I never thought I'd say this since I originally swore to never review this game but after the surprising amount of time it took me to beat this game, it's finally time for my review of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for the 3ds... *gulp*

Well I guess I should mention before I proceed that I'm relatively new to Zelda as a franchise and besides this game I've only really played the original for the NES and oracle of seasons, so I'll pretty much solely be judging this as a stand alone game aside from comparing it to the original for the N64. As such I really don't have much nostalgia for this game either.

.Well with that out of the way, lets just jump right into it shall we...

Well uh before anything else, lets talk changes!

So yes this being a remastering of the original game on for the N64, I figured I'd mention what changes makes it differ from the original.

Firstly the most obvious and by far biggest one, the graphics. They've basically been redone from the ground up, the textures, character models you name it, the game really looks a lot better compared to the original but manages to retain that same somewhat cartoony feel instead of going for something more realistic. And I have to say it is really good by the 3ds standards. They are not completely flawless however as I have noticed a few traces of some details like some of the architecture in the villages looking dated however that is also more of a nitpick. and overall they really have done a great job remaking the graphics.

The other thing I'd like to mention while not a huge addition or anything is sheikah stones.These are stones found in dungeons and some key locations which you crawl into which show hints about how to progress in the game in the form of short gameplay videos. While a nice idea if you absolutely don't want to use walkthroughs they often times end up making things a bit too obvious ruining the point of them in the first place.

Another thing I'd like to quickly mention before we proceed is that the water temple has supposedly also been made a lot easier albeit it's still frustrating...

Well moving on!

A charming world but not the most grand of tales...

You are the young child -insert chosen name here-, you live with the kokiri (which are basically exactly like peter pan in that they don't age, wear green clothes and live in a forest). One day you are chosen to go see the guardian of the forest, the great deku tree, which is basically exactly what it sounds like... A giant talking tree. It tells you that there is great evil ahead and he tasks with finding and getting the help of a princess named Zelda to stop it.

So moving on the story is basically rpg/adventure game storytelling 101. You're the chosen one on a quest to defeat the ultimate evil that's trying to take control of the world of Hyrule it doesn't really get much more complex than that. Though there is a slight spin in that (minor spoiler alert if you couldn't tell by the name of the game) there's time traveling involved and it basically allows you to go into the future after the villain has nearly succeeded in gaining complete control. Now while I still don't think this was executed as well as it could've been. It's still a pretty interesting prospect especially for the time... Pun intended.

So with that said I wouldn't really go in expecting too much depth from it, the characters while sometimes mildly interesting are fairly shallow most of the time and some of the dialogue is the kind I would probably skip through if it weren't for the sake of this review, that isn't to say there was the occasional witty joke however most of it is skip through. And while the game did try to surprise me once or twice I could pretty much see the plottwist coming from a mile away...

Now all in all this wouldn't be too much of an issue if the game still wasn't fairly story driven, making you actually sit through a lot of the dialogue, and seemingly trying to get you somewhat invested into the story more so since a bit of the game (especially some of the side quests) involves walking around constantly talking to people. Thankfully though this doesn't apply that much once you're inside the actual dungeons which is where the main gameplay is and even so it is not the biggest deal breaker since while it can be somewhat annoying it's still not the complete focus of the game. And if you can take the narrative at face value it can still keep you somewhat engaged.

Now the main narrative aside they did still do a fair good job making the world feel alive, NPCS can often been seen running around in towns or doing certain actions and running across the fields of hyrule the game still manages to convey this sort of feel like you're on a sort of adventure.

The soundtrack somewhat plays a part in this well fitting the various situations pretty well though there really isn't any soundtrack that stands out that much and it remains more or less entirely unchanged from the original. Additionally constantly hearing child link say HEEYAAAAAA or Navi constantly say "hey listen" can get a bit annoying.

Progressing...

So the progression of the game is pretty linear, you spend time walking around in overworld going to a few different towns talking to people which is all in preparation for the next dungeon. Granted there are some side quests but they most of the time aren't really that big or complex usually either consisting of you doing some sort of minigame (which can be fun sometimes I guess) or going on fetch quests (which is not really fun at all), really only being worth it for the items or heart pieces gained.

Going off track to explore the relatively small overworld (that was fairly large for the time) of Hyrule isn't really worth it either. Most of the time, you may find the occasional secret room to go through but it usually contains nothing more than a chest with a few rupees or some random item that you probably already have.

Hang on did somebody say dungeons?

 Now the dungeons on the other hand basically boil down to progressing from room to room doing two things, solving various puzzles and fighting various enemies. Now for the sake of making the review easier to digest, I figured I'd talk about these two things separately starting with the combat.


I present to you all... Z targeting™!

Now this is my cue to talk about one of the big features of this game and one that has actually impacted gaming as a whole, I present to you: Z targeting™! (or in this game L-targeting™ ) which has essentially become the lock on system now found in many action/adventure games.

While a staple of many games of the genre today this was a brand new concept when this game was released and it added a lot of depth to combat. Usually you were only able to hack away at the enemy occasionally dodge rolling from attacks but after using Z-Targeting™  (alright I'll stop with that joke now) you could lock onto an enemy  and you would suddenly unlocked a bunch of new moves you could not previously perform while at the same time changing the camera perspective to focus on the enemy.

This system still holds up today for the most part, combat is still very enjoyable though it isn't entirely without it's problems. I have had camera issues while targeting enemies a few times such as it not locking on to the correct enemy, and while I can obviously understand this existing considering how the original pretty much invented the system it in the first place, I feel like it's something that could've maybe have tried to been improved a bit in the remastered version.

Additionally while I did still usually enjoy the combat I feel that the enemies should've been made more challenging. The same thing applies for most, you lock on to it, it's invulnerable for some period of time, you stay within a certain radius avoid getting hit and wait until it derps and reveals it weak spot, attack and pretty much rinse and repeat in the exact same pattern, this even more so applies to a lot of the bosses (oh hey use this item you got earlier in the same dungeon to hit this literally big red glowy weak spot >.> ).

So it's really not that hard but time consuming since the enemies are the ones controlling the pace of the battle which may cause them to drag out a bit sometimes hence making them feel like a bigger ordeal creating more of an illusion of them being difficult when they really aren't most of the time.

And speaking about Z-Targeting™, when you lock onto an enemy all the other enemies just seem to kind of leave you alone (with the exception of a specific enemy) so pretty much another example of how to make it more time consuming have to lock onto and defeat each individual enemy.

ZOMG there's a hidden button right infront of me... Wait what?

So basically every dungeon consists of several small environmental puzzles you'll have to solve to progress while fighting enemies in the process. Each dungeon usually follows a theme of some sort so some puzzles can vary but many are recurring. It may be about shooting a switch hidden somewhere in the room to open the door, pushing a crate to a certain spot to be able to progress forward or simply defeating all enemies in the room.

Even if you don't use guides or sheikah stones at all most of them are pretty easy to figure out. Simply looking around a room to find the obvious hidden switch sticking out or pushing a block along a obvious path you know you're supposed to push it through since it's more or less marked where on the ground it supposed to be. And when it calls for you to use an item or the ocarina it's also pretty much almost always obvious. Granted there is still the occasional interesting, more challenging puzzles but most fall into the former category. And I feel like it's the same case as with the enemies, while usually not very hard the sheer length of the dungeon sometimes and the fact that there's usually a lot of puzzles makes it feel like a bigger ordeal and like you're accomplishing more than you actually are.

That isn't to say that I always breezed through the game never stopping but I almost never really got to a point where I was stuck and had no clue of what to do.

Despite all this it's a very TIME consuming game... Hawr hawr

I was quite honestly suprised at how long this game took me to complete considering all of this. While I wasn't really left wondering what to do too many times (though the water temple did cause some frustration) the sheer sizes of the dungeons as well as the enemies and puzzles in the game often being time consuming while not that hard does make it add up. Even the side quests like when I did quest to obtain a sword and had to run across hyrule several times and talking to people (again not really fun but the reward was worth it).

The game also comes with the master quest mode, the original game with some modifications to make it harder (though I'd expect not that much harder). I didn't really feel like replaying the game again but it's there for those who do and want a bit more challenge.

Concluding things

All in all I do still think Zelda Ocarina of Time is a good game but I really feel that it's hugely overrated considering the constant 10 out of 10s it gets and how it's even considered by many to be a contender for the best video game of all time. It had some revolutionary features for the time but at the same time already had a fair share of problems by the standards back then and combine that with some elements having aged and my score will be a 7.6, a positive experience overall but with it's fair share of problems.

That's all for this time, next time It's time to actually take a look on a certain gem... 1000 Viz to the person who got that awful joke...

Have decided to start doing the summons separately.

Sword legion :
Gamin'Gal :
A user of this :
juuldude :
Cradily is love :
AceShock :
Laian :
sonicthehedgehog57 :

Some additional summons of people I thought might be interested in this particular review (if you aren't just ignore this)

Jordanv78 :
sonicmcmuffin :
ZeroTails :

Zlinqx :


WARNING SPOILERS


I would agree with you. Unfortunately, I haven't played very many action RPG games. I do enjoy the ones that I do though. This game holds huge nostalgia with me, and I feel like it did have a good story, it's just that. . . . . well. .. the series didn't expand the right way. I mean, OOT should have inspired the new direction of the Zelda series like Sonic Adventure did for Sonic. Only Zelda didn't. Each game feels progressivly worse cause they all feel like a lesser copy of the same game.

OOT I did enjoy, I love the world that it takes place in and the story is at least decent. We have characters like Sarah, and Darani whom you actually get to know. And they become sages. Seeing Malon all grown up was a neat thing that showed you the world really has aged seven years in time. If anything, I don't feel like I could ask for more from the game. Just that they would have kept going in this direction. (Which Nintendo didn't)

But anyways. Have fun with Majora's Mask if you play it.

Zlinqx : Very good review! I LOVE IT! I played the remake but not the original version, but your rich vocabulary and wonderful summary of the story (doing your best to not spoil it) was GREAT! I will actually do a review myself later on...but it has been such a long time since I played it. So, I am replaying the game and then I will type a review. Hopefully you will read it!

Sword legion : I get what you're saying, while like I said I really haven't played much of the other 3d Zelda games from what I've heard they're supposed to have a pretty similar structure kind of like you're remaking/updating the same game instead of actually making a new game.

I didn't entirely hate the story but I feel like it could've been done a lot better, there were still some stories but like I said they weren't expanded that much upon so I honestly didn't care too much about them, obviously fantheories and being more well versed into zelda as a franchise I would assume could add more depth to them.

I do still plan on getting Majora's Mask eventually not sure when though, maybe I'll get to reviewing that as well when I do.

Sauron422416 : Thanks for the praise! I tried to just summarize the introduction of the story to give readers an idea without spoiling it yeah. And good luck on your review. Reviewing games off your memory can be a little bit hard, so you should probably try playing a little bit off it to refresh your memory, not that it can't work if you still have played a lot of the game in the past. I'll make sure to keep an eye out for it once you do get around to it.

Zlinqx :

Could have been done better?

Definitely. (one thing all Zelda games suffer from save Majora's Mask is the very, very small character development.) :/

I really wish we just had some other characters that actually did something in the games. I mean. . . really? Is Link the only Hero? Twilight Princess almost gave us that- then all they did was give us a small cutscene at the end which was pointless. Showing us this "resistance" whom was "helping us." And the characters where not badly designed.

To bad you never got to play as them or fight alongside them a few times. Man, I could complain about Zelda all day. But I won't. It's too annoying. XD

This review was awesome! I really enjoyed it . *waiting for the angry Zelda fan mob to attack me*

Well, thanks for summoning me! Z targeting™. Best thing ever XD.

I've played this game once before, and I liked it, but... I wouldn't call it the "best game ever 10/10". It had it's problems, and the golden skulltulas.. oh god. They were the most annoying collectables ever in that game, and they had no purpose. The story was... I could sum it up as typical story 101. The camera controls were annoying.

Also, this is in a lot of games with side quests, but they made no sense. "Before we save the world from doom, lets go get milk for this random dude!" I mean, I'm all for being nice and helping people, but not before I save the world! Priorities, Link, priorities.

I personally think Ocarina of Time, is one of those games that's kept it's momentum or popularity if you'd like to say that due to the fact it's fan base is pretty much in love with it due to nostalgia. I mean the game is nearly 20 and you'll find that once a game gets past 10 years old a lot of people fail to change their perspective again on it. Or they actively don't want to change their opinion on it.

Ocarina of Time for me even has more people that like it due to nostalgia than possibly Final Fantasy 7. I mean they both had great new features and they pretty much made their franchises both huge .. (though one can beg to differ with ff going downhill with the 13 series but it is a series you love or hate it seems) 

Like I'm a huge sonic fan. And I remember loving Sonic 2 more than ever when I was around 18.. Which made the game itself around 18... (We were released into the world in the same year I think lol) Mainly due to the fact that I loved the game as a kid. It's human nature to fall back onto something we enjoyed back as a kid. Something that made us feel happy and warm and something we associate with good memories. 

Either way it's a fair review. I'd probably give it around the same if not lower... but as someone that grew up with a SNES,Genesis and then a PS1, GB, then PS2, PSP,  360, WII, PS3 it would be fair to say that I don't have any nostalgia when it comes to Zelda games.. Or Nintendo in general

sonicmcmuffin : I agree with your assessment, nostalgia can sort of blind you form looking on a game from a more critical perspective because you're not really willing to, I used to have the same problem with the old Pokemon games, since they were what first got me really into gaming and I have many positive memories of playing.

Thanks, I was thinking somebody would disagree with me but so far people seem to be in agreement about a lot of things I said. I am somewhat the same when it comes to Nintendo consoles with Nintendo consoles, with the exception of the gamecube (and even that's pretty limited), pretty much all my Nintendo nostalgia related memories are from playing games on the handhelds (mainly Pokemon), I have much more experience and nostalgia playing games on the mega drive, xbox, ps2 and 360.

Oh my god. Just a 7.8?! You idiot, this deserves way better, it's as good as Cory in the House!!

Nah, I understood your points. I've played the original Oot up to the Dodongo Cavern and I think I'll continue once (but I'm playing it on an emulator and it freezes sometimes ) and I can say that even to the standards of today it's pretty impressive. Still, if you look good even great games like this one have some big flaws, like you pointed out. 

Also, I like the style of your review, it's cool! I'm working on my review now and it's great to see that you're still making great reviews as well

While your review was excellent and well-detailed, I found the structure to be confusing. You usually go on at enumerating different aspects of the game without putting any clear links together. Structuring your review like the aspects your are ranking (graphs, music, etc.) usually make it much clearer.

For example, the graphics aspect could have included your comparison with the N64 game but also talking about the L (Z?) targeting since it probably influences fights. It was a useful feature in Kingdom Hearts but got the camera moving too much at times.

janus : This is actually a new format I'm trying out for reviews, all my previous reviews are categorized after the usual review categories, I just wanted to try this since I think it allows for more freedom and when I used to do it per the usual review categories the addictiveness and story categories tended to drag on much longer than the others so this is also to sandwich out the review more easily. I figured Z targeting has more to do with the gameplay than the graphics even if it does affect the camera view.

I tried to make it still have a pretty good structure as in I do still talk about different aspects of the game separately, I did still include something regarding all the usual categories.

This is my first review trying this out though so it's I'll try to improve to make less confusing in the future.

Also yeah Kingdom Hearts games can suffer from similar camera issues sometimes when locking onto enemies, at least in some games, possibly something I'll talk about in a future review if I cover another Kingdom Hearts game.

Zlinqx : By the way, I made a review for Smash Bros. 64! Hopefully you will read it?

Sauron422416 : Sure I'll take a peek at it It'll be good since I've played it before.

Zlinqx : thx

This is a very good review though I disagreed with the overall score you gave it. You made the review extremely long and you added plenty of detail explaining why you gave each category the scores you gave them. Good job.

Nice review, I saw a typo, if you care to know: "and you would suddenly unlocked a bunch of new moves you could not previously perform" you need to put a 'have' somewhere in there. Other than that nothing wrong with the review, and kudos on the bravery for rating this game lower than 10, those reviews get old imo.