Recently, I discovered my N64 still works pretty well. I also discovered that there are companies that remake N64 controllers, which is nice because while, like I said, mine works, the control stick has some mileage on it.

Anyways, I recently discovered that I still have my original copy of Ocarina of Time. Fire Temple muslim chanting, ubiquitous muslim symbols adorned everywhere Ocarina of Time. And I figured, why the fuck not? It'd be a hell of alot better than playing on the pussified GameCube version with a gamecube controller on the Virtual Console.

I don't want to go on a religious rant here, but I never understood why that culture got so pissed about that. Personally, I loved the chanting of the Fire Temple, it gave it some personality. And the crescent moon symbols were badass too! If I was a little kid and I found out all that stuff had to do with Muslim culture, I'd probably grow up into a convert! It's no different than an Iron Maiden fan wanting to be an archeologist because of all the symbols on the Powerslave album. I guess I wouldn't be so pissed about it if Nintendo didn't haphazardly replace the crescent symbols with this Majora's Mask esque blob, which didn't make any sense whatsoever! So Majora was behind everything the whole time? Give me a break! It would have been smarter to just put the Triforce on everything, since that's what the Kingdom of Hyrule is based on. One last thing, I think everybody knows that what appeared on the VC was the version from the Gamecube compilation. And you know what else appeared on that comp? Zelda 1, which had a damn christian cross on the shields! I don't remember Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson getting pissed about that!

/rant

Anyways, like Usa's done in the past with other games, I figured I'd make a thread about my travels in this game and post my thoughts. I haven't played any incarnation of OoT since 2009, and I can't remember the last time I played the original cartridge, so it should be interesting. Feel free to respond to anything!

Anyways

1st entry 8/19/12

I always thought the Deku trees mustache was his mouth. and it was a fucked up looking mouth.

Did Mido not notice the desert man in black come in and demand the kokori stone from the tree? Also this place is surprisingly happy for a place that is so in touch with the Deku spirit that they can tell when it fucking dies.

In the lost woods cutscene, the way Link runs away from Saria looks as if he's just been told that Saria rapes, kills, and eats children.

Fuck the giant Peahats.

Not having any monsters on Hyrule Field except for the zombies at night was kind of stupid. In Zelda 1 and Link to The Past they threw all sorts of shit at you, and it was fun to slice and dice all the octorocks, corrupt soldiers, and what have you. I realize this is supposed to be the beginning of the Zelda "storyline" (lol), but just because it's "peacetime" doesn't mean there can't be other creatures to fuck up. And that doesn't really change in Adult Link time either, and that's supposed to be the time where the long arm of Ganon rules all.

Listen! Count: 2

14 years later, breaking everything in the guard's tower still rules. Forget getting all the money, just smashing everything is therapy.


Oh shit! The skulltula in the crate! I forgot about that.

SoldierHawk wrote:

I always liked Hyrule field being nice and happy in the daytime. It makes the dread of night much greater if there's nothing really around in the day (imho.)

Good point. Just having played Link To The Past fairly recently I found the contrast odd.

And I still say the biggest mistake this game made was not having the overworld theme.

Entry 2:

I think this is the only zelda game where the "puzzle unlocked" sound can scare the shit out of you.

There is a fat, bearded woman in Kakariko village. Fuckin A That's gross.

It's also pretty scary when you see the face on the giant Goron Jug when it gives you the Piece of Heart

Fuck the Dampe's gravedigging Piece of Heart. I've played this game a million times and I can never figure out where that damn thing is hidden. Still haven't found it. And it's surprisingly high at sucking up rupies.

Listen! Count*: 6

*I noticed that the Listen! only really happens when you start up your file, as a reminder of where you are supposed to be going. Which is a good idea, considering you could probably go a long time without playing the game.

Entry 3: Dodongo Cavern.

I must say, I'm rather happy you are finally able to kill the Beamos in those games. Though on insticint I do try to kill them with bombs in Link To The Past only to be disappointed.

Using the series of bomb flowers to collapse the stairs is a bad ass puzzle (though the animation could have been a bit more explodey than "lowering pillar")

The only method of being able to kill the armos knights in this game with bombs is kind of stupid. You should be able to use your sword or the slingshot, the equivalent to the bow.

Remember how in Link To The Past when you were in the Ice Temple, and the Stalfos came down, and the telepathic block told you there was only one type of item you could use to kill them? So you try every fucking item you earned in the Dark World, cos you'd think logically those would be the answers? And it turned out to be a goddamn bomb? Boy was the fucking stupid. It has nothing to do with this game, but it still pissed me off.

At the bridge section on the highest floor. Anyone else think they stole this setup for God of War? Cos it makes me think of God of War.

The second time fighting the Dinolfos I had to go to the tall pillar with the hearts. The last Dinolfo (?) followed me there and it made the battle kind of cinematic.

I have mixed feelings about the Bombs being an official dungeon treasure you have to earn. On the one hand, it's satisfying as hell when it you get them, on the other, it's lame that the game held them back from you the whole time. Remember in the first zelda where one of the first things you could get by killing an enemy was a bomb? That was cool.

30 Deku seeds for 40 rupees? Fuck off.

The "you have low health" noise that has plagued this series is 1000 times more annoying than Navi ever was.

Drew Linky wrote:

jprime wrote: I need to know: Between the last two temples, which are you doing first, Spirit or Shadow? I was going to ask that too, because I always did it with the Spirit Temple first, Shadow Temple last. Mostly because I hate dealing with Dead Hand. I was astonished to find out years later that Spirit Temple is considered the more difficult of the two, and is typically done last.

The Player's Guide said to do Shadow Temple first and Spirit Temple last. I've done both in either sequence and I don't really remember either one being more difficult than the other. Can't you do more or less any temple you want after the Forest Temple?

Eh, that's lame. Either complete a dungeon or don't do it at all.

I did another round but I didn't do much. I finally got the graveyard heart piece, went fishing, got the heart piece there (and also learned the best time to fish is the asscrack of dawn), and beat the Bombchu and shooting galleries for the best prizes. I actually want to cut down until my brand new N64 controller arrives in the mail, cos I don't think I'm gonna be doing a whole lot of N64 playing after I beat this game.

Though I do have this side note, am I the only one who notices that the shooting gallery caretaker looks like a racist Native American caricature?

Also, I was looking on wikipedia for reception what-have-yous and of course I notice a whole lot of 10's. You know who one of the people that dared to give it a 9.5 was?

Nintendo Power.

That's right, Nintendo's own fucking newsletter wouldn't give it a perfect review; possibly because they wanted to have "integrity" and "standards." Makes me wonder if they've ever given one of their own first party games a 10.