for the longest time, i had this weird resistance to playing Ocarina of Time. one of my favorite games of all time is Majora's Mask, the direct sequel to OoT, and i've played through it countless times since i was like, 8 years old. but i played it before OoT, and that really skewed my perception of OoT as a result. MM is so unique in terms of both gameplay and tone, and OoT didn't have any of the aspects that made MM such a special game to me. but as i've gotten older i've become more appreciative of stuff i used to dislike, and i wanted to give OoT a fair shot. i actually tried doing this around summertime of 2025 as well by playing OoT3D, but i stopped at Spirit Temple. right at the very end!! this time i committed, however, and i'm happy to say i actually really enjoyed my time with it. it doesn't replace MM at the top of course, but i was able to find a lot of new enjoyment and appreciation in it that i couldn't before.

i think the main thing that was holding me back previously was trying to approach OoT like it was just more of what MM was doing. MM has such a distinct, offputting, engrossing atmosphere with tons of weird characters and storylines to get invested in. it gives a lot more attention to side characters, and while the main plot with Skull Kid is still a big focus, they prioritize the side stories a lot more than in OoT. but in return, OoT generally feels more cinematic. there are huge climaxes, fancy cutscenes, it feels more... legendary. the future you see once you become an adult feels truly dire, and sets the stakes HIGH. it feels like a huge threat you NEED to stop, it's fuckin sick dude. of course, in exchange, the side characters are VERY one-note. coming off of MM, it almost makes the world feel... lifeless? like, in MM, Anju is this starcrossed lover who is willing to wait, even in death, for her fiance to return to her. in OoT, the same character model is used for a character who is just named "Cuckoo Lady," and her whole thing is that she is allergic to chickens and can't catch them. that said, i think this is made up for in characters like Darunia or Ruto, who are more developed and complete. Darunia especially is pretty funny, i like to imagine he speaks in a Macho Man Randy Savage voice. and all of this isn't to say OoT's supporting cast is COMPLETELY devoid of interest, i like Ingo as a character a lot. he's this conniving scumbag who, in the bad future, gets spoiled by Ganondorf and ends up with fancy clothes and ownership of the ranch. yet, once you finish the game and prevent that bad future from happening, he's besties with Talon in the ending, it's sweet. and oh man, if there's any side character i like the most, it's probably Mido. he's this real FUCKER that you just wanna punch in the face during the whole intro segment, but once you become an adult he doesn't recognize you, and unknowingly confides in the person he bullied as a kid, showing his fears and wishing he could say he's sorry. GAH, it's so sweet. bonus points for that scene in the ending where he's sitting and meditating with King Zora, presumably rethinking his actions.

one thing i will say i'm not a huge fan of is the fact that items are split between child and adult Link. it feels like it limits the possibilities for puzzles and interesting exploration... though i must admit, it pays off really well during Spirit Temple, where you have to do the first half as child. it's like a fourth child dungeon! oh yeah, speaking of dungeons, this game has like, eight of them. and that's just main dungeons, there's still the mini dungeons like Ice Cavern and Bottom of the Well. oh christ, speaking of which, FUCK Bottom of the Well. Jabu Jabu's Belly is also pretty bad, if only for the fact that the environment itself is quite unpleasant to look at, but Bottom of the Well is easily the worst dungeon if you don't know where you're going. i spent like an hour and a half falling down holes here, all because the thing that LETS YOU SEE THE HOLES is the dungeon reward. it's not even a fun dungeon if you know where to go! it's literally just like, 3 rooms, and at that point its just uninteresting. i also had a bit of difficulty with Forest Temple just because i didn't know what to do or where to go, and i kept getting turned around. took me a couple of days of scattered play to actually finish it, and even then i only got to the end because i gave up and used a guide. in terms of favorite dungeons though, this might come as a surprise, but Water Temple was one of the ones i liked more. i love the music here, and while yes Iron Boots are Iron Boots, i found the hookshot combat to be pretty interesting, and the actual puzzles between equipping and unequipping Iron Boots were pretty good. Spirit Temple was another standout, as i mentioned earlier, it and Water Temple felt the closest to Majora dungeons in terms of complexity. honorable mentions to Shadow Temple, which is mostly unremarkable and a little frustrating, but gets props for having my favorite dungeon item and boss. the Hover Boots are SUCH a cool and fun concept and i so unbelievably wish they were represented in Majora, and Bongo Bongo is such a weird and surreal concept for a "ghost boss." like yeah, we have this huge flesh creature that's invisible and sings with this haunting voice and plays bongos. when i was a kid and i was looking up stuff about this game randomly, i had a little mini-fixation on Bongo Bongo, i just found him to be so cool.

another thing i really enjoyed: Skulltulas! Stray Fairies in MM are one of the most genius concepts in the series, and Gold Skulltulas feel like the closest equivalent here, though a closer comparison might be the Maimais from Link Between Worlds. i love when you hear the little scritchy-scratchy sound they make and you instantly start looking around for 'em, excited to see whatever new big reward you'll get from the House of Skulltula next, it's fun. the sidequests here are really strong in general, i liked doing the Poe Bottle, Biggoron's Sword is fun, the Happy Mask Salesman quest is a cool precursor to MM, it's all good stuff. oooh, something else that was pretty cool; i like the Great Fairy spells. y'know, Din's Fire, Farore's Wind, Nayru's Love, those things. Din's Fire was the main one i ended up using, but i really enjoy the concepts they came up with for the other two, especially Farore's Wind. they're so well hidden too! you might not even find them in a first playthrough, and at the end of the game you sit there, wondering what those last couple empty slots in your inventory could be for. it creates intrigue and makes you want to explore more thoroughly without outright TELLING you, "hey, there's secret shit in this game, maybe you should go and look for it." it feels like the kind of game you could have spent YEARS 100%ing as a kid, y'know?

overall, im glad i gave OoT a full, real shot after all this time. it's a very solid game, and while it doesnt hit the same peaks as MM for me, it is still very enjoyable!! funnily enough, in the time it took me to write this review, a remake for OoT got announced for Switch 2. what a coincidence, huh?