WEM 06 - LOZ: Ocarina of time
And so Winter-een-mas ends and we come at last to my favourite game of all time.
Yes it is of course Ocarina of Time. Since I was up quite early today I attempted to finish the main story all in one day. Let me tell you unless you go with next to no sleep at all it isn't possible.
I started at 11:30am and stopped at 22:15pm and I had only reached the water temple.
Not to self never push yourself to play a game. It ruins it.
well enjoy
---------------------------
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
If you’ve ever picked up an N64 pad, hell any joypad, chances are you have heard of this legendary game. Legend by Name, Legend by Nature, Ocarina of time is frequently found very high on top 100 lists everywhere. So many have a lot of respect for this title even if it isn’t in their personal top ten lists, though the majority of the time it is.
Released at the end of 1998, Ocarina of time came out as the N64 was starting to become popular. It was the first time Nintendo favourite Zelda had been taken into the third dimension and the results were amazing.
Let me start by saying this is for the gamer who wants a fairly long one player experience. It’s not the kind of game you can play for 5 minutes and with no multiplayer options it was never going to be the highlight of a party.
Though rarely does a player get so caught up in the world. The game centres on manipulation of time. Environments change as they go from day to night, and dramatically change when you start going to a dark future seven years later. Most of the NPC’s seem to have their own personality and will be as memorable as you play it as most main characters. Seeing how their lives change really gives you the sense that Hyrule is a living breathing world.
Really that’s what makes this game so great, the feeling. It was the first time I ever felt like I was taken away to a living breathing world in a game. Others have made believable worlds in games since but Ocarina of Time was the first for me.
But besides feelings what other merits does this game have? Well possibly one of the best control schemes ever devised the brilliant Z-targeting system. By holding Z the camera centres behind you, waiting for something it can lock on to. Once it locks onto a person to talk to, a strange object to check or an enemy to fight the camera will focus your view on that target no matter what you do.
By targeting enemies you can get info on their weaknesses, defend their attacks directly, back flip or sidestep around them, and strike with much stronger attacks. However you are completely focused on that one object, leaving you vulnerable to attacks from behind and making it really hard to do the actual levels.
Used primarily for fighting, testing your reflexes and skills, it’s also useful for interacting with other things in the game. It’s pretty easy to master too.
An odd feature for games in this genre at the time, considering the number of jumps your expected to make, is the lack of a jump button. Instead there is an auto jump system in place. Walk up to a gap and Link will automatically jump across it best he can. It may sound dodgy but it actually works very well. It’s important to remember this isn’t a platform game; most of the gameplay is around puzzle solving and combat.
Typically the same formula from the prequels is in place here. You have an overworld that links all the towns and dungeons. Towns have shops where you can buy items, mini games and side quests, and lots of people to talk to. Dungeons are the meat of the game as you venture through enemy filled caves and temples, solving puzzles, avoiding traps, collecting keys to unlock doors and finishing with an awesome boss battle.
The bosses are one of the many highlights of the game. They are challenging and tense with each one being memorable. The extra dimension has really allowed the bosses to seem huge and intimidating. It has also let the team create some fantastic though provoking dungeons. Such as the water temple that really feels like a labyrinth most of the time.
The only bad thing I can say about the game is it does feel quite slow sometimes. Link seems to take forever to walk across the main fields, which in his defence is quite large. Though it is still annoying when you want to move on and you’re spending what seems like an eternity moving across a field.
You do get a horse that speeds things up a bit though and it more than makes up for Link’s slow running. There are some moments with Epona that are just as memorable as some of the other things I’ve mentioned.
It’s hard not to call this game perfect. And best of all there’s plenty of it. The main quest, despite not being a Final Fantasy style RPG quest, will still take some time to complete. Many games these days can be done in a day when you know what you’re doing. Not the case for Ocarina of Time, unless you pretty much avoid sleep.
And with plenty of good, easy to find, side quests including a fairly long find 100 enemies and beat them quest, you first time has the potential to last months, quite a few months.
Visually it was ahead of it’s time. Today the N64 limitations are clear as day, but back then the effects were just stunning. There’s a particularly cool effect with a twisting corridor about half way through the game that just really summed up what the graphics well, mind blowing.
The soundtrack has its ups and downs. There are some fantastic melodies particularly in towns, which are hard not to hum along to. But there are some tracks that grate after a while, mainly the temple stages. The forest temple stage music for example is quite creepy but repetitive.
Overall Ocarina of Time is an incredible game worthy of being hailed as a classic for all eternity. It was ahead of it’s time both gameplay wise and visually and it has enough to keep any gamer going for ages. But above all the feeling you got when playing it back in 1998 is indescribable. It was one of the first, if not the first, to offer a convincing living breathing world. Add to that loads of memorable moments and it’s clear to see why people rate it so highly.
+ Loads of quests on offer including a fairly lengthy main quest
+ Ahead of it’s time visuals
+ A convincing living breathing world with plenty of memorable moments
- Perhaps Link could move a little faster
- The plot isn’t going to win any awards
- Music can get annoying late on during dungeons
10 out of 10
Yes it is of course Ocarina of Time. Since I was up quite early today I attempted to finish the main story all in one day. Let me tell you unless you go with next to no sleep at all it isn't possible.
I started at 11:30am and stopped at 22:15pm and I had only reached the water temple.
Not to self never push yourself to play a game. It ruins it.
well enjoy
---------------------------
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
If you’ve ever picked up an N64 pad, hell any joypad, chances are you have heard of this legendary game. Legend by Name, Legend by Nature, Ocarina of time is frequently found very high on top 100 lists everywhere. So many have a lot of respect for this title even if it isn’t in their personal top ten lists, though the majority of the time it is.
Released at the end of 1998, Ocarina of time came out as the N64 was starting to become popular. It was the first time Nintendo favourite Zelda had been taken into the third dimension and the results were amazing.
Let me start by saying this is for the gamer who wants a fairly long one player experience. It’s not the kind of game you can play for 5 minutes and with no multiplayer options it was never going to be the highlight of a party.
Though rarely does a player get so caught up in the world. The game centres on manipulation of time. Environments change as they go from day to night, and dramatically change when you start going to a dark future seven years later. Most of the NPC’s seem to have their own personality and will be as memorable as you play it as most main characters. Seeing how their lives change really gives you the sense that Hyrule is a living breathing world.
Really that’s what makes this game so great, the feeling. It was the first time I ever felt like I was taken away to a living breathing world in a game. Others have made believable worlds in games since but Ocarina of Time was the first for me.
But besides feelings what other merits does this game have? Well possibly one of the best control schemes ever devised the brilliant Z-targeting system. By holding Z the camera centres behind you, waiting for something it can lock on to. Once it locks onto a person to talk to, a strange object to check or an enemy to fight the camera will focus your view on that target no matter what you do.
By targeting enemies you can get info on their weaknesses, defend their attacks directly, back flip or sidestep around them, and strike with much stronger attacks. However you are completely focused on that one object, leaving you vulnerable to attacks from behind and making it really hard to do the actual levels.
Used primarily for fighting, testing your reflexes and skills, it’s also useful for interacting with other things in the game. It’s pretty easy to master too.
An odd feature for games in this genre at the time, considering the number of jumps your expected to make, is the lack of a jump button. Instead there is an auto jump system in place. Walk up to a gap and Link will automatically jump across it best he can. It may sound dodgy but it actually works very well. It’s important to remember this isn’t a platform game; most of the gameplay is around puzzle solving and combat.
Typically the same formula from the prequels is in place here. You have an overworld that links all the towns and dungeons. Towns have shops where you can buy items, mini games and side quests, and lots of people to talk to. Dungeons are the meat of the game as you venture through enemy filled caves and temples, solving puzzles, avoiding traps, collecting keys to unlock doors and finishing with an awesome boss battle.
The bosses are one of the many highlights of the game. They are challenging and tense with each one being memorable. The extra dimension has really allowed the bosses to seem huge and intimidating. It has also let the team create some fantastic though provoking dungeons. Such as the water temple that really feels like a labyrinth most of the time.
The only bad thing I can say about the game is it does feel quite slow sometimes. Link seems to take forever to walk across the main fields, which in his defence is quite large. Though it is still annoying when you want to move on and you’re spending what seems like an eternity moving across a field.
You do get a horse that speeds things up a bit though and it more than makes up for Link’s slow running. There are some moments with Epona that are just as memorable as some of the other things I’ve mentioned.
It’s hard not to call this game perfect. And best of all there’s plenty of it. The main quest, despite not being a Final Fantasy style RPG quest, will still take some time to complete. Many games these days can be done in a day when you know what you’re doing. Not the case for Ocarina of Time, unless you pretty much avoid sleep.
And with plenty of good, easy to find, side quests including a fairly long find 100 enemies and beat them quest, you first time has the potential to last months, quite a few months.
Visually it was ahead of it’s time. Today the N64 limitations are clear as day, but back then the effects were just stunning. There’s a particularly cool effect with a twisting corridor about half way through the game that just really summed up what the graphics well, mind blowing.
The soundtrack has its ups and downs. There are some fantastic melodies particularly in towns, which are hard not to hum along to. But there are some tracks that grate after a while, mainly the temple stages. The forest temple stage music for example is quite creepy but repetitive.
Overall Ocarina of Time is an incredible game worthy of being hailed as a classic for all eternity. It was ahead of it’s time both gameplay wise and visually and it has enough to keep any gamer going for ages. But above all the feeling you got when playing it back in 1998 is indescribable. It was one of the first, if not the first, to offer a convincing living breathing world. Add to that loads of memorable moments and it’s clear to see why people rate it so highly.
+ Loads of quests on offer including a fairly lengthy main quest
+ Ahead of it’s time visuals
+ A convincing living breathing world with plenty of memorable moments
- Perhaps Link could move a little faster
- The plot isn’t going to win any awards
- Music can get annoying late on during dungeons
10 out of 10
posted by Master hunter at 1:41 am
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