Over/Under: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time

[BreakABone]

http://why485.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/ocarina-of-time-logo2.jpg

Oft times considered the greatest game of all time. The pinnacle of 3D gaming, the hallmark of any n64 library.

But after 12 years does the game still hold the charm?

http://images.trustedreviews.com/images/article/inline/3413-zelda2.jpg

So what are your thoughts? Is it still the best Zelda? Is it the greatest game of all time? Does it give you that tingling feeling in your pantaloons?

[Vampyr]

I don't think you can consider it over or underrated. It is the greatest game ever made.

[Xantar]

It invented auto jumping and lock on targeting. For those alone, it would be one of the most fundamental games since we moved into 3-D. The fact that it also had a perfectly paced adventure, great graphics for the time, an outstanding soundtrack and creative puzzles which still hold up today are just gravy.

[Bube]

I regret to say that I've never finished this game. Don't know if I ever will..

[Nighthawk]

Does it give you that tingling feeling in your pantaloons?

yes, yes it does...

[incredibledave]

Wind Waker was better

1. Better art direction
2. Better comedy (I bet you can still picture that scene where Link is hurled in the fortress by catapult)
3. Better beginning to the second act (admit it, scaling that fortress is better than Gandondorf showing up, stealing your trinkets and turning the world into an apocalyptic hell-scape off screen while an old dude dumps exposition on you and you now have no items)
4. Zelda actually has a role in Wind Waker (no, that Sheik nonsense doesn't count, s/he didnt do anything but hand out songs and lazily build up a twist)

The boat traveling may be tiresome but so was that obnoxiously huge over-world in OoT

Now that doesn't mean OoT is a bad game. Most of the advantages I listed are only possible because of the technology that simply wasnt available on the n64. And they basically have the same gameplay (hack-slash combat, puzzle solving dungeons and boss-shaped puzzle challenges).

I still love the idea of the Spirit temple though.

[magus113]

The one that Twilight Princess tried to trump but still just barely lost, in my opinion. Wind Waker is a great game. I was very moved with the ending. But nope.

Still the best game of all time.

And I think it still holds up well. While the graphics aren't amazing for it's time today, they were still pretty damn good for not requiring an expansion pack for one, and the progressive scan version with the Wind Waker bonus disc definitely gives it a little kick.

The gameplay held up too since essentially the gameplay is still the same now and probably will be since they found the format that works on their first try.

This also reminds me I still need to finish Majora's Mask fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-


The boat traveling may be tiresome but so was that obnoxiously huge over-world in OoT

You'd probably hate the Twilight Princess overworld then if that's the case. The overworld there is HUGE.

[BlueFire]

The over-world in OoT wasn't really huge. Boat traveling in WW was fun but got old very quickly.

I still OoT very close to my heart. I don't know about the greatest game of all time title, but I'd feel weird giving that title to any game. I have beaten that game so many times--more than any other game I've played. It holds a special place in my heart :P

[Jason1]

Ive said it a lot, I believe OOT to be the greatest game ever made.

[Blix]

OOT was ahead of its time and few games manage to do that. It is also a timeless game, so obviously people feel inclined to think it is the best game of all time. And IMO it cannot be anything but under rated. But if you ask me, Mario 64 deserves much more credit than OOT for being the first game that did 3D gaming completely right with analog sticks, having a perfect camera system ( I don't know why they screwed it up in Mario Sunshine) and simply getting everything right. So I think Super Mario 64 deserves the best game of all time, it's just that Zelda is more epic. But still, best game game of all time or not, it definitely is one of the best games of all time and that's not a matter of opinion.

[Storm Eagle]

Wind Waker was better

1. Better art direction
2. Better comedy (I bet you can still picture that scene where Link is hurled in the fortress by catapult)

I had no idea Zelda was known for comedy.

As for the original question asked, yes, I believe that it does hold up to this day.

[Angrist]

I replayed OoT (Master Quest with hard but poorly designed dungeons) last year. It was so much better than I remembered, it can still compete with most games of this generation.

If any game could be called the best game ever (I don't believe in such terms), OoT would be it.
Not sure if it's underrated though...

[TheGame]

I have to follow the people who say OoT was better. Don't get me wrong though, Wind waker was an awesome game... Heck, I'd even call them at the same level if it wasn't for one big factor.

That factor being, WW's connection to OoT is what made it epic in the first place. That's what kept me going in WW.

Also, to whoever said WW has "better direction", I fail to see how that is. WW was fine up until you started to have to find those triforce charts/shards. I usually try to play a game without a strategy guide, but at one point I was wondering around aimlessly for over 5 hours of gameplay trying to look for a HINT of where to go next.

That simply didn't happen to me in OoT.

[KillerGremlin]

Ocarina of Time was a special game. It was one of the original N64 titles that transitioned 2D into 3D. I maintain that OoT is the best 3D Zelda game thus far, and for me I doubt I will ever play a Zelda game that tops the overall OoT experience.

I could sit here and tell you why OoT is so special to me:
-riding Epona for the first time
-running across Hyrule field and watching the sunset
-spending hours fishing
-pulling the Master Sword out of the stone
-time travel between adult and childhood
-8+ temples (3 kiddie levels, forest, fire, water, spirit, shadow, AND ice, bottom of the well, Ganon's castle)
-the hookshot in 3D
-side quests that felt meaningful
-challenging and original puzzles that have simply been re-used way too many times in the newer Zelda games
-Gerudo fortress
-killing chickens/riding chickens

And as Xantar noted, the game was perfectly paced and I personally think OoT has a modestly sized world.

The answers in this thread are in my opinion very obvious. Everyone knows OoT is the best 3D Zelda game. :p

What I don't get is why this thread is not about Majora's Mask. I feel like Majora's Mask really gets shafted. I personally think Majora's Mask is strangely underrated and perhaps just as good if not better than WW and TP. And Majora's Mask is the only 3D Zelda title to actually make strides towards originality post-OoT. What's up with that!

OoT > Wind Waker > Twilight Princess aka Original > Sequel > Sequel
OoT ---> Majora's Mask aka Original --> Evolution with Innovation

[Typhoid]

Honestly, I think it's overrated.
I'm not saying the game is crap, I like the game. I've beaten it a few times.
But it's not "The Best Zelda game ever", nor is it one of 'the best games ever'.

I think it's great for the [i]exact same reason FFVII was considered a great game.
Little kids who grew up playing 2D versions of both series' suddenly play a game from that series that's in 3D, so it's the first time you feel really immersed in the world you're playing.

[TheGame]

Honestly, I think it's overrated.
I'm not saying the game is crap, I like the game. I've beaten it a few times.
But it's not "The Best Zelda game ever", nor is it one of 'the best games ever'.

I think it's great for the [i]exact same reason FFVII was considered a great game.
Little kids who grew up playing 2D versions of both series' suddenly play a game from that series that's in 3D, so it's the first time you feel really immersed in the world you're playing.

Eh I think it's more then that. Yes Zelda raised the bar for it's time in a big way, but I also think the game itself was simply a good game. FF7 in my opinion is more of a glossed over 2D game that just had graphics there for show... Zelda's 3Dness was actually used to make the gameplay itself different from older Zelda games. That's why Zelda OoT hasn't aged as bad as FF7 has.

[Typhoid]

but I also think the game itself was simply a good game.

Yes, but why.
Other than the fact you can fish, ride a horse, and use a handflute, it's relatively the same as every other Zelda game. Same temples, same outline, same basic premise, with a new villain, with basically the same name.

[Angrist]

I think it's great for the exact same reason FFVII was considered a great game.No, that's not it. OoT is still a great game.

And why is it the best Zelda game? Everything is done in (almost) perfection. Perhaps the reason why Twilight Princess didn't add much to the experience is because OoT already almost got it perfectly right.

For me, Majora's Mask was overrated. I replayed it a while ago and I liked it. But it wasn't as good as I remembered...

Oh and about bad direction of The Wind Waker: On one Island you have to fly to a smaller island, using the Deku Leaf. It takes a few tries to fly right (with the wind and all)... And every time you miss your target, YOU HAVE TO SWIM ALL THE WAY BACK AND CLIMB THE ISLAND AGAIN! :mad:

[TheGame]

Yes, but why.
Other than the fact you can fish, ride a horse, and use a handflute, it's relatively the same as every other Zelda game. Same temples, same outline, same basic premise, with a new villain, with basically the same name.

Wow, have you played any Zelda games before OoT? OoT is MUCH different. Yes the 3D environment is a big part of it, but the fact is that the 3D environment was used to perfection was a bigger part. And no it's not just swimming, riding a horse, and using a handfllute that's different... The whole dungeon layout and gameplay design was completly different.

To me it's almost disrespectful to compare it to FF7. FF7 could have had 2D-overhead graphics, and it wouldn't have impacted how the game was played at all. In Zelda you had to go in first person a lot to closely examine your surroundings to have an idea of what to do next...

And while OoT's story is simplistic, it was the "real deal". I haven't played the Wiizelda yet, but I know MM and WW looked like gimmick stories next to OoT.

[Ginkasa]

Yes, but why.
Other than the fact you can fish, ride a horse, and use a handflute, it's relatively the same as every other Zelda game. Same temples, same outline, same basic premise, with a new villain, with basically the same name.

Unlike TheGame I agree that Zelda games tend to be the same and OoT followed the same basic formula as ALttP and LA. But you have to keep in mind a couple of different things:

1) The "Zelda formula" is awesome and OoT did it the best for the time and also showed developers how make a good game in 3D. Its accomplishments are amazing.

2) The "Zelda formula" wasn't really the same back then. Now, 12 years later, the series is getting tired by following that same formula and keeps misstepping by adding wierd transportation that nobody wants. Its a legitimate concern. Back then, however, you only had one console game (ALttP) and one handheld game (LA) that followed the "modern" formula. It wasn't tired or overdone by that point. It was made even fresher by being in 3D and effectively altering the gameplay to accomodate 3D.


As for your comparison to FFVII: I also don't think its valid. Partially for the same reason as TheGame, but I also think you're misremembering. Both games' fanbases grew exponentially with their 3D games. FF wasn't nearly the behemoth it is now until FFVII and I know many gamers played OoT first as well. Now, both series' older games are easily accessible in re-releases, but it wasn't necessarily the case back then.

Anyway, my point is that both games stood on their own with their success. They didn't really capitalize on nostalgia or anything.

[Typhoid]

I'm not stating it's a bad game. I like it. I quite enjoyed it.

I'm just saying the only reason it's so good [to us] is because we grew up not playing 3D Zelda games, and this was our first experience with Link in 3D.

Both games' fanbases grew exponentially with their 3D games.

That was my point. What made those (the first games to have 3D) better than the previous, was the fact they were in 3D, which gave them an undoubted advantage when being compared, or even reviewed - because they were the first 3D games.

They didn't really capitalize on nostalgia or anything.

Again, you misunderstood. I never said anyone was capitalizing on nostalgia. I was saying the reason people around our age think so highly of games like FFVII and OoT was because they were the first 3D games of their respective series. They weren't able to be compared to the previous games because the previous games were nothing alike aside from story, rough setting and all the typical Zelda (or FFVII) formula-type things.

It would be like if Zelda came out in VR [that looked good for the time it was released], you wouldn't be able to easily compare it to the previous games, because they'd be nothing alike aside from story, setting etc.

[Ginkasa]

I understand your point. I think your understating everything invovled. OoT was more than "just" the series in 3D; it was everything in 3D. Just look at the 3D games before OoT and look at them after. The only thing that came close to the technical quality before was Mario64 and even that feels clunky in comparison.

ANd everything after was affected by it somehow. Sure, some of the things would have happened regardless and some other game would be getting the attention (lock on targeting, etc.), but OoT did it first. You can still see its effects today albeit less drastically than before.

So, while I guess I agree with you that it is the 3D that causes fond memories I don't think its simply something you can brush aside. It was more than that. Maybe I'll expand tomorrow when its not 2 am and I can explain better.

[Angrist]

It would be like if Zelda came out in VR [that looked good for the time it was released], you wouldn't be able to easily compare it to the previous games, because they'd be nothing alike aside from story, setting etc.Wait. A few posts ago you said OoT was the same as every other Zelda game that far. Now you're saying it was good because it was totally different... So which one is it?

[Typhoid]

Wait. A few posts ago you said OoT was the same as every other Zelda game that far. Now you're saying it was good because it was totally different... So which one is it?

I never said either of those.


I said the basis of the game is the same Zelda formula that they use every time (up until Majora's Mask, really - because that's when they really brought in changing form [Not counting turning into a child] on a large basis).


I also never said it was good because it was different.
I said people perceived it to be better than it was because it was their first immersion into 3D Hyrule.