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  #1  
Old 5th March 2008, 09:13 AM
B-K Nostalgia
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Majora's Mask fans - is this game a thing of beauty, or what?

Are there any Majora's Mask fans around these parts? Or better yet, still around and willing to talk about the game ad-mist all the rabid anticipation for Super Smash Bros. Brawl (which I won't be playing until closer to the end of this month, unfortunately).

I'd just like to say that I feel that there is a certain elegiac, mournful, beautiful, nostalgic and even haunting quality wound up in the Zelda installments of the N64 era that sort of digressed in the Gamecube and Wii offerings (Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, respectively).

There is just something about Ocarina of Time, and perhaps more-so, Majora's Mask, which is really brilliant. Well, there isn't just some undefinable/elusive something - there's a lot of things. And they are definable. And I'm going to define them.

Focusing on Majora's Mask, I'll say this ...For all of the larger and more epic grandeur of Majora's Mask, it is interspersed with a real attention to establishing a sense of life. A focus on community and smaller dramas (Anju and Kafei, anyone?). The characters you meet are all apart of this foreboding event and as Link, you witness them change over the course of those three days. To see a world brimming with life and character that is not static within the apocalyptic context of Majora's Mask is a brilliance that I haven't seen many games capture since.

To say the game is apocalyptic would be an under-statement. But, I'd also like to re-affirm that the game really establishes it's cast of NPC's as living, breathing, and worried (rightfully so, in the face of a trippy and sadistic moon on a crash-course with Termina) people. In Twilight Princess, no one ever seemed worried about what was going on. The impending doom wasn't palpable, it wasn't there - not as much as in Majora's Mask, anyway.

For those of you who read this short little expression of my adoration for the game, thanks. I'll now just make it easier and make a list of what I find great about this game, and possibly what's lacking in the later Zelda installments:
  • As mentioned above, the sense of a community that is not static. A community whose members are caught up in the day-to-day work of life, who fall in love, who cause mischief, who change. More than simple caricartures, a portrait of a diverse community on the brink of annihiliation.
  • The sense of motivation. The three day system was great for this. I was worried about it at first but ... once I got into the game, I realized how wonderfully excuted it is, particularly in establishing that sense of foreboding doom.
  • The Deku Butler's son. Avid/hardcore players know what I'm talking about. It adds to the game's elegiac and mournful tone.
  • The mask transformations. Brilliant. Not to mention, the fact that each mask necessitated a character's death beforehand. Somewhat dark territory, even for a Zelda game. It added to the epic grandeur and immersive quality of the story. The idea of the masks were wound up in heroism and sacrifice - which are just great ideas and vibes to interject into Majora's Mask.
  • The side-quests. Getting all the masks. Knowing the towns-folk. And doing it all underneath that trippy, glaring Moon. Atmosphere and great game-play: always a good match.
  • Letting the timer hit zero ...and watching the world evaporate.
  • The sense of mystery and intrigue. What was the true deal with The Happy Mask Salesman? That sinister vibe attributed to him was interesting, as where a lot of other mysteries in the game. These are the elements that are haunting and immersive about the game. That strange trip to the scientist with the telescope, seeing warped/different versions of the characters you knew and adored from OoT, the kids on the moon at the end of the game and their enigmatic comments...
  • The way the game played on the nostalgia of OoT without making it too heavy-handed. You really felt immersed into this crazy, trippy, foreign land of Termina that was completely isolated from Hyrule. The references to Zelda and Navi (Link 'looking for his friend') were great, but they knew when to pull back the reigns and let this other dimension shine in all it's weirdness and intrigue.
  • The story, over-all. It rocked.

I don't know who will actually read this but, I had to get it off my chest.

Last edited by B-K Nostalgia; 5th March 2008 at 09:34 AM.
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  #2  
Old 5th March 2008, 09:26 AM
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Majora's Mask was an excellent game. I wouldn't say it's better than Ocarina of Time but I certainly wasn't disappointed with MM after playing OoT.

I think one of the things (as you mentioned) is the character development. All the characters have lives, they all changed as time went on. It's the first time (for me at least) 4D elements were introduced into a game, one where time played a big part.

I think if the Nintendo's next console has the capabilities similar to PS3 (or better by then), they could make an extremely awesome 4D Zelda game, which would (hopefully) incorporate a lot of MM elements.
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  #3  
Old 5th March 2008, 09:32 AM
B-K Nostalgia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gaming Master2k View Post
I think if the Nintendo's next console has the capabilities similar to PS3 (or better by then), they could make an extremely awesome 4D Zelda game, which would (hopefully) incorporate a lot of MM elements.
They shouldn't wait until their next console, though...

I'll also say, if Twilight Princess is heavily evocative of Ocarina of Time then I hope the next installment offers us something outside of the familiarity of Hyrule ala Majora's Mask.
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  #4  
Old 5th March 2008, 09:53 AM
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I absolutely love this game, i suck at it, like all zelda's but I still love it.

The one thing that I really liked was the fact that you can just decide not to do the main story for a while and just do the various side stories. I spent a helluva lot of time trying to do the Kafei and Anju side story, but never finished it due to Kafei's running away to some village that I couldn't get to yet.

Anyway, I love this game, the characters are great, and the fact that you can fully interact with everything and change what happens to the different characters (like kicking the Goron out of the hotel and causing him to sleep outside).
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  #5  
Old 5th March 2008, 10:43 AM
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Honestly, I've never played Majora's Mask, or even finished Ocarina of Time (blasphemy I know). It's been sitting on my shelf after I completed Twilight Princess - my first ever Zelda game (again, shock-horror) - and ordered it off of eBay. However, when playing through Twilight Princess I found Hyrule Castle Town to be an absolute joke. They try and make it seem busy with hundreds of NPCs aimlessly walking around, yet it still felt like a ghost town. I had similar experience with Ocarina of Time, which might attribute to the fact that I haven't bothered getting past the Water Temple (the game just feels incredibly static and hasn't aged well after playing Twilight Princess first, in my opinion).

However, Majora's Mask seems like something I could really enjoy. I've always loved games where you actually have some sort of interaction and effect on the characters/environment, so if I can force myself through OoT then I may actually go and pick it up. Hearing these opinions on MM... It certainly takes away the forced "MM sucks and OoT is god" perceptions I've been given from the general consensus of the internet.
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  #6  
Old 5th March 2008, 11:37 AM
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I'm not really familiar with the populace's complaints against Majora's mask, but I, myself, have a few qualms with the game. For one, the whole three days thing kind of gets on your nerves after a while. It gets really annoying to have to do everything at a certain time and then also remember to save all your rupees and such at the bank before going back in time. Also, some of the quests are a little too challenging. The fetch quest involving giving something to one of the redeads is something I still haven't done to this very day. I simply have no idea what they want from me. I think it was something white in a bottle, so I brought milk and a fairy, neither of which appeased the damn thing... but in any case, those are just a few problems I have with it, personally.

This is not to say I didn't enjoy the game immensely. I thought it had one of those great vibes about it, the whole situation, going back in time 3 days and seeing that creepy "Day 1" on the screen was scary and awesome at the same time. The game-play is much better and more varied than Ocarina. I liked pretty much everything about it, but I could not finish it because I got stuck. Perhaps one day I'll try finishing it.
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Old 5th March 2008, 11:48 AM
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Majora's Mask is definatley the greatest Zelda game ever. I'm not much of a Zelda fan at all, but this game is just great. Just great.
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  #8  
Old 5th March 2008, 11:52 AM
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I really liked Majora's Mask... But I wish I still had my copy of it...
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Old 5th March 2008, 12:09 PM
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I never had the patience for it.
I still don't.

Shame though.
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Old 5th March 2008, 12:41 PM
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I 100%'ed it (with Prima's Strategy Guide) when I was like eleven.
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  #11  
Old 5th March 2008, 01:39 PM
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MM is a great game...I really was never too into OoT but Majora is one of my favorites. I like the slightly different approach it took.
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Old 5th March 2008, 01:52 PM
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This reminds of me of a Zelda movie I watched. During a part where he's adventuring, it asks some things to see how much you like Zelda, and one of the questions was, "Have you ever actually beaten Majora's mask?" Then it shows a guy throwing it on the ground and stomping on it.
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  #13  
Old 5th March 2008, 03:14 PM
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Wolfe Logan Wolfe Logan is offline
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I never got everything... In truth, it would have driven me mad, I think. But, it was a great game, and holds up fairly well.

I have it now on the Zelda collection disk, that I got from Nintendo for registering games. It makes it handy to have it on a GCN disk. But not everything translated well from the N64... Some lags, and some music glitches are there. But the game is sound.

One of these days I might go through and get everything. XP

Last edited by Wolfe Logan; 5th March 2008 at 03:16 PM. Reason: typos
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  #14  
Old 5th March 2008, 03:19 PM
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I got to the boss of the first temple and had to go back to the beginning of the first day due to running out of time. I then saw that I had to go through the entire temple again and thought "**** it".

I haven't picked it up since, I really should get around to beating it sometime, I'm not sure how well it'll hold up nowadays (although I do have the more fluid version on the Collector's Edition disc) though, I kinda wish I'd played it back in its heyday to be able to really appreciate it.
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  #15  
Old 5th March 2008, 05:23 PM
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While I agree that it's not the best Zelda game, it's definitely my favourite. The interaction with the characters is amazing. You actually care about these guys, and it motivates you to do something or all of these individual people will die. Yes, instead of "Do this or thousands of faceless people will die" it was "Do this or all of these different people, Kafei and Anju, the Gorons, the Zoras, the Happy Mask Salesman, the carpeters, Romani and Creamia (ect.) will die". Then there's the fact that the sidequests are an integral part of the gameplay and not just tacked on, plus the challenge of the game and the fact that there is so much to discover, in just one little area of Termina let alone everywhere else. Hell even the glitches are good (Flying as a Zora anyone?) It's an interesting take on Zelda and it definitely works and is the most fun entry of them all. The atmosphere is class. Twilight Princess attempted to be darker and more sinister, but Majora's Mask still tops that by a long shot to this day.

The only problems are really based around the saving system, which is kinda clunky and at times frustrating. But otherwise it is, as they say, Flawed Perfection.
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