Poll: The Majora's Mask Debate

DeathSwitch109

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Jun 8, 2011
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Before we get into this I'm not here to incite anger amongst the community. This is purely subjective (of course) but I'm on the Internet a lot during my spare time and whenever Zelda is mentioned there is usually one or more fans who say that MM is the best of the series. Why is that? I've played it before and yes it is a good game but it never held my attention for an extended period of time, whereas Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, and A Link to the Past kept me coming back for more.

Thinking about it my biggest gripe about Majora's Mask was that it was timed. In adventure games the last thing I want to deal with is a time limit. I want to explore every nook and cranny, I want to talk to the inhabitants, and I want to soak in the world around me. The original Pikmin turned me off from this same mechanic.

So why do you consider it the best Zelda game? If you don't, why does it have such a huge cult following?
 

Exius Xavarus

Casually hardcore. :}
May 19, 2010
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You can slow time to a crawl, to the point you won't really have to worry about it at all. Majora's Mask is my favorite in the series next to Wind Waker and Oracle of Seasons. My favorite part next to the awesome masks, the setting and the atmosphere, would be all the side stuff there is for you to do. So many more fleshed out NPCs, so many more things for you to do other than take Object A from Point A to Point B for Object B in a certain amount of time.

Unlike Ocarina of Time where you can go fish and....fish.

[sub]Fuck fishing. Caught a Hylian loach and didn't get crap for it, not even a spot in the tank.[/sub]

[sub][sub][sub]Stupid illegal sinking lure.[/sub][/sub][/sub]

But also because I liked not playing in Hyrule, for once. I liked Termina. I enjoyed the story and the time travel fit within the context of the story which I thought was pretty awesome.

[sub]Here's hoping they make a Majora's Mask 3D.[/sub]
 

Guffe

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Jul 12, 2009
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I think it's my third favorite if I'd have to rank them but I like all of 'em.
I just have to try and get into WindWaker since many seem to like it.
 

havoc33

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Jun 26, 2012
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As previously stated, Majora's Mask just had a great, great world. Termina felt fresh, I especially loved the first swamp area. And there was loads of great characters to interact with, who were all really fleshed out, to the point were you could spend hours just running around in the city questing and getting to know people. In that sense it really felt more like a RPG than any Zelda before it. The masks were also cool, although I don't want this transformation thing to become a regular staple of the series.

The fact that I remember far more stuff from Majora's Mask than I do from, say, Twilight Princess, is a huge testament to the quality of the game.

My fav Zelda is still A Link to the Past though. No Zelda will ever beat it.
 

Hemlet

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Jul 31, 2009
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Majora's Mask made me care about most of the NPC's in the game. So far only one other game has that honour. When I interacted with the Zora Band while wearing the Zora Mask, I felt bad. Like, really really bad. Because I was making these people believe that their friend was still alive and well, when in reality I was currently using his soul to take his form so I could get information and quest goodies from them. That is one of many examples I could give from that game, but in a nutshell the world was incredibly detailed and fleshed out, with every character given a backstory, and a purpose, and goals.
 

sulfurshade

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Oct 8, 2012
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I'd have to agree with the TC. The timed aspect of MM bothered me. Plus, the story wasn't as good as OoT IMO. Console wise, I'd have to say OoT takes the cake over MM for sure. But my favorite Zeldas were still some of the handhelds. Link's Awakening is my personal favorite for sure, maybe just due to nostalgia going up playing the game, but its got a soft spot in my heart. Oracle of Ages/Seasons were also amazing.
 

Sexy Devil

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Jul 12, 2010
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Well when I was a little kid my main gripe with the game was that everything about it was goddam pants-shittingly terrifying (especially the moon). Now I just don't like it because I suck at timed stuff. Well I suck at every game, but it's more apparent in timed stuff!
 

Sonic Doctor

Time Lord / Whack-A-Newbie!
Jan 9, 2010
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I can't stand Majora's Mask. It would have been fine if it could have not had that stupid clock and three day crap.

For me, it ranks right up there with the stupidity of the timed repeat dungeon from LoZ: Phantom Hourglass. Adventure games like LoZ games are for taking one's own time and exploring and doing things at an acceptable pace. Timed parts should be left to extra or hard modes of games.

Half on topic:
Timed play was the reason I only played Dead Rising for an hour. As I said, timed modes are for challenge or hard modes. I would have given Dead Rising a chance if it hadn't locked unlimited time mode behind having to beat the time mode. It should be reversed, hard(timed) mode should be unlocked by beating unlimited time mode, or both should just be available from the start.

-----

Hmm, I'm thinking I've made this point about about 12 or more times in threads like this since I joined the Escapist long ago. Oh well, one more post for my count.

Edit:

Top three Zelda games:
1.)Wind Waker(Gamecube)
2.)Oracle of Ages/Oracle of Seasons(Gameboy Color)
3.)Link to the Past(SNES)
 

EHKOS

Madness to my Methods
Feb 28, 2010
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Because it had atmosphere, it had that Silent Hill kind of essence, where it drew you into the world, but didn't scare you out of it. It creeped, and while the story was heavy and serious, you still had the same Zelda dungeons. Not to mention the colors....pretty colors.
 

Weresquirrel

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Aug 13, 2008
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Well, my my reasons for liking it above the others are as follows:

It gets away from the usual Zelda story - No kidnapped Zelda, no Ganon, no Master Sword and no Triforce. Kind of ironic given how it reuses so many assets from Ocarina of Time, yet it's the first modern Zelda game that has featured such a different storyline. Othe Zeldas differ in settings to be sure, but Majora's mask is the one that feels the most different.

More personality - Pretty much everyone aside from Link has a well defined personality and/or story arc. The besieged Mayor of the town, the lamenting circus master, or his conniving brothers. The morose chicken lover at the ranch. The characters feel more like characters than just NPCs to move the story forward or give an item when you need it.

Gameplay mechanics - I agree, at the start I didn't much care for the groundhog day style of it. But when I thought about it, it gave the game real impetus. Even though you could rewind/fast forward/slow down time at your leisure. I can't think of any other games off the top of my head to use this mechanic. Again, it made the world feel more alive. Unlike other games that claim you need to hurry, but in actuality you can run around for weeks and not progress time any further. And the masks were an interesting way of giving new skill sets and achieving goals without contriving a new gizmo to do a highly specific thing.

Atmosphere - This is the big one. The atmosphere and feeling of the game was so... Bleak. It's a really hard feeling to convey in any kind of media, and it ties back to my second point. To get the feeling of oppression and fear, you need to understand and care about the people feeling them. Combined with the unique aesthetic of the game it gave a real sense of otherworldliness.
 

Reincarnatedwolfgod

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Jan 17, 2011
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it is one of my favorite zelda games and i came to that conclusion with out any nostalgia
for Ocarina of Time
i got both of them a the same time on the wii store thing. first i played Ocarina of Time. then i decided to try majoras mask for a while. unlike Ocarina of Time it captivated me. i did not go back to play and beat Ocarina of Time till many months after i almost beat majoras mask 100%(i only needed 4 more heart pieces to get to 100% completion in that game)

i don't have one favorite zelda game; i have 4. 2 2d and 2 3d zelda game that i consider my favorites
3D-windwaker and majoras mask
2D-link to the past and links awakening
 

Daget Sparrow

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Oct 2, 2011
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Asides from the art style and the darker emotional tone, Majora's Mask has some amazingly well written (and hidden) story elements (e.g.: the Tower of Babel/Christ's execution, 5 stages of grief) that ultimately contribute to it being my favourite Zelda game of all time.

OF. ALL. TIME.

EDIT: Have some links (no pun intended)

http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/nes-snes-n64-zelda/50295-stone-tower-of-babel-why-termina-was-doomed.html

http://www.zeldainformer.com/news/comments/themes_in_motion_majoras_mask_and_the_five_stages_of_grief
 

Zeema

The Furry Gamer
Jun 29, 2010
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I Really enjoyed Majoras

i felt the game had tension and that you had to save this world
 

Aphantas

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Apr 29, 2010
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I am one of those people that think that MM was superior to OT

I like it because it was such a contrast to the previous tones of Zelda games.
MM was characterised by an unrelenting sense of dread and sadness which made it the most dark entry into the series made so far. Throughout the game you felt like you were experiencing Termina's funeral march, with the time mechanic always reminding the player that if they did not act quickly, the march would meet its near certain conclusion. Couple that with some well hidden emotionally powerful moments and a sympathetic villain and you get what I is think one of the most mature games made dealing with the varied reactions that people have to death, loss and rejection.
It is also one of the few games that both scared me (The Moon) and made me cry (Finding the Bartender on the last day, second play though).

I have probably read far too much into the game though.
 

Et3rnalLegend64

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Jan 9, 2009
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Weresquirrel said:
Well, my my reasons for liking it above the others are as follows:

It gets away from the usual Zelda story - No kidnapped Zelda, no Ganon, no Master Sword and no Triforce. Kind of ironic given how it reuses so many assets from Ocarina of Time, yet it's the first modern Zelda game that has featured such a different storyline. Othe Zeldas differ in settings to be sure, but Majora's mask is the one that feels the most different.

More personality - Pretty much everyone aside from Link has a well defined personality and/or story arc. The besieged Mayor of the town, the lamenting circus master, or his conniving brothers. The morose chicken lover at the ranch. The characters feel more like characters than just NPCs to move the story forward or give an item when you need it.

Gameplay mechanics - I agree, at the start I didn't much care for the groundhog day style of it. But when I thought about it, it gave the game real impetus. Even though you could rewind/fast forward/slow down time at your leisure. I can't think of any other games off the top of my head to use this mechanic. Again, it made the world feel more alive. Unlike other games that claim you need to hurry, but in actuality you can run around for weeks and not progress time any further. And the masks were an interesting way of giving new skill sets and achieving goals without contriving a new gizmo to do a highly specific thing.

Atmosphere - This is the big one. The atmosphere and feeling of the game was so... Bleak. It's a really hard feeling to convey in any kind of media, and it ties back to my second point. To get the feeling of oppression and fear, you need to understand and care about the people feeling them. Combined with the unique aesthetic of the game it gave a real sense of otherworldliness.
I'll definitely agree on all of those points and especially on atmosphere. There is always a lingering sense of urgency underlining everything you do. The time limit isn't horribly pushy since you can slow time, but it's there and you know that you can't take forever. You do have time to explore everything in one go too. You can't do it in one cycle, but you can do it.
 

Rainforce

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Apr 20, 2009
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I played all the Zelda games, and the only ones I never liked were Zelda 1,2, MM and OoT actually, a better list would be: all the Zeldas from NES, N64 and DS. (cdi doesn't count)

NES: fuck sidescrolling and encounters, and the first was....well, not as good as the others.
N64: people are new to 3D, designers have no 3D experience, and....actually also the graphics. didn't know I have a standard in that regard, I like my Sprite-based SNES and gameboys, hell, I even play dwarf fortress on the default tileset and tell others to fuck off when they tell me I should get a "better one". but the N64 Zelda games looked and felt totally bland to me.
Also running around with a clock ticking in the background made MM a fucking chore. (I take my time playing games, enjoying the scenerey/etc.. in MM, I was always on the run from the ever ticking hand of the clock. I surely like timed missions/etc. but I want to be able to idle inbetween) I liked the mask system though.
DS: the entirety of the touch-based controls (Fuck you, we have buttons! They're perfectly fine! Don't let me use the same control for attacking and walking, this is bound to get messy! I feel like a fucking cripple because I can only move OR attack!).
Also the flute implementation in spirit tracks where you need to use the Mic of your DS AND the touchpad at the same time. The one Zelda game that made me rage so much because it took forever to get the fucking flute sequences right : D (note that being able to play an instrument like that in RL actually makes it a lot worse)

Also MM and OoT are the only Zelda games that never made me care about the characters. (they probably killed my parents, too)

So,
[HEADING=2]hate me, above all else,[/HEADING]
because I like my SNES, GBC, GC, GBA and WII -Zeldas but surely not the two "popular" ones.
 

Dandark

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Sep 2, 2011
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I really liked the time mechanic. It was just so unique and interesting, I loved how you only had three days so you had to manipulate the crap out of time to actually do anything. It had a good atmosphere and a lot of side stuff, it just had so much stuff not related to the main story for you to explore.

I tried and failed to get back into it recently because of various reasons, mainly that it felt too old, I disliked the start of the game at least untill your finished the first dungeon and I really hate the POS that is the gamecube controller.

However although not my favorite game of the series I do feel it is one of the best Zelda games and I do look back on it favorably. It's also one of the main examples I pull out to prove that not every Zelda game is a copy paste of the last and that they do innovate with it to some degree.
 

scw55

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Nov 18, 2009
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I liked the concept.
But I couldn't play the thing.
I dislike timed puzzles in all games, and Majora's mask was one great big one.