Previously on Master Quest:
So
this article is about a week late. I apologize. Reviewing Ocarina of
Time and Majora's Mask has been quite the odyssey. I began playing
the games on my Zelda Collector's Edition disc for the Gamecube. I
played Ocarina up until the final dungeon, at which point my save
corrupted. Being the professional that I am, I shrugged my shoulders
and said "good enough". I then began playing through
Majora's Mask. I had just finished the game's second dungeon when my
save file corrupted yet again. Using my deductive skills, I concluded
that my Gamecube disc was officially fucked.
I
then proceeded to purchase the 3DS version of both games as
replacements. After some research, I discovered that Ocarina of Time
3D actually included Master Quest (if you don't know what that is,
I'll explain it in a bit). Seeing as how I had never played Master
Quest, I decided to also play through that so that I could discuss
it. Of course Nintendo, being dumb asses, decided to lock Master
Quest mode until I completed the base game. So I played through
Ocarina of Time *again*, then beat Master Quest. For the less
mathematically gifted amongst you, I played through Ocarina of Time
THREE FUCKING TIMES IN A ROW for the purposes of this review. The
things I do for you people.
Majora's
Mask was another story. I played through about half of the 3DS
remake, but I had gradually become so annoyed by the remake's myriad
of changes to the original game that I threw my 3DS down and refused
to play Majora's Mask 3D anymore. In retrospect, this was extremely
petty, but what can I say? I'm kind of an asshole.
I
*then* proceeded to purchase the original versions of Ocarina
of Time and Majora's Mask on the Wii Shop. I was finally able to
finish Majora, and now here we are. Again, I apologize for posting
this review so late.
As
an additional note: astute readers may realize that this installment
of Master Quest covers one game as opposed to the usual two. There's
a simple explanation for this: The Ocarina of Time review's length
has spiraled out of control, George R.R. Martin style. In the
interest of not creating a blog post roughly the length of a novella,
I have decided to split Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask into two
separate posts. Fear not, dear reader! Majora's Mask is currently
being worked on and should be available shortly.
With
that out of the way, let's discuss Ocarina of Time.
Ocarina
of Time
Released
November 21st, 1998
-The
fate of the forest, nay, the world, depends upon thee!-
"So
what do you do with your spare time?" A coworker asked me.
"I
write a blog." I responded.
"Oh?
What about?" He feigned interest.
"Uh...its
about Zelda."
My
coworker gave me a quizzical look. He said nothing.
"Have...uh...have
you ever played a Zelda game?" I asked.
"No."
He said. After a moment, an expression came over his face as if he
was remembering something. "Oh, yeah. I did play Ocarina of
Time."
Ocarina
of Time. In any discussion about the series, Ocarina of Time is
always the 800 pound Octorok in the room. For people my age, Ocarina
of Time is less of a game and more of a cultural touchstone. Since
its release, OoT has cast a long shadow over every subsequent entry,
and its influence is still felt today, both in the context of Zelda
and video games in general. Why is this game so beloved by my
generation?
Honestly,
I'm not really sure. The obvious answer is "because its good",
but that can't be the sole reason. My first Zelda was A Link to the
Past, but I've discovered that most people started playing games when
they were a little older. With the rise of the Playstation, gaming
was beginning its journey towards the mainstream in 1998, and for a
lot of people OoT would have been their first Zelda game. Perhaps it
was just a case of right place, right time?
I'm
not really here to speculate about OoT's popularity, though. I'm here
to review it, so let me get this out of the way: Do I love OoT?
You're damn right I do. Do I think its the best game ever made? No. I
wouldn't even say its my favorite Zelda, but that doesn't mean OoT
isn't a great game.
If
someone played OoT today for the first time, I imagine it would feel
rather ordinary. "What's the big deal?" They might ask. I'm
not saying a modern day player couldn't appreciate any of OoT's
numerous positive qualities, but I think they'd miss experiencing the
game in its original context.
OoT
was the first 3D Zelda game, and it's a minor
miracle that the 2D Zelda formula translated so well into the third
dimension. OoT is a lot more impressive when you realize how bad
Nintendo could have fucked it up (Mario 64 is also impressive for
this reason). Designing a Zelda game for the Nintendo 64 was a
significantly different beast than anything Nintendo had attempted
before, and a lot of games from the 16-bit era were simply never able
to effectively translate into 3D (Sonic the Hedgehog and Castlevania
being two notable examples). OoT's success can be credited
to two very smart design decisions:
Z-Targeting:
OoT was one of the first 3rd
person action games to use a lock on targeting system, and this
feature has reappeared in everything from Fable to Bayonetta. You
just have to have a feature like this in a 3D action game, and its
amazing that the designers figured this out on their first go.
Without it, the game's combat would have been a sloppy, inaccurate
mess, and flying enemies like bats would have been almost impossible
to hit. Its kind of hard to explain in words why a lock on targeting
system has to be in a game like this, and I honestly don't really
need to. If you've played any games at all over the last decade
you've probably used plenty of games with a feature like this, and
you know how useful it can be.
To
be fair, OoT's Z-Targeting system isn't perfect. It can be a sort of
clunky to use, since there seems to be a delay between when you press
the button and when the lock actually takes place. Since the N64
controller only had one control stick, there also isn't a reliable
way to change which enemy or object you're currently targeting. This
would have have been a great use of the N64 controller's D-Pad but, alas,
the D-pad isn't used for anything at all. What a waste. You could
have let me map some items to it or something.
OoT
embraces verticality: The most
obvious change between 2D and 3D is that developers have an entirely
new axis to play around with. OoT loves the new dimension, and is
constantly doing interesting things with the new perspective. There's
a puzzle in the first dungeon where you have to climb to the top of a
room and jump down on to a web on the floor, breaking it and allowing
you to proceed. The aforementioned bats (Keese, technically) hover
just above your reach, swooping down periodically to attack you. You
use the boomerang to hit a switch on the ceiling. Again, this all
seems very elementary now, but the leap to 3D really brings Hyrule to
life in a way the 2D games weren't really able to.
One
of my favorite little flourishes is how at the very beginning of the
game the camera is locked in the classic overhead view. This was
actually the first 3D game I had ever played (I specifically got a
N64 in order to play it) and I just assumed the rest of the game
would look like this, a la Metal Gear Solid. In a neat little trick,
as soon as you exit your house, the camera pans around Kokiri Forest
before eventually settling into the now standard behind the back
camera angle. My 9 year old brain exploded.
Since we're discussing the camera, let's talk about the gameplay.
I'll start with the things I like:
I
like the way Link controls. Nintendo did such a good job on the
controls that the next two 3D games would control almost identically
to this one (three games, technically, if you count the Gamecube
version of Twilight Princess). The B button swings the sword, the A
button is a context sensitive action button (also a new concept at
the time), and the left, right, and down C Buttons can each have an
item assigned to them. Despite the fact that three different items
can be hot-keyed (a first for the Zelda series), the myriad of
puzzles that require items to solve make inventory management in OoT
significantly worse than its predecessors. I'll go into this topic a
little bit more when I talk about Majora's Mask (where this issue is
arguably at its worst) but suffice it to say that the frequent
shuffling around of items is probably the Zelda series' most glaring
weakness, since everytime you need to equip a new item you have to
pause, killing game flow.
Also,
here's a pro tip: If you're designing a game, please do not make
successive combat rolls a faster method of traveling than running. If
you do make rolling faster, please do not make the character make a
sound everytime he or she rolls. One of the worst things about this
game is that Link's constant screaming drowns out the otherwise
excellent music and sound design.
Speaking
of the sound design, its really charming and memorable. Like A Link
to the Past, a lot of the sound effects are just inexplicably burned
into my memory, and I'd occasionally find myself inadvertently making
the sounds as they occurred. There's the weird, ghoulish little
cackle that plays when a poe appears, the quizzical grunt the Gorons
make when you talk to them, or the blood curdling scream you hear
when you meet a ReDeads gaze. Some of the sound choices are a little
more weird, but they only add to the games charms. Gold Skultulas
emit a noise that sounds like a fat man rolling around on a bed of
potato chips. Link appears to be wearing tap shoes for the duration
of the game. Whenever Link takes fall damage he makes the same sound
I imagine he'd make if he got kicked in the balls.
While
the sound design has aged like wine, the graphics have aged like
milk. I'll be blunt: OoT looks like shit. I try not to be too harsh
on older game's graphics, since the developers were limited by the
then current hardware. But look at Mario 64, which released two years
earlier. Mario 64 looks bad from a technical standpoint, but it
compensates with strong art direction and good use of colors. OoT's
visuals are just...lacking. The art direction is decent, but it can't
begin to compare to the unified aesthetic visions of The Wind Waker,
Twilight Princess, or even Majora's Mask. Its color pallet is also
really drab, which means a lot of the environments don't pop to life
like they should. Check out this side by side comparison:
The
one on the left is the original, the one on the right is the 3DS remake. Again, I
get this isn't really fair, but even if you disregard the 3DS's
massively improved texture work the remake is just a lot more
visually appealing. Look how muddy and dark the original screenshot
is. Its drab and lifeless, and Mario 64 already proved that an N64
game didn't have to look *this* bad.
But
enough with this technical mumbo jumbo. How's the narrative? The
short answer: its really solid. The long answer: OoT's narrative
structure is very similar to that of A Link to the Past. There's a
basic plot "skeleton" that generally sits on the back
burner, only really progressing during several key scenes throughout
the game. The real "meat" of the narrative is through
various optional sub-quests involving the denizens of Hyrule.
Like
the best Zelda narratives, characters are more important than plot in
OoT. It says a lot that a plot involving gods and time travel is
significantly less interesting (to me, at least) then all the weird
NPCs you'll meet on your journey.
The
lady that owns a bunch of chickens despite the fact that she's
allergic to them. The creepy hunchbacked gravedigger. The vengeful
stable boy who thinks his boss is a lazy piece of shit. The weird
scientist who loves eating frog eyeballs. The used car salesman type
who runs the local fishing hole.
This
might just be a personal thing, but I'm not really motivated to save
Hyrule because I'm The Hero of Destiny (TM). I'm motivated because I
like the people living in Hyrule and I'd prefer it if they didn't all
die. You learn to love the place you're trying to save, and that's a
significantly more personal motivator than if the plot simply
demanded it. I think this is one of the reasons why the original
Legend of Zelda doesn't really have a strong effect on me. Besides
the random old man that gives you the occasional vague hint, LoZ's
Hyrule feels barren and devoid of charm or life.
"Ganon's
going to destroy a hellish wasteland filled with pig men and evil
ghosts! You have to stop him because...he's the bad guy!"
I
think its also worth noting that OoT is the first Zelda game Eiji
Aonuma worked on. While the Zelda series is often (rightfully)
associated with Shigeru Miyamoto, he's always been more of a
mechanics kind of guy. Aonuma has always been more heavily involved
in Zelda's narratives, and he's probably the closest thing Zelda has
to a central authorial voice. As an example of this dynamic, here's a
transcribed version of a Gamepro interview with Aonuma and Miyamoto
from 2002:
Q:
Where does The Wind Waker fit into the overall Zelda series
timeline?
Aonuma:
You can think of this game as taking place over a hundred years after
Ocarina of Time. You can tell this from the opening story, and there
are references to things from Ocarina located throughout the game as
well.
Miyamoto:
Well, wait, which point does the hundred years start from?
Miyamoto:
No, I mean, as a child or as a...
Aonuma:
Oh, right, let me elaborate on that. Ocarina of Time basically has
two endings of sorts; one has Link as a child and the other has him
as an adult. This game, The Wind Waker, takes place a hundred years
after the adult Link defeats Ganon at the end of Ocarina.
Miyamoto:
This is pretty confusing for us, too. (laughs) So be careful.
I'm not sure why, but I find the
concept of Aonuma explaining Zelda's timeline to a fairly confused
Miyamoto to be hilarious. This proves that Aonuma is as big of a
Zelda nerd as the rest of us. I think Aonuma's involvement is one of
the major reasons why OoT's non-gameplay elements feel so much more
focused and developed compared to the earlier games (Link's Awakening
excepted, of course).
Some
people seem to not really care much about the plots in games. This is
fine...I guess. Most of OoT's narrative is optional, which means that
people who just want to play the game can ignore almost all of it.
This is also nice for repeat playthroughs, particularly in the 3DS
remake where the scroll speed on text has been made much faster. Its
the best of both worlds: the narrative is there if you want it, and
its very easily ignored if you don't.
Ocarina
of Time is packed to the brim with memorable characters, locations,
and events. My favorite part of the game is when you enter the Temple
of Time.
Some
shit goes down and you end up [SPOILERS!] accidentally traveling
seven years into the future. You're informed that Ganondorf has taken
over Hyrule during your absence. You leave the Temple of Time and are
greeted by this image:
DAAAAAAAMN.
This may be one of the best examples of visual storytelling in video
games. This single screen tells you everything you need to know about
the world you've just walked into. The place you've grown so fond of
has been transformed into a festering hellhole. The power of this
moment is kind of stunted, however, when you enter Hyrule Field and
realize it looks the exact same way it did seven years ago. As a
matter of fact, future Hyrule field actually has *less* monsters in
it than it did in the past. Say what you want about Ganondorf, but at
least no one gets attacked by roving bands of skeletons outside the
ranch anymore.
Speaking
of the time travel mechanic, it's used pretty well but never really
lives up to its full potential. As an excuse to reuse environments
you've already been to it really works. The magical forest you start
the game in has been overrun with monsters. Zora's Domain is frozen
over. Lake Hylia has been drained. Goron City is nearly empty and
Kakariko Village is packed with refuges.
OoT
doesn't do too many cool things with the time travel concept,
however. There's one notable exception, where someone is pissed about
you playing a song in the past. He teaches the song to you,
inadvertently causing the event he's so pissed about. This is really
clever and I wish there were more things like this in the game.
Compare this to Oracle of Ages, which had a similar time travel
mechanic but it constantly asked you to do things in one timeline in
order to effect the other.
Despite
OoT having some problems, after playing it *three* times in a row
I've come to this conclusion: Ocarina of Time is just fucking
delightful. Is it overrated to me, personally? Uh...kind of. There's
no doubt that its a very important game, historically speaking. As
I've said, its not my favorite Zelda, and I can see why some fans of
the older games in the series might have been disappointed with it.
As previously stated, OoT has cast a long shadow, and its in that way
that OoT has harmed the franchise. There are some people that seem to
want every game in the series to just be an OoT retread, and I
couldn't disagree with them more. The constantly shifting and experimental nature of Zelda
has kept the series fresh where so many other legacy series have
stagnated. OoT will always exist, and it will always be brought up
whenever a new Zelda is released, but I'm glad that Nintendo hasn't
let this entry stop them from making innovative new titles.
-Ocarina
of Time 3D-
After
discovering that I would have to play through OoT a second time in
order to access Master Quest, I gave up on the idea. Out of
curiosity, I decided to boot up OoT 3D just to see what sort of
enhancements had been made before moving on to Majora's Mask. I then
proceeded to play through the entirety of Ocarina of Time 3D.
I'll
keep this short: OoT 3D is fucking amazing. Let's take a look at some
of my earlier complaints and see if OoT 3D has addressed them.
1)
OoT looked like shit. Here's another comparison:
The
3DS version on the right looks infinitely better. What I love about
the 3DS' graphical overhaul is that the team was really able to
capture the "soul" of each scene and bring it to life in an
amazing new way. I don't think there was a single graphical
improvement that seemed at odds with the original game's vision.
This
is the way OoT has always wanted to look. The screenshot above
doesn't even really do OoT 3D justice, either. Seeing this stuff in
motion is just incredible. It also helps that the original version's
20 FPS framerate has been increased to 30 FPS. In my opinion, better
framerate equals better game in almost every instance. 60 FPS would
have been amazing, but I'll take what I can get.
Obviously
a 3D mode has been added, and I'd just like to get something out of
the way right now. I'm going to be talking about three 3DS games over
the course of Master Quest, and I won't be talking about the 3D in
any of these games at all for a couple of reasons. My eyes have an
incredibly difficult time adjusting to the 3D, and once I finally do
get it to work I can only look at it for maybe 30 seconds before my
eyeballs feel like they're about to melt out of my skull. This is
obviously just a personal thing, and I'm sure some people's
experiences with these games will be greatly enhanced by the 3D
effect. If you were hoping to get my opinion on the 3D effect for any
of these games, then I apologize. Anyways, my second major problem
with OoT was...
2)
You have to pause OoT too often. OoT 3D doesn't entirely alleviate
this problem, but it comes very close. You can assign an item to the
X and Y buttons as well as the two touch buttons on the bottom
screen. These buttons are conveniently located on the right side of
the screen, which essentially allows you to hotkey four items instead of
three, which is already great. OoT 3D takes this a couple steps
further, giving the titular ocarina its own dedicated button on the
bottom left corner. Considering how often the ocarina is used, I
almost always had it hotkeyed in the original version. This mean five
items can be quickly used, drastically reducing the amount of times
you need to pause over the course of the game.
The
iron and hover boots can also now be hotkeyed. Previously, these two
items were "Equipment", meaning if you wanted to take them
on or off you had to pause the game, navigate through several menus,
move your cursor down to the "boots" section and press the
A button. This is an absolutely brilliant change, and it
significantly reduces the tedium of the Lovecraftian shrine to
madness that is the Water Temple (more on that in a bit).
Another
new feature I really like is the new ocarina menu. Whenever you use
the ocarina, a menu appears on the bottom screen that displays the
"notes" to all the songs that you've learned so far. This
basically means you don't have to memorize all of the game's songs
anymore, which I'm personally a big fan of. Some purists might scoff
at this, but finding the notes to a song involved pausing and
navigating through some menus, so to me this feature really improves
game flow.
I
really like how customizable the game is. Items like the slingshot
and bow now have gyroscope controls, which can be turned off. You can
*finally* choose between inverted and uninverted controls for the
first person view. Sheikah stones have been added that provide
walkthroughs to new players, but they can be easily ignored by
veterans.
There's
one big problem I have with OoT 3D, and its actually a problem with
the 3DS itself rather than the game. The 3DS' control "nub"
isn't *that* bad, but my thumb keeps slipping off of it while I'm
playing. I'm not sure whether that's just my giant hands or if
there's a design flaw with the nub itself. This can make things like
riding your horse unnecessarily difficult, but overall I wouldn't say
it ruined my experience or anything.
Nub
or no nub, OoT 3D may very well be the best game remastering ever. It
takes an already superb game and improves it in brilliant and, most
importantly, unobtrusive way. OoT 3D is, in my opinion, the definitive
way to experience the game, and I can't really ever see myself
playing the original version again.
-Master
Quest-
For
those of you who are unaware, Master Quest is sort of a "remix"
of Ocarina of Time that was originally given to people who preordered
the Gamecube version of the Wind Waker. Given the limited window of
availability, Master Quest is kind of a difficult game to acquire.
Nintendo has included Master Quest in OoT 3D, which is a really neat
way to round out an already excellent package.
To
my understanding, there are a couple of key differences between
Master Quest 3D and the original:
1)
The entire game has been mirrored, meaning things that were
originally on the right side of any given map are now on the left and
vice versa. It should be noted that the only difference between
"vanilla" OoT and Master Quest is the dungeon layouts. The
overworld, including side quests and heart piece locations, has
remained unchanged. This is obviously kind of disappointing, so I
assume mirroring the entire game was an attempt at making the
overworld seem fresh. Personally, I find it more disorienting than
anything, but someone less intimately familiar with the game probably
wouldn't have this problem.
2)
When playing Master Quest, enemies deal double damage. This sets up
Master Quest as OoT 3D's "hard mode" (though I still never
actually died during Master Quest). I'm not a big fan of this,
actually. In the interest of accessibility, I think "hard mode"
should have just been its own option. This would allow veterans to
play the original OoT with double damage, and newer players could
experience Master Quest's content without the difficulty restriction.
Speaking
of accessibility, is there any reason why Master Quest isn't unlocked
as soon as you boot the game up? I'd understand if OoT was a new
game, but it isn't. By the time OoT 3D entered into my life, I had
probably beat the original over a dozen times. Enabling Master Quest
and a harder "Hero Mode" from the start would have been a
great way to give veteran players a fresh Ocarina of Time experience.
In
terms of Master Quest's actual content, I honestly don't have much to
say. It may be because I was totally burnt out on OoT by the time I
started Master Quest, but none of the new dungeons struck me as being
particularly great. Contrary to what I said in the previous
paragraph, I think the Master Quest dungeons could have made for some
really badass post game content for the main game. Considering Master
Quest already basically makes you replay the entire game to access
the new dungeons anyways, I wouldn't have had a huge problem with
this. Maybe when you beat all the Master Quest dungeons you get some
kind of awesome aesthetic item? Perhaps an alternate costume you can
wear on subsequent playthroughs? I'm really just spitballin' here.
If
I had to describe Master Quest, I'd say its neat but ultimately
inessential. If you're considering going out of your way to play it,
I'd personally say it isn't really worth it. At best, its a really
good excuse to play through OoT again, which most certainly isn't a
bad thing.
-Like
A Boss-
This
section is going to be a little bit different this time. With the
jump to 3D, Zelda dungeons have gotten significantly more complex and
sophisticated. As such, I'll be talking about both the bosses and the
dungeons in depth.
-Inside
the Deku Tree-
Inside
the Deku Tree...good times. Considering how many times I
started this game and never ended up finishing it, I've probably
completed Inside the Deku Tree about 30 times. As such I could
probably complete this dungeon blindfolded.
Inside
the Deku Tree may very well be the finest "baby's first
dungeon" in the series. Its simple enough for newer players to
complete, but the dungeon is clever enough that a Zelda veteran won't
fall asleep halfway through it. The aforementioned puzzle involving
jumping down onto webbing is cool and forces a player to think
outside of conventional Zelda wisdom.
This
is also the first Zelda dungeon to have a strong visual theme.
Dungeons in the first four titles were generally either giant
labyrinths or cave systems. A dungeon set inside a tree was pretty
novel at the time and helps give Inside the Deku a distinctive
visual flare.
Gohma:
Gohma had actually appeared in
Link's Awakening as a mini-boss, but OoT marked her triumphant return
as a legitimate dungeon boss.
This
is a really well designed boss fight. I like that a new player could
conceivably have a somewhat difficult time with her, but a veteran
player can kill her in about 30 seconds if they knew what they were
doing.
Gohma
walks up to you. She rears back, ready to attack. Her eye turns red,
at which point you throw a Deku Nut at her. She becomes stunned, and
you stab her a couple times. At this point Gohma crawls up onto the
ceiling. This is the part where the new/veteran player divide occurs.
Gohma starts laying a bunch of eggs, which hatch into Gohma Juniors.
A new player would probably kill all the Gohma Juniors, at which
point Gohma herself would descend and begin the process again.
The
cool thing about the fight is that Gohma's eye actually briefly turns
red again as she's laying the eggs. If you pop her in the eyeball
with your slingshot, she'll fall to the ground and be stunned for a
much longer duration which will give you enough time to kill her
right there. I always like it when there's more than one way to
defeat a boss, and this is a great example of that.
-Dodongo's
Cavern-
This
dungeon is fairly "bleh" to me. It's definitely the least
imaginative of the Young Link dungeons, considering its just another
big cave. I don't really have much to say about it. Its just a fairly
linear dungeon where you get the bombs. Despite the bombs being a
classic Zelda item, their puzzle solving capabilities have always
been fairly limited, thereby constricting the Cavern's design
somewhat.
King
Dodongo: Dodongo is back in a
battle almost as lame as his original appearance. Sometimes he'll
open his mouth, at which point you throw bombs in it. As in the
original Legend of Zelda, King Dodongo doesn't really seem too
concerned with attacking you. Sometime he'll lazily roll around the
arena, but if you use your shield properly he basically can't do
anything to you.
Like
his big brother Helmasaur King, King Dodongo sets a new standard for
implausible boss arenas. The center of the room is covered in lava
with a very narrow stretch of land on the edge of the lava pit. One could assume that King Dodongo could walk on the lava, yet at the
end of the fight he accidentally rolls into the center of the room
and burns to death. Who is keeping this poor creature in a room he
can't even turn around in? This arena is the giant dinosaur
equivalent of one of those gestation crates they keep pigs in.
-Inside
Jabu-Jabu's Belly-
This may very well be the Zelda series' most beloved dungeon, and for good
reason. Obviously the concept of setting a dungeon inside a giant
fish is a really fun idea, and the developers really went all out in
terms of the details. The idea of a living creature's innards being a fully
constructed dungeon filled with switches and platforms is already
pretty funny, but the fact the the entire dungeon shakes when you hit
a wall with your sword is just delightful.
This
is also the first dungeon in OoT to feature a design gimmick, and its
a great one. You eventually find the Zora Princess Ruto, who has
entered Jabu-Jabu's stomach looking for her missing sapphire. She
accompanies you throughout the dungeon, helping you press switches
and the like. What really sells this mechanic is the fact that Ruto
doesn't just follow you around; she demands that you carry her. The
developers could have made this a unique animation, but instead Link
just hoists her fat ass above his head as if he was carrying a crate.
This is hilarious (particularly since you can also throw her all over
the place), and it also serves to characterize Ruto as your typical
pampered princess. This is so memorable that Ruto's intro cutscene
from Hyrule Warriors makes reference to it.
Barinade:
I'm not really sure what
Barinade is supposed to be, but he's a pretty cool dude. At first his
tendrils are attached to the ceiling. During this phase, he'll shoot
lightning at you as you attempt to detach him using the boomerang.
Once that's accomplished, Barinade starts spinning around, blocking
your attacks with the jellyfish attached to his body. This part of
the fight superficially resembles A Link to the Past's ARRRRGHUS,
since you have to kill each of the jellyfish in order to damage the
boss.
Barinade
isn't an incredible boss or anything, but I enjoy that the fight
feels like a...well, an actual *fight* as opposed to a glorified
puzzle.
-The
Forest Temple-
This
is the first of five Adult Link dungeons. These dungeons aren't as
imaginative as the Young Link ones, but they're significantly more
complex so I suppose its a fair trade off.
The
Forest Temple is interesting because it goes for more of a horror
theme, in that Link channels his inner Bill Murray in order to hunt
ghosts in what appears to be some sort of abandoned mansion. I'm not
sure what ghosts have to do with the forest, but the dungeon has a
great atmosphere to it. Its significantly more interesting than a
generic forest theme, certainly.
Phantom
Ganon: I always thought this
fight was kind of lame, considering Phantom Ganon is basically just
an easier version of the final boss battle. In retrospect, Phantom
Ganon fits the ghost theme really well, and there's a couple of
mechanics that separate it from the climatic showdown. The coolest
aspect of this fight is the first phase. Ganon rides a spectral horse
and begins jumping in and out of paintings on the walls. As Ganon
emerges from the paintings you have to shoot him with your bow or
he'll shoot energy balls at you.
Eventually
Phantom Ganon dismounts, and the fight turns into another Aganhim
style battle. Overall, I like this fight a lot.
-The
Fire Temple-
Visually
speaking, the Fire Temple is the blandest of the Adult Link dungeons.
It's like...a building with lava and shit in it. Like its little
brother Dodongo's Cavern, Fire Temple just doesn't do a lot to
differentiate itself. There's a gimmick that involves saving Gorons,
but this is really just a overly complicated method of obtaining
keys. The Fire Temple isn't bad, per se, but after the excellent
Forest Temple it just kind of falls flat.
Volvagia:
Do
you remember how I described A Link to the Past's Lanmola fight as a
glorified game of whack-a-mole? Well the Volvagia fight isn't even a
glorified version; it is straight up whack-a-mole. Volvagia pops out
of various holes in the floor, at which point you crack him over the
head with your hammer. Volvagia then flies around the room trying to
drop rocks on your head. This repeats a couple of times, then the
fight ends. Its a decent fight that's elevated by Volvagia's cool design.
-The
Water Temple-
Oh
lawd. A lot of fans hate the Water Temple...and they're right for doing so. The
Water Temple is awful. It is hands down the worst dungeon in the
game. Its awfulness can be summed up in a couple of problematic
design decisions:
A)
The dungeon has no sense of progress. It essentially revolves around a bunch of paths branching off of a large center room. Generally, you'll
go down a path and either receive a key or find that you can't
progress any further, at which point you return back to the center
room. Because of this design, there's no real path forward. The Water
Temple devolves into a tedious slog where you're forced to arduously
explore each hallway branch until you figure out where the dungeon
arbitrarily wants you to go next.
B)
Changing the water level is a massive pain in the ass. The dungeon
features a system where you can change the water to three different
levels, meaning that each path basically has two versions: one filled
with water and one that isn't. This means that you'll often have to
explore each path twice. The main problem here is that switching the water levels is way more complicated then it should be. The levels can only be adjusted in a linear
order, so if the water is at level one you have to raise it to level
two before level three. The levels can also only be adjusted at
specific spots by playing Zelda's Lullaby on your ocarina. Depending
on how long it takes you to beat the dungeon, you may end up playing
this same song over a dozen times.
C)
Equipping or unequipping the iron boots requires menu navigation.
This is fixed in OoT 3D, but about half the time spent in the
original Water Temple involves navigating the menus. The iron boots
sink you when equipped in water, but they slow you down significantly
while on land. Its sort of hard to describe, but suffice it to say
that the dungeon's design wants you to put on and take off the boots
A LOT.
Fuck,
this dungeon sucks so bad that Eiji Aonuma actually apologized for
it. The sole saving grace for a lot of fans is the Shadow Link mini
boss, who quizzically appears here instead of the Shadow Temple.
Honestly, I don't really get what the big deal about this fight is.
Its not bad or anything, but I usually just spam my attack button
until he dies.
Morpha:
A
shitty dungeon ends with a mediocre boss fight. Morpha isn't the
worst boss in the game (that would probably be King Dodongo) but its
simplistic mechanics and visual design leaves a lot to be desired.
Morpha seems to be some sort of amoeba that can possess water. You
basically dodge its attacks, use the hookshot to pull the amoeba out
of the water, then hit it with your sword until it dies.
-The
Shadow Temple-
Without
a doubt my favorite dungeon in OoT, The Shadow Temple succeeds mostly
because of its fantastic theming. Its got everything you could
possibly want from a horror themed dungeon. Walls made out of human
bones? Check. Guillotines? Check. A floating boat made to transport
the souls of the damned? Check. A spinning statue of a grim reaper
holding a scythe? That's oddly specific...but yeah, its got that.
The
developers had already blown their load on the "ghost"
theme for The Forest Temple, so they opt instead for an "illusion"
concept here, which is cool. There's a ton of invisible shit that you
can only see with the Lens of Truth, and their are plenty of dead
ends and traps made to fuck with your mind. It works great in a
dungeon based on the concept of shadow.
Bongo
Bongo: I'd
like to take this opportunity to give a shout out to my good friend
Shawn. Check it out, Shawn! I'm talking about Bongo Bongo on the internet!
Shawn loves Bongo Bongo, and its easy to see why.
First
off, Bongo Bongo's design is straight up fucking weird. He initially
seems to be a poor fit for the frightening Shadow Temple, but I think
his unsettling design and ability to turn invisible match up with the
"illusion" theme really well.
Second,
true to his name, the fight actually take place on a giant drum.
Bongo Bongo makes these weird, guttural sounds as you fight him. This
boss is so strange. Instead of describing him with words, why don't
you just watch this other guy fight him. It needs to be seen to
believed:
Bongo
Bongo may not be the most mechanically interesting boss ever (he's
essentially just a Gohma remix) but the sheer weirdness of the fight
definitely makes him one of my favorite Zelda bosses ever.
-The
Spirit Temple-
Designing a dungeon around a vague concept
like "Spirit" is rather difficult, so the developers just gave the dungeon a general desert/Middle Eastern
theme. I think this is really cool, since you don't see stuff like
this too often in Zelda. I'd say this is my second favorite dungeon in
the game, if only because of its super badass musical theme:
This
dungeon doesn't really have a central gimmick or design element. You
have to complete the dungeon's first half as a child, which is neat, but I
wouldn't say that it really adds much to the dungeon's design. It's
really just a well designed dungeon with solid visuals and a
kickass soundtrack. What's not to like?
Twinrova:
Twinrova
is a pretty standard fight. One of the witches shoots ice, one shoots
fire. Use your Mirror Shield to deflect the witch's attacks, hitting
the ice one with fire and the fire one with ice. After they take
enough damage they'll fuse into a single being.
Twinrova
then proceeds to shoot either ice or fire bolts at you. When you
block these bolts, you actually charge up your Mirror Shield with the
respective element. Once you charge your shield three times with the
same element, you can shoot a laser at Twinrova, stunning her. At
this point your stab her a bunch of times. Its not an amazing fight,
but its use of the Mirror Shield is fairly clever and the fight
itself is pretty fun.
-Ganondorf-
After
you go through a short final dungeon its time to face off with
Ganondorf. His fight is basically just a retread of the earlier
Phantom Ganon fight. Knock his projectiles back at him, shoot him
with a Light Arrow, hit him with your sword. Once you defeat him, the
real fight begins.
Ganondorf
transforms into Ganon, his pig form, and engages you in a one on one
sword fight. You have to weave around his attacks and hit him in the
tail. These fights aren't that interesting, mechanically speaking,
and I'd say I liked the Link to the Past Ganon fight more. However,
these fights are staged really well and feel like a suitably epic
conclusion to the game.
-Hey,
Listen!-
OoT's
soundtrack is fantastic. It isn't quite as good as A Link to the
Past, but it still contains tons of great music. My favorite track
would have to Gerudo Valley.
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