OOT is the best game ever?

[Zero Kirby]

Pretty much what the other two said. Certainly when it came it out, it was revolutionary in a number of ways. Lock-on to aid the troubles of then-still-new 3D combat. Intricate puzzle and labyrinth design in 3D. And it was where games began to become truly "cinematic." 2D games had cutscenes, certainly, but there were limits on how they could be presented given the technology of the time. This, though, was a game that presented its story with flair, utilizing actual camerawork in order to achieve visual storytelling. Link had become less of a player avatar, characters became more expressive, the adventure felt more real than it had before.

The scope was larger. Previous games could be rather vague on the stakes - we knew Ganon was out to destroy the world and we had to stop him but we rarely felt the effects of this. The Dark World was the closest we got and even then, that's some kind of parallel dimension separate from Link's - the Light World was ostensibly still okay and we were just trying to keep it that way.

In Ocarina, we see Hyrule as Link travels across it, solving problems Ganondorf causes, but they're relatively small problems - indeed, he kills the Deku Tree, attempts to starve out the Gorons, and lord knows what he was doing to the Zora, but Link's easily able to resolve most of them. In general, though, things aren't that bad. Then, Link vanishes for seven years, and the first thing we see is what Ganondorf's done to Castle Town. We see his castle, we see the ruins, we see flames surrounding Death Mountain, and the rest of the adventure only shows just how bad things are under Ganondorf's rule. Forget the Gorons starving - they're being fed to a dragon just because Ganondorf feels like it. All but one of the Zora are frozen underneath a thick layer of ice, and we never see them again until the actual ending, even after we've broken the curse. We've gotten to know Hyrule at peace, and now we have context for the conflict.

... Now, is it a great story? Well, like HylianDev said above, it pretty much is just A Link to the Past again. I'd argue that Link's Awakening has a better story with some really well-done storytelling, and it's just a 2D game (as well as the source for multiple combinations of equippable items, and music being central to the gameplay to the point the player learns multiple songs). Other games have probably had much deeper and more intricate stories in the Super Nintendo days as well. But combined with the increased cinematicism, it was pretty incredible for its time and why so many people find it such an engrossing experience to this day.

Gameplay-wise, it is also pretty much a translation of A Link to the Past into 3D, but consider what a huge leap this is. Even in Link's Awakening, where the player could equip multiple items, they could still only equip two, and the sword counted as one. This was the first game where Link had his sword and up to three other weapons to use instantly. Combat in 3D introduced the lock-on, as well as jumping and dodging. When firing a bow, you went into first-person so you could aim with more precision - how many games had a third-person-to-first-person switch that weren't vehicle-based at the time? The world became more fleshed out - hills looked like hills, things that were far away looked far away. Think about it, if Link jumps down a waterfall in LTTP, it's a pretty basic animation. Gerudo Canyon, jumping down that massive gorge, same basic action, totally different experience. (In fact, I think the only reason that gorge is so deep is to create that feeling. It really didn't need to be.)

Has it been improved on? Definitely. Majora's Mask and Wind Waker both take everything this game did and up the ante considerably. Gameplay-wise, Breath of the Wild is a far more compelling and immersive experience. But there's no denying that, at least once upon a time, Ocarina of Time might have been the greatest achievement in gaming.

Falcon Punch is the result of the Sun heating fists. It drives the Blue Falcon. Heating causes destruction of water into the pain, where it then hurts, creating rain. Rain creates flowing water in tears, which can then be converted into other forms through more pain.



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