Majora's Mask Was Majora's Mask a Step in the Right Direction?

[dur.i.am]

As you can deduce from the title, this thread is dedicated to Majora's Mask and whether or not it was a step in the right direction for the Zelda series. I will compare several aspects of Majora's Mask against the corresponding aspects from other Zelda games such as Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess.

For those of you out there that have had the fortune to play through Majora's Mask, you probably found that there were many new things in the game that you had never come across before in the Zelda series. Firstly, in my opinion, Majora's Mask is one of the deepest games in the Zelda series due to the fact that the plot is extremely dark, especially in comparison to the rest of the Zelda series which look rather lighthearted in comparison. The plot for Majora's Mask involves the destruction of an entire civilisation, including the deaths of thousands of beings such as the Termians, Gorons, Zoras and Dekus. When you compare this to the plot of games such as Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and the Minish Cap, you will notice the huge difference in nature. The plots for those games pretty much all include an antagonist who wants to enslave the entire civilisation and have themselves recognised as the greatest and only authority.

In Majora's Mask, the antagonist is a mask that goes by the same name, who was worshipped by an ancient tribe and can be described as a powerful demon. 'Majora's Mask' needs to have a host to operate, whom the mask chooses to be the Skull Kid. For the first section of the game, the mask gives it's power to the Skull Kid, whilst it's true nature slowly consumes the Skull Kids own nature, and thus gives the game it's dark nature. As the Skull Kid turns into the heartless, primitive and destructive being that 'Majora's Mask' really is, we also notice the darker nature of the plot too, as the mask uses its power to pull the Moon out of orbit around the planet, and head straight for Termina. The consiquences of which will cause chaos and destruction to ensue, along with death. My real point being that 'Majora's Mask' is a destructive being that has no care for power, only destruction and chaos, unlike the other antagonists in the Zelda series.

In the majority of the Zelda games though, we are presented with either Ganondorf, or a being such as Vatti as the antagonist. In comparison to Majora's Mask, games such as Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Minish Cap and Twilight Princess are generally seen as more lighthearted, even though they are dark in their own ways. In the aforementioned games along with the rest of the Zelda series, the antagonist usually does cause a terror and misery to spread throughout the land to ensure their reign as the ultimate authority is unchallenged. Whereas 'Majora's Mask' has no real care or need for power, and only wishes to see destruction and chaos.

Majora's Mask also introduced the fans of the Zelda franchise to two new aspects in the series, a time limit (which is set as 3 days) and the ability to transform into several different species (The Gorons, Zoras, Deku and the Fierce Diety form). When I first played through the game, my initial thoughts towards these aspects were "Hey, this is different", which I believe is a good thing. The formula for the 'Majora's Mask' is rather different than the standard formula in the rest of the series, and that's really great. Change is something that the Zelda series desperately needs because it's becoming stale, and therefore the games are becoming more boring (and let's not forget that they are also getting easier to) as we move through the series playing through each new game.

Then there is the fact that Majora's Mask is so heavily side quest based, which no other game has been able to stand up to thus far. Mix in the way that the time system is incorperated into the sidequests, e.g. you can only do certain quests at certain times...etc, then you find yourself in an entirely new realm of Zelda, and a realm that is unlikely to be seen many more times in the future, and you can see how much change Majora's Mask brought with it, which is definately a good step to take.

My real point is that Majora's Mask really does stand out from the crowd as a Zelda game. It doesn't follow the same old, boring formula that the earlier Zelda games set, it does take aspects but it changes them greatly. If you even look at Ocarina of Time, although it's considered one of the best games of all time, it doesn't avoid the fact that really, Ocarina of Time is quite stale from the view that it takes heavily from A Link to the Past, and other games then take from Ocarina of Time. The same points go for Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Minish Cap and the rest of the series. I am even doubting that Skyword Sword will be that different.

Thus, reaching my personal conclusion, I believe that Majora's Mask was definately a step in the right direction for the Zelda franchise. However, the entire point of this thread is to see what the members of Zelda Dungeon think on this topic. Do you think that Majora's Mask was a step in the right direction?

 

[Austin]

I agree that MM stands out from the crowd. It has several elements which you mentioned were absent from the series previously. However, that's just it, it stands out from the crowd. Looking at both Wind Waker and Twilight Princess I see very few similarities. Wind Waker seems to have taken a small cue from Ocarina of Time, while Twilight Princess was more or less a carbon copy of said game. So, in my opinion, whether it's a step in the right direction or not is irrelevant when confronted with the fact that Nintendo didn't continue to walk down the path Majora's Mask started.

However, that's not to say that they shouldn't have. While Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are both excellent games, I probably would have preferred it if Nintendo released in their place two games more similar to Majora's Mask than Ocarina of Time. What I personally loved about Majora's Mask was the degree to which you could plot out your own path in the game. Whereas other Zelda games seem to be made up of a dominating main quest and a few scattered sidequests, Majora's Mask is the exact opposite. With side-quests seemingly put in front of the main storyline, the game was a great deal more non-linear, which is something I wish we could see more of from the Zelda series. Plus, the side-quests didn't always offer you semi-useless upgrades or items, some of the rewards (enhanced magic meter, spin attack, Fierce Deity mask) were extremely useful and made the game so much more enjoyable.

 

[(◕‿◕✿)]

I think it definitely introduced some features that were a step in the right direction. Having a different antagonist was nice for a change, but there was also a lot of other things that I felt made the game stand out, head in the right direction, etc.

One of the largest of these is of course the sidequests. It wasn't so much that there were so many of them, a game can have fifty side quests of low quality and be less enjoyable/have less value than a game with two or three really well executed and high quality sidequests.
Also, I like the idea of certain sidequests intertwining with each other, that way they're more interesting and feel more realistic and involved, less scripted, so to speak.

'Majora's Mask' also introduced the fans of the Zelda franchise to two new aspects in the series, a time limit (which is set as 3 days) and the ability to transform into several different species (The Gorons, Zoras, Deku and the Fierce Diety form). When I first played through the game, my initial thoughts towards these aspects were "Hey, this is different", which I believe is a good thing. The formula for the 'Majora's Mask' is rather different than the standard formula in the rest of the series, and that's really great. Change is something that the Zelda series desperately needs because it's becoming stale, and therefore the games are becoming more boring (and let's not forget that they are also getting easier to) as we move through the series playing through each new game.

I agree with most of this. I think it would be a good idea to incorporate a time-system in future games (not limit, but system) as in Majora's Mask. That is, events can have different outcomes based on the hour of the day, or people will move around the map based on time changes (basically an AI-path for increments of time). So instead of people just 'disappearing' when it becomes night, and appearing during daylight, they have an actual routine and so on.

 

[NorthApple]

Possibly... I agree with much of what you've said for the most part. Majora's Mask was a step in the right direction for the simple fact that it really felt like you were having an impact on the world around you- on the people, on the locations... and it also, as you said, felt like the villain was having an impact as well. Majora's Mask was so emotionally involving- it made you care about what happened, and it made you hurt when it asked you to give it up, when you felt it all slip through your grasp as you turned time back once again. It constantly erased the physical proof of the progress you made, but not the mental proof, not the things you've experienced and learned. The game is poetic like this in so many ways, an ironic dance between what appears to be and what really is, and the themes like these make it stand out especially from the rest of the games.

This goes for character development as well... but not, I feel, for gameplay. Undoubtedly the three-day-cycle is very clever and allows for a lot of depth, and the masks allow a much more versatile method of play... but the puzzles themselves sometimes and often resort back to the same old formula, especially in the dungeons. In addition to this, the game can sometimes be... downright weird at times, obscure, and this can isolate the player- making it difficult to access. The game is fantastic once you're hooked... but if it doesn't hook you the first time, you'll probably just end up getting fustrated at it. Repeatedly. That's all and well, but this can make it feel like a step to the side at times, rather than one forward- after all, if a game puts players off, it must have got something a little bit wrong.

However, as I said I agree with you on the whole- and it certainly wouldn't hurt future games to take a leaf out of Majora's Mask's book. One last side thing though- I think Wind Waker also did a pretty good job of at least shuffling in the right direction, because although it wasn't half as radical as MM, it had plenty of compelling elements to its name as well (at the time, at least).

 

[Shnappy]

Yeah, sure, it was a step in the right direction, but it was more like Nintendo stepped, and then immediately tripped and fell over.

Majora's Mask is my favorite game in the series. However, the complexity and unique aspects that made it what it was were not really built upon, in my opinion. Of the previous 5 games released prior to MM, all of their stories are arguably mediocre except for maybe LA. After MM, OoX came in. These games aren't the same old boring Hyrule/Ganon deal, as they are in completely different lands with completely different villains. Okay, variety is great, but it was still the same basic plot. The antagonist kidnaps someone (the oracles in this case) and tries to dominate the world. The games that followed, for the most part, contained the same mediocre plot. This includes Vaati in TMC, Ganondorf in TWW, and a few others.

You also mention the gameplay aspects, as in the transformation and time limit. If they had built upon the time limit and included it in any new games, I don't think it would have been a good thing. That's kind of a one-game thing because of how it ties in to the plot. The unique plot of MM provided this aspect to succeed greatly, but it would be hard to find a new plot that could use this kind of aspect. Sure, we could have another apocalyptic game, but even after one or two games, it would get rather old and we would have some very angry Nintendo fans. However, transformation is a more flexible gameplay aspect and I feel that it can be built upon quite well. But the problem is that it was not built on. It seemed for a while that the plot and gameplay of MM was never built upon, but then came one particular game...

Twilight Princess.

TMC was released, and after Nintendo tripped and fell, they were still on the ground. But with Twilight Princess, Nintendo got back up again. There is always discussion about which Zelda game is the darkest, and the discussion is almost always limited to two games, MM and TP. The dark aspects of MM were brought back to life when TP was released. Now, as we all know, this game wasn't an apocalyptic destruction story, but the game still had its dark themes. As I stated before, it's actually probably good that they didn't build on the whole apocalypse thing. Instead, the diabolical Zant is helping Ganondorf engulf Hyrule in Twilight. Instead of just plain ruling the world, the world was to be shrouded with darkness. Other than just the plot, the game had a certain dark feel to it that wasn't present in games such as OoT or TWW. The improved graphics provided a realism that gave the game this dark feel. The whole transformation aspect also came back. TP and MM are the only games in which transformation plays a huge rule in the story/gameplay. Now, it wasn't by masks, but bringing back the transformation masks wouldn't make much sense as far as the timeline goes. Instead, Link was able to turn into a wolf. This new Link was very entertaining for me, especially in the fighting aspect. Gnawing my way through enemies was great; it was especially fun to fight Ganon in Wolf Link form.

In general, though, TP was really the only game that included the aspects that made MM (in my opinion) the best game in the Zelda series. In other words, MM would have been a step in the right direction if Nintendo made it a step at all.

 

[Kybyrian]

Majora's Mask was one heck of a game, and definitely a step in the right direction. There were so many new things to Majora's Mask that it's incredible. A very creative game, probably the most creative one in the series to date. Though it may not have been very innovative, the new and great aspects of it are something to stare in awe at. The three day time limit was a great thing to add to the game. I always say it presented a whole new level of challenge to the game and that's certainly true. Not only that, but it added a sense of impending danger as the moon drew closer to Termina with every passing hour. It was kind of a rush to get done with things, even after you had learned the song of time. Being able to go back and rebattle bosses because of reversing time was also a new and great thing in the game. Sometimes there are those bosses that you can battle multiple times and not get tired of, and I think that there were a few of those in Majora's Mask. Sometimes I would go back and play again just for the heck of it. Out of all of the aspects of Majora's Mask, I say that the time limit was certainly a big step in the right direction for sure.

It would have been better if they would have taken a little of Majora's Mask and invested it in future Zelda games, however. I'm not saying that they should have just ripped the time limit feature of Majora's Mask right out of the game and put it in something else by any means, though. Maybe a little modification or the same relative idea would have been great in another Zelda game. Majora's Mask had such an ominous feel, and that's something that no other Zelda game has been able to give me for extended periods of time as Majora's Mask did. There may be a few "creepy" parts in other Zelda games, but Majora's Mask has the top in that. Majora's Mask is quite the game, and so much could have been reused. It has the potential to be a very innovative Zelda game, but they just don't take anything from it to use in other games. In my opinion, they should start reusing some of the ideas from Majora's Mask, skinning them differently and altering some things to make them even better, perhaps. They could use those in future Zelda games and it would only multiply the already huge level of enjoyment that the Zelda games have.

Majora's Mask took a huge step with the sidequests and characters, too. Out of every single Zelda game, I have to say that Majora's Mask has the best characters and sidequests. Almost every single character throughout the game had a story linked to him or her, and most even had a sidequest associated with them. Once again, this is something they should use more throughout the series. There are, of course, a good amount of sidequests and character background in other Zelda games, but Majora's Mask simply outdoes every single one of them. It would be great to see this little piece of Majora's Mask spread around to multiply the greatness of the series, which is already at an outstanding amount. Anju and Kafei had an unbelievable story and sidequest associated with them, and I don't believe any Zelda game has ever topped that. I don't think any Zelda game ever will top that, to be completely honest.

Another couple things I would love to mention that were huge steps in the right direction in Majora's Mask is the overworld and the dungeons. The overworld of Majora's Mask was so diverse it's almost unbelievable. Think about it. We had some sort of jungle in one part of the map, which is located very close to a large sea that you are actually able to swim in as a Zora and has multiple locations in it. There's also Snowpeak right out there, as well. Then we have the region the Stone Tower Temple is in, and other regions. The landscape in all of these places is so diverse, and they are all visible from right around Clocktown. Majora's Mask had a small overworld at first glance because everything seemed so crowded around Clocktown, but you have to admit it was a wonderful idea with all of the things that they put in it. It's something that I wouldn't mind seeing in a future Zelda game or two. Just another thing in Majora's Mask that could have really affected the Zelda series, but didn't.

Overall, I think that Majora's Mask took some great steps, but they could have had more impact. For some reason, Nintendo basically ignored the outstanding and original aspects of Majora's Mask and just kept reusing things from other games aside from Majora's Mask and coming up with various new things. I'm not against the introduction of new ideas, but they can always take an idea from another game and modify it so it appears new but has slightly the same feel and is still just as good, if not better. Almost everything about Majora's Mask was great, and I think with enough effort, they could reuse many things from the game and make future installments excellent. I don't know why Majora's Mask is so ignored when it comes to creating future games, but it really shouldn't be. So much should be done and taken from Majora's Mask, but so much isn't. I don't think Nintendo realizes just how much Majora's Mask was a great game. The shadow of Ocarina of Time is cast over Majora's Mask, so it is basically ignored while they take everything from Ocarina of Time. The truth is, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask were almost equal in excellency, which a number of polls on this very forum show. If the two games combined their various strong points then it would make for the best Zelda game yet, no doubt.

 

[Majora's Cat]

Must we even question Majora's Mask's brilliance? Yes - it was a huge step in the right direction. We may not have appreciated it then, but man, do we appreciate it now. It just annoys me that it took so many years for MM to finally prove itself to be an experience just as good or even better than Ocarina of Time.

Majora's Mask brought fresh new ideas to the Zelda franchise. The game was darker, cooler, deeper, and most of all... harder. The three day time limit and the continuous use of the Song of Time had my heart thumping. Majora's Mask literally had me at the edge of my seat when I was in dungeons. That coupled with the masks and sidequests made for one heck of a game. Can Ocarina of Time say as much? While Ocarina of Time laid down the path for 3D Zeldas to come, Majora's Mask was the one to twist that path in its own way and change how we looked at Zelda games.

Majora's Mask also improved on Ocarina of Time's graphics and dungeon design. I loved how the dungeons each had a central room and less similar rooms in general. Ocarina of Time sported rather poor dungeon design compared to MM, WW and TP. Majora's Mask was perhaps the first Zelda game to make a dungeon... really feel like a dungeon. They were diverse and the puzzles were much improved over Ocarina of Time's. These puzzles actually required skill and precision. Take for the instance the large platform in the middle of the Woodfall Temple. Many puzzles in the Woodfall Temple involved shooting an arrow through a fire torch to light a certain torch to activate a mechanism. I thought this was very clever and proved that MM could stand up to OoT.

I feel that most people just like OoT because it revolutionized Zelda. There's a good reason for why I played Majora's Mask before Ocarina of Time. OoT just didn't draw me in from the start. But MM... MM got my heart beating. There were so many collectibles and so many challenges even before the first dungeon. I amazes me how many great achievements that MM can pull off. The bosses were tougher, the dungeons were better, and the story and the characters were more interesting. Straying away from the classic "save the girl and become an instant hero", Majora's Mask dives more into the apocalypse aspect.

I loved the depth of the characters and how everything could play out. It was your choice whether to let Kafei and Anju find true love, if was your choice whether to help Shiro, it was your choice if you wanted to help Romani fight off the aliens. Ultimately Majora's Mask gave me everything I love in a Zelda game - great dungeons, great music and exceedingly great sidequests. The only complaint I could make about it is that there are only four dungeons, but MM made up for the lack of dungeons in the sidequests and other aspects.

When it comes to Majora's Mask, it becomes your task to save Termina from its doom and ride off into the distance once again. You are the unknown savior of Termina - the threat is neutralized and the Skull Kid regains control of his body. All is well, but the fate of the NPCs lied in your hands. If you did not aid them in their quests, the credits will simply be blank. If you dove deeper into the story and helped them out, the credits come into full view and you can see how your aid has affected them That is ultimately what I love about Majora's Mask and the reason why it was a big step up or the Zelda franchise.

 

[Hyrulian]

ahh... majoras mask, what a beauty! The whole game made me feel like I was in the world... Why? because of the side quests! the time limit helps with this to, it makes you feel like every one has a life, and it makes you care a lot for them! with out that time limit then the peoples problems wouldn't matter as much if the problems were to happen every day. This game also brought a new thing that games don't have, even if those games had a time limit, you wouldn't have as much room for depth with out being able to go back in time and do it all over! Not as much room for side quests to be so awesome!

Even though this game was amazing (SO AMAZING THAT I COULD DIE!), doing the time limit wouldn't work with out the time travel, and repeating that wouldn't be very good because it would be just coping that same formula. Another problem with that is that the side quests wouldn't work out as well with out the time travel, the reason why we liked the side quests in that game wasn't only because of the majority, it was the characters. And with out that limit, then it would be like the characters aren't real, with out the time travel, we wouldn't have the amount of side quests.

All in all, it WOULD be a step in the right direction, if the games plot wasn't made for the game play. Thats right, I believe this is one of the few games (maybe the only game) that with out the plot, the game play wouldn't make since. The game has a back story with time travel. the time limit, and the side quests HAVE TO HAVE time travel! All they can take with that game is the difficulty, if they were to take anything else, it would have to be a continuation to that game.

side quests and time limit: no
difficulty and darkness: yes

 

[thelastsheikah]

I totally agree with majora's cat. MM is, for me, more interesting and more fun to play than OOT. It went too long without getting the credit it deserved. MM was such an epic leap in the right direction but its almost like they forgot they ever made it when it comes to creating the games after it. Its good to have that feeling after you beat the game with all the masks that you helped almost every character in the game personally instead of just the princess. I also loved saving the world from a psycho that didnt care about anything and just wanted to destroy it all instead of the usual vilian who wants power and domination.

 

[pokemainiac]

I think MM was a good idea. With OoT, they couldn't really do much in the way of innovative gameplay, as it took all their effort to move Hyrule into 3D, while still making it fun. With MM, they already had the game engine made, and so could focus on something innovative, like the 3-day cycle.

 

[Sonicbowling]

Majora's Mask was most definitely a step in the right direction. The main reason I think so is because of it's unique plot structure and gameplay mechanics/mechanisms. How much more of an epic story can in a video game can you create then coming upon an alternate world where a moon is falling from the sky and you have to save the world,.... in three days!

The time system gets a lot of crap from people, but it really is a genius game design. One reason why I like the time structure is because you can re-fight bosses and re do dungeons if you feel like it, and I also like it because it keeps challenging you to complete your objective in as little time as possible. The time structure also makes for very unique side quests where you feel more emotionally attached to the characters you are helping. What makes this game so depressing is that after you play the song of time, all you did to help the people never happened because you were sent back in time.

People just don't give Majora's Mask enough credit for it's mask system. Anyone who's played Majora's Mask will tell you that the mask system is awesome. This totally revolutionized Zelda IMO due to the fact you could transform or have increased abilities with certain masks. It's a shame that OoT didn't make more use of the masks from the Happy Mask Salesmen. The masks make you do everything from running fast, to making you invisible to enemies, to making you whoop a bosses butt in style, and that is why I think that the mask system is pure genius even more so than the time system.

Another aspect that I would like to point out because it is absolutely brilliant is, the bank. I've seen a lot of mixed reviews about the bank because you have to put rupees in the bank before saving or else you lose them. Some people find this annoying, but this is clever in that if you need to buy something at a shop you don't have to scrounging around for a ton of rupees. Instead, you can just withdraw and deposit as you please which makes certain sidequests really easy like the all night mask sidequest. Plus, the bankers reaction to you taking and depositing a ton or rupees is hilarious. And it's a shame that future games haven't taken advantage of this like WW and TP. Wind Waker could have used this the most because of having to pay Tingle a ton of rupees in order to decypher maps, imagine how much less frustration gamers would've have if they could have stored their rupees somewhere.

I would love to see a sequel or a prequel to Majora's Mask centered around Termina. I think the Majora's Mask steered the Zelda series in the right direction with this fresh change of pace from the traditional Zelda structure. The dark/creepy story, the unique plot structure, and game mechanics make this the best a Zelda game to remember.

 

[Peace Of Heart]

Haha! Everyone who have posted so far took the words straight from my mouth.

I'll just say that yes, it was indeed the best step taken in the Zelda series .

 

[Master Sword13]

Not only was it a step in the right direction, but it was a step of one of the giants wearing the giant's mask. Meaning MM was just a HUGENORMOUS step in the right direction.

 

[February Eve]

So, have you ever had the experience where a movie was successful and well-liked by critics, and the studio greenlit a sequel, and then when it came out, you were disappointed because it was basically a retread of the same plot? This was the challenge game designers had to go up against when they decided to make a direct sequel to Ocarina of Time. They had to find out what worked in OoT - what made it "Zelda" - while at the same time changing it up enough to keep it interesting. They also had the added challenge of reusing the same character models.

However, when I think of limitations, I am reminded of studying poetry in English and how sonatas, villanelles, and such poems have a very strict structure they must follow. But this strictness doesn't make the resulting product any less creative. In fact, being forced to stay inside the lines can actually cause you to think outside of the way you normally would, sparking a creativity that may not have arisen otherwise.

If Majora's Mask hadn't been a direct sequel, the designers may have felt freer to have a villain like Ganondorf again. They may not have placed such a heavy emphasis on sidequests. If the protagonist had a been a "new" Link, rather than the Hero of Time, they may have had a more traditional story and journey. If they hadn't reused character models, we may never have had found ourselves in an alternate universe. But each deviation was necessitated by the creators wanting to make sure fans got an entirely new game in their hands, not just a retelling of the first story.

In short, I think they knew they had to take a risk and weren't afraid to take it. And the end result paid off. Not only do I think it's a step in the right direction, but if Nintendo were to decide to release a sequel to Skyward Sword, I'd be jumping with happiness. They've already proven to me that this doesn't mean they're going to give me the same thing, but something with entirely new elements. In fact, as much as I love seeing more of the history of Hyrule and other traditional parts of the legend, there is a part of me hopes that sometime in the future we will spend more than one game with the same hero again. Because building one hero's mythos can be just as much fun as seeing the entire line.

 

[arkvoodle]

Majora's Mask was a revolutionary game in the LoZ series. Being one of the first to encorporate the day/night changes plus the countdown to doomsday. I felt like the cycle pushed the player to their limit. You had to keep moving. There was no other option. The way was clear, and so was the objective. The time constaints added to the sense of urgency in completing each temple, unlike every other game, where you could take your time and mess around.

The game not only bought a permenant place for the Zelda Series in the top games of all time chart, but inflenced many other developers and would be game designers. Majora's Mask was not only a step in the right direction, it was a huge leap.