Majora's Mask

[Warbandit]

Spoiler: but still, somehow MM burned itself much deeper into my brain: (spoiler)

[HEADING=2]Dawn of[/HEADING]
[HEADING=1]The First Day[/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]-72 Hours Remain-[/HEADING]
​

I actually heard the big stone door closing noise when I saw that.

I did too.

I can't enjoy many other Zelda games thanks to Majora's Mask, and I love it for doing it. Sure, the focus was on the side quests, but it made the world feel so much more real for doing it. The same was with Wind Waker, with the absolutely HUGE world to work with, and explore in. I always revelled in sailing to a new island and finding a person standing outside their house, looking at the sea, or chasing a pig, or peering through a telescope.

I loved following people through their day in MM, helping them, almost sharing in their triumphs and failures. Happilly aiding Anju and Kafei even after I finished their quest line because in such a dark game, there's always light, and good to be found.

Those two games have honestly kept me from enjoying other Zelda games to the same extent. I'm playing through Master Quest right now, and I'm in the Spirit Temple, and I honestly think the only thing keeping me going is nostalgia value "Oh, it'll get good soon." I remember enjoying all the bits I enjoyed before, but the world as an adult is so empty, and meaningless. Link has no ties that aren't sages, he isn't involved in the world beyond just saving it, and saving it anonymously.

Twilight Princess was a postively disappointing game for me, I found such small upsides to the over all game, I couldn't really get into the world. Hyrule was so vast, and these people wanted nothing to do with me. No side quests beyond fetch quests, no character development or world development, no real reason to keep playing.

 

[slarrs]

The time limit was annoying and somewhat pointless, but it did add a bit of challenge I guess. The big thing to me were all the masks. I mean, Gorgon link was awesome.

 

[Mcupobob]

I always preferred Ocarina of Time, but OoT is my favorite game of all time, so that's not taking much away from Majora's Mask. I really liked Majora's Mask too, but the three day time limit more annoyed me than anything else. And you're never really given much context into why Majora's Mask is so wicked. You know it's an evil menace that's planning to crush Termina unless the 4 giants can save it, but aside from that, there's not much you know. The concept of playing as not only Link in the form of different races from the game but actual members of those races is really interesting and adds a nice touch. It even gave me some inspiration to attempt to create some mechanics for a Legend of Zelda tabletop RPG with those races included based partly on what you can do with them as Link in Majora's Mask. Anyway, I still prefer OoT, but MM is a fantastic game that easily ranks #2 among the Zelda games I have played.

It was because skull kid, stole the Major's mask form a traveling mask salesmen. The one you meet in the beginning in the clock tower. The mask gave him power and through that evil. You even find out he was just a oppressed orphan with nothing, forced to steal to survive.

Overall I never had a chance to finish MM(I will eventually) but it was my favorite story of all time out of the Zelda series. The characters were more interesting, and all the side quest, and the combat changing through different use of the mask.

I just like this game because it had the most ideas out of all the Zelda games.

 

[Hazy]

MM was the nearly perfect parallel to Ocarina of time. It is always the first image that appears in my mind upon hearing the phrase "Darker Second Half," and to this day, it is right up there with Ocarina as one of my favorite titles on the N64.

 

[LtWiesel]

MM was really good. the sidequests for some masks were insane (the whole wedding q oO).
Also the time was a nice idea, not because it added another challenge but you had to be at the right point at the right time to explore most content.

Plus, Zora Link and gerudo pirates!

All in all OoT MM WW but OoT just for mostalgia ^^ LttP, if you go this far back has to be 1.

 

[Toriver]

I always preferred Ocarina of Time, but OoT is my favorite game of all time, so that's not taking much away from Majora's Mask. I really liked Majora's Mask too, but the three day time limit more annoyed me than anything else. And you're never really given much context into why Majora's Mask is so wicked. You know it's an evil menace that's planning to crush Termina unless the 4 giants can save it, but aside from that, there's not much you know. The concept of playing as not only Link in the form of different races from the game but actual members of those races is really interesting and adds a nice touch. It even gave me some inspiration to attempt to create some mechanics for a Legend of Zelda tabletop RPG with those races included based partly on what you can do with them as Link in Majora's Mask. Anyway, I still prefer OoT, but MM is a fantastic game that easily ranks #2 among the Zelda games I have played.

It was because skull kid, stole the Major's mask form a traveling mask salesmen. The one you meet in the beginning in the clock tower. The mask gave him power and through that evil. You even find out he was just a oppressed orphan with nothing, forced to steal to survive.

Overall I never had a chance to finish MM(I will eventually) but it was my favorite story of all time out of the Zelda series. The characters were more interesting, and all the side quest, and the combat changing through different use of the mask.

I just like this game because it had the most ideas out of all the Zelda games.

But the ultimate question here is, was the mask itself evil or did it become evil after falling into Skull Kid's hands? Which one of the two made the other evil? And if the mask was the source of the evil, why? That's the question.

 

[Mcupobob]

I always preferred Ocarina of Time, but OoT is my favorite game of all time, so that's not taking much away from Majora's Mask. I really liked Majora's Mask too, but the three day time limit more annoyed me than anything else. And you're never really given much context into why Majora's Mask is so wicked. You know it's an evil menace that's planning to crush Termina unless the 4 giants can save it, but aside from that, there's not much you know. The concept of playing as not only Link in the form of different races from the game but actual members of those races is really interesting and adds a nice touch. It even gave me some inspiration to attempt to create some mechanics for a Legend of Zelda tabletop RPG with those races included based partly on what you can do with them as Link in Majora's Mask. Anyway, I still prefer OoT, but MM is a fantastic game that easily ranks #2 among the Zelda games I have played.

It was because skull kid, stole the Major's mask form a traveling mask salesmen. The one you meet in the beginning in the clock tower. The mask gave him power and through that evil. You even find out he was just a oppressed orphan with nothing, forced to steal to survive.

Overall I never had a chance to finish MM(I will eventually) but it was my favorite story of all time out of the Zelda series. The characters were more interesting, and all the side quest, and the combat changing through different use of the mask.

I just like this game because it had the most ideas out of all the Zelda games.

But the ultimate question here is, was the mask itself evil or did it become evil after falling into Skull Kid's hands? Which one of the two made the other evil? And if the mask was the source of the evil, why? That's the question.

I don't really remember I haven't had the game in my hands for years. I think the salesperson explained that it was used in dark rituals, and he went through hell to get the mask.

 

[Faladorian]

Lots of people said it was better than OoT. In my opinion, they would be wrong. I hated MM

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

The main reason I love Majora's Mask is the time travel mechanic.

You can face bosses again (FINALLY!), go through areas with new items and masks, open new areas, and redo sidequests.

But the saving was bad. Restart your progress or find an owl, compared to OoT's pressing start.

 

[Atmos Duality]

It's the only Zelda game with serious adult undertones (life, death, aging, love, regret) aimed at the PLAYER rather than at Link.

Majora's Mask features amazing dungeons (with the 4th dungeon easily being the best in the series, both in design and execution) and a game mechanic based literally on the passage of time. The "Groundhog Day" scenario is really creepy and quite intimidating on its own in ways few games even try to emulate.

Most of the masks are gimmicks...but the three main "transformation masks" added great depth to the game.

Did I mention the soul-crushing difficulty? If not, let me say THIS GAME ACTUALLY BECOMES DIFFICULT. That's something Ocarina of Time didn't really do (Water Temple is long; not hard.)

It's also my favorite Zelda title to date, with Link to the Past, the Oracle games, and OoT right behind it.

 

[TomLikesGuitar]

Majoras Mask would have been an expansion pack today... OoT revolutionized 3d Zelda, and all other zelda's have followed its' formula since.

 

[Eponet]

The hero doesn't really 'develop' over the course of the game. There is no big revelation or triforce.

That's somewhat arguable. Link's development just isn't shown through the use of dialogue due to mute protagonist status. Compare Link at the beginning to at the end.

Development:

Initially, he was the classic image of the bitter veteran. Ganondorf had been foiled, and Link was left without a place in the world. However, not only had he lost the evil he desired to fight against, but also every link to his deeds. Having been sent back in time, no one was even aware that he had ever saved Hyrule. The one person that knew about it, the one person that tied him to his heroism had left after the deed was done. He took off into what was presumably the lost woods, a suicidal mission for those without a fairy to guie them. He just didn't care about his life now that the purpose that he thought he held was over.

Compare this to how he acts at the end of the game. Over the course of it, he realises renewed purpose, and sees that he really can help others without a single overpowering evil to fight against. He leaves Termina confidently, not seeming to mind the parting at all. This is a stark contrast to the final act of Ocarina of Time in which Link seems to hesitate in passing Zelda the ocarina to send him back.



Revelation:

Over the course of the game, he comes to realise that he can live without necessarily being a hero, an act symbolised by the masks. It is worth noting that the majority of the masks that Link receives are not given for overcoming an a problem stemming directly from Majora, and several of them could have just as easily occured with or without it. The Kafei side quest's primary antagonist is a common thief, the Romani Mask is the result of saving the cows from creatures that predate the recent appearance of Majora followed by fighting off common bandits, the Bremen mask is the result of listening to a man's guilty conscience without passing judgement over him, the stone mask is from the act of giving even the most common and non-descript of soldiers the power to stand up as an individual, and so on. While in Ocarina of Time, Link matured physically, mentally he remained a child, and the experiences twisted him. Majora's Mask not only helps to heal Link's soul, but also to mature him as a person.

The final mask, the fierce diety is awarded only after Link has passed through all of the trials and come to see that he can take his place as a hero, even without a Ganon-esque figure, and then give away the masks, the symbols of those deeds. The complete opposite to how he acted back at the end of Ocarina of Time, where he futily chased after the last link.

The three masks that he refuses to give away are the transformation masks, containing the souls of the people that helped him the most, and that, in two cases, he sent to final death. This creating the idea of keeping the memories of the dead with you, but not clouding your vision.

Additionally, the appearance of the Fierce Diety itself brings its function into question. It's a transformation mask, but what is it transforming him into. It looks surprisingly like Link himself. This part is pure speculation, but I subscribe to the theory that it is in fact the physical manifestation of his own soul, and symbolising his inner maturity.

 

[Outright Villainy]

Did I mention the soul-crushing difficulty? If not, let me say THIS GAME ACTUALLY BECOMES DIFFICULT. That's something Ocarina of Time didn't really do (Water Temple is long; not hard.)

It wasn't as difficult as Link to the past, though I think that's for the better. LTTP had a mechanical difficulty, Majora's mask had difficulty in puzzles, for the most part. Though fighting Majora's sans Deity's mask is rock hard in the final incarnation.

OT: Majora's mask is my favourite Zelda, and quite possibly my favourite game ever. The darker themes, the persistent world, the oodles of side quests, the kick ass masks...

I just wish there 1 or 2 more primary dungeons to sink my teeth into.

 

[Eponet]

But the saving was bad. Restart your progress or find an owl, compared to OoT's pressing start.

It becomes especially bad when you have a damaged cartrige that likes to crash whenever the faintest breeze passes over it. One time I saved the ranch and got Epona + Bottle, collected the Zora eggs, defended Cremia from bandits, collected the captain's hat, saved Shirou, learned the song of storms, and the new wave bossa nova, and then boom, the game crashed. That was just annoying.

 

[natster43]

I liked Ocarina of Time more. Because I was terrible at Majora's Mask but I could get somewhere in Ocarina of time. This was also when I was about 6. Now I played a bit more of MM and found it much more enjoyable, but I think I like OoT more. My favorite Zelda game is still Wind Waker though.

 

[WorldCritic]

OoT is a great game, but I think that it gets a little too much attention and I don't know, it felt like it was way too slow to get started for me and it gave me the sense that I had done it all before. I have never played MM but I do want to because it looks like an interesting game. It just sort of breaks the tradition of the Zelda series by not having the same old villain and not having a princess and that's enough to get my attention.

 

[Ace of Spades]

WW, TP, OoT, MM. I loved Majora's Mask for adding a new layer of gameplay via the different masks. It did a good job changing up the pace to keep thing interesting. Ocarina of Time was good too, but I just like Majora's Mask better.

 

[BlackHazard]

I hated MM.For me the time loop was a pain.But Iloved Wind Waker its still the most original Zelda that I ever played.

 

[TerranReaper]

I loved MM, to the extent where I regard it as the best Zelda game. Sure, the time limit is annoying to some but I liked the challenge it presented along with the sidequests. There were many people that you had to help out, and the time loop allowed you to see the effects of your intervention or not, which made the world feel a lot more real and a lot more intricate than a bunch of random NPCs. The overall tone of the game was a lot more darker than OoT, and there's a lot of symbolism that I found with the game.

 

[PureChaos]

wow, quite surprised about the mixed feelings about MM. the 3 day time thing seems to be people's biggest gripe with it. though some say it's one of the best Zelda games, a few people have said some of the Gameboy Zelda games are better than MM, A Link to the Past and the Oracle games have been mentioned. I played ALttP recently and it was really good, seemed more like a Zelda game than MM. not played the Oracle ones though.