The oracle duology intended to focus on one aspect each that make up the basic gameplay of a typical zelda game, puzzle solving and action. Ages is the one that focuses on the puzzles, though for clarification sake it's more like a 60% to 40% ratio of puzzle solving to action respectively, if that makes sense. Regardless, the spotlight is on the puzzles, and the rest of the game revolves around them:
Obvious stuff out of the way, the controls are solid and while it being a gbc game proved a barrier to me initially (due to not having played many games from that system as well as feeling too weird on a pc), the audio and visuals really grew on me. I think my only major complaint really is the lack of enough buttons (more on the system than on the game) which led to a lot opening and closing of the menu just to alternate between items. It’s particularly frustrating during boss fights since it breaks the tension, but at the least its the case with only a few of them.
You’d think a name like Labrynna would be pretty on the nose about the overworld being structured like a labyrinth, but progression in the land actually seems quite linear. The typical gameplay loop is being given access to a limited area initially, being only able to continue onto the next objective by utilizing your items or a new gimmick to access and traverse through a new area. This is made further interesting through the time travel mechanic accessed by the Harp of Ages. If you’re familiar with A Link to the Past, its like the traversal between the light and dark worlds. It feels more well-utilized here due to being present from very early on in the game, as well as being required to solve almost every major obstacle in the way that blocks progress. Furthermore it’s more apparent how actions in the past can affect the present, and the major consequences these can have makes it all the more fun. Time travel is a bit limiting at first however, requiring you to use designated portals to traverse between the past and present; you do gain access to two new songs for the Harp however, ultimately leading to free traversal anywhere on the overworld. I do wish these songs were available earlier as later points in the game can get frustrating due to excessive walking around to find and use a portal, but it’s not a deal breaker. The overworld itself is interesting otherwise with neat locales, the Zora Seas being my favourite.
Dungeons are primarily about puzzles of course. This isn’t to say you should be lax about enemies, but your ability for puzzle solving is the main thing that’s going to be tested. That also makes them easily the best and most fun part about the dungeons; the game is not chill about amping up the difficulty of these puzzles the more you progress and the process of trying to figure them out and solving them made it extremely satisfying for me. This extends to the bosses as well, who require some thinking to learn how to beat; a few go a little further by feeling more like a “regular dungeon puzzle” than an actual “boss battle”, if that makes any sense. Items are also well utilized and most are often necessary for areas outside of the initial location you get them in.
While the game generally does a good job of having challenging yet satisfying gameplay, some parts of the game, mostly in the latter half, can feel unnecessarily frustrating. It’s a mix of progression feeling too obtuse at times and/or complicated methods requiring the use of multiple mechanics and/or items that can become annoying after a while. Some examples in my case: Crescent Island can be really annoying since you lose all your items initially and have to get them back. It’s made a little worse by the constant back and forth due to being unable to have two items at the same time until right around the end of that whole fiasco. Rolling Ridge got really frustrating since it requires a lot of going back and forth between goron npcs to get access to the next dungeon. It’s made more complicated by having to also travel between the past and present and some sections within the area having enemies (albeit, simple enemies, but still annoying.) One particular section requires two items to use in conjunction every single time. Moreover you have to do a few minigames with the gorons, and the dancing minigame man, just no. It gets overwhelming. Mermaid’s Cave was very tedious; it's the first to integrate the time mechanic into its puzzles but since time travel is only allowed on the overworld, it makes for a lot of annoying backtracking made worse by enemies always respawning. Speaking of, some new enemies are also introduced which are annoying to beat quick. You also get the mermaid suit, allowing you to dive underwater, but this mechanic is unfortunately pretty awful initially due to swimming now requiring have to tap the arrow buttons constantly. It ended up being my least favourite dungeon due in part having gotten stuck on how to progress for a long while as well. Jabu Jabu’s Belly seems to be notorious for being one of the most frustrating, hardest dungeons in the series apparently. I actually like it more than Mermaid’s Cave, but it is challenging due in part the non-linear progression here requiring changing the water levels. It also feels pretty long and if you’re not used to how swimming works you’re gonna hate it even more.
The story isn’t really that noteworthy, usually involving some crisis in new areas Link has to solve to progress. There are some characters that make frequent appearances but besides the Maku Tree they’re also nothing really special, including the Oracle of Ages herself; this is more on me for making expectations prior to playing, but I’d have thought Nayru would have more of a presence and perhaps be the one guiding Link. Ah, well, it is what it is. I want to say Veran is a notable main villain, but my reasons really just come down to her being a rare female villain for this series and her funny as hell final boss form. As to be expected from a non-Linked version, the story ends on a cliffhanger; the story truly concludes if you play a Linked Game of Seasons. It certainly has me excited to play that.
I’m too tired to really go indepth much on the dungeons right now, but to make a quick summary: Spirit’s Grove is relatively simple with basic puzzle mechanics, good for a first dungeon, same for the Wing Dungeon (plus points for being where you get the Roc’s Feather, one of my fave items from the game). Moonlit Grotto is where the puzzles start feeling more advanced, and had me thinking a good few minutes here and there. The path to getting to Skull Dungeon is pretty annoying but the dungeon itself is fine otherwise; it introduces another fave item, the switch hook, leading to my favourite puzzle gimmick. Crown Dungeon mostly is made up of the red and blue block mechanic ever so present in alttp dungeons, the boss here was super annoying though, but the concept was fun by heavily involving the cane of somaria. I’ve already spoke on Mermaid’s Cave and Jabu Jabu Vore, Ancient Tomb initially felt pretty frustrating but it quickly grew on me, I’m inclined to say it was cuz of the previous dungeons that I was feeling more down if anything. The boss here is tougher two, with three phases, but I liked it. The Black Tower is mostly just going up some rooms fighting a variety of enemies till you get to the Turret that’s kind of just blah with its puzzle. Veran is the final boss with a total of three phases, one of which you already fight before (its fine but requires constant menu switching that really breaks the pace), the 2nd form is a winged version of her that’s kind of funny to look at and its also relatively simple, the final form of her as a turtle is fucking funny and stupid lmao but the bee and spider form are pretty rad; that final phase is still relatively simple though, with the spider requiring the additional use of the bomb.
Overall, Ages is definitely a game I’d recommend. I think one major barrier might be that if you haven’t played Zelda in a while or never before then it might prove more frustrating due to having to deal with both challenging puzzles and learning to deal with different sorts of enemies; for that reason, some might recommend to play Seasons first. Regardless, give it a try still, its a good time.
Obvious stuff out of the way, the controls are solid and while it being a gbc game proved a barrier to me initially (due to not having played many games from that system as well as feeling too weird on a pc), the audio and visuals really grew on me. I think my only major complaint really is the lack of enough buttons (more on the system than on the game) which led to a lot opening and closing of the menu just to alternate between items. It’s particularly frustrating during boss fights since it breaks the tension, but at the least its the case with only a few of them.
You’d think a name like Labrynna would be pretty on the nose about the overworld being structured like a labyrinth, but progression in the land actually seems quite linear. The typical gameplay loop is being given access to a limited area initially, being only able to continue onto the next objective by utilizing your items or a new gimmick to access and traverse through a new area. This is made further interesting through the time travel mechanic accessed by the Harp of Ages. If you’re familiar with A Link to the Past, its like the traversal between the light and dark worlds. It feels more well-utilized here due to being present from very early on in the game, as well as being required to solve almost every major obstacle in the way that blocks progress. Furthermore it’s more apparent how actions in the past can affect the present, and the major consequences these can have makes it all the more fun. Time travel is a bit limiting at first however, requiring you to use designated portals to traverse between the past and present; you do gain access to two new songs for the Harp however, ultimately leading to free traversal anywhere on the overworld. I do wish these songs were available earlier as later points in the game can get frustrating due to excessive walking around to find and use a portal, but it’s not a deal breaker. The overworld itself is interesting otherwise with neat locales, the Zora Seas being my favourite.
Dungeons are primarily about puzzles of course. This isn’t to say you should be lax about enemies, but your ability for puzzle solving is the main thing that’s going to be tested. That also makes them easily the best and most fun part about the dungeons; the game is not chill about amping up the difficulty of these puzzles the more you progress and the process of trying to figure them out and solving them made it extremely satisfying for me. This extends to the bosses as well, who require some thinking to learn how to beat; a few go a little further by feeling more like a “regular dungeon puzzle” than an actual “boss battle”, if that makes any sense. Items are also well utilized and most are often necessary for areas outside of the initial location you get them in.
While the game generally does a good job of having challenging yet satisfying gameplay, some parts of the game, mostly in the latter half, can feel unnecessarily frustrating. It’s a mix of progression feeling too obtuse at times and/or complicated methods requiring the use of multiple mechanics and/or items that can become annoying after a while. Some examples in my case: Crescent Island can be really annoying since you lose all your items initially and have to get them back. It’s made a little worse by the constant back and forth due to being unable to have two items at the same time until right around the end of that whole fiasco. Rolling Ridge got really frustrating since it requires a lot of going back and forth between goron npcs to get access to the next dungeon. It’s made more complicated by having to also travel between the past and present and some sections within the area having enemies (albeit, simple enemies, but still annoying.) One particular section requires two items to use in conjunction every single time. Moreover you have to do a few minigames with the gorons, and the dancing minigame man, just no. It gets overwhelming. Mermaid’s Cave was very tedious; it's the first to integrate the time mechanic into its puzzles but since time travel is only allowed on the overworld, it makes for a lot of annoying backtracking made worse by enemies always respawning. Speaking of, some new enemies are also introduced which are annoying to beat quick. You also get the mermaid suit, allowing you to dive underwater, but this mechanic is unfortunately pretty awful initially due to swimming now requiring have to tap the arrow buttons constantly. It ended up being my least favourite dungeon due in part having gotten stuck on how to progress for a long while as well. Jabu Jabu’s Belly seems to be notorious for being one of the most frustrating, hardest dungeons in the series apparently. I actually like it more than Mermaid’s Cave, but it is challenging due in part the non-linear progression here requiring changing the water levels. It also feels pretty long and if you’re not used to how swimming works you’re gonna hate it even more.
The story isn’t really that noteworthy, usually involving some crisis in new areas Link has to solve to progress. There are some characters that make frequent appearances but besides the Maku Tree they’re also nothing really special, including the Oracle of Ages herself; this is more on me for making expectations prior to playing, but I’d have thought Nayru would have more of a presence and perhaps be the one guiding Link. Ah, well, it is what it is. I want to say Veran is a notable main villain, but my reasons really just come down to her being a rare female villain for this series and her funny as hell final boss form. As to be expected from a non-Linked version, the story ends on a cliffhanger; the story truly concludes if you play a Linked Game of Seasons. It certainly has me excited to play that.
I’m too tired to really go indepth much on the dungeons right now, but to make a quick summary: Spirit’s Grove is relatively simple with basic puzzle mechanics, good for a first dungeon, same for the Wing Dungeon (plus points for being where you get the Roc’s Feather, one of my fave items from the game). Moonlit Grotto is where the puzzles start feeling more advanced, and had me thinking a good few minutes here and there. The path to getting to Skull Dungeon is pretty annoying but the dungeon itself is fine otherwise; it introduces another fave item, the switch hook, leading to my favourite puzzle gimmick. Crown Dungeon mostly is made up of the red and blue block mechanic ever so present in alttp dungeons, the boss here was super annoying though, but the concept was fun by heavily involving the cane of somaria. I’ve already spoke on Mermaid’s Cave and Jabu Jabu Vore, Ancient Tomb initially felt pretty frustrating but it quickly grew on me, I’m inclined to say it was cuz of the previous dungeons that I was feeling more down if anything. The boss here is tougher two, with three phases, but I liked it. The Black Tower is mostly just going up some rooms fighting a variety of enemies till you get to the Turret that’s kind of just blah with its puzzle. Veran is the final boss with a total of three phases, one of which you already fight before (its fine but requires constant menu switching that really breaks the pace), the 2nd form is a winged version of her that’s kind of funny to look at and its also relatively simple, the final form of her as a turtle is fucking funny and stupid lmao but the bee and spider form are pretty rad; that final phase is still relatively simple though, with the spider requiring the additional use of the bomb.
Overall, Ages is definitely a game I’d recommend. I think one major barrier might be that if you haven’t played Zelda in a while or never before then it might prove more frustrating due to having to deal with both challenging puzzles and learning to deal with different sorts of enemies; for that reason, some might recommend to play Seasons first. Regardless, give it a try still, its a good time.