time-traveling Link,
seven years, a conundrum
Hyrule falls again?
Additional Comments:
Behold! Here stands one of the most acclaimed, if not the most acclaimed game of all time. And for those naysayers out there, just check out any number of top-ten games lists as documented by various gaming magazines, webzines, blogs, what-have-you from over the years. To make the task even easier, I found a nice little page that has accumulated a wealth of gaming lists, and well, no surprise here. Ocarina of Time has found its way into well over half of them; even accomplishing a bounty of top honors. Need I say more about its obvious preeminence? And it's not just Nintendo/LoZ zealots, it's the general gaming populace. Makes me wonder if I should cut this post short, slap on a 5 out of 5 and bask in the knowledge that for once I made a non-controversial post, for everyone's an Ocarina fanboy (or girl) and to say otherwise is heretical of the utmost degree. Post complete, ego boosted, everybody pleased....
Or maybe I'll choose to make a post that falls in line with the rest of my choleric banter whilst cowering behind the anonymity of internet authorship. After all, let's face it, despite the game's brilliance, it has smugly lumped itself on a heaping of undeserved ego for far too long. Maybe I'm just a lone outsider that doesn't fully understand the quality and scope of the game, or maybe I've felt a wee twinkle of the Triforce of Courage myself to stand tall and not be bought in by the copious OoT fandom that runs rampant, and is very nearly turbocharged thanks to our friend the internet. Meh, words will only tell.
I'm not trying to antagonize the Zelda faithful, or hell, even the casual Zelda gamer, but I am a bit puzzled over how this game has managed to rank so favorably by so many people. This alone makes me believe that I'm just overlooking something glaringly obvious, or it's time to face the truth: I'm a disagreeable twit in the world of video games. But really, I'm just making it sound worse than it is. Ocarina of Time is not a bad game. It's not even a mediocre game, or dare I say, good game. No. Ocarina is flat out fantastic. However, despite it being a total game changer, it's not a 10 out of 10 game. Yes, the presentation is immaculate, the gameplay is spot on, the world along with its numerous multi-level dungeons is a joy to explore, the story is engrossing (regardless of the inevitable befuddling invoked by any time-travelling tale), and the innovation, not just in the Zelda franchise, but in gaming in general, is beyond respect, but - and I really hate to insert such a nasty little conjunction; not just because of the general consensus regarding the game, but also out of my own admiration of the game - there is something amiss.
How can a game so perfect feel so imperfect? For me, knowing my storied past with the N64, the controller is the obvious scapegoat. Ah yes, that clunky, obtuse, plastic gargantuan that forces your fingers akimbo in the most ridiculous button rumba no matter the title. But I've got two reasons why the Nintendo 64 controller has been blessed with impunity. For once, Nintendo completely nullified the Lord of the Dance fingering tactics allowing easy control throughout - reason enough to applaud the game as it tamed the unwieldy beast. Additionally, my first playthough was done using the Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition on the GameCube which uses an exponentially better controller, but more importantly, I vividly recall the same mild uneasiness flooding my receptors as I plodded through the game. It was this general sense of while I loved the game, I never quite loved the game - if that makes any sense. There's a certain something that just sort of rubbed me the wrong way. It was never enough to blemish the game into any sort of unfavorable obscurity, but enough to make me question its merit and knock it off its smug little perch. But what troubles me is that I can't really explain what it is. Sounds argumentative for the sake of being argumentative - so that I can flick the white glove and snidely remark, "Pshaw your Ocarina of Time" - but it isn't.
I'm really pounding my head against the wall on this one and the reason is that every time I'm certain I've stumbled upon the crux of the problem, it's not really the problem. For instance, the intuitiveness of the game, it's completely bonkers. Looking at any other Zelda game, everything makes sense. Sure, some of the puzzle solutions may really ruffle your feathers, but when you find the solution you feel like the biggest dolt in the world because the answer was so blatantly obvious given the tools provided. Ocarina, on the other hand, doesn't quite adhere to this logic. In my pursuit to 100% it, I had to turn to GameFAQ's to hunt down the remaining few heart pieces and handful of Skulltula's that I missed. This was when the game really began to frazzle me. What ever would make me think to play the Song of Storms to open up a hole in the ground? There's no logic behind this and no insight that the Song of Storms is more or less equivalent to an ordinary shovel. Maybe if I learned the song from a ditch digger, that'd at least be something. And it's not just that. It's little irrational nuances throughout the game that shoulder enough of an annoyance to keep the game from perfection. I'd be happy to admit ignorance on my part if that were the case, but only if such were the case across the entirety of the Zelda series, stretching from Legend of Zelda all the way to Twilight Princess (I haven't played Skyward Sword yet, so...), but I've never had this problem in any other Zelda game, even Majora's Mask and well...I'll leave that for another time. Granted, my above example is unessential if you're just out to beat the game, so complaints seem arbitrary at best, but for me, it was just piling on to that mysterious strain of imperfection.
So then, what killed me on the straight and narrow if we're to shove all the optionals aside? I think it has to be item use. Looking back on my Link to the Past post, I talked about how that game nailed the item versus environment usage. It felt like the developers built the overworld with every single item in mind and did so without needlessly abusing certain items or using certain items just because they can. In Ocarina, it felt like these two entities; both very important to a Zelda game, were built with a blind eye towards the other. They never wholly interconnect with each other properly, and when items were put to use, it felt tacked on. Of course, this wasn't a prevalent problem, but when the two didn't quite gel, it felt ridiculously cheap. Again, I can refer back to the Song of Storms. Let it be a singular key. Were not going to feel duped because that one song only serves a single purpose. Same can be said with the dungeons. Why am I having to play the Song of Time or Zelda's Lullaby for puzzles that are not only blatantly obvious to solve, but serve no real purpose other than to add an extra 30 seconds to the dungeon so we can hear one of these two songs for the nth goddamn time? At least the other items don't conjure a needless cutscene. Once or twice is fine. There are, in fact, a couple spots where the Song of Time is wisely used to solve a puzzle, but elsewhere - you've got to be kidding me.
Taking a step back though and looking at it all realistically, I can see why most of these nuances exist. It was the first 3D Zelda game which meant two things. One, it was a testing ground for what can be done in this fantastic new dimension of gameplay. Fortunately, Nintendo pretty much nailed it on their first try and the hiccups that did occur were corrected as the series progressed. And two, it's only expected that Nintendo was going to pull out all the stops. Essentially, they had nothing to lose, and given the track record of Super Mario 64, it was obvious that free-roaming 3D landscapes and models were more than enough to win everyone over. Basically, if we were met with another topdown Zelda with any of the aforementioned blunders, the series would have likely stumbled. But being that it was 3D, there was more than enough inherent confidence that anything wrong could easily go overlooked. No harm, no foul really. And given what the video game industry was going through at the time, the game is not only revolutionary, but a respected trendsetter in what the newly emergent 3D world of gaming should strive for. At the time, yes, I can fully understand why it was a top rated game - a 10 out of 10 if you will. But I also think the wee nasties were swept under the rug at the time thanks to the idea of the right place at the right time.
Even now, it still is a top rated game in my eyes. Not as great as everyone claims, but great nonetheless. In the Zelda franchise itself, it's my third favorite, and honestly, it's by a mere fraction that Ocarina deserves the third step of the podium. If Twilight Princess wasn't more or less an Ocarina reskin (haters can hate, but that's really how I see it), it'd probably edge it out. Plus the motion control bullshit sort of hinders it as well. Thanks a fucking lot, Nintendo Wii!!! But nevertheless, Ocarina is still a great Zelda game, and is always the go-to game that I recommend if no one's ever played a 3D Zelda before.
So there it is. Yes, I harangued it a bit, but was it really so bad? And think about this: I did so without once vilifying the Water Temple. Ah ha! But seriously, I wish I could pitch it as a perfect game, but I guess the bumps just hit me harder than, well most anyone else. C'est la vie.
But let's end on a pleasant note. No matter the title, one thing the Zelda series does and does well is carry a soundtrack that not only exemplifies mood, but locale as well. Add to that the timelessness and Zelda games are worth the music alone. From the moment we're graced with the beautiful strums and warm clippity-clop of Title, it's all over. I know some may complain about the absence of the original title tune, but Ocarina's opening tune is magic. And then you have some incredible locale pieces such as the expressive Hyrule Field (always loved that mysterious low warble thrown in there), the ominous vacuum of Inside the Deku Tree, the exotic mystique of Potion Shop, or the country-sad twang of Lon Lon Ranch. I could go on and on with so many others too. But for me, it's always been about Gerudo Valley. That song is fucking tits!
Nano-Rant:
Dammit, I can't even end on a good note. Ok, despite my appreciation of the story, I've always been bothered by this Sheik character. To hell with spoilers (oh wait...spoilers alert), but it's always bugged me that Zelda can so casually perform feats that Link needs either tools or to work up a rigorous sweat to accomplish. If she's so damn limber, knowledgeable (seriously, she's knows everything about anything whereas Link knows jack squat), and able, then why doesn't she put in her fair share of effort? Oh, she used her stun beam to hold Ganon after Link did all the dirty work. What, did she forget she had that ability when the battle started? Thanks a lot...stupid, clueless bitch! And thanks for planting the seed in my head to claim the Master Sword so that I can lose my youth as I wait in stasis for seven years in limbo! But I digress.
P.S. There's so much more I want to talk about: more of my personal history with the game (namely why I never finished it on my first playthrough), the Boss Battles (namely Ganon's), Poe Hunting and other ludicrous side adventures, and of course everyone's favorite OoT debacle, the Water Temple. But alas, I'm afraid I've overstayed my welcome far more than I should have already with this game.
P.P.S. The ship in the Shadow Temple is pure win!!! Rack that up as ending on a good note.
Rating: 4.5 cute little Bombchu Bowling clerks out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment