Pros: An unsettling and strange entry in the Zelda series, but one of the most satisfying as well. It's essentially like the movie "Groundhog Day" but instead of repeating one day over and over again, you repeat three days, over and over again. Where at the end of the third day, the moon crashes into the earth, so you're constantly needing to play the ocarina to warp yourself back in time, to try and complete your mission to stop the apocalypse... It's pretty thrilling! And the story involving the puppet character of Skull Kid who has been possessed by the 'Majora's Mask' is a captivating one. With a whole new setting and cast of characters to experience too. They crafted the world of Termina in such a way that different events happen throughout the world at specific times on specific days, and your actions may even alter how those events play out. Dozens upon dozens of characters are involved with these events, where you help them out to complete tasks, earn new items or masks, and essentially help out their lives in significant and meaningful ways... Which, is also quite like the film, Groundhog Day... huh. It can get quite emotional! And to me, this is the meat of the experience, which is oddly enough, side content, but doing them is much more satisfying than any previous Zelda games' denizen interactions, and not just for the character and story developments, but also the rewards, such as several dozen different masks for you to collect that offer numerous functions.
And these masks are great fun! They have all sorts of different uses that help with standard gameplay or puzzle solving, some grant you abilities like faster speed, or give you attacks like blowing up on command. And also, they're just fun to wear, to change your appearance. But in part of the main campaign of this game, are the masks that transform you entirely into different beings, the Deku Scrub, the Goron, and the Zora. Each providing brand new toolkits and mechanics to experience the world differently, and tackle each of the four different dungeons with their unique gameplay. I love these transformations, it's exhilarating to roll around at the speed of sound as a Goron, or swim speedily through the seas leaping in and out of the water like a dolphin as the Zora. Essentially, all of these masks, transformations and non, provide the game with plenty of toys to play with, and are just entertaining in their own right. Standard Link is still of course your main mode of play, and this time around he's just Young Link, which is fine, he can also ride Epona, this time a young Epona, which is super cute and something I had wanted to do previously in OoT. All of the standard mechanics that made Ocarina of Time so great are back here, and feeling just as great as ever. Z-Targeting, a myriad of weapons and items, and another brilliant soundtrack by Koji Kondo (my favorite new song being the Astral Observatory, it's so heavenly). So there's enough there to where this still feels like a Zelda game through and through... However...
Cons: The timer... man, the timer adds a bit of a stress to this game that I feel conflicts with the spirit of adventure and exploration that Zelda is known for. And while, yes, adventure and exploration is all still here, and in spades, that ticking tock makes me less relaxed and feeling free to do so at my own pace. What's worse, is that this game provides so many fun new toys to play with, the aforementioned masks and transformations, but no sense of time to get to enjoy them to their fullest. So many new ways to play that could've been so much more enriching and satisfying... But, in addition to the stress of a clock, there's the world design, which feels far more restrictive. Yes, it's fun to roll around as a Goron, problem is that the overworld is so small, just a little ring surrounding the main town, and that's as big of a sandbox to play in as you're gonna get here. So rolling around, which would be fun in a massive traditional Zelda overworld, becomes less enjoyable when you can only spin around in a dinky donut shaped landmass... And same goes for the Zora, so much fun to blast through the waves, but, the sea you're able to swim in, is such a limited space, that I can never feel like I can explore like how I want to. It's an odd mix of extremely well made mechanics, but a limiting world and sense of time that keeps them from being the best they could be to me.
What it means to me: This was the first Zelda game my brother and I purchased (OoT was always a rent prior to this), so we were finally able to sink our teeths into a meaty Zelda experience. The immersion factor for this one is through the roof, never had a game's world felt so alive, as we'd keep up with the many different citizens of the land. And upon getting to that final boss, and collecting every mask to earn the Fierce Deity transformation, man, we were pretty satisfied! What an epic moment that was. Initially, I was pretty bummed adult Link from OoT wasn't in this, so seeing Fierce Deity essentially being the Adult Link of this game, was the ultimate goal... a little disappointing you could only play as him in boss rooms, but still, I NEEDED it, hah!
And these masks are great fun! They have all sorts of different uses that help with standard gameplay or puzzle solving, some grant you abilities like faster speed, or give you attacks like blowing up on command. And also, they're just fun to wear, to change your appearance. But in part of the main campaign of this game, are the masks that transform you entirely into different beings, the Deku Scrub, the Goron, and the Zora. Each providing brand new toolkits and mechanics to experience the world differently, and tackle each of the four different dungeons with their unique gameplay. I love these transformations, it's exhilarating to roll around at the speed of sound as a Goron, or swim speedily through the seas leaping in and out of the water like a dolphin as the Zora. Essentially, all of these masks, transformations and non, provide the game with plenty of toys to play with, and are just entertaining in their own right. Standard Link is still of course your main mode of play, and this time around he's just Young Link, which is fine, he can also ride Epona, this time a young Epona, which is super cute and something I had wanted to do previously in OoT. All of the standard mechanics that made Ocarina of Time so great are back here, and feeling just as great as ever. Z-Targeting, a myriad of weapons and items, and another brilliant soundtrack by Koji Kondo (my favorite new song being the Astral Observatory, it's so heavenly). So there's enough there to where this still feels like a Zelda game through and through... However...
Cons: The timer... man, the timer adds a bit of a stress to this game that I feel conflicts with the spirit of adventure and exploration that Zelda is known for. And while, yes, adventure and exploration is all still here, and in spades, that ticking tock makes me less relaxed and feeling free to do so at my own pace. What's worse, is that this game provides so many fun new toys to play with, the aforementioned masks and transformations, but no sense of time to get to enjoy them to their fullest. So many new ways to play that could've been so much more enriching and satisfying... But, in addition to the stress of a clock, there's the world design, which feels far more restrictive. Yes, it's fun to roll around as a Goron, problem is that the overworld is so small, just a little ring surrounding the main town, and that's as big of a sandbox to play in as you're gonna get here. So rolling around, which would be fun in a massive traditional Zelda overworld, becomes less enjoyable when you can only spin around in a dinky donut shaped landmass... And same goes for the Zora, so much fun to blast through the waves, but, the sea you're able to swim in, is such a limited space, that I can never feel like I can explore like how I want to. It's an odd mix of extremely well made mechanics, but a limiting world and sense of time that keeps them from being the best they could be to me.
What it means to me: This was the first Zelda game my brother and I purchased (OoT was always a rent prior to this), so we were finally able to sink our teeths into a meaty Zelda experience. The immersion factor for this one is through the roof, never had a game's world felt so alive, as we'd keep up with the many different citizens of the land. And upon getting to that final boss, and collecting every mask to earn the Fierce Deity transformation, man, we were pretty satisfied! What an epic moment that was. Initially, I was pretty bummed adult Link from OoT wasn't in this, so seeing Fierce Deity essentially being the Adult Link of this game, was the ultimate goal... a little disappointing you could only play as him in boss rooms, but still, I NEEDED it, hah!