Koh -Vs- Ocarina of Time

[PrettyNier]

i don't think there's much worth in talking about the "things ocarina did right" because i don't think it really did all that much right that other games haven't done much better. i've mostly been focusing on three or four faults because that's all i can care to mention.

As for the items... few of them felt like keys to me. It may be strange to bring up megaman here, but for an example, it serves me well. For the longest time, Megaman's weapons were boss killers to me, like how a lot of the zelda items are keys to you. That's it. Until I saw someone else play it using the weapons on the stages. Suddenly I have a new way to play. Many of OoT's items are like this. They have a dungeon based around them... but past that, they are optional, but still can be used.
They CAN feel like keys if you just stick to favorites with the new ones are required, but they're other options. Sometimes I just feel like hammering things rather than using the sword?

hammering things instead of using the sword is more just a deceptive way to break the monotony. it flips certain enemies over, which is good, but that's a very limited use, considering its slow speed and the fact that the damage is the same as the master sword. there isn't a practical reason to use it outside of the "scripted" events in which it demands use, and those "scripted" events are neither varied nor common enough. the process and the effect is largely the same. the issue isn't that these things are literally keys, its that practically speaking, they're effectively keys; they don't do enough to distinguish them as useful or meaningful on a general level. take the hookshot - there are points with hookshot nodes, you use the hookshot, and then you're across. its the same thing as using a key to open a door, just with a different visual; the process is automated. the gameplay element is largely absent. if it functioned like the grappling beam from super metroid, that would be different; the grappling beam was controlled and it served a purpose against different enemies in different environments. even if ocarina's hookshot weren't controlled in the same way as the grappling beam, it would be better if it served more purposes beyond just bringing link from place a to place b and the occasional puzzle solving. the longshot is just an insult. a lot of items in the game are similar in this: there simply isn't reason enough to use them. a lot of items are essentially the same - meaningful in only a small selection of instances, over-ridden by a later upgrade (silver scale, gold scale; silver gauntlet, gold gauntlet, etc) or a different item altogether.

thats also ignoring how rote the general dungeon structure is: go into dungeon, get item, beat dungeon centered around use of that particular item, fight boss; boss most likely necessitates use of item. probably forget about the item for the subsequent dungeons. rinse and repeat. it's uninspired and disengaging.

honestly, a lot of these problems do not exist in just ocarina. they're the zelda formula - but that doesn't excuse it.

Would it have been great if they had WW's boomerang in OoT? YES. SO MUCH YES. But they didn't have that idea yet. Can't fault them for that.

you ... can, though?