Ocarina of Time Part III

I've taken a break from the regularly scheduled news and commentary to focus on the N64 classic: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This is Part 3 of an ongoing series. 

Is Jabu Jabu the Windfish?

The adventure continues into the belly of a Giant Whale God, who swallowed a lazy princess.. I have endeavored to figure out what the heck is going on inside the belly of this gigantic beast, while at the same time understand why Ocarina of Time is what it is. 

Immediately I found out that there are things in this game that are pretty straightforward, and that there are other parts that completely leave me in the dark. In this dungeon for example: How was I supposed to know that I should get swallowed up in the floor? How was I supposed to know to talk to the princess TWICE? I guess I just don't think that way when i play games anymore. 

Have games come a long way or have my expectations about games changed over time?

I find that the bosses in this game are really tough until you find out their hidden weakness. The giant Octorok required some specifically timed boomerang throws, and the camera drove me nuts the entire time. It honestly brought me out of the game, with the camera working against the game play. The early days of 3D games! Wow. How the cameras have improved! For 90% of the game so far the camera works just fine, but those other 10% moments are incredibly frustrating. 

I beat the boss and received the final Spirit Gem. Having all three, I marched on over the Temple of Time to pay a visit to Zelda... and low and behold- the opening dream sequence replays right in front of me. Only this time it isn't a dream. Ganon made fun of me. I thought that was funny. 

This is where the game finally opened up to me and when I finally got into it. I'm not sure what was holding me back from really getting into this, but as soon as I entered the Temple of Time and saw the Master Sword, I kept thinking to myself "Oh my gosh... this is a freaking Zelda game." 

And then we get sucked into seven years later in the future. Adult Link. The story finally gets real. up until this point Link was just collecting some gems and for whatever reason he was chosen by the deku tree. Big deal. I find it interesting from a story standpoint that the Hero of Time was chosen as a child, even though it would be necessary to suspend Link in time for seven years in order for him to become an adult hero. 

And everything is changed in the world... sorta. The castle is a mess, the world is dark, and there are tougher enemies all over the world. Immediately Link is told to save some Sages that are locked or hidden away throughout the dungeons of the world. Get to it. No big deal. Back to the forest I guess. I played Saria's song to say hi, and after a few tries, was able to find my way through the Lost Forest towards the Forest Temple.

I've said this before, and it frustrates me to no end how dependent Zelda games are on the goofy items. After exploring the entire length of the Forest temple over and over... I knew I was missing something. Even after I got the bow, it just seemed I was missing something completely obvious, and I was missing a few keys, and couldn't reach a treasure chest. It then dawned on me to double check every room again and that's where I saw the eye in front of the twisted hall. After plunking an arrow in the eye the hall reversed!

Can I say how terrifying those Wallmaster hands are? 

Wallmasters are probably my most feared enemy of any Zelda game.

Seriously. Since the original Zelda, these guys will grab you and take you back to the START OF THE LEVEL. They are always fiendishly placed in a room that is pretty deep inside each dungeon. Ocarina of Time adds to this anxiety by the growing shadow that forms above Link... then the hand drops! They got me once! And boy was I pissed! The way they included Wallmasters in this game was incredible, and got my heart pounding when I had to go through those rooms. 

My progress through the level was hindered only by my incompetence to notice the obvious eyeball arrow targets and the fact that my son continually turned off the N64 because he thought it was hilarious. At that point I had just defeated the four ghosts, and was riding the elevator down to Phantom Ganon. I handed my son the controller and took a break. 

The battle with Phantom Ganon was a classic "reflect the magic" back at the boss trick that we saw in earlier Zelda games. I found that I actually did better if I swung my sword like a madman and coincidentally struck the ghost down in defeat. With Saria the Forest Sage saved, I was kinda left without a direction. Where do I go from here? Where's the next dungeon? Did I miss something?

I guess I'll go walk around somewhere. 

Up until the time shift the game was an interesting representation of the series in three dimensional form. After becoming adult Link, the story of the game finally came together for me, creating an experience that I really enjoyed. Zelda games have become kinda slow paced things, and Ocarina was no different for me. With more of the game left to explore, I think I'm finally grasping the scope of this 32Mbit game cartridge. Very ambitious in a world of CD-ROM.

Will this Game become my favorite Zelda? I'm not sure, but at this point I kind of want it to be.