Ocarina of Time Why Do You Think Zora's Domain Does Not Melt?

[NoSignalHere]

After you beat the water temple dont you think the Domain should melt?:huh:

 

[darunia]

I have always wondered why i never saw it melted.
I guess its as sheik says that it will eventually melt its just we never see it in the game.
I guess it gust takes a very long time to melt as there is so much of it.
After all Zora's domain would not be very warm.

 

[MartDiamond]

The bigger the ice cube the longer it takes to melt

 

[JuicieJ]

Well, Sheik said it would slowly melt. And for a reason. That amount of ice would melt instantly. Now, you'd think it's magical ice, or something, but it's not. It was frozen over, and that can be done much faster if magic was used to do it than it would normally take to thaw out. So, yeah, science pretty much. (I guess the other part would be partially game design.)

 

[OcarinaSword]

Sheik said it will SLOWLY melt after a very long time, i did wonder the same thing when i played it too i was like why does this not melt everytime time i did a temple it was beacuase to fix the town or cave but after i did that it did not melt so i had no idea.

 

[Djinn]

I have always assumed it was more of a programming issue than an in game situation. Many times in the past it was stated that a lot of the sequences and story points had to be removed from the final copy to fit the entire game into the original cartridge. And normally this means non important aspects of the story have to go. Like individuals celebrating something, some NPC comments that are not necessary for the plot, or even sidequests that are not important enough to be left in. And I believe an unfrozen Zora's domain was one of these. Nintendo saved space by having the place remain frozen so there would be no need to have an unfreezing animation or extra NPC lines from the Zoras within.

It does make a little bit of sense in this context since Zora's Domain was a relatively small and insignificant area in the first place. No useful quest based NPCs or merchants were lost because of it. And no interesting areas to explore were cut off by it either. It had no story based significance to Link, Zelda, or Ganondorf. Only Ruto and she is already rescued after defeating morpha. Link revisits the Kokiri forest as an adult and views the changes to his personal home. The same for the home of Zelda in Hyrule castle town, and the Gerudo Valley to Ganondorf. And since the only changes to the Goron city was the presence of Gorons within it before and after the fire temple, no changes for the shadow temple in Kakariko, and Spirit Temple for the Gerudo fortress, a sequence for melting Zora's Domain was considered insignificant enough to drop from the finished game.

As for story based explanations, the Triforce powered curse on the area probably cannot be undone so easily simply by defeating Morpha. The Kokiri Forest was only infested by monsters and when Link defeated Phantom Ganon, they were gone. No permanent damage was done. As well as the guardian deity the Deku Tree sprouted and began protecting the area again. Well Jabu Jabu was already gone. Either killed by Ganondorf or escaped and have not returned. The loss of the Zora guardian deity would mean that they area might not recover so quickly as the Kokiri Forest. The Gorons of the Death Mountain were only taken prisoner and after Link defeated Volvagia they were freed and returned to the Goron City. The Zora were not taken prisoner like the Gorons nor were they hiding from monsters like the Kokiri. They had a much more permanent curse placed upon them that cannot so easily be solved by defeating a large monster. The ice will still be there even if the creature keeping things frozen is immediately removed. It still takes time for a glacier to melt even in warmer conditions. Especially so if that glacier is deep inside a cave away from the sunlight and kept cool by a river. It would very likely take ore than anything Link has in his arsenal to melt that.

 

[zants follower]

It's because the game isn't in real time. The n64 didn't have an internal clock and the game wouldn't last very long if it depended on a battery to run. Just look at all those old GBC games like Pokemon Crystal.

 

[JuicieJ]

I have always assumed it was more of a programming issue than an in game situation. Many times in the past it was stated that a lot of the sequences and story points had to be removed from the final copy to fit the entire game into the original cartridge. And normally this means non important aspects of the story have to go. Like individuals celebrating something, some NPC comments that are not necessary for the plot, or even sidequests that are not important enough to be left in. And I believe an unfrozen Zora's domain was one of these. Nintendo saved space by having the place remain frozen so there would be no need to have an unfreezing animation or extra NPC lines from the Zoras within.

It does make a little bit of sense in this context since Zora's Domain was a relatively small and insignificant area in the first place. No useful quest based NPCs or merchants were lost because of it. And no interesting areas to explore were cut off by it either. It had no story based significance to Link, Zelda, or Ganondorf. Only Ruto and she is already rescued after defeating morpha. Link revisits the Kokiri forest as an adult and views the changes to his personal home. The same for the home of Zelda in Hyrule castle town, and the Gerudo Valley to Ganondorf. And since the only changes to the Goron city was the presence of Gorons within it before and after the fire temple, no changes for the shadow temple in Kakariko, and Spirit Temple for the Gerudo fortress, a sequence for melting Zora's Domain was considered insignificant enough to drop from the finished game.

As for story based explanations, the Triforce powered curse on the area probably cannot be undone so easily simply by defeating Morpha. The Kokiri Forest was only infested by monsters and when Link defeated Phantom Ganon, they were gone. No permanent damage was done. As well as the guardian deity the Deku Tree sprouted and began protecting the area again. Well Jabu Jabu was already gone. Either killed by Ganondorf or escaped and have not returned. The loss of the Zora guardian deity would mean that they area might not recover so quickly as the Kokiri Forest. The Gorons of the Death Mountain were only taken prisoner and after Link defeated Volvagia they were freed and returned to the Goron City. The Zora were not taken prisoner like the Gorons nor were they hiding from monsters like the Kokiri. They had a much more permanent curse placed upon them that cannot so easily be solved by defeating a large monster. The ice will still be there even if the creature keeping things frozen is immediately removed. It still takes time for a glacier to melt even in warmer conditions. Especially so if that glacier is deep inside a cave away from the sunlight and kept cool by a river. It would very likely take ore than anything Link has in his arsenal to melt that.

Yeah, I think it was mostly game-design stuff.

 

[Rovin]

It would take a very long time to melt. The light from the sun bouces off the icy surface. This is called the albedo affect. Plus, it shows the long lasting stain of Ganondorf's evil.

 

[JuicieJ]

It's because the game isn't in real time. The n64 didn't have an internal clock and the game wouldn't last very long if it depended on a battery to run. Just look at all those old GBC games like Pokemon Crystal.

Yeah, that, too. The only reason Majora's Mask was able to do stuff like that (Snowhead, namely) was because it used an Expansion Pack.

 

[Scotts897]

I always thought it was due to memory space. I think Nintendo Power might have mentioned it or something at some point. I was an avid reader back in the day. I've also heard rumors that there was originally supposed to be 8 dungeons in the adult world and the Ice Cave or whatever it was called was one of them before it got demoted to a mini dungeon. Not sure what the 8th one would have been. Maybe it might have been in Gerudo Valley possibly. Anyhow, I don't remember where I seen the 8 dungeon rumor or know if it is even valid but it's interesting to point out nonetheless.

 

[Sonicbowling]

I'm pretty sure it stayed frozen because of the mini dungeon named the Ice Cavern. As many of you know

Spoiler

there is a heart piece and at least 2 golden skulltulas in the Ice Cavern

. So, if Zora's Domain melted and certain players forgot to get those items their first visit, they'd be screwed of a 100% run because those ice blocks would have melted in Zoras Fountain.

 

[Zelway]

I'm guessing because it's so huge that it is going to take awhile.

I'm sad that you don't get see it melted, because I want to see the zoras happy. Although the ice does look really cool.

 

[Zorato]

The reason it doesn't melt is called the evil power of science, it is WAY too big to melt right away. Plus the ice itself might have cooled the environment enough to make it stay frozen.

 

[butterbiscuit]

A) Big amount of ice = long time to melt.

It would add a lot of load on the N64 if they made it slowly melt, so they probably decided to just leave it as is.