Majora's Mask Is Great Bay Temple Really Confusing or Rather Simple?

[DeletedUser9]

Question of the thread is pretty straightforward but I'll elaborate on my thinking here...

When I first played Majora's Mask I wasn't exactly an experienced gamer, but regardless Great Bay Temple was by far the most confusing area I'd encountered in a video game by that point. I was completely lost, totally unable to find my way through the dungeon or figure out what to do. Forget collecting Stray Fairies, I couldn't even solve most of the dungeon's earliest puzzles. I've heard other people agree with my sentiment: Great Bay Temple is an extremely confusing dungeon. One of the most complex of the series and one that totally outclasses the Water Temple in terms of difficult water dungeons.

However, more recently, while replaying Majora's Mask so I could write my dungeon reviews for the game, I finally really grasped how the dungeon was designed. I get its structure now. It's effectively a straight line. Oh, the dungeon can be confusing, but... basically the pipes you direct the water flow through have arrows on them to literally point you in the direction you're supposed to go. You still have to figure some things out for yourself, but where you're supposed to go isn't really in-question.

I never noticed these arrows when I played. Not even during multiple subsequent playthroughs. It wasn't obvious to me at all. But maybe it was to some other people?

I'm curious how easy this was for y'all to figure out. There's a poll for that purpose, but don't be discouraged from discussing and debating whether it's simple or confusing in the threat itself.

 

[ColdRadio]

I voted simple, but I'd like to qualify that here. My first playthrough went about the same as yours, Axle--I had to use a walkthrough pretty extensively and from pretty early on (as opposed to Snowhead, where I didn't need one until the pillar-punching bit at the end, and Woodfall, where I didn't need one at all). I didn't grasp the pipe mechanic at any point during my original run, even with the help.

But, when I picked the game up again about a year ago, there it was, plain as day. I sort of went, "Huh," and just followed the pipes. Simple. I'll allow, however, that it can be difficult to see those arrows in that spinning vortex of a room.

Interestingly, what confused me most this time around were the ice arrows, particularly being able to use them to freeze waterfalls. Something about that seems counterintuitive to me, and I feel like some hints that they can be used like that ought to have been included in the game, especially since they didn't have any such function in OoT.

 

[Salem]

I thought it was very confusing at first, in fact, I though most of the MM temples were tricky, they seemed more challenging than OoT dungeons. So why is the Great bay any different? It must be the pipes as you said.

I need to play the game again to make my judgment, the last time I played it was maybe a few years ago.

 

[Hoff123]

I like the temple . I think it's just perfect in complexity and puzzles . Really, I have nothing else to say...

I actually remember finding Snowhead Temple more confusing...lol. Thinking specifically about that snow piller/punching stuff... Had to use a walkthrough at that part.

Btw... arrows? I don't remember seeing any arrows. Guess I didn't notice them either.


Anyway, if you're gonna collect the stray faries, then it gets really hard .

 

[Salem]

I actually remember finding Snowhead Temple more confusing...lol. Thinking specifically about that snow piller/punching stuff... Had to use a walkthrough at that part.

Exactly. Snowhead is also confusing. I don't remember it now, but there's always something that takes me a while to figure out at every playthrough of that Temple.

 

[Awesomehylian]

My first play through I actually had to be verbally guided through the temple in real time because I could never figure out how to get through the right door in the whirlpool areas and always ended up back where I started. However, the boss was way easier to me than to other people. To be fair, I really liked the whole dolphin jump thing so I had been doing it for fun before the temple, so getting back on the platform wasn't a big issue. I thought the Great Bay temple was worse than the Water Temple in OOT mainly because there are only 1-2 spots I get continuously stuck in OOT, whereas I still feel jumbled thinking about Great Bay. Granted, it's been a loooooooong time since I did the temple, and maybe that will change soon, but for now it's pretty low on my list.

As for snowhead, this is actually my favorite Zelda dungeon ever. I love all the block puzzles, that there's a shortcut for deku scrubs even though it's a temple for gorons and the enemies were varied. Plus Goht is one of my favorite Zelda bosses and during my first play through I would just warp to him and fight him for fun.

 

[DarkestLink]

I always found it pretty easy, especially when compared to other water dungeons.

 

[MW7]

I played it when I was pretty young, and I had only beaten LA and OoT before playing MM. On the first playthrough I think it felt like the hardest dungeon I had ever played just because I wasn't sure what to do or where to go. However, you are totally right that the dungeon is designed in a way that helps the player find the right way to go. It's actually fairly foolproof in retrospect. I think the thing that confused me was thinking too much about the layout. You get the map pretty early on, and without understanding the context of the rooms the dungeon appears to be an extremely intricate maze. If you just let the game lead you, you actually run into less problems. It's almost like the opposite of the Water Temple for me in that the more I try to understand how the rooms connect, the more confused I get. The dungeon is easier if you just don't try to analyze it.

 

[Big Octo]

Well, for me it's still the hardest of the 3D water dungeons. I don't play Majora's Mask far too often, so I haven't really "mastered" this dungeon. I still have difficulty pumping the water, as I often forget to activate a pipe and have to backtrack. Navigating the dungeon isn't as hard as it was, as the "hub room" is pretty staright-forward with its design, though it can be a bit confusing at first when the direction of the water flow is changed. Some rooms may take a little time for me to recall how to complete the puzzles within and progress, but this isn't too bad. The puzzles are simple to figure out, but often take some time. Regarding enemies, they can be a bit irksome. Dexihands are sometimes annoying to deal with, though destroying them is not too much of a hassle. Skullfish and Desbrekos, though, are quite irritating, especially when low on magic to activate the shield. I try my best to avoid them, though they usually land w few hits. As for bosses and minibosses, this dungeon leans towards the more difficult side. For me, Wart was challenging on the first time going through the dungeon. With modern play-throughs, it's a bit of an easier opponent to deal with. Gekko is the epitome of annoying, and can deal a good amount of damage if he catches you in the Mad Jelly. Gyorg is probably the most difficult of Majora's Mask bosses for me, and he caused me major trouble in my first time playing.

All this being said, I've never used a guide for the dungeon. Perhaps this made the difficulty feel more substantial, as it took a considerable amount of time for me to beat it in the first time playing the game. While not too difficult for me anymore, it still sticks out as the toughest of its kind.

 

[Ventus]

It's a pretty simple dungeon at its core, relatively straightforward and all that. The objective stares you in the face all of the time, and the puzzles are mostly easy to figure out. However, the thing I think which drives the dungeon to the "confusing" level is the number of pipes one has to deal with. "Do I go to the yellow pipe? The blue pipe? Or maybe the Red pipe?" (I don't recall a blue pipe, I think it's green.) Overexposure to these myriad of colors will basically shut someone's brain off if they think too hard about it. It happened to me the first time I went through Great Bay.

 

[pkfroce]

It was pretty straight forward once I figured it out. At first I was like, what da crap is this. Then I was like, OH ARROWS.

 

[onebizarrekai]

The Great Bay Temple can be one of the most confusing things in Zelda the first time through, but any times after that, it's WAY easier. I wouldn't say it's simple, but all you need for that dungeon is a relatively good memory and that's pretty much it.

 

[Rocky]

It wasn't too difficult, but it wasn't also easy by any means. It was a perfect challenge, just like the rest of the game, and I like that. Then again, I feel like all the other dungeons were rather challenging as well in Majora's Mask. I feel like Nintendo did a very good job designing complex levels and challenging puzzles to figure out. I feel like they weren't as linear like how dungeons in recent games have been. There was a ton of backtracking in the dungeons in Majora's Mask, particularly in this dungeon, and it took you a while to actually figure things out. It's no fun figuring out a puzzle right when you walk in through a door. For me, replay-ability goes out the window once you master something that quickly.

And as you said, age and experience comes into play too. Obviously for kids/young teenagers, difficult dungeons such as this one will be rather difficult to figure out. When I was a little kid, this game was rather difficult, and I couldn't beat it until a few years later when I was a bit older and my thought process improved. I haven't mastered it completely yet, but it's not something that will take me many hours to figure out now.

 

[LinkontheRink]

I found this to be the second hardest temple in the game. Its a tad confusing. I don't remember it too much as I have only played through MM once while watching a friend play through more recently. I remember the windmill/waterfall room or rooms being more confusing though.

In comparison, the Woodfall was easy. Stone Tower Temple was challenging, but it had some linearity to it which did not make it overwhelming. Like the Water Temple in OoT, it was tough but one of those ones where you feel proud and satisfied when you finish it.

The Snowhead Temple is the hardest Temple ever for me, and the reason why MM took me years to beat. It is actually my worst Zelda experience tied with the stupid Phantom Towers in the DS games (When I'm timed while having to be patient and thne have to sneak around, I hate that). Also the overworld of OoS has been such an awful experience, I have put the game down and don't plan on finishing (My first console was N64, so I really can't deal with the bad graphics, I know, blasphemy).

But ya Snowhead. I sucked at the roll. It was overall just a looong temple. And collecting fairies was frustrating, so out of your way. I can't sit and do a temple for hours, I just don't have it in me to play a game which is that tense for so long, tough on the nerves.

 

[Random Person]

Confusing, but not in a bad way. I think what helps make it confusing is just how daunting it is. Coming in and seeing such a massive piece of machinery just makes you think "Oh great, I'm never gonna solve this." I can't recall whether or not I saw the arrows, but I'm not sure how relevant that is because it didn't register as common sense to look for them. It's not like they were blatantly obviously which makes them another small clue that maybe some just didn't notice. The layout is also confusing in that at first, you don't know what to do. It's made pretty apparent in the beginning of OoT's water temple that you have to control the level of the water, but you don't really realize that the current of Great Bay's water needs to be changed until after it's done. And what makes it more confusing is the introduction of a new game mechanic of 3 dimensional freezing. We already knew about melting, but being able to use the arrows to form ice platforms, freeze waterfalls and other things makes the player unsure of exactly where they can or can't go. And last, there's the easily missed rooms, one of them containing the boss key, making one backtrack this already confusing layout.

A great dungeon imo, but I'd definitely say its confusing to the majority of people who see it the first time around.