I basically missed this entire generation of video games. My parents had been reluctant to upgrade to a Super NES, and as Christmas approached in 1996 they said point-blank they wouldn’t buy a Nintendo 64. By that time my primary hobby had drifted to listening to music, and I was able to play PC games, so I didn’t argue or try to save up to buy it on my own. Every now and again I’d take a look at some game I’d certainly have been playing if I had made the jump, but overall I wasn’t too sad about moving on.
If I had to choose one game I feel I missed out on, it’s Ocarina of Time. So, here, at last, I go.
Three Dimensions
Before I even get to the story, I have to acknowledge the single biggest change in Ocarina of Time compared to the previous four games: It’s in 3D. The controls feel awkward; there are buttons that adjust where the camera goes, but compared to the modern standard scheme (left analog stick moves, right analog stick looks), it’s really awkward. I’m sure by time I’m fighting Ganon it’ll feel natural, but right now I’m fumbling with it quite a bit. The skullwalltulas are pissing me off because I can’t figure out how to look up, so I have to climb up until I can Z-target them, drop off the wall so they don’t bite, and shoot them with the slingshot. There’s got to be a better way, right? [1]
Story
Welp, having a story as part of the opening sequence is officially a thing of the past. This one just has Link riding by on a horse a lot and shots of various places around Hyrule. The manual has a lot more, but it’s all covered in the game, too, from things that aren’t really spoilers (the three goddesses and the creation of the world and leaving behind the Triforce) and some of it really, really is (the Deku Tree’s fate). Given how little extra information is in the manual and how spoilery this one is [2], I think I’ll stop reading them except maybe to learn the controls… although the game does a pretty good job of moving that into the game, too.
“In the vast, deep forest of Hyrule…
“Long have I served as the guardian spirit… I am known as the Deku Tree…
“The children of the forest, the Kokiri, live here with me. Each Kokiri has his or her own guardian fairy. However, there is one boy who does not have a fairy…”
The fairyless boy is, of course, Link, and we see him having a nightmare. He’s in front of a castle in Hyrule when the drawbridge lowers and a horse departs, ridden by two people. The camera focuses on one of them, a young girl who’s almost certainly
Zelda. (The other rider… it went by pretty fast, but she looks kind of like Hyrule Warriors’ Impa, and yeah, that makes sense.) Then there’s another rider on a black horse, and Link can only stare at him in horror. He looks like Ganon from the manual, which would suggest that this Link and Zelda’s fates are tied to each other and Ganon’s, just as much as those who appeared in The Legend of Zelda and A Link to the Past.
The Deku Tree then summons a fairy named Navi, and tells her that evil forces are gathering and he’s powerless to stop it. He tells her Link has a destiny to save Hyrule, and sends her to be his guide, with the first task to bring him to the Tree. Navi flies over the Kokiri village and, at one point, into a lattice before figuring out where Link is. Link’s still asleep, so Navi calls him lazy and starts bouncing all over the room trying to get him to wake up. At this point, I think if a fairy did this to me, I’d smash her if my cat didn’t catch and eat her first, which probably explains why I’m not the Legendary Hero of Hyrule.
Upon leaving his house, Link is greeted by Saria, a friend who’s excited Link finally has a fairy. Less excited by this is Mido, who seems to think himself the leader of the Kokiri, and bars Link from going to see the Deku Tree until he has a sword and shield. Those two names are familiar; my first instinct is that the villages of Adventure of Link have Kokiri names, but the Darunia and Ruto I’m familiar with, and who appear in the manual, are decidedly not Kokiri in appearance. So, I’m
probably going to run into a Rauru, Kasuto, and Nabooru, and these are the people those future villages are named after, whatever their common bond is.
With Mido still barring the way, Link sets off back into the village to find a sword and shield so he can answer the Deku Tree’s call.
Next: The end of the intro.
[1] While playing through for the next post, I think I figured this out: C-Up gives a free camera, and I hope Z-targeting can be activated from that mode.
[2] The manual also mentions that Link ages over the course of the story, and among the list of characters I recognize a couple from Hyrule Warriors that I’ll give a more thorough mention here in a minute.
