"We are fine here. We shall greet the morning... together."

there's actually nothing that feels like majoras mask in the entire world this game takes the entire video game media destroys it and rebuilds it from the bottom UP and all this absolutely unapologetically towards anyone that wants to put their hands on this masterpiece

you know when i like a zelda game when i end up getting all the fucking heart pieces something that i DESPISE like who likes collecting stuff and not play the main quest ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, me when i booted up majora thats who

sexy mutyumu recommended this to me as part of this list thanks dude

now before talking games I gotta say that I played the 3ds with the project restoration patch so this is a review about my first experience ever of majoras mask with these conditions aka QoL improvements N64 restored elements and updated graphics that means this is NOT a review for the vanilla version of the game since I would probably be more critical about that

that being said this game is absolutely insane taking advantage of the strict time loop you're gonna have to deal with and the countless different side quests that are gonna present themselves to you with possibly the best overworld ever made in the entire zelda franchise youre in for a treat my man

being the direct sequel of ocarina of time the bar is already pretty high like what do you think team nintendo managed to do in something like a year from the release of the first game to make a completely different game that can be compared to possibly one of the most influential games of all times ? exactly an even better experience I didnt think that would be possible but ocarina of time is shying in front of the incredible might of this release while that game played really safe following the roots of the series being basically a 3D a link to the past instead majoras mask takes everything that came before revolts it upside down and creates something completely new from scratch thats absolutely crazy

sure this game goes really hard on the asset reuse most of the characters or even background fellas from the first game come back with new names a new light and arguably a more complex and interesting place in the game and most of the ost from ocarina went completely untouched with some tracks that either recontextualise this soundtrack OR creates something new from this pool and honestly the new additions add so much to the game you won't believe

apart from that most of the stuff is new clocktown and termina are brand new places and most of the enemies are new and of course the top notch dungeon designs that are gonna probably gonna go down in history as the best of the best zelda dungeons ever created im ngl so thats a good balance

I went into this game thinking it would've been the most horror zelda franchise in the series because people said so and because ben drowned exists and while I did not shit my pants or anything I can say for certain that the game creates such a big sense of tension and dread that goes beyond the game itself it stretches out of the screen and envelopes you like YOU are the one running out of time I won't lie the very first three days are a treat and I was honestly biting my nails at the inexorable passing of time that shit was cray cray don't touch me dont talk to me

after getting the whole incipit of the game youre left with the main gameplay loop you need to explore termina to find some dungeons and go on with the main story and the thing is the main story is probably the second best part of the game because the first thing for me was … I know its weird but they were the side quests

while I genuinely think this game has the tightest loop and most interesting dungeons in the entire series the main focus for me was clocktower and termina as a whole like most of my time wasnt even spending doing the main quest since yeah i sure wanted to get majoras mask back or whatever but the sheer amount of personality everything else in this game has is honestly groundbreaking

see in this game everyone goes on with their schedule until the end of the third day and in really specific parts of the day you can encounter some kind of store or character or challenge that will give you either hearts or some more items more on that later and actually get to know all these characters and quirks is probably the best part of the entire experience I just loved going around and seeing clocktower going from the lively festive atmosphere of the first day to the incredible desolation of the third day and the very little schedule quirks of any given time

I wont lie the side quests of this game are probably the best I've ever seen in the entire gaming genre it's absolutely mind blowing I spent most of the time just working on side quests and leaving the dungeons to rot until I was done with the side quests available until that moment and i have to say this experience is deeply entwined with the stuff youre gonna see in that side content

i honestly cannot think about majoras mask as a whole now without thinking about the romani side quest or the kafei and anju side quest theyre integral part of the story for me and thats what really brings this game to life every single person in this town is terrorised and grieving at the thought of the world ending of the entire town being swiped from existence and the fact that all their friends are gonna drop dead at one specific point of the playthrough until link rewinds time with the ocarina

i generally dislike side quests in videogames or just really dont care about them as a whole and that can give you a clue about actually how much of a masterpiece this is not only are the minigames side quests just fun as a whole and also grant useful objects or some more masks for some more quests or even heart piece they also have a real depth to the overall story of the game like doing the romani quest and helping the sisters with their alien abduction problem is goofy as shit and i get it but the fact that it brings some of the most incredibly warm scenes you can get from this really sad games with just a super warm hug from cremia or just listening to the girls talking about their day to day life and how they dont want them to end due to the moon crash and shit and this all escalates during the final day when cremia actually grants romanis desire to drink the “modified drink” from the near farm which is basically just alcohol so she can get inebriated and sleep soundly in cremias bed together waiting for the end when i ACTUALLY realised this i was bawling this game doesnt explicitly make you suffer but it leaves some hints here and there that people are suffering and are terrified by the events that are evolving and they cant do anything but accept their soon demise

its terrible dont @ me

another integral part in the game is definitely the kafeis quest and its also the most fulfilling to complete since its basically just a really precise sequence of events that you need to complete with the punctuality of a swiss watch and stuff but its also the most dreadful one to see to the end your work being put in realising kafeis promise to anju to marry is just incredible you feel all that the characters are feeling you care for them and when you see them actually get back together after 3 days of grief and they actually decide to see the dawn together after what they went through youre just left with nothing but somber music the two lovers sharing a hug and some time together and like 6 minutes in the clock for you to rewind the time and begin anew

when i tell you that this quest actually killed me mentally i was an absolute trainwreck at the end of it i could not for the life of me believe what i watched and i just kept staring at the game for like 20 minutes before actually getting back to it i wont lie when i tell you that the pinnacle of majoras mask narrative is hidden behind these series of side quests because i genuinely cannot divide the main quest and kafeis quest they complete one another so well that if actually someone finishes majoras mask without witnessing this masterpiece im gonna throw tables

these of course are not the only subtexts in the entire game because its full of TRAGEDY theres nothing good happening in this game everyone is grieving and you can see that in something like the mummified father and daughter or the afterbirth depression of the two zora people or literally everyone dying in this fucking game theres nothing happy happening im literally so sorry yall

so umh actually after all this i can actually talk about the main quest

while i was saying that termina is probably my favorite part of the entire game every single domain is brimming with details and life and its just a sight to behold and traverse like ocarina of time had very simple design philosophy but here they just blew it out of proportions making all the domains very interesting to see and very clear to distinguish and since theyre all connected to termina in some ways you can also see the termina itself changing biomes and having elements of these other domains

like i wont lie theyre all so fun to traverse and explore which is a damn good upgrade from ocarina because most of the stuff you were gonna see wasnt this interesting to explore also due to hyrule field being just 100 KMs of absolutely fucking nothing and here they just made termina so full of stuff the different lands are gorgeous the goron village is so fucking great and the mountain paths are beautiful the zora domain is super relaxing and wide and really gives the illusion that its open ocean and the swamp is a swamp and the desert is a desert but they made with a twist adding the palace and the castle its just gorgeous gorgeous stuff

and this would probably not be as fun to traverse if it werent for the masks

now this game heavily relies on the mechanic of masks which most of them just have some kind of quirks like the rabbit ears making you run faster (essential) and the great fairy mask detecting fairies in dungeons and shit but the true highlights are the different races masks that transform link into that race can i actually say race i have no idea if i can say this talking about zelda but anyway the zora mask allows you to swin the shit out of the ocean and do some boomerang attacks the goron mask makes you roll al throughout the lands of termina
and the deku mask being the reason why this game traumatised me lets go so in general i LOVE the fucking mask mechanics and they add a lot to the actual gameflow and a lot of variety and personalization and its just UGHHHHHH so fun to collect all the masks and getting the fierce deity mask that can absolutely break the final boss i was just spamming A im not joking here yall

so that to say that its a joy to control link in this one but it would not be that great if it werent for the FUCKING DUNGEONS UGHHHHHHHH so basically theres only 4 dungeons here but theyre probably the best in the series and while getting to these dungeons theres some degree of puzzling and shit the true dungeons are just a work of art im not gonna lie the forest dungeon is so fucking good as a first sight of whats to come in the rest of the game the snowhead dungeon is absolutely fucking crazy because it develops in verticality unlike most of the zelda dungeons ive seen till this moment the great bay temple was actually my least favorite one but still just a masterpiece maybe i just hate water dungeons as a whole and UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH the stone tower temple is something else absolutely buck wild execution and puzzle solutions its just WOOOOOOOW and then you also get that bomb OST playing in the background NAAAAAAAAH im sorry this game is great im in love with it

so ugh i think i said everything i wanted to say but rest assured that this is not the only time i will infodump about majoras mask in my life i think the final part of the game is the strongest conclusion ive seen in the entire zelda franchise till now and while i fucking hate those final minigames for the 4 heart pieces (i want the guy who made the zora trial fucking shit his pants on new years eve forreals) but it was worth it because i annihilated majora in 1 minute and the finale is the greatest payoff to a game like this and im still left in tears every time i see the last frame of the game if you know you know

theres absolutely nothing that i can add for this game because everyone already knows its great everyone knows how much of a trauma it is to live this game and seeing skull kid or kafei or romani again in your life literally afghanistan war flashbacks and shit like that absolutely incredible execution to one of the best stories and worldbuilding ive ever seen in my life

please please please please please if you have to play only one zelda game in your life please play this one (ok maybe after ocarina of time but PLEASEEEEEEE)

do yall also just think about link having somber flashbacks of ocarina of time zelda giving him the ocarina and making him learn zeldas lullaby or is it just me that scene just lives in my head rent free