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Has the classic been preserved? The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, reviewed | Bonus Ramblings · Respec: Video Game Ramblings

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Over the course of a little under 30 years, I
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have now played three different versions of The
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Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and completed
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the game countless times. I was trying to think
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about how many times it had been, and I reckon
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at least 20 maybe. The fact that I'm so familiar
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with this game is important to note at the outset
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of a review like this for the new Nintendo Switch
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2 remake, because in short, I want you to know
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that I approach this game from the perspective
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of a veteran, loves this game and i want you
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to be able to categorize this review amidst the
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glut of verdicts as such i wouldn't pretend that
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this podcast is anything but the ramblings of
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someone who truly loves the game and is trying
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to judge it on those terms but i also hope that
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you appreciate my deep relationship with this
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game when i now stop and dramatically pause and
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say to you I think that Ocarina of Time's remake
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for the Switch 2 is now the definitive version
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of one of the greatest and best aging games ever
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made. Now, my relationship with the word definitive
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here is perhaps slightly more complicated than
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the norm. I don't mean to say that this replaces
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the N64 original, which I think holds a vital
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place in the canon of video game history and
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in the development of the language of modern
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3D action games. All that stuff is unassailable.
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There are plenty of reasons to go and replay
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the original, especially the 3DS version, perhaps
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not as much. But if you just want to experience
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the story, the world, and really the magic of
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Ocarina of Time, this is now, I think, the definitive
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way to do so. If you're listening to this as
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someone who didn't play the original game, What
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you really need to know is that this is a very
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faithful remake of the game, which set the template
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not just for 3D Zelda, but for many of the action
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adventure games going forward from that point.
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Like Mario 64, this game became a template. Its
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design is iconic. It's an absolutely unassailable
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reinterpretation of the successful formula of
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The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past, except
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it's been transposed to a 3D world. and is backed
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by what is doubtlessly the classic Zelda narrative.
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On the other hand, if you're a veteran player,
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I think I have already said what you really need
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to know, which is it's very faithful. This is
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largely the game as you will remember it. It's
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been nipped and it's been tucked here and there
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and everywhere, but ultimately those changes
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have been smartly delivered and are overall very
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conservative in nature. The broad strokes of
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the game hit that brilliant hallmark of all truly
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great remakes or remasters in my opinion. It
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is as you remember it, rather than perhaps exactly
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as it was. It leans into the way your older brain
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thinks of that original game. It was also clearly
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driven by a philosophy of if it ain't broke,
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don't fix it. That classic adage. Because this
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game is such a classic, much of it wasn't broken.
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so much of it hasn't been fixed or changed. Simple
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enough, really. Some of those alterations come
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from changing features and proclivities. This
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is where we get things like the new sprint, the
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jump button, and the fact that all the ranged
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weapons in the game are now used from a third
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-person perspective instead of switching to first
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-person. All of these things match the modern
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way of playing games, but also match what Zelda
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is today, by which I mean it matches Breath of
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the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. There's other
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broad changes. Certain collectibles have been
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moved, either to fuel new puzzles or to move
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away from mechanics that perhaps now feel rote
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or out of date. Along those lines, some features
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have been removed. The vibration -based, secret
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-revealing Stone of Agony item is gone completely,
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and some of the secrets it once led you to have
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therefore been relocated. Within dungeons, an
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occasional room has been redesigned, sometimes
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to better tutorialize certain items or mechanics.
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Sometimes things have been changed simply to
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improve. that odd room in Ocarina of Time that
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was just a bit of a dud, which there weren't
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that many, but there were a few. The best changes,
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I suppose, aren't deep as much as they are broad,
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subtly updating the overall mood and feel of
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the game without diluting or materially changing
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it. Take the bosses. The core mechanics of each
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encounter remain broadly the same, except for
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one anyway. But there's just a presentation difference
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in the cinematic manner that Link wails on the
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bosses with his sword when they've been downed.
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In those moments, this looks and feels just like
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Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom when
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you're fighting one of those very large enemies
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in those games. Or consider Hyrule Field. On
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the N64 and 3DS, the topography of that area
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was largely flat with subtle hills and inclines
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here and there, but now it has a more naturalistic
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and realistic feel and look to it. There's hills,
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there's troughs, there's jutting sections of
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mountain and cliffside with hidden details in
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its shadow. There's hints at marshlands and woods
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that simply weren't there before. When this game
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was announced, I thought they might be tempted
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to try and make the whole world bigger. But instead,
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the developers took the smart approach of simply
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packing a density of greater detail and character
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into areas that are more or less identically
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sized to the N64 original. The result is a world
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that, weirdly, feels bigger. even while paradoxically
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the modern player will be more aware of exactly
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how small it is. Part of this is down to the
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decision -making process around where the loading
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zones have been kept or removed. So despite Nintendo's
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comments, a surprising amount of the loading
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zones have had the latter treatment, being completely
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removed from the game, which obviously makes
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travel between certain connected areas seamless.
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So for example, Hyrule Field into Lake Hylia
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and back. is now nose load zone. You can see
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all the way into Hyrule Field, all the way to
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the fishing pond, to the scarecrows from Lon
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Lon Ranch near enough. If you're in Kakariko
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Village or Hyrule Castle Town, you can go into
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all those shops and stores and houses seamlessly.
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But the real work, I think, has actually been
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put in around those areas where Ocarina of Time
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still chooses to fade to black. There's these...
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unexplorable areas between zones that are filled
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in by your imagination that was always the case
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but canny art design decisions around each of
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these load zones in the remake really does a
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lot of legwork to help make hyrule feel bigger
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than it is so a fade to black between kakariko
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village and death mountain or hyrule field and
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zora river suddenly these don't feel like a fade
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to hide a loading zone it almost feels like there's
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a boring bit of land there that isn't interesting
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enough a part of Link's adventure. And so it
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fades to black while he jogs halfway up Death
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Mountain and then cuts back in when you hit enemies
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and rolling rocks and all that sort of stuff.
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It's weird. It's more about the vibe. But the
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result is that Hyrule feels bigger, even though
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by the modern standards, it's really actually
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quite small. I think it's really clever art design
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in action. It suggests a world beyond the playable.
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And I really like that. That love of the art
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design, for me, transfers further. I know some
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fans have really taken issue with the doll -like
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character models, but I actually think they work
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tremendously well. Hyrule looks realistic, but
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not real. There is a distinction there. There's
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a wonderful convergence of hyper -real materials
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in the textures of things like Link's outfit
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and the like, with characters that look a little
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uncanny, and a world that is elevated in its
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colour. Everything pops. The core cast have that
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more doll -like look in abundance, and I do think
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your mileage will vary, but it grew greatly on
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me. But I actually think the stars are the less
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detailed NPCs. On N64, these were designed to
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be really eccentric, and that was because they
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could only make them with very few polygons,
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so they had to make these characters really shout
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in order to make them stand out, and also to
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get across to the player what they were all about.
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I always think this is best exemplified. in that
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foreman of the builders who is always yelling
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the way that mouth flaps is so over the top in
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the original version of the game but it tells
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you about who that character is before you even
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talk to him what's great is in this remake all
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those eccentricities have been retained they've
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been kept even though all these characters now
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have a much greater level of fidelity that means
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there's just some truly characterful people you
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meet on this adventure and it also means that
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hyrule feels like a bustling living place as
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with the world design this is sort of in spite
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of its era limited scope where the truth is that
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this game has something like 50 different npcs
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and that's it as far as the visuals go i genuinely
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think this might be the best looking game nintendo
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has ever released and that goes on multiple levels
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there's the graphical fidelity and performance
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element all of which is great is fine to great
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but there's also things like carefully crafted
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vistas or the shots and framing and cut scenes
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Those in particular give up a remarkably cinematic,
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un -Nintendo feel. I think in this, you can sense
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the hand of the future reaching back to us, of
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this being the game that Nintendo knows will
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be the newest Zelda game on the shelves next
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year, when Zelda may generate a whole new generation
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of interested newcomers and fans off the back
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of becoming a Hollywood epic. On this topic,
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the absolute best of this, I have to say, is
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the music. Ocarina of Time is Koji Kondo's magnum
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opus. That man has composed a lot of the most
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seminal video game music of all time. But I do
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think Ocarina of Time, which happened to be the
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last score he ever composed alone before going
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ever higher up the corporate ladder at Nintendo
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to be more of a supervisor. I do think Ocarina
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of Time is his magnum opus, his very best work.
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Sure, there are themed individual themes he created
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that are more iconic, but as a complete soundtrack.
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Ocarina of Time is the one, and it's as effective
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as ever here, but it's been beautifully rendered
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in new orchestral arrangements. This score doesn't
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just rearrange, it weaves in and out of the changes
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and out of the musical journey that the Zelda
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series has been on since. So for instance, the
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fact that the day -night cycle is more ever -present
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across the game is beautifully represented in
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lovely, lovely new down -tempo nighttime arrangements
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of the music of every area in the game. While
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when you first meet the sages or races like the
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Gorons, they're represented by little musical
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trills and hallmarks that were developed in later
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games to tie to those races and characters. Some
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melodies from elsewhere even snake their way
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into Ocarina of Time's score and there's wonderful
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creative license such as by entwining Ganondorf's
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themes into tracks where it wasn't present before
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to give a real sense of foreboding and thematically
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tying everything together. Also, a touch that
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I absolutely love is that they actually use some
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of the original N64 synths here and there and
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use those alongside the orchestra. So there's
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this wonderful thing of old meets new in the
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soundtrack too. I really can't wait for this
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to hit Nintendo Music. Like the Star Fox remake,
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that part absolutely hits. In fact, it all hits
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pretty much. So is there anything this old fan,
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this old man didn't like? Is there anything I
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think might turn newer players off? Well, to
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that latter point, not really. As I've already
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said, I think this is one of the best aging games
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of all time. And I think by simply improving
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elements like the controls and the art, by which
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I mean where clever art changes help with things
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like avoiding players getting lost in places
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like the water temple without making the temple
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itself easier. I think those core puzzles and
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gameplay have aged even better in light of changes
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like that. To the former, as far as stuff...
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I like less as that mega fan of the original
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game. Sure, I wish everyone with a voice acted
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role in this medieval world didn't sound like
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they'd just come off a sun -kissed Californian
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beach. I wish that Nintendo's designers had the
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confidence to let players figure out what you
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can hookshot to and what you can't more organically
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rather than adding these great big clear massive
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targets everywhere. I think the item quick switch
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menu is a bit of a faff. I wish the developers
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had been willing to interface with the legends
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and rumors of Ocarina of Time's past for some
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new content. It would have been nice to beat
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the Running Man at last or visit the Sacred Realm.
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And I actually wish Master Quest were in here
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too. It isn't. But like I said, this is faithful.
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The Temple of Light will remain the dream and
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machination of the infamous Ariana Almendos.
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And if you know who that is, you're a real OG.
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It's not in the remit of this remake, though,
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that sort of thing. There are some nice touches,
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cool dialogue changes and new cutscene details
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at least flesh out characters like Sheik and
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Ocarina of Time's broader role in the grander
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Zelda lore. Navi is inexplicably and suddenly
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a brilliant, likeable sidekick. That's really
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something, I think. And vitally, I don't think
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all these little things anyone under 30 is going
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to care about anyway. Those people will get a
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complete feeling experience here, and some. There
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are new additions, of course. There's a gallery
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of defeated enemies, a roguelike boss rush mode,
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things like that. But none of it is mind -blowing.
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But I've got to be honest, such extras need not
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be when the base game is so excellent. I guess
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what I'm getting at is that ultimately all of
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these things feel like quibbles. They feel almost
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irrelevant. They're nagging complaints that mostly
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exist because I'm sitting here reaching to try
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to find things to criticize in a game that feels...
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pretty brilliantly and perfectly well -rounded.
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Like the original, this remake of Ocarina of
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Time threads an incredibly narrow needle. In
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1997, that needle was reinterpreting the nature
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of a perfected 2D formula into the 3D era, a
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feat that is shared with a few other contemporaneous
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all -timers of this era, such as Final Fantasy
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VII. Here, now, today, the needle's eyehole is
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instead that narrow, tiny... difficult little
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space between respecting the original and creating
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something more accessible to younger people without
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losing the magic or indeed the irresistible soul
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of the original. In this endeavor the Ocarina
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of Time remake has been more successful than
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any of its peers except perhaps Resident Evil
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2 which I think is a feat pretty comparable to
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that of the original. The Legend of Zelda Ocarina
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of Time's remake meshes best with modern proclivities
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and it looks great on today's hardware. The game
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has aged sublimely and where it hasn't, it has
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been gingerly given a respectful facelift. The
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magic has been preserved for a new generation.
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It is an effortless recommendation, a wonderful
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experience, a captivating history lesson and
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just all around brilliant. Thank you for joining
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me for this review. of The Legend of Zelda Ocarina
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of Time for Nintendo Switch 2. You can find the
15:59
written review on respec .net, our website. You
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next time everyone see ya