On Games Gone By 3: First impressions of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

When I started this series, I figured I'd stick to PC games, since that's the form I can most readily find and play games in. But the Geek has a Nintendo 64; and I've been watching a lot of Ocarina of Time speedruns lately, mostly as research for a potential conference paper about what the speedrunning community does and doesn't consider a glitch; and Ocarina of Time is a very popular game from the late 90s, and one of the first successful 3D console games, so I'd been wanting to give it a try.

At time of writing, I have finished the Great Deku Tree dungeon. I'm (a little at a time, because of my wrists, and only when I visit the Geek) playing the original North American N64 version with trident controller and rumble pack.

The controls are not at all what I'm used to from newer games, mostly because there's only one analog stick, so you can't move and look around at the same time. The action buttons are also weird: while I'm familiar with the contextual function of the A button, which does different things depending on what you're looking at, I find it difficult to switch between the B button, which swings your sword, and the C buttons, which activate other items, and I often found myself pressing the wrong one under time pressure. The analog stick is sensitive enough that it was hard for me to run in a straight line, and the addition of the rumble pack made the controller heavy enough that I had to rest it on my lap or on the couch next to me, though the added height made it a useful controller stand.

On top of all this, I spent a lot of time learning how to Z-target, a mechanic unique to Ocarina of Time (and probably its sequel, Majora's Mask) that attempts to make up for the lack of camera control. Even when I remembered to Z-target, it didn't work consistently; I especially had trouble locking onto enemies above me, even when I could see them.

The tutorial was very thorough, as well it should be: since Ocarina of Time was one of the first 3D console games, it had a lot to teach. It might even have been too thorough; it included so many movement and combat techniques that I left the level feeling like I'd forgotten more than I remembered, especially about Z-targeting. Some of that is likely hindsight bias, since the things I felt weren't explained enough were game-specific things like Z-targeting, while the things I thought were overemphasized were things that have since become industry standard, like the way the A button's function depends on the object you're interacting with. Maybe if I knew nothing about how video games were "supposed" to work, the tutorial would seem more balanced. As it was, I felt really tense in combat and puzzle-solving situations, and was always worried I'd forgotten something important. (Fortunately, the Geek was sitting behind me with the strategy guide and usually had something helpful to say.)

My evaluation of the game's graphics is also likely biased by my experience with later, better-rendered games, especially since the Geek keeps telling me how revolutionarily lifelike the angular, low-poly character models seemed when the game is new. So I don't really have anything to say about the quality or realism of the character models, except that a number of the Kokiris' face models fall straight to the bottom of the Uncanny Valley. I can, however, report that the Geek and I played with his TV settings for a while before we found a combination of brightness and aspect ratio that made it possible for me to distinguish helpful tufts of grass from the dungeon walls behind them.

The best part of the game is probably the story. So far, it's a typical hero's journey, but the details are remarkably compelling. I don't think I'd ever really understood before how much interactivity can add to a story: I wasn't just watching Link, I was Link, and dealing with all those dangers and puzzles and timed platforming, regardless of how tense it made me, also made me care about Link and the Deku Tree and the fate of Hyrule. The fact that I put my own name on the save file probably also helps with immersion--it's a little eerie when characters address me by name, but it makes me feel personally involved.

Rating: I can't play much of it at a time, for the sake of my wrists and my nerves, but I really want to keep playing.