First let me preface this ridiculous post that I myself find far too many holes and even disagree with partly by saying Ocarina of Time and Skyward Sword are both video games that are far above par the sixth generation standard (GC, PS2, Xbox). They're possibly the better video games in history. However, it's important to note that they're also both Zelda games, which means they have expectations laid before them. The Zelda series has always been prestigious since A Link to the Past released. Characters always had some sort of depth, the story was always grand. This wasn't the Mario series which was known for being all gameplay and zero story. This wasn't anything but Zelda.
Ocarina of Time is simply the better game in my opinion. Story while cliche even at the time of it's release was pulled off excellently; all characters were handled as good as the hardware would allow. Dungeons were amazing (not too hard, not too easy)...world was just great. Gameplay was obviously good since every 3D Zelda since has used it as a template, and even the newest entry Skyward Sword is culprit to this. Targeting system and so on even influenced shooters...THAT'S something. OoT has many more achievements relevant to the Zelda series and gaming in general, just like it's older brother Super Mario 64, than just the aforementioned. It attracted the OoT fanboys years later and although many love to point "NOSTALGIA!!!ONE1111" as some sort of 'argument' that refutes their disposition, I would say that the people who love OoT feel the way they do simply because OoT was far more than "that new Zelda game". As I've said long ago, everything OoT did it just did right. Almost no flaws in this game at all -- one cannot say the characters are bad because OoT is vastly limited by hardware limitations. Should OoT had came out on the Wii in the v1.0 form, THEN there would be some legitimate flaws since the Wii Optical Disc can hold far much more data than the N64 cartridge (which is also why Ura Zelda had to use the N64DD for moar space lulz, the game was already too good to expand upon without a DISC DRIVE). One cannot cry foul to the enemy AI in this game, and I'll say why: if you look into OoT hacks, every hacker knows that they must expand the game file to create more free space; the N64 cartridge doesn't carry this free space. OoT Enemy AI believe it or not is pretty complicated and takes up a bit of space, if you think me wrong go look it up. Again, if OoT came out as it did on the Wii, there would be legit flaws. As an N64 game, I do not see any flaws in Ocarina. It was a game that was really a disaster for the inexperienced dev team, but it came out better than I think they could imagine. Plus, with the added bonus of being relatively new without any previous expectations for it, OoT performed well.
Skyward Sword in my opinion had it's gameplay rolling for it very well. Come on, using the sword like you do in that game has never been done before and while it isn't as revolutionary as the targeting system, it's still pretty darn revolutionary (it's been done before in Wii Sports Resort but I'm talking within the Zelda series). What dragged SS down in my opinion were the characters (specifically Demise, Princess Zelda, and slightly Ghirahim), story, and too many good concepts that weren't used well. I won't go into detail. What caused these problems was the simple fact that Nintendo got their priorities mixed up along the way. Miyamoto himself said (possibly jokingly) that if Skyward Sword wasn't better than Ocarina of Time that there wouldn't be any more Zelda. From there I believe Ninty just decided to throw around concepts and see what would be pleasing to the casual consumer. The art style is a plus, I love it. Gameplay definitely works and if I could have it my way, it would be a mainstay or at the very least a different mode of playing the game should buttons return. Everything else, not so much. I had expectations for SS since it IS a Zelda game. TP failed because it tried too hard to be OoT (and it failed). SS fails because it tries too hard to steal the show.
As for glitches, OoT launched with MANY, MANY bugs and glitches. But guess what? Those glitches were so good, so beneficial to the experience that the devs went out of their way to retain a few of them for Ocarina 3D. How is that possible? Why is that possible? Because OoT is just a great game. SS? It launched with many, MANY bugs and glitches as well. But what's the difference? Those glitches and bugs we so bad, so harmful to the experience that the devs were FORCED from fan feedback to release a patch to fix savefiles. Now, I'd say that the specific glitch I'm talking about is more an homage to Twilight Princess than a problem itself (TP launched with the Cannon Room glitch and if your file was affected iirc you could send your disc in for a replacement or something like that), but OoT easily had the better glitches which, despite the stigma behind glitches, allowed the experience to be enjoyed even further. Crooked Cartridge, swordless Link, Ocarina Items, Reverse Bottle Adventure, and so on. Ocarina definitely wins the glitches/bugs department.
And on the level of fanbase, I'd say OoT's fanbase is the better, since although they don't care to say any other Zelda is better (I don't see how that'd be true personally but), they typically do make arguments that reasonably show why they disagree with X being better than OoT. The bad OoT fanboys though, they like to curse anything new (except MM but I'm sure the OoT fans that hate MM do exist) and of course those who like the new. I'm kind of with both crowds...kind of. SS fans, though, they generally just like it because the game literally is pretty and because of Ghirahim's wonky personality, with all of their arguments being "SS IS NEW ZELDA AND IT PURTY AND...AND DEBBIE". They will then lecture you about something that is entirely irrelevant to the topic at hand, and nothing progresses. There are good SS fans, just look at 99% of ZeldaDungeon (specifically JuicieJ), who will easily plan out their arguments that truthfully do make sense, even if I tend to disagree.
In the end, both were released to extremely positive critical acclaim, with both receiving 40/40 from Famitsu and perfect scores from many sites. Both were amazing video games. SS just doesn't deliver. It doesn't need to deliver like Ocarina did, here I cue Majora's Mask, but it doesn't deliver like a good Zelda should in my mind.
OoT wins as a video game (it's far more influential) and as a Zelda game (it's just better IMO). Sorry SS, you should try to be like Majora's Mask and be more of your own game, not emulate Ocarina.
Ocarina of Time is simply the better game in my opinion. Story while cliche even at the time of it's release was pulled off excellently; all characters were handled as good as the hardware would allow. Dungeons were amazing (not too hard, not too easy)...world was just great. Gameplay was obviously good since every 3D Zelda since has used it as a template, and even the newest entry Skyward Sword is culprit to this. Targeting system and so on even influenced shooters...THAT'S something. OoT has many more achievements relevant to the Zelda series and gaming in general, just like it's older brother Super Mario 64, than just the aforementioned. It attracted the OoT fanboys years later and although many love to point "NOSTALGIA!!!ONE1111" as some sort of 'argument' that refutes their disposition, I would say that the people who love OoT feel the way they do simply because OoT was far more than "that new Zelda game". As I've said long ago, everything OoT did it just did right. Almost no flaws in this game at all -- one cannot say the characters are bad because OoT is vastly limited by hardware limitations. Should OoT had came out on the Wii in the v1.0 form, THEN there would be some legitimate flaws since the Wii Optical Disc can hold far much more data than the N64 cartridge (which is also why Ura Zelda had to use the N64DD for moar space lulz, the game was already too good to expand upon without a DISC DRIVE). One cannot cry foul to the enemy AI in this game, and I'll say why: if you look into OoT hacks, every hacker knows that they must expand the game file to create more free space; the N64 cartridge doesn't carry this free space. OoT Enemy AI believe it or not is pretty complicated and takes up a bit of space, if you think me wrong go look it up. Again, if OoT came out as it did on the Wii, there would be legit flaws. As an N64 game, I do not see any flaws in Ocarina. It was a game that was really a disaster for the inexperienced dev team, but it came out better than I think they could imagine. Plus, with the added bonus of being relatively new without any previous expectations for it, OoT performed well.
Skyward Sword in my opinion had it's gameplay rolling for it very well. Come on, using the sword like you do in that game has never been done before and while it isn't as revolutionary as the targeting system, it's still pretty darn revolutionary (it's been done before in Wii Sports Resort but I'm talking within the Zelda series). What dragged SS down in my opinion were the characters (specifically Demise, Princess Zelda, and slightly Ghirahim), story, and too many good concepts that weren't used well. I won't go into detail. What caused these problems was the simple fact that Nintendo got their priorities mixed up along the way. Miyamoto himself said (possibly jokingly) that if Skyward Sword wasn't better than Ocarina of Time that there wouldn't be any more Zelda. From there I believe Ninty just decided to throw around concepts and see what would be pleasing to the casual consumer. The art style is a plus, I love it. Gameplay definitely works and if I could have it my way, it would be a mainstay or at the very least a different mode of playing the game should buttons return. Everything else, not so much. I had expectations for SS since it IS a Zelda game. TP failed because it tried too hard to be OoT (and it failed). SS fails because it tries too hard to steal the show.
As for glitches, OoT launched with MANY, MANY bugs and glitches. But guess what? Those glitches were so good, so beneficial to the experience that the devs went out of their way to retain a few of them for Ocarina 3D. How is that possible? Why is that possible? Because OoT is just a great game. SS? It launched with many, MANY bugs and glitches as well. But what's the difference? Those glitches and bugs we so bad, so harmful to the experience that the devs were FORCED from fan feedback to release a patch to fix savefiles. Now, I'd say that the specific glitch I'm talking about is more an homage to Twilight Princess than a problem itself (TP launched with the Cannon Room glitch and if your file was affected iirc you could send your disc in for a replacement or something like that), but OoT easily had the better glitches which, despite the stigma behind glitches, allowed the experience to be enjoyed even further. Crooked Cartridge, swordless Link, Ocarina Items, Reverse Bottle Adventure, and so on. Ocarina definitely wins the glitches/bugs department.
And on the level of fanbase, I'd say OoT's fanbase is the better, since although they don't care to say any other Zelda is better (I don't see how that'd be true personally but), they typically do make arguments that reasonably show why they disagree with X being better than OoT. The bad OoT fanboys though, they like to curse anything new (except MM but I'm sure the OoT fans that hate MM do exist) and of course those who like the new. I'm kind of with both crowds...kind of. SS fans, though, they generally just like it because the game literally is pretty and because of Ghirahim's wonky personality, with all of their arguments being "SS IS NEW ZELDA AND IT PURTY AND...AND DEBBIE". They will then lecture you about something that is entirely irrelevant to the topic at hand, and nothing progresses. There are good SS fans, just look at 99% of ZeldaDungeon (specifically JuicieJ), who will easily plan out their arguments that truthfully do make sense, even if I tend to disagree.
In the end, both were released to extremely positive critical acclaim, with both receiving 40/40 from Famitsu and perfect scores from many sites. Both were amazing video games. SS just doesn't deliver. It doesn't need to deliver like Ocarina did, here I cue Majora's Mask, but it doesn't deliver like a good Zelda should in my mind.
OoT wins as a video game (it's far more influential) and as a Zelda game (it's just better IMO). Sorry SS, you should try to be like Majora's Mask and be more of your own game, not emulate Ocarina.
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