MM-3DS does the time limit impede exploration?

[Spirit]

Until now I'd only seen Majora's Mask played in walkthrough on youtube and by friends who wouldn't let me play their copies of the game... now that I finally have MM3D i'm realising why it is so divisive as a game. I've always loved the characters and the story, I've always loved the surreal aura that Termina gave off...

but playing it i feel so restricted, I don't feel as if i can explore because of the time limit, I know wearing the bunny hood and playing the inverted song of time renders the threat of the moon almost nil if you know what you're doing, but with the three day system i dont feel like i could just go anywhere and discover something like i could in previous Zelda games and thus the feeling of restriction...

Does anyone else feel this way or is it just me?

 

[Jirohnagi]

Just you, i dunno if others feel the same way. But for me you can literally explore all of termina and her various secret areas over the course of the game, you aren't meant to have access to the entirety of Termina the first cycle the game is designed to give access to each of the areas progressively, the only real impediment to exploration is getting a Goron Bomb to get into Romani Ranch day 1 but even then it's not hard.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

I thought it would, but honestly no. You can get plenty done in a 3 day cycle and look all over the areas you can access.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Well its impossible to travel every section of the game within the three day limt, but over a span of time eventually you can gradually explore different areas until you have explored everything.

 

[Mr. Ister]

Just you, i dunno if others feel the same way. But for me you can literally explore all of termina and her various secret areas over the course of the game, you aren't meant to have access to the entirety of Termina the first cycle the game is designed to give access to each of the areas progressively, the only real impediment to exploration is getting a Goron Bomb to get into Romani Ranch day 1 but even then it's not hard.

Personally, knowing I have to go through the step of buying a powder keg and blowing up the rock any time I want to enter the ranch early dissuades me from exploring it for fun. I would say in general, yes my feeling of exploration was mitigated a bit by the mechanism of the game and things like the Romani Ranch rock, but doesn't make the game notably worse, just different.

 

[SavageWizzrobe]

I don't think the time limit impedes exploration, at least not too much. The only thing that can be potentially annoying is of course that the state of just about anything that can block your path resets (rocks, ice blocks, locked doors, and so on) when you play the Song of Time.

 

[WhiskeyShivers]

I did feel that way when I first started the game. I beat the swamp dungeon and didn't have time to do the butler race at the end because my three days were up so I restarted the days went back and beat the boss and did the race. After that I was already halfway through the first day and felt like it would be a waste of time to go to the next dungeon now and started exploring which got me into the habit of when I start a new day I decide if i'm going to explore that day or do a dungeon and it really took that feeling of not having enough time off my shoulders.

 

[Beauts]

I don't find it restrictive because, if you don't have any active sidequests or dungeons, you can set back the time and explore to your heart's content, pretty much. I understand why you'd feel that way though because I definitely did, back when I first played it, I felt under pressure to do everything on time and didn't really sit back and enjoy the game just for the sake of it, or get to know Termina very well outside of where you have to go.

Also don't forget to play the Inverted Song of Time if you feel you're running out of time to do stuff!

 

[Mr. Ister]

I just played MM on 64 for the first time a couple months ago. Whenever I'm about to start a dungeon I reset time and play the Inverted Song of Time. The Great Bay Temple took me so long - 3 hours in real life - that I almost ran out of time in the game that I had slowed down immediately upon resetting time. It was actually kind of frustrating. Beat the temple at like 6pm on the 3rd day...

 

[Akuhime-sama]

No- not if you play the inverted song of time.
Though- granted, Exploration is done best at certain points in the game.

I'd say that good points in the game to explore is when you save (N64) and/or reset the back to the first day- and only devote those current three days to exploration. When you've had enough exploration for the time being, then you can continue with the game. Or- if you don't want to feel pressured into not exploring and just going along with the story, then save your exploration for the after-game. It's more fun anyway to run around Termina as the FD link. (which you can easily do via a glitch in the 3DS remake. -you might be able to in the N64 version, but I haven't tested it out yet)

But yeah- you don't really get hindered by anything if you just devote a set time for exploring.

 

[Vanessa28]

No not at all. This is the fun part. You can explore it as much as you like as long as you keep the time in mind. The fact I can replay bosses I like at anytime I like makes it even more fun. I love this game and I spent a lot of time exploring everything. In fact it took me a long time to finish this game because I used complete cycles for several quests. Only because of the fun.

 

[SavageWizzrobe]

It's more fun anyway to run around Termina as the FD link. (which you can easily do via a glitch in the 3DS remake. -you might be able to in the N64 version, but I haven't tested it out yet)

You can explore Termina as FD Link using a glitch on the N64, and all you need to do the glitch is some water and a moderately steep slope leading down into that water. As far as I know, this is the only way to explore Great Bay as FD Link on N64.

 

[DoomDash]

It makes starting any quest you don't know if you will be able to complete potentially a risky waste of time. I've said it before but the 3 day cycle is MM's biggest strength, and also its biggest weakness. I'm surprised this game has as much critical acclaim as it does, because it feels riddled with flaws. I still have an over all positive experience from the game, but there are a lot of unforgivable annoyance and nitpicks in this game that other entries do not suffer from.

 

[Akuhime-sama]

You can explore Termina as FD Link using a glitch on the N64, and all you need to do the glitch is some water and a moderately steep slope leading down into that water. As far as I know, this is the only way to explore Great Bay as FD Link on N64.

Ah, I haven't tried any. xD

 

[misskitten]

It's not just you. I want to love it, and I seriously looked forward to getting the 3DS version so I could maybe finally play through all of it, but that feeling I had back when I played it on the N64, it's still there. I like to take my time doing things and here I'm not allowed to because the clock is constantly ticking down the time I have available.