoT é uma aula de como se fazer uma aventura 3D, aula que até hoje muitos desenvolvedores não absorveram plenamente. Seja em ritmo, controles, world design, dungeons, variedade, atmosfera, temas... Cada um de seus elementos é feito com uma excelência tão profunda que é até compreensível alguns fãs mais animados o conclamarem como perfeito. Isso, é claro, é exagero. Mas bem menos do que se imagina...
P.S.: Joguei a versão decompilada, Ship of Harkinian. Ter a oportunidade de jogar OoT em 1080p, 120fps, com loadings praticamente inexistentes e vários QoL é prova de que pirataria, principalmente de games da Nintendo, é belo e moral.
(pelamor, eu sei que decompilação não é pirataria, me deixa em paz)
Maybe one day I will write a proper review of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. A lot has already been said about this game as well though so for now I’m just going to leave these ramblings.
Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of the most important games ever and is considered the best of all time by many for good reason. I think it might be one of the greatest hero’s journeys humans have ever created. It’s also a great coming of age/facing adulthood experience too. There’s a reason why, even if you have never played it before, if you play it today for the first time ever it will still feel nostalgic.
The gameplay and controls were an important breakthrough and a stand out for the time. It left an influence that can still be seen today, I think pretty much all 3D action/adventure games since owe this game. It still holds up too and is great to play now. It’s great game design and ridiculously impressive when you remember it was Nintendo’s first go at a 3D Zelda.
Visually it was breath taking at the time and surprisingly holds up really well for an earlier 3D game. It doesn’t matter how much graphics have improved since it has a great art style and so much charm and atmosphere.
The soundtrack is phenomenal and I would happily throw out entire, well known and liked game franchises to keep it. And those classic sounds, like opening a chest or finding a secret, god damn, so good.
It has one of the best beginnings to any game ever as well. The opening cinematic is great and the village and Deku tree work as a perfect tutorial. By the time you run out onto Hyrule Field the game has perfectly introduced you to the world, the story and gameplay and filled you with wonder and anticipation. The great pacing continues throughout as well.
There are some flaws though, I’m not completely blind. Navi can be annoying and the owl is way to chatty but nostalgia has rounded off this problem. It’s also too easy, although I didn’t think this as a kid. There is also some quality of life improvements needed, like being able to change items/equipment quicker. It has this weird issue too, were at times the game can feel too hand hold-y but then lean more obtuse at other times.
I think this game is pretty much as good as it could possibly be when you factor in the limitations of the time and the N64 hardware.
Zelda: Ocarina of Time blew me away as a kid when it was new and I played it a lot. I played it again as a teen and fell in love and developed a deeper appreciation for it. I played it again as an adult and it solidified its place as the best, even if there are other games I like more. I revisited it again more recently and I still love it. I will be playing this game at least every ten years until they bury me.
Zelda: Ocarina of Time was one of the key games that made me fall in love with this medium. I think it might be time to do another play through.
9.8/10
Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of the most important games ever and is considered the best of all time by many for good reason. I think it might be one of the greatest hero’s journeys humans have ever created. It’s also a great coming of age/facing adulthood experience too. There’s a reason why, even if you have never played it before, if you play it today for the first time ever it will still feel nostalgic.
The gameplay and controls were an important breakthrough and a stand out for the time. It left an influence that can still be seen today, I think pretty much all 3D action/adventure games since owe this game. It still holds up too and is great to play now. It’s great game design and ridiculously impressive when you remember it was Nintendo’s first go at a 3D Zelda.
Visually it was breath taking at the time and surprisingly holds up really well for an earlier 3D game. It doesn’t matter how much graphics have improved since it has a great art style and so much charm and atmosphere.
The soundtrack is phenomenal and I would happily throw out entire, well known and liked game franchises to keep it. And those classic sounds, like opening a chest or finding a secret, god damn, so good.
It has one of the best beginnings to any game ever as well. The opening cinematic is great and the village and Deku tree work as a perfect tutorial. By the time you run out onto Hyrule Field the game has perfectly introduced you to the world, the story and gameplay and filled you with wonder and anticipation. The great pacing continues throughout as well.
There are some flaws though, I’m not completely blind. Navi can be annoying and the owl is way to chatty but nostalgia has rounded off this problem. It’s also too easy, although I didn’t think this as a kid. There is also some quality of life improvements needed, like being able to change items/equipment quicker. It has this weird issue too, were at times the game can feel too hand hold-y but then lean more obtuse at other times.
I think this game is pretty much as good as it could possibly be when you factor in the limitations of the time and the N64 hardware.
Zelda: Ocarina of Time blew me away as a kid when it was new and I played it a lot. I played it again as a teen and fell in love and developed a deeper appreciation for it. I played it again as an adult and it solidified its place as the best, even if there are other games I like more. I revisited it again more recently and I still love it. I will be playing this game at least every ten years until they bury me.
Zelda: Ocarina of Time was one of the key games that made me fall in love with this medium. I think it might be time to do another play through.
9.8/10
Overtime I came to see this game as overrated, but after replaying it I realize it was far from it. I’ve forgotten about my love for this beautiful game. Sure I know where to go, it’s easy and simple when you dissect the game to its core. However that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to play through. The music, sound effects, atmosphere, and world are plenty of good reasons for me to return to this in the future. For the first time a Zelda game was 3D, this was the result; A game that truly gives you a sense of progression. You have to appreciate Nintendo for laying down that foundation of what a 3D game could be like.
This review contains spoilers
(Replay) When a game has this good a story, one of the best dungeons in the series, and an absolutely masterclass ost, it's a sight to behold.
The Hero of Time, further elevated by Majora's Mask, is far and away my favorite silent protagonist of all time. There's a reason my username is what it is. And furthermore, these two games combined are probably my favorite coming of age story of all time as well. The arc that Link undergoes in this game teaches that maturity is not solely dependent on your age or appearance. Forced to skip most of his impressionable years, Link has to undergo adulthood with the mind of a child and learn what it truly means to grow up. The Sages represent various challenges of adolescence, the situations Link finds himself in force him into responsibilities he shouldn't be ready for yet. And after all his experiences, he matures as a person despite reverting back to the body of a child, and the guardian that represented childhood innocence flies away forever to symbolize this. And let's not forget how well the game sets up Ganondorf's character and the rest of the timeline. The final boss is also still stunning to this day and gives me chills every time.
And yeah Water Temple is goated, no questions asked.
The Hero of Time, further elevated by Majora's Mask, is far and away my favorite silent protagonist of all time. There's a reason my username is what it is. And furthermore, these two games combined are probably my favorite coming of age story of all time as well. The arc that Link undergoes in this game teaches that maturity is not solely dependent on your age or appearance. Forced to skip most of his impressionable years, Link has to undergo adulthood with the mind of a child and learn what it truly means to grow up. The Sages represent various challenges of adolescence, the situations Link finds himself in force him into responsibilities he shouldn't be ready for yet. And after all his experiences, he matures as a person despite reverting back to the body of a child, and the guardian that represented childhood innocence flies away forever to symbolize this. And let's not forget how well the game sets up Ganondorf's character and the rest of the timeline. The final boss is also still stunning to this day and gives me chills every time.
And yeah Water Temple is goated, no questions asked.
Tal vez no es el mejor videojuego de la historia y mucho menos el mejor dentro de su saga pero es innegable ver el carisma que posee y como se volvió un clásico atemporal dentro del medio, es interesante ver como pese a tener la historia mas arquetípica de todas esta se dispone a ser cínica en ocasiones con el relato de un Niño desdichado de su infancia para salvaguardar a un reino bajo la excusa típica del viaje del héroe, como se les arrebata la vida terrenal a personajes que conocimos durante el viaje para que estos mismos se vuelvan un aporte al lore de la leyenda de los títulos venideros, un clásico de clásicos sin duda alguna.
sorry nothing will ever stop me from saying this is one of the best games ever made (one of the first games I've ever played as well so I'm a little biased, but I don't care)
“The flow of time is always cruel... Its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it... A thing that does not change with time is a memory of younger days...”
If I could forget one game completely and experience it for the first time again, it would be Ocarina of Time. Not just because I'd like to "Ooh" and "Aah" at the adventure, but because I recognize that I'm COMPLETELY unable to be objective about it. I can't really tell if this game holds up! I've loved Ocarina for over 20 years, so nostalgia may very well have blinded me to this game’s shortcomings. It’s possible that the game is just not that great by today’s standards, and I'm unable to see it.
But I don’t think so.
A few years ago, I wanted to know if this holds up for new players. I watched a handful of videos on people who finally played OoT for the first time and gave their impressions. I also had the fantastic experience of getting my wife interested in Zelda. I was playing Twilight Princess HD shortly after its release, and she took the Wii U Gamepad from me in the Arbiter’s Grounds and didn’t give it back until the credits rolled. After that, I seized the opportunity to get her to play as much 3D Zelda as she would let me, and watching her get sucked into Ocarina of Time was fantastic. She had played TP and Wind Waker before we got to that point, so she was frustrated by the lack of a camera stick, but that was her only criticism as she went through the majority of the game. She even enjoyed the Water Temple! (She ended up giving me the controller for most of the Shadow Temple though, that was definitely her least favorite part)
All I can do to get an objective reading on the game is observe others as they react to Link’s first foray into the third dimension, and I’m impressed at how consistently newbies still seem to enjoy it. When other early 3D pioneers like Mario 64, Final Fantasy VII, Crash Bandicoot or Sonic Adventure get revisited, they’re often met with complaints and criticisms over their controls, dated visuals, pacing, or gameplay that has simply lost its novelty due to advances in modern games. But Ocarina of Time seems to be an exception. The criticisms of the game come from those like myself, who are overly familiar with every detail. We’ve played through the game so many times that the magic is lessened, if not gone entirely. Yet this adventure through Hyrule continues to resonate with new players.
And how could it not! The dungeons are varied. The enemies are engaging. The music is some of the best ever put on a cartridge. The story beats and twists that most of us now take for granted (but potentially aren’t known to someone reading this) have actual weight to them. The world, while not gigantic compared to modern games, is still as large as it needs to be, and filled with memorable characters and locales.
At its core, I think this game has endured because it’s a well-presented adventure with relatable themes and an engrossing world to explore. The gameplay alone, while solid, wouldn’t have made it the classic it is. And even though I’ve beaten it more times than I can remember and some of that magic is gone, my familiarity has never trumped my sense of wonder. I will always be grateful for the time I've spent with it.
If I could forget one game completely and experience it for the first time again, it would be Ocarina of Time. Not just because I'd like to "Ooh" and "Aah" at the adventure, but because I recognize that I'm COMPLETELY unable to be objective about it. I can't really tell if this game holds up! I've loved Ocarina for over 20 years, so nostalgia may very well have blinded me to this game’s shortcomings. It’s possible that the game is just not that great by today’s standards, and I'm unable to see it.
But I don’t think so.
A few years ago, I wanted to know if this holds up for new players. I watched a handful of videos on people who finally played OoT for the first time and gave their impressions. I also had the fantastic experience of getting my wife interested in Zelda. I was playing Twilight Princess HD shortly after its release, and she took the Wii U Gamepad from me in the Arbiter’s Grounds and didn’t give it back until the credits rolled. After that, I seized the opportunity to get her to play as much 3D Zelda as she would let me, and watching her get sucked into Ocarina of Time was fantastic. She had played TP and Wind Waker before we got to that point, so she was frustrated by the lack of a camera stick, but that was her only criticism as she went through the majority of the game. She even enjoyed the Water Temple! (She ended up giving me the controller for most of the Shadow Temple though, that was definitely her least favorite part)
All I can do to get an objective reading on the game is observe others as they react to Link’s first foray into the third dimension, and I’m impressed at how consistently newbies still seem to enjoy it. When other early 3D pioneers like Mario 64, Final Fantasy VII, Crash Bandicoot or Sonic Adventure get revisited, they’re often met with complaints and criticisms over their controls, dated visuals, pacing, or gameplay that has simply lost its novelty due to advances in modern games. But Ocarina of Time seems to be an exception. The criticisms of the game come from those like myself, who are overly familiar with every detail. We’ve played through the game so many times that the magic is lessened, if not gone entirely. Yet this adventure through Hyrule continues to resonate with new players.
And how could it not! The dungeons are varied. The enemies are engaging. The music is some of the best ever put on a cartridge. The story beats and twists that most of us now take for granted (but potentially aren’t known to someone reading this) have actual weight to them. The world, while not gigantic compared to modern games, is still as large as it needs to be, and filled with memorable characters and locales.
At its core, I think this game has endured because it’s a well-presented adventure with relatable themes and an engrossing world to explore. The gameplay alone, while solid, wouldn’t have made it the classic it is. And even though I’ve beaten it more times than I can remember and some of that magic is gone, my familiarity has never trumped my sense of wonder. I will always be grateful for the time I've spent with it.
Best Game of All Time? More like Most Overrated Game of All Time.
growing up i loved ocarina of time, first big game i dedicated my time to. i first bought it on gamecube, got stuck on jabu jabu, then decided to finish it on 3ds back when it was the new hot thing. so ofc its my favorite game of all time, that was until i was exposed to the internet. i didnt outright hear awful things about it but gradually i understood the notion that this game shouldnt be #1 and that it was a bit overrated, and i was starting to dislike that i couldnt shake the fact that its my #1 game on the throne hell i even thought my brothers fav game FF7 was a cooler choice. but lately ive been realizing like ''hey, this game did shape me. it gave me a sense of adventure, atmosphere and wonder. this game is epic awesome sauce and i will learn to appreciate through my own lens