Nintendo went from 'Yeah let's have Link save Hyrule at the last possible moment' in OoT to 'Yeah let's just kill everyone if Link doesn't complete his adventure in time'.
The depressing thing is that in Majora's Mask you get drilled into your head 'You can't save everyone'. At least a few people die along the way, which is the depressing part.
Let’s keep in mind several people died under ganondorf’s rule, in Majora’s Mask you can save several people, meanwhile in Ocarina, you literally lead Ganondorf to what he wants by playing the game.
more games need to treat "end of the world" scenarios like this. not panic but acceptance. i know for one that if the world was ending i wouldn't go running out in the streets screaming and panicking, rather sitting in quiet acceptance yet undeniable dread.
@@molly5917f you dont get the ocarina in the first cycle it just sends you back to when you first talk to the happy mask salesman so you technically don't need the ocarina but if you dont get the ocarina no progess is saved at all when the moon falls, so it would be an end that never ends
That adds to the hopeless surrealism of the ambience, the mournful cry for those already dead to a fate they never thought would be their timely parting.
@@unoriginalperson72 Yeah, and if only some 7-8 year old kid in green turned into a tree and then fell into town through a stump would go around doing quests and defeating things to free the giants so that they could go up to the Moon and stop Skull Kid. _But alas..._
@@MehmetAli-jd3jz you say that to them, and inmediately you get out your Ocarina and while you are playing the song of time, with tears in your eyes, you say: i'm sorry.
What I love about this Zelda game is how it gives you freedom to control time at your will, but teaches you an important lesson. *No matter how many times you turn back the clock, you can never save everyone.*
I think the reason majora's mask is so effective at instilling such a feeling of dread during the final hours is, not only an absence of any panic, (like what that other comment said) but also an absence of action, for lack of a better word. In most of these end of the world movies, there's some sort of action going on, like the main character trying to beat the clock and save the world. In majora's mask, all you have is you, the moon about to crash down on you, and music that instills a feeling of utter hopelessness. This truly makes it feel like that there is nothing you can do, that all you can do is wait for your inevitable demise. Even everywhere you look in Termina backs this up. You've got the carpenter, defying a fate that he feels is too preposterous to happen. You've got an older sister letting her younger sister find comfort in a drunken unconsciousness. There's the swordsman who finally broke. You find him cowering in fear in the one place that he thinks might be safe. Everywhere, there's that feeling of dread and hopelessness.
You are the hero trying to beat the clock. This is what being the hero is like. The only reason dread doesn't occur in movies is that we are outsiders there, merely watching. But, the hero feels a horrible fate will befall them if they fail their mission.
this is legit one of the darkest moments in any zelda game istg. its not just “whoops, game over. try again” nah it’s like “You fucked up, families are dying because of YOU.”
to me it’s not really “you fucked up” so much as it is a depiction of the inevitability of death. it feels a lot bigger than “you lost the game lol”, this theme feels introspective of the certainty of death itself, regardless of the moon situation
@@digitalfreak8280 it was march 31st when i said that, where mario 3d all stars and mario 35 were delisted from the eshop And all the memes about him dying were there
@@ShotokanEditor Depends on who you ask. I think Majora's Mask's atmosphere, world and mechanics puts it a league above OOT. May not have as many dungeons, but the side-story stuff makes up for that IMO. Always something to do. Schedules to follow. Planning. And nuking your save file (for that whole 3-day cycle) if you ran the clock out definitely upped the ante a bit. Not too happy they let you save whenever on the 3DS version, nor that they ruined Zora Link, and a few other negative mechanics (you can fix them with patches at least) changes, but I digress.
@@christophermoon956 i replayed both (majora had the patch you mentioned) and i still cant say exactly which one is my favorite. Maybe the OOt feels a bit more like the traditional zeldas because of so many dungeons etc while the desparation and the dark mood of majora makes it maybe higher because of the atmosphere. Damn all i gotta say i love em both
I'm listening to this while scrolling through the Nintendo 3DS eShop one last time, right before it closes... All these games, DLC, videos, and themes... Every last one will be lost to history in a matter of hours. I know all good things must come to an end eventually, but... It's a shame things have to be this way.
It’s my all-time favorite game. Yes it is a very depressing game. Knowing the end is inevitable and your approaching your imminent doom, while trying to finish as much as you can in just three days. Romani drinking spiked milk and sleeping close to her older sister only to never wake up again, kafei getting married on judgement day, etc etc etc.
the saddest part about this game is that you can’t do all the temples and side missions in one cycle, so even after you beat the game, there’s still problems that go unsolved Edit: Thanks for adding info everyone.
I thought it was implied that all the things you did merge together in a single timeline in the end, given you can see all the things that have happened from the results of completing side quests, even if you didn't do them that cycle?
It's true, some things remain unsolved, but with Link saving Termina and all of its inhabitants, they have all the days of their lives to solve those problems.
I think I found out why this song makes me feel a kind of fear I can't get from anything else. I've seen end of the world scenarios in games and movies before. Final Hours, the Moon Falling. It's actually missing something that all the other End of the World scenarios have. It's missing panic. Look around Clock Town. What do you see? Only a handful of people. A man who screams in anger in defiance of a fate that he find too preposterous to believe. The Sword Master, finally losing all his bravado and cowering in the safest place he can think of. The Mailman, desperately torn between the instinct of self preservation, and the duty he has dedicated his whole existence to. The Postmistress, drinking away what sorrow she can because she can't bring herself to leave her town. An older sister, deciding to grant her younger sibling the comfort of drunken unconsciousness so she doesn't need to feel afraid. A Wife, and her Groom that just found true happiness, waiting for whatever may come, finding comfort in each other's arms. You don't see a crowd of people running around, trying to find some tiny speck of hope to cling too, one shred of solace that proves they can't die, not like this. The Silence. It's deafening. All you can hear is the bells and the rumble of the earth. It's a quiet, hopeless end, and everyone knows it. I don't intend to try to sound deep here, but this game is a Masterpiece for being able to evoke this kind of fear. I haven't been able to find that feeling anywhere else.
Brilliantly, this song captures that feeling absolutely perfectly. This is not a frenzied or heart-pumping song signalling the end of the world and that you have to hurry and save it. It's not even a sad song, so to speak. It's hopeless. That song instills a feeling of complete hopelessness, that there's nothing left to do. It's just the end, everything is over. The last few minutes you have are pointless and all you can do is watch and wait.
I couldnt agree with this more. This, among many other things, are the elements that make this game's main threat such a profound mark on you when you play it. The end of the world is such a sickening feeling in this game, it fills you with dread, makes it seem real. And you have to deal with it everytime you get to the 3rd Day, even when you have the 4 Giants, it still fills you with doubt, threatening your ability to protect Clocktown even after you've done everything you can think of to prepare. This is kind of what Breath of the Wild missed with its world and atmosphere. Their wasnt quite this kind of presence with the Calamity. I hope we can have something similar to this in the sequel.
Amazingly worded. I wish I could say more but you've said it so well. This game is so much more than a game, to me. It digs deep into some of the most important feelings we have. Though it is a dark game, there are many sparks of hope throughout.
I love the reactions different people get to the final hours, my favorite two are the sword master, who is cowering in fear behind his dojo despite boasting about his bravery, and Cremia, who gives romani her wish to drink the adult drink because she knows Romani will not get the chance to grow up. And damn that just hits hard. What a great game
@@AmaticXLII Everyone is about to push Clock Town Bombers Brother: PUSH Clock Town Citizens: *groans and begins to push Clock Town* After Link Tatl Tael Skull Kid and the Giants stop the moon from crashing. All: YEAH Link: It'll never fall now Tatl: We've saved the town Skull Kid Tael and Giants: Yay Link: Let's go tell everybody they go to tell everyone At the bottom of the cliff Everyone is still pushing Clock Town Bombers Brother: PUSH Clock Town Citizens: *groans and pushes Clock Town* Bombers Brother: PUSH Clock Town Citizens: *groans and pushes Clock Town* Clock Town Citizens: HURRRAAAY *However the moon falls and crashes on them and Clock Town crushing them and Clock Town* Moon: OUUUUCCCCCCHHHHHH
"And so the angry moon fell annihilating- oh wait this is a kids game? *clears throat* the moon hit the ground and anyone caught in the blast was incinerated, all items and such gained these last three days were lost"
The bells and the earthquaking are the icing to this track. No matter what part of the world you are in, you can't avoid hearing those damn bells. Oh? You're just moments away from completing a dungeon? About to finish that quest? Well here's how much time you have left, punk.
Whenever im going to tackle one of the dungeons i always do it after reseting back to day 1 and using song of inverted time so i dont have to worry about the time to much
This is a masterpiece, hearing this made me think that it really is the end of the world. The music builds up just like magic that my brain interprets the end of the humanity. I never felt this grief on "end of the world " movies TBH.
Goodness, Final Hours by itself is bad, but when you add the bells and the earthquake, you can tell just by listening to it that the world is about to end.
My mistake. I didn't mean bad with a negative connotation in relation to the composition of the song--it's a beautiful song--I meant bad as in 'inducing feelings of despair', or something along those lines. Perhaps a better word would've been "depressing."
I'm fortunate I've gotten into a gaming staycation mode given the situation and political/socio-economic bickering, however justified or not, because early on this was my coronavirus anthem. And somehow, despite several countries "solving" it or nearly doing so, I come back to this in an optimistic mood but still find it especially helpful.
The bell makes it sound so final. Like the inevitability of it all is weighing down like… oh, I don’t know… a falling moon. And the harpsichord feels like anxiety, the little clicking percussion sounds like chills running down your spine.
Really? I always thought it was because Romani always wished to have a taste of it, so Cremia gave it to her because, well, if she doesn't taste it now, when will she?
I remember this one time, when I was obsessed with Majora's Mask, I asked my mom what she would do if the world were to end within a matter of hours. She told me she'd spend time with her family and hold them close until the very end. Honestly, that's really no different from what happens in the game. Shows just how real Majora's Mask can be.
@@Xominus well it can hit close to home, Majoras mask tried to replicate how people would feel during the end of the world, except there’s nothing they can do.
I'm 26 now and today's life feels like this game - time is running out for you, but I don't have a song of time to restart and the tragedy is allreardy over, the moon already crushed all hopes and nothing of childhoods joy is left. Thank you so very much Zelda, I will never forget the hours I played you.
"The flow of time is always cruel… Its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it… A thing that doesn't change with time is a memory of younger days." - Sheik
The most unsettling thing about Majora's Mask is no matter how hard you try you simply cannot do everything in those three days. Just like real life you can help as much as you can but you can't stop the inevitable. Everyone you know is destined to have something bad happen to them that you can't do anything about. Each good deed done in this game is reset like it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Stopping the moon will only cause the problems you failed to solve persist until the ones they had plagued pass away. You can't stop the progression of time, you can't save everyone, one must accept this reality and come to terms. In a sense, the moon falling down on everyone is the only way to make every single problem go away at once.
"You're the bad guy, and when you're bad, you just run. That's fine, right?" The moon child wearing Majora's Mask says that. Majora genuinely sees Link as the bad guy. Life is a curse, making you endure bad things. Pain, sorrow, anger, violence. To live is also to suffer. Majora placed curses upon the 4 lands and created the moon to fall in 3 days and destroy all of Termina, putting an end to everything, like killing is an act of mercy. Majora is the angel of death. Link, "saving" everyone, is just delaying the inevitable. In this regard, Majora considers Link, to be the one that makes everyone suffer.
"Please take refuge. We are fine here. We shall greet the morning... together." And that line alone with this haunting music easily made this not just my favorite Zelda game, but one of my favorite games of all time period.
The bells chime. The synths play their final chords. Six, five, four minutes remain. All is lost, and yet you stand. It *is* something that can be stopped. Somehow, you're sure of it. "Goddess of Time, hear my plea--"
I remember coming home from school as a kid, I'd pop this into the N64, fast forward to the final night just to hear this. For some reason, it gave me a sense of comfort that I can't really explain. Even now, it brings back feelings of nostalgia, simpler times that I'll never get to experience again.
@@mr.awesome6011 That just gave me the thought that what if negan could cause all this. Like he was some world ending God and that would be how the show ends. Negan turns heel again and brings the moon down and says that famous line before EVERYTHING is destroyed.
no chaos, no panic, no screaming in the streets, just hours of waiting, with what feels like the weight of the entire cosmos slowly descending upon you. There isn't even desperation, nor a hope of escape at this point, there is no hope of escaping this cataclysm. Just quiet. Anxious, tense quiet. The swordmaster cowers in his dojo, the denier gives up on his skepticism and accepting his fate as he looks up at the moon slowly crashing down, the postman is paralysed with fear, wishing to flee but scared to abandon the duty that gave his life meaning in the first place. There is nowhere in the town, nor all of Termina, where the clock cannot be heard ringing, couting down to an impending doom that cannot be escaped. The Earth itself quakes in fear. A lone child with the ancient soul of a hero stands at the base of the clocktower, waiting for the clock to strike midnight.
I remember sitting in my bed one night thinking about Majora’s Mask. If I went back in time to do fix what I didn’t do, wouldn’t that not be considered going back in time? Wouldn’t that just make another universe where I left everyone to die? 7 year old me had some f*cked up nights.
If I could go back in time, I’d finally finish mm. (I never got to the final boss, always got to stone tower temple and lost time always restarting, each restart the closer I got, sadly I was never able to complete the fight with majora himself.)
"You should stay with us. We will be with you till the very end" Man, Anju and Kafei destroyed me. And I had to go back in time and erasing everything I have done to save them. It was a giant punch in the guts.
Even 22 years later, still among the most atmospheric, powerful songs I've ever heard in a video game. Even now, it still brings a sense of terror and excitement to my heart.
I love when games don’t just say “game over” I wanna have my heart ripped out of my body and stomped on! Show me the consequences of my low skill level! That’s one of my main reasons for loving this game so much.
You’re lying in bed, another sleepless night awaits of binging, thinking, and general lounging. As you’re in the midst of whatever you’re doing, the deafening silence was broken by one single noise. A church bell. It startles you at first, but after hearing it again, it calms you somehow, almost as some sort of reassurance. But then it hits you *”I don’t live by a church...”*
@@animatepokemonadventures7889 It is a creepypasta. The bells keep getting louder until you become deaf, after a while of deafness you can hear, but it’s too late. Any newly regained sound will be the last thing you hear.
The final hours of the 3rd day are without a doubt one of the saddest events in video game history. The once bumbling and lively Clock Town; devoid of any life as people evacuate to try and escape the moon. Few remain; having accepted their fate and waiting for the end to come. It was supposed to be the Carnival of Time; a happy thing that makes the town lively. That festival won’t bring any of the sort, as the people have left or have accepted their fate. The Bombers are playing in the streets on the final hours, unaware of their inevitable deaths or pretending it isn't going to happen. The Mayor is at the Milk Bar, drowning his sorrows and waiting for the Moon to crash down and destroy his town. The swordsman who said he would cut the moon in half spends his final hours cowering in fear. The soldiers guarding the gates have remained as they have not been given the order to evacuate. The head carpenter is standing by the Clock Tower, calling his fellow carpenters cowards for evacuating the town. The bells are chiming and can be heard no matter where in Termina you are. The skies have turned a sinister green and red. Earthquakes shake the land. You have three choices... Play the Song of Time to go back to the first day Go to the Clock Tower and summon the Four Giants to stop the moon. Or just wait. Wait for the moon to come down and destroy Termina and your progress.
@@SleepyPj i mean, he cant use floods anymore (he said he wouldnt). I think a giant moon impact would do the job very well. Its not like we would need the planet afterward anyway
When I listen to this, I imagine a montage, or collection of all the characters in the game looking up at the moon, preparing for their demise. Romani, laying with her cows, resting with them one last time. The hen man, cuddling his chicks, unable to see them grow to be roosters. The swordsman, cowaring in the corner, too scared to be the strong warrior that he was once upon a time. And Link. Knowing that he failed. Failed himself. Failed his friends. And failed his home. This game will do things to you, man...
*everyone is scared, trying to stay brave. But Link could see, everybody was scared, tense, sad. The world was going to end, and yet everyone stood powerless for what to come, as the giant moon is crashing into the earth. Link looked around, as The Final Hours strike. Link looked up, at their end. Link reached in his inventory and pulled out the instrument, the ocarina.* everything is silent, as time seem to have frozen in Links eyes. * *right a down right a down* Time reverses, as it is back to the day where it all started. The 1st day
i got to this comment right when the bells sped up and the rumblings drowned out the music and then it just faded as the video ended literally perfect timing
I love the fact that you can have an "extra" game over by leaving the Giants to try to stop the moon, but if you don't have the four, then, the only giants available will try to - misserabily - stop the Moon.
Schools starting tomorrow and it's an annual tradition to send this to my friends the night before. This is going to be one hell of a school year. Edit : Came back to this comment after a year and wow hadn't realized all the attention this comment gained. Thanks for all your replies. I'm heading into junior year this year and someone specifically left a comment about adulthood and enjoying school. I no nobody cares but that comment kinda hit me. Thanks guy, and here's to another year of school.
This is a true end of the world song. The ambience of the choir, the bells, reminding you time is slipping away. Precious precious time, slipping through the worlds fingers. As they cling on desperately for any hope, when there is none.
Actually, it's even worse than you think. There's few people in Clock Town that haven't accepted their fates. The soldiers, the carnival manager, the postman, and the swordsman. Everyone else is just waiting. Cremia even says that she knows the ranch isn't even safe. She's well aware that there's nothing anybody can do (well, Link can do something, but she doesn't know that and he can't do anything until he's freed all 4 giants).
You really, in a way, have to admire whoever it is who is ringing that bell. What are they thinking? Why do they continue to ring the bell? To warn everyone? In a desperate plea that everything is as Okay as the government said until now? Or simply because they know they cannot get away anymore, and that this is the most meaningful among their tasks, and as such they may as well just do it until the end.
@@browser-mg3lk How tho? When you go to the astral observatory you can see Skull kid floating in the air embracing the moon, he isn't doing anything to the bell.
Playing this as the final hours of the 3ds and Wii-u online is upon us as I type this. Trying to get in as much as I can for Kid Icarus Uprising, FE Fates and Sun/Moon - some of my personal favorites on the 3ds!
@@TheAbsol7448 yeah, it's by no means a bad game, but it was a bad remake and a far cry from the masterpiece that was the original. it went from amazing to pretty good.
The thing that makes Majora’s Mask’s final hours of its world ending scenario so effective is that unlike most scenarios. There’s hardly any panic. At all. Most have just accepted their fate that the moon is going to fall and crush them, and those who don’t have blind faith that it won’t, because they know the alternative is acceptance of a painful fate. Up until the final temple is complete you can’t do anything, you can’t help them, and you’re just as hopeless and would die the same as they would if you couldn’t turn back time, only you can save them and you alone, so it gives much more weight to the scenario. I could go on but many other comments have explained the same as I would, the weight of the music, the bells tolling the final hours of Termina’s life, those who you’ve helped all about to perish. And that, is why Majora’s mask is an atmospheric masterpiece, and one of my favourite games of all time.
To bring a glimmer of hope, if Link was not turned into a Deku Scrub by Skull Kid initially, he does have a chance of stopping Skull Kid and Majora's Mask within exactly three days.
I had a dream after listening to this. I was in my house relaxing, until all of a sudden I heard bells,(I live near a church) I looked out the window and I saw a gigantic ball of fire in the horizon. I began to feel earthquakes, everything inside started to fall from the shelves. Electricity stopped working, the lights turned off, I saw people standing outside their homes together. The bells started to get louder and louder, everyone was scared and crying. The sky turned orange. Then the ball of fire got bigger, to the point where it hurt your eyes, the temperature was so high you sweated almost immediately. I saw children crying with their moms. Then everything got destroyed like it was nothing. People burned and disintegrated along with their houses. Everything and everyone no longer existed, movies announced to be shown soon never got seen, upcoming videogames, new cars, new technology, fast food places, everything was gone in an instant. I woke up scared, but I was glad it wasn’t real.
