Legend of Zelda Does anybody else think Ocarina of Time is a bit overrated?

[Randoman]

To start this thread off, don't get me wrong, I love the game. I probably don't even know what I'm talking about, but here is my opinion why I think it's overrated, your opinions are welcome.

Growing up, I LOVED Ocarina of Time. I was so dedicated to the game, that I could play it, beat the game, and play through it again, again, and again! Every time I ever beat the game, it was 100%, and I've beaten the game at least 17 times since I began playing it. I began playing the game when I was just 5 years-old. My brother had an N64, and my dad found a copy of the game in an abandoned house he was cleaning (which was a lucky find, because the game was like $40 in nearby retailers). I was to young to know what I was doing, but whatever I did, I thought it was the funnest thing in the world. Getting a bit older, 6 or 7 years old, my dedication and love for the game deepens, to the point I bought a few action figures, and even more copies of the game...if that's not dedication to the game, I don't know what is. I even drew comics in school based on Ocarina of Time, and ran them through a scanner, and put them on a website I had created for them. Now I'm older, and I don't know why, but I just think it has lost its spark. I actually went to record some footage, and got bored of it, which made me feel...odd, but I did. I no longer have that deep feeling I once did towards it, though I still think it's a great game. I used to think it was the scariest **** I've played when I was younger, but I go back, play through the game now, and it just feels like I was a fool to think of such a thing (though I seriously do get a little chill up my spine when playing through the Fire Temple w/ its original music). An example of this would be the Forest Temple. When I was a kid, I probably pissed my pants a couple of times because of the mysterious music, the ghosts, the ****ing wallmasters, and just being inside the temple alone. Now I go back, and just think of how stupid I was. Everything about the temple is beautiful, I really think I had no reason to be scared at all, besides those damn wallmasters. To be honest, if you think this game is scary, you clearly haven't played Majora's Mask. I've played through the game several times and still get the creepiest feelings throughout the game.

Anyways, this concludes this thread. tl;dr, I believe MOST people (generally young folk) presume this to be the best Zelda game there is, because it's the Zelda game they've played.

 

[Acryte]

Get into OoT Speedrunning and you will realize just how amazing this game is and why people still play it religiously.

 

[Firus]

In recent years, I think a lot of popular opinion has been swinging around to this point of view. And I think a big part of that is that a lot of people loved OoT because they grew up with it, and now those people are all growing up more and the nostalgia factor is fading off.

I'd imagine the fact that you loved it so much as a kid has had at least some impact on how you feel about it now. Even the best games easily get ruined when you build up too-perfect images of them in your head, and I think that's made worse because so many people have perpetuated the image together.

I would have to disagree with you that OoT isn't scary, as somebody who first beat the game something around a year, year and a half, ago. Majora's Mask is definitely creepier in every way, but OoT has its moments, namely the Shadow Temple and Bottom of the Well. In my personal opinion, the Forest Temple is at least eerie, too. But I'd also argue that that's not terribly important, especially in the contrast between playing it as a kid and playing it now, because typically a lot of things are going to be creepy as a kid that you have no problem with now that you're older. Unless a creepy atmosphere is really important to you, which I understand since I really appreciate that sort of thing in games.

Anyway, as I said, I beat the game for the first time not that long ago (I played it for the first time years and years back, but it took me ages to be motivated to play further in the game), so I missed out on the nostalgia factor of it all and I never got that swept up in it. There are a lot of things it did right, including setting a huge amount of precedent for every 3D Zelda henceforth, and it's a really important game in game history, but it's one of my least favorite 3D Zeldas. It probably didn't help that I played through a ton of other Zeldas before it, but it just doesn't have the same spark to me that the rest of them do, I don't find the dungeons to be as compelling, and the between-dungeon gameplay gets pretty disinteresting to me once you get to Adult Link. It's not bad, I just enjoy it less than most of the other Zeldas.

But ultimately the whole thing is a lot of opinion, and I know a lot of people still love it and I respect that no matter my opinion on it.

@ Acryte Granted, I'm sure that would spice up the game, but I don't think speedrunning alone is going to revive someone's interest in a game, and I don't even imagine most of the people who love the game love it because of that. That's what excites you about the game and that's great, but that's not necessarily for everybody. Speedrunning / 1% running certainly got me to love Metroid Fusion more than I already did, but I wouldn't have dedicated the time to do that if I didn't love the game enough to take on the challenge in the first place.

 

[Shog]

I think what made OOT so great for so many people was the open world you get yourself into if you finish the Kokiri Forest. Complimented by good graphics at that time(I actually still like the graphics for the temple of time!)
But the game had weaknesses: The Hyrule Field is actually one of them. It is to empty and big, which got fixed in Majora Mask

(as far as I heard, but damn, that game had a ****ty ass beginning...one of the most boring and no-events having beginnings in N64 history. That's I didn't bother "starting" the game at all when I was a kid and still today, I hope a remix fixes this)

some items aren't used at all(Ice Arrow) or are stupid designed(iron boots, water temple)

There are more points to it, but there are obviously falws considering it debuted the 3D Zelda. I still wonder(<- didn't play OOT as a kid) why OOT in particular has so much charm for me though. Maybe that's why people like it?

 

[StaffofSmashing]

Ocarina of Time is overrated for a reason. When 1 says a game is good, everyone says said game is good. OoT is one of those victims, along with Brawl, Mario Bros. 3, and every COD game. OoT is critically acclaimed the best game if all time, and that is why. What made the game enjoyable for me was how you could do whatever you feel whenever you feel.

 

[MuraRengan]

I've always resented the "nostalgia" criticism aimed at people who happen to think that "x" game is one of the greatest games ever. It never made sense to me. In other fields of entertainment, the use of the nostalgia argument is rarely used to detract from the greatness of of a work of art. You don't see people claiming that the Beatles are overrated, or that people who like Star Wars are looking at them with "rose-tinted glasses."

I'm a firm believer in video game development as an art form. And I believe that with some (not all) games that artistic vision is taken into as serious consideration as the development of the games. And what I think makes OoT a monumental game is the degree that the developers artistic vision influenced how the game was developed. It's hard to really pinpoint the exact elements, but it essentially takes into consideration all the things which make a good painting, song, or film. Because after all, gaming is the one medium which can facilitate all three of those art forms into a single medium.

 

[Deleted member]

Not only Ocarina of Time, but I tend to say the whole series after Twilight Princess.

Also, I would consider the series as "overglorified" instead of "overrated".

 

[CheapMovieMonster]

I guess with each opinion made, there will always be another that conflicts with it, I mean if you think it's overrated then why should anyone force you to see the game in a positive way?

Personally,I like the Legend of Zelda series and OOT is where I made my start but I find myself wondering why that particular game is so popular, more so than games that added new twists to gameplay and story like the masks in MM and Wolf Link in TP. To this day, TP is still my favorite much more so than OOT since it had elements similar to it but went even further, along with feeling a bit more stylized IMO (The part where you had to rush to Zelda with Minda dying on your back and you running through the pouring rain with the melancholic music playing all the while is still my favorite part of all time.); despite this, there's always a certain feeling I get whenever I play OOT, most likely because I always know that this game was where the series took a turn for something different and interesting for those who weren't a fan of the older overhead-type LOZ games and if it was never created then the future LOZ games of this playstyle wouldn't be the same way they are now.

Of course, that's just my opinion and as a fan of the game I still respect yours. :u

 

[Valacar]

I've always been more of a fan of Link to the Past, and I always will be. I love the world more, I love the music more, I love the bosses more, and I love the gear more.

 

[Chukkaque]

Ocarina of Time? Oh you mean the N64 remake of Link to the Past.

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

Not in the slightest. I got it in 2003, just shy of Wind Waker's release. To this day, it deserves every bit of praise it gets. If there's any game that's immensely overrated right now, it's Majora's Mask. Random surge of popularity due to increasing demand of a 3DS re-release doesn't make the game any better. I beat it twice, and while it's a great game, it's not the paragon of the series that a lot of people are seeing it to be.

 

[Chukkaque]

Not in the slightest. I got it in 2003, just shy of Wind Waker's release. To this day, it deserves every bit of praise it gets. If there's any game that's immensely overrated right now, it's Majora's Mask. Random surge of popularity due to increasing demand of a 3DS re-release doesn't make the game any better. I beat it twice, and while it's a great game, it's not the paragon of the series that a lot of people are seeing it to be.

MM has a lot of nostalgia that goes behind it. Its a cult classic zelda game. It does a lot of things that no other Zelda game does. The hype of majoras mask didn't just happen, its been going on for a long long time, it wasn't just because people want a 3ds remake, they've been wanting a remake long before the 3ds. The big reason why they harp about the 3ds so much now is because awhile back they said "Well we don't want to make another texture update right now, we either want to make a Link to the Past for 3ds, or a brand new zelda game. Then we will look at doing Majoras Mask."

Thats not the exact quote, but it sums up the gist of it. Now that we've had OoT 3D and New/remake of Lttp/LBW Majora fans are very anxious to see the remake.

 

[Firus]

Not in the slightest. I got it in 2003, just shy of Wind Waker's release. To this day, it deserves every bit of praise it gets. If there's any game that's immensely overrated right now, it's Majora's Mask. Random surge of popularity due to increasing demand of a 3DS re-release doesn't make the game any better. I beat it twice, and while it's a great game, it's not the paragon of the series that a lot of people are seeing it to be.

I'm hugely against using terms like "overrated" and the like because one of my strongest beliefs is that of "just like whatever the hell you want to like without having to pull down what you don't like," and I wouldn't use it to even describe OoT, but the thing about OoT is that, even though it is fantastic and deserving, it is frequently cited as the best game of all time and is frequently described as being objectively great. Holding a game up to any objective standards like that and giving it a title like "best game ever" is extremely hard for anything in any medium to live up to.

Now, granted, I'm not nearly as inside the general video game community as I once was, so I've probably missed a lot of the discussion since favor has come over to Majora's Mask, but I've never seen it topping "Best of all time" lists or even coming close, and I've not seen many people cite it as an objectively great game as opposed to simply being their favorite. (I could very well be missing a lot of this so I am not disputing that if it happens, but it's not widespread enough that I've heard stuff like that.) Yes, it's received more attention in recent years, but demand for a remake doesn't actually say anything about the quality of the game itself, just that you're hearing about it more. But overrated and talked about too much are different things.

Thing is, I love Majora's Mask to death, but I know that I love it as much as I do for certain qualities of it that are unlike other Zelda games, like the darker atmosphere and what the 3-day-cycle means and the characters and sidequests and whatnot. These same qualities are exactly what can turn off a lot of people, things that can take away from the "Zelda experience." I don't think that makes Majora's Mask a worse game, but it certainly means that it isn't going to be loved by everybody because...not everybody is into the same things. Which is basically my point here. That you don't agree with the favor of Majora's Mask does not mean that it isn't what people are seeing it to be, it means that what they see it to be and what you see it to be are different things. And the same can go for OoT.

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

That's one beautiful thing about Majora's Mask. It dared to be different. You couldn't even think of a Zelda game like that being made today because the usual purists would come and talk about how it's too different and Zelda needs to do nothing different at all forever.

 

[MuraRengan]

I didn't think MM was anything special till I read this.

What "cult" Zelda fans love about MM is not simply that it is "different", but the immense symbolism and the subtle messages the player is immersed in for the entire game. The Zelda elements of MM aren't the main attraction. It's the plot and the characters. MM may not be a better game than OoT, but it is certainly a better work of art than OoT and the majority of games ever made.

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

But art alone should define the quality of a game. That's why I find Shadow of the Colossus to be the most immensely overrated game I have ever played. I enjoyed Ocarina of Time more because I found myself replaying it at least yearly. The three dungeon, then the five that followed, then the grand finale. All felt like a real home experience to me. Majora's Mask had some memorable moments, but I just liked OoT's layout way more. Same for ALBW.

 

[MuraRengan]

Fair enough, but art is still a fair criterion for appreciating a game. Personally, I appreciate art in a game in-as-far-as the art is magnified by the depth of the gameplay. I agree with you about SotC. I heard so much about it, but when I played the game itself the experience felt so shallow. Very ambitious artistic vision, but no complexity in the gameplay (that and terrible controls). But MM took all the gameplay mechanics from OoT and added a couple more (3 day system, mask transformations). It still had everything that people expect from a Zelda game (exploration, dungeons) but also attempted to incorporate a very dense artistic vision into that system, and that's what I like about it. Either way, both OoT and MM are very close to my heart. In fact, I've probably played OoT at least 10 times more than MM, I just like to take every opportunity to tell people about how great MM is.

 

[Booster]

Yes, the water temple ruins the whole thing for me.

 

[Zelbertoad]

To be honest, I think both Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past are overrated. That's not to say I don't like those games.

 

[JusticeColde]

Yeah, it's a bit overrated, but I understand why it is.
OoT is a great game, I'll give it that. But it's not the freaking yeezus of games that everybody makes it out to be.
People grew up with a game is a legit 10/10 and they act like it's GOAT when it's actually below that level, dragged down by the slow start and the badly planned Water Temple.

It is by no means a bad game, it's still great. But people need to tone down the praise a bit.

 

[LarsINTJ]

The main issue with the Water Temple (besides constant lagged pauses to switch boots) is that obnoxious small key which is hidden in a room under a block which floats up within the central pillar.

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

Yeah, it's a bit overrated, but I understand why it is.
OoT is a great game, I'll give it that. But it's not the freaking yeezus of games that everybody makes it out to be.
People grew up with a game is a legit 10/10 and they act like it's GOAT when it's actually below that level, dragged down by the slow start and the badly planned Water Temple.

It is by no means a bad game, it's still great. But people need to tone down the praise a bit.

Start wasn't that slow. Water Temple wasn't bad. It wasn't as good as Lakebed Temple and CERTAINLY not as good as that beautiful Ancient Cistern or ALBW's Swamp Palace. But I believe OoT and ALttP have proven to be impressive enough that they've lasted throughout these years and earned all the praise they've gotten.

I count other games as overrated, but not two of my all-time favorites.

 

[mtmaster]

To start this thread off, don't get me wrong, I love the game. I probably don't even know what I'm talking about, but here is my opinion why I think it's overrated, your opinions are welcome.

Growing up, I LOVED Ocarina of Time. I was so dedicated to the game, that I could play it, beat the game, and play through it again, again, and again! Every time I ever beat the game, it was 100%, and I've beaten the game at least 17 times since I began playing it. I began playing the game when I was just 5 years-old. My brother had an N64, and my dad found a copy of the game in an abandoned house he was cleaning (which was a lucky find, because the game was like $40 in nearby retailers). I was to young to know what I was doing, but whatever I did, I thought it was the funnest thing in the world. Getting a bit older, 6 or 7 years old, my dedication and love for the game deepens, to the point I bought a few action figures, and even more copies of the game...if that's not dedication to the game, I don't know what is. I even drew comics in school based on Ocarina of Time, and ran them through a scanner, and put them on a website I had created for them. Now I'm older, and I don't know why, but I just think it has lost its spark. I actually went to record some footage, and got bored of it, which made me feel...odd, but I did. I no longer have that deep feeling I once did towards it, though I still think it's a great game. I used to think it was the scariest **** I've played when I was younger, but I go back, play through the game now, and it just feels like I was a fool to think of such a thing (though I seriously do get a little chill up my spine when playing through the Fire Temple w/ its original music). An example of this would be the Forest Temple. When I was a kid, I probably pissed my pants a couple of times because of the mysterious music, the ghosts, the ****ing wallmasters, and just being inside the temple alone. Now I go back, and just think of how stupid I was. Everything about the temple is beautiful, I really think I had no reason to be scared at all, besides those damn wallmasters. To be honest, if you think this game is scary, you clearly haven't played Majora's Mask. I've played through the game several times and still get the creepiest feelings throughout the game.

Anyways, this concludes this thread. tl;dr, I believe MOST people (generally young folk) presume this to be the best Zelda game there is, because it's the Zelda game they've played.

Is Ocarina of Time overrated, yes. Is it the best Zelda game? Well that depends on what your criteria is for "best." Personally I think its ONE of the best Zelda games, and is probably my personal favorite, with Majoa's Mask and Wind Waker tying for second/third place. Ocarina of Time probably compares to Final Fantasy VII in terms of overratedness but their reasoning for being overrated is kind of the same, and that reason being pretty understandable. It was the very first 3D Zelda game to ever come out, and there were a lot of things about it that had never been prior to that point.

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

I don't think Ocarina of Time and Final Fantasy VII compare like they used to. FF7 just looks ugly as hell and has several games in its own series that beat it in terms of quality. It's not even "best game ever" status like it used to be.

My favorite Zelda is A Link to the Past. It didn't have a Water Temple, but it did have the best selection of items in the series, which is a major reason why it's my favorite.

 

[Tacel]

Truthfully, any game that is ever called the "best game" can automatically be considered overrated. These individual judgements are purely derived from opinion and therefore will always be deemed incorrect or at least not factual. If I were to make two statements (for example purposes only), one being "OoT is the best game ever" and the other being "OoT is my favorite game", both statements lack any impact on the gaming community around me. I'm really just sharing how I feel. Since no game can be the "best game ever", holding any game to that position is unfair. All games are imperfect and all games age.

I believe that many OoT fans seem to argue the impossible when they really mean something else. OoT is an important game. This is historically accurate. Nintendo had to take 2D game mechanics (that generations like the SNES had years and years to polish to a beautiful science) and transport them to a whole new dimension... flawlessly. The average gamer undermines the complexity of that concept. OoT is frequently criticized because, at its narrative roots, it is just your generic Zelda title. It basically has the same structure of ALttP. But, as a developer, having to take a step into completely uncharted territory with a relatively young franchise, there was no room for experimentation. Stick with the key elements that already define the Zelda series and focus on making a game that works in the third dimension. And it did work. It worked beautifully. If you played OoT when it was most relevant, you know exactly how groundbreaking it was. It made a large contribution to laying the foundation for all future 3D/adventure/exploration/single-player games. And that can't be said for any other Zelda title.

Now, back to that "experimentation" in game development. Well that's where Majora's Mask comes in. After the Zelda franchise had successfully transitioned into the new era of video games, it was time to stray from the traditional Zelda formula. And with MM, they did it more than any other Zelda game to this date. It would have been too risky to make a game as nontraditional as MM out of OoT, especially when an important franchise (and money) was on the line. Is MM a better game? It can easily be argued, with what may be a superior artistic and symbolic presentation. But you can never make it a fact.

Well sorry for all the tangents and preaching. But yeah. OoT is obviously not the best game ever (no game is), but it does deserve grand praise if you have any respect for video game history. Is this 16 year old game overrated? Of course it is. Nothing will ever be the "best," but Ocarina of Time is a classic.

 

[Dre89]

I loved OoT as a kid but I think it's overrated. The reason why it's considered so amazing is because it was innovative and had good graphics for the time. This is all well and good if you played it as a kid, but it doesn't offer much over other games if you're coming to it for the first time as an adult. The graphics are outdated, and games like TP offer a similar experience but with better graphics, more content and smoother controls.

Personally I just don't think OoT has aged that well. What makes it appealing to me today is the legacy that surrounds it moreso than the quality of the game itself. At least MM and WW provide experiences that are more unique not only within the franchise but the gaming world in general, and have aged better because of it.

 

[staindgrey]

In all honesty, it's only considered "overrated" because it's the establishment for much of what came after it. It was first in a long line of similarly constructed-- but constantly evolving and bettering-- third person adventure games. By that standard, that means that everything after it has presumably built upon its formula and made it better. Thus, OoT progressively loses some of its spark in a direct comparison, unless you're able to appreciate it for what it meant at the time of release.

I consider it to be very much like Gears of War, in that they both created something entirely new that stemmed from a stagnant genre, bolstered it with a memorable creative direction of combined art, music and technological beauty, and were eventually looked back upon as "overrated" because we forget that they were the reason so many games just like them were released after their unparalleled success. Both of these games would definitely make it onto my top five most important games in history list, should I ever feel the need to make one.

 

[MuraRengan]

I consider it to be very much like Gears of War, in that they both created something entirely new that stemmed from a stagnant genre, bolstered it with a memorable creative direction of combined art, music and technological beauty, and were eventually looked back upon as "overrated" because we forget that they were the reason so many games just like them were released after their unparalleled success. Both of these games would definitely make it onto my top five most important games in history list, should I ever feel the need to make one.

Kinda off-topic, but what games were released that were "just like" GoW? I've played the hell outta some GoW and I don't think I've seen any games similar to it at all, unless you're talking about 3rd-person shooters in general.

 

[finalark]

Kinda off-topic, but what games were released that were "just like" GoW? I've played the hell outta some GoW and I don't think I've seen any games similar to it at all, unless you're talking about 3rd-person shooters in general.

I don't play many shooters, but the closest thing I can think of is Uncharted. Which, while clearly taking inspiration from Gears of War, wasn't exactly like it per say.

Anyway, on topic, I'm going to go ahead and link Egoraptor's video on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOC3vixnj_0

Although that comes with a giant asterisk. It's worth watching because he makes some pretty good points in regards to OoT's flaws, but like all of his other videos (which is why I don't really care much for them) he pretty much just rails on OoT (and SS for some reason) the entire time while praising Link to the Past like its the holy grail.

 

[Mike_Tha_Hero]

What critically acclaimed game isn't "a bit overrated"?

Having high-praise doesn't make something infallible and you'll be hard pressed to find anyone who genuinely believes the game is flawless in retrospect.

 

[MuraRengan]

Egoraptor's video made a couple good points, particularly about waiting and combat design. But a lot of his criticisms were very neglectful of the fact that Zelda's are largely made for a younger audience. The original LoZ gave you absolutely no direction, which he claims is a strength. But what I see is that overwhelmingly, when a game lacks direction younger players become bored or just think the game is too hard. He criticized AlttP for introducing direction and said that it took away from the "sense of adventure", but he completely neglects the fact that that sense of direction is completely necessary to keep a player engaged. OoT was my first Zelda, and without the constant direction given by the characters which formed the storyline there's no way I would've remained interested. In general, I think his perspective is too narrow, and some of the things he considers to be flaws are aimed at appealing to a larger audience (that larger audience may very well be those same people whom get criticized as the nostalgia crowd.) Some people, myself included, like when a game tries to engage you. Some people get really really bored when a game doesn't try to engage you (LoZ)

 

[staindgrey]

Kinda off-topic, but what games were released that were "just like" GoW? I've played the hell outta some GoW and I don't think I've seen any games similar to it at all, unless you're talking about 3rd-person shooters in general.

The cover-based shooter genre and the "realistic", gritty and very brown post-apocalyptic genre, from an art perspective. Before Gears, every shooter made you a super powerful hero who runs and jumps and shoots; Gears made you vulnerable and required you to think strategically while staying low and positioning yourself according to the map's layout. Games like Army of Two, Vanquish, The Last of Us, Devil's Third, Mass Effect 2/3, etc. are all derivative of Gears in either gameplay or art style. You could credit Gears for key parts of the development process in a whole lot of last generation's biggest games.

Before Gears, pretty much every shooter was modeled after Doom/Wolfenstein, I'd argue. Gears was the first shooter that completely overhauled the very core of what a shooter is.

 

[Shady Cicada]

I love OoT. But I don't think its the best zelda or the best game ever (its REALLY high up there for me though). I honestly think ALttP is way overrated. And I don't get why I feel this way about it but its one of my least favorite zelda games. I guess it all just depends on preference.