Zero Punctuation: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

[The Bandit]

Ah yes, the weekly flood of people coming to the escapist and slowing it down to a snails pace.

I've never played a Zelda game though for some reason.

I'm pretty sure the "weekly" crowd have more of a right to be here than you, considering the massive quality of this post.

Call of Duty 4 is better than Goldeneye because its graphics are better, its sounds are better, its gameplay is more refined, and its multiplayer component is much more compelling.

Really? Because I played CoD4 and other the nuke scene, I didn't see what the big deal was. But whatever I'll give you that. Can't say that applies to every CoD after it though. People go on and on about how every Mario and Zelda game is the same thing (which is bull) but they never wanna call out CoD's yearly sequels now do they?

I don't play CoD, but I tend to excuse non-Nintendo franchises for sequeling because A) they usually have connected stories. No one plays Nintendo games for the plot, but I'd bet there are some doofuses who care about General Shepherd or whoever from CoD. And B) they (usually) have several small innovations rather than one big gimmick. Nintendo games are notorious for the big gimmick. "Oh look, Mario has a water gun! But now he's in space! And Link is a furry now, last time he was a poorly drawn cartoon!" But look at the huge number of tiny little things Halo 2 added from Halo 1. Even though the big gimmick might, in some cases, change gameplay more drastically than a number of minor tweaks, it ironically feels more like Nintendo is just trying to push something out the door as fast as possible. At least to me.

But, fuck, Super Mario Galaxy 2 can't even be given this argument. That's the same game. Period.

 

[CyanLink]

I know I'm going to get a lot of flak for this but I can't tell if he liked or hated the game. I enjoyed OoT and am looking forward to playing it again after about 10 years in 3D. As soon as I get the chance to finish L.A. Noire.

 

[Hungry Donner]

I've never played a Zelda game to completion. At the time there was an N64 in the dorm but I greatly preferred GoldenEye, at least until Half-Life came out.

I watched people playing OoT on a number of occasions, but it never looked very appealing. I did enjoy the original Zelda quite a bit however.

 

[rickynumber24]

1) Even though I'm a massive Zelda fanboy, I have to say I was throuoghly amused by this review (though I know SOMEONE is going to get pissy about it).

By the standards of ZP reviews, I'd even say it was pretty positive. I mean, what did he have to complain about? Awkward controller, 3D, old graphics are old, story's kinda weak, and it makes the later Zelda games look derivative, which, if you're a Zelda fanboy, you probably don't enormously care about. (I know I don't...)

It may not have aged well, but I can't help thinking that it didn't age poorly either.

 

[thereverend7]

Graphics do not make a game, my friend.

and it's not "nostalgia" its a fact. I.e super mario brothers had tighter gameplay then some modern games. Sure I could play New Super Mario bros, but im not shallow enough to say that i can't enjoy a good game because it isn't pretty enough for my precious eyeballs.

fun is fun. i dont care how it looks. i get more enjoyment out of "the shitty polygons" in Super Mario 64 then I do half the games out there these days.

You're saying that Ocarina of Time being a good game, or any game being good, is a fact? Nope, sorry, that's an opinion. I do not agree with Yatzhee's assessment that no N64 game has aged well - Super Mario 64, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Ocarina of Time are all still great games - but they have some fallacies that are much more apparent now than they were then.

Um, no. I said you shouldn't dismiss a game and consider it bad just based on it's graphics "not having aged well"

I mean hell, if you only want to play new games just because they look the shiniest, by all means do so, but most gamers I know don't really care as long as, you know, its fun.

EDIT: I can see where my original post could have been quite misleading. I was simply meaning Graphics do not equal good gameplay. Old games can still be enjoyed just as old movies can still be enjoyed, you just might have to change your state of mind a little.

 

[Darthbawls77]

Ocarina of time is just an old favorite thats hard for alot of people to shake a mad hand at and the same goes for Goldeneye. They were in fact super great games and I am glad that others after them were inspired by them but it is time we start trying for a new formula in Zelda kinda like how Mario Galaxy did. Nothing to drastic but a major upgrade to the play mechanics. The new addition to craftable weapons and gear to make them more of your style is a nice start but I hope theres more. Great review though I loved every second of it, just wish it was longer, next week is so far away lol.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Is it me or does Yahtzee's feeling for a game seem to inversely represent the number of fans a game has?

 

[twm1709]

This brings up a decent question about games. What is better? the game that invented something great or the one that took everything that game had and improved upon it?

 

[mip0]

In the original ocarina of time you couldn't open a map and see what room you hadn't been in.

 

[Faerillis]

I love OoT but of course taking several steps back in mechanics isn't going to hold up for anyone who didn't play it when the N64 was big. I will say though, Yahtzee having to look up how to get Lord Jabu Jabu to swallow you saddens me. And if memory serves, the map system wasn't so nice as to let you see which rooms you hadn't been in before in the original.

No surprises here, OoT is an old game and the template for pretty much every LoZ game to follow it and the mechanics of such games need nostalgia to make their mechanics still seem anywhere near as good.

 

[Truniron]

I think I'm among extremely few people in the world who never liked this game.

 

[Amphoteric]

Ah yes, the weekly flood of people coming to the escapist and slowing it down to a snails pace.

I've never played a Zelda game though for some reason.

I'm pretty sure the "weekly" crowd have more of a right to be here than you, considering the massive quality of this post.

Everyone has exactly the same right to be here.

What are you talking about?

 

[Moros]

I find it weird that right before I watched this I was playing OoT on an emulator for the nostalgia.

 

[Dexiro]

Once again, this wasn't a review. This was Yahtzee needing an excuse to say how much he thinks Nintendo sucks like the cynical troll that he is.

That's what Yahtzee does urgh. None of his videos are meant to be reviews and you can hardly call him a cynical troll because he isn't trying to deceive anybody.

If you don't want to listen to some guy tear games apart and make jokes then don't watch his fucking videos.

Seriously though you thought these videos were meant to be reviews?

 

[qeinar]

always liked majoras mask better tbh. : p also the water temple is not that hard, even at 12 i didn't have a hard time there. (i'm pretty shure i was about 12 when i played ocarina of time and majoras mask. : p)

 

[ModReap]

Didn't they remake the water dungeon to be easier?

 

[Dexiro]

Yahtzee was insulting people for being able to get thru the water temple with ease.
I thought I read somewhere they were revamping the water temple to make it easier or something...
Am I completely wrong?

I read that too but now I hear they didn't change a thing. I think there was a bug in the original that could cause you to get stuck forever, I suppose they would have fixed that atleast.

 

[orangeapples]

People bashing the Zelda formula are just people that forgot that games are supposed to be fun. Fun is subjective. People will like different things. People who hate on games are just elitists who believe that their opinion should be viewed as fact. Here's how it tends to play out for them: Lets play 'CAN YOU SPOT THE ELITISTS?' Rules are simple. two people will be presented and 1 is an elitist Your job is to pick out the elitist:

round 1:

Person A: Call of Duty is lame.
Person B: I like Call of Duty.
Person A: Then your brain is broken.

Round 2:

Person C: Mass Effect is the greatest game ever.
Person D: I didn't really like Mass Effect.
Person C: You deserve to die.

Round 3:

Person E: Oh you also like Final Fantasy. Which was your favorite?
Person F: Probably Final Fantasy XII
Person E: BLASPHEMY!!!

There is no prize, so don't bother playing.

back to the actual review:

I love me some Ocarina of Time, and I still found this rather hilarious, "Fuck me its cold in here." got me laughing so hard my neck hurts (I don't think it is supposed to do that...).

Ocarina of Time is really simple; but the only way most of us were able to get through it was because we had the strategy guide. I think the only reason why we all got the strategy guide was because of how awesome it looked. It wasn't just the game cover reprinted to fit the form of the strategy guide. Then after 12 years of playing, we just kinda memorized it (I don't think anyone really took 12 years to memorize, but still most of us did).

I don't quite remember, but I believe that you were supposed to talk to different Zora and they talk about how Lord Jabu Jabu likes to eat fish, and I think there is a sign near him that say so as well. I haven't played in a while (No 3DS).

And luckily for the Great Deku tree, he died so he didn't have to explain anything to the others (I'm surprised that Death Mountain wasn't represented at the meeting, I guess we all cant get everything we'd want.)

 

[dennett316]

This brings up a decent question about games. What is better? the game that invented something great or the one that took everything that game had and improved upon it?

By definition it's the second one. The original can be fondly remembered, but if things are improved upon then the later game is obviously the better title.
Goldeneye was great in it's day but even the most mediocre competent FPS released nowadays blows it out the water. COD 4 is definitely superior to Goldeneye. Goldeneye had a greater impact at the time because there was nothing like it on console but that doesn't make it the better game.