Started replaying the N64 version recently via the MiSTer FPGA core, on my CRT TV with an N64-style USB controller, so about as authentic as I can get without plugging in the real deal. Unfortunately, I am remembering why this was always my least favorite of the 3D Zeldas. Don't get me wrong, it still has some of the fundamentals …
Started replaying the N64 version recently via the MiSTer FPGA core, on my CRT TV with an N64-style USB controller, so about as authentic as I can get without plugging in the real deal. Unfortunately, I am remembering why this was always my least favorite of the 3D Zeldas. Don't get me wrong, it still has some of the fundamentals I love from Ocarina of Time, remixed in interesting ways with more challenge for OoT veterans. The dungeons are all at least decent, the atmosphere is interesting, the main town is nicely put together with characters on a schedule, etc.
It's not really that I am annoyed by the time limit as many people are—I am an Outer Wilds fan, after all, and if you chat to that scarecrow early on you know how to minimize the time pressure. More that I really don't like playing as the other races (only done Deku and Goron so far this time but I also remember disliking the Zora part when I last played this on the 3DS remake) particularly when they have you do a lot of platforming-style stuff that I find really annoying and awkward. I have also been focusing more on side content this time since it's what people say is so great about the game, and yes there are good little moments, but I don't find most of it up to this point that interesting from a story or gameplay perspective. But I also am not much of a Zelda side content person in general until you get to BOTW and TOTK, so IDK.
I have seen quite a few comparisons between this and TOTK lately, as people feel this is a more interesting sequel. It is definitely a more ambitious reimagining, but to me, in this game it's the fact that it's like OoT that makes me like it, and I don't really like the new ideas that much; whereas in TOTK it's the new stuff that excited me and made me like it even more than its predecessor. In a series of great games, it is good but not one of the ones I really love or that really speaks to me.
