#orcarina of time

[alln64games]

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

JP release: 21th November 1998

NA release: 23rd November 1998

PAL release: 11th December 1998

Developer: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

N64 Magazine Score: 98%

Often heralded as one of the greatest games of all time, I really don’t need to go into great detail as to what makes Ocarina of Time so amazing, as it provided one of the first epic adventures in 3D in a way that felt real. For this, I played a fan made PC port of the game that is a very faithful recreation. I used a few enhancements, such as camera control and the ability to assign items to the D-pad, plus a texture pack which added detail but still kept the feel of the N64 original.

The game starts out in Kokiri Forest, which serves as a tutorial hub that manages to not feel like a tutorial. This is a small playground that lets you play with aspects of the game’s control and targeting systems, the context sensitive A-button, but all the lessons are completely optional and are for the player to find. This kind of discovery was a great feeling as a kid, and the starting area is designed in such a way that if you know what you’re doing, you can very quickly grab your sword and shield and get on with the game.

I feel like Kokiri Forest is overlooked for how well it introduces Ocarina of Time, as a lot of the stuff is now just second nature in video games, but Ocarina had to teach everything from scratch. Even simple things like pots respawning to collect more rupees is taught by the rarity of rupees and the need to buy the Deku Shield, and the little pond areas introduce how jumping is done in the game.

Dungeons are a big part of Ocarina of Time, and the game eases you into them with the Deku Tree, while also showing off the verticality possible thanks to the N64’s power. There are a few little tricks like trapping you in the slingshot room until you use it. Unfortunately, Navi does decide to butt in by explaining specific actions like moving blocks and diving, running the freedom of the starting village, but as you the action for interacting with a block changes based on if you’re still and moving, I can see people missing one of the actions and getting stuck.

The game directs you upwards to perform a big jump to get to the lower areas of the tree, and uses deku sticks to activate torches and remove obstacles, showing the kind of ways that you can interact with in the game.

After the Deku Tree, we get a significant gap until the next dungeon as the game opens up to a large expansive world, a technique still used in games today. You’ll be directed towards the castle by a really annoying owl (with confusing did you not hear me or did you not not hear me? yes or no questions), but the size of Hyrule Field is specifically designed that (without knowing the way and rolling to move faster) night will fall, a way to introduce how time works in the game, and how it moves in certain areas.

Castle Town is filled with NPCs to talk to and side quests that are hinted at for you to start later on – although first is the obligatory stealth section, but with a fixed camera to make it easier (was Ocarina of Time the start of the forced stealth section trend?), where you’ll meet Zelda as you learn the quest of the game. Once the “main” quest starts, you need to start figuring out things yourself, with the first big hurdle figuring out what to actually do in Goron City, which is likely where a lot of kids got stuck for a while, as the solution lies in revisiting somewhere across the map.

Dodongo’s Cavern waits to introduce its name until you reach the main central room. Here you can see a lot of paths, both on the current level and upstairs, but this guides you far less than the deku tree as you have to figure out how to navigate the dungeon yourself. It also presents an added danger as your deku shield can be destroyed by fire enemies – you are no longer in a kid’s world, and this dungeon does a great job at portraying that.

After this, you have access to even more of the world, as you’re directed to Zora’s Domain. You also get introduced to magic beans, which let you plant in patches of soft dirt – they’ll take years to grow, so this is the first in-game hint as to what will happen later on. Zora’s Domain also teaches you about bottles (although if you do side missions, you can get some before here), which are used to collect certain items for later on, as well as letting you carry a fairy to revive Link. You also need to go to Lake Hylia, where you can find the wonderful fishing minigame.

After solving the puzzle to get inside Lord Jabu-Jabu, you enter the next dungeon with pulsating walls and dangerous electric jellyfish. This one is very difficult to navigate first time round, and you have to use Ruto to activate switches as she accompanies you for part of this dungeon – a concept revisited in Wind Waker. I like the style of this dungeon, but it’s definitely my least favourite.

With all three spiritual stones in hand, you head to the Temple of Time – grabbing the Ocarina of Time from the fleeing Princess Zelda along the way as Link gets hold of the Master Sword, only to wake up after 7 years in slumber. He’s now an adult, and the world outside is much darker, with a destroyed Hyrule Market overrun by Zombies. A mysterious new character, Shiek, is on hand to guide Link towards the temples he needs to visit to awaken the sages of the land.

You get directed to Kakariko Village, where you need to use clues given by NPCs to find one of the coolest objects in the game – the hookshot.

The Forest Temple is the first dungeon as an adult, and has some very unnerving music (the music is amazing across the entire game) and some really neat ideas of manipulating the dungeon itself – something else that would be revisited in more detail in future Zelda games. Here you get the adult equivalent of the slingshot, the bow and arrow. It’s a very unnerving dungeon, and ends with a practice for the final boss of the game.

You can do the temples in different orders, although some optional areas may be locked off – the map for the fire temple, for example, needs the bow. The fire temple also needs a special tunic that you need to get first (although people have completed the dungeon without it), here you get the Megaton Hammer, which is used to activate rusty switches and smash harder rocks, before fighting a fire-breathing dragon. I like to use the Giant’s Knife here, which is a powerful sword that can only last a few hits (a permanent one is a reward for one of the longer side quests of the game).

The Water Temple has a really bad reputation, and I can see why. It’s not as outrageously hard as its reputation, but it does a few things differently. The biggest difference is how it treats small keys. Usually they’re on the way to close to the locked door they’re needed for, but the Water Temple is a bit more open ended, with keys hidden all over the place. One in particular (under the central room) is very easy to miss. You also need to change the water level a lot, so exploring it can be a faff. Lastly, the iron boots needed to be constantly equipped and removed, and could only be done so from the pause menu (luckily the version I played, like the 3DS version, lets you assign it to an item button).

Eventually, you’ll be unable to progress as adult Link and will have to return to the past as child Link – something alluded to by the man in the Windmill complaining about someone playing a song on the ocarina in the past (and then teaching you the song, which you will then teach him in the past). The game ups the horror vibes a lot and, if you wait until this point to go back in time and head to the well, you’ll also feel much more vulnerable due to not having access to a lot of your items. This is to get the Lens of Truth, needed for the Shadow Temple (technically you can do it without, but you need to know the game extremely well).

With lots of creepy vibes and invisible enemies and objects, the Shadow Temple really freaked me out as a kid – to the point that I backed out after getting the hover boots and did the Spirit Temple, and I even stopped playing the game, only returning after completing Majora’s Mask years later. It seems really tame now as I know what to expect, but the unknown really was too much for me back then. This temple – and the next – are much more linear, although with really fun bosses.

The Spirit Temple is fascinating as it needs to be completed in two parts – one half as a kid and the other as an adult. You get a really nice shield which is used to reflect light and certain attacks and, like a few other items from the adult dungeons, it’s a shame it doesn’t have much use elsewhere in the game.

After this, you then have access to the final dungeon, which consists of mini challenges loosely based on the various temples, before you take on Ganondorf. Of course, there are still side quests to complete.

The hunt for heart pieces is the most significant kind of collectible, but the trading and mask side quests are also great. Hidden throughout the land are also 100 Gold Skulltulas, many of which only appear at night. The rewards for the first 50 are pretty good: bigger wallets, a heart piece and a special stone that rumbles when you’re near a secret. The final 50 only grants you 200 rupees which, while you can collect it multiple times, is completely pointless at that point in the game as you’ll spend most of the game with a full wallet anyway. A gold coloured tunic would have been a better option (perhaps it can have protection for fire and water so you don’t need to change tunics). 

The lack of things to use money for is probably one of the bigger weaknesses of the game. The dungeons and overworld have bonus puzzles, most leading to money or the Gold Skulltulas. It feels like a waste when the reward you get is completely pointless, but that’s only a minor issue.

Ocarina of Time is still a wonderful game. The world does feel a bit small by today’s standards, but for its time, it was phenomenal, and in many ways, Ocarina of Time showed how 3D adventures could and should be done. It’s an important piece of video game history that is still great to play today.

Remake or remaster?

Something similar to what the fan PC port offers would be lovely for Ocarina of Time, combined with some of the enhancements of the 3DS version.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no way to buy a new copy of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the only official way to play is to rent it via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pak.

[guideoftime]

#guideoftime ⤷ SHEIK: 𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐒 This is a selective & independent ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴ ʙᴀꜱᴇᴅ & ᴄᴀɴᴏɴ-ᴅɪᴠᴇʀɢᴇɴᴛ RP blog for MALE SHEIK from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This is original character friendly , multiverse , multiship. I ask Minors DNI and will be blocked. Beloved by Inu.

▴ — CARRD. (Rules & About!) ▴ — Headcanons

credit.

[hestiashand]

top five loz games 👍

OMG

1. wind waker

2. twilight princess

3. breath of the wild

4. skyward sword

5. majoras mask

[amagicalunicorn]

I think a week ago, I had a dream where I tried going onto the dark web. Things started out normal. Basically, I remember I was on this social media site that sorta looked like Roblox, and nothing scary or disturbing happened for a lot of the dream. But then, I wanted to leave the dark web, or at least just uninstall the Tor browser. (Sorry, I don't know everything about how the dark web works.)

So I tried to make a goodbye post on the dark web social media site, on the Xbox in my parents room.(?)

But then the screen started randomly glitching, with a clip of The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time glitching on the TV screen, for some reason, and that's when I woke up.

The end.

[catfoxposts-blog]

Link finds a ninja

This video will never get old.

[tears-of-xion]

I loved the lukabrina art (I've seen it called that ship name too)! And yes you should draw more of Sabrina 😁

Just as a little fun thing for being so amazing some headcanons from my own fics for them:

She calls him senpai, yes, she is that otaku.

He calls her issi after they have been dating for a while. It's short for Pianissimo which is 'to play softly' in music terms.

He couldn't initially hear her song, because he was trying to listen as the audience, but it turns out he was a part of the music. (He can hear her song when they are doing things together)

She struggles with the attention he gives her. She both loves it and is overwhelmed by it.

He is likewise overwhelmed st times, by her sincerity. He is used to people hiding their emotions from him and having to intuit meanings. With her it is just all out there, and he's not used to so much openness.

She plays the ocarina(yes she is still a dork) bit not very well. She also plays the recorder, this one very well. (I had written this long before the movie came out)

He tried to ask her out the first time vis texts. She literally ran to the boat to be there in person (a sweaty panting mess) because 'You just have to do these things right.'

Hope this was as enjoyable to read as your art is to observe :)

I'm so happy that you like it!! 🥰 (and I'm def gonna draw more Sabrina once I get some ideas <3)

and oooooooh lukabrina headcanons!!!!!

Hehe the nicknames are cute! (I can imagine Kagami not having much of an opinion on Sabrina, but then she overhears her call Luka 'senpai' and suddenly she's judging her. excessively.)

Aww Sabrina struggling with the attention.〒▽〒 Makes sense considering that she's usually the one giving the attention without receiving much back, but oughhh....

Eeee them both being so good for each other but also being overwhelmed by each other's affection...adorable...

Guitar / orcarina duet time! :D

Her insisting on being asked out in person is cute!!! They're cute!!

And yes, these were so much fun to read; thank you for sharing!!! :D

[orcboxer]

Orctopolis. Orctagonia. Orcshville. Orcahassee. I could go on.

I've been doing this too, all day. Orcadia. Orcana. Orcalicious. Orcarina of Time.

[macabretcles]

I think I'm better now! I was off today but I decided to just have a day with no tumblr for most of it. Had a drive with my friend. Got Mcdonalds. Watch about half of an Orcarina of Time 100% playthrough. I work tomorrow then that's me until friday evening so I'm going to get things done at somepoint between playing KH and travelling to do errands. I will be on Discord briefly before sleeping and IMs here. I am hoping to get back to things again now that I'm no longer ill.

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Skyward sword is the perfect Zelda for an insert of Hero Kakashi.

Why you ask? Because he’s both cool and collected, and absolutely feral. Skyward Sword link is the most well put together (other than maybe Twilight princess link and that’s debatable af) but he’s also ready to jump head first towards the ground without a seconds thought

And personally that screams ‘Kakashi’ to me. Cool, calculated, and absolutely reckless

Naruto seems the orcarina of time one. Feral af and raised among other people who never age past childhood.

BOTW/TOTK is a mix of Kakashi and Gai. I mean, he loses his memories so Kakashi going into survival mode makes sense, but also some of the absolute crap he does screams ‘Gai’. Including but not limited to ‘help everyone with everything and locate all the korok’s because ADHD is at 100%’

[kustas]

i was talking about this with a friend but its very funny that ppl start throwing up when you tell them that zelda (even if i like playing it) is inherently colourist and racist , like how many times do we have to have the talk about the gerudos or the fact that zelda and link are the pure blue eyed blond ppl going to beat up the dark skined dessert man like its right there in their faces...im not even sure if ive seen dark skinned or any different hylians at all in the series, zelda's world building about making everyone worship hylian gods or only having that magic power in the hands of the hylian royals is almost never challenged since orcarina and whenever ppl try to bring it up or how refreshing it would be for zelda franchise to do something different especially with reincarnation they get extremely defensive for no reason

never played a zelda game proper in my life so I don't know much about this, I guess people get defensive because it's a series they grew up with? I see many people take criticism of stuff dear to them as personal insults. but regarding the designs especially the gerudo, I see a lot of rightful criticism online and this regardless of new game announcements even if they do spike up when the fandom does, guess it depends on who you follow!

[guideoftime]

#guideoftime ⤷ SHEIK: 𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐒 This is a selective & independent ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴ ʙᴀꜱᴇᴅ & ᴄᴀɴᴏɴ-ᴅɪᴠᴇʀɢᴇɴᴛ RP blog for MALE SHEIK from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This is original character friendly , multiverse , multiship. I ask Minors DNI and will be blocked. Beloved by Inu.

▴ — CARRD. (Rules & About!) ▴ — Headcanons

credit.

[erigold13261]

what were your impressions on zelda totk

Don't really have any since I never played the game (or BOTW for that matter). My brother-in-law has played both and honestly, from what I've seen, I'm pretty sure I would not like playing either game.

I've only played Wind Waker, Majora's Mask, and Orcarina of Time. There's been a few I tried playing and gave up, like Four Swords or Hyrule Warrior Legends, but I never even tried playing BOTW or TOTK. The only thing I know about them are the memes or what my brother-in-law has explained to me.

And like I said, I probably wouldn't like the newer games. I saw someone explain it once basically like this: BOTW is a good game, but not a good Zelda game. Which, I kinda have to agree with giving my limited knowledge of Zelda as a whole and what I picked up from the newer games.

I don't know, the games feel TOO open to me. You can just skip over everything, there's a lot of side quests, a lot of complexity in playing. It's kinda why I also stopped caring about/playing Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, and even Cookie Run. They used to be super/fairly simple but then turned really complex to the point that I was just turned off from getting the next game/continue playing.

Though, with Zelda it's a slightly different story since I was never truly into the series like I was with the other games I mentioned. I was way more into Pokemon and Harvest Moon games on my DS than I ever was into Zelda games. The only one I really played was Wind Waker and that was because it was either play that or play Simpson's Hit and Run on my game cube, and since I could never get past Lisa's level I ended up playing a bunch of Wind Waker lol.

[yahargul]

its still sooo funny how in orcarina of time there’s that rumor stone saying princess zelda’s a tomboy then 7 years later you find out she’s actually trans

[nevermord]

It's Zelda's Lullaby. From Orcarina of Time.

Thank you!

That was right on the tip of my tongue, driving me crazy! :)