This review contains spoilers
I grew up in the early 2010's, and a lot of my earliest gaming opinions were formed based on the videos that I consumed at the time from content creators that I looked up to. I don't really agree with this methodology anymore, of course - it's much worse than simply playing games myself - but as a kid who didn't really have access to emulation a lot of the time, it was an easy way to pretend as if I had played a game and did know what I was talking about. I never played Metroid Fusion back then, but I'd insist that it was basically a horror title, because YouTubers claimed it to be.
Many of these YouTubers I watched at the time were around my age (then 10 years old) when they first played The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. So, as adults, they were filled with nostalgia for the game, and that would manifest a lot in their videos. Oftentimes, this would additionally manifest as a distaste for the critical acclaim that Ocarina of Time had garnered, and they'd preface almost all their praise of The Wind Waker with statements about how overrated Ocarina of Time is. It was pretty overbearing, but it resonated a lot with me as a child. These people were the most prestigious authorities on gaming there were to me.
So, even though I grew up with Ocarina of Time, I always held a certain disdain for it. I saw it as the inferior Zelda, the one that was the most generic of them all. (Ironically, I praised Minish Cap often, which is what I would now say is the most generic title.) It was only a few years ago when I finally replayed it as an adult that I realized just how important this game is to me.
Even divorced from any and all critical acclaim, Ocarina of Time is a masterpiece. A masterpiece I could only really understand with the context of the act of maturing, one that this game is fundamentally about. A classic coming-of-age story where part of the protagonist's journey is to literally mature, and at that point, everything gets harder. Dungeons become more complicated. Your guide is no longer an overbearing owl who speaks in clear directions, but a strange and enigmatic ninja who waxes lyrical about environments through poetry. Nothing is clear anymore. Nothing is safe anymore. Enchanting locales from your childhood such as Goron City and Zora's Domain have been decimated and run down. They're no longer as magical to you as they were as a child.
It was not until I experienced this firsthand, being thrust into the job market after high school, that it finally began to truly resonate with me. The constant uphill battle of adulthood, to truly exist in a society that distinctly does not want you to succeed - Ocarina of Time captures it completely. The world feels like the destroyed castle town. Bleak, hollowed-out, and full of people who don't care anymore. People who've long given up on the idea of happiness.
But eventually, it does get easier. You become more familiar with the world. You get the tools you need, and one day, you're finally ready to defeat the dark lord of your anxieties that diminish your personal growth. Despite everything working against you, you find a place you belong.
With the world's permission or not.
Many of these YouTubers I watched at the time were around my age (then 10 years old) when they first played The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. So, as adults, they were filled with nostalgia for the game, and that would manifest a lot in their videos. Oftentimes, this would additionally manifest as a distaste for the critical acclaim that Ocarina of Time had garnered, and they'd preface almost all their praise of The Wind Waker with statements about how overrated Ocarina of Time is. It was pretty overbearing, but it resonated a lot with me as a child. These people were the most prestigious authorities on gaming there were to me.
So, even though I grew up with Ocarina of Time, I always held a certain disdain for it. I saw it as the inferior Zelda, the one that was the most generic of them all. (Ironically, I praised Minish Cap often, which is what I would now say is the most generic title.) It was only a few years ago when I finally replayed it as an adult that I realized just how important this game is to me.
Even divorced from any and all critical acclaim, Ocarina of Time is a masterpiece. A masterpiece I could only really understand with the context of the act of maturing, one that this game is fundamentally about. A classic coming-of-age story where part of the protagonist's journey is to literally mature, and at that point, everything gets harder. Dungeons become more complicated. Your guide is no longer an overbearing owl who speaks in clear directions, but a strange and enigmatic ninja who waxes lyrical about environments through poetry. Nothing is clear anymore. Nothing is safe anymore. Enchanting locales from your childhood such as Goron City and Zora's Domain have been decimated and run down. They're no longer as magical to you as they were as a child.
It was not until I experienced this firsthand, being thrust into the job market after high school, that it finally began to truly resonate with me. The constant uphill battle of adulthood, to truly exist in a society that distinctly does not want you to succeed - Ocarina of Time captures it completely. The world feels like the destroyed castle town. Bleak, hollowed-out, and full of people who don't care anymore. People who've long given up on the idea of happiness.
But eventually, it does get easier. You become more familiar with the world. You get the tools you need, and one day, you're finally ready to defeat the dark lord of your anxieties that diminish your personal growth. Despite everything working against you, you find a place you belong.
With the world's permission or not.
3 Comments
I had a similar relationship with Ocarina of Time when I was younger (and Final Fantasy VII which took me like 20 years to realize was my favorite game after pretending to be above it for so long), though I'm closer to the age group of the YouTubers you describe since I had actually played it and beaten it around the time I had also beaten Wind Waker, I was just being an ultra-contrarian as a teenager tbh. Wasn't until I replayed it in my late 20s that I realized I was stupid as fuck!! Majora's Mask is the one I'd consider the most meaningful piece of art in the Zelda series, but Ocarina of Time is like the platonic ideal of the straight-laced action-adventure title -- with just enough underlying darkness to make the world not feel overly saccharine.
Such a good review
CDX
1 year ago