Is Zelda:OoT overrated?

[Avaloner]

First off, I'm a gamer for close to 18 years, so I'm not some newbie who just played some madden and halo and claims those games to be the "bestes games evar", heck I think I played games even before I could read, sure I never got past the second Level in alex kid, but I never figured out or learned to time jumps with the motorcycle.

However that should not be the topic, but rather..Zelda.
Let me say that I haven't played Zelda on the original console, my first one was a sega master system, with built in Alex Kid, later I got the Snes and well nothing after that for a long time to be honest, so all I knew from Zelda was the Snes and the Gameboy game.
Back than I had no Internet at all and no one of my friends had an N64, so I could just play it on an Emulator and that was maybe five years ago and till today I just played it once and until I was almost at the Zoras to gather something or get to some dungeon, I can't remember and..I just shut it off, because the game simply bored me.

Now I was a little bit confused about myself, because I played the heck out of "A Link to the past" up to date I might have finished that game 4 or 5 times already and "running around and adventuring" is nothing I'm new to, I played games like secret of Mana/Evermore and Terranigma enough to say that I like adventure games, but OoT never managed to draw me in.

So the question is, should Zelda really be the "best game ever"?
For me no game has yet reached this, because the best Game would lead us to never want to play another game ever again, just like the best book or movie, would any media reach this goal, than we would just need to read/view/play this one thing and never something else and thats, luckily, never going to happen.

Now I really like to see some Zelda fans to tell me what they like in OoT, because I'm always hearing how it was so incredibly innovative and new and made the entire genre and so on, because for me thats a little bit confusing, would you say that games like CoD or HF would never have been made if it was not for the grandfather of Fps Games "Mazewar"?
Would reaction and skill Games not exist if we never had Pong, would there be dungeoncrawling without the Game of Dungeons?
Maybe from todays standpoint the whole "best game on the console/ever" got past me, maybe I was satisfied with more recent games, that are better than Zelda, maybe I like my stories a bit better than just "go rescue the princess !", but that wouldn't explain the time I spent in Zelda: TP.

for those with the tldnr Syndrom: What do you like best about the Zelda game and is it still holding up?

 

[Xeraxis]

To be honest, I thought the game was terrific. Good gameplay, great exploration and all the sorts. However, I agree that it is really overrated. I first borrowed and played the game back in 2007. I'm thinking why it gets praised so much is that it's because maybe of the use of nostalgia fans push into the game that makes it seems like the holy grail of gaming.

Don't get me wrong, it's definitely a game you have to play on the N64, but the sheer amount of praise it gets is ridiculous.

 

[CthulhuMessiah]

I find that LOZ in general is overrated. The only one I had any fun with was LTTP.

 

[Mr Thin]

First, let me give you the same answer that can and should be given to the eleventy billion other threads asking why people like so many other games. Because they have different tastes to you.

Now for a more specific answer.

...the best Game would lead us to never want to play another game ever again, just like the best book or movie, would any media reach this goal, than we would just need to read/view/play this one thing and never something else and thats, luckily, never going to happen.

That's a ridiculous definition of 'best' that makes no sense, and is totally useless if it does. The nature of games being what they are, empirically stating which game was the best at any given time is impossible. Too many variables. The 'best' game is simply a game that was generally held to be the best game at the time it was released. I'm not gonna look up a list of all games released up until that point, but I'm pretty sure LoZ:OoT would've been, at the very least, in the running. I know it was the best game I'd ever played at the time.

would you say that games like CoD or HF would never have been made if it was not for the grandfather of Fps Games "Mazewar"?
Would reaction and skill Games not exist if we never had Pong, would there be dungeoncrawling without the Game of Dungeons?

If the first man to climb Mount Everest hadn't done so, someone else would have done it and won first place. That doesn't mean we shouldn't give the guy respect for such an achievement. I've never bothered to consider what impact OoT had on the industry, I just know that it was a ridiculously fun game.

What do you like best about the Zelda game and is it still holding up?

What I like best is it's size and scope. I don't know if it's still holding up, I haven't played it in something like eight years, but I plan on playing the ROM of Majora's Mask soon, because I missed out on that when I was a kiddie.

 

[Corven]

I think it gets its praise the same way FF7 did, because it was the first in the series to be in 3D, as well as being most peoples first foray into the series, it was for me anyways, I had a Sega genesis growing up and OoT was the game that got me into the entire series.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

I think it gets its praise the same way FF7 did, because it was the first in the series to be in 3D, as well as being most peoples first foray into the series, it was for me anyways, I had a Sega genesis growing up and OoT was the game that got me into the entire series.

Ha, if that was the case, then the N64 version of Castlevania would be good instead of a piece of garbage.

OT: It was, at the time, unprecedented in it's scope, story, world and interactions with that world. Does it hold up still? Of course. That's why it's been re-released several times.

Why don't some people think it's the bee's knees? Probably because they jelly no one will ever say , "Man, that Call of Duty is the best game of all time." without someone nearby bursting into riotous laughter.

I mean, credit where credit's due, military shooter #430 may be fun, but it's not an ADVENTURE. There's no investment, emotionally, and that's what set OoT apart. We fell into the world of Hyrule, and loved every minute of it's epic and weird and fantasy wondrous-ness. It was my first video game EXPERIENCE, where I felt that the game had it's own real, touchable and interact-able world, complete with it's own interesting people. That is why it's often rightfully voted as the best video game of all time.

 

[veloper]

It's only because of graphics.

A half-decent game with great graphics for the time will get all the glamour.

FF7 had the big cinematic cutscenes previously unseen on consoles, because now the devs had CDROM technology to play with.
Ocarina of Time sqeezed the maximum from the N64's processing power and crammed the maximum world into it's tiny memory.

This is how young nintendo and playstation fans got their respective favourites.

 

[DustyDrB]

Nope. It's rated just right.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

It's only because of graphics.

A half-decent game with great graphics for the time will get all the glamour.

FF7 had the big cinematic cutscenes previously unseen on consoles, because now the devs had CDROM technology to play with.
Ocarina of Time sqeezed the maximum from the N64's processing power and crammed the maximum world into it's tiny memory.

This is how young nintendo and playstation fans got their respective favourites.

I humbly disagree. See my post (right above your own), where I don't mention graphics once.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it gets some people like that, but not all.

 

[Soxafloppin]

Nope. The first time I played through the game it was like nothing else before it to me, I have amazing memories of it.

So I think its rated just fine.

 

[Apprentice88]

It's not the best game ever (though what is, is a completely different debate).
However the Game is a Masterpiece from both a gaming perspective and a design perspective, and more than well deserving of the praise it gets.

 

[Smooth Operator]

I would say no.
Sure the game isn't top dog today but the developers figured out game elements that everyone should take note of, and yet it's like everyone is reinventing the wheel with every new game.

 

[Mr. Omega]

Is it overrated? Of course it is. Does that make it a bad game? FUCK NO.

Like Portal, CoD4, and FF7, it is a good game. The fans of it constantly hype it up as some form of gaming perfection. But they do so for a reason. The thing is, people who missed it will see it and have unreachable expectations, and think just because this wasn't the single greatest thing ever, it therefore must suck.

Now OoT I think has earned its place to be called one of the all-time greats, considering the time, the quality, and just how much of an impact it had. Does that mean it's my personal favorite Zelda? Not really. I prefer Wind Waker, myself. It has aged well, not exactly perfectly, it's age does still show, but the game is still truly enjoyable. It's just that those who remember it fondly tend to romanticize it a bit.

 

[random980]

Oot was new and amazing for its time, back then nothing else had been made that was even similar to it. Oot was (and still is) a great game that is highly praised for its uniqueness, story and high immersion back then and now. Sure a lot of nostalgia filled fans are clinging to the 'best game ever' title, but to tell the truth Oot wasnt far from claiming the title, at the time. Its a great game worth buying and as King of the Sandbox said, its not some 'military shooter #430'.
Although if you are some stupid CoD loving idiot who thinks action, lead and blood are the only 3 things that makes a game good. Then dont buy it, your tiny brain wont be able to understand the concept of how a good, long story and excellent gameplay and puzzle mechanics make a good game.

 

[Denariax]

Well, its not like it's M for Mature.

Really though, yes, people need to stop gloryhogging it, as they do Goldeneye. Just to test, I dragged my N64 from the closet in which it lay, reanimated it with the electric cord, stuck Goldeneye in, and tried playing it. I don't think I could. It might be my lack of care for most FPS games after their herp-derp storython, but I just couldn't play it. I got to the door where you bring the van through a gate, and then my enthusiasm died. Therefore I closed both doors. James Bond never escaped-

Right. OoT. It's not that good. I got more enjoyment out of the Oracles Of games.

 

[Reaper195]

It was good for its time. Tried playing it recently, got pissed off with it within the first ten minutes. This is what happens when games advance, playing the original is ridiculous. After playing MGS4, I find it next to impossible to play the first one (Only played first for the story, so just downloaded all the cutscenes and codec convos).

 

[Xmaspast]

I played it relatively recently, something like five or six months ago, and I thought it still held up incredibly well. I had a lot of fun with it, a lot more fun than I have with most of the games I play nowadays. I definitely would rank it as one of the best games of all time, possibly in the top five.

Also, it can't be nostalgia value, because that was the first time I really played it. I never had it as a kid.

 

[Avaloner]

First, let me give you the same answer that can and should be given to the eleventy billion other threads asking why people like so many other games. Because they have different tastes to you.

We are not at a state that someone says "I like CoD better than Battlefield", its about Zelda getting unreal praise for something, that I think, is decent at best, I mean an adventure game that bores me so much that I shut it off must do something wrong.

That's a ridiculous definition of 'best' that makes no sense, and is totally useless if it does.

Why?
The best of "anything" means there is nothing better, this is why I'm annoyed by people using this term, I could understand "best of this period of time/Best on the Console/best in this genre on this console in this year", but its normally called "Best of all time", this is what gets me, because its silly.

Worldrecordholder are the "best" there was no one before them and after them that were "the best" so why wouldn't it apply to games aswell?

The nature of games being what they are, empirically stating which game was the best at any given time is impossible. Too many variables. The 'best' game is simply a game that was generally held to be the best game at the time it was released. I'm not gonna look up a list of all games released up until that point, but I'm pretty sure LoZ:OoT would've been, at the very least, in the running. I know it was the best game I'd ever played at the time.

As I mentioned that would be a good definition, but what I said, even today people claim it would be the best game ever, which in itself is silly for me, because there are far more advanced games than that and claiming it would be the best game ever is simply well..wrong.

If the first man to climb Mount Everest hadn't done so, someone else would have done it and won first place. That doesn't mean we shouldn't give the guy respect for such an achievement. I've never bothered to consider what impact OoT had on the industry, I just know that it was a ridiculously fun game.

Yes they might have had innovations, as innovative as "get boomerang, get bow, get grapplink hook" Zelda games can get, most of the time when I hear people defend Zelda its always the same" ohh big impact so much innovation and yadda yadda" as soon as you ask them what innovation or impressive impact it made they never can name anything...at all.

Just out of curiosity I googled Zelda:OoT and innovation, just wanting to take the first review that came up, it was from giant bomb, talks about innovation and just can name 2 things lock on and context buttons, which is silly, because a link to the past had context sensible buttons as well, the A Button could not only dash, talk to people, but asw ell pick things up, sure not as elaborate as Zelda: OoT, but its not an innovation.

OT: It was, at the time, unprecedented in it's scope, story, world and interactions with that world. Does it hold up still? Of course. That's why it's been re-released several times.

Just saying "its good thus its re released" doesn't quite cut it, we are talking about Nintendo here, they re release every game/franchise they have, if they can make money of it.

I mean, credit where credit's due, military shooter #430 may be fun, but it's not an ADVENTURE. There's no investment, emotionally, and that's what set OoT apart. We fell into the world of Hyrule, and loved every minute of it's epic and weird and fantasy wondrous-ness. It was my first video game EXPERIENCE, where I felt that the game had it's own real, touchable and interact-able world, complete with it's own interesting people. That is why it's often rightfully voted as the best video game of all time.

I felt much more invested in the recent CoD:MW2 than I was ever in OoT, heck I couldn't look at the screen as I was pulling the knife out in the end sequence, I was angry as the story and people turned against me..in Zelda OoT I could not give a damn and for me the story in "A Link to the Past" was much better anyway, you were the one they framed for their crimes, there is much more on stake there in my mind, than in Zelda: OoT, its basically just a rehash even the dark world is just the "future" of OoT. But without the fun "you are transformed into what you think you are", that was something brilliant.

[quote="random980" post="9.312276.12643581"
Although if you are some stupid CoD loving idiot who thinks action, lead and blood are the only 3 things that makes a game good. Then dont buy it, your tiny brain wont be able to understand the concept of how a good, long story and excellent gameplay and puzzle mechanics make a good game.[/quote]

I don't know, CoD 4 and 6 might be the best from the series (not having played Black ops and MW3). Strangly enough noone who would have played both games would or could claim that they have bad storys, funny enough some claiming that MW2 made no sense might be the ones with the tiny brains, as I never had any problems understanding it..of course in the end it made sense.CoD are actually pretty nice and immersive shooters, no matter if you take the first two or the MW ones.

For the Story and the excellent gameply..are we still talking about OoT, because the story is ..like every other Zelda game, I mean they even brought the "World ruled by Ganandorf" thing back from "A Link to the Past" maybe you lower your nostalgia glasses a bit.

 

[Ruwrak]

You have to put OoC in the perspective of when it came out.
Back then it was something special and well executed. Nowadays things are different.
But back then it was definitly great