Yet Another Ocarina of Time Retrospective

we all remember our first moments with our favorite games we may not have known they would become our favorite games of the time but in retrospect they become defining cherishable memories usually i've found that these memories are associated with title screens it's the first thing i see every time i turn the game on and it eventually resonates with you on a deeply personal level and one game which has since become the most critically acclaimed video game of all time fully encompasses this idea [Music] when you first turn on the legend of zelda ocarina of time it immediately makes a lasting impression link rides in on epona over the horizon as dawn slowly approaches the field they gallop through is empty as if no life has touched it in ages we see a select few locales before they stop at the river the two of them take a breather before setting off once more at the crack of dawn riding off as the sun rises the music is primarily a somber almost inherently nostalgic piano piece with the primary melody being supplied by an ocarina it's a powerful way to introduce new players to your game but it also represents ocarina of time as a whole beautifully although most players should be able to deduce the game's message after a playthrough or two learning from ocarina of time and connecting with what it has to say means living with it growing up with it and escaping into it for a long period of time that of which i was able to do it gave me ample time to reflect on it remember it and embrace everything it did for the video game industry and for me but what made ocarina of time so legendary and why is its message so resonant well a lot has been said over the past 22 years and i'm just one person things have changed opinions have diverged in order to truly appreciate and critique ocarina of time we can't leave any stone unturned we need to know the context of its development the insight into its design the calculation in its atmosphere and the subtlety of its writing we need to examine what it borrows from its predecessor as well as how it paved the way for games both inside and outside of zelda and most importantly we need the feelings from its players why do we still talk about this game today this is a deceptively complicated question that has numerous answers and i aim to provide as many of those answers as i can but remember the passage of time can have a tremendous effect on us without further ado i'm liam triforce and this is yet another ocarina of time retrospective super mario 64 changed everything we all know this it's freedom of movement and options for getting around expansive environments and unparalleled virtual playgrounds set the gold standard for 3d video games and although nintendo managed to define three-dimensional game design one of the many things that struck me about super mario 64 was its structure rather than adhering to the level by level progression scheme mario had used in his 2d adventures the designers opted to create a sandbox experience in which players were allowed to collect stars in a non-linear fashion depending on their interests and their ability to conquer specific tasks this shift was logical in the context of creating a 3d game it allowed players to interact fully with each environment at their own pace and become intimately familiar with how to traverse them it also proved to be a very important stepping stone for new players as 3d gaming was overwhelming and sometimes nauseating for some when it first hit the market while nintendo would eventually bring the traditional mario formula into 3d with 3d land and 3d world the switch was necessary back in the day and it inspired several platformers in its wake now that one of nintendo's most beloved characters had been brought into three dimensions the company turned to the legend of zelda many developers within the company were inspired to get to work but they barely had a skeleton of an idea of how to translate something like linked to the past into 3d shigeru miyamoto himself recalled having meetings with the team unsure of what to do next they also didn't want to stray too far from the series roots a respectable stance for the first 3d entry in the series link's awakening's individuality and message solidify it as one of the greatest games in the series but for something as monumental as this project it'd be best to keep things simple regardless they had a glimpse of what the game might be like during the era of the super nintendo link's awakening director yoshiaki koizumi and shigeru miyamoto both experimented with incorporating chanbara into zelda they were inspired by japanese samurai films and strove to emulate them through gameplay aspects of chanbara were incorporated into zelda 2 the adventure of link and if you recall the combat was one of the game's most intense and enjoyable aspects the few developers that were actually invested in the project at the time were all in agreement over centering the game's combat on epic chamber battles they created a tech demo that was showcased alongside mario 64 at the trade show shoshinkai 95 reflecting their desire to capture this once super mario 64 was finished the team repurposed the engine for the zelda project initially they felt like it would be best if the game was presented from a first person perspective and when you'd fight an enemy the game would zoom out and present battles from a 2d perspective a la zelda 2. this was scrapped as the team wanted to be able to see link when he'd explore and fight and to me this would have created a pretty harsh disconnect in the space world 1996 demo the swordplay had barely come to fruition but the graphics on display were considered so impressive that even nintendo power doubted if it was running on actual hardware the game pushed the n64 to its absolute limit and the final version can barely break 20 fps abysmal by today's standards yeah but just enough back then for it to be in a shippable state now here's some context for its low frame rate aside from games like paper mario for its unique art style or majora's mask thanks to the expansion pack ocarina of time in my honest opinion remains one of the best looking video games of its era kokiri forest alone has lush and detailed textures with particle effects dancing around to emphasize the magic this place is surrounded in the significant amount of polygons large environments visual effects and intense graphical fidelity all contributed to the game's frame rate barely breaking playable i'm not familiar with the nintendo 64's architecture and i'm no software engineer but i don't know how they were able to optimize this game at all anyway sorry for the tangent but ocarina of time is a genuinely incredible technical achievement and that's discussing its graphics and performance alone up until august 1997 the general public were only able to see bits and pieces of a video game duct taped together into promotional material but these pieces were seen as tantalizing all the same the story was basically non-existent at the time with the most in-depth summary being hyrule ganon the triforce when you think about it a release date of late 1997 was seeming less and less likely as the days went by behind the scenes the team took a trip to the toei kyoto studio park here is director toru osawa's recollection of events from an iwata asks interview as we went along looking at everything it was so hot that we ducked into a playhouse to cool off they were doing a ninja show a number of ninja were surrounded by the main samurai and one lashed out with a kusarigama a sickle and chain the lead samurai caught it with his left arm the chain stretched tight and the ninja moved in a circle around him and that led to z targeting yeah i think so if my memory serves me correctly z targeting eventually became the catalyst for the entire game's development up until now the game lacked direction they were fully focused on getting the game's systems working so early promotional material featured various unnamed locales with no sense of cohesion there was no story for the game at this point most of what they had to show were locales that they wanted to feature eventually this is similar to super mario 64. most of the development period was spent on getting the game's systems functional and most of the level design happened toward the end miyamoto said that some of the levels ended up being almost thrown together but the point is the systems falling into place made everything else come naturally z targeting was perfect for translating what they saw into gameplay it allowed for the player to focus their attention on a single target switch targets freely in order to perform some crowd control and perform unique combat maneuvers like dodging jump slashing and on-the-fly guarding their idea for exploration and combat modes could now co-exist seamlessly from here things began to blossom creatively much like mario 64. koizumi felt that the tentative z targeting arrow that showed the player who they were locked onto was a bit bland and decided to make it a fairy this fairy became a navigator of sorts your guide throughout your adventure and because of this koizumi chose to name her navi respecting the simple yet meaningful naming tradition of the zelda series this also led to the creation of the game's story and throughout the rest of the game's development pre-release material showcased scenarios that we now all recognize everything was taking shape the narrative the dungeons its locales items and mechanics were all finally coming together what started out as a project managed by a select few employees within nintendo eventually expanded into an all hands on deck situation with employees being assigned a plethora of tasks regardless of experience or position although the game would end up being delayed a full year anticipation grew it was shaping up to be not just a promising step into 3d for the zelda series but a landmark title that would forever change the development of 3d video games those that reserved a copy would get a gold version of the game cartridge but demand was so high that stores had to cease all pre-orders for the game a few weeks before it launched it was going to be a pretty big deal and as the saying goes the rest was history critics and players around the world rejoiced in its magnificence to this day it remains the most critically acclaimed video game of all time on metacritic and the only game to outpace it on game rankings is nintendo's own super mario galaxy with all this said and done i need to repeat myself why how did ocarina of time earn this praise and how does it hold up today well buckle up it's time for yet another long ass breakdown of ocarina of time mainly why it left such a huge impact at the time of its release how it adapts and evolves elements from linked to the past and how time has treated it and what better place to start than the place link called home kokiri forest is the perfect place to begin your adventure it's a secluded area shrouded in an atmosphere of childhood innocence and fun although you've been summoned by the deku tree so your time to enjoy it is cut short you can explore the forest and talk to the kokiri at your leisure perhaps even discovering the lost woods or a sword in a chest mido won't let you through to see the deku tree until you've acquired both a sword and shield and the time spent acquiring said items will acquaint players with the basic controls and mechanics of ocarina of time it was extremely important for this game to be designed with players new to 3d gaming in mind much like super mario 64. simple tasks such as successfully auto jumping across buoyant platforms running through tall grass throwing rocks or crossing a narrow bridge i'll contribute to your rupee count and you'll need 40 rupees to purchase a shield this gives the player freedom to explore new mechanics that interest them and introduces them to the core of puzzle solving with something that doesn't necessarily have one concrete answer as long as you get the rupees and acquire your sword and shield it's all good one of the most important things introduced to the player here aside from link automatically performing tasks is the a button's context sensitive in link to the past the a button was an all-purpose action button you grab things talk to people and dash with the pegasus boots however due to the scope of actions possible in ocarina of time the team realized they needed to be able to convey what was possible on the fly depending on what you're doing the action you can perform with the a button will change now i know it's been 22 years and this might not sound like much but this mechanic has reappeared in pretty much every video game ever this was born from a desire to make actions in the 3d space more comprehensible as was z targeting the team brought up an issue that arose in mario 64 where players would have trouble stopping in front of a sign instead jumping or circling around it when they wanted to read it in ocarina of time every action is immediately made apparent to the player obviously this won't leave a huge impact on anyone that plays this game for the first time today because every subsequent game is reused and iterated on this simple idea but it's important to have context z targeting also might not be seen as a huge innovation in the eyes of modern players it was not only yet another industry standard mechanic introduced in this game but it was also the best way to transition the combat of 2d zelda into 3d we've already discussed its seamlessness but in the context of zelda it allows for pinpoint accuracy in a 3d space focused combat with blocking dodging and retaliation slashes depending on where the enemy is and a general layer of depth beyond just simply slashing at a guy when he's right next to you i think ocarina of times combat despite being the first zelda game to feature such combat is very good at what it does even outside of z targeting enemy start out simple in fact the first enemy you encounter in the game unless you count a giant rolling boulder is a stationary deku baba at this point your options for dealing with these things are slim ranging from slashing like a crazy person a spin attack to keep your distance or stunning it with a deku nut thanks to the enemy being immobile and your budding sense of problem solving you learn that there are always alternative methods of dealing with enemies and it's your job to figure that out once you acquire the slingshot you'll learn that you don't always have to meticulously aim at flying enemies instead you can lock onto them and fire once they're within range because link to the past had a selective z-axis that only came to play when enemies would fly over you you could still line up your attacks and effectively hit things on the relative x and y axes without z targeting killing enemies like keis would be a nightmare with that said locking onto flying enemies isn't the one and done solution you still need to be relatively close when shooting them down otherwise your pellets arrows and boomerang throws won't connect you have to consider positioning which item you want to use and how long it will take for your desired long range weapon to hit your target there's an underlying strategy to consider with each encounter and i love it as you progress through the game new enemies and items come about that freshen up your way of thinking about solutions and combat one of the first enemies to make me think about blocking and timing were the lizolfos it's a pretty simple pattern they jump over you and then slash but remain open to attacks otherwise these wolves also expand on the idea of timing and blocking but they also open themselves up to alternative solutions like bombs to deal extra damage or the hook shot to stun them in place just like linked to the past there's always extra damage you can be dealing and with z targeting throwing bombs at enemies or stunning them is made way easier and more reliable the same actions you'd be carrying out in 2d space transition almost effortlessly into 3d thanks to z targeting sure it's not nearly as smooth but that's something that you unfortunately lose when you're working within an entirely new gameplay paradigm the game's introductory dungeon has you exploring the inside of the deku tree something inside has poisoned him and slowly brought about his demise and it's up to you to find out what that thing is to this day the inside of a tree is still a pretty unique location for any game and the artist brought such an incredible atmosphere to the table with this one moody lighting gross and dilapidated textures interactive cobwebs all over the place etc the music permeates the sense of subtle childlike wonder and mystery the first puzzles you face are simple but gently ease players into a 3d space now there have been countless block puzzles in zelda history but this one right here tests players on elevation it might seem silly to even bring this up but elevation was a pretty big part of puzzle solving and linked to the past certain dungeons ask you to think about where you would land upon jumping through holes and you'd also have to pay attention to how you can traverse the same floors along higher levels of elevation with a z axis platforms can be at virtually any coordinates so problems arise when the player has to figure out how they can get up to a platform that's barely out of their reach one of the solutions is to take a blind leap as hinted at by this deku scrub you just straight up plummet through the cobweb in the middle once you gather enough velocity and to this day i think it's a pretty cool puzzle this may have been possible to do in linked to the past but it wouldn't have been an easy thing to convey without being able to see the whole dungeon from this one central room in general ocarina of time has a lot of puzzles that play with the z-axis but i'll talk more about them later the deku tree doesn't overwhelm the player with puzzles that involve the z-axis either for example once you get the slingshot most enemies are stationary and can usually be z-targeted and puzzles are relegated to finding a ladder hanging from the ceiling or looking around for queen goma as you enter the boss room it's a perfect introductory dungeon that isn't too challenging but is also engaging and informative in the best ways honestly with the type of game this new the last thing you want is players to feel lost in a sea of options and that's why the deku tree's simple design was important at the same time ocarina of time's difficulty curve is balanced well in the same manner as linked to the past they wait until your second dungeon visit to introduce keys this is effective and linked to the past but it's especially helpful here this game gets weird and wild with keys in one dungeon in particular and i think some of you might know which one i'm talking about but anyway the memorization that comes into play in a 3d space is much different than having an overhead view of a dungeon in a 2d zelda game even though you'll have a map at your disposal you still have to factor in the z-axis but what this dungeon excels at most is demonstrating why ocarina of time is great at establishing and then fleshing out concepts here you're asked to use bomb flowers to clear rooms and challenges before they allow you to have free reign with the bomb bag this means getting a feel for the trajectory of bonds when you throw them discovering how they can be used in puzzles and how effective they can be with certain enemies but it all culminates in a pretty cool problem you might not think much of this bombable wall but i see it as the dungeon's most effective test of a player's bomb throwing skills you've learned about timing your bomb throws with an enemy's movements and you have a basic idea of how long it takes for them to explode so you're presented with an interesting predicament this bombable wall is tucked away you can stand on that ledge but you can't bring a bomb with you you can try to have the bomb land on the ledge but that isn't exactly an easy process thus the best solution is to time your throw so that the bomb explodes in midair this process essentially forces you to sharpen your bomb throwing skills before you can proceed it's a bit of a subconscious thing i may not be aware of my improved efficiency with bombs but i can feel it when i'm fighting hordes of enemies or i'm solving tricky puzzles then you can apply what you've learned in opening the cave and fighting king dadango by timing your throws once more this mindset of easing a player into a new mechanic or observing its possibilities in a dungeon subsequently fleshing said mechanic out in the same dungeon and then testing them on it with a boss fight is something that ocarina of time is consistently excellent at doing in jabu-jabu's belly you see constant gross appendages that you can't interact with without getting smacked or electrocuted so you memorize what you see and then once you obtain the boomerang you deduce what needs to be done along the way you figure out how awesome it feels to target flying enemies and destroy them with the boomerang it all culminates in a great boss fight that tests your knowledge of the item you have to dodge its attacks while cutting it down with the boomerang and creating an opening oh and because you're only observing these problems throughout the dungeon and making a mental note of them simple navigation isn't enough to keep the dungeon engaging thus the whole princess ruto dynamic was created you need her to transfer between floors and open doors adding a neat twist to your typical dungeon flow as you can probably tell dungeons up to this point focused on a central item but starting with the forest temple things get a bit more complicated and unpredictable which is a good thing at this point you should have a basic idea of how dungeons are structured in ocarina of time so shaking things up and really testing the player in new ways was a good call on their part you'll walk into the dungeon with the hook shot ready to go and things needed to be reeled back so that this thing wouldn't break the game in linked to the past you could grapple to basically any object as long as it was isolated opening a plethora of new ways to interact with the world in ocarina of time the z-axis allows this to be even more complex so instead they limited interaction to designated spots as well as enemies and stuff you can use it to stun them and killing small enemies while z-targeting is immensely satisfying with that said you can also grapple onto climbable surfaces and anything that is made of wood so the possibilities remain numerous you should also be certain that you hookshot the nearest redead just to see what happens just saying the forest temple is mind-bending beyond figuring out where the hookshot can take you it seems to zero in on puzzling layouts based on its doors in the main lobby and i'm a huge fan of seeing how they intersect and how i can collect each pose soul there's a switch that can twist and turn rooms and you'll need to do this in order to progress further in the dungeon and unearth the boss key the item that allows you to do this is the hero's bow which also happens to be one of the most satisfying and important weapons in the game there's something so fulfilling when you land your arrows in a 3d space since you could only shoot arrows in four directions beforehand killing enemies and hitting targets is designed to make you feel like a marksman you can also use it while z targeted eliminating the need for asinine and cumbersome first person aiming when trying to hit an enemy that flies all over the place now with that said i still think the target practice mini-game is a ton of fun it's intense but it doesn't feel impossible and they iterate further on this by having you rack up a thousand points on horseback in gerudo valley i love this stuff and thankfully it would become a recurring minigame in zelda they immediately test you on aiming in a 3d space with the boss he'll go in and out of these paintings and you have to listen to the sounds around you while you scan the paintings for him riding in on horseback the fire temple has you rescuing imprisoned gorons by collecting keys it balances tests of a variety of the knowledge you've accrued over the course of the game understanding of the utilization of your arsenal as things become varied memorization of dungeon layout and how rooms can intersect as well as this confusing central maze that requires you to make a mental note of what leads where this dungeon's item the megaton hammer acts as more of a key to certain areas than it does an item with utility but that's not to say it doesn't have any utility it creates a shock wave around you when you slammed on the ground and when going up against many bosses in vlvagya it became my weapon of choice because of its superior damage output the fire temple is also home to some of the coolest music that complements the crimson lighting and moody color palette that is if you're playing the original release the song samples religious chanting that recites verses from the quran and islamic prayers nintendo realized that this was violating their own policies toward the end of development and built a revision to be printed after the initial run of cartridges had sold out luckily i am still able to listen to this in a legitimate form because i still have my cartridge from childhood i know it's probably horribly out of place for those that speak arabic but the chanting completes the song and significantly enhances the atmosphere of the temple and when they removed it in later versions the music sounded dull and the fire temple became a little boring at least in atmosphere now this could just be because i don't speak the language but from my understanding and from talking to a friend that speaks fluent arabic even those with arabic as their first language agree that the chanting completed the dungeon and its atmosphere that aside we have the shadow temple next you start off by utilizing the recently acquired lens of truth in order to solve a few puzzles and navigate a dungeon of traps and tricks and you eventually use the hover boots in order to navigate pitfalls and cross hazards the layout is deceptively simple and the puzzle solving is brilliant across the board involving the lens of truth and hoverboats to spot solutions and clear challenging rooms the boss introduces a trope in zelda that i'm not exactly keen on hand bosses that you shoot at its weakness is very clear and it doesn't do enough to keep things varied but this is a problem that's bigger than ocarina of time itself and you'll see that as i progress through the zelda series here on my channel the shadow temple is also brilliant due to a few underlying implications but i'll discuss that just a bit later the spirit temple is perhaps my favorite dungeon in the game you begin as young link progressing through the first half of the dungeon with your childhood arsenal however there are enemies here from the adult era that could wipe the floor with you if you're not prepared like this dolphos on top of that there are areas that intersect with the adult half of the dungeon giving you a preview of what needs to be done and how you can accomplish it you may spot a treasure chest that is unreachable as a child but you remember said treasure chest when you come back as an adult and sort through your updated arsenal to find a solution every corner of this temple is packed with challenges to overcome and puzzles to solve and it remains consistently engaging the dungeon item here is the mirror shield and for an early 3d game conceptually this is astounding and although its utilization is incredible in this dungeon as you bounce late into different things to solve puzzles and fight twin rova it unfortunately remains underutilized as an item you obtain toward the end of the game that's the only major downside to the mirror shield it's so cool and yet there isn't enough to do with it you'll also have to fight this big hunk of metal called the iron knuckle as a child and an adult and although it is doable it proves to be the greatest test of raw strength and width thus far you can't stay up in this business for too long otherwise it'll cost you a lot of health you got to learn to time your attacks and dodges and in time you'll go down and those are all of the dungeons they're all very beautifully and are all intelligently designed for her first attempt at adapting these things into 3d it remains absurd to me that they were able to nail the designs of these places over and over again they lay out invisible teaching tools and a natural progression of ideas swimmingly they consistently include the vast majority of your items and equipment and solutions to puzzles and most importantly they make effective use of ocarina of times 3d space without overwhelming the player in the slightest even outside of the game testing 3d space ocarina of times dungeons are some of the finest puzzle boxes in video game history because of how they gradually evolve ideas one by one and how effective they are in following up on concepts what's that i'm forgetting a dungeon uh oh oh yeah that's right the water temple [Music] i haven't talked about this dungeon yet because it remains the most infamous and with that said i don't think it's a bad dungeon at all it's complicated let's take a look the water temple revolves around raising and lowering the water levels so that you can access different parts of the dungeon however things aren't nearly as straightforward as you might think from the get-go you can access several portions of the dungeon on the north west east and south walls across three floors there are many paths to take and a lot of equipping and unequipping the iron boots as you slowly sink down each time there's a good chance that in your quest to progress through this dungeon you'll rack up a back stock of keys and if you ever realize you've come to a dead end you'll have to repeat the process in reverse when you need to raise the water levels back up to the top you'll have to ascend the middle tower each time you can at least use ferrore's wind to warp back to that spot saving you the headache the monotony of these actions stems from a term i like to call water temple syndrome this name came from the interesting mind of my good friend wolfolos who sometimes streams fun randomizer runs of this game on his twitch page i'll include a link to his channel in the description essentially with the amount of paths to taking this dungeon you're bound to lose track of which rooms you've been in so even when you think you're on the right path you'll end up going through a door that you've already visited because your brain has to manage memorization of so many areas at once human short term memory lasts about 15 to 30 seconds so when the solution lies in a room you may not have checked since the beginning of the dungeon and considering how many doors are available to you from the central hub your brain short circuits and you make stupid decisions that cost you time thus an endless cycle of raising and lowering water levels and syncing with the iron boots continues with that said i do think the water temple is brilliantly designed at its core the general layout of it is inherently puzzling and solving it ends up being a fantastic puzzle box kind of situation as you think about what goes where and how the changing water levels can affect that its design demonstrates how the developers were so masterful at creating dungeons that can only work in a 3d space too most of the backtracking and stuff is generally invalidated as you master the layout of the dungeon on subsequent playthroughs and in time it became one of my favorite dungeons however my love for it was dependent on giving it a chance and playing the game over and over again and i don't blame most people for being unable to do that it's also home to an incredible fight with dark link he mirrors your every move so you have to constantly sort through your inventory and figure out what might work against him it can feel helpless it can feel overwhelming but it's very much doable there isn't a correct answer here all that matters is that you find a winning strategy i personally use din's fire until i run out of magic and then smash away with the megaton hammer as he comes by his health also matches how many heart containers you have at that point which is more than just a nice touch and in the end it fades into a blank room as the illusion subsides because it's more lenient comparing this to zelda 2's dark link fight is like night and day it feels like the developers accomplished what they set out to do with chamber of sword fighting a realization of their goal by the way ocarina of times tests of knowledge and wit expand far beyond its temples most dungeons require a prerequisite to be completed before you can enter and these miniature dungeons and places you visit both teach and expand on important concepts you'll be facing as you enter each actual temple think of them like adventuring through death mountain before you can enter the tower of hera and link to the past for the forest temple you race danpe in his grave so that you can get the hook shot it's a great test of movement that prepares you for the unexpected split-second making that can be required of you in later dungeons with the rematch if you manage to shave off some more time through cheeky shortcuts cutting corners and general optimizations he'll reward you with a piece of heart and i love that at this point in the game i don't recall thinking much about my movement because it was calculated decisions that usually bring home the gold in most scenarios but dampe's race changed everything because of this i felt like i was conditioned to the game's controls in an entirely new way i could dodge obstacles swings from an iron knuckle and even juke ganon sword slashes at the end of the game because i learned how to move optimally before the shadow temple you'll need to descend to the bottom of the well in kakariko village as a child this guy hints at someone having the item that you obtain here the lens of truth and he says his house stood where the well is now and the area is pretty cool non-linear progression based on the keys you find tricks in the level's walls and floors etc but there's another reason it sticks out to me and it has nothing to do with the game's design or even its overarching narrative it is simply unsettling and reveals some dark lore on hyrule's part so when ocarina of time was initially released it carried a modest e for everyone raiding which states that the game is appropriate for children aged 6 and above according to the esrb and yeah i can mostly see where they're coming from although most of the game's content will fly over a child's head more on that later however the bottom of the well definitely won't it is disturbing to put things lightly there's blood all over the floors and walls skeletons strewn about the cells and the music is made up of drones moans and discordant instrumentation the boss you fight here is called the dead hand and he looks like something straight out of quake or a lovecraftian horror story you have to wonder why a dungeon was built underneath hyrule in which prisoners were left to suffer and rot away like this the implications of this are pretty intense as if the man who had seen the truth was severely punished for it moreover the shadow temple mentions hyrule's bloody history when you enter the bottom of the well you're seeing the truth that no one was supposed to see and the shadow temple gives you further context for this if anything this made me question if the world i was saving was just and righteous nothing else in ocarina of time alludes to this thematically and it's pretty engrossing commentary also fun fact the name bottom of the well is actually an idiom for a scenario in which someone has limited perspectives or opportunities and obtaining the lens of truth quite literally gives them a new perspective from which to look at things which in turn presents new opportunities whether or not this was intentional is dependent on there being a japanese equivalent for this phrase that translates to the exact same thing and i'll just pretend that's the case because it's awesome the bottom of the well skimps out on the blood in the 3ds remaster and considering the grim context of the events down here it does the level of disservice they also change the color of ganondorf's blood in the final fight with him and it looks goofy ganondorf coughing up blood after you've slashed the heck out of him demonstrated to me that i've done severe damage to this guy and i feel great about it but in all further revisions of the game his blood is green so it looks like he's puking ugh by the way ocarina of time's narrative never tries to hide its mature subject matter and it completes the game contextually at the same time it's something you have to look for and when it clicks the game's impact is heightened exponentially but we'll talk about it when the time is right now before the spirit temple you'll be imprisoned by the gerudo for being male you see a male gerudo is born once every hundred years and that male baby happened to be ganondorf this time who is the single most evil person in hyrule's history so i can't blame them for their distrust regardless this prison happens to be one of my favorite little places to solve you'll need to take out the guards by any means necessary without getting caught figure out how you can climb around the exterior of the building and you can rescue the carpenters in any order you like it's a lot of fun and finally before the water temple you'll need to visit an ice cavern thankfully none of the dungeons in this game make you deal with full on ice physics like the ice palace did in linked to the past aside from occasional annoyances with the hoverboats and i think this cavern works much better for a few reasons for one the rooms are much smaller than rooms in the ice palace you can see everything around you as soon as you enter and you can move in more than eight directions roll jump flip and do whatever is necessary to dodge hazards secondly the blue fire that you carry in your empty bottles is a lot of fun to use and depending on how much you like to explore and how resourceful you've been in the overworld you'll be doing less backtracking because you can fill up all of your bottles with that sweet sweet fire unearthing secrets and even a heart piece along the way third the rooms are well designed through and through the sliding block puzzle is a highlight thanks to the lateral thinking required in solving it but i also like the silver rupee trials that they have you go through and whatnot ocarina of time also adapts one of my favorite aspects of link to the past dungeon design into 3d and this is something that i don't see a lot of people talk about linked to the past had rooms that were challenging because they were filled with enemies and hazards for you to dodge they didn't have a central theme but that's okay because the rest of the dungeon was able to fill that void what mattered was that they were fun to clear and or solve in ocarina of time these rooms still exist and i love what they've done here they're once again jam-packed with hazards but they have a clear goal thanks to six silver rupees each rupee is collected once you've conquered a challenge and these rooms allow for so many tests of reflexes and knowledge i really like the way they've been handled and they get increasingly more difficult with time they are perhaps best utilized in ganon's tower which is one of the coolest end game dungeons in the zelda series to date to think that this is what they were able to come up with for a first attempt at a 3d gannons tower is amazing these rooms are all rapid fire tests of everything you've learned over the course of the game all stuffed into one hell of a dungeon all theme to whichever temple you're revisiting sometimes they're even an amalgamation of different items that you wouldn't even dream of being together introducing yet another new dynamic for you to experiment with before your game is over ocarina of time master quest also zeros in on this philosophy of filling rooms to the brim with challenges pertaining to a dungeon's themes and if you're experienced enough with the game i highly recommend checking it out via either the gamecube version or the 3ds remaster gannon's tower also includes the only intelligent implementation of bomb chews this isn't a joke i just wanted to mention how much i hate bomb shoes they are virtually useless and this mini game sucks both depth perception and the damn bomb choose trajectory play a part in why it sucks and it sucks i save state the out of this one whenever i play on an emulator because it sucks they're cute in the context of the developers experimenting with 3d a bit further but yeah it's they suck anyway in the end it all comes down to your confrontation with ganondorf as you climb his tower this ascending organ melody plays the suspense builds and builds as you face off with some tough enemies and you climb what feels like never never-ending staircases and as you reach the top you find out that ganondorf is so badass that he's the one that's playing the organ the fight starts with a game of energy tennis now this would eventually become a bit of a stupid trope in zelda but in this moment here it works with every reflection the ball travels faster and ganondorf can continue to reflect for a long time but when the ball finally connects with him you could breathe a sigh of relief as you wail on him after that the tower begins to collapse and you now have to run backwards through it on a time limit alongside zelda facing the occasional ambush along the way ganon's tower was already a remarkable dungeon up to this point but the rush of desperation and determination i feel when i get to this part firmly cements ocarina of time's final dungeon as one of the best in the entire series subsequent attempts at a ganon's tower had to live up to a standard set by this game and hell that's also true for the rest of the zelda series having to live up to ocarina of time but i'm getting ahead of myself as you reach the bottom of the tower and examine the rubble ganondorf uses the triforce of power in an act of desperation and transforms into the hideous yet terrifying beast ganon his silhouette towers over you against the pitch black sky and you only see glimpses of his full design as lightning strikes behind him the atmosphere and tension in this fight is unparalleled after coming so far i felt a combination of both anxiety and a desire to succeed he hits hard but he's also vulnerable to a lot openings are created via stunning him and this can be done with a few items the item you use will also affect how long he's stunned so you need to balance that with your magic meter spamming light arrows in tandem with the megaton hammer may work really well but it's also very costly even in your final moments with the game you have to think about your arsenal you can even use deku nuts to stun him you remember those alternative solutions go beyond stuff like this though if you didn't know ocarina of time is a very popular speed game and playing it this way has birthed many forms of emergent gameplay this began when i was a kid as i discovered that you could reflect balls of energy with an empty bottle for some reason this oversight continued throughout the series but i'm not complaining it's a funny way to take ganon down but of course it's not exactly useful you have to look further on a subsequent playthrough i learned that i didn't need to plant the magic bean in lake hylia in order to obtain those two heart pieces instead i could pick up a cuckoo and fly over to these platforms completely bypassing the need to purchase an extra bean and hell let's eliminate another bean while we're at it just above dadango's cavern there's another heart piece that would usually require a magic bean however i'm too cool for that check this out bam epic backflip over the fence and now all i have to do is walk over to my reward but let's go beyond magic beans don't want to spend the best years of your life hunting for fish in order to get the silver scale well thankfully you can grab one of the two heart pieces that require the scale using this neat trick in the observatory throw on the iron boots and sink your way to the bottom then hook shot the box in front of you and while you're being pulled towards it pause and unequip your boots congratulations you're a cheater don't feel bad about it though fishing is a stressful now you might argue that these methods are not at all what the developers intended people to do and you know what you're totally right but exploration of the game's mechanics and everything that they encompass to me is true to the spirit of zelda in fact on the topic of skipping magic bean planting you can play the scarecrow song to get on top of the observatory in lake hylia as the game does encourage you to think outside of the box zelda has always encouraged the player to think outside of the box that's what makes the puzzle solving so fun and people digging deeper to find new solutions to age-old problems is a testament to the game's legacy speaking of its legacy we haven't discussed the game's overworld enough so let's delve into how the world of ocarina of time is designed and what its structure lends to the game as a whole unlike mario 64 ocarina of time didn't opt to change the structure of zelda much like linked to the past ocarina of time has the player adhering to a designated path you visit one dungeon after another as required by the game's plot progression and as i've discussed already progression of ideas each area is connected by hyrule field a massive plane with honestly barely anything to do at the time it was an amazing technical achievement that this could even run well and you could survey the various locales from afar but when you compare it to link to the past which still managed to be dense in every square inch of the map it becomes apparent that things aren't exactly perfect here in linked to the past the world made sure to be jam-packed with secrets to discover no matter where you were with the light and dark worlds intersecting constantly it felt like there was always a wall to be bombed a rock to be lifted and a place to shift between worlds but ocarina of time has long stretches of land that you're constantly forced to track even if epona speeds up the process there aren't many goodies to find in hyrule field and you'll quickly exhaust the various nooks and crannies on the outskirts of towns and more established areas not the areas themselves the outskirts the places you're traveling through most of the time warping comes along to alleviate this issue but my point still stands there is still discovery and wonder to be had in these areas though even if it doesn't last long and it can be a chore to hike through areas you've already been through i'm not saying anything new here this is a common complaint amongst even people that love this game although i believe that density and discovery still exists in ocarina of times over world in towns lakes and areas outside of those long stretches of land but considering the game streamlined and often linear structure how does the game condition you to exploration where does it go out of its way to encourage you to seek these upgrades out well here's the deal on most of my playthroughs i try to go for every heart piece even if i may not need to it's a ton of fun to seek these things out as you progress through the game you want to discover how you can use your newly acquired items that remained a constant in the shift from linked to the past ocarina of time however there is one heart piece that i was once hesitant to obtain this right here is a gold skeletal token there are 100 of these in the game and they're strewn about over hyrule in the deku tree on death mountain atop a tree in lake hylia basically anywhere you can think of so it can be daunting to seek them all out at first and hey on your first playthrough you might not think twice about collecting them however i feel that they are crucial in easing the player into exploration and critical thinking in the overworld ocarina of times overworld is in a unique position it has to communicate to players how they're going to be able to explore and solve puzzles across a three-dimensional landscape while also assuming that they aren't stupid and that they have an innate desire to explore this balancing act is what i believe led to the creation of skulltula tokens once you're made aware of how you can be rewarded for finding tokens with that wallet upgrade things change as you develop game sense your skeletal hunting skills improve however finding these things isn't always easy in order to become truly a master at skeletal hunting you might need to play through this game more than once you'll need to truly master spelunking in dungeons and the effectiveness of each item at some point my playstyle completely shifted and i was finding heart pieces left and right all because of these dumb tokens i was scouring every corner and to be honest i think that's what zelda has always wanted you to do as i've alluded to 50 skulltulas will grant you a piece of heart meaning that honing your skills in this field is a necessity in the pursuit of completing your loadout new players might not even be able to break 30 by the end of the game but i believe their desire to increase their strength will drive them to look harder and think about things longer i mean that's what happened to me suddenly hyrule wasn't looking and feeling like an empty playground anymore every inch of it was uncharted territory essential wallet upgrades and an infinite pool of money by the end of the game are just the icing on the cake now allow me to go on a tangent for a second ocarina of time as i've mentioned is a very linear game in comparison to its predecessors most of the time it railroads the player through to the end with problem solving being the key to progression its idea of adventure primarily shines through in its events items and how you're able to use them and figuring out where to go some heart pieces can be found just off the beaten path and i mean not all of this is necessarily a bad thing when i figure out how to obtain an item i still gain a sense of satisfaction and pride i felt like a genius when i discovered that secret passageway in lonlon ranch's barn or when i discovered how to get behind the waterfall in gerudo valley with a new tool at my disposal i get excited about how i can use it in the overworld the lens of truth allows you to completely cheat your way through that stupid treasure chest guessing game and i think that's what they wanted you to try in the end or how about sinking to the bottom of zoro's fountain with the iron boots and being rewarded for it bottom line the spirit of zelda games of old still exists in ocarina of time even if the structure and layout differ greatly however it does compromise on freedom in the context of streamlining things for players new to 3d gaming it was new and it would have been a little insane if things weren't reeled in a little bit alright liam so what does this have to do with gold skulltulas well i'm glad you asked they encourage the player to seek out more of the game in the interest of netting valuable upgrades which in turn makes them more adventurous organically it wants you to break outside of the confined path the game is set and search thoroughly eventually i stopped caring that ocarina of time was linear what mattered to me was that i felt the urge to explore in a linear game and the game rewarded me for it as my understanding of the game's design expanded my off-road adventuring perfectly supplemented the feeling of excitement as i'd reach a new area or dungeon it presented me with the best of both worlds and now i look forward to challenging myself by finding every skeletal a token while the hunt isn't exactly zelda's crowning achievement in player freedom it is essential to ocarina of times design a linear zelda game by trade speaking of overarching quests that take place over the course of the game remember link's awakening's trading quest it mattered just as much to that game's design but this is essentially a cheap segue into my discussion of ocarina of time's optional trading quest upon gathering all of anju's lost cuckoos she'll give you an egg and once that egg hatches you can initiate one of the dumbest quests that lead to one of the coolest rewards all of these hints come from your knowledge of the game and on a repeat playthrough you can beat this just before the water temple so let's talk about why this quest works and why you'd want to beat it before the water temple if you recall at the beginning of the game you had to wake talon with a cuckoo's crow once you do this a second time you'll be given kojiro a cuckoo that belongs to andrew's brother in the forest now one of the cool things about ocarina is seeing how the passage of time can affect hyrule without going into too much detail right now it's usually wise to reinvestigate locales that once belonged to other people that's the hint when you make it to where skull kid once resided in the lost woods you'll meet anju's brother he'll give you the odd mushroom and you'll have to hurry to the potion shop you can't warp remember you're training with danpe and you'll pull through the mushroom will be mixed into an odd potion and when you rush back to the lost woods you'll discover that anju's brother had been turned into a stolfos oh anyway take the poacher saw to those carpenters that you might remember from gerudo valley you'll receive the broken bigoron sword in order to fix this thing climb to the top of death mountain the metigoron inside goron city can't help you his swords are bad unfortunately the big goron got volcano dust in his eyes so you'll have to head to king zora in order to get some freaking eye drops king zora however will give you a frog which needs to be rushed to the observatory in lake hylia in three minutes then when you finally get the eye drops you have four minutes to go from the observatory all the way back up to the top of death mountain this magic bean sprout right here felt more rewarding during this quest than it ever did gathering heart pieces once you finally deliver the eye drops you'll receive a claim check and after several in-game days of waiting you'll finally receive the big orange sword so i know that kind of devolved into a pseudo walkthrough but i believe i needed to go in depth this trading quest is tremendously involved and it deliberately tests the player's patience but the reward is unquestionably worth it the big oran sword deals double the damage and it can tear through enemies with ease i am always beyond ecstatic to unlock this beast of a weapon i think this quest right here is a legacy of its own it influenced hilariously pointless tasks in games that lead to a great reward kinda like an easter egg in call of duty zombies you know with all this discussion of what goes on in the overworld i can't believe i failed to discuss the locations themselves in a 2d game you can only convey so much atmosphere which is why link to the past could be so impressive ocarina of time however has the advantage of being one of the most technically advanced video games of its time now with that power comes great responsibility and they made sure that art direction came before graphical achievements the areas surrounding hyrule castle like castle town and the temple of time all make use of digitized assets that don't compromise on the art style of the game and they look astonishing i've always been fascinated by how realistic the temple of time looked as it towered over me it really feels like i'm investigating an ancient cathedral in the 3d age of gaming nintendo seemed to be the dominant developer when it came to establishing atmosphere every environment in this game has a distinct vibe i'll never forget the first time i walked into zora's domain the reflections of the water filling the cavern walls and the music that invites you into tranquility as an extension of this the water temple is gorgeous it's so detailed and vibrant and it remains one of the most impressive levels ever featured on the nintendo 64. even hyrule field itself is a breathtaking landscape that inspires infinite possibilities despite how barren some areas might feel at times simply being in them proves to be fun and immersive and i believe that's something that ocarina of time was banking on thankfully it worked out for them they are some of the best escapist playgrounds in video game history and i love getting lost in them ocarina of time has a lot of favorites for me a favorite dungeon a favorite side quest or two etc but bar none has one of my favorite gameplay mechanics that i've seen in any video game and it transcends the medium entirely the game's namesake i cannot articulate how important the ocarina itself is to my love of this game depending on the characters and milestones you meet you'll learn a new song which can then be used in different contexts now there are a few reasons learning songs in ocarina of time goes beyond entering cheat codes over and over again when you learn a song it is accompanied by a pivotal moment when zarya teaches you her song it's in her private retreat in the sacred forest meadow where she goes to hide away and ease her anxieties when you learn zelda's lullaby it's because you made a promise to work with the princess and save the world no matter how much time may pass when i play the song of time i'm reminded of the colossal walls inside the temple of time and how excited i was to move through time when i play epona song i not only think about the peaceful atmosphere of lonline ranch that soothed me with each visit i also think about how epona has followed me through thick and thin now she's become a lifelong companion in addition to all of this the melodies are intentionally simple when koji kondo was composing these tunes he had to adhere to simplistic notes and time signatures so that those not well versed in music theory could easily play these back once they learn the controls of the ocarina incidentally this also drove a lot of people to learn how to play music ocarina's sales went up after this game's release because people were inspired to play these tunes not just because they were simple or easy to learn but they also because they were associated with the moments people remember and cherish music and existing media is much different than music that was simply written to be heard because it has an immediately present connection with something important and music created for something of such importance has the power to inspire our imaginations outside of the game performing covers creating art writing sleeping daydreaming you name it ocarina of time soundtrack isn't just special because it enhances those moments we love it's special because it's interactive and it inspired a ton of people to go out and start playing music this mechanic connects me with the game i am thinking about those moments all the time and as a result they become exponentially more memorable all of this is why i love ocarina of time its natural intelligent and astounding progression in ideas how it conditions the player to exploration and puzzle solving and the lengths it goes to to be memorable everything about it was designed as if it was destined to be memorable not just because of its strides in game design and atmosphere but also because of its emotional resonance both genuine appreciation for its mechanics and nostalgia bring about so many emotions attached to this game that's right nostalgia many many people grew up with this game and remember time can have a tremendous effect on us picture this it's a cold november night you're all warm and cozy in your bed and the only thing illuminating your room in the dead of night is your television as link rides through hyrule field and the game's music soothes any anxieties you may have you then play into the night as if nothing else matters for the time being eventually you turn the system off fall asleep and have dreams about your adventures in hyrule now let me ask you something else how old did you imagine yourself being if your answer was amongst your childhood years there's a reason and if your answer was amongst your adult years there's a reason for that too on the surface ocarina of time's narrative is pretty straightforward a boy receives a call to adventure that eventually spirals into him being tasked with saving the world along the way he leaves behind his childhood home and friends meets quirky new characters that grow up with him and he saves hyrule from the clutches of ganondorf the game being fun is one thing but with something this clear-cut and basic why do people connect with the game as a whole so deeply well in order to figure that out we first need to examine how time affects the world of ocarina as ganondorf's grasp on hyrule gets tighter and tighter different parts of the world start to see the effects zora's domain is completely frozen over and devoid of any life whatsoever even the king is frozen in time malin remains hidden away as ingo barters with ganondorf even as she once happily played with her horses on the ranch most important however is this moment right here where you pull the master sword from its pedestal in this moment i was ready to set off an even grander adventure but as soon as i exit the temple i see the world is in complete disarray the air is thick with death and castletown which was once bustling is now home to the undead it's as if to say welcome to adulthood are you ready to proceed or would you rather go back although at some point we must move forward this is ocarina of time central thesis and it's presented subtly through metaphorical elements its dialogue visuals music and events all come together to create one of zelda's most engrossing messages the kokiri forest is not just a good tutorial area for its accessibility thematically it's withdrawn from the entirety of hyrule completely secluded and surrounded by ignorant bliss even as ganondorf ravages the land kokiri forest remains in its peaceful state as if nothing had happened it's as if it's a safe haven for the player to bask in eternal youth nothing bad can happen here but as the player receives their call to adventure zarya catches you on your way out and says this zarya remains the last connection you have with your childhood home and your life before things changed after speaking with princess zelda and resolving to defeat ganondorf you visit sarya in the lost woods as she plays her ocarina in order to find your way through the woods you have to listen to where the music is coming from sorry a song to me is the embodiment of childlike wonder and mystery the sacred forest meadow is even further withdrawn from the rest of hyrule and when you play the song you think of zarya you think of your home and you think of simpler times where childhood felt eternal once you save her from the forest temple she accepts that things can't stay the same forever to further illustrate my point let's look at goron city darunia has retreated to his room as he refuses to hand the goron's ruby over to ganondorf who in turn is cutting off the goron's food supply by shutting them away and making the gorons crave the stone derunya has a lot on his mind and in order to cheer him up these are the clues you're given zarinya says i wanted to hear a tune something um from outside the mountains something green natural that's the kind of music i want to hear meanwhile another goron says i remember big brother used to always listen to the music that comes from the forest ah yes the good old days that music makes me feel nostalgic too as you play it for him he bursts into a fit of happiness and dances to his heart's content the song allowed him to forget about everything that was plaguing his people if only for a moment and the two of you form a strong bond by the time the fire temple rolls around that chanting i mentioned before becomes vital to the goron's survival and happiness as they attempt to maintain hope through music escapism becomes the catalyst for hope over in sora's domain princess ruto promises to marry you after saving her from jabu-jabu's belly and she maintains this vow even as you meet her again in the water temple but as she has to attend to her duties as a sage she realizes that there are more important matters to attend to than sticking to her childhood promises all three of these sages are characters that grow with you and they all represent key values that shift and distort reality for us as we cling to childhood memories our unwillingness to grow up and desire for things to stay the same are constant retreats and escapist tendencies and the harsh realization that priorities change with time it's a very harsh presentation of the unfortunate realities that come with transitioning to adulthood ganondorf as a character represents the looming presence of adulthood something all of us must eventually confront that's why collecting heart pieces and expanding my arsenal goes beyond simply powering up to defeat ganon and save hyrule by the end of the game ocarina of time had become an immensely personal journey and there's one character in particular that i have to thank for helping me see it through their name is sheik [Music] sheikh mysteriously appears before you visit each temple acting as a guide of sorts through a desecrated hyrule this new world is big and daunting and with castletown being in ruins and the undead roaming what were once lively streets it can feel like there isn't any hope left but there is you are that hope and it's up to you to bring hope to others now of course this is easier said than done how are we to just simply grit our teeth and face the world head-on if we're just barely getting the hang of things how can we become adults when we're not quite ready to give up childhood not without a little help before you visit sarya darunia and ruto in their respective temples sheik will appear before you and relay some words pertaining to each sage sheik is one of the only direct messengers of the game's themes and it was here as an adult where i first thought deeply about the greater context of its events in reference to sarya sheikh says the flow of time is always cruel its speed seems different for each person but no one can change it a thing that doesn't change with time is a memory of younger days with this revelation you learn the minuet of the forest in contrast to the peaceful escapism that surya's song provided it's a simultaneously nostalgic and reflective piece it symbolizes the acceptance of adulthood and responsibility and it acknowledges that nostalgia is an important and valid emotion every time you play these sages songs you warp to their respective temples too so you're reminded of this every time with darunia sheik says it is something that grows over time a true friendship a feeling in the heart that becomes even stronger over time the passion of friendship will soon blossom into a righteous power and through it you will know which way to go as we approach adulthood it's easy to feel lost and as if we have no idea what we're doing in high school i felt this way and honestly even as an adult i still don't have a firm grasp on my life but you shouldn't be expected to have everything sorted out right away and it's important to remember that you're not alone in feeling that way darunia made sure to convey that with a big goron hug with ruto sheik says 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 surface reflects growth now listen to the serenade of water to reflect upon yourself this explicitly references ruto's revelation by the end of the water temple that i discussed earlier i've talked about how nostalgia is important and childhood is valuable but that's not to say you should completely ignore responsibilities that come with adulthood it might be scary but with the people around you and a drive to succeed you'll find your way as did ruto these are all very important lessons were laid by a subversive guide and obviously the sheikah zelda reveal has become one of the most famous spoilers in the history of video games but this was still a pretty incredible moment sheikh was the first character to make me think about what ocarina of time was really trying to say as an adult the things sheik said suddenly had more relevance and i began to think about the characters the subtle hints throughout and the metaphoric purpose of certain elements as an example of strong metaphorical writing navi i used to hate her with every fiber of my being and to be honest yes there are still things that i dislike about her she interrupts you during the first dungeon to inform you of things that have already been made apparent and at one point she hinted at a puzzle solution as i solved said puzzle she can be intrusive to say the least but she serves a purpose remember when i mentioned navi being the catalyst for the game's narrative yet without her creation ocarina of time may not have been the game that it is today she inspired the idea of fairies being assigned to children of the forest and link growing out of her protection had a greater meaning in the context of the game's message forget zelda or sarya or anyone you become close with over the course of the game navi is there from the moment you wake up that fateful day to the moment you slay ganon with the blade of evil's bane she's with you every step of the way and by the time you've killed ganondorf you've fully matured as a person and she has no need to stick around the moment she flies away has been cemented in my mind as the deliverer of this game's message as comfortable and blissful as childhood may be we can't ignore our imminent responsibilities we have to accept that things change as we get older and we'll have grand things to accomplish with age but at the same time some things won't change memories true friends and loved ones will stay by our side as time moves forward we can't remain stagnant we need to change and adapt to our surroundings and answer the call to adventure metaphorically speaking the best part about ocarina of time's narrative and message is that it's rarely explicit everything about it involves reading between the lines and thinking about the circumstances of the game and because i grew up with this game its message was stronger it felt as if the game in every aspect was designed to grow more important with time but time isn't always forgiving in the last few years a lot of legitimate criticism has been put toward ocarina of time and i personally know a few people who just don't like playing the game at all the most notable video to spark a new kind of discussion about the game was egoraptor's sequelitis video sequelitis as a series were some of the first videos on youtube that made me think a little differently about the games i played his mega man video which is almost 10 years old now completely shifted my mindset when it came to discussing video games the videos were presented in a manner that gelled with me but the actual arguments got me thinking now his ocarina of time video still has stuff that i disagree with you know i've made a case for this game's narrative i made a case for z targeting and i've made a case for the game's use of 3d space hazards like the sweeping spiky things he criticized still have a place in this game because you can actively survey their path and base your movements on timing even when they're out of view and some enemies that he criticized for forcing you to wait can be dealt with by actually finding an item in your arsenal that speeds up the process which is something that he tended not to think about both when fighting enemies in his video and in the game grumps playthrough and i don't blame him for it i mean not everyone is conditioned to think like that on the fly on top of that he was commentating so it's not easy it's totally fine to have that opinion too but i believe there are always opportunities to dispose of enemies faster in ocarina of time and that problem solving is what keeps combat engaging now there are things he said that i completely agree with though for one i do believe ocarina of time makes you wait rather pointlessly as aaron said in the video it creates the illusion of difficulty when in reality it's just wasting your time while i don't think link to the past gets off scot-free when it comes to waiting you out like this ocarina of time is severely more guilty of this than linked to the past i still think these fights can work because you're thinking about timing your next attack during this period of time but when it's the same enemy you fought over a dozen times it's hard for this defense to hold any ground pose for example cannot be attacked or interacted with in any way until they reappear on this plane of existence ocarina of time makes you wait in very strange way outside of fights why do i have to wait for this cuckoo to hatch just to wake up talon i just want to get in the castle why does mr owl have to slowly inform me of stuff that i already know about can i just get going already and perhaps he's right a lot of the game's 3d puzzles are rather antiquated now in 2020 is looking for an eye on the wall really a puzzle it may have been effective back then but now so many games have iterated on this and made better use of 3d space and you know even outside of the video there are still things in ocarina of time that have bothered me only in the context of reigniting constructive discussion over the game has it really come about why is there a defense upgrade that only becomes accessible at the very end of the game i mean i know it exists as a reward for finding the golden gauntlets but hear me out since it doubles the damage you can take it almost invalidates all that upgrading and exploring i did because link to the past had a sword upgrade that was required to kill gannon well if it's following a link to the past wake why didn't it do so with the overworld i've talked about how things are spread thin across hyrule and it just goes to show that although ocarina of time adapted and changed things that linked to the past introduced for the better it also did so for the worse all of these problems i've mentioned throughout the video with linearity and self-defeating quests and mechanics aren't exclusive to ocarina of time they've persisted throughout the entire zelda series some of them even exist today ocarina of time happened to be the focus of his sequelitis video and looking back his thesis summarized this issue that zelda felt constrained by conventions that were established to hold it together zelda 1 was about finding things that you could use to find more things and solve more problems no one asked you to do anything in particular but when linked to the past came along things changed with ocarina of time constraining things further now i would argue that zelda needed a defined structure if it were to continue in some form from linked to the past it needed things that would become recognizable and that's the thing a lot of people were first exposed to zelda through ocarina of time and a lot were first exposed through linked to the past but many many more people would be exposed through future games that would continue to adopt different elements that were established in these two games a question as broad as what is zelda has an answer that varies from person to person is it about going from dungeon to dungeon in a linear fashion as you explore for heart pieces and arsenal upgrades in a non-linear fashion is it about the core adventurous spirit and freedom to do as you please or is it about something else that i've failed to mention there is no correct answer to this question and what aaron said is merely an opinion nothing more nothing less but it remains a valuable opinion just like all of our opinions on this game what is truly important about this game is it the message is it the dungeons is it problem solving is it the world is it the atmosphere is it everything or is it nothing is it the best game of all time really who are we to determine that what i conclude should never be taken as fact nothing i said in this video should be taken as fact after all this is yet another ocarina of time retrospective my voice is bound to be drowned out by the countless other videos about this game but what i will say is this a long time has passed since ocarina of time was released like i said in my link to the past video numerous zelda games have since released that have done unique things to separate itself from earlier entries ocarina is in a similar spot to that game it was the first of its kind and there's a first for everything there are aspects of just about every mechanic that might seem too archaic and janky for those just getting into zelda today or after playing newer games throughout their childhood perhaps our idyllic view of the game really is nothing but a distorted childhood memory nah i don't think so no matter what anyone says about this game i want you to know that your enjoyment is justified it might seem unreasonable to say this it might seem silly but it's not if this is your favorite game of all time then you picked a damn fine game to love you grew up with it you live with it and for some of you it might have even helped shape you as a person if you're on the other side of the argument understand that the very concept of time affects all of us differently some of us have seen the zelda series grow since its inception in the 80s others have only recently jumped in with breath of the wild everyone has a favorite zelda game that shapes their idea of what this series should be like and with a series so diverse it can become a heated discussion to say the least the point i'm trying to make here is that although ocarina of time may not have aged as gracefully as you might be led to believe it is an extremely important game for the industry and for the people that grew up with it you may not like it for very valid reasons of your own but it was important for a reason and it still holds up in the eyes of many for a reason try to respect those reasons whatever they may be but above all else above everything i've said thus far there is something that ocarina of time has that no other zelda game has and that is its message about time after everything was said and done i had an entirely new perspective on my transition into adulthood i grew up with this game and now whenever i turn it back on for another playthrough that title screen means so much more to me it's not just a soothing look at hyrule field before dawn it's a message about nostalgia and growing up despite longing for things to stay the same i have to accept that life is about change despite feeling alone as i grow older i have to remember that my existence makes someone out there happy and despite wanting to be that little boy playing ocarina of time late at night again i have to accept that i can never go back just as link and epona set off into the sunrise despite wanting to take a break from it all nothing will ever stop the flow of time but with that said my memories and personal nostalgia with this game are just as important as legitimate critique as long as you distinguish the two if a game can make you feel a certain way and help you get through a rough time then honestly that's what shouldn't matter in the end hell my video really shouldn't matter much if you're accepting that maybe the game is flawed maybe it is showing its age that shows that you're strong enough and mature enough to accept that your nostalgic view of the game isn't concrete but it still remains important to you because it comforts you because at the end of the day games are all about providing you with an enriching experience no matter what that may look like my childhood may be over but that doesn't mean it never existed and i shouldn't have to pretend that it didn't in order to move on with my adult life and that is how ocarina of time changed me as a person that is why ocarina of time still matters to end this video off i want to indulge you in a few emails i received from the community i asked them to relay what they loved most about ocarina of time and i received some wonderful responses so here are some excerpts from memories that demonstrate why ocarina of time is so legendary not simply because it changed the industry but also because it changed the lives of people that played it maybe that's one of the main reasons it's remembered so fondly the spectacle of everything who doesn't remember watching ganondorf galloping off into the night on his war horse with zelda in tow or the feeling you felt when the great deku tree gives his final words or how about pulling the legendary master sword out for the first time only to have your excitement replaced with a sense of dread as you walk out into a deadscape that was once flourishing with life back when the internet didn't exist and those old playground rumors would start surfacing my cousins claimed that there was a secret dungeon in dampe's grave and we'd spend hours trying to find it i loved that when i was a kid my imagination with this game ran wild i'd always try and get out of bounds time how fast i could travel hyrule field i think the scene that most sums up my feelings about the game is the ending party almost every time i watch it i get a little teary-eyed because it reminds me of better times the scene is so happy but kind of sad at the same time it celebrates your journey but you're sad that it has to come to an end it mirrors how a lot of us feel about our childhoods we are glad to have gone on with our lives but miss when we were so happy any kid can get inspired by link's journey throughout time by self-projecting under the blank slate of his character it's a magical experience to go on such a magical journey with the belief of being able to be the hero yourself i think that's why ocarina of time plays so well to the memories of those who experienced it at a young age i just love the game to pieces the visuals the characters the dungeons the towns the music it's all been ingrained into my head to the point where i can't help but have this warm comfortable feeling when i think of this wonderful game i remember crying when the game ended as i beat it on a rainy night sometime during the fall i love that the whimsical nature of the child portion gives way to a truly melancholy adult section it is to put it simply a miracle of a game [Music] thanks for your submissions and thank you all so very much for watching long live the hero of time [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Liam Triforce

Views: 281,491

Keywords: zelda, ocarina of time, oot, retrospective, ocarina of time retrospective, review, analysis, critique, nostalgia, liam triforce, the legend of zelda

Id: j-OhEGseWDY

Length: 76min 54sec (4614 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 05 2020