Retro Review: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time |
 I still remember the day, it was Christmas Day 1998, some-how I managed to get the game, sure it wasn't the gold edition, but it was one of the first runs with none of the later revisions (I'll get to that later). I remember the first time I saw the shiny N64 logo and then watched as Link rode Epona across the screen with that piano tune playing, the logo then appears... It is a classic moment in videogame history for many of us, who had the chance to play the game back when it came out in 1998, little did we know we would soon be delving into one of the greatest games of all time. Okay, to be honest we knew it would be great, but I doubt anyone could have guessed the game would be so beyond expectations and become the game that some concider the pinnical of videogame design perfection. I'm one of those people, this game changed everything, from how cameras are handled in 3-d games, to lock-on targeting, to how items are handled, not to mention how well the main quest planned out and how the side quests play right along with the main quest. The world is so beautiful and vast, it was the first time (at least for me) that I had experienced a world with a day/night cycle and so much to see and do. It was so good that I played it it for hours and hours for 5 days, thanks to Christmas vacation. In retrospect I kind of wish that I milked the initial experience, but even though I played it to the end in only 5 days or so, it, as you may have noticed is an experence that I will never forget. In fact I still get goose-bumps (or pimples, if you prefer) when the opening title screen plays. But enough of me reflecting it's time to look at the game and some of it's amazing features, effects and special moments. Before I begin this is an old N64 game we are talking about here I won't judge graphics, but I think it still looks pretty good to this day, even if it is a bit blurry. The game has two stages, Young Link and Adult Link, in the YL stage, you must gather 3 sacred stones so that you can open the gate of time. This involves 3 fairly simple dungeons, the most difficult being Inside Lord Jabu-Jabu. After completing the YL tasks, the AL stage of the game is where, at least in my opinion, the game takes off. In the AL stage you have many more things open to you and once you finish the Forest Temple you can freely warp between the AL and YL worlds. That's how the game works, but I want to quickly run down some of the games cooler and not worthy moments. I think everyone remembers the first time they saw the Great Fairies, they still creap the heck out of me and that camera pan, those horrible laughs and giggles, it gives me goose-bumps just thinking about it. Getting Epona for the first time is another of the game's greatest moments, the world feels so much more interesting while riding a horse, besides up to that point I don't think I had ever been able to ride a horse in a videogame. The Water Temple, the evil, evil Water Temple, floors and floors of brain-strain. Pushing blocks, raising and lowering water levels and that one stupid key hidden in an underwater alcove near a spiked platform. It sure looked beautiful though. Speaking of water, one of the most fun things you could do in OoT was try out the fishing pond. As Young Link it was cool, but as Adult Link it was even better. Remember the times you won or lost those 10 minute plus battles with them big lunkers? I sure do. And I can't leave out one of the most atmospheric boss battles of all time, Ganon, after the tower collapses. The lighting, the lightning in background, the fire circling the battle ground, the gasps of horror from Zelda as you get smashed and the final and bloody finsihing blows to Ganon. Ah the great memories, I can't recall too many games where I can remember such great moments of surprise, amazement and joy, that is why OoT is such a classic and concidered by many to be one of the greatest games of all time. The game went through a few changes though, the first version of the game 1.0 contained a few things that some of the later versions of the game had removed. First the important removal of the "lose the Master Sword forever" bug, which happend if you saved and quit after Ganon knocked the Master Sword from you during the final boss battle. I guess they never figured you'd save and quit during the final boss fight. But there are a few things in 1.0 (The Gold Edition and the few runs of grey carts) that didn't make it into other later editions. They are as follows, Ganondorf coughing up blood (no it's not his cape, because in later version it is green), the final blows on Ganon spraying a bit of red blood, some chanting from the music of the Fire Temple, the symbol that looks like a cresent moon with a star from the blocks and from the Mirror Shield in the Spirit Temple. These things where changed, which is obvious in the Bonus Disc version that has Master Quest on it. I laugh at the red blood because it just shows the ESRB at that time never properly played through the whole game. The other stuff is probaby due to some sesitive people taking offence to the chanting and the symbol. It doesn't really matter in the end, because it does really affect the game, but it's something that I though would be neat for this review. I mentioned the Bonus Disc, it's important because it's another piece of OoT history that belongs here. This Gamecube disc was given out to people who pre-ordered The Wind Waker back in Feb 2003. The disc contained the original 1998 N64 version of OoT (with those changes I mentioned) and a new version fo OoT dubbed Master Quest. The original and Master Quest versions played the same, had the same main quest and even ran in high resolution and with a way better frame-rate. But the special thing about Master Quest was that all of the dungeons had been remixed. Some of the newly adapted dungeons where much harder and trickier to complete, but some are actually simpler than their originals, but it's a cool thing to go through if you have mastered the original OoT's dungeons. That's it, a massive run down of all the facts, memories and details about, like I said a pile of times, one of the greatest and most perfectly designed games: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I'm out, Loading Complete! |
POSTED ON JANUARY 20, 2006 |
