Ocarina of Time Ocarina of Time's Overworld: is It Really That Small?

[Flagpole]

As many people may know, many people have criticized Ocarina of Time's overworld because of being 'too small', an incorrect statement to me.

I can't really give an opinion which is really valid, as I've only played through four Zelda games:

Ocarina of Time, whose world is criticized by being 'too small', Majora Mask, whose world, I think, is undiscutably big, if not of a medium amount of space, and LA and OOA, games that, being 2D, as in most cases, have realky big overworlds, with a lot of exploration.

Of course I do know the reasons as to why Ocarina of Time's overworld is considered that small: Hyrule Field.
Hyrule Field is mostly considered to be an almost empty place, with some trees and monsters randomly positioned, connecting with Gerudo Valley, Hyrule Castle Town, Kakariko Village, Zora Domain, Lon Lon Ranch, Kokiri Forest and Lake Hylia, in case I haven't forgotten any place that connects with Hyrule Field.

If you actually agree with the above, then it is unarguably correct to think of Hyrule field as a 'connector between places', or, in one word, a 'connector', but by no means the overworld: it actually connects the places that make the overworld, or are you going to tell me the Kokiri Forest, the Lost Woods, Lon Lon Ranch, Kakariko Village, Lake Hylia, Zora Domain, Death Mountain, Hyrule Castle Town, Hyrule's castle itself, the Graveyard, Gerudo Valley, Goron City and the Sacred Forest Meadow are nothing, aren't part of the overworld, then considered to be nothing?

In conclusion, there's much more to the overworld than Hyrule Field, not only Hyrule Field.

Be free to disagree with me, though .

 

[Sstorm]

I agree with you I dont think it is small per say, and I actually think it is pretty great for what it is used for. Sure other Zelda games have a lot more exploration and secrets than OOT in their Overworld, but the hidden holes, big poes, and heart pieces did give some more flavor to it. Compared to Twilight Princess the overworld is pretty small, but although TP has a beautiful look to it with each area being unique and really cool, there were times when I got annoyed with the overworld in it.

 

[Hanyou]

As you pointed out, people seem to confuse "overworld" with "field" on a pretty regular basis.

Ocarina's overworld is certainly not large, but it is impressive in its size both because of what it offers and how space is used. The field is open and expansive, serving as a proper hub to several smaller, but still "big enough" overworld sections. The fact is, all of the areas in the overworld are densely-packed and have plenty to do; even if it's no Wind Waker, the OoT overworld is certainly big enough. I like both the field and the rest of the overworld because of how the developers worked out the balance. There's very little wasted space.

Also, I believe it's fairly large in comparison to any of the 2D games, though I don't know how one would go about measuring that.

 

[PhantomTriforce]

Of the 4 3D console games, MM's is the smallest overworld, so I don't know what you're talking about there. As for OoT's overworld, I don't recall there being any complaints on size, but there were complaints that there wasn't much to do for it's size. Also, overworld primarily implies fields, (like hyrule field, termina field, great sea) not anything else.

 

[Kylehorrible]

Its small in terms of what is actually to do and find, its just empty space. Its huge in terms of actual distance but man was there nothing to do.

 

[MrMosley]

For its time, OoT's overworld was perfect. Like Hanyou said, I believe a lot of people are confusing the entire overworld for Hyrule Field. Hyrule Field did not have to have anything in it, necesssarily. It was a central point that connected to all other places. You have to take all those other places into consideration as well when talking about the overworld altogether. Think about it: You had Hyrule Field, connecting to Kakariko Village, which connected to both the Graveyard which led to the Shadow Temple, as well as Goron Mountain which led to Dodong's Cavern and the Fire Temple. Each of these sub-spaces before temples included an entire population of people living in an area, as well as smaller locations to explore within them. This same pattern occurs everywhere else, like Hyrule Field connecting to the route to Zora's Domain, then Zora's Domain connecting to the area where Jabu Jabu was, which also includes the Ice Cavern. Same for the Gerudo Fortress and the Haunted Wasteland.

Ocarina of Time was pretty expansive when you think about it, for its time anyway. I feel that for the size of each individual location, Hyrule Field was appropriately proportioned as well. Twilight Princess was a nightmare, having a huge and unnecessary Hyrule Field just to get to locations that had about as much to do as the individual locations of OoT. In TP, it would be okay to argue that there needed to be more to do in Hyrule Field, or just more locations that were in or connected to it because it was mainly empty land mass.

 

[bradley]

I really liked the overworld of Ocarina of Time overall. Hyrule Field is a completely different matter. Besides the Big Poe quest, there was absolutely nothing to do in Hyrule Field. Twilight Princess, on the other hand, was scattered with hidden treasures and was very dense, while actually providing incentive for exploration.

But I thought the rest of the map for Ocarina of Time worked fine and provide much opportunity for exploration.

 

[OcarinaSword]

Haha it is very small i thought it would be bigger

 

[darunia]

Its overworld is huge.
Its not just the size of the overworld bit everything that is in it.
Remember Nintendo probably ised the full capabillities of the N64 when making the game.
Perhaps they could have made a bigger overworld but sacrificing an odd level etc.
Would not have been worth it in my opinion.
As someone who played the nes and snes Zelda games LoZ and Lttp,Ocaeina's overworld is huge compared to those two.
Just be happy that Nintendo made such a masterpiece.

 

[00steven]

They made great use of the space they used! I think the overworld is perfect.

 

[piratedude108]

this game was huge for its time considering it had 10 dungeons