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I didn't care for Ocarina of Time (OOT) that much. I really wanted to like it, but I had a lot of pretty major problems with it.

First of all, I should mention my nostalgia with the Zelda series. The first Zelda along with the orinal super mario bros was the first videogame I ever played as a kid. And the SNES A Link to the Past was my favorite SNES or earlier console game of all time. But after playing OOT I'm not sure if I've simply outgrown the series, or if Zelda just didn't translate to 3D that well.

I'll start with my problems with the game. For one, Link moves too slow. Watching that pitter-patter of his footstesp strolling along Hyrule Field got real old real fast. I also didn't like how he keeps grabbing on to ledges if he wants to climb anything. A personal pet peeve of mine is the inability to jump in these kind of games. The sounds Link makes are pretty annoying too, esepcially his rolling grunt which you hear way too much throughout the course of the game. Playing this character really hurts the pacing in the game in a lot of places.

And the pacing is already pretty slow. The reason most people go in for the Zelda series is for the dungeons. Lets face it, everything else is just filler. But OOT has unusually long intermissions beween dungeons. I figured that each dungeon took roughly 2 hours to play through, and it took at least that much time simply to make it to the next dungeon. I don't remember A Link to the Past being like that, not to mention that OOT only has 8 dungeons compared to ALTTP's 11. A also spent long periods of time simply being uncelar as to where to go next. As much as I hate walkthroughs I had to resort to one more than I would have preferred (which is never). And I actually do like puzzles in games. A lot actually. Oldschool Lucasarts graphic adventures are my favorite. But in those games when you'd have a puzzle to solve everyhwere you could go would be easily accessable, so it was really the puzzle you had to concentrate on. Here I was often discouraged ot try that hard because it would simply take so damn long to get from one area to another.

Also, Hyrule field just plain sucks. It's long, bland, and the time shifting makes it os there's either a ton of enemies to fight in a constant state of respawning, or there's nothing to fight. I deffinitely prefered the older Zeldas where enemies were just spaced out around the map.

One thing that I never liked that much about the 3D Zelda's that everyone else seems ot love is the "Z-targeting." (no idea why they call it that). I find it's auto-targetting system faulty and boring. If you don't resort to auto-targetting you're a sitting duck, but if you use it the combat is too easy, and you need only hold down the R button to avoid all attacks. Fighting the wolfos really tried my patience. This coupled with the games poor camera made combat a lot less fun than it should have been. Often I'd be in a room with a flying enemy, like a bat, and I would know they were in the room, but be unable to move the camera and lock onto them from a distance. The combat isn't that awful, I enjoyed fencing with the lizards, but it really is overrated.

But the game has it's pluses too. It's really open ended for those who enjoy subquests. There's no way in hell I would ever track down all the gold skulltilas, but I guess that's good, 'cuz it means there's always more game to be played. But there are a lot of subquests that feel less cheap than that one (like the trading sequences) that I really enjoyed.

The dungeon design really is brilliant though. As the highlight of any Zelda game these certainly didn't dissapoint. And the new warp portals you can open was really a stroke of genius (though unfortunately, everyone's most hated enemy, those hands that take you back to a dungeon's entrance, have also returned). The bosses are also really well designed and a lot of fun.

OOT really does have a lot of good in it, but it feels a lot more tedious than previous Zelda games. Maybe it's just me, and I had a hard time adjusting to the 3D, or maybe I just had more patience for these kind of games when I was young, but OOT just didn't do it for me.

7/10

Just kidding, this is my favorite game of all time too bad you didn't enjoy it all that much.

ROFL it takes you 2 hours per dungeon? Perhaps the reason you dont like it is because you suck ass. I can beat each dungeon in roughly 30 minutes. It is my favorite game of all time also. Besides your comparing it to todays games. You need to remember it was made in 1998. It was groundbreaksing when it came out and still is.

Originally Posted by bruce_pwns_j00 You need to remember it was made in 1998.

EXACTLY!

So why the hell is it being reviewed in 2004?

The Zelda collector's thingamajig is selling for roughly $40 everywhere, plus there's that Ocarina/Master quest thing going around.

And if you don't like old reviews then don't read 'em, bitch!

Originally Posted by Mr Durand Pierre And if you don't like old reviews then don't read 'em, bitch!

Even if I don't read them they WASTE server space. So either way your useless reviews affect me.

I said it before, and I'll say it again: if you want to write so bad at least make it about something relevant ie a game that isn't 6 years old.

Whether you like it or not Ocarina of Time is one of the most influential videogames ever made, making it still relevant today.

And whoever said you have to review new games? Roger Ebert reviews a new "great movie" every other week, and some of those are over 80 years old. A lot of old games are still worth reviewing because either they're influential, or were sleepers that never got much recognition. Age has nothing to do with it.

"It's not the years, honey... it's the mileage."
-Indiana Jones

Yeah, but your entire gripe sounds like a person whining that they didn't like Citizen Kane because it was in black and white, and didn't have digital sound or special effects.

One thing that I never liked that much about the 3D Zelda's that everyone else seems ot love is the "Z-targeting." (no idea why they call it that).

Because you hold down the Z button to do it on the N64 controller.

Originally Posted by JSweeney Yeah, but your entire gripe sounds like a person whining that they didn't like Citizen Kane because it was in black and white, and didn't have digital sound or special effects.

Well, those problems will be fixed in Citizen Kane: Special Edition, coming 2006.

Mre durrand piearre, jus shut the hell up.

OOT owns for many reasons, it was groundbreaking when it came out, led to MM and WW which were both good and spawned various zelda things that helped further the franchise.

Originally Posted by JSweeney Yeah, but your entire gripe sounds like a person whining that they didn't like Citizen Kane because it was in black and white, and didn't have digital sound or special effects.

Whatever. Most of my favorite games were created before 1996, and I still love A Link to the Past.

I hate you durrand. Go your mom.....when im done, sloppy seconds for you tonight.

Originally Posted by Scrubking Even if I don't read them they WASTE server space. So either way your useless reviews affect me. I said it before, and I'll say it again: if you want to write so bad at least make it about something relevant ie a game that isn't 6 years old.

His posts really gonna make a significant impact...

As you say, the real highlight and "meat" of a Zelda game is in the dungeons, and the OOT dungeons were brilliantly designed. For me that was the bottom line that factored into my immense enjoyment of the game, but I also appreciated other things about it (the side-quests, the overall immersiveness and atmosphere the game produced).

I don't think the intermissions were too long between dungeons, but I suppose that's going to come down to personal preference. If I recall correctly, the first few dungeons are spaced out a bit, but the rest can be tackled in fairly rapid succession.

The Wind Waker is really where they took way too much emphasis off the dungeons, in my opinion. Talk about lengthy intermissions. :\ The dungeon quality was still there, but with a massive reduction in dungeon quantity and way more emphasis on less interesting overworld quests/side-quests. Disappointing.

To me, OOT is still the epitomal Zelda game and the best in the series.

Originally Posted by Tukka As you say, the real highlight and "meat" of a Zelda game is in the dungeons, and the OOT dungeons were brilliantly designed. For me that was the bottom line that factored into my immense enjoyment of the game, but I also appreciated other things about it (the side-quests, the overall immersiveness and atmosphere the game produced). I don't think the intermissions were too long between dungeons, but I suppose that's going to come down to personal preference. If I recall correctly, the first few dungeons are spaced out a bit, but the rest can be tackled in fairly rapid succession. The Wind Waker is really where they took way too much emphasis off the dungeons, in my opinion. Talk about lengthy intermissions. :\ The dungeon quality was still there, but with a massive reduction in dungeon quantity and way more emphasis on less interesting overworld quests/side-quests. Disappointing. To me, OOT is still the epitomal Zelda game and the best in the series.

Yeah, OoT technically is the better game compared to the Wind Waker, but by the time I got to the Wind Waker I new what to expect more. OoT came as more of a shock.

And I think I was nicer to the Wind Waker because it started out so well, so I was more reluctant to pan it that much, where as Ocarina didn't hook me too well form the get go. It did get better as it went though.

my review of pierre's review. your review sucks major ass. you have no business playing videogames. -1/10

I also was let down by the game.

What's wrong with a kid that can't jump? Or at least try to jump? There were guys who tried to play on the basketball team in high school who couldn't jump, but they could at least try.

I also didn't like what I perceived as the forced linearity of OOT. In the first Zelda, you could sneak into the 8th Level "Dungeon" before you ever went to the 1st. It would be extremely difficult but not impossible to go through much if not all of it, and you could certainly obtain whatever bonus was in there (I did this when I was a kid cause I loved the game THAT much). In OOT, there is NO chance you will proceed to point B until you have accomplished task A, and so on.

Not that it was bad, just didn't live up to the hype. I'm probably borderline Nintendo fanboy but I can honestly say this is the worst of the Zelda games I played (I say "of the games I played" because I was so disappointed I have yet to muster the desire to play Mask or Wind Waker).

Seriously, what's wrong with a kid who can't jump?

No. WW is just plain superior to OoT. Reviews of it are free to have a side bar noting the nostalgia value of OoT and innovations that it brought to the series, but Wind Waker is still the far better version of the formula started in OoT.

On another note, to Mr. Durand Pierre you: give OoT a 7.10 and gave Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy a 8.5/10? Yikes...