The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Part 1)

More of me fighting my phobia of hype aversion! Yaay! It’ll be fun! And what a massive game it is that I’m covering today. One of the Titans of gaming. Needless to say, I’m a little worried.

From 8-bit open world to modern open world.

In the world of video games, few franchises have such a long and storied legacy as The Legend of Zelda, one of the most beloved adventure series out there. Present since March 1986, the adventures of Link and his quests that usually involve rescuing Princess Zelda and kicking Ganon and/or Ganondorf’s teeth in have been a part of the pantheon of the Greats. Few games in the series have been treated as outright terrible, and those that have… well, I’ve never owned a CD-I console, so I don’t need to worry! Indeed, aside from the occasional mechanic introduced in a somewhat clunky manner (the finicky Wiimote controls in Skyward Sword being one oft-cited example), what we get when buying a TLoZ title is generally a strong product, offering solid gameplay backed by an enthralling story.

I’ve already covered a few titles in the series so far: I grew up with A Link to the Past, which I’ve owned on both SNES and Virtual Console (Wii), and that title is also frequently in fans’ Top 5 when it comes to ranking the games. Slightly lower on many lists but still an impressive title in its own right, Twilight Princess was covered in the early days of this blog. Today’s game, though, tends to top most of those hypothetical “Best of Zelda” lists, sometimes in a heated competition with a more modern entry in the series, Breath of the Wild for the Nintendo Switch.

THE defining entry in the franchise: Ocarina of Time, released originally for the Nintendo 64 on November 23rd, 1998 in North America, with a remake available with stereoscopic 3D published for the Nintendo 3DS on June 19, 2011. The latter is the version I’m playing today. Maybe if I had hurried I would've finished this review to coincide with the release of Tears of the Kingdom...

I might take a little less time discussing the story, as though I’m actually discovering it now as I play the game, I assume most people know the main beats.

The fairyless Kokiri

The young Link is the only Kokiri, a group of elf-like people of the forest, without a fairy. He is plagued by nightmares of a man on horseback over a Hyrule on fire. One day, the protector of the forest, the Great Deku Elder, sends Navi, a little fairy, to retrieve Link and send him on a quest. The other Kokiris rejoice in seeing Link with a fairy, but he has no time to waste. He finds a sword and purchases a shield to go on his way, and leaves to meet the Elder.

Okay, okay, sheesh! Give me a minute!
I've got seven years to save the world...
P.S. Screenshots here come from the playthrough done by
Gamer's Little Playground.

Navi is useful as a living crosshair.
As an expositor, not so much.

The mustachioed tree explains to the young hero that it has been struck with a mysterious ill by a man on horseback. It asks Link to venture into it and defeat that ill. This is the first dungeon, and as is tradition for the series, feels very much like a tutorial showing the ropes and what to expect afterwards. You get your first projectile weapon (a slingshot and Deku Seeds) and the first enemies that you must defeat using those, including this dungeon’s boss, Gohma, a giant spider. It needs to be stunned with them before it can be wounded with the sword. Puzzles-wise, most here involve collecting wooden sticks from the monster plants, lighting them on fire and burning spider webs to open paths.

The Great Deku Tree is indeed a much better
expositor. Alas, he's not portable.

After defeating Gohma, Link gets the ever-present Heart Containers, adding one full heart to his life, and is teleported back outside the Great Deku Tree. The elder thus explains the mythos to him, about the three goddesses (Din, Nayru and Farore) who each had a hand in creating the world of Hyrule (the land, order, and life) and a trait (Power, Wisdom and Courage); and upon their departure, each one left behind a triangle containing the very essence of that trait. The three, put together, form the Triforce. The man on horseback, who seeks such might, must be stopped. The Deku Tree entrusts Link with the item it refused to hand over to the dark warrior, Kokiri’s Emerald, one of three spiritual stones that our hero will need to collect. The old tree tells Link, in its last breaths, to go see the Princess of Destiny… Zelda, at Hyrule Castle. Link leaves, obtaining the Fairy Ocarina from his best friend Saria on the bridge going to the outside world.

Search for the red stone

Man, those guards are bad at their job.

Hyrule Field is huge, and was an impressive sight when this game originally came out in 1998. Nowadays, it feels barren and empty. There’s a lot of places to go, but heading there takes a while. Seeing the skeletons pop out from the ground at night must’ve been scary at the time. Our first stop is the Castle Town Market, which leads to Hyrule Castle. Unfortunately, the royal guards are everywhere and will throw Link out on sight, so we go through a proto-stealth segment to reach the castle and, afterwards, the garden in which we meet Princess Zelda.

After she explains more lore regarding the Temple of Time (also accessible from Castle Town) and how it ties with the Triforce, she shows Link the man she feels is after the mighty artefact: Ganondorf, whose look screams “I am evil, don’t trust me”, yet the King seems to think this is a genteel, dapper fella! She asks Link to collect the other two spiritual stones, which will open the sacred realm. Link is then taken out of the castle by Impa, who trusts the Princess’s instinct and, as a bonus, teaches Link Zelda’s lullaby for his ocarina.

I arrived as fast as I could, but there was a middle-aged guy
blocking the way. Took a while to wake him up.

Dude's got some sick moves.

After a detour by Kokiri Forest to also learn Saria’s song, this quest takes us to Kakariko Village, next door to the castle. By showing proof that we’re on a quest, we have a guard open the path towards Goron Village, up in the mountains. The entrance to the second dungeon, Dodongo’s Cavern, is blocked by rocks, so we need to go through the Village. The Gorons are troubled because their source of food is in the Cavern. Wait; they eat rocks, and they can’t eat the rocks blocking the way? Whatever. The Gorons’ leader, at first grumpy, has his spirits lifted by hearing Saria’s song and gives Link a power glove that lets him pick up and throw Bomb Flowers.

Some Lizalfos in there, too.

Thanks to a Bomb Flower located higher on the mountains, we blast the dungeon’s blockade away and go in. Bombs and lava together in the same place sounds like a recipe for disaster. This time around, both the Deku seeds and the bombs are necessary. Bombs? Yeah, we find a bag to carry them. Turns out it’s better to use them against the boss, the King Dodongo, than the Bomb Flowers in his arena. Upon the giant beast’s defeat, we are yet again taken out of the dungeon, thanked by an authority (the leader of the Gorons, in this case), and given another spiritual stone. If things keep going this fast, I’ll be home before dinner!

How ‘bout that blue stone, now?

King of the Zoras: Large, in charge, and fishy.

Our third plot trinket is found in the domain of the Zoras. This opens a fair few number of new zones, including Lake Hylia, in which we find a message in a bottle. Ruto, the princess of the Zoras, is trapped inside Jabu-Jabu, a large yet peaceful creature living in their domain. This is enough to get Link to meet Jabu-Jabu on order of the King of the Zoras. Activities here involve fishing or diving for Rupees (which, for the latter, earns Link an upgrade allowing him to hold his breath longer, and dive deeper, as a result).

Not a particularly pleasant place.
Not a particularly pleasant company, either.

We bring a fish to Jabu-Jabu and get sucked in. Just the thought that we’ll actually be swimming in dirty belly water… Yuck! This third dungeon is peculiar in that we not only rescue Ruto, but also end up carrying her around, because Missus does not want to get out. Missus wants to be lifted and taken to various parts of the dungeon, where she’ll be used as a stone for pressure plate puzzles. Want a cushion for that royal entitled bum too, Missus? This is how we find out that a parasite has taken control of Jabu-Jabu, and Link needs to kill it. This involves killing the parasite’s tentacles, which are electrified; we find a boomerang to deal with that.

Nothing quite like beating up a parasite!
Though usually it's figurative, not literal.

Per Zelda tradition, the boomerang is mandatory to beat the mini-boss, Big Octo, which was a lot more bothersome to me than the actual boss, Barinade. If only Ruto wasn’t complaining the whole time, too! People like that character? She’s unbearable! On the plus side, we find the Zora’s Sapphire, which is what Ruto was also looking for within the beast, claiming it to be an item she would only give to her future husband. Well, she’s fallen in love with the hero who saved her, so I guess that counts. Well, too bad! We got a world to save here!

Link returns to Hyrule Castle only to see Impa fleeing with Zelda on horseback, with Zelda tossing an item in the moat. Following next is Ganondorf, who asks Link if he saw the two galloping away. He leaves, and Link retrieves the item; it’s the Ocarina of Time, a magical instrument! Sorry Saria, looks like I got a better musical instrument from someone else. With the item comes a vision of Zelda teaching Link the Song of Time.

Hero of Time

The ancient legend, the sword in the stone... Fun fact, in some
alternate language editions, the Master Sword IS mistakenly
labeled with the name Excalibur.

This new song opens the Temple of Time’s secret room, containing the Master Sword. Link grabs the sword, is engulfed in light… and in comes the silhouette of Ganondorf, thanking him. Turns out, this was the worst thing to do, as it also opened the door to the Sacred Realm where the Triforce is hidden, allowing the Gerudo to walk in and achieve his evil goals!

I am old enough? I don't feel it!
I lost seven years of my goddarn life!

When Link comes to his senses, he’s in a room of the Temple of Light, inside the Sacred Realm, where a sage named Rauru is talking to him. Discussing Link’s screw-up, Rauru explains that there is still a way to stop Ganondorf – Link must find the other six sages and rescue them, and they in turn will seal Ganondorf away. There’s only one problem; he is too short to wield the Master Sword, the only weapon that cdould defeat this evil. As a result, time has jumped forward seven years. Link is no longer a scrawny ten years old Kokiri kid, he’s now a scrawny seventeen year old with enough force to actually use the magical sword. Those seven years, however, gave Ganondorf plenty of time to corrupt the land. This will make finding the Sages difficult.

Yeah, I'm aware. Thanks for telling me where they are, though!
The other guy in the temple forgot to tell me. Also, you look
really familiar for some reason.

After this discussion, when Link comes to in the Temple of Time, he encounters a mysterious ninja by the name of Sheik. I don’t need to say who this is, do I? It’s one of those open secrets of gaming, like Samus Aran’s identity under the armor. If you’ve played a Smash Bros game past the first, you already know. Some would say that the 3DS version hides the twist even less, since it’s so well-known. The ninja instructs Link on the location of the five temples he must free from evil in order to awaken the sages, and that he should first look in Kokiri Forest for a girl he knows… However, Sheik instructs him to seek some items in Kakariko Village beforehand, which he’ll need to even enter the temple.

An aside before we resume the quest

It took me a moment to get in the “groove”, so to speak, but now I’m sold, this game is fun. Really, the one downside is that since it’s on the Nintendo 3DS with its short battery life, the game is to be played in short spurts. Thankfully, you can always save when pressing Start, though you’ll respawn on restart depending on where you are. Hyrule as child Link? In your Kokiri home. Hyrule as an adult? In the Temple of Time. If you save in a dungeon, you’ll respawn at that dungeon’s entrance, so you don’t have to do the whole trek back to resume the exploration-, combat- and puzzle-heavy areas that dungeons already are.

Bonus, the Ocarina is always accessible.

I seldom played the original Ocarina of Time on an N64, but it feels to me as though the bottom screen’s functions in this version help make the game a little less of a headache, at least when we reach a point where we switch items in/out of our main buttons regularly. Here, A and B are used to attack with the sword and do acrobatics, X and Y are used for items set to those buttons like, say, the bombs or bow or whichever else, and there are two extra buttons on the touch screen for quick-access inventory items. I’ve always felt from personal experience with my GBA SP and prior DSes that the L and R buttons on handheld consoles were weaker and more prone to breaking, so I was worried in a game like OoT where targeting is frequent and necessary (with L), but there is an option in the menu to change how targeting works; by holding the button down or by just pressing it once.

Adult Link refuses to use Young Link's little toys,
even though some would save him some
headaches. Similarly, most tools found as Adult
Link are too big or heavy for Young Link to use.

On the plus side, a field this big means we get to ride Epona.

While I’ve always loved playing games for this blog, this first time into Ocarina of Time, I’m kind of speeding through because it’s taking me so long to write the review, and it’s unfortunate. The deeper into it I go, the more I realize the greatest quality of Zelda games; exploration shouldn’t be rushed, especially in these big worlds. I had already played through Twilight Princess before reporting on it, way back in 2014. And I grew up playing A Link to the Past, so covering it was no issue. I was well-acquainted with both games before writing about them. But with Ocarina of Time? I feel like I’m missing out on a lot of stuff. Further reading into the game reveals so many interesting elements, especially in regards to exploring both “eras” and how they interact… I intend to beat this game to properly report on it, but I can definitely see myself replaying through it someday at a slower pace in order to catch up on what I've missed.

Oh, and that “3D” part in the title? Well, like most titles on the 3DS, you can toggle on/off the stereoscopic 3D in the top screen, but, much like most games from the console, I just play it without the function. It’s distracting. Especially while discovering a game for the first time. I mean, the effect is cool, I won’t knock the console for that – but not my thing, as far as gaming is involved.

New temples as an adult

Waking up in the Temple of Time to see the lively Market
infested with ReDeads... that's a huge shock.
I hate this future, I want my money back.

Stupid wolves, always in the way of dungeons!
....Okay, they're the first ones I see, but whatever.

Five temples to find across the land? Sure. We can do that. The Hookshot, obtained in the Kakariko Village graveyard, is needed to even enter the Forest Temple in search for the second Sage. And what a trip that temple is. A bad trip, I would dare say. At least we get the bow and arrows out of it. The temple is made more difficult in that we have to find and defeat the four Poe Sisters, whose lights are needed to call an elevator towards the floor where the boss resides. My enduring memory of this dungeon is the presence of Stalfos, skeletal knights with shields and some actual knightly tactics in combat… as well as a room in which three have to be defeated. Yeah, we’re in the tougher part alright; this game isn’t pulling punches anymore.

These knights are a real pain in the ass.
No joke here, they just are. I freaking hate them.

Painting Traveller VS Hylian Sniper with Bow.

Anyhow, with the boss’s key in hand and the four Poes beaten, we step down towards the end of this cursed dungeon and fight the boss, Phantom Ganon, a ghostly Ganondorf on horseback who attacks by coming out of paintings, and who must be sniped with the bow (or, like in my case, if you run out, there’s also the Hookshot). In the second half, the phantom ditches the horse for a Zelda classic: A wizard playing tennis with balls of energy against a Link equipped with the Master Sword, and being noticeably worse than the hero at parring the shots. Ganondorf isn’t joining Wimbledon anytime soon.

With Phantom Ganon defeated, Link rescues the second Sage, who happens to be… Saria! And she gives him the second medallion. We also get some additional reveals that Link is not actually a Kokiri but a Hylian, explaining why he grew up while all the Kokiris, Saria included, remained children, elves of the forest that they are.

Guess I should expect other people I've known as a kid
to turn out to be Sages, then. ....Malon, maybe?

Well, I know what to expect now. The quest is on!

…Let’s continue this in Part 2, shall we?