So I beat Ocarina of Time again for the 50th time in my quest to play ALL OF THE ZELDAs. Here's some thoughts.

Coming off of Link's Awakening, I gotta say the main story to Ocarina of Time is kinda boring. I do still like the beginning of the adventure, when Saria gives Link the Fairy Ocarina. That moment still has some good weight to it, but there isn't really much else there. Not sure if it's the tech holding back what they can do or if it was more thought was put into game play over characters, but many moments just fell flat.I do like the idea of Zelda and Link getting into things and not understanding how bad they might screw things up until they do. They are kids after all. Though, I have to question Impa's judgement of just going along with the ideas of two kids (ESPECIALLY one that was living in a forest for most his life and have NO UNDERSTANDING of what's going on outside of said forest.) I remember making up more character traits for the people in the game and going back through it again, I understand better why. There's just not much there from the characters. I think the only character that's changed would be Zelda, but she went from being a kid to just regretting stuff she did as a kid. That's about it. I would have LOVED to know more about what she had to go through in the 7 years.

Now that I realize the music was from another game, I'm kinda disappointed a bit by the soundtrack. HOWEVER, Gerudo Valley theme is still a high point in the series. Also, this is the second time they started making seperate tracks for each dungeon (the first one being Link's Awakening?) and I'm fully on board with that. It really helps give into each dungeon having a different feel. Also, I wish the Ocarina songs were longer. Overall, despite the music being mostly from something else, it's still amazing to go back and listen to these tracks again.

I do appreciate that they gave a bunch of stuff to Link (especially adult form) but a lot of it is kinda pointless or redundant. I do appreciate the different number of things to do (like the mini-games) and they do feel a bit more fleshed out than in previous entries. I never used Faore's Wind once. Nayru's Love is useful, but by the time I got it (on each playthrough of the game, not just this one) I was confident enough to not need it anymore. Ice arrows are pointless. So are deku nuts. Fairies in a bottle are OP AF and are EVERYWHERE. You can really tell that this is Zelda's first foray into 3D because it felt like they threw in the kitchen sink with items.

Dungeons are a high point for this game. Each dungeon really feels like it's own place, with it's own music and theme and mood. I think my favorites would be Shadow Temple and Fire Temple. The mood in Shadow Temple is top notch and really carries itself well, even now. Having to do all the work to bring down the central pillar is SO WELL thought out. My favorite mini-boss would still have to be Dark Link just because of difficulty. Nothing really challenges you as much as Dark Link. Hell, Dark Link overshadows a lot of main bosses too. Bango Bango is still very creative. Too bad it's too easy. (keep in mind, I've played Ocarina of time a lot, so my opinion on difficulty might be a bit skewed).

Ganondorf is still well done in the game. Nintendo does a fantastic job of making him imposing, making him feel like a threat. I do wish his first form had more phases to it. He feels like he just has two notes and it takes a lot away from how he was built up.

Overall, OoT is okay. I don't think it's held up too well in comparison to the 2D offerings. The world has a good feel to it, but the characters are too flat to really get too attached to anything. Music is still good, dungeons are still decent. Game is still easy by today's standards too. I still like the game, but it just doesn't hold up as well. Ocarina wasn't my first Zelda game, however. My first one (and the next one I'm going to play this year) was Majora's Mask. Overall, I feel that MM is the stronger of the two and it's a shame that more people didn't play it.