OoT vs. MM: Which is better?

Majoras Mask

When you start the game you already get that its a bit on the scary side
The challenge of completing 4 dungeons in 3 days
The most of all characters had a story to tell and a worry

What I loved about Majora was the story and the trippy feeling you get
Loved OOT but Majora had some quality to me that just slid it into 1st

Thanks for reading =)

Majora's Mask has better sidequests and story. However, in every other respect, Ocarina of Time is much superior (level design, puzzles, length, atmosphere, music, influence).

How did OoT have better atmosphere? Ooh, wow, save the princess, woo. And influence doesn't count. Game quality is measured by the actual game, not by what it made other people do.

Originally Posted by Sir Calibur

How did OoT have better atmosphere? Ooh, wow, save the princess, woo.

"Save the princess" is a criticism of the story itself, not atmosphere.

Majora's Mask had a better atmosphere than most Zelda games, but Ocarina of Time was perfect in this regard. Most of the dungeons were beautiful to look at and had music and lighting that complemented the area perfectly, whereas the Majora's Mask dungeons had a more bland feeling to them. Just about every area of Ocarina of Time was ambient and detailed, particularly Kokiri forest and the final battle arena with Ganon, that really wowed me, and is still unrivaled by any other Zelda game.

Originally Posted by i am error

"Save the princess" is a criticism of the story itself, not atmosphere.

Majora's Mask had a better atmosphere than most Zelda games, but Ocarina of Time was perfect in this regard. Most of the dungeons were beautiful to look at and had music and lighting that complemented the area perfectly, whereas the Majora's Mask dungeons had a more bland feeling to them. Just about every area of Ocarina of Time was ambient and detailed, particularly Kokiri forest and the final battle arena with Ganon, that really wowed me, and is still unrivaled by any other Zelda game.

I don't want to be, uh, hostile, but I disagree in every regard. Everything in every area of Majora's Mask added greatly to the atmosphere in ways that OOT could never do. The NPCs had their own lives that reflected the areas. The music was a step up from Ocarina of Time, haunting and chilling in most areas, or even deceptively cheerful, like the the Clock Town tune that turns more and more eery as the time goes on. Every area felt plagued in some awful new way. The Swamp was overflowing with corruption, the Mountains were haunted with lifelessness, Great Bay was in an awful crisis, and I can't even speak for Ikana, which in my opinion, is still the greatest area made for a game to this day. I also felt like the dungeons were full of life, even though there were few. Indeed, OOT had winning dungeons that, for the most part, DID beat Majora's Mask in general atmosphere, but Stone Tower more than makes up for this for me. Stone Tower Temple is easily the greatest dungeon in Zelda history. To this day, it's still the only dungeon that feels like a real place that has significance in the world it's in. Every other temple is usually "The temple in this area," but Stone Tower was always a looming, haunting shape in the horizon, and one that dominates Ikana. It has a mysterious ambience, and you just know it's important in some way. It only became more interesting after reading Hylian Dan's article. Not only that, but it has the best dungeon music to date (in my opinion), and it was easily the hardest of them all. Easily outdid the Water Temple in difficulty.

Originally Posted by maian

I don't want to be, uh, hostile, but I disagree in every regard. Everything in every area of Majora's Mask added greatly to the atmosphere in ways that OOT could never do. The NPCs had their own lives that reflected the areas. The music was a step up from Ocarina of Time, haunting and chilling in most areas, or even deceptively cheerful, like the the Clock Town tune that turns more and more eery as the time goes on. Every area felt plagued in some awful new way. The Swamp was overflowing with corruption, the Mountains were haunted with lifelessness, Great Bay was in an awful crisis, and I can't even speak for Ikana, which in my opinion, is still the greatest area made for a game to this day. I also felt like the dungeons were full of life, even though there were few. Indeed, OOT had winning dungeons that, for the most part, DID beat Majora's Mask in general atmosphere, but Stone Tower more than makes up for this for me. Stone Tower Temple is easily the greatest dungeon in Zelda history. To this day, it's still the only dungeon that feels like a real place that has significance in the world it's in. Every other temple is usually "The temple in this area," but Stone Tower was always a looming, haunting shape in the horizon, and one that dominates Ikana. It has a mysterious ambience, and you just know it's important in some way. It only became more interesting after reading Hylian Dan's article. Not only that, but it has the best dungeon music to date (in my opinion), and it was easily the hardest of them all. Easily outdid the Water Temple in difficulty.

MM is very good at achieving what it set out to achieve, but that is its greatest weakness as well as it great strength. The whole world of Termina felt as if it was in a wierd zombie like state, and that's the problem, there is nothing to contrast against this 'zombieness', each area simply presents a diffrent kind of zombieness without without giving the impression that it could ever really feel 'normal'.

Ocarina's strength is that is has a far greater range of atmospheres to contrast and play off against each other, the Gerudo desert wastes feel so completly isolated because they exist in the same world as the lively villages and open fields of Link's youth yet are so far apart in both space and time.

Now I'm not saying that Majora's Mask is an atmospheric slacker, the Stock Pot Inn and the ranch house provide incredible stages for MM's forte, character interaction, and their structures allow for a range of feelings to consume the player. Those places I feel are at least as intricate as anything OoT achieved. However OoT's environments simply provide a greater dynamic range of feelings compared to MM, which concentrates on strange bleakness in order to accent the irrationality and hopelesness of the NPCs.

While I deeply respect what MM does, its intense focus on bleakness and repetition holds it back for being as all encompasingly great as OoT, for me as well as many others. OoT is a greater atmospheric achievement because it juxtaposed its environments more beautifly and cleverly then MM. I can only imagine how truely fantastic Zelda 64 would have been had the great aspects of Ocarina and Majora coexisted in a single game as was originally planned.

I completely agree with Ectonomy. Majora's Mask is definitely an atmospheric game, but I don't think it's necessarily more atmospheric, simply because it's always sad or whatever.

Originally Posted by Ectomy

MM is very good at achieving what it set out to achieve, but that is its greatest weakness as well as it great strength. The whole world of Termina felt as if it was in a wierd zombie like state, and that's the problem, there is nothing to contrast against this 'zombieness', each area simply presents a diffrent kind of zombieness without without giving the impression that it could ever really feel 'normal'.

Ocarina's strength is that is has a far greater range of atmospheres to contrast and play off against each other, the Gerudo desert wastes feel so completly isolated because they exist in the same world as the lively villages and open fields of Link's youth yet are so far apart in both space and time.

Now I'm not saying that Majora's Mask is an atmospheric slacker, the Stock Pot Inn and the ranch house provide incredible stages for MM's forte, character interaction, and their structures allow for a range of feelings to consume the player. Those places I feel are at least as intricate as anything OoT achieved. However OoT's environments simply provide a greater dynamic range of feelings compared to MM, which concentrates on strange bleakness in order to accent the irrationality and hopelesness of the NPCs.

While I deeply respect what MM does, its intense focus on bleakness and repetition holds it back for being as all encompasingly great as OoT, for me as well as many others. OoT is a greater atmospheric achievement because it juxtaposed its environments more beautifly and cleverly then MM. I can only imagine how truely fantastic Zelda 64 would have been had the great aspects of Ocarina and Majora coexisted in a single game as was originally planned.

That's a compelling argument. Well said. I'm not going to try to debate it, however, because when stated like that, the effects of the atmosphere on the player is completely relative to said player. I do think what you said is true, it's just not as appealing for me.

For me, Ocarina of Time is more atmospherically diverse, but in my eyes, it doesn't do anything more than any other game can. While OOT, to this day, has a better world than the majority of other video games, it doesn't do anything beyond the capabilities of a normal free roam game as far as the structure of the world. It's got diverse environments, yes. It has a forest, a massive desert, a field, and even a rocky mountain and river. Each of these areas offers a unique, wonderful experience due to choices in music, NPCs, etc. But in the end, it does what any game should rightfully do if it has diverse environments. Many games can't reach the quality of OOT in this regard, but it's still just doing what any game should do: Make an interesting area, give it music that fits the setting, give it locations and NPCs that make it feel more real, put some sidequests in there, and done. In the end, we're going to be left with an interesting location, but one that's filled with people who have no purpose beyond just standing around and repeating the same line for eternity after Link has achieved his purpose there. In any other game, this will also be the case, no matter how masterfully the atmosphere is crafted.

Majora's Mask, however, while limiting the range of atmosphere, gave us one that no game had ever tried, nor has tried since. Majora's Mask was beautiful to me because it went beyond the capabilities of a normal game, and delivered an atmosphere that was chilling, yet curious, somewhat happy at times, but also dark, and well, to this day, I can't find words for it. I know how the atmosphere is, but I can't give any good reasons as to why it effects me the way it is. Everything is so intricately crafted and well done in the game that there is not one single factor that could attribute to the feeling of MM's atmosphere entirely. It truly is indescribable. Hylian Dan has made some beautiful observations about this in his "Message of Majora's Mask" (A must read), and in this thread (Which also contains an excellent article about Majora's Mask). In the end, MM went beyond any normal game in terms of delivering the atmosphere, and in the end, left me affected in a way that I doubt I'll ever see again from any game. It was art.

Majora's Mask because of how awsome the items are, how challenging the puzzles are, how sweet Zora Link is, and how much depth the game has!

Both games are outstanding.

I love them both, and I chose the option "I like them equally" because they are both amazing in their own way. It's hard for me to chose which one I like better.

OoT was my first game ever. No wonder I like it so much, it was brand spanking new to me at the time and I still love it.

MM was much deeper than OoT, yes. It was more difficult, too. I was 5 when the game came out and I was scared of it because of the moon. But once I played it myself, I thought it was amazing and I still love it.

They're both the best games ever, in my opinion.

OoT: Good story, nice music, nice puzzles, nice dungeons
MM: I liked the story in OoT a bit better, nice music, nice puzzles, nice dungeons but they could have been more of them

Why i liked OoT better? You could spend as much time as you wanted anywhere, in MM you had a clock ticking in your head...My opinion, not yours
Ka-Tching

Originally Posted by rolfcomet

Why i liked OoT better? You could spend as much time as you wanted anywhere, in MM you had a clock ticking in your head...My opinion, not yours
Ka-Tching

IMO that makes everything exciting and tense. I like that.
My opinion, not yours

OoT Rules i love the Whole Feel Of the Game when i played MM It makes me feel Rushed to Beat the Game... The only Real Thing i like About mm is replayable Bosses They NEED THAT IN OTHER GAMES! But anyways i felt Comfortable in OoT because i could take my Time plus that game was More Fun Than MM i just didnt Like the Mask Thing... Made it Creepy and MAjora Freeked Me out... Ganny i could kill wit a bottle! Made him seem like a punk!

Honestly, I like them both equally. Ocarina of Time is pretty much my idea of the perfect traditional Zelda experience, while Majora's Mask is the perfect non-traditional Zelda. If forced to pick one, it would be OoT, simply because it was my first Zelda and had by far the biggest impact on me (it was also the very first 3D Zelda, making its quality all the more impressive), but objectively speaking, I consider the two games equally awesome

I evened the poll with a vote for Majora's Mask.

Maybe I like horror stories, maybe I enjoy the time constraint, maybe I enjoy the tension, or maybe it's 'cause it was the first Zelda game I played... Who cares...

Also, I felt OoT drags on just a bit...

Lol. I voted for OOT, putting it in the lead by 1 vote.

Out of the two, I wholeheartedly believe that Majora's Mask is a better game. The impeding sense of doom due to the fall of the moon into Clock Town really enhanced the quality of the plot. Such a catastrophe appeals to one's pathos and makes the gamer feel obliged to play the game. Also, many people argue that the 3-day time constraint diminished the game's entertainment value. In truth, this temporal framework made the game all the more suspenseful and drew in the gamer emotionally. To realize that the entire Majora's Mask realm is solely in the gamer's hands ultimately enhances the authenticity of the game. It makes the gamer care.

Majora's Mask by far had a much stronger sense of emotion and tension than Ocarina of Time ever came close to matching. For me, the greatest moment came from the Kafei and Anju sidequest. Even though it was a sidequest, the moment at the end was one of the most touching I've ever seen in any video game, next or last gen. All OoT had was Ganondorf monologing and playing an organ.

Ocarina of Time evokes memories of wide open skies and high adventure. It had a strong heroic vibe that Majora's Mask could never match.

However, Majora's Mask is darker, deeper and sadder. A veil of despair hangs over the land of Termina that surpasses any darkness in Ocarina of Time, even during Ganondorf's reign as King of Evil.

It depends what type of game you like. I prefer Ocarina of Time, personally.

I don't know why people compare these games. They're a pair, and both games are just outstanding.