If you sit down and spend a moment delving into this question, eventually you may find it particularly difficult to choose one song out of the entirety of the LoZ franchise's soundtrack. I mean, think about it. The composers spend a great deal of time trying to build emotion and convey a sense of storytelling within each piece, regardless of the song's length or significance within a specific game. Because of this, I've chosen a few songs as "favorites," but I genuinely adore the collective soundtrack for the franchise.
- Title Theme - Ocarina of Time
- Koji Kondo shows his true genius with this piece, as the tone is not only gorgeous, but it perfectly captures the idea of "adventure." This gentleness of this track is lovely, and it eases the player seamlessly into a world in need of saving from the Hero of Time. I honestly believe that this song is one of the franchise's best for title themes, for it carries so much beauty and simplicity that you nearly forget that your mission is to save the land from destruction, or at least that's how I view it.
- Midna's Lament - Twilight Princess
- This track truly is a heart-achingly beautiful transition to the second portion of the game for a few reasons. It shows the transition and changes that Midna undergoes not only physically but mentally and emotionally as well. If you think about it, up until this point in the game, Midna truly shows Link no respect and only acts for the sake of her own benefit. She shows no compassion toward the young man who pushes himself to whatever lengths are necessary to save those he cares for (i.e. Ilia and the children). We see Midna begin her transition when she witnesses Link defend her and protect her against Zant when she is practically undeserving of such heroism and compassion. This track adds to Midna's story, as it carries an eerie sound of regret with it. It is almost as if during the midst of Midna begging to be taken to Princess Zelda that we can hear such a thing within the song because it may be that Midna is feeling regretful for being so selfish and ungrateful toward someone who had done so much for her willingly when it wasn't all aiding in his mission to save those he loves. The beauty within this track is unbelievable because alongside the latter perception of the music, this tune also conveys a sense of maturation leading up to the Princess Zelda's sacrifice, as we see Midna immediately become more grateful, appreciative, and sentimental for all she is being given without much protest. I believe this song undoubtedly conveys an addition to Midna's storyline solely for the emotion you can simply hear within it.
- To Hyrule - Wind Waker
- The transitions within this song are not only beautiful, but they also give off a mocked sense of time travel, as Link "travels back in time" to a place of such high majesty, beauty, and heroism. A gorgeous land buried miles and miles beneath the New World's sea, and this track smoothly moves us from the present world to the old world, as the bell, at first loud, becomes somewhat muffled as the choir enters. The choir magnifies the legendary effect in which the former Land of Hyrule once possessed, as it was a land truly graced by the hands of the Hero of Time, thus enhancing the illusion of time travel within the piece, as the player can feel how powerful and breathtakingly gorgeous this drowned land once was.
Obviously I would love to include a larger variety of tracks, especially from other games, but these songs particularly provoked a greater amount of emotion and expressed a higher degree of storytelling, which makes them my personal "favorites."