The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Review - Quickies Don't Cut It 

Raise your hand if you actually sat through through the whole thing on your first watch. Good Grief how tiring was this review for you? And if you had included the story it would've taken even longer. Man, kudos to you for pulling this off.

21:06 "How am I supposed to figure that out?" Man, if only there was someone in the game nearby who could give me the answer... One of the Zoras swimming inside Zora's Domain: "According to the 'Legend of Zora,' the act of offering a *fish* to Lord Jabu-Jabu will make you happy." ...sooooo yeah, it's kinda hard to beat a adventure game or a ARPG when you sabotage yourself by not talking with the NPCs. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, the Zora NPC inside the shop straight up tells you that you can catch fish outside for free. Maybe I'm some sort of genius, I don't know, but that part didn't felt cryptic for me in the slightest ._. I do have to agree your opinion on the Iron Boots was completely on point. The Golden Scale makes this part of the game less painful, but it was pretty annoying nonetheless. I loved the Dark Link battle though, for one simple reason: believe it or not, it's actually possible to beat him using only with the Master Sword without taking a single hit! Turns out you have to alternate between horizontal and vertical swings. After 8 to 9 clashes of swords, Dark Link will stagger a little longer than usual, which will allow you to hit him with your next swing. You can also block and use the jump attack as soon as his sword hits your shield when he turns aggressive. It's all very cryptic, yes, but it feels WONDERFUL to finally beat him this way. Oh, and I don't care what anyone says, Dark Link was the actual boss of the Water Temple.

I love your in depth analysis on classic games. It's hard not to tackle them from a biased point of view but you manage to show what aged well and what not.

19:47 Actually, in the room with the suns, you can position yourself right and burn the spider webs by shooting a normal arrow through a nearby torch, so the fire arrows are truly optional, albeit useful. But I digress. While I don't agree with everything in this review, it's all well-justified. Nice work!

Dude, you are putting TONS of effort into those videos and still you have only 3 k subscribers... You deserve a really fucking lot more. I hope the number will raise soon !

The good thing about these videos is that you can tune in anytime you want

Well, I finally got around to this 60 minute juggernaut, and you did not disappoint. This was a grand Ocarina of Time review that I don’t think I could outdo. I do have to say that I never found Ocarina songs or Hyrule Field to pad the game out that badly. The text scrolling is something I'll agree with, but Hyrule Field is tolerable. It's not as impressive or immersive as Twilight Princess Hyrule Field, but it's also not as needlessly large and uneventful as Wind Waker's Great Sea. One thing that greatly increased my appreciation of this title is a little game called Star Fox Adventures for the Nintendo GameCube. That game tries SO hard to replicate this game's success, but fails because it doesn't understand all the little design choices that made OOT work. The inventory is clunky, the buttons aren't mapped optimally, and like Conker it loves shoving other gameplay styles and minigames down your throat when you don't want them. You thought the pacing was bad in this game? Try playing SFA, where it feels like you're constantly going through dungeons and solving puzzles without any space to breathe and recollect yourself. There's also no sidequests (besides cheat codes), and the game gives you very little choice whatsoever as to where you can go and when. The worst part is definitely the overworld design. Even though Fox has an Arwing that can fly anywhere, the game forces you to backtrack through a bunch of hallways that disguise load times every time you want to get somewhere, and there’s no Ocarina to warp you around. I'll take Hyrule Field in all its emptiness over that shit any day.

Nice, another Quickies Don't Cut It! I know what I'm doing for the next half hour! Oh shit, it's 1 hour?!

As a simple trick to get rid of those Anubis in Spirit Temple, I use Din's Fire. At this point in the game, you mostly likely have got the double magic meter, and I fins it easier to burn them to complete the room riddles.

Man! What a long review and boy was it great! I must say I've become more and more impressed with the amount of work you do for each review and the quality of it! Keep it up!!!

This guy was so close too making a hour review

Really glad I came across this video. Binging old zelda reveiws leading up to Botw. Great work man.

About Jabu-jabu, one of the zora NPCs tells you a very obvious hint about giving him a fish so he'll open his mouth.

First and foremost, congratulations on such an in-depth analysis in such a well edited video. It should have taken weeks to complete this so I've got to give you all the credit. Also, I've got to say I love your videos, the long format really suits you and you make it worthwhile to anyone. Now to the things I don't agree with: You feel the control as stiff because the N64 analog felt different than the GC controller (being analog it literally has a set number of options, vectors and directions) although tbh it is kind of stiff anyways. 11:22 ... Man you are expected to use the hookshot targets to move with your iron boots on, no need to take them off and on and spasm there. 20:00 Din's Fire works there as far as I remember (would need to double check though). The fish thing for Jabu Jabu I can completely agree, it took me a LONG ass while when I was young to actually discover that. 32:30 , dude just aim in your y-axis. Just like any other FPS, don't aim with both axis at the same time. Many of the parts in the game can be broken by using the scarecrow (which somehow you didn't bring up, you paid lots of attention to everything else). 42:40 , should mention more experimenting with your items...use Deku Nuts on enemies such as Stalfos, Dark Link and Ganon (yes, last boss ganon is stunned by deku nuts). I have to admit most enemies make you wait for an unnecessary amount of time just for an opening (not unlike something such as Dark Souls though). Overall, I have to say this is one hell of retrospective, I can't even imagine how much time it took you to do. I can agree with everything you say on 57:00. Mario 64 taught everyone how to use a camera and how movements should work in a 3D game, Ocarina of Time taught everyone how to Z-target, use context sensitive prompts and gave a general guideline to how 3D combat and action adventure should be. Just like the original NES Mario and Zelda revolutionized how games could/should be, Mario 64/OoT did for 3D gaming as a whole. Their place in history is cemented in stone and shall forever be relevant for it, yet not necessarily enjoyed (just like many gamer nowadays won't enjoy Zelda 1 or Metroid 1). Your point about newcomers who would have heard the praise only to have their massive expectations unsatisfied describes all this video's comments in a nutshell... the people who played the game back then as something new are praising it, mentioning nostalgia and the sheer feeling of adventure it gave you and the other half are screaming "overrated" (mentioning how they came to play it waaaaayyy down the line instead of back then). I seriously hope your content is paying you some fair amounts (although it is harder and harder with the way youtube changes lately) because this is some quality content your bring up, I can't even fathom the amount of time you spend playing, recording, editing and scripting. Top notch.

Both Ocarina and Majora employed a decent surround sound mix. You can hear sounds behind you such as Talon's snoring and other effects. It's not as rich or as well mixed as the surround tracks for Wind Waker or Twilight Princess, but it gets the job done immersing you into Link's world by 1998 standards.

Awesome review, love your videos.

Very entertaining review! Jolly well done! :)

8:50 you can hear the spider jumping. You don’t always need visual clues to locate enemies

Wow! This is a complete review of OoT. It's the most complete one out there although I don't agree with egoraptor and i kinda disagree with some opinions of the game. It's a 9/10 game for me, not a perfect game but it's an awesome game. With nostalgia and my opinion, this game it's a 10/10 for it was one of my first games for my N64 when it came out.

I FINALLY found time to watch this all the way through. It definitely didn't feel like an hour. more like twenty minutes because of your time dilating meaningful commentary. You'll hear my thoughts on this game as I don't think its the best 3D Zelda, but still an excellent N64 game

Excellent review. Like Egoraptor's sequelitis; fair, detailed and critical but he seemed to punish the game and also attempt to force you to hate it rather than your review which gave credit where it was most definitely due. Your point about newcomers who would have heard the praise only to have their massive expectations unsatisfied is the perfect way of putting it. All in all, great, thourough review and I will be subscribing and staying around for more. Are you planning on a same style of review for Majora's Mask? Would be undoubtedly interested in your opinion!

Thanks for the videos. I know this took you a lot of time & effort to create.

You don't need to get eaten by that Like Like to get that Silver Rupee. If you use the Lens of Truth you can find a target on the wall that is otherwise invisible, then you can hookshot to it and get the Rupee.

That room you use the fire arrows in, I always use din's fire spell lol

Good ol' eye-ron boots, eh?

Don't know if you'll ever read this, but in the chance you do: I come back and watch these reviews from time to time for the nostalgia of your channel. 😅 Always enjoy your personality and review structure. Also, I hope you're doing alright man. 👍

amazing review! you need more subs, im not even muchfor a fan of zelda . i only have the gameboy pack in when i was a kid but now i will buy it for n64. looks fun actually. you litilerary just got me into zelda. which is why nintendo needs to thank youtubers like you. amazing review. please keep this up. u provise great notgolia 3ven for games i never played but i knew where i was and how it shaped the industry.

Hey Retro, about the Dark Link fight, he has two more ways to deal with him. He can't mirror your spinning slash nor your Biggoron's Sword moveset (Giant's Knife works the same). You could say the latter is another reward for the sidequest. Amazing channel my friend.

Never played this game so I really enjoyed this video, gave me a good reason to finally buy the game.

Once again a great review but when are you doing Castlevania Rondo of Blood

This might only be on the 3DS version, but when you finish the water temple, the camera hangs on that inscription about the fire arrows for quite a while to encourage you to go check it out

Not related to the crux of the video, I know, I know, but your Sonic 3 and Knuckles footage looked extraordinary clean. How did you record it? at 1:26 ? Curious. -- AT

Amazing video! I respectfully disagree about attaining the fire arrows though. The moment you finish the water temple, you are placed right near the stone, and it is automatically sunrise the moment you get placed there. Navi floats over to it also.

how do you not have more views? i guess everyone has heard it for this game already

I can’t wait till the next review

phantom gaynen

"It's now we segway into the most OBJECTIVE flaw in Ocarina of Time!" *Two advertisements play*

Just beat it in 2019 on original Hardware. There were a few gripes but I thourouggly enjoyed it

Really nice and cosy review, I agree with everything you said, the only thing is that you said at minute 55:00 that the N64 can make so much more in the sound department, and that's not true, the N64 doesn't have a soundchip. The N64 shares its workload with the co-processor, and the more graphics you do on the N64, the less performance you have left over for sound. OOT achieved a perfect balance between graphics, performance and audio, a great milestone by the time showing why this is one of, if not the best crafted game of that generation.

This is the third review I've seen that complains about the "surprise" tektite in the water dungeon. It's an audio clue. He always audibly lands on the floor above on his first jump when Link approaches, and the second jump he makes it down the hole. It's a sound effect the player has been hearing since death mountain, and should be instantly recognizable.

How to figure the fish puzzle out? Maybe talking to the Zoras would help? Another example of a player just trying to rush through everything and not be patient and trying to figure stuff out.

Can confirm, a lot of the issues with control you brought up are better on the original N64 version, and trust me, with how weirdly you had to hold that controller, the D-Pad being items would have been a total pain in the butt. Excellent video though.

I have to wonder what you'd have to say about Breath of the Wild. I feel it's outrageously overrated because of modern audience's demands for every third-person adventure/RPG to be an open-world game. I actually felt like OoT was overrated all the way back in 1998 in some ways. I was annoyed by the pacing right off the bat more because I was used to the previous four games in the series. It was way less exciting to try out your new toys where you could use them with all the empty trekking in between everything. The stealth sections were actually pretty okay, but I thought kind of eye-rolling as the first Metal Gear Solid game just came out and OoT did not shine when I had just been playing that. On the other hand, I feel like some of your criticisms aren't well deserved to be honest. I mean, if the Z-Targeting (which was not that revolutionary btw - Mega Man Legends did it before OoT, for one) shouldn't have locked on THAT easily or it would have been too easy and it's not like you can't fight without it. Like you said, I think the 3DS remake makes the pacing feel better (I did not like the framerate even at the time), partly because the "realism" of the pacing actually felt better with the environments themselves being more engrossing. I TRY not to think of OoT when playing Breath of the Wild though. Compelling narrative, organic puzzle design - okay, I know there are too many lighting torches and pushing boxes, but it's STILL more subtle than the shrines (which are fun puzzles, just not helping form a cohesive experience like dungeons). OoT oozes with character and gets its point across pretty brilliantly. Yeah there's some nonsense in it, sometimes really obnoxious (yeah I hate that poe hunt and trading sequences among other things) but I think the benefit is a varied experience which makes everything feel more real I actually played the game back in 1998. One of my biggest complaints is the way the narrative kind of grinds to a halt as adult link and I felt like I lost track of the motivation to go looking for the dungeons (again, long, boring treks). The 3DS version I played through more times than the N64 version, though, and I think I actually love it more than ever. Also, YES the water temple is awesome! Maybe my fav 3d Zelda dungeon (and I've experienced them all a number of times). The smart thing to do is use Farore's wind - just use it whenever you find a locked door you can't unlock, warp back when you find the key! ;) I played OoT when it first came out and later had no clue what people were griping about over the years afterward. It's head shoulders better than the rest (although the forest temple is up there with it).

I wish I had gotten to experience this game as a kid in the 90s

Gotta call out that spirit hallway use of the fire arrows. There's actually a torch just barely at an angle to shoot that web, nullifying the requirement for fire arrows.

Great review, its defenely one of your best works man. Ocarina of Time was one of first games I have ever played, I personally loved the game when I first played, but my love for the game has decreased with the years, to the point off calling "one of the most overrated games of all time", personally I think itsn overrated, just overhyped (I remember writing comments saying that this game and FF7 are highly overrated, today I think I was a complete doutchbag, I still dont like how it overshadows the other games in the series and I prefer others), I personally love the immesion of that game and the overall feel of the game, I personally wish the game was harder since many puzzles and bosses are a complete pushover. I havent played both games in a long time, but I remember enjoying Majora Mask more.

I've always found the way you acquire the fire arrows to have the NES feeling of "What? How was I supposed to know that??" so that overall worked I think. Still I'm a LTTP fanboy anyday.

People who bitch about the Water Temple never made it to the Eagle's Tower in Links Awakening.

How many versions did you record? I noticed the original N64 release, the GameCube release, and the Wii virtual console release. The Gerudo/Islamic symbol and the A and B buttons is what gave it away.

Actually... IIRC the mirror shield can't reflect deku scrubs and octoroks projetctiles, but I could be wrong. That still makes the hylian shield rather useless as an adult after you get the mirror shield, though.

Just epic. I just finished playing it

6:41 LOL!!! God that's funny as hell, and so so true!

Personally I find the easiest way to defeat Dark Link is to use the Biggoron Sword or Giant's Knife - even broken the Giant's Knife can hit him when the Master Sword can't, as he can't stand on the blade of it when you stab because Link stabs with a one-handed sword with the edges parallel to the ground but a two-handed sword with the edges perpendicular to the ground - his attempt to stand on the blade causes him to take damage.

Damn man, you make some long-ass reviews!

You know, there's one thing that I would do to the game to make it 10x more bearable. Navi and the owl should be optional. Just let seasoned players turn them off. The fucking owl even defaults your answers to "yes I want you to say that again" What the fuck, Miyamoto.

25:54 how did I miss this omg lol

The D pad isn't used for anything because on the N64, you wouldn't be able to use it effectively. You would have to stop moving entirely, move your hand to the other handle, use the D pad then switch back to the middle handle all in the blink of an eye.

I find the hammer is useful against Ganon when he knocks the Master Sword out of your hand, provided you don't have the Biggoron Sword that is (I don't like that sidequest so sometimes I'll just skip it).

I want you to have this bomchu. It will sit in your inventory forever until 1 time you'll need in 4 dungeons from now

Amazing!

the first zelda game question is a nice way around the how old are you thing. mine was link to the past :)

He called Kees, bats... TRIGGERED!

you better review majora's mask

Obviously this is an old video and commenting on it at this point is probably pointless, but i just wanted to say, since you said you couldn't speak to it's quality, as someone who can i will say that the surround sound setting works absolutely fantastically. It totally works. Since n64 is 2 channel output it requires pro logic, but most surround receivers have that. It really, really sounds good. It's powerful, it's immersive, and it also even enhances the gameplay because you can hear when enemies or dangers are behind you. All sounds are perfectly directional to the camera, sounds that should be behind you always are etc and its very immersive. Honestly possibly one of the most immersive surround sound experiences I've ever had in anything, movies included. Newer Zelda titles don't even sound as good. They have better sound samples of course, but something about the engine and the way it renders the sound just sounds punchier than any of them.

Man honestly I am getting fucking tired of people saying this game is overrated. I really am as I enjoy the game a lot.(Specifically the 3DS Version as I find the N64 version just alright.) I mean sure it isn't a 10/10 game but to me I still find it a great game. I wouldn't mind them saying it's overrated if some of those people didn't acted like opinionated douchebags about it. (to me it's to the point like some of those people are saying it's "Objectively Bad" and i'm getting annoyed of those people on YT. It's the same god damn case with the Sonic Adventure games nowadays. Some people are so full of themselves that they can't even get why certain people like certain games they don't.) It's like yeah I get it guys it's not perfect. But still, some people just enjoy games more than other people do and vice versa. And if some people can't get that concept then I say that's their problem not mine. (I'm sorry Retropolis I just had to say this as it's just annoying the hell of me with this games reputation.) Although yeah in terms of your review I find your review solid.:) Dare I say this may be my favorite Ocarina Of Time review on YT. You pretty much touched upon both the good and the bad with this game and I agree with the majority of your points. I will say though while the game hasn't aged the best I still think it's a great game. (especially if you're playing the 3DS Version.) For the 1st 3D Installment in the series it did end up a lot better than most games around that era.(Hell I say it aged better than Mario 64 in a lot of regards.) And I would say that honestly guys go play it for yourselves. You'll either have a good time or a bad time. Though yeah that Z targeting system is a god send and I don't get why certain people complain about this system. (It works pretty well so what's the problem really guys? :/) Although yeah the overworld I gottta admit is pretty bland to go through. Not to say it's bad but like you said Retropolis barely anything goes on in the overworld. I would say at this point guys just play the 3DS Version because it pretty much is the best version of this game.

oh look is the legend of the water temple

we NEED, an HD remake for the switch

"Dad named me turd after you, because you are so brave!" What?

If you wanna have a sword fight with dark link you need to spam until he gets as dark as he can get then he becomes too aggressiv and he starts to have openings to hit through

19:54 YESYESYES OH MY GOD I REMEMBER THAT HORROR I TRIED EVERYTHING IN THAT ROOM AND I DIDNT KNOW HOW ELSE TO BREAK THAT FUCKING WEB

"The c-buttons are used for toys Link holds in his hands." Could you have put that more condescendingly? X'D

I got stuck at the fire temple in master quest.

Ur not supposed to unequip the iron boots on and off in watertemple. You equip them and then use the hook shot to collect the rubies while wearing the boots

Majora''s mask blijft mijn persoonlijke favoriet.

you're right to call bullshit on those that claim the cutscenes hide loading. cartridges didn't have loading at all because of the solid medium. one of the few real advantages vs the disc reading PS1..

Do you prefer this game or majora's mask?

This game is amazing and I'd love to play it. Unfortunately, I live in Europe so the the game is in shitty 50Hz in the Eshop and makes it unplayable in my opinion

nt sure I agree with you about not knowing how to get inside Jabu Jabu, when I was a kid I figured this out and I'm not sure but I think it hints at the fact that Jabu Jabu loves fish? lol either way its a valid criticism I guess

ACTUALLY, you can position yourself behind the torch in Ganon's Castle, and shoot through it, you don't "need" the Fire Arrows. You are welcome.

Nice video

hindsight is 20/20 bro. chill on the iron boots. it was revolutionary on it's own.

Mechanically the designers were probably most proud of water temple, and we shit on them for it. 3DS remake made it a lot better though, kudos to this review.

Try playing OoT on an emulator. There is like a 5 second pause on the start menu (at least there used to be not sure now). You will pull your hair out in the water temple.

This review was so much better than Egoraptor's.

thanks for the video

I love this game!

Ocarina of Time, hailed as a masterful transition from 2D to 3D Zelda and described as perfectly encapsulating the elements that 2D Zelda had but in a 3D environment and being a great game for it's time... I uhh...don't get it. I played this and Mario 64 not long after it came out and greatly preferred the latter. It's largely due to pacing which I'm glad to hear you admit in this video. I don't have as big of a gripe with the text speed as a certain remake or rebreak'er, rather my main complaint with the many cutscenes is that they're some of the most stale and dull cutscenes I have ever seen in a video game. And these cutscenes are unskippable. It's true that they reduce in number and in length by the time the adult portion, but you're still thinking "but then i'll have to watch the triforce of the gods convo and goddamn history class is less boring than that" whenever you start the game (or at least I was). The dungeons retain the slow pace as well, there's noticeably less movement tech (as long as you're doing glitchless), and the pacing being decided by the enemy can make the combat feel like a chore at times, as well as the dungeons notably lacking those "aha" moments when you're in them. Master Quest, like you said, has some ups and downs, but I feel it's the better version, the increased damage has me watching my health, and the harder dungeon layouts warrant my attention more. It's still really easy once you get at least two bottles as faeries are never far away and restore all your hearts in the 3DS version, making even the high damage output of Stalfos and Iron Knuckles somewhat laughable. Still, it's at least more challenging than the original, even if it manages to still evaporate pretty quickly. Speaking of the original, you make the 20 FPS sound like it was a nitpick back in the day, but that was, no joke, one of the major reasons i couldn't play it. The original is so choppy looking, and the gameplay felt laggy and unresponsive. It might not've been a requirement or anything but playing games that were also fully 3D shortly after that ran at 30 or 60 just felt much better, such as Crash Bandicoot, Kingdom Hearts 1, or even Mario 64 like I said After all this, I still want to like Ocarina of Time, I certainly don't hate it, or even dislike it (when it's not making me wait through one of it's long and boring cutscenes), but i just can't get into it. Earlier in my years I was happy to jump on the "OoT is overrated" bandwagon and while I still think it's pretty overrated, I've been expecting something to click and make me suddenly like OoT.

I do enjoy the water temple

good question that i noticed in your review and in others as well, why is it that most reviewers i come across only consider the most difficult games to be the best games? it doesn't make any sense to me, just because a game isn't super difficult when it doesn't need to be isn't a bad thing. i noticed that beating the sequel majoras mask as that game was infuriating to finish for no reason with an inconsistent difficulty when it didn't need to be and overall it just wasn't anywhere near as good as everyone told me it was in my opinion i loved ocarina of time a lot more.

"Hello wanker! Wake up!"

The mirror shield can not reflect projectiles!

The video *IS almost 1 hour long* !! OMG

I'm no purist but the only way to play this game is with a n64 controller and rumble. I'm currently playing the game on project64 with HD texture packs and a 360 controller.

Next do Majora's Mask please

The water temple is a good ass temple on the 3ds

Judging by the Gerudo symbol, I take it you're playing version 1.2. My copy is a gray cartridge with NTSC build 1.1. Has the original Gerudo symbol, red blood, and Fire Temple music. I will never live down how Nintendo bowdlerized version 1.2. Here's how to tell which ROM your version of Ocarina of Time is: www.zeldaspeedruns.com/oot/generalknowledge/version-differences

I love your voice

something to note the aiming on the gamecube version is outright terrible and is nothing like the N64 version which is actually very easy to handle with a sensitivity that is workable.

"The audio chip inside the N64" what chip? Da fuck are you talking about?

Where's the 720/1080p resolution?