Ocarina of Time: What do you like about it? What do you hate about it?

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was and still is one of the best 3D Zelda games and, without it, there might not have been the separate 3D division of the Zelda games for the consoles. Though it isn't without its flaws and there are people who hate it in comparision to the 2D games and/or other 3D games that came after it.

As for me, I love Ocarina of Time, though perhaps I like later games better than this old classic. With Ocarina of Time, however, the charm is still there. It feels like a Zelda game in terms that there are the mini-games, the fairly epic story, the dungeons, and the sense of having a big, wide world to go explore. It even offers a sense of nonlinearity if one were to decide to do some dungeons before others, such as going for the Water Temple before the rest of the dungeons.

The mini-games are excellent in Ocarina of Time, though at the same time they can be frustrating. For example, anyone remember the Bonbchu Bowling Alley?...yeah, giant bok-bok sitting at the back, trolling everyone who tries to get past him to get that fabled piece of heart, or the larger bomb bag. This started a trend all throughout the 3D games of mini-games that were either well designed, or just plain out annoying.

Though, there are things about it that I am not particulrly fond of. The more I play this game, the more glaringly these things stick out as well.

Chalk it up to my skill or just the sheer lack of time playing this game, perhaps...but I find the boss fights in this game ridiculously easy as compared to boss fights of later 3D games or other 2D Zelda games. The final fight, while being nothing short of epic, is also ridiculously easy, unfortunately. Bosses like Morpha or Twinrova show just how the attempts at certain gimmicks just amde the boss fights pitifully easy to fight. All in all, the bosses could have been moved up, and they were in later Zelda games in the 3D series.

Another large complaint, one that I've found myself having after playing through the 2D zelda games on the handhelds, is that the dungeons are often somewhat linear. The extreme case of non-linear feeling is the Water Temple, but even that still requires going into every single room. In other 2D games, it is possible to find paths through the dungeons that don't require going every single place and into every single room in order to find one's way through. Those dungeons also are more intricate and complicated than the 3D ones. Ocarina of Time, of course, has this feeling for it in particular, probably because it was the first 3D Zelda game.

Those are just some simple likes and dislikes from me for this game. What are you, the people,'s thoughts of this game?

I... don't really despise anything about the game. I also pretty much enjoy every aspect of Ocarina of Time, although there are tiny shortcomings.

Hmm....such as? What are the shortcomings that you feel are present?

I hate most minigames in this game. The only good ones are the horseback archery range and the other shooting gallery in Kakariko, all the rest have issues that annoy me more or less.

The dungeon design is overall fantastic and the game has a remarkably high replay value because of the non-linearity. Everything about it is just so well made considering the developers hadn't made any 3D Zeldas before.

I see your point and, again, it might just be a fact that I've played the dungeons so many times that I have a problem sometime with how linear their pathing seems to be from time to time.

To re-enforce what I said in another thread, OoT is like the "safe choice" for any Zelda player. There's just nothing about it that I find to be a turn-off. Every Zelda game, as great as they may be, has their own turn-offs, even if they're "better" than OoT. But OoT is the only Zelda game that I really cannot come up with anything negative to say about it.

I like everything about it, totally defines what I like from an action/adventure game even if it's not Zelda... so you could say it set up the bar really high for me.

I find it really hard to dislike/hate something from such an amazing game specially when you grow up with it...

OOT is amazing. Everything just feels so in place with that game. Its art style reminds me of old school disney movies, like Sleeping Beauty or Sword in the Stone. Places like the Forest Temple kind of spoke to childhood fears, as I used to play in the woods most of the time.

as for imperfections: Jabu Jabu and the Shadow Temple

everything is just perfect in OOT except one thing navi with her listen listen hey hey like every 20 or 12 min

The overworld is an empty piece of trite without anything of interest to do in it. Even the overworld of Twilight Princess, a game many fans are quick to deride, featured a far superior overworld bursting with secrets when compared to Ocarina of Time's.

And don't pull "It was the first 3D Zelda" out. A Link to the Past featured an overworld superior to Ocarina of Time's and it was an SNES title.

I enjoyed many aspects of OoT, like the music (especially the hyrule field theme), storyline, and gameplay. But I also thought that the ending was a little sad. Also, one thing that really bothers me is that Navi nags you regardless of where you are.

I used to not like OoT, and I still dont think it comes anywhere close to deserving the praise it gets. That said, its still a great game and for the first 3D Zelda, it does do a lot of things right.

It had good dungeon design, good music, a decent plot (even if it was an ALttP rehash with time travel) and some good boss battles. The visuals were pretty good for its day and I believe they still hold up even if they're a little blocky. Navi was actually a pretty innovative feature which I dont think was anywhere as annoying as people make her out to be.

My single biggest issue with the game was its overly simplistic dialogue. Its sentences seemed really short and forced, even when reading them as a kid. Maybe its just in my head, or maybe I've been spoiled by other games in the series since everything after OoT was a huge step up. The game is not very difficult, and I also cant say I'm a fan of how barren Hyrule Field was.

That said, it is one of the better 3D Zeldas. IMO WW and MM are better, but I think OoT is still the go-to game for anyone new to the series.

This game is as close to perfection as I've ever seen a video game, but there a few minor annoyances. Switching between boots, tunics and items constantly can get tedious. It's disappointing that most characters just say the same sentence over and over again. Some of the music is pretty substandard, especially for a game of this caliber.

I love Ocarina of Time. It's my second favorite Zelda game.

What I like:
-The different landscapes
-The unique temples
-The characters
-Most of the bosses
-The progression of the story

The only real complaint I have about OoT is that it seems to be kind of typical in terms of the plot itself. It follows the standard "Save the princess from the evil wizard" type of plot and is not so unique. Now, it is unique in plenty of other ways, and I recognize that. This is not a big issue for me, though, and I still enjoyed the classic nature of it.

I like everything about the game, the dungeons, the items, and the characters. but the one bad thing I don't like is the reward for getting 100 skulltulas.

The dungeons are, by far, OoT's greatest strength. In this department, no other Zelda tops it (but I haven't played SS, and TWW comes close). Terrific design, terrific enemies, terrific bosses. The objection was raised that the bosses are too easy. That's not true. It may be the case that once you know their secret, they're pieces of cake. This is not so when you first play it. I probably died on each boss at least once on my first playthrough as a kid.

The overworld is also terrific. Each area has it's own theme and unique, memorable design. There's no place on the map that I can point to and find criticism. Perhaps Hyrule field, but even then, not really. I remember loving Hyrule field. I remember feeling the mystery of not knowing what lay behind the barriers that blocked your progress to the different areas.

The items are incredibly inventive. Unlike some modern games, I don't think any of the items are gimmicky. Everything has its use to the end of the game. I remember being excited to pick up new items.

That's the thing. OoT plays off the excitement of mystery and discovery. I guess when you have the game practically memorized, you lose that, and you're left with a generic Zelda game.

My view on OoT? Very Well. Just to spice things up- I'll list the cons first.

1. The Skulltula fetch-quest reward sucks. Period. You don't even get a cool cut scene for it. Instead, Nintendo opted for the superfluous rupee route.

2. The monetary system; rupees become useless a third of the way into the game- unless of course- you are actively try to get rid of them.

3. Characters are shallow. Many are vague card board cut-outs or lack the necessary depth. Interesting subplots are just barely touched upon and give no really satisfying conclusion; etc.

4. Lord Jabu-Jabu's Belly. It sucks, and it sucks hard. I feel as if this dungeon occupies the same tier as my putrid gym socks lying at the bottom of my Duffle bag.

5. The combat is tame; it's quite basic. A marvel at it's time... but now? Nah.

6. Bosses; they aren't flawed per se; but they certainly are boring. Though, I did not noticed until I played through the gauntlet.

7. The over world is like ground zero. Bland and lifeless. It serves as good travel fodder, I can give it that.

8. Plot and villain are bland. It serves almost no motivation at all, but seem to work out in the end anyway.

9. Poor pacing. Adult Link's campaign is a consistent dungeon-dungeon-dungeon-dungeon-dungeon-dungeon-Gerudo Desert-Dungeon-Dungeon motive with optional side quests.

10. The side-quests are lame and dated. ( scrounging the barren field does not count as a side quest).




Pros:

1. The atmosphere is amazing for a N64 game. All the regions and dungeons reflect a certain mood or idea quite well. We all fell in love with Child Link's Hyrule; which proves why we were so devastated when it was destroyed after the time-skip.

2. The soundtrack rocks. The music sets the atmospheric mood for #1. Along with atmospheric pros, it is quite catchy and packs a punch of bodacious rhythm.

3. The dungeons Ha-Mazing. In fact, he puzzle quality is reason the adults campaign is tolerable and yet extremely enjoyable at the same time. I won't delve into any unnecessary details here, but all the dungeons except for Lord Jabu-Jabu's Belly houses unending replay value.

4. The game is short and sweet to the point. And is constantly throws new mechanics into the mix, just when you think something may be getting a bit stale- BAM . Being no more than twenty hours, it doesn't stagnate like many of the newer titles in the series tend to.