Ocarina of Time 3D

[Sno]

Just a few initial thoughts on it -

Holy shit, Ocarina of Time is still really good. I mean really, really good. For being one of the games that essentially established how 3D games should work in the first place, it is incredible that it holds up so well.

The lock-on system is still a little squirrelly when it comes to finding the right targets to changing targets, i kind of wish they had done something to change it up, but i can't tell you what that thing should have been. If it's never bothered you before, it won't bother you here. I mean, it's just that the only things they've really changed about the game are some details about the interface, but the lock-on wasn't touched, and it's one thing that probably could have been improved somehow.

The touchscreen inventory stuff seems fine, it's certainly a lot quicker to access than the original menus were. Odd thing is, the way the controls are setup, you only have two of the face buttons available for items though, so they give you a few extra touchscreen buttons to round it out. Still, it's easy enough to determine which things need to be mapped to actual buttons and which items are used infrequently enough to be fine on the extra touchscreen buttons.

Also, it looks great, the models look sharp and the textures are very crisp and clean. Environmental geometry seems largely untouched, dungeons in particular can look very old. They replaced all the static 2D backgrounds in the towns with very highly detailed polygonal analogues. It comes across as a little uneven, with some parts looking nice and modern, and other parts looking almost like the original game.

The gyroscopic camera control is really pretty brilliant. It's not exclusive to the first-person free-look, you also get some slight gyroscopic camera control when holding down the lock-on trigger without a target in sight, which is awesome. It's just a quick way to glance up in the corner of a room to see if you're missing something, the gyroscopic free-look is basically acting as your right stick camera control. It's very nicely implemented. (Get used to turning with your 3DS, so you don't lose the 3D, heh.)

[Hermie]

Stop it! I can't afford a 3DS right now.

Worst part is, I usually always play either OoT or Majoras Mask when I'm home for the summer, but this is the first year I didn't have time for this.

[Roderick]

Fuck you for making me copy-paste this in here from the other thread

I've been playing Ocarina of Time feverishly for the [N]Gamer review and can say with some decisive gestures that this game is still awesome after thirteen years. The flow and structure are so ridiculously good, well-paced. Collecting golden Skulltulas is every bit as addictive now as it was then.

And the remake really does the game justice. Hyrule looks fantastic in 3D and I'm loving the new interface. Did you know you can actually look around and aim your projectiles by physically moving the handheld? This actually makes it really precise (in contrast to the horrible bullshit you usually have to do with the control stick). Doing the shooting galleries is, for the first time ever, actually fun instead of a chore.

Yeah, I think that's my favorite new feature; the gyroscope-enhanced aiming. Goddamn good game.

[miffy495]

I went to Gamestop today and was told that if I hadn't pre-ordered I was out of luck, so I went to the HMV down the hall in the shopping centre. I asked the girl at the counter for Ocarina Of Time for 3DS, and told her that it came out yesterday. I watched her turn around and start typing "M-A-C-A-R-E..." into the computer, when another girl came up behind me and told me that they'd sold out unless I had it preordered. Ah... retail.

I'll be ordering it off the internet soon.

[Raff]

Macarena of Time? Incredible.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Is this thing 3D only, then? So I'd have to buy a 3DS to play it, even if I only wanted it in 2D?

[miffy495]

3DS only. And from what I've heard, the 3D is actually really good. You can play it in 2D mode, but you'd have to do that on a 3DS.

[mikemariano]

I watched her turn around and start typing "M-A-C-A-R-E..." into the computer...

I like how a song that peaked in 1996 is more relevant to this girl than a game from 1998.

[Sno]

Is this thing 3D only, then? So I'd have to buy a 3DS to play it, even if I only wanted it in 2D?

Huh? You can turn the 3D off at any time if you want, though i think the effect works fairly well for the game. (At a lower intensity, i will say, the depth of Hyrule field versus foreground elements like Link and the hud is a little much to bear.)

You can't play it on DS or the DSi, if that's what you're asking. Even without the 3D, the 3DS has some wildly different hardware specs, new generation of hardware and all that. I mean, the DS might have been able to handle a direct port of the original game, but not this remake with this level of detail.

[Moelman]

[Sno]

*Snip*

Man, i honestly don't remember the Owl being so annoying in the original version of the game, but he's driving me crazy in this one. Seems like every ten feet he's bugging me with "helpful" information.

Also, Nintendo gave Navi new dialogue for frequently reminding you to take short breaks from playing the game.

You know, because that's what Nintendo does now.

[miffy495]

Oh man, do they have her speech bubbles include those little animations of the open window with the controller (DS in this case) sitting on a table?

EDIT: Also, I just ordered this off the internet. I think this may be the last straw for me with retailers. I keep on giving them chances, and every single time I get disappointed. Three times this month, so far (LA Noire, Child of Eden, and now this). I'm fucking done with it.

[Noyb]

Also, Nintendo gave Navi new dialogue for frequently reminding you to take short breaks from playing the game.

You know, because that's what Nintendo does now.

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[Twig]

Earthbound is all about the satire, though, so it isn't out of place.

I'm not ashamed to say I want a 3DS so I can play this, but I am also not ashamed to say that I'm not going to give in. U:

(Yet.)

[syntheticgerbil]

Macarena of Time is the most classic fucking thing I've ever heard in reference to video games.

Also this thread has me foaming at the mouth wishing I had the cash for a god damn 3DS and its god damn games.

[Roderick]

Also this thread has me foaming at the mouth wishing I had the cash for a god damn 3DS and its god damn game.

Fixed.

[Raff]

Also remember that the battery life is arse before you go and buy a first-gen 3DS.

[Roderick]

It's poor, but in practice I haven't found it to be extremely annoying. 3 hours of active play is actually quite a lot on a handheld and it's easy to recharge every evening. If you keep the thing on the whole day in sleep mode for Spotpass, it easily lasts days.

[Hermie]

In the original at least, you could use the stick, d-pad and L/R to alter the notes of the Ocarina, giving you access to pretty much the full spectrum of notes.

New mission: Someone figure out how to play Macarena on the Ocarina, and then Youtube the fuck out of it.

[syntheticgerbil]

Fixed.

Haha, well I was going to hypothetically pick up Rayman 2 and then... nothing else.

[Roderick]

This just in: the Fire Temple is still officially the most horrible thing. The Water Temple gets such a bad rep, but is actually really enjoyable. The Fire Temple on the other hand is a rollercoaster of torture.

[miffy495]

The only problem I ever had with the Fire Temple was running along that shrinking walkway on a timer to get the megaton hammer. Aside from that one room (and the whack-a-mole boss fight), I actually kind of like that temple.

Update on my end: After losing (but the recovering) my wallet on Monday night, my credit card was cancelled as a precaution. This also cancelled my online order of Ocarina 3DS. Every store in town is sold out, and I need to wait on a new card to arrive before I can place a new order. Joy.

[Roderick]

It's funny, I recall distinctly that I had such a hard time with that spiral staircase and the timer that you describe, but I just did it in the first go, easy as pie. Have I become a better gamer or just a better Zelda player? Weird. Volvagia was kind of a disappointment after the build-up just now (I didn't recall the boss fight from years ago), but I'm glad I've got this part sorted out. Now it's on to the water temple, which I remember as being lots of interesting fun.

[Lu]

I stopped playing for months at the Water Temple! I just couldn't figure it out. This was only just around the time that we got internet, so I didn't have FAQs or anything like that. Eventually, I did download a walkthrough and was able to figure it out. Tricky dungeon that one!

But it's interesting that you should say that, Rodi. Because replaying certain games of 'yon past, I do a lot better now that I'm older. Experience and familiarity with concepts go a long way, I think. Though there are certain games, like Tactical Ops where I had mastery at a young age and just couldn't get back to that level of play now, nor do I have the patience for it.

[Sno]

There's been some interviews with the development team for this floating around, some kind of crazy details. They purposefully re-engineered some of the bugs from the original Ocarina of Time in this completely rebuilt remake, only really "fixing" things that had a serious and negative impact on the game. It's an odd and interesting thing for the dev team to be proudly touting as a feature, but there you have it.

I've seen some people now complaining that that the Ocarina remake doesn't do enough to give people a new experience, but i kind of admire the adherence Nintendo and Grezzo have shown to the original Ocarina.

Living in a world where the Star Wars special editions are a thing, i now feel kind of the same way about games, i kind of don't want remakes to have sweeping revisionism. They should honor the source material and the memories people have of it.