Majora's Mask What Does 'alternative Dimension' Mean to YOU in Majora's Mask?

[tysonrss]

Like Dan said, Nintendo's way of saying it was an alternate universe is just their way of covering up their laziness(though I guess they didn't really have the time to make new models and what not). The whole timeline itself, especially the alt timeline where The Hero of Time dies is just a way for Nintendo to save face, to squezze that side of the games into the history. That too is lazy >_>

Anyway, to me. I think it's just some world that Link accidentally got sucked into in the Lost Woods, a world on the opposite side of Hyrule.

 

[The Jade Fist]

And i'm not agreeing with that in the earth universe theroy said before, but you could consider it a "pocket" dimension, if that makes it sound better.

 

[Satsy]

Like Dan said, Nintendo's way of saying it was an alternate universe is just their way of covering up their laziness(though I guess they didn't really have the time to make new models and what not). The whole timeline itself, especially the alt timeline where The Hero of Time dies is just a way for Nintendo to save face, to squezze that side of the games into the history. That too is lazy >_>

You have the Sacred Realm, The Dark World (the alternate Sacred Realm), The Silent Realm (also possibly an alternate Sacred Realm), the Twilight Realm, the Sky (which separates itself as its own separate realm for at least 2 entries in the series), 2 dream worlds, and then 'New' Hyrule, and 2 places that actually seem to be lands on the same planet as Hyrule, tied to it by either the Triforce, or the Oracles that just so happen to carry the same names and dominant traits.

How, when you think of all the alternates that aren't-really-alternates, dreams, and similar realms serving the same purpose but totally not the Sacred Realm, is Termina 'lazy'?

It's no more lazy than the rest of the series. If you don't consider it all lazy, then Termina as an alternate World isn't lazy.

 

[tysonrss]

You have the Sacred Realm, The Dark World (the alternate Sacred Realm), The Silent Realm (also possibly an alternate Sacred Realm), the Twilight Realm, the Sky (which separates itself as its own separate realm for at least 2 entries in the series), 2 dream worlds, and then 'New' Hyrule, and 2 places that actually seem to be lands on the same planet as Hyrule, tied to it by either the Triforce, or the Oracles that just so happen to carry the same names and dominant traits.

How, when you think of all the alternates that aren't-really-alternates, dreams, and similar realms serving the same purpose but totally not the Sacred Realm, is Termina 'lazy'?

It's no more lazy than the rest of the series. If you don't consider it all lazy, then Termina as an alternate World isn't lazy.

Because back in Majora's infancy, Nintendo made no remark about Termina being an alternate world, not until fans started to actually care about rather or not there was an actual timeline.

Only when they were pressured enough did they come to realize that they should be lazy enough to assume Termina as an alternate reality, due to lazniness with their re-hashing of the same models.

As for the other areas mentioned, like Link's Awakening and Holodrum/Labrynna, those make perfectly sense in my opinion because these places had characters that had some originality to began with, they were truly denizens of their world. Whereas Termina was lazily crafted.

So actually, the other dimensions makes a helluva lot more sense than Termina. As I stated before, Nintendo chose to place Termina as being alternate reality to Hyrule as a means to cover up the lack of thereof.

 

[Satsy]

Only the instruction manual to the game on N64 calls it a 'parallel world', so it wasn't a decision made later, but a decision made during development. How is it lazy when it was already in the plans?

The engine, that's another matter. Yes, they used the same engine from OoT for Majora's Mask, which is why so many of the characters looked the same. That you can pass off as laziness.

I also find it interesting how you call MM lazy for having similar characters... but don't call up the various rehashes of characters from OoT in the rest of the series since? Minish Cap has quite a range of characters taken from OoT and the Oracle games with little to no rhyme or reason. Wind Waker's use of Tingle had no real purpose but to be a call-back for the fans -- possibly the laziest inclusion of any you could name. Why does Majora's Mask get singled out for this?

And I don't buy that all the other realms make more sense. The Four Sword and the Master Sword serve very similar purposes, sealing evil entities in entirely different -- yet technically similar or even the same -- realms until the inevitable break-out. They even both have to be re-shut by maidens, who are also not technically connected to one another. If you want lazy, that level of rehashing (which OoT is also guilty of don't forget), is laziness. What you're singling Majora's Mask out for, is not as lazy.

 

[tysonrss]

Only the instruction manual to the game on N64 calls it a 'parallel world', so it wasn't a decision made later, but a decision made during development. How is it lazy when it was already in the plans?

The engine, that's another matter. Yes, they used the same engine from OoT for Majora's Mask, which is why so many of the characters looked the same. That you can pass off as laziness.

I also find it interesting how you call MM lazy for having similar characters... but don't call up the various rehashes of characters from OoT in the rest of the series since? Minish Cap has quite a range of characters taken from OoT and the Oracle games with little to no rhyme or reason. Wind Waker's use of Tingle had no real purpose but to be a call-back for the fans -- possibly the laziest inclusion of any you could name. Why does Majora's Mask get singled out for this?

And I don't buy that all the other realms make more sense. The Four Sword and the Master Sword serve very similar purposes, sealing evil entities in entirely different -- yet technically similar or even the same -- realms until the inevitable break-out. They even both have to be re-shut by maidens, who are also not technically connected to one another. If you want lazy, that level of rehashing (which OoT is also guilty of don't forget), is laziness. What you're singling Majora's Mask out for, is not as lazy.

Being "the same engine" has nothing to do with anything. The Oracle games were built on the same engine has Link's Awakening and all 3 games had some originality to them. Don't get me wrong, I really like Majora's Mask, however, every time I play it I'm constantly reminded at how so much better they could have done the game.

 

[Locke]

This is WoZ discussion.

 

[Non-Epic]

I completely agree on the Nintendo's laziness thing. They didnt have have the time,money of the care to continue with something new. No one else did. What matters now is what they made it into.

I honestly believe that Termina is parallel in the sense that... things work differently there. Again, it does relate to "to end" in many languages, and so it may. It seems technology was more worked on in Clock Town, and order came about easily with the diversity and peace between nations, and the equality of land. Perhaps time moves faster and they were meant to complete their world faster? You dont really see this in Hyrule, the seem to cling to the older ways; something we wouldnt deem socially acceptable.

Anyway I think it's on an opposite plane... but not opposite entirely on the physical sense. Being non multidimensional creatures we can't fully grasp these concepts... and perhaps never will. we push through these things with the parts of our brains we don't use.

I digress. I believe Termina was created for a specific reason. Maybe for Link... Maybe for something else. But I believe our 3 Goddesses placed the two great Dieties, Majora and Oni, as well as the 4 patron giants to protect it until it must end... or must not. Either way it seems the two dieties could not handle this and were sealed away, as they could not be destroyed, and for thousands of years, the 4 Giants watched over this land. After the peace time reigned, they slept, perhaps sealed away into their own masks (boss's remains). Bringing up that maybe dormancy or something else seals them.

The lands fate was augmented.

This is enough. This realm was created for a reason and somewhere we may not grasp, and it was different from what we know.

 

[tysonrss]

That world in particular revolved around masks, masks gave strange powers. What I find odd is how Nintendo managed to take a un-popular, un-thought of guy like the mask dealer from OoT and turn him into someone with some importance in another game. This is why I can appreciate the Zelda series, the thinking that goes into it is superb, I think one of many reasons for that is because it's not done like Sonic or Call of Duty, y'know, having a new game each year. It seems that when franchises do things like Zelda and the Metal Gear franchise, the quality of their games come out superb. MG and Zelda both have very unique gameplay. But I'm going off track here.

In a world full of mystery, I guess Termina comes out on top, though I feel if they had a better budget, and more time, Majora's Mask would be so much better.

 

[r2d93]

Its not a neighboring country, it's not like link could ever just walk on over to Termina, he'd have to enter through whatever portal can take him there.

Yes i take the parallel world theory literally in the sense that it is parallel and the two exist on two separate planes of existence

 

[Cfrock]

As for the other areas mentioned, like Link's Awakening and Holodrum/Labrynna, those make perfectly sense in my opinion because these places had characters that had some originality to began with, they were truly denizens of their world. Whereas Termina was lazily crafted.

I think you might be forgetting that characters like Guru-Guru, Tingle and the Happy Mask Salesman show up as inhabitants of Holodrum and Labrynna. They are as guilty of 'laziness' as Majora's Mask is in this regard.

The engine, that's another matter. Yes, they used the same engine from OoT for Majora's Mask, which is why so many of the characters looked the same. That you can pass off as laziness.

I wouldn't say that was laziness. Using the same engine was an efficiency thing. By using the same resources, they could create a new game in a very short time. I suppose the idea that "they aren't the same because it's a parallel dimension" could be seen as lazy, but I don't agree when you consider the lengths they went to to make sure we knew they weren't the same characters.

Take Anju for instance. They reused the Cuccoo Lady's model, true, but Anju has so much more character, depth and life to her. Creating the entire Anju-Kafei story was far from lazy. Romani and Cremia are another example. They reused both of Malon's models but rather than just have a pretty girl who liked horses, they created a family unit that faces hardships in the form of violent business rivals and even invaders. Considering how Cremia lets Romani try some Chateau Romani milk in the final hours of the Third Day, even though it is restricted for adults only, you can see that Nintendo created some fairly deep characters that brim with emotion.

More than that, most of these kinds of character interactions aren't brought to to the fore, meaning you have to go explore everywhere at every specific time to truly see the whole scope of the game. Creating a world that deep, that connected and (forgive me if I sound like a twit now) that real came about because they had reused the models but needed to identify the new characters strongly so we wouldn't confuse them for their counter-parts. Reusing the models forced Nintendo to work harder and the result was a game that has an immeasurable amount more depth, charm, wit and genuine emotion than Ocarina of Time ever did.

I just don't see anything about Majora's Mask as being "lazy".