It's not secret that I don't like Ocarina of Time. This is likely because I played games such as Twilight Princess, Wind Waker and A Link to the Past before playing OoT. So I likely don't like it as much because it has none of the nostalgia and I didn't grow up playing it. So, let me begin.
Game Play
Yes. I though that the game play was really shallow in this game, when compared to other N64 games of the same era. Even Mario 64, while coming a few years before OoT was purely more fun to play. OoT was uncreative and didn't take any chances when it came to new game play mechanics. It just took ALttP, sent it off to magic 3D party land and then it got drunk. Meaning they dumbed it down. They didn't use the items in any interesting ways, and they didn't even have any interesting items. The most interesting thing was probably the Mirror Shield or the Hover Boots, because at least they brought some even half interesting game play mechanics into play.
Camera
I quite agree with TVT Master when it comes to the camera control. It felt clunky and unresponsive, especially when in the heat of battle or when fighting a big boss link Volvagia that flies off-screen. And changing between targets also really sucked, as more often then not I'd find myself not Z-Targeting anything when I was trying to change between multiple enemies in a multi-enemy fight. Or, when I wanted to not Z-Target anything, I'd find my self stuck targeting a rock, such as in Kokiri Forest Training Area.
Story/Character Interaction
This. There isn't much to say about the story, and never mind the character interaction. First of all, the story was gimmicky. Boy is chosen, boy leaves friend, boy meets important person, they make a plan, boy is defeated by evil guy, important person leaves, boy gets sacred item, boy gains strength, boy defeats evil guy, boy saves important person. And then everything is back to normal in a failure of a sad departure between Link and Zelda. Not a very inspiring or interesting story when compared to the likes of Majora's Mask.
Now, the character interaction is very minimal. I'd say the most interesting would probably be Link leaving Saria. That's kind of sad, but pales in comparison to say, Anju and Kafei or the Postman's dilemma in Majora's Mask. Malon was a sorry excuse for a character/possible love interest. She was entirely an excuse for the horse. Even Ingo was more interesting, how he wanted power and thought that Ganondorf could provide it (Well, he kind of thought that..), but then he became a good guy. Again, kind of cliche. And I thought that Malon had a lot of potential. And Zelda.. She may as well have not been in the game. Sheik could have at least done SOMETHING interesting other then give you Ocarina lessons. Oh yeah, thanks. I totally wanted that. Well, at least you aren't charged $75 dollars a session for it..
Graphics
So what, kick me into a pit in a dramatic fashion whist screaming the your location in epically. The graphics just weren't as slick as they should have or could have been. Especially in Hyrule Field, it was like walking on a test area or something. It was so sharp, and the grass textures were horrid. But, I did like the actual character models, though some things could have been a bit less sharp looking. Especially Epona.
Other
Hyrule Field was down right boring. The size was completely unnecessary for what they did with it. They likely could have saved so much space to add another area, or at least make the areas that they already had more interesting. Or at the very least make more enemies in it then Stalchildren, Poes and Pea Hats. That's it. It also took forever to travel through. And the horse ridding was horrific. It was clunky, boring, shooting arrows was annoying and more often then not Epona's Song didn't even work when you wanted to call Epona. Great.
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Well, there's probably something else that I missed, but to sum everything up for the 75% of people that don't bother to read the whole thing, OoT has many flaws including:
- Shallow Game Play
- Bad Camera
- Uninspiring and Lame Story
- Nonexistent Character Interaction
- Hyurle Field Graphics (They suck. Other ones are pretty good though)
- Other Things (Hyrule Field sucks, horse riding is terrible)