Poll: Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask?

[thejboy88]

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, has gone down as one of the most beloved, popular and successful games of all time, not only in the history of the Zelda franchise or even Nintendo, but amongst gaming as a whole. However, in recent years, there has been a great deal of debate over whether or not its expansion, Majora's Mask, with its darker tone and general un-Zelda-like reputation, was actually a superior game to Ocarina.

Please, discuss. And I apologise if this thread has been done before.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Its okay OP, I don't think anyone in the history of history has ever asked this one. No worries.

But the answer is clear. Ocarina of Time is the superior Captain. Majora's Mask was a decent game, but only one of them had Malon, and Malon was Tali before Tali was Tali.
So sorry Majora's Mask, you ain't no Mass Effect.

 

[Saelune]

I can accept that Ocarina of Time was probably better, but I liked Majora's Mask way more.

But I also find the reusing of assets endearing rather than cheap.

Majora's Mask was ironically more unique though, since OoT just seems like the Zelda formula perfected, while MM was a twist on convention.

 

[Hawki]

Ocarina of Time. Better story, better world, better characters, the lack of a damn timer, etc.

If this sounds like I hate Majora's Mask, I don't, but MM comes at #4 for me, OoT at #3 as far as Zelda games go.

 

[Asita]

Majora's Mask. I'm quite fond of Ocarina of Time, but Majora's Mask did more to make me care about the characters in it.

Its okay OP, I don't think anyone in the history of history has ever asked this one. No worries.

But the answer is clear. Ocarina of Time is the superior Captain. Majora's Mask was a decent game, but only one of them had Malon, and Malon was Tali before Tali was Tali.
So sorry Majora's Mask, you ain't no Mass Effect.

Yeah, but Majora's Mask did have Cremia.

 

[Silvanus]

MM. Ask me a year ago, and I'd have said OoT.

 

[Saelune]

MM. Ask me a year ago, and I'd have said OoT.

Why?

 

[Chanticoblues]

Ocarina of Time.

Love the first cycle of Majora's Mask. It's oppressive, frustrating and lonesome. Complete it and the game just lets you have it your way. No worries. What should be an apocalyptic tension just becomes an annoyance.

 

[Glongpre]

Ocarina no contest.

It is just the ultimate Zelda experience. Good dungeons, good overworld, fantastic OST, good combat, using the ocarina was a great mechanic/catchy tunes, great storyline, really great finale. I can't find anything bad to say about it. Not even Navi is as annoying as people say.

I tried MM, and it was really high quality, but the time mechanic just threw me for a loop. It was so tedious, and I just said fuck it, I don't want to put up with this. Really liked the idea, like it is a phenomenal idea, really cool seeing the moon get closer, and closer! But the tedium man, the tedium...

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Can't I love both equally? Maybe...If they were to be thrown into a pit to fight to the death with the splinters of smashed ocarinas over a worthless opinion, I'd have to go for the most appealing soundtrack, which would be OoT, whose many tunes I had to learn to appease the inner music demons that demand such things. But then again...Majora's Mask let you have multiple instruments, play as a band of multiple yous and had a glorious catchy tune for the land of the poisonous bog monkeys.
Don't. Make. Me. Chooooose!!!

Spoiler: Brain spiralling twirly round

 

[SmallHatLogan]

Majora's Mask is my favourite Zelda game. Setting, atmosphere, and story are a cut above Ocarina of Time. Reused assets is a bit disappointing but not a deal breaker (Fallout: New Vegas is one of my favourite games). Reused gameplay too but it's Zelda, that's what we're used to. The time limit was never an issue for me as long as I planned ahead.

Ocarina of Time is a great game too. It was the first 3D Zelda I played and it has a special place in my heart. In retrospect though there's nothing about it that really stands out to me. I find myself enjoying Legend of Zelda (NES) and A Link to the Past more even though I have no nostalgia for them.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Majora's Mask, for sure. I loved how they made so many characters really interesting, the side quests were fun, the world was really enjoyable to go through, and the soundtrack was great. The setting and atmosphere were excellently done, and I enjoyed restarting a cycle and knowing what quests I wanted to do and when. It was planning I enjoyed. It also looks a fair bit better, so that helps. The masks were really neat as well.

I do agree with what Chanticoblues said though. The first cycle really made you FEEL the doom of the world approaching. It was tense as all hell. But once you get the Ocarina, the moon and time limit is merely a system for time to pass and side quests to lock off or start. It made the world feel alive, for sure. But damn if it wasn't aggravating to miss a side quest cause you missed an appointment and had to restart the cycle again

 

[Silvanus]

MM. Ask me a year ago, and I'd have said OoT.

Why?

OoT contains more of my most memorable moments from the Zelda franchise than any other. As the first 3-d one, it did more to update the series than MM did. The world still makes me feel like I'm in a coherent, believable world.

But MM has grown on me immensely. The tone, the melancholy, the time-mechanic (which I didn't care for at first, but now love to bits), the depth of the side-quests, the darkness of it.

 

[DeliveryGodNoah_v1legacy]

Majora's Mask was always a mystery to me until I was 16.

My father owned the N64, and for the longest time I was only able to play whatever games he bought or what I was lucky enough to get from my grandparents. We of course had Ocarina of Time, and I played that religiously, but as a child I always had a fuzzy memory of my father playing as Link in a world I never saw before, never recognized. It sort of haunted my mind, and everytime I asked about it I swear my father played dumb "What are you talking about? I don't know what game that is." I assume it was so I wouldn't ask for the game.

Blockbuster was still a thing at this time though, and I always tried to convince them to let me rent the game I could clearly see on the shelf, with that weird mask taunting me on the box. They never let me though, saying it was a waste of money since it was only a rental.

I was gifted a N64 of my own though at 16 and knew what the first game I wanted to pick up was. Bought it and the expansion pack and finally played the fabled Majora's Mask.

I was both enthralled and underwhelmed. On the one hand, it totally felt like a new world to explore with a different atmosphere. On the other, it felt needlessly restricted with the time limit and made me appreciate the land as much as OoT.

That being said, I have come to have a deep affection for both games.

 

[Xorph]

Having finally replayed Ocarina for the first time in 10 years a couple weeks ago and just started Majora 3 days ago (just finished the second dungeon) I can say that I already like Majora a hell of a lot more.

Ocarina was certainly revolutionary for its time amd paved the way for future 3d zeldas, and the problem is that everyone wearing nostalgia goggles really only see it for that. It still had a lot of problems that have become much more obvious with time, notably the combat being pretty awful and nearly all of the dungeons having incredibly easy non-puzzles at some point.

Like, the room in Dodongo's cavern where you turn off a fire circle by shooting a button "hidden" in a wall indent that you can clearly see the second you enter the room. That isn't a puzzle, that's busywork to make the 8-year-olds playing feel like they've acomplished something.

Likewise, half of the enemies are just "block until it hits your shield then attack as it's reeling".

Andyesbeforesomeonenoticesigotbothofthoseexamplesfromegoraptorbecausetheywerehistwomainpointsofcontentionwiththegamethatiagreedwith

Majora, being on the same engine, certainly couldn't do a whole lot to help the combat, but it at the very least draws the focus away from it with all the sidequests and giving the dungeons a larger focus on puzzles and exploration rather than mostly being a linear series of "avoid the obstacle/kill the enemy in each room".

Of course, to Ocarina's credit, Master Quest is totes rad and does a damn good job of remedying the puzzle problems, though I'm still not sure if I'd be able to rate it above Majora given how much better Majora's interactions with other characters have been.

Also with Majora, don't forget that Ocarina took 4 years to make, but the devs were given a strict 1-year deadline for Majora (hence the heavy re-use of assets), so it's certainly damn impressive when you look at what they pulled off in that short of a time frame.

 

[Rangaman]

Majora's Mask. Sorry OoT, your overworld is big, bland and horrible and you just aren't getting me invested in the world and everyone in it.

Majora's Mask doesn't have those issues and it has the most unique gameplay mechanic in the entire series. So yeah, Majora's Mask is my favorite.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Twilight Princess. I played Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask so much that they feel...small, compared to the Gamecube Games, especially Twilight Princess.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I bias to say OoT cos I was not fond of the timer mechanic in MM. I liked to played it at my own paces.