Ocarina of Time Is It Really the Best Zelda Game Ever?

[Links Brother]

I don't agree with you on any of the points you made. The side quests where fun and I found we had a good amout of dungeons and the final boss was epic! But I do agree you about it not being the best game ever. I found the storyline plain and shallow and that makes rank for number three in my top ten. MM is first and TP is second.

 

[surferguy7]

^Did you read any of the counter arguments?

Nope. 8D

I'm pretty late with this topic so I just blindly posted.

 

[Random Person]

Okay, I haven't read everything in this thread, but the good chunk that I did read I'm not buying. To start off, let me make it clear that I consider both OoT and ALttP to be the best Zelda games. The reason I say both is because I don't believe NES/handheld and consul should be cross when comparing which is better. Thus OoT is the better of the consel games while ALttP is the better of the handheld/NES.

I also want to say that even though I recognize these as the best, my favorite has always been MM. Favorite and best are not the same thing people.

Now then, the reason OoT is the best is because what is considered a "Zelda" game is the incorporation to what is traditional combined with originality of the game. WW was too original in that it strayed from classic Zelda mentality, while TP was too traditional (TP was a throwback to OoT) in that it didn't really revolutionize the industry. Not that these made them bad games as they were both pretty rupee games, but in that it made them not as... standoutish. The fact is, OoT made the majority of Zelda, and other adventure games for that matter, what it is today when it revolutionized Zelda with all the new things that came with it, but still stuck to tradition. The fact that it was the first 3D Zelda helped out in this because it had less to play off of. WW took OoT and only used the child like aspect of the game while TP took OoT and only used the adult aspect of it. These games are simply using elements from OoT and trying to put their own spin on them. Because OoT was the most influential of the series in defining the Zelda universe in terms of both gameplay and story and because OoT had the best combination of newld ratio, OoT is the best consle game in the series.

 

[425]

i completely disagree with your TP comment, how is it a rip off? and it certainly isn't a step back, TP is 10 times better than OoT

I am not here to argue whether Twilight Princess "rips off" Ocarina of Time, since I do not believe it does. However, I will argue against the claim "TP is 10 times better than OoT."

Twilight Princess is a far weaker Zelda game than Ocarina of Time due to major issues in difficulty, sidequests, and game pacing.

Point 1: Difficulty

Twilight Princess, compared to most other Zelda game, and to Ocarina of Time, has a far lower level of difficulty, making it less fun to play through multiple times. Enemies are of little challenge, with the Darknut being the only major enemy that is of much trouble, though even it is only of moderate difficulty once the pattern of battle is learned.

In addition, dungeons are mostly straightforward or are rehashes of Ocarina of Time dungeons, except made easier. For example, the Lakebed Temple is a simplified Water Temple, and Arbiter's Grounds follows very clearly after the Forest Temple. None of the dungeons have any feature that complicates them incredibly, unlike the Water Temple or Inside Lord Jabu-Jabu's Belly from Ocarina of Time. Plus, most of the bosses are predictable, with multiple "eye weakness" bosses, which do get boring after a while.

All in all, Twilight Princess struggles in the aspect of difficulty, while Ocarina of Time has dungeon and enemy difficulty.

Point 2: Lack of Sidequests

One of the major aspects of Twilight Princess that was quite disappointing, probably more than any of its other issues, wad the lack of side quests in the game, especially when compared to games like Ocarina of Time or Wind Waker (not to mention Majora's Mask). Twilight Princess did have Golden Bugs and Poe's Souls going for it, but these were generally easier and less numerous than the Gold Skulltulas of Ocarina of Time. In addition, these were two of only a few sidequests that Twilight Princess brought to the table, most of which were simple minigames for a Quiver Upgrade or Bomb Bag, and possibly a Piece of Heart (for example: STAR Minigame, Falbi's Flight-By-Fowl). The lengthy sidequests were also far weaker than in Ocarina of Time. While the semi-long Mask Salesman trading sequence brought Link the Mask of Truth and access to many Easter Eggs via Gossip Stones and the lengthy and difficult Biggoron Sword Trading Sequence brought a weapon twice as powerful as the current sword, the Twilight Princess Malo Mart sequence brought the POTENTIAL to buy, for a large amount of rupees, an armor that used rupees and I found rarely useful, and the rather boring at times Cave of Ordeals brought.... Fairy Fountains.

Clearly, Twilight Princess could have done far better in the use of sidequests.

Point 3: Game Pacing

Though it wasn't as poorly paced as Wind Waker, Twilight Princess suffered from severe pacing issues in the story. Though the middle of the game, from the Fused Shadows to Arbiter's Grounds, was paced fairly well, the rest of the game was not, at all.

The start of the game, before the first dungeon, though some parts necessary to explain the story, was very lengthy. Compared to in Ocarina of Time, where most of the exposition was between the first two dungeons (getting the main part of the game started before getting too far into the story, and giving a sense of adventure in the first dungeon), Twilight Princess had a time of well over an hour before the Forest Temple. Midna taking Link to Hyrule Castle was clearly necessary for the story, but perhaps some of the Ordonian story at the beginning could have been cut.

In addition, by comparison, the portion of the game from after Arbiter's Grounds to the boss fight against Zant seems to move too fast. Unlike others, I have no issue with the Ganondorf addition, but the later game dungeons seem to move too fast with nothing in between. In Ocarina of Time, the exposition is perfectly spaced between the first two dungeons, and the late game does not speed up too much, with a good amount of things to do between each dungeon.

All in all, Twilight Princess has multiple factors that make it a weaker offering than Ocarina of Time.

 

[surferguy7]

Instant Disclaimer!!!!1111!1!eleven!!11

The following mini-rant by the user surferguy7 is by no means meant to offend, troll, flame, or defame anyone. He enjoyed Ocarina of Time immensely and is not hating on the game.

Anyways,

I still fail to comprehend why people think that Ocarina of Time is the best game ever. Was it revolutionary? Yes. Was it an amazing game? Absolutely. Although, was it the greatest game of all time? Lolno. It has problems even to this day. The sidequests for the most part are rewarding, although, some (I.E Golden Skulltula quest) are simply tedious and unenjoyable. People moan about Twilight Princess and its lack of sidequests, but I find that a blessing since TP gave me a fantastic 50+ hour adventure where it didn't feel like half a Zelda game. *cough Majora's Mask cough*

The graphics are obviously dated, even in the 3DS version, but that's pretty much expected so there's really nothing I can complain about.

The music is good, but not the godly, fantastic, OMGYAY soundtrack people make it out to be.

The difficulty is fine, nothing special. In fact, I find the game easier than Twilight Princess. Sure, combat is a bit hard, and while the puzzles in Ocarina are fun, they tend to be very simple and fail to live up to Twilight Princess and Wind Waker's puzzle designs. Also, I don't know what all the hullabaloo is about with difficulty today. I want a fun game, I don't want a game that causes frustration. Yes, I do realize that solving a hard puzzle/defeating a hard enemy feels more rewarding, but seriously, difficulty is barely a factor with me yet some people feel the need to bash an easy game.

The story is typical, but fun. My problem lies with the fact that people absolutely love to look way too into things. (God knows they've done that with Majora's Mask's "Dark Tone") The story is simple and enjoyable, nothing less, nothing more.

Reading this post back, it seems like this mini-rant is poorly written and is going nowhere so I'll just end it off with a closing statement.

You can be a little schoolgirl all you want and scream, "But Ocarina of Time was revolutionary! It did it first!!11!1!1!!" but other games, in my opinion at least, did what Ocarina of Time did much better. Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and maybe even Majora's Mask did almost everything much better. For me, it just comes down to one question, "What game did I enjoy more?" and looking back, I enjoyed many more games more than Ocarina of Time so it does not classify as "The best game evar!" for me.

 

[fox534]

yes ocarina of time is the best game in the zelda series

1. it never gets old the big octo battle is still awesome

2. it raised the bar on platform gaming.

3. the one game that might compete with it is majora's mask because of the amount of time it takes to get all the masks and help all the people of termina.

 

[425]

I still fail to comprehend why people think that Ocarina of Time is the best game ever. Was it revolutionary? Yes. Was it an amazing game? Absolutely. Although, was it the greatest game of all time? Lolno. It has problems even to this day. The sidequests for the most part are rewarding, although, some (I.E Golden Skulltula quest) are simply tedious and unenjoyable. People moan about Twilight Princess and its lack of sidequests, but I find that a blessing since TP gave me a fantastic 50+ hour adventure where it didn't feel like half a Zelda game.

The beauty of sidequests is that you can choose whether or not to do them. So if you'd prefer to not do sidequests, and you find their absence a "blessing," then don't play them. But other people love to play them, and we find that it makes a game objectively worse to be lacking in them, as Twilight Princess

The music is good, but not the godly, fantastic, OMGYAY soundtrack people make it out to be.

I loved the Ocarina of Time soundtrack more than any other, but I can see how, for example, Twilight Princess's would be preferable.

The difficulty is fine, nothing special. In fact, I find the game easier than Twilight Princess. Sure, combat is a bit hard, and while the puzzles in Ocarina are fun, they tend to be very simple and fail to live up to Twilight Princess and Wind Waker's puzzle designs.

Are you kidding? Wind Waker is almost universally considered to be the easiest of Zelda games. I had no issue beating all of the dungeons, most of which I could finish within a couple of hours even on my first playthrough, no knowing the details of them. Twilight Princess was slightly harder, but I still found most of the dungeons very much easier than those in Ocarina of Time. Dungeons like Arbiter's Grounds and Lakebed Temple are similar to dungeons form Ocarina, except that they are easier (hunting Poes is easier in Arbiter's Grounds than in the Forest Temple because of Wolf Senses, transversing the Lakebed Temple is easier than the Water Temple because of a staircase instead of water level, and that the overall dungeon is far more convoluted in Ocarina.

Also, I don't know what all the hullabaloo is about with difficulty today. I want a fun game, I don't want a game that causes frustration. Yes, I do realize that solving a hard puzzle/defeating a hard enemy feels more rewarding, but seriously, difficulty is barely a factor with me yet some people feel the need to bash an easy game.

Well, yeah, I don't want an impossible game (which is probably why Adventure of Link isn't very popular), but a game with moderate difficulty that requires time to complete puzzles rather than being able to figure them out in a matter of seconds is better than one that is too easy. Ocarina of Time, in my opinion, has a perfect level of difficulty.

The story is the typical, but fun. My problem lies with the fact that people absolutely love to look way too into things. (God knows they've done that with Majora's Mask's "Dark Tone") The story is simple and enjoyable, nothing more, nothing less.

It's only simple if you refuse to look way into it.

You can be a little schoolgirl all you want and say, "But Ocarina of Time was revolutionary! It did it first!!11!1!1!!" but other games, in my opinion at least, did it much better. Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and maybe even Majora's Mask did almost everything much better. For me, it just comes down to one question, "What game did I enjoy more?" and looking back, I enjoyed many more games more than Ocarina of Time.

In your opinion, but I have listed quantified arguments explaining why, in my opinion, Ocarina of Time is better. However, I respect your right to hold your opinion. However, just because you disagree with us does not mean that you should call us "little schoolgirls." Plus, several of us, myself included, have not listed Ocarina of Time being revolutionary as a reason that it is best. I suggest responding to our arguments instead of making weird and nonsensical insults.

 

[Ventus]

The start of the game, before the first dungeon, though some parts necessary to explain the story, was very lengthy. Compared to in Ocarina of Time, where most of the exposition was between the first two dungeons (getting the main part of the game started before getting too far into the story, and giving a sense of adventure in the first dungeon), Twilight Princess had a time of well over an hour before the Forest Temple. Midna taking Link to Hyrule Castle was clearly necessary for the story, but perhaps some of the Ordanian story at the beginning could have been cut.

No, I believe that first part before the Forest Temple was well under an hour, but over 30 minutes. If one takes the time to view all the cutscenes, but plays rather quick through the gameplay segments, it shouldn't even total to an hour. I feel as if that the whole Midna part of the Forest Temple was unneeded, we could've had a different reason to head into the Forest Temple (perhaps a search for Ilia?) and get more of the Fused Shadows story after that temple.

You can be a little schoolgirl all you want and scream, "But Ocarina of Time was revolutionary! It did it first!!11!1!1!!" but other games, in my opinion at least, did what Ocarina of Time did much better. Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and maybe even Majora's Mask did almost everything much better. For me, it just comes down to one question, "What game did I enjoy more?" and looking back, I enjoyed many more games more than Ocarina of Time so it does not classify as "The best game evar!" for me.

I WISH I was a schoolgirl. It's your opinion whether OoT is the best or not, don't feel like anyone is telling you that you can't say that. OoT being revo is part of why it gets the appeal it does, but another reason why it is the best among a couple of people is that it cracked down on the N64 cartridge and gave us all that we could possibly get. Wind Waker and TP, in my opinion, didn't use the GameCube game disc to the fullest capacity, as seen in the difficulty of the puzzles and enemy AI.

Please, people, if you are going to call OoT hard, please explain WHY you feel it is hard. You cannot run into an argument, say something but fail to back it up. That won't seem like a valid point to many, so they'll just ignore that. I've played the game since I was 3 years old and never found it hard (except the Water Temple, for the more obvious reason of IT'S TOO BIG, and a couple of other spots I believe I stated why).

 

[surferguy7]

The beauty of sidequests is that you can choose whether or not to do them. So if you'd prefer to not do sidequests, and you find their absence a "blessing," then don't play them. But other people love to play them, and we find that it makes a game objectively worse to be lacking in them, as Twilight Princess

My problem doesn't lie with sidequests since I do enjoy doing them, rather, my problem is that sidequests shouldn't take over the main game like they did in Majora's Mask. This isn't really a complaint about Ocarina of Time, but I just felt the need to put it out there since people bash Twilight Princess all the time because of it.

I loved the Ocarina of Time soundtrack more than any other, but I can see how, for example, Twilight Princess's would be preferable.

Musical taste differs from person to person. Personally, I prefer Wind Waker's music.

Are you kidding? Wind Waker is almost universally considered to be the easiest of Zelda games. I had no issue beating all of the dungeons, most of which I could finish within a couple of hours even on my first playthrough, no knowing the details of them. Twilight Princess was slightly harder, but I still found most of the dungeons very much easier than those in Ocarina of Time. Dungeons like Arbiter's Grounds and Lakebed Temple are similar to dungeons form Ocarina, except that they are easier (hunting Poes is easier in Arbiter's Grounds than in the Forest Temple because of Wolf Senses, transversing the Lakebed Temple is easier than the Water Temple because of a staircase instead of water level, and that the overall dungeon is far more convoluted in Ocarina.

Wind Waker's puzzles just seemed overall more complex to me.

Perhaps I am crazy.

>_>

<_<

Oh, and the Poe's in the Forest Temple were easily found via a linear pathway through the dungeon, you really can't miss them unless you didn't know you had to shoot the paintings. Arbiter's Grounds on the other hand had Poe's scattered throughout the first half of the dungeon. Even if you use the Wolf sense, it's still pretty difficult to pinpoint their location. Also, the Water Temple water levels were tedious, not hard.

Well, yeah, I don't want an impossible game (which is probably why Adventure of Link isn't very popular), but a game with moderate difficulty that requires time to complete puzzles rather than being able to figure them out in a matter of seconds is better than one that is too easy. Ocarina of Time, in my opinion, has a perfect level of difficulty.

I don't mind a easy/medium/hard game either, I'm just pretty much indifferent to difficulty in general.

Example: Kirby's Epic Yarn

That game is incredibly easy, but I had a lot more fun with that game than a hard platformer such as Donkey Kong Country Returns.

It's only simple if you refuse to look way into it.

It's not that people shouldn't look into story elements and symbolism for games, rather, people just shouldn't over analyze details.

In your opinion, but I have listed quantified arguments explaining why, in my opinion, Ocarina of Time is better. However, I respect your right to hold your opinion. However, just because you disagree with us does not mean that you should call us "little schoolgirls." Plus, several of us, myself included, have not listed Ocarina of Time being revolutionary as a reason that it is best. I suggest responding to our arguments instead of making weird and nonsensical insults.

Perhaps "little schoolgirls" was not the best choice of words, but as the disclaimer states, none of this was meant to insult others for their opinions.

 

[Geniasis]

OoT only has its own forum because of the recent release of OoT 3D. I remember when it did not have its own forum, so do not seem all high and mighty D: . You have to admit though, TP and WW were easily better than OoT. TP is the best Zelda so far, the story is absolutely amazing and the graphics are breathless.WW also had a good story, and was EASILY better than OoT. And the reason OoT is remembered is because it started the 3D Zeldas. SS might be remembered the same way! It will also start a new type of zelda. Is now done with rant

I most certainly do not have to admit that.

 

[FLUDDzone]

It definitely wasn't when I first picked it up around 3 years of age. The only things that were remotely hard were A) Fire & Water Temples and Ganondorf final boss. Eventually, I just practiced playing against Ganondork and learned that the match is basically a reworked version of Tennis, so he's become a cakewalk ever since I was 5. I only recently 'mastered' the Water Temple, learning the trick of "bottom up". I also have 'mastered' the Master Quest version of the Water Temple assuming I am playing the GC disc. The Fire Temple is fairly straightforward in the original quest, I don't quite remember the rooms of MQ.

Anyway, OoT really is not a hard game. The puzzles make you do a bit of thinking, but it isn't like the puzzles are so hard that you could go brain dead just thinking about the keys to said puzzles.

Having someone tell you what to do doesn't count as playing it...you tell lies.

"The story is the typical."..."people just shouldn't over analyze details."

FAIL!

I don't mind a easy/medium/hard game either, I'm just pretty much indifferent to difficulty in general.
Example: Kirby's Epic Yarn
That game is incredibly easy, but I had a lot more fun with that game than a hard platformer such as Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Really? DKCR was the best 2D platformer I've every played. Maybe I should try Epic Yarn...

 

[Atheistbigred]

I fail to see how this game is the greatest Zelda game ever. Im a little late to the party so don't jump at me just yet. Ocarina of Time was ruined for me by Ocarina of Time fanboys, it's horrible every time i play. Leaving all the fan boys behind i shall say, this game wasn't that great to me. I prefer Wind Waker or Majora's mask. Ocarina of Time had a shortage of side quests and not much to each of them. The only side quest which was worth doing was the big Gorons trading sequence. The story was too bland for my taste. Don't get me wrong, i like the story but it felt generic. I'm sure the game was great back in it's day, but time has taken it's toll and not even the remake saved it much. Overall in my opinion, Ocarina of Time isn't the best. It sure is popular, but popularity doesn't mean it is the best.

 

[WhiteRundas]

Come on guys. This question can't be answered with yes or no. There are always people, who say it is the best, and people, who say it isn't. I can understand both sides. OoT is an excellent game and there are only a few games which can compete with it.
BUT it has it flaws like every game and some guys don't want to understand this. Both sides overreact sometimes and I think this thread is unnecessary. We should enjoy the games and respect the opinion of others.

 

[surferguy7]

FAIL!

Twisting my words, eh? Let me put it this way:

Say a Majora's Mask easter egg appears in Skyward Sword, I can expect spectulation such as, "Proof for a Majora's Mask remake!?!?! Did Majora originate in Skyward Sword!?!?!" etc. But I see it as nothing more than a small nod to Majora's Mask while others feel the need to blow things way out of proportion and create a timeline theory.

Really? DKCR was the best 2D platformer I've every played. Maybe I should try Epic Yarn...

Go ahead! It's a fantastic game, and I enjoyed DKCR a lot, but others seemed to enjoy DKCR more than KEY soooo....

 

[Kylo Ken]

Not only is it the best Zelda game. But it's the best game ever. Think, which game has been re-distributed four times?