what blows my mind about super mario 64 & ocarina of time, is how nintendo not only nailed 3d gaming on their first attempt ... they created the blueprint that all games, even today, still follow.
I hate some of their business practices but Nintendo really is the best dev team out there. Every big game they make they absolutely nail , it’s an astonishing track record
@@mookiestewart3776 After so many years too. I mean they’re one of the longest running devs around, and they’ve pumped out a masterpiece for I think every single generation of consoles since they joined the market
Agreed mind blowing how they weren’t from super Mario bros to this/ like how?!? How does your brain go from that to making something this complex and amazing.
@@mikemcmike6427 I think this is what they wanted for Super Mario 64 but hadn't got what 3D gaming should be. The amazing step forward comes with practice makes perfect.
Christmas 98 will Forever be a favorite of mine. Getting this game and staying up late or enjoying a snow day while on a landline telephone with friends while trying to figure out what to do next is a memory I’ll cherish forever. How incredible was it to have this game, Pokémon red and blue and game boy color all on the same Christmas break. I was a lucky kid.
You have to take yourself back to 1998. This game was one of the most impressive things I had ever seen. This is the first game as a kid that I remember being completely blown away with the visuals.
Agreed. I grew up with the original zelda. So seeing 98 zelda intro after turning the system on for 1st time, it just looked great! .... but I also thought mario kart 64 couldn't look any better than that b4 then lol
Yea it was completely mind blowing at the time. One specific thing was when I remember especially seeing the way the Spiritual Stones were kind of translucent I was like how did they do that?!
I’ll never be able to recapture the nostalgic feeling of this video game… but I remember it was the greatest time of my life. Thank you for the nostalgia trip ❤️
I still remember my cousin and I taking turns to beat OoT. Great times forever ago. We each had different ideas on how to solve puzzles. I play it at least once every year.
@@justaman3817 i tried but for me it felt really dated.. However I can still play link to the past.. For me that game has aged better.. Both masterpieces though..
The score of this game was perfect. You could feel the game intensifying as you get closer to danger. I remember that Forest Temple being so spooky and so odd. Then they added time travel which was different from a Link to the Past’s dimensional travel. I hope TOTK has dimensional travel.
Forest temple theme music was in my opinion trippy like progressive rock music of the seventies. Perfectly executed in the context of the environment. Some of the more obscure Led Zeppelin jams. It's amazing how Koji Kondo's mind worked.
I remember that first time you leave the forest, and the camera pans across Hyrule Field. Games during this time period generally did not have the same feel of vastness
While I can respect Ocarina of Time for setting some 3D standards and features as a frontrunner, I wouldn't say it excelled at making the world feel large more than any of the 2D Zeldas that came before, especially not A Link to the Past. Part of the problem is how we lost the density that said former games had, with LTTP and Link's Awakening. Ocarina of Time's Hyrule Field has a lot of space, but virtually nothing to fill that space. So a lot of it is really just space for the sake of space, rather than being worthwhile space. The second portion of the problem was just how linear Ocarina of Time was. You can walk to a lot of areas just after leaving Kokiri Forest, but you can't feasibly do anything, nor do you see much of anything, due to how empty the areas are. Which was lacking compared to LTTP, where the moment you leave the Sanctuary, you have not only lots of dense areas you can reach, but also feasibly find things in before even heading to the first dungeon. A complete sweep of items and upgrades you can reach in LTTP before the first dungeon include: 5 pieces of heart (Lost Woods, Swamp Drain, 2 in Kakariko Village, 1 in Eastern Hyrule), 2 Bottles (Kakariko Village), the Bug Net (Kakariko Village), bombs (Kakariko Village), the Ice Rod (Eastern Hyrule) and Magic Powder (Lost Woods + Eastern Hyrule). Not only that, but there's a whole variety of enemies you'll face along the way, with different tactics and such. In OoT, the only enemy you'll encounter during the day, if you even walk near them, are the peahats. Otherwise, at night, it's just the skull dudes rising out of the ground, who are so slow you'll just walk right past them anyway. I will reiterate though, I do believe OoT was innovative in the 3D firsts it accomplishes, like Z-Targetting, but when compared to even the prior 2D Zeldas, you can see where some of its other shortcomings stem from.
The moment that got me is when your character grows up and returns to his hometown and everyone else looks the same. Nothing else compared to that moment.
@ewqiop That's fair; I guess it just wasn't enough to captivate me in the same way, since I played both LTTP and LA before I played OoT, as well as Zelda 1. The empty overworld was the first thing that struck me as odd, since it was such a big contrast compared to the previous games.
that's so cool that the fairies, goron rolling into a ball and Zora's popping up from under water was a creative way to fit on the hardware.. it comes off so naturally
"Best" is completely subjective. I consider this the best game ever made. Played it through more than any other. You really highlighted how limitation led to innovation and personality in regards to character design. OOT will forever be a game fondly remembered for so many of us.
There was a rockstar lead dev that once said “anyone that makes 3d games and says they haven’t to borrowed something from Mario 64 and ocarina is lying “ lol
I still, TODAY, like playing OOT better than BOTW. I feel like BOTW is too empty- OOT is the perfect amount of “epic and big, but not empty at all and rich with meaningful things to do”
@@charlesg7926 I love the 3d Zelda games, but hate BotW. OoT is my favourite in the series. I think developers these days try to one-up each other all the time with having a vast world to explore, but what is the reward for exploring in BotW? Not anything really... Sure, you have the towers that let you do a small puzzle, but they just feel like chorse scattered across the world. The game just lacks good dungeons with a sense of really being on an adventure. Don't get me started on breakable weapons... I guess my point is that the developers seem to be stuck in what sounds really cool on paper "A vast world filled with countless challenges, allowing you to equip the weapon of your choice, letting you choose your own adventure and making choices matter". In reality it turns out to be a rather empty world, almost no sense of a story and overall just a not very fun game. That's all for my rant.
I think this is the best video game ever made. It has everything in one game. I love many games, but I still have not played a game that gave me the ultimate gaming experience as this game did. If I had to pick one game to keep, it would be this game.
No game has ever gave me a huge sense of adventure than OoT. It was so new for it's time. After the N64, I ended up getting a PS2 and the closest game that ever gave me a good sense of adventure was probably Shadow of the Colossus... but not in the way Zelda: Ocarina of Time did. Sometimes, I'll watch live streams of this game and it gives me a good sense of nostalgia, but it will never be the same as when I was a kid playing this for the first time. I almost feel bad for the kids growing up now with video games because they didn't get to experience it
I remember looking up the different games lists for both on a ROM site. There were like 80 games for N64 on there and 80% were good. There were 100 or so games for PS1 but only about 50% were good. People must have jumped on to that bandwagon because of RPGs and the CD format but I'm glad I got the N64 as a kid because I thought I missed out for the longest time. Ocarina of Time, Super Smash Brothers, Banjo, Conker, Diddy Kong Racing, etc. Great times!
Want to know what the funniest thing about OOT is? That game had cut content. There was supposed to be a "wind temple" and a full temple of time dungeon. If you look closely above the door in the forest temple, there's wind symbols, so I'm guessing thats where the wind temple was originally supposed to be located. Basically, OOT is like 85% finished, and its still one of the best 3D and N64 games out there.
Atmosphere and Sound Design are honestly pretty unmatched with this game, even to this day it still boggles my mind how crazy well this game Develops it's Atmosphere and the devs were so careful with how they engineered the Sound design...it still outclasses games even today with those elements, among other things. Masterpeice.
I can still here the skull spiders' sound... very creepy, I remember being scared even tho they were static npcs that didn't attack you or anything haha, just for the sound design
This video most certainly deserves a lot more views than the actual sequelitis by Egoraptor... You obviously put so much more effort into representing the game fairly than he did. Great job. 👍
Sequelitis is less of a video essay, more of a freeform rant. I agree that this video is excellent, but I don't think they can necessarily be compared. I think sequelitis is better compared to things like AVGN
@@this_is_diamond_rot Like it or not, people form their opinion due to Sequelitis. Erin is also using objective language in these videos. He also acts really mean towards Skyward Sword fans...or 3D Zelda fans in general. Also, a lot of his points in that video were just pure incompetence or straight up provably false. It doesn't really matter if it's a rant or a review, he is wrong on many many things either way and uses really condescending language. And again: People actually took his opinions seriously back in the day...
@@tadaokou4919 I think the last thing you said is the real problem. It was never meant to be taken seriously. Like I said it's comparable to things like AVGN. The nerd calls developers of bad games horrible names, but James rolfe respects what goes into the making
@@this_is_diamond_rot And why exactly do you think it should not be taken seriously or Erin doesn't want his opinion to be the public common opinion? That contradicts the language he uses and things he states in Gamegrumps. Erin usually is pretty aggressive about opinions which differ from his own, even going as far as to dox someone who just simply wrote a guide for Skyward Sword. Your comment is basically not supported by Erins own actions and statements.
I was 6 years old when ocarina of time came into my possesion in 98'. I probably have not been more musically influenced by anything and I am a huge music nerd, but those beautiful melodies that were present built the foundation for me of emotion in music.
What can I say that hasn't been said before? I like how the torches crackle. Most nostalgic sound. I'm disappointed they don't make any noise at all in BotW and TotK.
I remember playing the game my first time and when I pulled the Master Sword was totally blown away to find Link 7 years older. Also the Water Temple for me was one of my favorite temples ever.
@@fabisayshi lol I never understood why people found the water temple so confusing. I personally though it was staight forward. I get the part about having to pause menu to put on and take off the iron boots but that never botherd me like it did for other people.
I owned an n64 as a kid but never played Ocarina of Time. I just completed a few days ago my first playthrough and man I missed out big time as a child. This game is still great. I had always heard tons of bad things about the water temple and yes the iron boot issue was a bit annoying but overall I still thought it was a fun temple. I definitely see why this game even until this day is considered one of the best games of all time. Great video too, subscribed for more content!
Dark link is still the best thing about the water temple. I think changing the water level was pretty annoying because you had to traverse to 3 different locations, over and over to change the water level. Took me over 2 weeks to beat that dungeon on the 1st try.
One of the best retrospective analysis of this game I've heard so far. I couldn't agree more. It was a technological marvel combined with remarkable contextual music and imagination. It's an exemplary work of art in this medium and despite it's limitations compared to modern hardware it still retains it's own unique charm. Timeless!
I’ve been playing videogames for over 20 years now and nothing comes close to the sense of awe and wonder I felt at experiencing this game for the first time as a kid. Thank you Nintendo.
This channel has some of the best gaming retrospectives I've seen on this site, and I've seen a whole lot more than I'd normally want to admit at this point. Very few go into this level of analysis of the mechanics and how it relates to the worldbuilding, story and characters, not to say placing them in their proper historical context with technical limitations etc. And it's refreshing to not have the usual "yeah, I know what you're thinking, but hear me out..." and constant reference, repeat and/or rebuttal to some percieved shared consensus around how one ought to feel about a game. Just open-minded, sharp immersion into a lens of how the design process might have played out.
That water dungeon did me dirty as a kid lol i always felt like someone was always sabotaging me but looking back at it , it just made me panic a lot , plus i didnt have the best concept of videos games always getting more challenging, i didn’t expect challenges after challenges to that extent
I remember one time playing in the water dungeon and also had that same eerie feeling. I looked straight up to have a spider in the process of landing on me. I about jumped out of my chair, scared the crap out of me!
I swung an SNES controller by the cord against my bedroom floor, breaking it into several pieces out of a fit of rage over that dadgum dungeon. It was Superbowl Sunday and the Broncos were playing the Packers and I was missing the game because I was stuck at the part where you had to navigate Link through a narrow and shallow river with essentially unseeable pits. I HATED that part.
I really want a remastered OOT with modern graphics and improved gameplay mechanics while still staying close to the source material, I think it would be really cool to see and it would be a good opportunity for newer fans to play it without needing an n64/3ds
There were so many moments in this game that made a huge impact on me as a child. Everything from the scope, story, sense of adventure, and feeling anything was possible. Endless possibilities and beautiful/breathtaking landscapes that captured my imagination. It is one of the reasons why I, too, this day love going out in the woods or open fields and go off on one of my own adventures. This game will never age as it is timeless.
This game is so much legendary, that even I, a boy of the year 2000 who didn't grow up with the Zelda franchise through his childhood, felt nostalgia when I first finished to experience the game through the 3DS remake.
What? No mention of Ocarina of Time 3D for the 3DS? It's the absolute best way to play this game. The second screen is a stroke of genius (and means you can have 4 active items equipped instead of 3), tilt aiming is a dream come true, and they made the Iron Boots and Hover Boots items instead of equipment, so you can just toggle them on and off without pausing. Basically every major flaw with the N64 original was corrected, and it's a straight-up masterpiece.
The 3DS games are abominations on an underdeveloped handheld. MM especially. The only better thing in OoT 3DS is the better implementation of the iron boots and by this a better pacing in the water temple.
Yeah you can't even call it the same masterpiece that won all those awards and reputation. Completely different beast. In the 3ds the aspect ratio is smaller because they had to fit this game on a handheld... Plus they changed the fps to faster janky animations making everything look terrible and poorly paced by comparison. Aside from that the original aesthetic was much more realistic and dark and cinematic whereas the 3ds made everything baby bright colors that completely destroys the tone of the game and the grittiness. Not to mention all the censorship that took away from this game's mature audience. 3ds is sanitized and sterile. Lifeless and non-offensive rather than bold an unapologetic and real like in the 64 original. The cinematic cutscenes have also been changed to new questionable angles that throw off the focus of the story and objectives. Also changing the 3d models wasn't such a good idea because again they don't match up with everything else but also have poorly synchronized timing making it stand out in a really bad way. It doesn't fit the rest of the game. The original models fit better in this gaming world because that's what they were intentionally made for. The box art is NOT the same thing as the in-game art. One is for promotion and the other is optimized for the game experience!!! ☝️ Just compare the master sword scene and you'll clearly see link gripping an awkward sword in the 3ds vs the correct logical geometric size in the 64 original. You can even see the difference in shading! The 64 version of the master sword is far more brilliant and shiny whereas the 3ds is muted for some reason and poorly highlights the environment cinematography. For some reason this area is poorly lit and dank. The original had more cinematic lighting that resembled a real medieval church!! You don't really notice any of this unless you pay close attention but once you see it it's impossible to unsee. If you like the 3ds more than I recommend you don't compare the 2 side by side because it's gonna ruin it for you. ✌️
Never have I heard such a reasonable and well worded take on the "best game ever or not" part of this games legacy, I think that just about anyone that has played it can agree with what you said. Loved the video! Just started replaying it after years and I don't even notice the older graphics because the atmosphere (mostly due to sound design in my humble opinion) is just so gripping
You're back!!! I always get excited whenever your uploads pop-up in my feed, because the amount of love you put in your videos can be seen from a mile away.
LoZ OoT is the best game of all time I fell in love with the game the moment you hear the opening melody and see Link riding his horse across Hyrule Field.
The PlayStation and Nintendo 64 had a slew of great games that came out at the end of the millennium. You had Final Fantasy 7, Resident Evil 2, Syphonfilter, GoldenEye 007, Silent Hill, Super Mario 64, and The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. There were others obviously but those were the big 7 in my opinion. OOT was groundbreaking when it came out and I was blown away by the graphics and game play in 1998. Gen Y, Gen X, and Xennials had the best child teen years of all time!
I remember getting this for Christmas as a kid. Christmas break I was getting up at 4am to start playing. I think this and Symphony of the night were my favorite gaming experiences.
While other Zelda games [or other games I guess], do some things better than Ocarina, this game is in my top 3 for how much it managed to do for its time and link everything about the world, puzzles and so on so organically and just make it generally fun to play. Even after completing it once again for a Viddy Plays project, it still is amazing.
I agree. And I feel like this Zelda (OOT) had the very best dungeons/temples, too, along with having the best story. And it carefully blended excitement, adventure, and terror (in shadow temple or well)
This game is so good that simply by having the game's soundtrack playing in the background as you talked lent the weight of nostalgia to everything you were saying. The only part I disagreed with was regarding 'Dark Link' whose difficulty I think was both perfect and important. Dark Link, a mirror reflection of real Link, being strong meant Link was also strong. Add to the horror of your mirror reflection coming to life, and the uncanny valley that was Dark Link's battle arena, I always considered Dark Link to be something of a secondary antagonist in OoT
I think the key point is that the fight isn't particularly dynamic. It *is* possible to hit him by doing a jump attack an then quickly striking, but for the most part the clear methods are some sort of cheese strat (spin, din's fire, megaton hammer/biggoron's sword).
I only started playing OoT late last year, and the thing that struck me immediately is how you can actively use the shield. In pretty much every other game I've played the shield is just there, you press block and the guy raises the shield, and maybe you can bash with it as well. But OoT lets you move the shield around as long as you're not locked on, which led to some of the most epic combat I've ever had in a game as I frantically angled the shield to ward off multiple attacks.
I remember back in the day early websites actually had real life music that was translated into the game's C button system so you could play pop/rock music on your Ocarina. You can also change the pitch etc by using the joystick when playing.
I remember playing this game on Christmas break 1998. Didn't know anything about Zelda, had zero expectations. Fast forward to today, it's my favorite game of all time. That was probably my favorite Christmas break of all time, too. Thanks for the video.
Great video, agreed with all your points! Navi becoming a meme really underscores how much of a genius idea her inclusion was. She's your companion character, your quest log, she sways your attention towards characters and secrets, but most importantly using her as a targeting system for combat allowing to focus on enemies one at the time, also deepening the move set that Link has while fighting was MASSIVE for 3D gaming. Like you said, from OoT to Elden Ring 25 years later, countless games decided to make use of the targeting system that was introduced here. Just amazing! Plus, I dunno for you guys, but as a kid when I picked up the master sword and realized what Hyrule had become, I was kinda glad she was with me. Nintendo really are the masters of game design when it comes to implementing new and fun mechanics in an intuitive immersive way. I couldn't imagine the N64 Zelda titles without fairies, just as Mario Odyssey wouldn't be a thing without Cappy!
Navi doesn't get the credit she deserves. Name a single OoT player who doesn't love Z targeting. Without Navi, no Z targeting. You learn that vs Ganondorf at the end of the game.
You know why this game is still great even by today's standards? Because it doesnt have any bullshit. It doesnt have a giant empty open world that takes 200 hours to explore, no 45 minute cutscenes, no overly convoluted story a fandom tries to make sense of, no tutorials 15 hours into the game, no mindless sidequests that just serve to waste time, no generic user interfaces that all look like the same boring stuff Ubisoft has been shitting out for the past decade, no microtransactions, no 3 games sold seperately, it doesnt outstay its welcome, it is just a great compact package, an enjoyable fully fledged experience all around, just a great fucking videogame. That's why.
Though by today's standards it does have a jenk camera and lock on system, jenk controls, a pointlessly empty open space in hyrule field, and obtuse and not great dungeon design 🥴
@@Argenta_RosaI think that’s a to each their own thing. I loved it growing up and though going back it still has its fair share of jank, its puzzles are still interesting and (most of them) are creative. It delivers a fairly basic coming of age story with basic but entertaining characters and a world with some charm and depth to it. It’s shown its age but I definitely wouldn’t say it wasn’t engaging IMO.
Yup. Pacing is strangely not talked about very often in video games. Some games like OoT don't have the best camera or combat, but it never feels like my time is being wasted and I'm almost always engaged by what's going on. Resident Evil 4 and Half-Life 2 are other examples. They've been surpassed on a mechanical level by later games, but it doesn't matter because they're paced better.
Oot was my first game that got me absolutely hooked to gaming. Was not my first game played but man it was definitely my absolute favorites. And I was so young it took me sooooo long to beat it for the first time. Plus the first year or 2 of playing it I had to rent it on the weekends. Then just dream of it for the rest of the week until I finally got it for Christmas. Then.... RuneScape 2 came out on internet and in 2004 it sealed my fate. Just pure nerd for ever 😅
There's a million things that are so good about this game but the music and emotion put into this game are incredible. Like what game beats that simple and beautiful main menu with that peaceful music? and each area gives you the emotion through the music whether it's scary or safe. the attention to details was top notch.
I was gifted this game for my 9th birthday and it has influenced so much of the games I've loved ever since. It holds a soft spot in my heart and I am very thankful to have experienced this game when I did.
This video is really awesome but I just need to say this... 17:17 > "Having all of your defensive moves and more, Dark Link far outmatches the player in terms of capabilities." This, to me is what makes Dark Link such an amazing fight. But to each their own of course. Loved how you compare the UI and gameplay mechanics to games coming out today and being the similar. Really really cool video
As a kid who stood in line for 2 hours to play 10 min before launch back in 1998- its very hard to explain the insane hype of the game. Just here in Sweden I had only seen 3-4 screenshot of the game itself. I think people forget that sometimes. We had no idea how it would sound or look while playing it or how it would actually play now in 3D. And yes, it was eye candy for its day- the wow factor of the graphic is not to be dismissed. But I also think it ties into with it, just like final fantasy 7 was in europe, a christmas game.
Thank you for this. You explained soo well why this game was soo revolutionary in its time. People often misunderstand this and dismiss our appreciation as nostalgia.
17:05 It DOEs work. This fight is not supposed to be cheesed with the Megaton Hammer. You're supposed to alternate between horizontal and vertical swings. After 8 or 9 clashes of swords, Dark Link will stagger a little longer than usual, which will allow you to hit him with your next swing. If impatient players (Arin Hanson, I'm looking at you) took 5 freaking seconds to actually listen to Navi for a change they would know this: "Conquer yourself!" This is a yin vs yang trope. It's said right from the beginning that you're supposed to beat Dark Link with nothing but the Master Sword.
If you throw a deku nut to the right or left of him you can stun him and hit him with a jump slash. Or you can use the biggoron's sword, which dark link doesn't know how to counter
I think it's pretty important to highlight what was said here: 8:00 - 8:45. I think a LOT of today's more action-adventure focused games just don't do what Zelda OoT did nearly as well. That positive reinforcement. Not only are most of the game's mechanics easily practicable in a variety of intelligent ways (through mini games) to help you master them, but the positive reinforcement ensures you're always willing to retry and engage with it without sheer frustration setting in. Most of those minigames and side activities always reward with something (usually rupees) but if done well give even better rewards. This gives a sort of interesting illusion that a lot of modern games kind of fail to get. Like yes, you "pay" to play these mini-games often times, but what you pay in you often get back or more, even if you technically fail as long as you do decent enough. This means that you have a "technical" fail state, but it's seldom ever really consequential and so most people get that sense of stakes but without the really harsh and annoying penalty of having to go farm to try again. Personally, I think many games, even some of the more popular ones these days just don't do this or do so pretty poorly. It's either a completely trivial tutorial that's almost meaningless and doesn't represent what the game will throw at you or some ridiculous challenge that's completely binary with no in-between positive reinforcement mechanism to avoid frustration. So often what happens is you'll have people drop them half way through or else just say those games are too frustrating to finish. Because they often take the stick approach (negative reinforcement). I think it'd be really helpful and more enjoyable to see more games integrate sidequests as more obvious, meaningful ways to improving the player's experience and skill with a game's mechanics while also implementing these kinds of interesting, well-thought out positive reinforcements. The reason this works in OoT and not some other games that do attempt it is because the "positive reinforcement" is often some form of MTX money which isn't really immediately useful until you've grinded it for dozens of hours. In OoT the amount is always immediately useful either to retry, raise more than you lost to get some other item(s) at a nearby shop or gain some powerup when you do succeed, thus completing the activity while also preparing you for other things in the game.
21:19 Terraria (as of version 1.4.4) is, by definition, a perfect video game as it excels at just about everything it sets out to do and has no objective faults.
Todays generation will never get it. And how could they?When you grew up when things got invented and you lived through all these marvels it was unique. Today everything is there and standard. How will a generation understand what a leap the first Mario was, the first 386er, the first IPhone or Mario 64? They can’t understand. They live in a highly technologically world were everything is possible. I was born 72. I saw everything and I’m happy with that. I witnessed everything and it was a wild ride.
For the channel size and thumbnail quality, i was expecting a terrible video, but i was thoroughly impressed. Very measured, professional speaking voice, clear audio quality with well-balanced bgm, and even-handed, objective critique of the work, relative to the industry at time of release. Super impressed, great video dude
Great video, glad you mentioned the water temple - I could not work out the Geography as a kid, this temple really frustrated me (& my mates) at the time.
I can't say what made this game so good outside of the obvious, it's one of those releases that captured my imagination and blew my mind way back then. Coming from being obsessed with A Link to the Past on the SNES as a kid, this game had huge shoes to fill for me, and it went beyond that. The only game that's really given me the same kind of feeling on release as OoT since was Red Dead Redemption 2.
To pull from this video's narration as well as my own thoughts and summarize, What's so great about Ocarina of Time is the combination of unprecedented mechanics and world design, side-quests, games and even whole dungeons that function simultaneously as didactic rites of passage and opportunities to progress and upgrade, and the features of revolutionary fighting mechanics and usage of music as elements in the game. On top of that, the time travel mechanic, epic cinematics, realistic, relatable characters and well-put together story all combine to create one heck of a masterpiece. The final Ganon fight, although super easy once you figure it out (and able to be cheesed if you just roll under him), is likely one of the best fights in video game history cinematically speaking.
IT TOOK ME 3 YEARS TO FIGURE OUT THE PRESSURE PLATE PUZZLE IN THAT DAMN FISHES MOUTH. I wasn't a bright kid. I will say this tho, Best fishing game in existence at the time and it wasn't even trying to be.
This game holds up so well for the most part. If they were to remake it for the switch all they would really need to do outside of graphics is add analogue control for the camera and a few QoL changes.
One that was incredible about the ocarina is it was actually fully functional. Not only did you have all necessary notes, you could bend those notes to sharps, flats, or neutrals with the directional stick. Completely uncessary, but shows how thorough that team was.
I was in the U.S. Navy when this game had come out. Wow! I remember being blown out of the water when I saw this on N64. Prior to this, it was LoZ and Links Awakening until I played Link To The Past. I feel so … OLD! Growing up with Nintendo was a privilege, so many awesome games and even cartoons like Captain N: The Game Master. Anyway, awesome channel! Today was my first visit and I smashed that subscribe button the way I smash that pu … Sorry, getting ahead of myself. lol. Great channel!
Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time were the fathers of modern 3D gaming, specifically for 3rd person perspective games. In an era where 3D games were polygons moving on 2D pre-rendered backgrounds (Final Fantasy, Resident Evil), or isometric perspective (Diablo, Sonic, Baldur's Gate, Fallout) or fixed camera (Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot), these two games set a innovative take on 3D design that became a standard since then. That's why it is very easy to go back to them and play them even today. Modern hitters like Elden Ring (or Dark Souls), Witcher, Assassin's Creed, Red Dead Redemption, GTA, Shadow of the Colossus, Horizon, Monster Hunter, Ghost of Tsushima, Kingdom Hearts, and even modern entries of older franchises that had a hard time jumping to 3D like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, SMT, Persona, they all follow the 3D game design pioneered by Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time. It's hard to think of other game that had such an impact that permeated almost every genre of the industry as much as these two games.
I own the gold cartridge and recently played through it. Navi will scream at you MUCH more frequently than you're letting on, not just when you're going at your own pace. She'll even yell at you when you're IN the place she wants you to go.
![เปิด อาณาจักร หมื่นล้าน "สาระตั้ม" l [Nickynachat]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3XE0nPF4YkQ/mqdefault.jpg)
what blows my mind about super mario 64 & ocarina of time, is how nintendo not only nailed 3d gaming on their first attempt ... they created the blueprint that all games, even today, still follow.
I hate some of their business practices but Nintendo really is the best dev team out there. Every big game they make they absolutely nail , it’s an astonishing track record
Imagine the pressure…
@@mookiestewart3776 After so many years too. I mean they’re one of the longest running devs around, and they’ve pumped out a masterpiece for I think every single generation of consoles since they joined the market
Agreed mind blowing how they weren’t from super Mario bros to this/ like how?!? How does your brain go from that to making something this complex and amazing.
@@mikemcmike6427 I think this is what they wanted for Super Mario 64 but hadn't got what 3D gaming should be. The amazing step forward comes with practice makes perfect.
Christmas 98 will
Forever be a favorite of mine. Getting this game and staying up late or enjoying a snow day while on a landline telephone with friends while trying to figure out what to do next is a memory I’ll cherish forever. How incredible was it to have this game, Pokémon red and blue and game boy color all on the same Christmas break. I was a lucky kid.
You have to take yourself back to 1998. This game was one of the most impressive things I had ever seen. This is the first game as a kid that I remember being completely blown away with the visuals.
Agreed. I grew up with the original zelda. So seeing 98 zelda intro after turning the system on for 1st time, it just looked great! .... but I also thought mario kart 64 couldn't look any better than that b4 then lol
Yea it was completely mind blowing at the time. One specific thing was when I remember especially seeing the way the Spiritual Stones were kind of translucent I was like how did they do that?!
You cannot overstate how mind blowing OCARINA and MARIO 64 were when they came out.
We were like it’s not going from left to right!
Just how big and how much detail and depth in the game… first ever best game of all time
@@MFGary24I loved your comment you made me imagine being in your situation
I’ll never be able to recapture the nostalgic feeling of this video game… but I remember it was the greatest time of my life. Thank you for the nostalgia trip ❤️
I still remember my cousin and I taking turns to beat OoT. Great times forever ago. We each had different ideas on how to solve puzzles. I play it at least once every year.
You still can, I took a very very long break and replayed it, felt just as good.
I thought that to, but Hogwarts Legacy brought that magical feeling back.
If you have a pc try the ship of harkanian port you play the game in 60 fps. It gives a new feeling and looks amazing.
@@justaman3817 i tried but for me it felt really dated.. However I can still play link to the past.. For me that game has aged better.. Both masterpieces though..
I like the fact you actually explain the context of this game within its time of being made.
The score of this game was perfect. You could feel the game intensifying as you get closer to danger. I remember that Forest Temple being so spooky and so odd. Then they added time travel which was different from a Link to the Past’s dimensional travel. I hope TOTK has dimensional travel.
Forest temple theme music was in my opinion trippy like progressive rock music of the seventies. Perfectly executed in the context of the environment. Some of the more obscure Led Zeppelin jams. It's amazing how Koji Kondo's mind worked.
I remember that first time you leave the forest, and the camera pans across Hyrule Field. Games during this time period generally did not have the same feel of vastness
I love how modern games still use that technique now days when you first walk into the over world. Jesus ocarina was so damn influential
While I can respect Ocarina of Time for setting some 3D standards and features as a frontrunner, I wouldn't say it excelled at making the world feel large more than any of the 2D Zeldas that came before, especially not A Link to the Past.
Part of the problem is how we lost the density that said former games had, with LTTP and Link's Awakening. Ocarina of Time's Hyrule Field has a lot of space, but virtually nothing to fill that space. So a lot of it is really just space for the sake of space, rather than being worthwhile space.
The second portion of the problem was just how linear Ocarina of Time was. You can walk to a lot of areas just after leaving Kokiri Forest, but you can't feasibly do anything, nor do you see much of anything, due to how empty the areas are. Which was lacking compared to LTTP, where the moment you leave the Sanctuary, you have not only lots of dense areas you can reach, but also feasibly find things in before even heading to the first dungeon. A complete sweep of items and upgrades you can reach in LTTP before the first dungeon include: 5 pieces of heart (Lost Woods, Swamp Drain, 2 in Kakariko Village, 1 in Eastern Hyrule), 2 Bottles (Kakariko Village), the Bug Net (Kakariko Village), bombs (Kakariko Village), the Ice Rod (Eastern Hyrule) and Magic Powder (Lost Woods + Eastern Hyrule).
Not only that, but there's a whole variety of enemies you'll face along the way, with different tactics and such. In OoT, the only enemy you'll encounter during the day, if you even walk near them, are the peahats. Otherwise, at night, it's just the skull dudes rising out of the ground, who are so slow you'll just walk right past them anyway.
I will reiterate though, I do believe OoT was innovative in the 3D firsts it accomplishes, like Z-Targetting, but when compared to even the prior 2D Zeldas, you can see where some of its other shortcomings stem from.
My favorite part, and was so glad when botw did the same in a new generation
The moment that got me is when your character grows up and returns to his hometown and everyone else looks the same. Nothing else compared to that moment.
@ewqiop That's fair; I guess it just wasn't enough to captivate me in the same way, since I played both LTTP and LA before I played OoT, as well as Zelda 1. The empty overworld was the first thing that struck me as odd, since it was such a big contrast compared to the previous games.
The Hero Of Time is my favorite Link. His voice and design take me back 😌
that's so cool that the fairies, goron rolling into a ball and Zora's popping up from under water was a creative way to fit on the hardware.. it comes off so naturally
"Best" is completely subjective. I consider this the best game ever made. Played it through more than any other. You really highlighted how limitation led to innovation and personality in regards to character design. OOT will forever be a game fondly remembered for so many of us.
There was a rockstar lead dev that once said “anyone that makes 3d games and says they haven’t to borrowed something from Mario 64 and ocarina is lying “ lol
@@mookiestewart3776 Ha I love that. Never heard it before.
@@mookiestewart3776 it's so true.
I still, TODAY, like playing OOT better than BOTW. I feel like BOTW is too empty- OOT is the perfect amount of “epic and big, but not empty at all and rich with meaningful things to do”
@@charlesg7926 I love the 3d Zelda games, but hate BotW. OoT is my favourite in the series. I think developers these days try to one-up each other all the time with having a vast world to explore, but what is the reward for exploring in BotW? Not anything really... Sure, you have the towers that let you do a small puzzle, but they just feel like chorse scattered across the world. The game just lacks good dungeons with a sense of really being on an adventure.
Don't get me started on breakable weapons...
I guess my point is that the developers seem to be stuck in what sounds really cool on paper "A vast world filled with countless challenges, allowing you to equip the weapon of your choice, letting you choose your own adventure and making choices matter". In reality it turns out to be a rather empty world, almost no sense of a story and overall just a not very fun game. That's all for my rant.
Ocarina for 3ds was my obsession for a solid 5 years as a kid, and I’m currently replaying it. It’s been really fun to go back to a simpler time
I think this is the best video game ever made. It has everything in one game. I love many games, but I still have not played a game that gave me the ultimate gaming experience as this game did. If I had to pick one game to keep, it would be this game.
Still the 🐐
No game has ever gave me a huge sense of adventure than OoT. It was so new for it's time. After the N64, I ended up getting a PS2 and the closest game that ever gave me a good sense of adventure was probably Shadow of the Colossus... but not in the way Zelda: Ocarina of Time did.
Sometimes, I'll watch live streams of this game and it gives me a good sense of nostalgia, but it will never be the same as when I was a kid playing this for the first time. I almost feel bad for the kids growing up now with video games because they didn't get to experience it
PlayStation owned most of the mountain, but Nintendo owned the top.
Exactly, Nintendo had fewer titles but almost all of them were certified bangers
I remember looking up the different games lists for both on a ROM site. There were like 80 games for N64 on there and 80% were good. There were 100 or so games for PS1 but only about 50% were good.
People must have jumped on to that bandwagon because of RPGs and the CD format but I'm glad I got the N64 as a kid because I thought I missed out for the longest time.
Ocarina of Time, Super Smash Brothers, Banjo, Conker, Diddy Kong Racing, etc. Great times!
Couldn't have said it better
@@cristiansaucedo4707 BS. The N64 didn't have more than 60 good games. Hell, I would say they barely had more than 30.
Well said.
Quality over Quantity.
Want to know what the funniest thing about OOT is? That game had cut content. There was supposed to be a "wind temple" and a full temple of time dungeon. If you look closely above the door in the forest temple, there's wind symbols, so I'm guessing thats where the wind temple was originally supposed to be located.
Basically, OOT is like 85% finished, and its still one of the best 3D and N64 games out there.
Atmosphere and Sound Design are honestly pretty unmatched with this game, even to this day it still boggles my mind how crazy well this game Develops it's Atmosphere and the devs were so careful with how they engineered the Sound design...it still outclasses games even today with those elements, among other things. Masterpeice.
The same with Super Metroid on snes.
They don't make them like this anymore
I can still here the skull spiders' sound... very creepy, I remember being scared even tho they were static npcs that didn't attack you or anything haha, just for the sound design
This video most certainly deserves a lot more views than the actual sequelitis by Egoraptor...
You obviously put so much more effort into representing the game fairly than he did.
Great job. 👍
Sequelitis is less of a video essay, more of a freeform rant. I agree that this video is excellent, but I don't think they can necessarily be compared. I think sequelitis is better compared to things like AVGN
@@this_is_diamond_rot
Like it or not, people form their opinion due to Sequelitis.
Erin is also using objective language in these videos. He also acts really mean towards Skyward Sword fans...or 3D Zelda fans in general.
Also, a lot of his points in that video were just pure incompetence or straight up provably false. It doesn't really matter if it's a rant or a review, he is wrong on many many things either way and uses really condescending language.
And again: People actually took his opinions seriously back in the day...
@@tadaokou4919 I think the last thing you said is the real problem. It was never meant to be taken seriously. Like I said it's comparable to things like AVGN. The nerd calls developers of bad games horrible names, but James rolfe respects what goes into the making
@@this_is_diamond_rot And why exactly do you think it should not be taken seriously or Erin doesn't want his opinion to be the public common opinion?
That contradicts the language he uses and things he states in Gamegrumps.
Erin usually is pretty aggressive about opinions which differ from his own, even going as far as to dox someone who just simply wrote a guide for Skyward Sword.
Your comment is basically not supported by Erins own actions and statements.
@@tadaokou4919 because egoraptor is a character
Wow, with so many OOT reviews on TH-cam, this one stands out. You pointed out several things about this game I’ve never noticed. Great analysis
I was 6 years old when ocarina of time came into my possesion in 98'. I probably have not been more musically influenced by anything and I am a huge music nerd, but those beautiful melodies that were present built the foundation for me of emotion in music.
For me it's the hidden grottos, the lost woods, the way things are hidden cleverly that are so satisfying to find
What can I say that hasn't been said before?
I like how the torches crackle. Most nostalgic sound. I'm disappointed they don't make any noise at all in BotW and TotK.
I remember playing the game my first time and when I pulled the Master Sword was totally blown away to find Link 7 years older. Also the Water Temple for me was one of my favorite temples ever.
You LIKE the water temple?! You a sociopath?
@@fabisayshi lol I never understood why people found the water temple so confusing. I personally though it was staight forward. I get the part about having to pause menu to put on and take off the iron boots but that never botherd me like it did for other people.
I owned an n64 as a kid but never played Ocarina of Time. I just completed a few days ago my first playthrough and man I missed out big time as a child. This game is still great. I had always heard tons of bad things about the water temple and yes the iron boot issue was a bit annoying but overall I still thought it was a fun temple. I definitely see why this game even until this day is considered one of the best games of all time. Great video too, subscribed for more content!
Dark link is still the best thing about the water temple. I think changing the water level was pretty annoying because you had to traverse to 3 different locations, over and over to change the water level. Took me over 2 weeks to beat that dungeon on the 1st try.
This game never gets old lol
This game absolutely blew my mind and earned a place in my heart.
One of the best retrospective analysis of this game I've heard so far. I couldn't agree more. It was a technological marvel combined with remarkable contextual music and imagination. It's an exemplary work of art in this medium and despite it's limitations compared to modern hardware it still retains it's own unique charm. Timeless!
I’ve been playing videogames for over 20 years now and nothing comes close to the sense of awe and wonder I felt at experiencing this game for the first time as a kid. Thank you Nintendo.
This channel has some of the best gaming retrospectives I've seen on this site, and I've seen a whole lot more than I'd normally want to admit at this point. Very few go into this level of analysis of the mechanics and how it relates to the worldbuilding, story and characters, not to say placing them in their proper historical context with technical limitations etc. And it's refreshing to not have the usual "yeah, I know what you're thinking, but hear me out..." and constant reference, repeat and/or rebuttal to some percieved shared consensus around how one ought to feel about a game. Just open-minded, sharp immersion into a lens of how the design process might have played out.
That water dungeon did me dirty as a kid lol i always felt like someone was always sabotaging me but looking back at it , it just made me panic a lot , plus i didnt have the best concept of videos games always getting more challenging, i didn’t expect challenges after challenges to that extent
It also deals way more with Spatial awareness much more than the other dungeons. It’s very confusing doing it blind , still a great dungeon though
Dark Link was messing with you.
I remember one time playing in the water dungeon and also had that same eerie feeling. I looked straight up to have a spider in the process of landing on me. I about jumped out of my chair, scared the crap out of me!
I swung an SNES controller by the cord against my bedroom floor, breaking it into several pieces out of a fit of rage over that dadgum dungeon. It was Superbowl Sunday and the Broncos were playing the Packers and I was missing the game because I was stuck at the part where you had to navigate Link through a narrow and shallow river with essentially unseeable pits. I HATED that part.
I really want a remastered OOT with modern graphics and improved gameplay mechanics while still staying close to the source material, I think it would be really cool to see and it would be a good opportunity for newer fans to play it without needing an n64/3ds
Yes that would be awesome I would say just give us cleaner image and more detail no need to make it realistic or mess with any shading or shadows
It's so good, we're still talking about it to this day.
The writing in this video is exceptional. Crazy how few subscribers you have - this literally is better than an IGN title. Excellent work, good sir :)
There were so many moments in this game that made a huge impact on me as a child. Everything from the scope, story, sense of adventure, and feeling anything was possible. Endless possibilities and beautiful/breathtaking landscapes that captured my imagination. It is one of the reasons why I, too, this day love going out in the woods or open fields and go off on one of my own adventures. This game will never age as it is timeless.
This game is so much legendary, that even I, a boy of the year 2000 who didn't grow up with the Zelda franchise through his childhood, felt nostalgia when I first finished to experience the game through the 3DS remake.
Exactly, me too!!
Underrated channel.
What? No mention of Ocarina of Time 3D for the 3DS? It's the absolute best way to play this game. The second screen is a stroke of genius (and means you can have 4 active items equipped instead of 3), tilt aiming is a dream come true, and they made the Iron Boots and Hover Boots items instead of equipment, so you can just toggle them on and off without pausing. Basically every major flaw with the N64 original was corrected, and it's a straight-up masterpiece.
The 3DS games are abominations on an underdeveloped handheld. MM especially. The only better thing in OoT 3DS is the better implementation of the iron boots and by this a better pacing in the water temple.
Yeah you can't even call it the same masterpiece that won all those awards and reputation. Completely different beast.
In the 3ds the aspect ratio is smaller because they had to fit this game on a handheld... Plus they changed the fps to faster janky animations making everything look terrible and poorly paced by comparison. Aside from that the original aesthetic was much more realistic and dark and cinematic whereas the 3ds made everything baby bright colors that completely destroys the tone of the game and the grittiness. Not to mention all the censorship that took away from this game's mature audience. 3ds is sanitized and sterile. Lifeless and non-offensive rather than bold an unapologetic and real like in the 64 original.
The cinematic cutscenes have also been changed to new questionable angles that throw off the focus of the story and objectives.
Also changing the 3d models wasn't such a good idea because again they don't match up with everything else but also have poorly synchronized timing making it stand out in a really bad way. It doesn't fit the rest of the game. The original models fit better in this gaming world because that's what they were intentionally made for. The box art is NOT the same thing as the in-game art. One is for promotion and the other is optimized for the game experience!!! ☝️
Just compare the master sword scene and you'll clearly see link gripping an awkward sword in the 3ds vs the correct logical geometric size in the 64 original.
You can even see the difference in shading! The 64 version of the master sword is far more brilliant and shiny whereas the 3ds is muted for some reason and poorly highlights the environment cinematography. For some reason this area is poorly lit and dank. The original had more cinematic lighting that resembled a real medieval church!!
You don't really notice any of this unless you pay close attention but once you see it it's impossible to unsee.
If you like the 3ds more than I recommend you don't compare the 2 side by side because it's gonna ruin it for you. ✌️
Never have I heard such a reasonable and well worded take on the "best game ever or not" part of this games legacy, I think that just about anyone that has played it can agree with what you said. Loved the video! Just started replaying it after years and I don't even notice the older graphics because the atmosphere (mostly due to sound design in my humble opinion) is just so gripping
You're back!!! I always get excited whenever your uploads pop-up in my feed, because the amount of love you put in your videos can be seen from a mile away.
I love finding small channels that are absolute gems like yours! :D
LoZ OoT is the best game of all time I fell in love with the game the moment you hear the opening melody and see Link riding his horse across Hyrule Field.
The PlayStation and Nintendo 64 had a slew of great games that came out at the end of the millennium. You had Final Fantasy 7, Resident Evil 2, Syphonfilter, GoldenEye 007, Silent Hill, Super Mario 64, and The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. There were others obviously but those were the big 7 in my opinion. OOT was groundbreaking when it came out and I was blown away by the graphics and game play in 1998. Gen Y, Gen X, and Xennials had the best child teen years of all time!
Metal Gear Solid too
@@Enlacealpasado_ was gonna say, drop syphon filter for MGS. Syphon filter was fun, but not as big a step forward as MGS
I remember getting this for Christmas as a kid. Christmas break I was getting up at 4am to start playing. I think this and Symphony of the night were my favorite gaming experiences.
Although I had a very good childhood, the N64, especially Ocarina of Time and Mario 64, were still the best part of it
While other Zelda games [or other games I guess], do some things better than Ocarina, this game is in my top 3 for how much it managed to do for its time and link everything about the world, puzzles and so on so organically and just make it generally fun to play. Even after completing it once again for a Viddy Plays project, it still is amazing.
I still play it about once a year every year and have fun every time I do. BOTW is a worthy successor but there’s just something about OOT
I agree. And I feel like this Zelda (OOT) had the very best dungeons/temples, too, along with having the best story. And it carefully blended excitement, adventure, and terror (in shadow temple or well)
This game is so good that simply by having the game's soundtrack playing in the background as you talked lent the weight of nostalgia to everything you were saying. The only part I disagreed with was regarding 'Dark Link' whose difficulty I think was both perfect and important. Dark Link, a mirror reflection of real Link, being strong meant Link was also strong. Add to the horror of your mirror reflection coming to life, and the uncanny valley that was Dark Link's battle arena, I always considered Dark Link to be something of a secondary antagonist in OoT
I think the key point is that the fight isn't particularly dynamic. It *is* possible to hit him by doing a jump attack an then quickly striking, but for the most part the clear methods are some sort of cheese strat (spin, din's fire, megaton hammer/biggoron's sword).
I only started playing OoT late last year, and the thing that struck me immediately is how you can actively use the shield.
In pretty much every other game I've played the shield is just there, you press block and the guy raises the shield, and maybe you can bash with it as well. But OoT lets you move the shield around as long as you're not locked on, which led to some of the most epic combat I've ever had in a game as I frantically angled the shield to ward off multiple attacks.
I remember back in the day early websites actually had real life music that was translated into the game's C button system so you could play pop/rock music on your Ocarina. You can also change the pitch etc by using the joystick when playing.
12:29 i would say the tutorial in general started getting better by majora's mask
I remember playing this game on Christmas break 1998. Didn't know anything about Zelda, had zero expectations. Fast forward to today, it's my favorite game of all time. That was probably my favorite Christmas break of all time, too. Thanks for the video.
im really surprised this doesn't have more views.
Great video, agreed with all your points!
Navi becoming a meme really underscores how much of a genius idea her inclusion was.
She's your companion character, your quest log, she sways your attention towards characters and secrets, but most importantly using her as a targeting system for combat allowing to focus on enemies one at the time, also deepening the move set that Link has while fighting was MASSIVE for 3D gaming. Like you said, from OoT to Elden Ring 25 years later, countless games decided to make use of the targeting system that was introduced here. Just amazing!
Plus, I dunno for you guys, but as a kid when I picked up the master sword and realized what Hyrule had become, I was kinda glad she was with me.
Nintendo really are the masters of game design when it comes to implementing new and fun mechanics in an intuitive immersive way. I couldn't imagine the N64 Zelda titles without fairies, just as Mario Odyssey wouldn't be a thing without Cappy!
Navi doesn't get the credit she deserves. Name a single OoT player who doesn't love Z targeting. Without Navi, no Z targeting. You learn that vs Ganondorf at the end of the game.
Not sure if it's been mentioned but the b roll of the windmill when you mentioned don quixote was a nice touch
Seriously the only thing wrong with this game is that Link’s sword bandolier isn’t there for some reason. It was there in majoras mask tho.
You know why this game is still great even by today's standards? Because it doesnt have any bullshit. It doesnt have a giant empty open world that takes 200 hours to explore, no 45 minute cutscenes, no overly convoluted story a fandom tries to make sense of, no tutorials 15 hours into the game, no mindless sidequests that just serve to waste time, no generic user interfaces that all look like the same boring stuff Ubisoft has been shitting out for the past decade, no microtransactions, no 3 games sold seperately, it doesnt outstay its welcome, it is just a great compact package, an enjoyable fully fledged experience all around, just a great fucking videogame. That's why.
Though by today's standards it does have a jenk camera and lock on system, jenk controls, a pointlessly empty open space in hyrule field, and obtuse and not great dungeon design 🥴
@@maxwellnormandy7521I like the large Hyrule Field, it gives an impression of scale without being excessive.
It's also not that engaging of a game. I literally had to force myself to finish it.
@@Argenta_RosaI think that’s a to each their own thing. I loved it growing up and though going back it still has its fair share of jank, its puzzles are still interesting and (most of them) are creative. It delivers a fairly basic coming of age story with basic but entertaining characters and a world with some charm and depth to it. It’s shown its age but I definitely wouldn’t say it wasn’t engaging IMO.
Yup. Pacing is strangely not talked about very often in video games. Some games like OoT don't have the best camera or combat, but it never feels like my time is being wasted and I'm almost always engaged by what's going on. Resident Evil 4 and Half-Life 2 are other examples. They've been surpassed on a mechanical level by later games, but it doesn't matter because they're paced better.
Legend of Zelda is one of the greatest works of art that humanity has created.
Oot was my first game that got me absolutely hooked to gaming. Was not my first game played but man it was definitely my absolute favorites. And I was so young it took me sooooo long to beat it for the first time. Plus the first year or 2 of playing it I had to rent it on the weekends. Then just dream of it for the rest of the week until I finally got it for Christmas. Then.... RuneScape 2 came out on internet and in 2004 it sealed my fate. Just pure nerd for ever 😅
There's a million things that are so good about this game but the music and emotion put into this game are incredible. Like what game beats that simple and beautiful main menu with that peaceful music? and each area gives you the emotion through the music whether it's scary or safe. the attention to details was top notch.
I was gifted this game for my 9th birthday and it has influenced so much of the games I've loved ever since. It holds a soft spot in my heart and I am very thankful to have experienced this game when I did.
This video is really awesome but I just need to say this...
17:17 > "Having all of your defensive moves and more, Dark Link far outmatches the player in terms of capabilities."
This, to me is what makes Dark Link such an amazing fight. But to each their own of course. Loved how you compare the UI and gameplay mechanics to games coming out today and being the similar. Really really cool video
I think the fight against shadow link was one of the best in the series
As a kid who stood in line for 2 hours to play 10 min before launch back in 1998- its very hard to explain the insane hype of the game. Just here in Sweden I had only seen 3-4 screenshot of the game itself. I think people forget that sometimes. We had no idea how it would sound or look while playing it or how it would actually play now in 3D.
And yes, it was eye candy for its day- the wow factor of the graphic is not to be dismissed. But I also think it ties into with it, just like final fantasy 7 was in europe, a christmas game.
Thank you for this. You explained soo well why this game was soo revolutionary in its time. People often misunderstand this and dismiss our appreciation as nostalgia.
mentioning don quixote while showing the windmill got my sub lol
how are you not more popular? great video and amazing script, nice work with this. OOT is a piece of art that changed the genre forever
17:05 It DOEs work. This fight is not supposed to be cheesed with the Megaton Hammer. You're supposed to alternate between horizontal and vertical swings. After 8 or 9 clashes of swords, Dark Link will stagger a little longer than usual, which will allow you to hit him with your next swing. If impatient players (Arin Hanson, I'm looking at you) took 5 freaking seconds to actually listen to Navi for a change they would know this: "Conquer yourself!"
This is a yin vs yang trope. It's said right from the beginning that you're supposed to beat Dark Link with nothing but the Master Sword.
If you throw a deku nut to the right or left of him you can stun him and hit him with a jump slash. Or you can use the biggoron's sword, which dark link doesn't know how to counter
The secret to beat the dark link easily is the goron sword.
I think it's pretty important to highlight what was said here: 8:00 - 8:45.
I think a LOT of today's more action-adventure focused games just don't do what Zelda OoT did nearly as well. That positive reinforcement. Not only are most of the game's mechanics easily practicable in a variety of intelligent ways (through mini games) to help you master them, but the positive reinforcement ensures you're always willing to retry and engage with it without sheer frustration setting in. Most of those minigames and side activities always reward with something (usually rupees) but if done well give even better rewards. This gives a sort of interesting illusion that a lot of modern games kind of fail to get. Like yes, you "pay" to play these mini-games often times, but what you pay in you often get back or more, even if you technically fail as long as you do decent enough. This means that you have a "technical" fail state, but it's seldom ever really consequential and so most people get that sense of stakes but without the really harsh and annoying penalty of having to go farm to try again.
Personally, I think many games, even some of the more popular ones these days just don't do this or do so pretty poorly. It's either a completely trivial tutorial that's almost meaningless and doesn't represent what the game will throw at you or some ridiculous challenge that's completely binary with no in-between positive reinforcement mechanism to avoid frustration. So often what happens is you'll have people drop them half way through or else just say those games are too frustrating to finish. Because they often take the stick approach (negative reinforcement). I think it'd be really helpful and more enjoyable to see more games integrate sidequests as more obvious, meaningful ways to improving the player's experience and skill with a game's mechanics while also implementing these kinds of interesting, well-thought out positive reinforcements.
The reason this works in OoT and not some other games that do attempt it is because the "positive reinforcement" is often some form of MTX money which isn't really immediately useful until you've grinded it for dozens of hours. In OoT the amount is always immediately useful either to retry, raise more than you lost to get some other item(s) at a nearby shop or gain some powerup when you do succeed, thus completing the activity while also preparing you for other things in the game.
I usually have more trouble with the forest temple than I do the water temple
OMG thank you for not ripping the water!!! 🎉 I liked the design and I always thought princess ruto was such a trip 😂 I grew up w girls like that
Ocarina of time is the game that changed everything and brought the standards up
Thanks for including a King's Field II shout out!
The day/night cycles in real time were also revolutionary for the era. Contributed to the feeling of a real world.
21:19 Terraria (as of version 1.4.4) is, by definition, a perfect video game as it excels at just about everything it sets out to do and has no objective faults.
Todays generation will never get it. And how could they?When you grew up when things got invented and you lived through all these marvels it was unique. Today everything is there and standard. How will a generation understand what a leap the first Mario was, the first 386er, the first IPhone or Mario 64? They can’t understand. They live in a highly technologically world were everything is possible. I was born 72. I saw everything and I’m happy with that. I witnessed everything and it was a wild ride.
Today i was thinking about the save method. Brilliant
Z targeting, as it was called, Was a complete revelation. It’s in every adventure game that’s ever been made since.
For the channel size and thumbnail quality, i was expecting a terrible video, but i was thoroughly impressed. Very measured, professional speaking voice, clear audio quality with well-balanced bgm, and even-handed, objective critique of the work, relative to the industry at time of release. Super impressed, great video dude
Great video, glad you mentioned the water temple - I could not work out the Geography as a kid, this temple really frustrated me (& my mates) at the time.
Amazing and fair review!! Very underrated channel and great videos!!
Thank you for a wonderful video.
Just came across your channel, I subbed immediately.
This was and is still the best game I’ve ever played. So nostalgic.
I loved that fairy as a kid. "Hey" "Listen" always filled me with joy.
The combat mechanic of this game was amazing. So was the incorporation of the ocarina songs to influence the environment. An all time great game.
I can't say what made this game so good outside of the obvious, it's one of those releases that captured my imagination and blew my mind way back then. Coming from being obsessed with A Link to the Past on the SNES as a kid, this game had huge shoes to fill for me, and it went beyond that. The only game that's really given me the same kind of feeling on release as OoT since was Red Dead Redemption 2.
To pull from this video's narration as well as my own thoughts and summarize, What's so great about Ocarina of Time is the combination of unprecedented mechanics and world design, side-quests, games and even whole dungeons that function simultaneously as didactic rites of passage and opportunities to progress and upgrade, and the features of revolutionary fighting mechanics and usage of music as elements in the game.
On top of that, the time travel mechanic, epic cinematics, realistic, relatable characters and well-put together story all combine to create one heck of a masterpiece. The final Ganon fight, although super easy once you figure it out (and able to be cheesed if you just roll under him), is likely one of the best fights in video game history cinematically speaking.
Just a fantastic video all around. Well done
The soundtrack 😍😍😍😍😍😍
This channel is going places man. Great quality video making right here. Saw your video on DQ3 a few months ago, loved that one too.
IT TOOK ME 3 YEARS TO FIGURE OUT THE PRESSURE PLATE PUZZLE IN THAT DAMN FISHES MOUTH. I wasn't a bright kid. I will say this tho, Best fishing game in existence at the time and it wasn't even trying to be.
This game holds up so well for the most part. If they were to remake it for the switch all they would really need to do outside of graphics is add analogue control for the camera and a few QoL changes.
I love OoT, but i also hate it because of how many zelda games that came after that were so locked into its pattern.
That's why Majora's Mask is so great :)
Ironically, it reuses a lot of assets from OoT, but it's the most unique Zelda game Nintendo ever made.
One that was incredible about the ocarina is it was actually fully functional. Not only did you have all necessary notes, you could bend those notes to sharps, flats, or neutrals with the directional stick. Completely uncessary, but shows how thorough that team was.
Still the best soundtrack in video game history
The Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time = 10/10 Score
I was in the U.S. Navy when this game had come out. Wow! I remember being blown out of the water when I saw this on N64. Prior to this, it was LoZ and Links Awakening until I played Link To The Past. I feel so … OLD! Growing up with Nintendo was a privilege, so many awesome games and even cartoons like Captain N: The Game Master.
Anyway, awesome channel! Today was my first visit and I smashed that subscribe button the way I smash that pu … Sorry, getting ahead of myself. lol.
Great channel!
Why does this channel only has 5k subs?!
Last major game before widespread adoption of the internet.
Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time were the fathers of modern 3D gaming, specifically for 3rd person perspective games. In an era where 3D games were polygons moving on 2D pre-rendered backgrounds (Final Fantasy, Resident Evil), or isometric perspective (Diablo, Sonic, Baldur's Gate, Fallout) or fixed camera (Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot), these two games set a innovative take on 3D design that became a standard since then. That's why it is very easy to go back to them and play them even today. Modern hitters like Elden Ring (or Dark Souls), Witcher, Assassin's Creed, Red Dead Redemption, GTA, Shadow of the Colossus, Horizon, Monster Hunter, Ghost of Tsushima, Kingdom Hearts, and even modern entries of older franchises that had a hard time jumping to 3D like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, SMT, Persona, they all follow the 3D game design pioneered by Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time. It's hard to think of other game that had such an impact that permeated almost every genre of the industry as much as these two games.
I own the gold cartridge and recently played through it. Navi will scream at you MUCH more frequently than you're letting on, not just when you're going at your own pace. She'll even yell at you when you're IN the place she wants you to go.