--The Great Deku Tree, Ocarina of Time 3D
"The flow of time is cruel... Its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it..."
--Sheik, Ocarina of Time 3D
Ocarina of Time stands as one of the most renowned, influential, respected, cherished, and well-received games of all time. First released in 1998 on the Nintendo 64 console, a remastered version was ported to the 3DS in 2011. And after finally playing and beating it, I am very proud of Nintendo for updating a classic and providing a new generation with access to a brilliant game.
Production Values
For a polished and visually updated N64 game, Ocarina of Time 3D looks spectacular. By comparison to some other 3DS games, though, the visuals definitely look like just that--those of an updated N64 game. Striking, bold greens and golds and other colors translated well to the 3DS, but, make no mistake, this is not the most aesthetically advanced 3DS game. For instance, it retains lots pixellation on some surfaces (though not all). But both the framerate and gyroscope controls are smooth and do not impair the consistency of the visuals. The audio, from the soundtrack to Link's grunts and noises and enemy sounds, was well preserved.
Gameplay
The classic Zelda formula is on full display here--players start out as a young man in a village who leaves his home, traverses dungeons, obtains weapons, completes side quests, and ultimately overthrows a malevolent entity. One of the defining characteristics of this particular entry in the series is the eventual ability to travel between two times in Link's life, separated by a period of seven years. You can only use certain items in either age, though. Some are only available as a child and others you can only wield as an adult. As you acquire more at either age, though, more areas become explorable and more items become available. Boss fights tailored to specific weapons wait in scattered dungeons and test skill with individual items.
As a puzzle/exploration game, Ocarina of Time 3D may stump some players. Fortunately, two objects called Sheikah stones (located in either the Temple of Time or Kokiri village) grant hints. This new feature was not present in the N64 version according to numerous sources (I haven't played the original edition) and might help some players immensely.
There is also a mode unlocked upon completion of the game called master quest mode, where things are inverted. For instance, during the opening cinematic Ganondorf rides from right to left but he rides in the opposite direction in master quest mode. Not only are the directions inverted, but the difficulty spikes massively too, as Link cannot take as many hits as he normally can! Fans who desire a far greater difficulty will have plenty that awaits them even after their initial playthrough of the game.
Story
SPOILERS are below!!
Link (my chosen name for the protagonist, but also his official title) starts off in a place called Kokiri village, summoned by a massive, talking tree called the Great Deku Tree. A fairy named Navi is sent to him, and he/she (Navi's gender is never specified, if it even has one) is Link's new companion. Link is close friends with a local girl named Saria (hooray for cross-gender friendship!!), has a rivalry with a certain village child, and enjoys a fairly relaxed life.
However, it turns out that the Great Deku Tree is cursed. Ganondorf, a man of "vile, sorcerous powers" from the otherwise entirely female Gerudo tribe cursed the tree; he seeks for a spiritual dimension called the Sacred Realm where he can find "the divine relic, the Triforce, which contains the essence of the gods...". According to the creation story passed on to Link, three goddesses fashioned particular aspects of the universe: Din created the earth; Nayru "poured her wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world"; Farore "produced all life-forms who would uphold the law". After finishing their acts of creation, they fled to a different dimension and at the point where they departed the Triforce formed. A Gerudo thief named Nabooru later says that Ganon (an abbreviated name for Ganondorf) killed his own people.
Link himself is actually a Hylian, not a Kokiri; a Great War consumed the area before the king of Hyrule took power, and an injured mother gave her child to the Great Deku Tree. Link sets out to help save the land, beginning a challenging journey of discovery.
Saria finds Link as he leaves, saying she always expected him to leave because he is different from her and her friends, adding that the two of them will be friends forever. She gives him an ocarina, which becomes extensively used throughout the game for puzzles and teleporting. Out in the land of Hyrule, where a castle and kingdom led by Princess Zelda reside, time freezes whenever Link enters towns or a charming little place called Lon Lon Ranch.
Ganondorf eventually chases Zelda from her castle, where Link observes as she throws a sacred ocarina into the moat. Link recovers it, uses the Master Sword in the nearby Temple of Time to travel seven years into the future, and finds a landscape decimated by the ravages of Ganondorf. In this desolate future, a warrior named Sheik helps Link.
Shiek later says that the Triforce split in three, giving the one who touched it only the third associated with the trait he/she most believed in, and thus when Ganon acquired a portion of it he received the Triforce of Power, not of Courage and Wisdom. The mysterious figure later reveals her identity as Zelda, holder of the Triforce of Wisdom and identified Link as the holder of the Triforce of Courage. In the end, Link defeats Ganondorf, who is sealed away in the Sacred Realm, which acts as a dimensional prison of sorts (like the Phantom Zone in DC comics), and Zelda sends him back to his childhood seven years prior.
Intellectual Content
As a Zelda game, Ocarina of Time 3D features inventive puzzles and tools. Some of these can stimulate the intellect rather well, although not every puzzle is particularly challenging. That does not change the fact that practically the entire game is one giant interconnected puzzle, with smaller and larger portions that intersect. I would always recommend games in this series to gamers seeking a more focused and intellectual type of gameplay!
Now, what about the enigmas of time travel and time paradoxes? After all, a central feature of the gameplay is switching between two points at the opposite ends of a seven year period--and then Zelda sends Link back in time once he overcomes Ganondorf.
I just recently discovered timeline theories about the Zelda games, and some claim that Wind Waker possibly shows what happened in the future without adult Link--Zelda sent the adult Link back to his childhood, which left the future Hyrule without its savior, and thus when Ganon eventually escaped the Sacred Realm the "Hero of Time" could not defeat him again. The deities of the Zelda universe drowned Hyrule to oppose Ganon, which leads to the events of Wind Waker. The opening cinematic of that glorious GameCube game certainly seems to confirm this theory! The idea that the Zelda games mostly occur in a multiverse-like cosmos where most of the games serve as a parallel universe is also a possibility, but strong evidence does seem to link (get it?) several games. There also seems to be a split in timelines, where Link, when sent back to his childhood by Zelda at the end of Ocarina of Time, encounters the events of Majora's Mask which lead into other games, whereas Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks result from the continuation of the "adult" timeline (forgive me if I misrepresented the split timeline theory).
This parallel timeline theory does not contain any inconsistencies or logical impossibilities, unlike some other time travel scenarios in entertainment [1]. Some time travel is objectively impossible. Instead of how The Terminator handled this, where an event in 2029 occurs that enables the very events in 1984 that enable that same future event in 2029 to occur (see how this is impossible due to the sequence of causality?), Ocarina of Time has a story where the past enables the future to occur (as is logically necessary) that then orchestrates a seeming timeline split when Zelda sends Link back to his childhood.
Anyway, ponderers of time and time travel may find themselves very appreciative of the plot this game!
Conclusion
All in all, it took me about 30 hours to complete the game, having found all the great fairies, acquired at least 9 pieces of heart, and completed a variety of side quests. And I enjoyed the entire journey. Ocarina Of Time 3D is a masterful port that brings 3D effects, portability, a nice hint system, and updated visuals to a legendary title, all while uniting the game with its challenging master quest version. It is definitely the definitive current edition of Ocarina of Time! 3DS owners who are Zelda fans and haven't played this are depriving themselves of a great time, and possibly a very nostalgic one too.
PS: I will try to get around to finishing and reviewing Majora's Mask 3D before the end of the summer.
Content:
1. Violence: Players use swords, bows, a hammer, and other weapons to dispatch a variety of enemies.
2. Sexuality: A character from the city by Ganon's Castle in the fallen future tells adult Link that if he was as good looking as Link, he'd be running a "different business".
[1]. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-logic-of-time-travel-part-1.html
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