Rose-colored glasses (nostalgia bias warning)

This was my first PC game ever, and I LOVED it.
I know I put the nostalgia warning, but honestly I've replayed this game a ton and I still love it to this day.
This is another game I have to stop myself from replaying so that I can actually work through my backlog.

It's got an alignment system that's pretty easy to manipulate once you understand it, but as a kid it was so awesome seeing myself appear lighter and brighter as I did my good deeds. (Spoiler: if you get so benevolent, you even get a beam of light that shines down on you, which I adored).

I've still never done an evil playthrough because being mean to fictional characters makes me sad, but I hear the evil side of things is just as cool and fun.

If you're looking for a classic, tropey RPG experience, this is where you can find it.
And just a reminder that following tropes isn't a bad thing; instead, this game takes inspiration from RPG tropes and perfects them.
The plot is straight forward and easy to follow without being boring, the twists make sense but can be hard to guess without actively trying to, the abilities give you such a broad range of choices that you can do combat nearly however you want, AND you can kick chickens!
You can get married, buy houses, trade goods with wandering traders, act like a bandit, be a feared source of benevolence.
I know there's quite a few options that provide this kind of gameplay that may seem a bit cleaner than this game, but this was one of the originals and the love from the developers truly shows and shines.

My biggest complaint with the game is that as you level up abilities, you get older which, while an interesting and cool detail, means you can never be a mid-20s badass; you'll always get old before you get awesome.

Generally a chore to play thanks to its entire gameplay conceit - the Wii motion controls are simply not good enough to require precision from in your game design - this whole enterprise of this game is nothing but hubris.

Dungeon design and aesthetics are a step up from Twilight Princess but the game also foolishly forced you to backtrack through the overworld areas multiple times across the game, making things feel much smaller than probably intended (the desert at least mostly expands on itself rather than forcing you through the same areas).

Tries to do for the sky what Wind Waker did for the ocean, but flying is very dull and the open air feels much more like a big nothing of empty space than the ocean ever did in Wind Waker (now there’s an entire Z axis to do nothing with!)

Characters are also hit and miss, with Groose being pretty great and Fi being possibly the worst character in any video game as the physical incarnation of Nintendo’s annoying hand-holding tendencies that they’ve become known for.

Elemental and influential, with a perfect structure that allows each dungeon to feel like an escalation of the story and world than a list of things that need to be done before you can wrap things up. It is also more cinematic than most games that have come out in the modern era (that TRY to be cinematic) because it knows how to be patient.

An example at the very beginning - the pace at which the “Deku Tree” doles out his portentous speech sets up the tone and sense of grandeur that would go missing if everything were sped up and streamlined for player convenience.

”Time passes, people move. Like a river's flow, it never ends. A childish mind will turn to noble ambition. Young love will become deep affection. The clear water's surface reflects growth.”

Considered by many to be the greatest video game ever made, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is truly a landmark achievement that continues to influence adventure games to this very day, despite its flaws.

For starters… those fucking boots. Two of the items in this game are types of boots that Link needs to wear to solve puzzles. Instead of mapping them to buttons like every other item in the game, the developers thought it’d be cute to make you open the menu and swap between them. This harms the game’s pacing in a ridiculous way.

The frame rate is sluggish, even for the time. 20 frames per second is incredibly slow, and even Majora’s Mask seems to run faster. Hyrule Field is a vast hub with nothing in it. The NPCs are mostly just cardboard cutouts to make the world feel more alive than it actually is, and actually talking to them will easily break the immersion. Castle Town looks awful for some reason because I guess they just couldn’t render actual buildings (even though they could for Kakariko Village?). I don’t like Link’s eyes. I know that’s a weird thing to nitpick, but they’re just so small and lack emotion. How come Castle Town is covered in dark clouds, but when you step out onto Hyrule Field, the sky clears up and that cheery overworld theme starts playing? That shatters the immersion and makes Ganondorf seem like less of a threat. The bosses are just okay for the most part. Finally, the text speed is aggravatingly slow, and cutscenes are unskippable, which further harms the game’s pacing.

With that out of the way, Ocarina of Time still slaps. The lighting and art style create an unparalleled sense of atmosphere for the time, which is bound to suck you into Hyrule on your adventure. The music is absolutely legendary, no elaboration needed. The story, despite having a few rough edges, is a compelling coming-of-age tale of good versus evil. Ganondorf is a great villain who sucks the magic and whimsy out of every scene he’s in. Most NPCs fit right into the game’s world and even the Gerudo, despite being thieves loyal to Ganondorf, prove to be polite and honorable when left to their own devices. But Ganondorf? He does not belong here. He is an anomaly, a demonic being whose lust for power splits the Triforce apart and throws the land into chaos. He is a charismatic, yet despicable abomination that needs to be stopped.

New areas and cultures like Zora’s Domain, Goron City, and Gerudo Valley are fun to explore and have unique attributes. The Zoras are regal and sophisticated, the Gorons are laidback and friendly, and the Gerudo have a unique Arabian style that values honor and loyalty. All great additions (yes, I know the Zora were in earlier games, but they were never portrayed like this before).

The dungeons are great. The first three are nothing to write home about, but they have memorable atmospheres (especially the truly disgusting depths of Jabu-Jabu’s Belly; 1,000 times better than the shitty Oracle of Ages version). The Forest Temple kicks off the adult portion of the game with a phenomenal, puzzling mansion filled with ghosts and overgrown flora that really want to kill you. The Fire Temple is as massive as it is hot. The Water Temple, despite suffering greatly from the aforementioned boots issue, still sticks out as a satisfying puzzle box that challenges your memory and spatial awareness. The Shadow Temple is stupidly linear, but makes up for it with its creepy, bloody, and all-around unsettling atmosphere that reveals a darker side to Hyrule’s history. The Spirit Temple perfectly captures the Gerudo culture and integrates the time travel mechanic in an interesting way. To end things off, Ganon’s Castle is a final hurrah as you relive various parts of your adventure and prepare to whoop Ganondorf’s ass. That final showdown with Ganondorf after dozens of hours of buildup and the subsequent battle against his demon form, Ganon, are ridiculously epic and satisfying.

Overall, despite suffering from numerous issues of the time, Ocarina of Time holds up impressively well due to its thoughtful design. I would recommend the 3DS version instead, however. Despite the inferior lighting, the graphics are improved, the boots are mapped to buttons, and the UI is streamlined. Definitely the better version.

Literally the best Mario game I’ve ever played.

Minor criticisms:
Not enough camera control.
Mario moves slowly.

Alright, everything else about the game is awesome:
The story. It’s light, as expected from a Mario game, but it’s grand in scope and manages to pull off some genuinely heart-wrenching moments. The storybook backstory definitely adds a lot, making it seem as if Mario and Bowser have accidentally become small pieces of a much larger, cosmic story.
Level design. Fucking amazing. No elaboration.
* Music: A full orchestra supervised by Koji Kondo, with a shit ton of beautiful tracks. The Gusty Garden Galaxy theme is a standout.