The big thing the Zelda series seems to have taken from Link's Awakening was that the story it presents needs to have emotional resonance. For me that makes a world of difference between A Link to the Past, which is a standard save the world plot with fairly silly and superfluous attempts at lore, and Ocarina of Time, which is a standard save the world plot with fairly silly and superfluous attempts at lore but also characters you create emotional connections with, places you care about, and themes of coming of age and growing into the role required of you that strike just as well for me at 29 years old as they did at 12. This resonance makes it so much easier for me to forgive Ocarina of Time's blemishes and less well-aged aspects than with A Link to the Past.
And there are certainly blemishes, even with the remaster working hard to make the game still play well. A large chunk of the game, from the Ice Palace through to the Water Temple and then finally the Thieves' Hideout, is frustrating enough that it actually ended my previous playthrough of the game a few years ago. There's also not nearly enough guidance provided on where to locate some progression-critical items (notably the Lens of Truth and Din's Fire) which can force people unfamiliar with the game, and unfortunate enough to not stumble across said items, to turn to a walkthrough.
There's also some wonderful stuff here though, too. The Forest Temple is an all-time great Zelda dungeon, I love all the non-Water adult-dungeons in some way, and the Bottom of the Well provides some genuinely chilling moments of horror. The Lens of Truth is one of my favourite items in the series, amazing for how it makes the world around feel bigger and more mysterious, the game is great at keeping its pool of items largely relevant right up until the very end, and the encounters with Shiek are particularly lovely. Even Hyrule Field, which nowadays feels much smaller and more empty than it did when I was a teenager, still makes you feel something as you step out there for the first time as Young Link, a grand adventure beckoning you onwards.
And there are certainly blemishes, even with the remaster working hard to make the game still play well. A large chunk of the game, from the Ice Palace through to the Water Temple and then finally the Thieves' Hideout, is frustrating enough that it actually ended my previous playthrough of the game a few years ago. There's also not nearly enough guidance provided on where to locate some progression-critical items (notably the Lens of Truth and Din's Fire) which can force people unfamiliar with the game, and unfortunate enough to not stumble across said items, to turn to a walkthrough.
There's also some wonderful stuff here though, too. The Forest Temple is an all-time great Zelda dungeon, I love all the non-Water adult-dungeons in some way, and the Bottom of the Well provides some genuinely chilling moments of horror. The Lens of Truth is one of my favourite items in the series, amazing for how it makes the world around feel bigger and more mysterious, the game is great at keeping its pool of items largely relevant right up until the very end, and the encounters with Shiek are particularly lovely. Even Hyrule Field, which nowadays feels much smaller and more empty than it did when I was a teenager, still makes you feel something as you step out there for the first time as Young Link, a grand adventure beckoning you onwards.