I played this game as a kid when it released and remembered not liking it very much. I remembered almost nothing about it. I didn’t remember a single boss fight or temple, like it was really wiped from my mind.
I wanted to play through it again because people always talk about how they love this game, but I found it really lacking and annoying at times.
Having to redo things each time you resets time made the game feel more like a chore. I understand that your going back in time, but it did not make for good gameplay.
I made it to the moon, but I’m burnt out at this point and a little under powered. I did not do any of the side quests as having to redo a bunch of stuff sounds terrible. I don’t want to get 3/4th through a side quest only to have to reset time.
Before resetting, I have to deposit money, then reset, then stock up my items again, and redo all the things I need to do to get back to where I was.
I have to admit that it is really original and a cool concept, but it does not work in practice.
I still put oot and wind Waker at the top of the 3d Zelda’s. (Not counting the switch games)
At this point, I’ll boot up oot and play through that again. I vividly remember child links part of the game and a decent amount of adult link. After that, I’ll try the master quest. I remember that being difficult and I never completed it when I was a kid.
I love Majora’s Mask. It’s unironically genius, particularly for an N64 game. Not… fun to play, admittedly.
The worldbuilding, storytelling, atmosphere, psychology, writing and (partly) soundtrack are incredibly good, though, and makes MM one of my favorite games that I never really feel like playing. I don’t think it’s all that good as a Zelda game, but it’s more than good enough to deliver the awesome parts.
I’ll never not cry like a little bitch about the Anju/Kafei story - love corrupted by random shit luck and greed, turned into confusion, doubt, loss and insecurity. If you follow the quest all the way to the end and manage to pull it all together, they’re still stoically accepting their death - as long as they get to be together and are no longer worried they’ve been stood up or won’t be accepted by their spouse.
The rest of the game is basically more of that, fixing sometimes heartbreaking problems caused by the mask - one at a time, several at a time, dealing with setbacks and resets. Every plotline you resolve does revert back to the miserable start, but you’re also left with something “lasting” for each one, until you finally clear the game.
The denialism and eventual panic of the townspeople is really well done, the Clock Town music taking different forms depending on the day, where the third day is explicitly dark and ominous. People are panicking, going about their business as usual, taking refuge, worrying about unsettled scores, blustering and arguing…
It’s a bit of a trippy experience wrapped in not-always-riveting gameplay, but the parts that work work extremely well, and if you’re in the right frame of mind the game can get pretty philosophical.
Exactly. You’ve missed the core concept of the game. Of any game is side quests.
They give the meat to the bones. They are everything else.
You haven’t played mm if you haven’t completed the side quests. They are the game.
I did not do any of the side quests as having to redo a bunch of stuff sounds terrible.
This is a game that’s really about the sidequests. They’re so important that there’s a mandatory (iirc) part to get a notebook to help you track them.
Majora’s Mask is my favorite game. Not just favorite Zelda, but favorite game, period. It always breaks my heart to see people not being able to enjoy it the way I enjoy it, because there’s so much excellent storytelling in that game. While Nintendo deconfirmed the “stages of grief” fan theory, it’s still a lot more fun playing through the game with that theory in mind, because it truly fits the game so well, and adds a lot of depth to the experience.
For what it’s worth, the 3DS version is far superior to the original N64 release. Lots of QoL improvements (though I’m actually not a fan of how the bosses were redesigned) and some progression elements were streamlined a bit. I feel like most people playing MM for the first time are doing themselves a disservice playing the original.
I don’t think the 3DS is far superior at all. There’s nice QoL for sure. The change to Zora swimming to use magic was a dumb decision and the deku scrub water jumps feel terrible. Not to mention the whole game is brighter compared to the N64 version, which ruins the atmosphere to me. I like both versions, but the 3DS is more accessible, not superior imo. Here’s a good video about it if anyone is interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=653wuaP0wzs
There is a ROM hack of the 3DS version that fixes all of those issues
I hate OOT!
I do too. I’ve never enjoyed it. The only 3D game I liked was Wind Waker, and the two new ones.
Not counting the switch games
BotW is a Wii U game.
What a great system, too bad the eStore shutdown and I’ll only ever pirate nintendo games to make up for all the shit they stole from me.
