Many have known me as an OoT fanboy (they aren't wrong in that regard lel), and other stuff. However I am here to set things right. Ocarina of Time simply is NOT the best Zelda, and here is why.
Eh, I think a lot of these points need "In comparison to newer titles" added to them.
1) The narrative is weak
People will throw many puzzled looks at my direction, but the fact of the matter is that hte narrative is weak. You get spurts of main plot action after every dungeon or so, but nothing else goes on. The world is devoid of any human interaction, with NPCs shouting the same tired lines over and over and over again without fail. The Sages are among the flattest characters Zelda has ever seen. And the poor implied romance at the end? Please don't get me started. OoT is everything cliché, and therefore it is completely bad.
The narrative was pretty spectacular for its time, and in my opinion still is. However, like a lot of older games- especially older Zelda games- plot information was established through implications rather than obvious and in your face dialog or cutscenes. Darunia became sworn brothers with Link, a relationship he previously only held with the king of Hyrule. He named his son after the child hero. Years later, it's (debatable, like everything else with Zelda) implied that he dies trying to protect his people. A thief takes a stand against her own king, and her bravery leads to her being abducted, brainwashed, and blasted to tiny particles. Ganondorf plays politics with each of the nations, cursing them when they don't comply, yet still manages to win over the family that united the land to begin with. After all is said and done, Zelda does the best she can to make up for her mistakes.
All of the story elements are very deep, but again, there is little dialog to go with them. If OoT had been remade a few more years down the line and not just "reimagined", then I think that the same story would have been retouched as well, and the story-detail that many games have nowadays would be more than enough to let OoT's story shine.
2) The gameplay is basic
It may have been hailed as the greatest of its time, but those are the keywords: of its time. The items are not used to their maximum potential. Ocarina lacks flash. It lacks precision. It lacks depth. The enemies in the game are incredibly monotonous. If they can't be handled with one simplepress of the B button, then they are handled with two. The foes that could pose a threat - Iron Knuckles and Stalfos - spend their time under armor or constantly shuffling with their shield held up. The boss foes are incredibly easy to defeat, all making use of the blatant "here's my weakpoint please hit it" formula. In all Ocarina simply doesn't compare with the more recent entries of Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword.
I agree with you here, but I don't feel like "basic" is as negative as your post makes it out to be. True, items were not used to maximum potential, and scrapped ideas (like medallion usage) would probably have made a big difference, but the basic gameplay was still
fun. Little additions like the backflip and sidestep made all the difference for the game in its time, and I even find them to be more useful in OoT than in games like TWW or TP. But yes, blatant weakpoints were a huge part of the game's battle formula. For its time, thought, it was exciting. I still think the way weak points are exploited in OoT are more fun than in other Zelda games. I think a good example would be in boss battles like with Volvagia or Bongo Bongo where the weak point was obvious but getting to it was fun.
3) The musical score is weak
It's all catchy, but it's MIDI grade and frankly not up to par. They couldn't be bothered to fix this even in the 3DS remake. The music is literally lifeless; it's like elevator music that you tune out due to how damn annoying it can get after the 20th exposure.
I think my only issue with this point is that it's referring to the score itself, not the way it was produced. The music is by far some of the best and most memorable Zelda music in my opinion, and it was even pretty ground-breaking. The fade-in and fade-out effect used in overworld-to-battle sequences was one of the team's greatest achievements for that game. Even for midi files, the music was pretty cool. Yes, it should have received an orchestration for the 3DS, and I'm disappointed it didn't, but music quality and sound quality aren't the same. It didn't bother me when midis were the norm for game music, and it's only now that we've been spoiled with the wonders of technology that I catch myself criticizing the music. The compositions are lovely.
4) Hyrule Field is empty
I'll be damned if someone claims the Sky to be empty, because the fact of the matter is that Hyrule Field is infinitely emptier, if that even makes sense. It's literally lifeless. There's nothing but a plain, a few gates, and trees sparsely located in "key" positions. There are hidden grottoes, but what little there are feature absolutely no substance at all. Just, pathetic.
Yes, Hyrule Field is indeed empty. However, there isn't a lot of time spent in Hyrule Field to really make it that big of a problem. The small amounts of time spent in it are filled with plenty of poe encounters and other trials. I hear this complaint a lot, and while I agree, I just can't really count it against the first half of the game. However, in the second part we are given a horse. A HORSE! The most wonderful thing to grace the games since the Pegasus Shoes, and there was nothing to do and nowhere to go. This same feeling was present in Skyward Sword, but the difference is that flying has a lot less limitations than ground travel, so Skyward Sword had less of a reason to be as terrible as it was travel-wise.
5) Rupees.
Yes, that is the reason. Rupees. Ocarina's economy is so jacked up, like, it's to the point where it seems Nintendo WAS working on it, but the jackstands just gave into the weight and it all came crashing down. BAM! SPLAT! KERPOW! And thus the screwed economy was born. I have never played a game where rupees were so darn useless before.
I can't really argue with ANYONE when it comes to Zelda economy, because I feel like how good/bad it is ties into the skill and preferences of the individual players. I NEVER notice rupee problems until somebody else points them out because I rarely find a need to collect them or have trouble doing so. I don't often buy potions unless there is a new addition to the series and I'm curious. I don't buy much, really, so maybe there's a problem there too. I'm aware there is a rupee problem, but I think it's in every Zelda game and I can't really count it against OoT if every other game has the same problem.
Now, don't get me wrong here....
OoT has never been my favorite Zelda game, and it probably never will. I didn't think it was deserving of all the praise it received for its time, but I also think a lot of its criticism is unwarranted. I do, however, think that it has aged better than a lot of the other installements, and I feel like it's still one of the best Zelda games to be used as an introduction to the series. I think there is a lot to look back on and use as inspiration for future titles, but at the same time, a lot of those elements were present in its predecessor, A Link to the Past, so I often feel like the praise OoT receives is going to the wrong title.
