this game is still so… i’m sorry… nostalgic for me. something about the transition of the series, and video games in general, from 2d to 3d that happened during that period. there’s a palpable sense of loss and melancholy. it’s kind of like the idea of growing up, and that you can’t return back to childhood. some things get lost in the process. games lost their innocence, and (maybe only in an implicit way) i feel like that game really grapples with the feeling. as an adult a lot of things in the world become stranger, and you’re much more aware of its problems. your horizons and responsibilities also become bigger, and you feel much more of a sense that you need to do something in the world. your relationship with people also changes, and things become more real and you see a lot of unmanifested things in those people suddenly manifest themselves. both for good and bad.

anyway i feel like it’s more potent than the “light world/dark world” metaphor of Link to the Past, even though i like that game almost as much. but Ocarina feels like it really is about a loss of childhood innocence more than the other games.