I think, at the time of its release, Oracle of Seasons had the most enjoyable moment-to-moment gameplay of any Zelda game that had been made. Considering it was the most new Zelda game at the time this isn't that absurd a notion, but still impressive to me considering this game was made for the then-nearly-obsolete Game Boy Color. The selection of items available is inventive and joyful (the magnet glove ranks among the smile-inducing Zelda items ever for me), by the end of the game the movement options feel way more empowering than those of a top-down GBC game have any right to be, the game oozes frankly ridiculous amounts of charm, the season mechanic has just enough depth to add flavour and identity to the game without bogging it down, and apart from the customary couple moments of obtuse progression the whole game just flies by at a really nice pace always ready to throw its next neat idea at you.
The excessive amount of menu-ing to swap items around (much like in Link's Awakening only having two item buttons necessitates this) is really the only meaningful flaw in terms of the actual gameplay here, making Oracle of Seasons more refined than any of the earlier entries in the series in that department. I do wish that Seasons had stuck the landing a bit better however, the final mini-dungeon and associated boss are by a wide distance the game's nadir only for the game to then say that you need to go play another game to get anything really resembling resolution or catharsis.
Despite how smooth the gameplay is here, and how much the game just breezed by, I do think I like Oracle of Seasons a touch less than both Ocarina of Time and Link's Awakening. I think this would already likely be the case due to Season's disappointing ending, but there's something else going on here too. Awakening, Ocarina and Majora's Mask all did a great job at managing to add an emotional core to the Zelda series that elevates those games above their moment-to-moment gameplay and helps them linger with you long after they're done. In contrast Oracle of Seasons is a ton of fun, but easily forgotten when you're finally done.
The excessive amount of menu-ing to swap items around (much like in Link's Awakening only having two item buttons necessitates this) is really the only meaningful flaw in terms of the actual gameplay here, making Oracle of Seasons more refined than any of the earlier entries in the series in that department. I do wish that Seasons had stuck the landing a bit better however, the final mini-dungeon and associated boss are by a wide distance the game's nadir only for the game to then say that you need to go play another game to get anything really resembling resolution or catharsis.
Despite how smooth the gameplay is here, and how much the game just breezed by, I do think I like Oracle of Seasons a touch less than both Ocarina of Time and Link's Awakening. I think this would already likely be the case due to Season's disappointing ending, but there's something else going on here too. Awakening, Ocarina and Majora's Mask all did a great job at managing to add an emotional core to the Zelda series that elevates those games above their moment-to-moment gameplay and helps them linger with you long after they're done. In contrast Oracle of Seasons is a ton of fun, but easily forgotten when you're finally done.
2 Comments
Thank you! :) And yeah, I agree completely with all of that, how all the pieces of a game can come together in a way that has a soulfulness great than their individual parts. On top of all of that, in Ocarina of Time there's just a bunch of moments that are very emotionally resonant on a textual-level too; Ganondorf's horse rearing up in front of Link, your first time exiting the Temple of Time to see what has become of Hyrule, Shiek's talks to you outside the various Temples stand out in my mind too for just having this very particular mood and feel to them. Oracle of Seasons is wonderful, and I enjoyed my time with it a whole bunch, but it doesn't really have any moments quite like those.
poyfuh
2 years ago