This review contains spoilers
I can see why people call this the greatest game of all time. It must have been such an experience to play this back when it came out.
There are so many good things to say about this game that I will get my issues out of the way. First off, and my main problem, some dungeons were a little boring at times. The main examples I think of are the bottom of the well, Jabu-Jabu, and certain parts of the Water Temple. The Water Temple was especially unfortunate as I wanted to love it. It provides a challenging dungeon that would be better if you moved faster underwater. The issue with the temple is that it takes so long to beat due to how slow you move. Some other minor things were that the overworld was a little barren, which is fine, I wasn't expecting a big sprawling open world, but it took a good chunk of time to traverse it. It gets better later on as you gain warping songs, but sometimes you still have to walk (or side-hop) your way through it. Another issue I had, was that some of the bosses were a bit on the easier side, I would have liked a bit more of a challenge but I still loved the designs and fighting the bosses.
Now, to talk positives. There is so much this game does right even with things that I don't think are as good. The bosses are designed wonderfully with my favorites being the final Ganon/Ganondorf fight, the Iron Knuckle mini-bosses, Dark Link, and Morpha from the Water Temple. I also liked Bongo-Bongo and Twinrova. The enemies are a lot of fun too and I enjoy fighting most of them (except for Keese, fuck those bats). I love the music in the game. Rarely will a game have so many tracks with staying power, especially a 25+-year-old game. My favorite song in the game is Lost Woods with the title theme and Goron City as some other fantastic ones. I love the feel of the game. It can be cheerful and happy but easily switches to creepy and atmospheric. I like the characters, even though the story and characters aren't really the main focus, they have personalities and interesting moments like how Darunia starts dancing when you play Saria's Song for him. It's not much but it's fun character moments.
The most important piece of the game though is the dungeons. I may have put Water Temple in my negatives but I still believe it has fantastic parts like the other dungeons (with the Dark Link fight and Morpha fight being the standouts). My favorites are Gannons Castle for combining all the temples into one showdown, Forest Temple for its creepy atmosphere, and Spirit Temple for its engaging puzzles and combat. Most temples are pretty fantastic because Shadow and Fire Temple are great too. The child section dungeons and the mini-dungeons aren't as good, but they serve their purpose of tutorials/holding key items and I would still call them good (except for Jabu-Jabu).
Overall, this is one of the greatest games ever made and it deserves the adoration it gets.
There are so many good things to say about this game that I will get my issues out of the way. First off, and my main problem, some dungeons were a little boring at times. The main examples I think of are the bottom of the well, Jabu-Jabu, and certain parts of the Water Temple. The Water Temple was especially unfortunate as I wanted to love it. It provides a challenging dungeon that would be better if you moved faster underwater. The issue with the temple is that it takes so long to beat due to how slow you move. Some other minor things were that the overworld was a little barren, which is fine, I wasn't expecting a big sprawling open world, but it took a good chunk of time to traverse it. It gets better later on as you gain warping songs, but sometimes you still have to walk (or side-hop) your way through it. Another issue I had, was that some of the bosses were a bit on the easier side, I would have liked a bit more of a challenge but I still loved the designs and fighting the bosses.
Now, to talk positives. There is so much this game does right even with things that I don't think are as good. The bosses are designed wonderfully with my favorites being the final Ganon/Ganondorf fight, the Iron Knuckle mini-bosses, Dark Link, and Morpha from the Water Temple. I also liked Bongo-Bongo and Twinrova. The enemies are a lot of fun too and I enjoy fighting most of them (except for Keese, fuck those bats). I love the music in the game. Rarely will a game have so many tracks with staying power, especially a 25+-year-old game. My favorite song in the game is Lost Woods with the title theme and Goron City as some other fantastic ones. I love the feel of the game. It can be cheerful and happy but easily switches to creepy and atmospheric. I like the characters, even though the story and characters aren't really the main focus, they have personalities and interesting moments like how Darunia starts dancing when you play Saria's Song for him. It's not much but it's fun character moments.
The most important piece of the game though is the dungeons. I may have put Water Temple in my negatives but I still believe it has fantastic parts like the other dungeons (with the Dark Link fight and Morpha fight being the standouts). My favorites are Gannons Castle for combining all the temples into one showdown, Forest Temple for its creepy atmosphere, and Spirit Temple for its engaging puzzles and combat. Most temples are pretty fantastic because Shadow and Fire Temple are great too. The child section dungeons and the mini-dungeons aren't as good, but they serve their purpose of tutorials/holding key items and I would still call them good (except for Jabu-Jabu).
Overall, this is one of the greatest games ever made and it deserves the adoration it gets.