Ocarina of Time Am I the Only One That Thinks the Game Didn't Age Well?

[Heroine of Winds]

No, I'm not hating on the game. Don't get me wrong, I like the game for what it is, but I can't help finding some things in it that show the game's age very badly. For one, the controls feel pretty clunky sometimes. I get it's a game from the 90's, but they do feel a bit bad at places. And there's the graphics. Again, I know it's a game from the 90's, but the characters definitely fall under the uncanny valley due to the expressions they make.

I'm sure I'm gonna get some negativity for this, but I'm just saying my thoughts on why I think OOT didn't age all that well. I still think it's a good game, though.

 

[Curmudgeon]

I don't disagree. The N64/PSX era was sort of the awkward adolescent phase for videogames with blocky characters, muddy textures, and some puzzling sound (seriously. listen to the opening of Hyrule Field. The upper register stuff has especially not aged well).

 

[Iridescence]

OOT aged better than most games of its time. The problem I have is with people who are still putting it on a golden pedestal.

The game has problems:
1. The overworld is segmented into isolated areas so you can't explore it seamlessly
2. Hyrule Field is unpopulated and is just a giant empty land mass
3. The story is derivative of ALTTP ; and doesn't innovate like the previous Zelda game, LA, did.
4. Compared to other Zelda games, there's a lot less freedom, more handholding and more linearity
5. There's not a lot of hidden secrets, aside from a few underground burrows.

Again, OOT is still a great game. But these 5 things keep it from being top 5 material, IMO.

 

[DarkestLink]

Other than the graphics and the lack of movable camera, I don't see anything.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

It definatly has its problems now that we look back, but overall its still considered by a vast majority of people to be one of the best games ever made, and anyways you can always play the remake for the 3DS if the original version annoys you.

 

[misskitten]

May just be the nostalgia talking, but if you take the 3DS version with updated graphics and controls, it's still as amazing as it was when I firs played it - even better. As for the orignal aging well or not, compared to today's standard - what game from that era does in terms of control scheeme and graphic?

 

[MW7]

I can kind of understand what you are saying. The more superficial aspects of the game don't compare well to modern games for sure. However, I just never cared at all about graphics so this doesn't bother me at all. The controls could be better (the camera control in Wind Waker for instance was a noticeable improvement from Ocarina and Majora's Mask), but in this respect I think I really just became so used to them that it's hard for me to find fault with them. I personally would say that the game aged extremely well because I would focus on the core gameplay which I would say still beats the vast majority of games released today. There is no video game I have played more than Ocarina of Time, and there are plenty of video games that had beautiful graphics that I played once and never wanted to play again (L.A. Noire for example). I think it's fair to say that Ocarina of Time shows its age because its graphics are from 1998 and its controls are limited by the N64 controller, but that Ocarina of Time aged extremely well.

Continuing my example of L.A. Noire, Ocarina of Time is like a person that ages normally but makes good decisions when they are young, takes good care of themselves, and lives a long time. L.A. Noire is like a person that makes every bad decision possible, gets tons of plastic surgery to look good, and then dies young. I want to clarify that I don't even think L.A. Noire was a bad game, I just used it as an example because it's a game that is actually well-known for its graphics rather than gameplay. In other words, I think Ocarina of Time ages extremely well because its strength is gameplay and that is timeless. If you judge a game based on graphics, then very few games age well. No matter how much effort is put into making a video game look pretty, 5 years later it's obsolete looking with some exceptions (the only game I can think of is Wind Waker). Controls there isn't as much of a difference- pretty much since the Gamecube's generation there haven't been huge improvements in controls imo. Soon we may get to the point where games stop aging in terms of graphics though because there is only so much the human eye can perceive and graphics will keep improving by less and less each generation.

 

[Mask-Salesman]

Well, I don't think graphics count in this discussion. The game is more than 15 years old by now. The gameplay is still very good on it's own. One of the best adventure games that was ever made. The only thing that I can think of that is a little dated is the combat, which is pretty straight forward. But the design, music, story, puzzles and feeling when playing the game will always be timeless.

 

[Octorokstar]

i do believe OoT has aged, but not for a second do i believe it aged "badly". it has still a fun game throughout many generations, and its not "unplayable"...and many generations have had games with bad controls and even "worst" controls than OoT. Keep in mind, most of OoT's issues are camera control than anything else and that's something that hasn't been perfected for a while.

As for graphics...i will agree with you in some parts....but this game still uses a sense of imagination....the borders looked like they were trying to emulate trees. they nailed the atmosphere, and it really does look like Hyrule (in OoT) can actually exist somewhere in the world.

 

[boyviking]

You are right on this one, I have to say. The graphics do look strange and creepy, but not for the standards of a good game back in the day. It is still a very good game though. The sound design was not the best, such as when you fall into lava, and it does that noise where the pitch abruptly goes down. It was an awkward time to design games at that time, but it is still a great game.

 

[Chevywolf30]

No, you are not. The game itself isn't bad, but the graphics and mechanics... yeesh. OoT combat did not feel natural to me, I had to calculate where my sword would hit, which I did not have to do in TP or WW. Child Link didn't have enough range, the Kokiri sword is rubbish. The game just felt janky and clunky, and at times the gameplay just wasn't fun. I'd estimate 75% of my deaths were because the controls were so clunky. Not hating on the game, but it shows its age.

 

[Victor]

It aged but not badly,compared to other games from that era.
I believe that the substory of Oot is what make her more different from Altp,not a fan of the comparison.

 

[Tiny]

Ocarina came out in a time where not only were 3D games in their infancy, but also analogue joysticks were new too. Add to that the awkwardness of the N64 controller layout, and of course the game looks and feels clunky nowadays. Back then it was revolutionary.

 

[A Link In Time]

The N64/PS1 generation has arguably aged the worst of any generation of videogames. A lot of games from that era have clunky controls, a clunky camera, and very dated visuals. Under these categories, I think Ocarina of Time has aged better than most of its contemporaries. If you're playing the original N64 version, there will be some frustration in the pause menu with the iron boots, and all versions have a very barren Hyrule Field, but, other than that, Ocarina of Time has aged pretty gracefully. It still has some of the best dungeons, music, and story in the franchise.

 

[Amir SR]

It has aged yes, but not that much. And in comparison to other games from that era, it has aged actually pretty well! Also games in the 5th generation have aged much more in comparison to other generations. After all developers went from 2D to 3D, which was a HUGE leap.