Ocarina is a really, really special game, one that doesn't come around often at all. This is my first time actually finishing it and I could not put it down, it feels so good to finally 'get' it. Its basically impossible to say something new about this game but I can speak from my personal experience - I didn't play it growing up but I can totally see why people are so enamoured by it, its a game with incredible scope for its time and a technical triumph but it also feels really personal and that's what I love most about it.
Ocarina set a new precedent for games in general and it still makes my head spin that it came out in 1998 because of just how much there is to take in and enjoy. So much stuff about ocarina feels undeniably 'modern' because of the trends it set and the boundaries it pushed, no other game up to that point in time had this level of detail and polish, nintendo were at the fucking top of their game. While ocarina certainly has a couple of problems and isn't always the smoothest ride, it ends up not really mattering in the slightest because even in its bumpier parts I felt so invested and determined to progress. While ocarina is an excellent game 'experience' on the surface, it is all of the stuff surrounding that quality game that i'm drawn to - there's very few game experiences that capture the sense of charm & adventure that ocarina has.
Through all of the really solid dungeons, massive amount of side stuff to do and things to discover, ocarina decorates and builds its world so well. There's not a crazy amount of actual narrative to push ocarina along but I also think its largely what you make of it, because this is YOUR adventure. The 'vibe' of ocarina is immaculate and I think its that immediately distinctive vibe that is responsible for most of the nostalgia and gushing love that people seem to hold for this game. At the end of the day you're unlikely to remember a single puzzle you solved years down the line - but the 'vibe', the sights, sounds & charm is what really sits with you. I mentioned in a review once about special 'moments' in games like the opera in final fantasy 6 which are exceptionally memorable, well, ocarina is practically made up of them! From the moment you step out into kokiri forest only to leave it behind to the intense final hour, it never stops throwing stuff at you. I love that as young link you're able to explore and find things out with little sense of urgency, it really helps the world and characters to sink in, building up an attachment and a connection which it fully plays into.
Ocarina is a big fantasy adventure but at its heart I think its actually very melancholy - you make these bonds with different characters and locations as a child only to grow up and see everything change. People you once recognised have changed or no longer recognise you, locations once bursting with life like hyrule castle and goron city suddenly feel desolate and sad. The 7 year timeskip works so well because it allows for the game to remain fresh and interesting but, for me, created this kind of pensive sadness. You have all these memories stored up from when you explored as young link - the songs you collected, the fun little 'moments' like waking up malon's dad, seeing epona as a pony, having dampe dig for you, exploring the lost woods etc - and these memories create an attachment, I didn't want this to change you know? Everyone and everything feels really happy and free-spirited but suddenly its all turned upside down.
This vibe is helped out a lot by Ocarina's instantly recognisable, whimsical music and audio design with all of its cute little midi sound effects, recurring melodies and soft ambience. Not to mention the day/night cycle which instantly switches up the tone when exploring outside. When it wants to be, ocarina can be incredibly unsettling and doesn't hold back. The redeads and gibdos in particular spook the fuck out of me, walking through the marketplace after the timeskip is not a nice experience, same with sections of the shadow temple and the bottom of the well. There's clearly a dark history to hyrule hidden underneath a coat of colourful paint and I love that the game isn't afraid to lay it bare when it feels like it despite this being a kid-friendly game.
Gameplay wise this playthrough was the first time that I really felt like I got the appeal of big 3D dungeons and getting lost was actually something I kind of looked forward to. I love the aesthetic of each dungeon and how different they all are, they all have their main gimmicks but none overstay their welcome barring 'that' one...
I think my favourite was the spirit temple because it embodies everything that I think ocarina does so well in its gameplay - from the journey you have to take to discover it to the unique approaches you have to take to solve it. Putting lots of your different tools and things you've learned to the test is always something I look forward to in games like this one and the spirit temple does an excellent job of rounding off the games' main dungeons - giving you equal time to explore as young link and adult link and presenting you with plenty of new enemies, setpieces and tools. Sometimes actually figuring out where to go or what items you will need to progress can be a bit of a pain but this time around I was really able to pretty consistently blast through the game without much issue.
The water temple is something else though, aesthetically and from a design perspective I think its awesome and it could be really great (i've heard it is on the 3ds), but I have to agree that the original water temple is a complete farce. Its so repetitive and loses steam very quickly once you start having to backtrack and change the water levels constantly, plus doing so takes forever because you need to keep manually swapping out your boots and slowly float up or down to actually get to where you're going. Its a maze but not in a fun way like in the forest temple - instead its just awkward and far too long, it took me almost 3 hours and I felt like I was tackling it at a reasonable pace all things considered.
Saying this, I do love the dark link section of the water temple and how ominous and unexpected it is. It is one of the best combat encounters in the entire game just for how unique it is and how much potential it has to be different for every player. Turning around and just seeing him there is so bizarre and creepy. After the fight I completely missed the time block behind the chest in the next room - meaning I had to backtrack all the way back there to finish the temple which took forever, not sure if that was just me being stupid or if it was actually pretty hidden.
Ocarina is filled with loads of different gameplay sections and ideas sprinkled in too which I think is great and unusual for a game of its time. There's a bunch of minigames including shooting ranges and races, a collectathon for gold skulltalas, duelling sword fights, a very cool stealth section in gerudo fortress and plenty of traversal variations - like riding horseback, using cucoos, grappling, swimming, climbing, planting magic beans in the past and using the magic plant to reach new areas in the future - there's so many different ways that you generally get around and the world opens itself up to it, not to mention being able to fast travel with warp songs & a warp spell you can unlock which feels really ahead of its time. This combined with the multitude of secrets to find like hidden holes in the ground, great fairy fountains and pieces of heart to gather up make ocarina of time feel constantly moving and basically always interesting even when you're just trying to get from A to B. The world is surprisingly big whilst still feeling contained enough that I never felt too far out of reach of wherever I had to be next - and its laid out beautifully, I love being able to see kakariko village from the top of death mountain and I think everyone loves seeing hyrule castle emerge over hyrule field for the first time, it is just magic!
When the final boss encounter was over and the spectacular ending scenarios played out, I honestly felt quite emotional. The games' melancholy feels directly addressed as Zelda admits the time that was stolen from Link and laments the avoidable suffering that was caused at the hands of ganondorf. Link is sent back to his time from the beginning and is able to spend his time with new friends and chosen family and its so heartwarming and beautiful. Ocarina has such a perfect ending sequence from the iconic Shiek reveal right up to the joyous final credits scene - I love the final dungeon and how it once again tests your mettle and your knowledge from what you've learned throughout the game and I couldn't get enough, I didn't want it to end but all great things must come to an end.
I will definitely be coming back to this soon and almost certainly the 3DS version which apparently fixes a few things and updates some graphics. Either way its so easy to see why this is regarded as one of if not THE greatest game of all time, its just fucking brilliant.
Ocarina set a new precedent for games in general and it still makes my head spin that it came out in 1998 because of just how much there is to take in and enjoy. So much stuff about ocarina feels undeniably 'modern' because of the trends it set and the boundaries it pushed, no other game up to that point in time had this level of detail and polish, nintendo were at the fucking top of their game. While ocarina certainly has a couple of problems and isn't always the smoothest ride, it ends up not really mattering in the slightest because even in its bumpier parts I felt so invested and determined to progress. While ocarina is an excellent game 'experience' on the surface, it is all of the stuff surrounding that quality game that i'm drawn to - there's very few game experiences that capture the sense of charm & adventure that ocarina has.
Through all of the really solid dungeons, massive amount of side stuff to do and things to discover, ocarina decorates and builds its world so well. There's not a crazy amount of actual narrative to push ocarina along but I also think its largely what you make of it, because this is YOUR adventure. The 'vibe' of ocarina is immaculate and I think its that immediately distinctive vibe that is responsible for most of the nostalgia and gushing love that people seem to hold for this game. At the end of the day you're unlikely to remember a single puzzle you solved years down the line - but the 'vibe', the sights, sounds & charm is what really sits with you. I mentioned in a review once about special 'moments' in games like the opera in final fantasy 6 which are exceptionally memorable, well, ocarina is practically made up of them! From the moment you step out into kokiri forest only to leave it behind to the intense final hour, it never stops throwing stuff at you. I love that as young link you're able to explore and find things out with little sense of urgency, it really helps the world and characters to sink in, building up an attachment and a connection which it fully plays into.
Ocarina is a big fantasy adventure but at its heart I think its actually very melancholy - you make these bonds with different characters and locations as a child only to grow up and see everything change. People you once recognised have changed or no longer recognise you, locations once bursting with life like hyrule castle and goron city suddenly feel desolate and sad. The 7 year timeskip works so well because it allows for the game to remain fresh and interesting but, for me, created this kind of pensive sadness. You have all these memories stored up from when you explored as young link - the songs you collected, the fun little 'moments' like waking up malon's dad, seeing epona as a pony, having dampe dig for you, exploring the lost woods etc - and these memories create an attachment, I didn't want this to change you know? Everyone and everything feels really happy and free-spirited but suddenly its all turned upside down.
This vibe is helped out a lot by Ocarina's instantly recognisable, whimsical music and audio design with all of its cute little midi sound effects, recurring melodies and soft ambience. Not to mention the day/night cycle which instantly switches up the tone when exploring outside. When it wants to be, ocarina can be incredibly unsettling and doesn't hold back. The redeads and gibdos in particular spook the fuck out of me, walking through the marketplace after the timeskip is not a nice experience, same with sections of the shadow temple and the bottom of the well. There's clearly a dark history to hyrule hidden underneath a coat of colourful paint and I love that the game isn't afraid to lay it bare when it feels like it despite this being a kid-friendly game.
Gameplay wise this playthrough was the first time that I really felt like I got the appeal of big 3D dungeons and getting lost was actually something I kind of looked forward to. I love the aesthetic of each dungeon and how different they all are, they all have their main gimmicks but none overstay their welcome barring 'that' one...
I think my favourite was the spirit temple because it embodies everything that I think ocarina does so well in its gameplay - from the journey you have to take to discover it to the unique approaches you have to take to solve it. Putting lots of your different tools and things you've learned to the test is always something I look forward to in games like this one and the spirit temple does an excellent job of rounding off the games' main dungeons - giving you equal time to explore as young link and adult link and presenting you with plenty of new enemies, setpieces and tools. Sometimes actually figuring out where to go or what items you will need to progress can be a bit of a pain but this time around I was really able to pretty consistently blast through the game without much issue.
The water temple is something else though, aesthetically and from a design perspective I think its awesome and it could be really great (i've heard it is on the 3ds), but I have to agree that the original water temple is a complete farce. Its so repetitive and loses steam very quickly once you start having to backtrack and change the water levels constantly, plus doing so takes forever because you need to keep manually swapping out your boots and slowly float up or down to actually get to where you're going. Its a maze but not in a fun way like in the forest temple - instead its just awkward and far too long, it took me almost 3 hours and I felt like I was tackling it at a reasonable pace all things considered.
Saying this, I do love the dark link section of the water temple and how ominous and unexpected it is. It is one of the best combat encounters in the entire game just for how unique it is and how much potential it has to be different for every player. Turning around and just seeing him there is so bizarre and creepy. After the fight I completely missed the time block behind the chest in the next room - meaning I had to backtrack all the way back there to finish the temple which took forever, not sure if that was just me being stupid or if it was actually pretty hidden.
Ocarina is filled with loads of different gameplay sections and ideas sprinkled in too which I think is great and unusual for a game of its time. There's a bunch of minigames including shooting ranges and races, a collectathon for gold skulltalas, duelling sword fights, a very cool stealth section in gerudo fortress and plenty of traversal variations - like riding horseback, using cucoos, grappling, swimming, climbing, planting magic beans in the past and using the magic plant to reach new areas in the future - there's so many different ways that you generally get around and the world opens itself up to it, not to mention being able to fast travel with warp songs & a warp spell you can unlock which feels really ahead of its time. This combined with the multitude of secrets to find like hidden holes in the ground, great fairy fountains and pieces of heart to gather up make ocarina of time feel constantly moving and basically always interesting even when you're just trying to get from A to B. The world is surprisingly big whilst still feeling contained enough that I never felt too far out of reach of wherever I had to be next - and its laid out beautifully, I love being able to see kakariko village from the top of death mountain and I think everyone loves seeing hyrule castle emerge over hyrule field for the first time, it is just magic!
When the final boss encounter was over and the spectacular ending scenarios played out, I honestly felt quite emotional. The games' melancholy feels directly addressed as Zelda admits the time that was stolen from Link and laments the avoidable suffering that was caused at the hands of ganondorf. Link is sent back to his time from the beginning and is able to spend his time with new friends and chosen family and its so heartwarming and beautiful. Ocarina has such a perfect ending sequence from the iconic Shiek reveal right up to the joyous final credits scene - I love the final dungeon and how it once again tests your mettle and your knowledge from what you've learned throughout the game and I couldn't get enough, I didn't want it to end but all great things must come to an end.
I will definitely be coming back to this soon and almost certainly the 3DS version which apparently fixes a few things and updates some graphics. Either way its so easy to see why this is regarded as one of if not THE greatest game of all time, its just fucking brilliant.
2 Comments
It's so rare to come across a review that describes everything that I love about Ocarina. Best classic story, best soundtrack, best dungeons in my opinion- although Majora's Mask comes pretty close. It was a joy reading your thoughts and seeing someone that played the game now and doesn't just think it's overrated or has shitty graphics. I also prefer the N64 version more, although, yes, the water temple is much more bearable in the 3DS version because of the iron boots being an equippable item.
Thank you for loving this game as much as I do. Stay awesome.
Thank you for loving this game as much as I do. Stay awesome.
Thank you very much for your kind words annade, it really means a lot; but also credit to ocarina more than anything else for being such a beautiful game to affect people as it does. All the best!
shys
1 year ago