While it might not have the polish of link to the past, oracle of ages has such a magic to it that it surpasses every previous game in the franchise for me. With a fairly limited map it gives me the Hyrule that so far in my Zelda journey I've most enjoyed exploring. The characters have so much personality, the various groups that live here are all so distinct and well implemented. It also gives you really unique things to do that extend past the classic trading quests (although they don't go away), one stand out for me is the Goron dance, essentially briefly turning the game into a rythm game and it's fun as hell. Another section I absolutely adore is when you wash up on Cresent island and you have all the belongings you've acquired up to this point stolen, it makes for a really memorable puzzle and hammers home exactly how certain abilities need to be used. It's not a perfect game, there's some annoying design to be found and I haven't played the linked game stuff so I can't fully comment on that, but I just loved my time with this game so much. Also it has moosh in it