Daily Debate: Could Time Travel Have Been Utilized Better In Ocarina Of Time?

Time travel is tricky. It’s rough, it’s course, and it gives us multiple timelines. But for all its problems, time travel was one of the more interesting facets of one of the best Zelda games ever. Whether Link was being sealed in the Temple of Light for seven years or using the Master Sword to travel to and from the past, time has been an important concept and integral component of Ocarina of Time.

Which is odd considering that you really only need to utilize this mechanic twice: once to become a kid and gain access to the Bottom of the Well to acquire the Lens of Truth, and again to reach the Spirit Temple and grab the Silver Gauntlets. Both of these instances offer a nice change of pace in the marathon race the latter half of the game feels like. Time travel also encourages you to think of different ways of handling challenges typically done by Adult Link, such as fighting a Stalfos.

So why was this mechanic not used more often? The obvious answer could be… well time. Development of Ocarina of Time was fairly extensive back in the day, but even then the developers have frequently commented how there just wasn’t enough to implement everything they had planned. Were they able to though or if sacrifices to other mechanics were made, are there ways that time travel could’ve improved the game even more?

What say you Zelda fans? Could time travel have been utilized better in Ocarina of Time?