A Journey Through 'The Legend of Zelda' Series (Part 4)

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

It has been around fifteen years since I last played The Legend of Zelda:  Ocarina of Time so I was excited to trek through this game again.  Many consider this game the gold standard of the Zelda franchise and, while I remember enjoying it when it first came out on the Nintendo 64, my opinion before re-playing was that it was a good game but some people give it too much credit.

Now that I have finished my most recent play-through, I can honestly say that I was wrong and this game does deserve the accolades that it has received over the years.

Read on to find out my thoughts on the game:

On a scale of 1 to 5:

Graphics:  4
Music:  5
Puzzle Difficulty:  4
Combat Difficulty:  3
Items:  4
Story:  5

(The above scores do not represent how good or bad the game is.  I will be using them to compare these areas to the other games in the series as I replay them.)

Overview:  Released in 1998, Ocarina of Time probably had the biggest jump in graphics, gameplay, and story than any game in the series before or after it.  It is neat to see the improvements in each one of these games as I replay them and while there were a lot of great improvements between the NES games and the SNES one, the improvements we find here are mind-blowing.  With the introduction of the Nintendo 64 and full 3D games, developers were able to put so much more into their games giving us an immersive experience never felt before.  Instead of controlling a little sprite with limited animations, you now have control of a fully rendered 3D character with life-like animations.  For those of us growing up at this time, we thought that we had reached the pinnacle of game design.  To us, there was no way games could ever get more realistic.  Of course today we see how wrong we were with the amazing graphics of current games.  

Graphics:  As mentioned above, the graphics in this game are a HUGE leap over A Link to the Past.  Characters, environments, and items are all rendered in 3D and you have a full range of motion to explore the world.  Link now has a variety of animations for his attacks, interactions, and even while standing idle for a period of time.  Each area of the game has a unique style and feel to it.  Environments include Hyrule Field, Lake Hylia, Gerudo Valley, Hyrule Castle, and several more.  Each area also changes as you travel back and forth between young and adult Link.  For example, while as a child, the market in front of Hyrule Castle is bustling with people buying, selling, dancing, and chasing butterflies but when you travel to the future, the market is in ruins and only Re-Deads populate the area.  The details with things like this really made you feel like you were a part of the world.  The only gripe I have about the graphics is that they don't display on and HDTV as well as they do on a CRT TV.  This is mainly due to the difference in display technologies and is expected for a game as old as this one.  The game wan't unplayable, it was just ugly in some points.  For example, one side quest had you hunting Cuccos to return them to their owner.  While searching the town, things in the distance were really blurry and hard to make out.  You would see what appeared to be a chicken and as you approached it, you would see that it was a rock...  You can buy upscalers to help with this problem but they are pretty expensive, and like I said earlier, the game is still completely playable.

Music:  This game excels at music.  With the new technology found in the Nintendo 64 came better music.  No longer do we have the beeps and boops of the 8 and 16 bit eras, now we have fully orchestrated pieces that sound amazing.  Each area of the game has it's own background music that aptly fits.  The Kokiri Forest and Lost woods have a nice woodland-style melody playing, the Gerudao Valley and dessert have a very middle-eastern style song, Zora's Domain's music really makes you imagine a water world, and the other areas are just as good.  As you progress through the game, you learn new songs to play on your ocarina and while they are simple songs with just a few notes, they are very catchy and most people that have played in the past still recognize them today (Epona's Song being one of them).  You will also recognize the overworld theme and Kokiri Village theme from previous titles.

While looking at various message boards about the game while I was playing, I found out that there were actually three versions of the game that were released.  Versions 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2.  The later versions fixed some bugs but also changed a few things including the theme music from the Temple of Fire.  The original version had some Islamic chanting going on that was removed from later versions.

Puzzle Difficulty:  The puzzles in this game are excellent.  It is packed full of secrets to be found in each area and that doesn't include the dungeons.  The heart pieces are back in this game and they are hidden throughout Hyrule.  You will need to do things like win mini-games, bomb random boulders, plant magic seeds in the past to use a floating plant in the future, play certain songs on your ocarina at specific places and more to locate them all!  This game also introduces Gold Skultulas, which are gold-colored spiders hidden throughout the game.  There are 100 total and you get rewards after finding 10, 20, 30 , 40 , 50, and 100 of them.

The dungeon difficulty was perfect in my opinion.  They weren't too easy or too hard.  There were a few parts that I did get stuck on for a while that caused me to have to backtrack several times but it was never frustrating.  The Water Temple in this game is notorious for its difficulty and it was the only one that gave me any trouble.  Once I found the solution, I did feel like an idiot, though...  I think this was annoying due to the fact that you had to keep adjusting the water level in the dungeon over and over until you find the solution.  Gold Skultulas are also hidden in each dungeon along with the usual Map, Compass, Item, and Boss Key.

Combat Difficulty:  Overall the combat wasn't really hard at all.  I only died once in the whole game, although I did keep fairies in bottles on hand as much as possible.  With the introduction of 3D, the combat system got a complete overhaul compared to the previous games.  You now can lock onto enemies with the Z button, something we take for granted today, but was amazing when it was first introduced.  Once you are locked on, you can attack with B, dodge with A, or block with R.  There are also different attacks that can be performed including a horizontal slash, vertical slash, spin attack, jump attack, and a jab.  While dodging you can roll forward, jump to either side, or do a backflip.  The combat flows smoothly for the most part and is fun.  The only problems I had with the Z targeting was locking onto flying enemies like the Keese.  You usually couldn't lock on to them until they were super close which usually resulted in me taking damage before I could attack them.  The Z button is also used to reset the camera behind Link so this caused a few problems during platforming sections where you had to turn, reset the camera, and jump.  If there was an enemy or an inspectable item, you would lock onto it and it would sometimes cause you to miss your jump.

Combat in this game also goes beyond simple sword attacks, as well.  You will get many items that can be used as weapons along with upgrades to existing weapons and armor.  Once you get your horse Epona, you can ride her as you fire off your Bow at enemies.

Items:  There are many items to collect in this game and for the most part, they all feel useful.  Items such as the Bow, Boomerang, Hookshot, Bombs, and Bottles return and new items such as Deku Sticks, Deku Nuts, Bombchus, and Lens of Truth are introduced.  I never used the Deku Nuts or Bombchus much, but it seemed like the rest of the items were regularly used.  The Lens of Truth can be equiped to reveal hidden chests, enemies, or passages but drains your magic meter as long as you have it on.  The Deku Sticks could be used as a weapon, although they break easily, and to light torches.  You can have up to three of these items set to the 'c' buttons at a time which makes it easier to switch between them.

To add to these items, you also got several equipment upgrades.  Young Link uses the Kokiri whilie Adult Link can use the Master Sword or the Big Goron Sword, which is a large two-handed sword.  You will also get a red tunic which allows you to visit hot areas without taking damage and a blue tunic which allows you to breathe underwater.  You will also attain new boots, as well.  The metal boots allow you to walk underwater or prevent you from being blown off platforms and the hover boots allow you to walk through the air for a limited time or walk in the desert without sinking in the sand.

Story:  This is another area where this game is leaps and bounds ahead of it's predecessors.  There are now full cut-scenes and character's have more depth to them, including the various NPC's you will encounter.

This game begins with young Link having a nightmare about an evil man in all black.  He awakens to find a fairy named Navi telling him the Great Deku Tree has summoned him.  You find out the Great Deku Tree has been poisoned so you must enter it to defeat the evil.  Afterwards, as he withers away, the Deku Tree gives Link the Kokiri Emerald and tells him to go seek out the Princess at Hyrule Castle.  

He then meets Princess Zelda who suspects that Gannondorf is seeking the legendary Triforce and asks Link to help stop him.  You then set out on a quest that spans the vast land of Hyrule in two different time periods to thwart Gannondorf's plan.  Along your journey, you will meet various people, each having a unique personality or background.  Other races are also introduced such as the Zoras, water people, and Gorons, rock people.  This really makes the wold come alive.

Summary:  After replaying this game, I can safely say that it is probably the best Zelda game that I have played so far.  Although 'A Link to the Past' still ranks up there for me, this game easily beats it out objectively.  If you have never played a Zelda game before, this would be a good starting point as it introduces many of the gameplay elements that are still used today.  With the 3DS remake also available, it shouldn't be to hard to get a copy (some of the accompanying pictures are from the 3DS version)  This game had me hooked the moment I started it and I was actually a little sad once it was over.

As I write this, I have started Majora's Mask, which is my first time to ever play it, so it may take a little while for me to complete it.  I will post my thoughts on it as soon as I can.