I still cannot get into it.
Now, the Wind Waker HD? Never played the original, but the HD version is a joy.
This review is reasonably fair, albeit a tad nitpicky at times (slow text, for one). I personally enjoyed Ocarina a great deal more, possibly because I played it when it first came out.
The slow text bit may be subjective, but nitpicky it is not when the barebones, personality-less Captain Obvious dialogue is rendered at a sluggish pace that\'d drive molasses up the wall. Hoot hoot! Would you like to hear my bland hand-holding monologue in super slow motion again?
Yes
I agree with pretty much everything except with the slow text. It\'s been that way with Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, if I recall correctly.
And hell, Bastard 1 is right. At first I thought they were referring to Navi, but the owl is pretty obnoxious too. For heaven\'s sake, they\'re impossibly annoying. Will you stop reminding me every 3 minutes what I have to do, Navi?!
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Still the best? Not really. Still great? Absolutely.
I won't deny it, I despised Ocarina of Time the first time I played it. I never owned an N64 growing up so I didn't play it until it was released on Wii Virtual Console years later, at which point it's reputation as the greatest game ever made had spread to me. I jumped into it excited for what I was expecting to be a revolutionary life-changing experience that would set a new standard for video games in my eyes. It did not. This has become an increasingly common reaction from newcomers to Ocarina of Time unfortunately. Guess it's kind of hard to live up to an 11 out of 10.
Years have passed since then and after revisiting it every now and again along the way I can now safely say that although I may personally prefer The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time still actually holds up very well and is an incredibly enjoyable adventure.
Now, let's make it clear that the game still has flaws. Text scrolls incredibly slowly, half of the time there's no way to speed it up and the other half of the time speeding it up results in the text going by so fast that you won't get a chance to read it. Speaking of text, the story's pretty underwhelming too as it mainly follows the same formula of Link to the Past which was already a touch cliched for the time, but it doesn't spice it up with the personality and more fleshed-out characters of future Zelda games. Most characters in Ocarina of Time appear once or twice and then completely vanish to never be heard of again, usually not giving you time to warm up to them. I would of liked to see more of Saria, her friendship with Link was cute, but the second you leave the first area of the game it feels like everyone has moved on. Also, a minor detail, but Hyrule Field really hasn't aged amazingly. It's size was impressive for the time but nowadays that wonder has faded with bigger games available and what we're left with is a pretty empty overworld without much to do.
So, what's good? Well, the story may be weak, but Ocarina of Time still has some of the most solid gameplay in the series. It's the Journey That Counts and Zelda gives you a real sense of adventure that no other series can nail quite as well. It's a game about exploring, fighting for your life, solving puzzles and overcoming great trials that will test your power, wisdom and courage. Perhaps the biggest strength of Zelda is how smoothly it can blend all these elements together. Weapons are as useful for puzzles as they are for fighting with, and it never needs to completely change the core gameplay for this kind of variety thanks to the versatile and intuitive controls. And if you love finding secrets? This is the game for you, hidden rooms are everywhere and are generally incredibly rewarding and satisfying to track down.
Is it worth playing today? For sure, it's a classic for a reason. Just take it for what it is, don't expect to be blown away.