As a kid, the Water temple was my most feared/hated dungeon. Now when I do a play through of OoT, it's the one I'm the most excited for. That and the Forest Temple.
I love the water temple! It's actually my favorite dungeon in the game! As an aspiring game designer, I always nerd out on all the thought and design choices that the developers put into it!
I feel bad for all the young kids that got stuck in the water temple. My older brother beat the whole game without internet guides and I seriously don’t know how because I’ve had to use TH-cam multiple times in the past 4 weeks playing ocarina. Definitely had to use TH-cam a few times yesterday playing water temple for the first time
Getting this game when I was an internet-less 11 year old was a BLAST! I had so much fun and spent so many hours on trial and error. Whenever there was a level I couldn’t beat I would go to my friends house and his older brother would help me out. But the water temple was too hard and I didn’t have a guidebook either. I had volleyball practice after school so the only option I had was to give the cartridge to my friend for his brother to beat the level and give back to me. He did but I never got to see how it was done and I always felt like I cheated and I hated that feeling. A few years later when I realized there was gaming stuff online I looked it up and went back and beat it myself. But wow this one was hard for me without help as a kid lol
Hell yeah I remember those days when I would get stuck and I would have to get help from my friend from my friend’s older brother or from my older brother so before you two walk-throughs we had friends and older brothers that knew what to do with that could help you
I never understood the hate for this. I kind of think it’s just popular to rag on this temple at this point. I went back and played OoT about a year ago, my first time actually playing my own game without my older brother’s help back when I was like 10; and beat the water temple without guides in about an hour. Just hit every room, work from the bottom up…like you demonstrated in this video, there’s really only one or two options at a time. It’s not my favorite temple, but it always felt like any of the others personally. I get lost way more with the forest temple, but it’s still fun and rewarding once you finally figure out the puzzles. Thank you for this vid!
I love the water temple, though I realize that I was really into Metriodvanias then. I think that the issue is that the other dungeons, (besides the forest temple and maybe Jabu-Jabu?) were straight forward, basic dungeons with next to no navigational challenge, so players just weren't prepared for something this complex on their first play throughs.
The Water Temple is one of the harder temples in the game but I think the real problem that people have with it is mainly the keys and how most players miss at least one and have to backtrack through the dungeon to change the water level to get it. Also on the N64 changing the Iron Boots every couple seconds is nightmare inducing.
I think one of the major gripes I had upon my first Water Temple run was the scattering of the many rooms which made it a little difficult to remember where a certain area was located. I only needed help when I didnt realize that there was a corridor UNDERNEATH the rising platform in the central tower once you’ve raised the water level
I love the water temple, the music pulls it together and on the 3DS version with the updated boots mechanic, it’s much more enjoyable than the original. I’ve played through the original water temple maybe twice and it’s much worse on the older version. But on the newer edition of the game it’s always the dungeon I’m most excited for.
I remember playing this dungeon as a kid. It was so satisfying beating it because it was challenging. I never thought it was overly hard or frustrating. Though I might just have just been lucky enough to intuitively understand it on an Intuitive level
I’ve loved this series for a few months, and recently replayed Ocarina for the first time in three years. And the tips to break the dungeon down by floors and to use the damn map really helped! This dungeon rocks, and this video rocks too! Thank you!
I love the different perspective you give on the Water Temple! :) It was definitely difficult for me as a kid, like Tetra said, but the way you describe how to navigate it seems so obvious now haha! But, I will say, the challenge of it is great, and I truly think it (along with the rest of the strategy of this game) taught my tiny kid brain how to think strategically! That's incredibly cool, considering how back then so many people thought video games rotted your brain ;) I feel smarter after playing a Zelda game!! Awesome video Capt :)
Thanks Rin! It is definitely harder, and yeah when you know the right path it looks easy, but easier said than done right? Either way, the fact we could get through it as kids means it pushed us just the right amount I think. Thanks for watching :)))))))
Just wanted to come here to say thank you. I've always loved this series for the deep dives and nostalgia, but I'm replaying oot on the Switch and knew immediately I was going to track down this video for the water temple. Still took me a few hours because I'm rusty, but I was so grateful to have this video as a guide. I know it takes a LONG time to do this for all the games but it's so valuable & I personally appreciate it!
This dungeon is hugely underrated. I don't get why people say that it's bad because it's hard. Hard isn't a bad thing. The game would be no fun if all the dungeons were Deku Trees
i used to hate this dungeon until after watching boss keys and not realizing what makes this dungeon really good. it is not without flaws but this was the first modern puzzle box dungeon in the series (eagle's tower was the grandfather of puzzlebox dungeons). the reason i did not like the dungeon was because of the iron boots which oot3d fixed, but it came with a price by adding more hand holding through color path and spoiling the central room puzzle.
So true. And when you do eventually find it out if you find it out by yourself it feels so good but I’m not gonna lie I have had to use TH-cam a couple times yesterday playing the water temple for the first time
18:16 Holy Hell! I never realized there was a bombable wall there to grab the box. I literally just cheesed the switch puzzle by stepping on it and quickly swimming towards the step. Link will automatically jump onto it.
I first played OoT as a college student, not a kid, and didn't understand why people had issues with the Water Temple. But at the time my playstyle was also to basically exhaust everything I could possibly do in one section of any game dungeon before I moved on to the next area, and the Water Temple was no exception. I didn't adjust the water level at all unless I was positive I'd done everything possible on that level first. As I recall, I didn't have to change the water level very much at all (playing once at each new Triforce I found, then once more to set the water level to where it needed to be for the boss). Of course, I replayed the game for my kids 15 years later, got turned around and had to adjust the water level about twice as much as that first playthrough because I'd missed things. Then I understood why a lot of people had issues with it.
I understand a good deal of complaints with this dungeon. A major one you didn't mention in this video is the constant pausing and unpausing for the iron boots which thankfully they addressed in the 3ds remake. I also feel another thing they should've done was give a different look to the spots that require the long shot. I'm sure many people wasted time trying to figure out where or how they needed to position themselves to hit hookshot points that were too far away since they look like all the other hookshot points. I can remember trying to jump to the platform and hookshot before the door closed to finish that block pushing puzzle multiple times before giving up and exploring elsewhere. It is at the beginning of the dungeon and I KNOW how to complete it, but it isn't super apparent to a new player that they don't have the correct tool yet.
Totally good point. I didn’t mention the iron boots thing because it honestly never bothered me too much, but also like you said, that issue is fixed in OOT3D. I never thought about the hookshot vs long shot targets thing, though I also do remember trying to jump to that one platform with the eye switch only to never be fast enough. It is certainly something that could be better conveyed, but then later games did away with the long shot as an upgrade anyways.
@@CaptBurgerson I didn’t think of the hookshot thing either but maybe that’s because I spoiled the game for myself with a WW guidebook that had an Oot mini-guide at the end so I already knew about the longshot.
the water temple has a couple of flaws which could be easily fixed but in terms of navigational structure, i do think it might be the best N64 dungeon. also it makes good use of returning to previous explored rooms with the longshot. if i had to make some fixes, it would be to remove the eye switch in the snake room and instead have a floor switch while moving one of the locks to the blade trap room.
After countless playthroughs, I still get lost in the water temple and that is very exciting and fun. When all the other dungeons feel stale, the water temple still makes me work for it
Thank you I was stuck for so long and I needed that bomb-able wall key... this series has been so helpful as I was first starting the game because sometimes what you need to do is not straightforward, like putting the blue fire in the empty bottle... I was trying to shoot arrows with it like you do normal fire lol
"I recommend having all 4 bottles to reduce backtracking" Even though one of those bottles requires constantly backtracking between Hyrule Field and the Poe Collector's Ghost Shop 4-10 times lol tbh that bottle should've been in Ice Cavern to alleviate the demand for empty bottles. In Randomizer I always set the Poe requirements to 1-4 since it's my least favorite side quest in the game. I love the Water Temple but the bad rep is definitely a result of how punishing and unforgiving it is if You miss even a single key. Needing to loop the whole thing every time to check everything You can. Your method is definitely the right approach and was probably how I did it the first time (don't remember though.) But even I missed that Key hidden under the central pillar and the Camera didn't do enough to make it clear there was something mandatory down there. The 3DS version makes it blatantly obvious, but that is only fair considering how challenging this dungeon already is. These sort of curve-balls I feel are better suited for simpler dungeons when the dungeon starts to feel a little too easy. Keep the player on their toes when they don't have a lot to keep track of, You know? Great video. Nice having these older video's to watch through :)
I agree, it’s my least favourite side quest as well, but for that reason I tend to try and get it done as early as possible tbh. Either that or I spread it out and just catch the poes while I’m already out in Hyrule Field for other reasons. Combining those, it makes the quest less tedious. Especially because I know if I don’t do it early in the adult portion of the game, I’ll put it off until I’m about to go to Ganon’s Castle and then not want to do it at all lol. Honestly they could have reduced the number of big poes from 10 down to even like… 8 and that would have made it less annoying to do.
Love the Ice Cavern soundtrack and visual design. My favorite place to just chill and spend time. And you can defeat Dark Link using Din's Fire, if you have tons of magic to spare.
This was the first video of yours that was recommended to me by TH-cam and honestly these are some of the best Zelda dungeon analysis videos out there! One thing I'd like to point out though is the message you get right before the boss with Morpha is actually Ruto speaking to you, not Navi. The game makes it not that obvious but Navi's text is always in blue. I'm able to breeze through the Water Temple now, but boy oh boy did it give me some trouble as kid. The biggest problem with this dungeon was literally just the Iron Boots. I feel like, if this had been play-tested some more and the boots were given an item slot initially, the Water Temple may not have been so notorious, especially considering the Great Bay Temple from Majora's Mask had the Zora mask that lets you sink and float at the press of a button. What's done is done though.
I totally agree with you. This is a great dungeon! The aesthetic and vibes are actually top notch (for me maybe only beaten by the Spirit Temple), but the immersion gets a bit tarnished by constantly having to menu to switch boots. If you just follow your map, you should be able to finish without excessive backtracking. And Dark Link is a series-defining (mini) boss. That being said, I'll never forget having a kid in my middle school class who acted as a "Water Temple Mercenary" for several of us, coming over to help you beat it if you were having trouble 😆
That final room in the Ice cavern always looked so cool. I love the layered star effect. I really wish it had been used elsewhere. As for the Water Temple? It is absolutely the most unique dungeon in the game. It's a puzzle. One big puzzle. It's truly the only "puzzle dungeon" in the game. It can be frustrating, but it's also awesome!
Also the ice cavern is here 😂 Great opening! I think it was very appropriate to tack the ice cavern onto the water temple video btw. 13 seconds 😂 I'm sorry, this is a reaction comment so I'm just laughing to myself a lot 😝 The water temple used to give me such a difficult time as a kid, so seeing the map in 3D was pretty cool! I never used Farore's wind though... RIP me 😂 again, love your observations on the music for the temple and I completely agree 😍 I LOVE YOUR SNICKER AT THE REALLY BAD JOKES 😂 Getting the compass early... Got that mind on the booty, I see 🏴☠️ agreed! Great job explaining how to get though. This series is really the best walkthrough I've ever seen!! 😜💚 DARK BURGER 🤣 Another great video, man! Keep em coming!!
DARK BURGER is the games hardest mini boss. 😂 Thanks T. Glad you enjoyed the video! It definitely gains its reputation as a hard dungeon from many people’s childhood struggles but it’s nice coming back to it now as an adult and seeing it in a new light!
Yo Burger, at 19:03 you say that Navi warns you about the water being dangerous. This is actually incorrect! Navi specifically only speaks to you in blue text. This is long known to instead be Ruto warning you. Cool little factoid I thought you might like if you haven't learned it by now. This also lends credence to the theory of the sages being dead in OoT, as Ruto possibly died fighting Morpha and yells out to warn you that there's more to the room than meets the eye.
Great insight! I'm guessing i used the map. I don't remember any struggles with Water Temple when i first played. It's my 2nd fave in this game (behind Forest).
I feel like the main reason I freak out and look up a guide online is because of the big open structure of temples like forest temple and water temple. My mind is Imeadiatly like "oh god but what if I use a key in the wrong spot"
The 3DS version of the temple is more tolerable due to the change toward the iron boot switching and indications of where to go to change the water level.
I love the water temple its so mysterious and complicated in a fun way and once u know it every other Zelda water temple is just as fun twilight Princess had my favorite water temple it was massive and was a throw back to ocarina of time in a way
When I was a kid I would always go get the bow and the hammer and then complete the water temple first, and this was in the late 90s, we didn't use the internet much back then, so it was a big surprise to me years later when I found out everyone hated this temple 😂
My #1 pick for best Zelda dungeon. #2 is Great Bay Temple. I inherently hate water levels, like many people, but this is designed perfectly. See when I inevitability forget a small key, I can only be mad at myself. When a keese knocks you off a ledge and you have to backtrack in an easy dungeon, I throw my controller turn off the game and grab a beer or seven. That's why the Shadow Temple disappoints me I like scary stuff but I could beat the Shadow Temple with a concussion (which I have)
As a kid, this dungeon was the bane of my existence! Now I find myself loving the challenge it presents, your vid actually got me to just get my copy of OOT going again, time to play this for the 100th time lol. So theory question from watching all your dungeon vids, do you think all the sages we awaken are actually dead? Darunia and Ruto we see, then they disappear and we don't see them again until the they give us the coins. Do you think they possibly got killed when they left us?
Out of the first three dungeons, i like the fire temple the most. The music(chanting version), the tone and theme of rescuing the Gorons from being eaten. The story behind the dungeon of an ancient dragon being revived and the forshadowing of an ancient hero defeating it with an ancient hammer. Red is my favorite color too, so i always rock that tunic for the rest of the game after the water temple. In terms of the design, it's simple and offers good challenge with platforming and enemies and the Dragon boss. The water temple is my least favorite unfortunately because it punishes you with backtracking too much, imo. Theres very little combat challenge in the first half, so its all about just finding those keys and holding onto them until you can get to the mini boss. The problem here is, unless you know you need two keys to keep advancing, you'll eventually hit a dead end or a key door and have to turn around and backtrack. The flow and pace of the dungeon can be excruciatingly slow for first time players. Constantly pausing to check the map, put on the iron boots, change items and going down holes to search for another key. Only to find out you can't advance without the dungeon item or you need to change the water level.... Thats the problem i have with the dungeon. I didn't do too bad when i replayed it again, but i lost paitence when i couldn't find the last key you need before Dark Link. Totally forgot about that little hidden hole in the center tower!
Me the key that i have forgot about is the one in the vertical corridor where Ruto is, with the bomb wall middle floor. but, the block at the beginning of the dungeon was something i have pull as soon as i have found it.
Fun fact about my favorite dungeon in this game, you can actually 100% the water temple before you even set foot in the fire temple. (I think you are also able to 100% the ice cavern before the forest temple as well)
Fun fact! At one point late in development, there was supposed to be another floor which would have added a top to the central tower as well as a bridge which would connect to another room (potentially the boss but I’m not sure)
Indeed. The fzero cartridge dump earlier this year showed a lot of earlier builds of dungeons and some of them are so strikingly different while still retaining their core identities. It’s truly fascinating stuff!
I think the biggest problem with this dungeon is the OoT engine itself. There's a few pathways that you can dive through and don't even need the iron boots, but the camera pretty much makes them a necessity anyways, making the awkward way of using them even more frustrating. But aside from that this dungeon is a great example of what a water dungeon should be
The main thing I hate about this dungeon is constantly pausing to equip the Iron Boots. Makes it so tedious... On the N64, that is. The 3DS version fixes this by making the Iron Boots a regular item you can just assign to an item slot. The 3DS Water Temple is a god tier dungeon for sure!
it is interesting how if this dungeon was replicated in majora's mask or twilight princess, then it could hurt the level design because opening chests removes the navigational restrictions. i also recommend din's fire which allows for sequence breaks.
so as mark brown said in his boss keys videos, i don't think that bombable wall near ruto is a bad thing because it adds a nice spatial reasoning puzzle.
I agree! My main issue with it is that many people will forget about it by the time they have changed the water level to the appropriate level. That said, if players pay close enough attention to their map then they should be able to sort it out in the end. The map really is your best friend in this dungeon.
@@CaptBurgerson absolutely. i remember doing several playthroughs in the water temple and usually forgetting about one small key. i even did some dungeon auditing where to see other navigational routes and other oversights. for example, you can get stuck in the longshot branch if you play farore's wind and not push the block that leads to the spin cycle room on the first floor after you drain the water level down to 1. i did not like how oot3d spoils the central room puzzle because you have the information already needed for the clue. for one, you are taught that the platforms rise from the water and two you can see one rising during the cutscene. also ice arrows are great for the blade trap room.
when i was a kid the absolute hardest part of the water temple was that slide going up to the boss door. i needed a fairy just for that. i am not good at video games
The only thing I hated about the water temple, is the constant pause>equip iron boots>unpause>move>pause>unequip iron boots>unpause>move>Repeat I was never thrown off by the path in the center tower, that is only accesible after raising the water level, like so many others were. I now play the dungeon without collecting the map and compass. Only way for the dungeon to be challenging.
20:01 and said concept kinda got revisited, the only differences being that the newer morpha not controlling water and actually being the opposite of uncanny and threatening
Fun fact: The Dark Link miniboss actually scales its health to how many heart containers you've collected. This makes him incredibly weak in a 3 heart run and very durable if you've grabbed every heart piece/container you could up to this point.
Believe it or not the water temple is actually my favorite dungeon in all of Zelda and I like for the exact reason most people don't because it's hard which makes me view it as a satisfying challenge
It isn't really the fault of the dungeon itself, but I think the primary reason I dread it on the N64 version is because of how much things get slowed down by constantly needing to go into the pause menu to equip and unequip the Iron Boots. In addition to the length and scale of the dungeon, it just leads to the whole experience feeling very slow and meandering. Still a fun temple, but certainly my least favourite adult dungeon.
If I were to redesign the Water Temple, I'd have made a more challenging and engaging boss than Morpha, whom I find to be less challenging than not only the Dark Link sub-boss (whom I'd have made into a normal boss instead), but also the Stalfos from the Forest Temple. Heck, I consider Barinade from Jabu-Jabu's Belly to be a more challenging and engaging boss than Morpha.
Water temple for sure has my favorite atmosphere out of all the dungeons with This dungeon for some reason makes me feel the most uncomfortable, like for some reason i feel like I'm constantly being watched exploring it.
I would recommend to not attack dark link and look what happen. I'm kinda surprised that almost no one seem to know what happens if you decide to not attack him.
I was hoping the water temple in tears of the kingdom would be like the water temple in ocarina of time. But no. It is cool how water temple in tears of the kingdom is in the sky.
Also, you can completely cheese the Dark Link fight if you use the Megaton hammer or Din's Fire, but where's the fun in that? Be a man, fight him the right way!
Out of all the water-like temples in The Zelda Series, I've found The Great Bay Temple in Majora's Mask to be more challenging than The Water Temple. Dark Link is probably the most difficult mini-boss in the game in my experience and definitely rivals the difficulty of most boss fights in OoT.
@@CaptBurgerson That’s what I said. It’s because you have a lot of hearts; he has all your hearts, which makes him hard. I beat the whole game 100%, so I had a lot of hearts by the time I played him. I think I lost once, but best him the second time I beat Morpha. The first time I actually lost to the dragon, like twice, before I figured out how to beat him again. Bongo Bongo can take a lot of health, plus if you fall off too.
Actually I think the reason why people don’t like this temple is because of that key in the central tower underneath that block, which I’m surprised you didn’t mention because that’s the key most people actually missed.
Could be. There’s two others I find are out of the way, but that’s never one I miss personally, since the block is shows to float up at that moment you raise the water level. Maybe it’s just me though?
I know this dungeon was mostly improved upon in the 3DS version due to the inventory changes and the green lights telling you where to go, but I'm a purist who prefers the N64 original, so I have to suffer more.
I absolutely respect your opinion on the Water Temple and I'm glad that you can manage to get some enjoyment out of it. That being said, the less I say about this dungeon, the better. I'm not going to delve into my problems with this dungeon specifically since they're common ones everyone's heard before. The vortex room and the room before the boss chamber in particular almost made me cry. Instead, I wanna focus on three specific things: the Ice Cavern, the temple boss and its mini-boss. You might be aware of this already, but the reason the Ice Cavern is so short and is just kind of... there is because it's actually the remnants of a scrapped Ice Temple. The Water Medallion was supposedly the Ice Medallion originally, hence why the pattern on it doesn't really correspond to the temple's element. This also explains why the Water Barrier room in Ganon's Castle is based on the Ice Cavern rather than the Water Temple. My guess is that the Ice Temple was removed due to either time or memory constraints. However, the Ice Temple apparently wasn't the only scrapped dungeon, but that's a comment for another video. At least we still got our Ice Temple in the form of Snowhead Temple in Majora's Mask! Now it's time for me to talk about every Zelda fan's favourite evil doppelgänger, Dark Link. We know so little about him and there's so many theories as to who or what he is, so I'm not gonna talk about that here. What I will say is: holy hell, did this guy beat my ass when I fought him. I normally consider myself pretty good at video games, but this guy was on a level of difficulty unlike anything else I encountered in both this game and Majora's Mask. His fight was by far the hardest in the game, even more so than the final boss. I must've spent a good 15 minutes or so trying and failing to even land a hit on him, only hitting him by complete accident or through sheer luck. He forced me to use all 3 of my fairies, and got my health down so low I was forced to use Din's Fire to finish him off. Miraculously, the attack actually hit him and he died in one hit from it. This fight felt like something straight out of Dark Souls, so do I just suck at the game? Regardless, he would have made for a much more climactic temple boss than Morpha. As for Morpha, I'm sorry, but this boss just sucks and is easily the worst one in the game, at least to me. Not only is its design boring and non-threatening, but the fight itself is actually insultingly basic and simple, which is in stark contrast to the temple that came before it. The thing is, if you manage to get grabbed by Morpha, you're subjected to a 15 second long cutscene of Link getting flailed around while you can't do anything to retaliate because that's fun, right? I guess Morpha's intro is kinda neat, but Gyorg from Majora's Mask, a much more interesting boss by comparison, has basically the same intro, so it doesn't even have that much going for it. Fun fact: it's a very common misconception that Navi is the one who warns you about the water in the boss room not being normal, but it's actually Ruto's disembodied voice speaking to you. It's not made very clear in game due to the lack of voice acting, but Navi's text is always coloured blue, so that's the only giveaway that it's not her speaking. Overall, I'm in the majority of people who dislike the Water Temple. Even the music, which is otherwise pretty nice, leaves a bad taste in my mouth due to my association of it with this dungeon. Next time, I'll be sure to follow your advice, and maybe then I can learn to appreciate whatever redeeming qualities this dungeon has. One last thing: if anyone tries to argue that this is the best dungeon in the game, you're objectively wrong.
I hear you, and while we may not agree on all of those points, I understand your sentiment here. But yes, I would not rate it as the best dungeon in the game either. That still goes to the forest temple, with spirit in a veryyyy near second for me.
Another channel called save data made dungeon analysis's on all of the OoT dungeons also so you might wanna check that out for more cool facts for your own series! Nice job Btw
I may go check those out after I finish making all of these. I don’t want their videos to sway my own opinion, and I definitely don’t want to copy their videos haha. But 100% always down for more Zelda videos
I really enjoy the Water Temple and I appreciate your dungeons videos on Ocarina Of Time because it was my first and favorite game, it is also how I got introduced to the zelda franchise. Speaking of OOT I actually want to share this video from this youtuber called 'Good Blood' with you because it showcases the sadness of link of how growing up to an Adult in real life can be both complicated and tragic. If you have already seen this, then I'm sorry! th-cam.com/video/GyUcwsjyd8Q/w-d-xo.html I also like to put this out there because I really didn't think about it about the Water Temple. When you battle Dark/Shadow Link, he is literally is fighting himself because I believe that Dark/Shadow Link in the series represents Link's Shadow Archetype (or if you another way to put it his Internal Black Dragon) if you use Mirror Symbolism and the Confrontation of the Shadow by Dr. Carl Jung's book called Aion. If anyone here interested in this topic I'll leave a link to this video! th-cam.com/video/I8PXS2_9f_w/w-d-xo.html Edit: If you're interested into videos of what instrument was used for the legend of zelda soundtracks, then you should check this playlist out from a Channel called Data Save, he's only made videos for Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, but this is worth it hopefully he'll make more videos for other zelda games! th-cam.com/play/PL4rx7GrY_xH9QJiP7K4MwI3upgVkYkMuS.html
The elephant in the room here is the Iron Boots issue for the original N64 version. Actual terrible design which sullies one of my favorite dungeons in the entire series, because man the atmosphere is top notch in here.
and that was a slow take down lol wolfos are stylistically nice enemies but not very engaging or challenging considering they have a 1 hit kill weakpoint
As a kid, the Water temple was my most feared/hated dungeon. Now when I do a play through of OoT, it's the one I'm the most excited for. That and the Forest Temple.
The Forest Temple music is so amusing
I love the water temple! It's actually my favorite dungeon in the game! As an aspiring game designer, I always nerd out on all the thought and design choices that the developers put into it!
I feel bad for all the young kids that got stuck in the water temple. My older brother beat the whole game without internet guides and I seriously don’t know how because I’ve had to use TH-cam multiple times in the past 4 weeks playing ocarina. Definitely had to use TH-cam a few times yesterday playing water temple for the first time
Getting this game when I was an internet-less 11 year old was a BLAST! I had so much fun and spent so many hours on trial and error. Whenever there was a level I couldn’t beat I would go to my friends house and his older brother would help me out. But the water temple was too hard and I didn’t have a guidebook either. I had volleyball practice after school so the only option I had was to give the cartridge to my friend for his brother to beat the level and give back to me. He did but I never got to see how it was done and I always felt like I cheated and I hated that feeling. A few years later when I realized there was gaming stuff online I looked it up and went back and beat it myself. But wow this one was hard for me without help as a kid lol
Hell yeah I remember those days when I would get stuck and I would have to get help from my friend from my friend’s older brother or from my older brother so before you two walk-throughs we had friends and older brothers that knew what to do with that could help you
I never understood the hate for this. I kind of think it’s just popular to rag on this temple at this point. I went back and played OoT about a year ago, my first time actually playing my own game without my older brother’s help back when I was like 10; and beat the water temple without guides in about an hour. Just hit every room, work from the bottom up…like you demonstrated in this video, there’s really only one or two options at a time. It’s not my favorite temple, but it always felt like any of the others personally. I get lost way more with the forest temple, but it’s still fun and rewarding once you finally figure out the puzzles. Thank you for this vid!
I love the water temple, though I realize that I was really into Metriodvanias then. I think that the issue is that the other dungeons, (besides the forest temple and maybe Jabu-Jabu?) were straight forward, basic dungeons with next to no navigational challenge, so players just weren't prepared for something this complex on their first play throughs.
The Water Temple is one of the harder temples in the game but I think the real problem that people have with it is mainly the keys and how most players miss at least one and have to backtrack through the dungeon to change the water level to get it. Also on the N64 changing the Iron Boots every couple seconds is nightmare inducing.
I think one of the major gripes I had upon my first Water Temple run was the scattering of the many rooms which made it a little difficult to remember where a certain area was located.
I only needed help when I didnt realize that there was a corridor UNDERNEATH the rising platform in the central tower once you’ve raised the water level
progression, for real this time. seems like the motto for a lot of countries
TOO REAL
I love the water temple, the music pulls it together and on the 3DS version with the updated boots mechanic, it’s much more enjoyable than the original. I’ve played through the original water temple maybe twice and it’s much worse on the older version. But on the newer edition of the game it’s always the dungeon I’m most excited for.
I remember playing this dungeon as a kid. It was so satisfying beating it because it was challenging. I never thought it was overly hard or frustrating. Though I might just have just been lucky enough to intuitively understand it on an Intuitive level
I've played OOT like 30 times and never noticed the reflection disappearing during dark link! Great videos!!
Why do you not have a million subscribers? Your videos are excellent! I love your sense of humor.
I’ve loved this series for a few months, and recently replayed Ocarina for the first time in three years. And the tips to break the dungeon down by floors and to use the damn map really helped! This dungeon rocks, and this video rocks too! Thank you!
I love the different perspective you give on the Water Temple! :) It was definitely difficult for me as a kid, like Tetra said, but the way you describe how to navigate it seems so obvious now haha! But, I will say, the challenge of it is great, and I truly think it (along with the rest of the strategy of this game) taught my tiny kid brain how to think strategically! That's incredibly cool, considering how back then so many people thought video games rotted your brain ;) I feel smarter after playing a Zelda game!! Awesome video Capt :)
Thanks Rin! It is definitely harder, and yeah when you know the right path it looks easy, but easier said than done right?
Either way, the fact we could get through it as kids means it pushed us just the right amount I think. Thanks for watching :)))))))
Just wanted to come here to say thank you. I've always loved this series for the deep dives and nostalgia, but I'm replaying oot on the Switch and knew immediately I was going to track down this video for the water temple. Still took me a few hours because I'm rusty, but I was so grateful to have this video as a guide. I know it takes a LONG time to do this for all the games but it's so valuable & I personally appreciate it!
This dungeon is hugely underrated. I don't get why people say that it's bad because it's hard. Hard isn't a bad thing. The game would be no fun if all the dungeons were Deku Trees
i used to hate this dungeon until after watching boss keys and not realizing what makes this dungeon really good. it is not without flaws but this was the first modern puzzle box dungeon in the series (eagle's tower was the grandfather of puzzlebox dungeons). the reason i did not like the dungeon was because of the iron boots which oot3d fixed, but it came with a price by adding more hand holding through color path and spoiling the central room puzzle.
So true. And when you do eventually find it out if you find it out by yourself it feels so good but I’m not gonna lie I have had to use TH-cam a couple times yesterday playing the water temple for the first time
agreed
I just hated it as a kid because I had a dumb kid brain. Playing the DS version as an adult, I finished it with an extra key 🤣.
The Deku Tree lol 😂 is so easy take like less then 10 mins to beat
18:16 Holy Hell! I never realized there was a bombable wall there to grab the box. I literally just cheesed the switch puzzle by stepping on it and quickly swimming towards the step. Link will automatically jump onto it.
I first played OoT as a college student, not a kid, and didn't understand why people had issues with the Water Temple. But at the time my playstyle was also to basically exhaust everything I could possibly do in one section of any game dungeon before I moved on to the next area, and the Water Temple was no exception. I didn't adjust the water level at all unless I was positive I'd done everything possible on that level first. As I recall, I didn't have to change the water level very much at all (playing once at each new Triforce I found, then once more to set the water level to where it needed to be for the boss).
Of course, I replayed the game for my kids 15 years later, got turned around and had to adjust the water level about twice as much as that first playthrough because I'd missed things. Then I understood why a lot of people had issues with it.
I understand a good deal of complaints with this dungeon. A major one you didn't mention in this video is the constant pausing and unpausing for the iron boots which thankfully they addressed in the 3ds remake.
I also feel another thing they should've done was give a different look to the spots that require the long shot. I'm sure many people wasted time trying to figure out where or how they needed to position themselves to hit hookshot points that were too far away since they look like all the other hookshot points. I can remember trying to jump to the platform and hookshot before the door closed to finish that block pushing puzzle multiple times before giving up and exploring elsewhere. It is at the beginning of the dungeon and I KNOW how to complete it, but it isn't super apparent to a new player that they don't have the correct tool yet.
Totally good point. I didn’t mention the iron boots thing because it honestly never bothered me too much, but also like you said, that issue is fixed in OOT3D.
I never thought about the hookshot vs long shot targets thing, though I also do remember trying to jump to that one platform with the eye switch only to never be fast enough. It is certainly something that could be better conveyed, but then later games did away with the long shot as an upgrade anyways.
@@CaptBurgerson I didn’t think of the hookshot thing either but maybe that’s because I spoiled the game for myself with a WW guidebook that had an Oot mini-guide at the end so I already knew about the longshot.
the water temple has a couple of flaws which could be easily fixed but in terms of navigational structure, i do think it might be the best N64 dungeon. also it makes good use of returning to previous explored rooms with the longshot. if i had to make some fixes, it would be to remove the eye switch in the snake room and instead have a floor switch while moving one of the locks to the blade trap room.
big fishy jabu jabu :p
After countless playthroughs, I still get lost in the water temple and that is very exciting and fun. When all the other dungeons feel stale, the water temple still makes me work for it
Thank you I was stuck for so long and I needed that bomb-able wall key... this series has been so helpful as I was first starting the game because sometimes what you need to do is not straightforward, like putting the blue fire in the empty bottle... I was trying to shoot arrows with it like you do normal fire lol
"I recommend having all 4 bottles to reduce backtracking"
Even though one of those bottles requires constantly backtracking between Hyrule Field and the Poe Collector's Ghost Shop 4-10 times lol
tbh that bottle should've been in Ice Cavern to alleviate the demand for empty bottles. In Randomizer I always set the Poe requirements to 1-4 since it's my least favorite side quest in the game.
I love the Water Temple but the bad rep is definitely a result of how punishing and unforgiving it is if You miss even a single key. Needing to loop the whole thing every time to check everything You can. Your method is definitely the right approach and was probably how I did it the first time (don't remember though.) But even I missed that Key hidden under the central pillar and the Camera didn't do enough to make it clear there was something mandatory down there. The 3DS version makes it blatantly obvious, but that is only fair considering how challenging this dungeon already is. These sort of curve-balls I feel are better suited for simpler dungeons when the dungeon starts to feel a little too easy. Keep the player on their toes when they don't have a lot to keep track of, You know?
Great video. Nice having these older video's to watch through :)
I agree, it’s my least favourite side quest as well, but for that reason I tend to try and get it done as early as possible tbh. Either that or I spread it out and just catch the poes while I’m already out in Hyrule Field for other reasons. Combining those, it makes the quest less tedious. Especially because I know if I don’t do it early in the adult portion of the game, I’ll put it off until I’m about to go to Ganon’s Castle and then not want to do it at all lol.
Honestly they could have reduced the number of big poes from 10 down to even like… 8 and that would have made it less annoying to do.
Love the Ice Cavern soundtrack and visual design. My favorite place to just chill and spend time.
And you can defeat Dark Link using Din's Fire, if you have tons of magic to spare.
I’m enjoying these so far 👏🏾
This was the first video of yours that was recommended to me by TH-cam and honestly these are some of the best Zelda dungeon analysis videos out there!
One thing I'd like to point out though is the message you get right before the boss with Morpha is actually Ruto speaking to you, not Navi. The game makes it not that obvious but Navi's text is always in blue.
I'm able to breeze through the Water Temple now, but boy oh boy did it give me some trouble as kid. The biggest problem with this dungeon was literally just the Iron Boots. I feel like, if this had been play-tested some more and the boots were given an item slot initially, the Water Temple may not have been so notorious, especially considering the Great Bay Temple from Majora's Mask had the Zora mask that lets you sink and float at the press of a button. What's done is done though.
I totally agree with you. This is a great dungeon! The aesthetic and vibes are actually top notch (for me maybe only beaten by the Spirit Temple), but the immersion gets a bit tarnished by constantly having to menu to switch boots. If you just follow your map, you should be able to finish without excessive backtracking. And Dark Link is a series-defining (mini) boss.
That being said, I'll never forget having a kid in my middle school class who acted as a "Water Temple Mercenary" for several of us, coming over to help you beat it if you were having trouble 😆
That final room in the Ice cavern always looked so cool. I love the layered star effect. I really wish it had been used elsewhere.
As for the Water Temple? It is absolutely the most unique dungeon in the game. It's a puzzle. One big puzzle. It's truly the only "puzzle dungeon" in the game. It can be frustrating, but it's also awesome!
Also the ice cavern is here 😂 Great opening! I think it was very appropriate to tack the ice cavern onto the water temple video btw. 13 seconds 😂 I'm sorry, this is a reaction comment so I'm just laughing to myself a lot 😝 The water temple used to give me such a difficult time as a kid, so seeing the map in 3D was pretty cool! I never used Farore's wind though... RIP me 😂 again, love your observations on the music for the temple and I completely agree 😍 I LOVE YOUR SNICKER AT THE REALLY BAD JOKES 😂 Getting the compass early... Got that mind on the booty, I see 🏴☠️ agreed! Great job explaining how to get though. This series is really the best walkthrough I've ever seen!! 😜💚 DARK BURGER 🤣 Another great video, man! Keep em coming!!
DARK BURGER is the games hardest mini boss. 😂
Thanks T. Glad you enjoyed the video! It definitely gains its reputation as a hard dungeon from many people’s childhood struggles but it’s nice coming back to it now as an adult and seeing it in a new light!
I seriously don’t know how my older brother beat the water temple back in 1999 with no internet guides or strategy book. Completely Baffles me
Good vid, I love the music in the Ice Cavern
Darn it, that longshot pun actually put a smirk on my face. I'm angry that I chuckled at that!
Yo Burger, at 19:03 you say that Navi warns you about the water being dangerous. This is actually incorrect! Navi specifically only speaks to you in blue text. This is long known to instead be Ruto warning you. Cool little factoid I thought you might like if you haven't learned it by now. This also lends credence to the theory of the sages being dead in OoT, as Ruto possibly died fighting Morpha and yells out to warn you that there's more to the room than meets the eye.
The Water Temple took me the longest to beat and was easily the most confusing. Which is exactly why it was my favorite dungeon in the game!
Glad to see Morpha getting some love. As a kid it was always creepy and cool at the same time.
Great insight! I'm guessing i used the map. I don't remember any struggles with Water Temple when i first played. It's my 2nd fave in this game (behind Forest).
I feel like the main reason I freak out and look up a guide online is because of the big open structure of temples like forest temple and water temple. My mind is Imeadiatly like "oh god but what if I use a key in the wrong spot"
Shiek saying she saved Ruto from under the ice is a lie. I do not believe her.
The 3DS version of the temple is more tolerable due to the change toward the iron boot switching and indications of where to go to change the water level.
I love the water temple its so mysterious and complicated in a fun way and once u know it every other Zelda water temple is just as fun twilight Princess had my favorite water temple it was massive and was a throw back to ocarina of time in a way
When I was a kid I would always go get the bow and the hammer and then complete the water temple first, and this was in the late 90s, we didn't use the internet much back then, so it was a big surprise to me years later when I found out everyone hated this temple 😂
My #1 pick for best Zelda dungeon. #2 is Great Bay Temple. I inherently hate water levels, like many people, but this is designed perfectly. See when I inevitability forget a small key, I can only be mad at myself. When a keese knocks you off a ledge and you have to backtrack in an easy dungeon, I throw my controller turn off the game and grab a beer or seven. That's why the Shadow Temple disappoints me I like scary stuff but I could beat the Shadow Temple with a concussion (which I have)
I tried thinking of a pun about puns to post a pun about how many puns you made, but couldn't. pun PUN!
As a kid, this dungeon was the bane of my existence! Now I find myself loving the challenge it presents, your vid actually got me to just get my copy of OOT going again, time to play this for the 100th time lol.
So theory question from watching all your dungeon vids, do you think all the sages we awaken are actually dead? Darunia and Ruto we see, then they disappear and we don't see them again until the they give us the coins. Do you think they possibly got killed when they left us?
It’s hard to say. I always thought they died when I was a kid, but now I’m not sure. 🤔
Just checked it out and subbed awesome job and nice channel 👍⭐
Great video Dan
you can use scarecrow's song at the spot where you raise the water to the highest level to make it easy to return to
Out of the first three dungeons, i like the fire temple the most. The music(chanting version), the tone and theme of rescuing the Gorons from being eaten. The story behind the dungeon of an ancient dragon being revived and the forshadowing of an ancient hero defeating it with an ancient hammer. Red is my favorite color too, so i always rock that tunic for the rest of the game after the water temple. In terms of the design, it's simple and offers good challenge with platforming and enemies and the Dragon boss.
The water temple is my least favorite unfortunately because it punishes you with backtracking too much, imo. Theres very little combat challenge in the first half, so its all about just finding those keys and holding onto them until you can get to the mini boss. The problem here is, unless you know you need two keys to keep advancing, you'll eventually hit a dead end or a key door and have to turn around and backtrack. The flow and pace of the dungeon can be excruciatingly slow for first time players. Constantly pausing to check the map, put on the iron boots, change items and going down holes to search for another key. Only to find out you can't advance without the dungeon item or you need to change the water level.... Thats the problem i have with the dungeon.
I didn't do too bad when i replayed it again, but i lost paitence when i couldn't find the last key you need before Dark Link. Totally forgot about that little hidden hole in the center tower!
Me the key that i have forgot about is the one in the vertical corridor where Ruto is, with the bomb wall middle floor. but, the block at the beginning of the dungeon was something i have pull as soon as i have found it.
Fun fact about my favorite dungeon in this game, you can actually 100% the water temple before you even set foot in the fire temple. (I think you are also able to 100% the ice cavern before the forest temple as well)
That is correct. I used to go out of my way to do the ice cavern early so I could wear the blue tunic sooner lol
Fun fact! At one point late in development, there was supposed to be another floor which would have added a top to the central tower as well as a bridge which would connect to another room (potentially the boss but I’m not sure)
Indeed. The fzero cartridge dump earlier this year showed a lot of earlier builds of dungeons and some of them are so strikingly different while still retaining their core identities. It’s truly fascinating stuff!
@@CaptBurgerson It is!
True story, I used "vortex" in a book I wrote in 5th grade and my teacher claimed I was making up fake words to use in my book.
Teaching license revoked
I think the biggest problem with this dungeon is the OoT engine itself. There's a few pathways that you can dive through and don't even need the iron boots, but the camera pretty much makes them a necessity anyways, making the awkward way of using them even more frustrating. But aside from that this dungeon is a great example of what a water dungeon should be
The main thing I hate about this dungeon is constantly pausing to equip the Iron Boots. Makes it so tedious...
On the N64, that is. The 3DS version fixes this by making the Iron Boots a regular item you can just assign to an item slot. The 3DS Water Temple is a god tier dungeon for sure!
That's more of a UI fault than a flaw in the dungeon itself, but you are correct that fixing that one issue really elevates the dungeon experience.
I love the daniel
I do not
Who doesn’t?
it is interesting how if this dungeon was replicated in majora's mask or twilight princess, then it could hurt the level design because opening chests removes the navigational restrictions. i also recommend din's fire which allows for sequence breaks.
so as mark brown said in his boss keys videos, i don't think that bombable wall near ruto is a bad thing because it adds a nice spatial reasoning puzzle.
I agree! My main issue with it is that many people will forget about it by the time they have changed the water level to the appropriate level.
That said, if players pay close enough attention to their map then they should be able to sort it out in the end. The map really is your best friend in this dungeon.
@@CaptBurgerson absolutely. i remember doing several playthroughs in the water temple and usually forgetting about one small key. i even did some dungeon auditing where to see other navigational routes and other oversights. for example, you can get stuck in the longshot branch if you play farore's wind and not push the block that leads to the spin cycle room on the first floor after you drain the water level down to 1. i did not like how oot3d spoils the central room puzzle because you have the information already needed for the clue. for one, you are taught that the platforms rise from the water and two you can see one rising during the cutscene. also ice arrows are great for the blade trap room.
when i was a kid the absolute hardest part of the water temple was that slide going up to the boss door. i needed a fairy just for that. i am not good at video games
The only thing I hated about the water temple, is the constant pause>equip iron boots>unpause>move>pause>unequip iron boots>unpause>move>Repeat
I was never thrown off by the path in the center tower, that is only accesible after raising the water level, like so many others were. I now play the dungeon without collecting the map and compass. Only way for the dungeon to be challenging.
20:01 and said concept kinda got revisited, the only differences being that the newer morpha not controlling water and actually being the opposite of uncanny and threatening
You gonna keep making these? I'm really looking forward to the videos for the last few dungeons.
Sure am! Stay tuned. Shadow temple one is coming soon, and Spirit Temple video is in the works! 😁
the strings instrument in the water temple is not a sitar, its either an oud or a balalaika
Good to know. Sitar was just my best guess really.
@@CaptBurgerson I was just excited I could name them enjoying the videos man keep it up
I've never forgotten a key in this dungeon, but I have gotten most of the way through before realizing I needed to have the bow to finish the dungeon.
Fun fact: The Dark Link miniboss actually scales its health to how many heart containers you've collected. This makes him incredibly weak in a 3 heart run and very durable if you've grabbed every heart piece/container you could up to this point.
Indeed he does. 16:30
Most don’t know that he has all your powers but the 3 heart challenge is extremely hard especially if a boss gets you one time
Favourite dungeon in the series probably
Has anyone mentioned that the megaton hammer also trivializes Dark Link?
I… I have somehow never even tried it!
@@CaptBurgerson Well, thank you for the awesome video. I'm defo subscribing and enjoy hammering Dark Link into oblivion.
3:50 I remember one time I accidentally jumpslashed as I walked in and spawnkilled the wolfos in one hit.
i know this video are for 2 years ago, but man, were did you find this magazines maps? this is awesome! * 0 *
Thanks, they are scans from old Prima Guides that I have
thanks! @@CaptBurgerson ❤
Believe it or not the water temple is actually my favorite dungeon in all of Zelda and I like for the exact reason most people don't because it's hard which makes me view it as a satisfying challenge
It isn't really the fault of the dungeon itself, but I think the primary reason I dread it on the N64 version is because of how much things get slowed down by constantly needing to go into the pause menu to equip and unequip the Iron Boots. In addition to the length and scale of the dungeon, it just leads to the whole experience feeling very slow and meandering. Still a fun temple, but certainly my least favourite adult dungeon.
Absolutely the boots switching is a UI issue, one that would be solved by later games and even this game’s remake.
If I were to redesign the Water Temple, I'd have made a more challenging and engaging boss than Morpha, whom I find to be less challenging than not only the Dark Link sub-boss (whom I'd have made into a normal boss instead), but also the Stalfos from the Forest Temple. Heck, I consider Barinade from Jabu-Jabu's Belly to be a more challenging and engaging boss than Morpha.
I laughed out loud at reading *Dark Burger*
20:17 - Really ended that temple with a splash! Hehe
I'm playing through the 3d version now and just finished the water temple. So fun and frustrating at the same time.
Water temple for sure has my favorite atmosphere out of all the dungeons with This dungeon for some reason makes me feel the most uncomfortable, like for some reason i feel like I'm constantly being watched exploring it.
I would recommend to not attack dark link and look what happen. I'm kinda surprised that almost no one seem to know what happens if you decide to not attack him.
I was hoping the water temple in tears of the kingdom would be like the water temple in ocarina of time. But no. It is cool how water temple in tears of the kingdom is in the sky.
Also, you can completely cheese the Dark Link fight if you use the Megaton hammer or Din's Fire, but where's the fun in that? Be a man, fight him the right way!
People complaining about the Water Temple is what got us the linear jokes we got in Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild.
$10 says the next one is the Shadow Temple
$10 lost. Bottom of the well is next.
Then shadow temple.
Okay you win $10.
Out of all the water-like temples in The Zelda Series, I've found The Great Bay Temple in Majora's Mask to be more challenging than The Water Temple. Dark Link is probably the most difficult mini-boss in the game in my experience and definitely rivals the difficulty of most boss fights in OoT.
Hands down yes to everything you said. Dark Link is harder than Morpha which is ironic considering he’s relegated to just a mid-boss.
@@CaptBurgerson Thanks. Yeah, it is ironic.
@@CaptBurgerson That’s what I said. It’s because you have a lot of hearts; he has all your hearts, which makes him hard. I beat the whole game 100%, so I had a lot of hearts by the time I played him. I think I lost once, but best him the second time I beat Morpha. The first time I actually lost to the dragon, like twice, before I figured out how to beat him again. Bongo Bongo can take a lot of health, plus if you fall off too.
Actually I think the reason why people don’t like this temple is because of that key in the central tower underneath that block, which I’m surprised you didn’t mention because that’s the key most people actually missed.
Could be. There’s two others I find are out of the way, but that’s never one I miss personally, since the block is shows to float up at that moment you raise the water level. Maybe it’s just me though?
I know this dungeon was mostly improved upon in the 3DS version due to the inventory changes and the green lights telling you where to go, but I'm a purist who prefers the N64 original, so I have to suffer more.
Yo sup burger.
Edit: Don’t hate me but when I was replaying OoT I bought the blue flame in the medicine shop ahead of time to get the blue tunic. lol
Lmao no hate here. I used to always do that too so I could get the biggoron sword early
Dark Burger is definitely the best miniboss ever goro
My ONLY issue with this temple is the annoying way it makes me switch from the iron boots to the normal one EVERY TIME it killed the pacing for me.
The water temple for me is that the pause menu is so sluggish in this segment.
I absolutely respect your opinion on the Water Temple and I'm glad that you can manage to get some enjoyment out of it. That being said, the less I say about this dungeon, the better. I'm not going to delve into my problems with this dungeon specifically since they're common ones everyone's heard before. The vortex room and the room before the boss chamber in particular almost made me cry. Instead, I wanna focus on three specific things: the Ice Cavern, the temple boss and its mini-boss.
You might be aware of this already, but the reason the Ice Cavern is so short and is just kind of... there is because it's actually the remnants of a scrapped Ice Temple. The Water Medallion was supposedly the Ice Medallion originally, hence why the pattern on it doesn't really correspond to the temple's element. This also explains why the Water Barrier room in Ganon's Castle is based on the Ice Cavern rather than the Water Temple. My guess is that the Ice Temple was removed due to either time or memory constraints. However, the Ice Temple apparently wasn't the only scrapped dungeon, but that's a comment for another video. At least we still got our Ice Temple in the form of Snowhead Temple in Majora's Mask!
Now it's time for me to talk about every Zelda fan's favourite evil doppelgänger, Dark Link. We know so little about him and there's so many theories as to who or what he is, so I'm not gonna talk about that here. What I will say is: holy hell, did this guy beat my ass when I fought him. I normally consider myself pretty good at video games, but this guy was on a level of difficulty unlike anything else I encountered in both this game and Majora's Mask. His fight was by far the hardest in the game, even more so than the final boss. I must've spent a good 15 minutes or so trying and failing to even land a hit on him, only hitting him by complete accident or through sheer luck. He forced me to use all 3 of my fairies, and got my health down so low I was forced to use Din's Fire to finish him off. Miraculously, the attack actually hit him and he died in one hit from it. This fight felt like something straight out of Dark Souls, so do I just suck at the game? Regardless, he would have made for a much more climactic temple boss than Morpha.
As for Morpha, I'm sorry, but this boss just sucks and is easily the worst one in the game, at least to me. Not only is its design boring and non-threatening, but the fight itself is actually insultingly basic and simple, which is in stark contrast to the temple that came before it. The thing is, if you manage to get grabbed by Morpha, you're subjected to a 15 second long cutscene of Link getting flailed around while you can't do anything to retaliate because that's fun, right? I guess Morpha's intro is kinda neat, but Gyorg from Majora's Mask, a much more interesting boss by comparison, has basically the same intro, so it doesn't even have that much going for it.
Fun fact: it's a very common misconception that Navi is the one who warns you about the water in the boss room not being normal, but it's actually Ruto's disembodied voice speaking to you. It's not made very clear in game due to the lack of voice acting, but Navi's text is always coloured blue, so that's the only giveaway that it's not her speaking.
Overall, I'm in the majority of people who dislike the Water Temple. Even the music, which is otherwise pretty nice, leaves a bad taste in my mouth due to my association of it with this dungeon. Next time, I'll be sure to follow your advice, and maybe then I can learn to appreciate whatever redeeming qualities this dungeon has.
One last thing: if anyone tries to argue that this is the best dungeon in the game, you're objectively wrong.
I hear you, and while we may not agree on all of those points, I understand your sentiment here.
But yes, I would not rate it as the best dungeon in the game either. That still goes to the forest temple, with spirit in a veryyyy near second for me.
Another channel called save data made dungeon analysis's on all of the OoT dungeons also so you might wanna check that out for more cool facts for your own series!
Nice job Btw
I may go check those out after I finish making all of these. I don’t want their videos to sway my own opinion, and I definitely don’t want to copy their videos haha. But 100% always down for more Zelda videos
@@CaptBurgerson Okay, just trying to help!
@@keatonmaster6448 totally dude. I have no doubt I’ll like their videos!
I really enjoy the Water Temple and I appreciate your dungeons videos on Ocarina Of Time because it was my first and favorite game, it is also how I got introduced to the zelda franchise. Speaking of OOT I actually want to share this video from this youtuber called 'Good Blood' with you because it showcases the sadness of link of how growing up to an Adult in real life can be both complicated and tragic. If you have already seen this, then I'm sorry!
th-cam.com/video/GyUcwsjyd8Q/w-d-xo.html
I also like to put this out there because I really didn't think about it about the Water Temple. When you battle Dark/Shadow Link, he is literally is fighting himself because I believe that Dark/Shadow Link in the series represents Link's Shadow Archetype (or if you another way to put it his Internal Black Dragon) if you use Mirror Symbolism and the Confrontation of the Shadow by Dr. Carl Jung's book called Aion. If anyone here interested in this topic I'll leave a link to this video!
th-cam.com/video/I8PXS2_9f_w/w-d-xo.html
Edit: If you're interested into videos of what instrument was used for the legend of zelda soundtracks, then you should check this playlist out from a Channel called Data Save, he's only made videos for Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, but this is worth it hopefully he'll make more videos for other zelda games!
th-cam.com/play/PL4rx7GrY_xH9QJiP7K4MwI3upgVkYkMuS.html
The elephant in the room here is the Iron Boots issue for the original N64 version.
Actual terrible design which sullies one of my favorite dungeons in the entire series, because man the atmosphere is top notch in here.
Din’s fire is another hack to dark link
botw2 better have a gazilion dungeons cause im watching people talk about playing dungeons and thats what anxiety does to me :)
Beware the Water Temple and it's dreaded mid-boss, Dark Burger.
wait are people saying its a bad temple ? i thought we all agreed this game is flawless, the WT is just a bit frustrating
The hardest dungeon by far but one of the prettiest ones too
Best temple. It made all the rest look pretty linear.
and that was a slow take down lol
wolfos are stylistically nice enemies
but not very engaging or challenging considering they have a 1 hit kill weakpoint
Definitely have a love hate relationship with the Water Temple its way better on the 3ds version
This temple is a lot more fun in Master Quest imo.