I played this game as a kid when it released and remembered not liking it very much. I remembered almost nothing about it. I didn’t remember a single boss fight or temple, like it was really wiped from my mind.
I wanted to play through it again because people always talk about how they love this game, but I found it really lacking and annoying at times.
Having to redo things each time you resets time made the game feel more like a chore. I understand that your going back in time, but it did not make for good gameplay.
I made it to the moon, but I’m burnt out at this point and a little under powered. I did not do any of the side quests as having to redo a bunch of stuff sounds terrible. I don’t want to get 3/4th through a side quest only to have to reset time.
Before resetting, I have to deposit money, then reset, then stock up my items again, and redo all the things I need to do to get back to where I was.
I have to admit that it is really original and a cool concept, but it does not work in practice.
I still put oot and wind Waker at the top of the 3d Zelda’s. (Not counting the switch games)
At this point, I’ll boot up oot and play through that again. I vividly remember child links part of the game and a decent amount of adult link. After that, I’ll try the master quest. I remember that being difficult and I never completed it when I was a kid.
I did not do any of the side quests as having to redo a bunch of stuff sounds terrible.
This is a game that’s really about the sidequests. They’re so important that there’s a mandatory (iirc) part to get a notebook to help you track them.
I love Majora’s Mask. It’s unironically genius, particularly for an N64 game. Not… fun to play, admittedly.
The worldbuilding, storytelling, atmosphere, psychology, writing and (partly) soundtrack are incredibly good, though, and makes MM one of my favorite games that I never really feel like playing. I don’t think it’s all that good as a Zelda game, but it’s more than good enough to deliver the awesome parts.
I’ll never not cry like a little bitch about the Anju/Kafei story - love corrupted by random shit luck and greed, turned into confusion, doubt, loss and insecurity. If you follow the quest all the way to the end and manage to pull it all together, they’re still stoically accepting their death - as long as they get to be together and are no longer worried they’ve been stood up or won’t be accepted by their spouse.
The rest of the game is basically more of that, fixing sometimes heartbreaking problems caused by the mask - one at a time, several at a time, dealing with setbacks and resets. Every plotline you resolve does revert back to the miserable start, but you’re also left with something “lasting” for each one, until you finally clear the game.
The denialism and eventual panic of the townspeople is really well done, the Clock Town music taking different forms depending on the day, where the third day is explicitly dark and ominous. People are panicking, going about their business as usual, taking refuge, worrying about unsettled scores, blustering and arguing…
It’s a bit of a trippy experience wrapped in not-always-riveting gameplay, but the parts that work work extremely well, and if you’re in the right frame of mind the game can get pretty philosophical.
I absolutely love this game. It was great because you have to do actual puzzles, which for sure gets annoying sometimes. But figuring how to fit everything together with the time constraints feel much more gratifying to succeed at. It also stops me from just endlessly running around doing random stuff for no reason like the Witcher or something 🙃. Different strokes for sure!
It is basically two games in one. The Clocktown/‘sidequest’ time loop game, and the traditional Zelda dungeon game. I tend to agree that the latter is mostly just not good. The dungeons don’t improve with the existence of the time mechanic - in fact they needed to add a mechanic to slow time down because of how poorly the two designs mesh, which is kind of antithetical to the whole initial conceit, in my opinion.
The Clocktown Game, on the other hand, I think is really cool. You get to see all the routines and problems that characters have over those three days, and nudge events towards desired outcomes. Exploring how all their lives intersect, and how they react in the literal face of impending doom, allows for some really cool stories and moments.
It’s a Clocktown game trapped in the body of a Zelda game.
needed to add a mechanic to slow time down
The devs actually thought of that. There are two auxiliary time control songs. One slows down time by ~50%, the other jumps ahead to the next dawn/dusk. MM3D revised the latter to allow to jump to any top of the hour across the next 12 hours.
Any of the scarecrows around town teach it to you just by talking to them, but they do so by describing the songs, not teaching you the notes
Majora’s Mask is my favorite game. Not just favorite Zelda, but favorite game, period. It always breaks my heart to see people not being able to enjoy it the way I enjoy it, because there’s so much excellent storytelling in that game. While Nintendo deconfirmed the “stages of grief” fan theory, it’s still a lot more fun playing through the game with that theory in mind, because it truly fits the game so well, and adds a lot of depth to the experience.
For what it’s worth, the 3DS version is far superior to the original N64 release. Lots of QoL improvements (though I’m actually not a fan of how the bosses were redesigned) and some progression elements were streamlined a bit. I feel like most people playing MM for the first time are doing themselves a disservice playing the original.
Nintendo ‘deconfirmed’ it because that would be sad and they don’t want to publically say “yes Majoras Mask is a sad.” Doesn’t fit the brand. That being said, Majoras Mask is about grief. The lead Dev lost his daughter right before production, whether it was intended or not the game is absolutely chock a block with this constant repeating theme and it’s why the game is special.
I don’t think the 3DS is far superior at all. There’s nice QoL for sure. The change to Zora swimming to use magic was a dumb decision and the deku scrub water jumps feel terrible. Not to mention the whole game is brighter compared to the N64 version, which ruins the atmosphere to me. I like both versions, but the 3DS is more accessible, not superior imo. Here’s a good video about it if anyone is interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=653wuaP0wzs
