So, I completely missed out on Ocarina of Time when it came out. My little brother had it and played the hell out of it when it was new, and I saw plenty of it.. I was just busy with virtually every other gaming platform in existence at the time, so I missed out on it.

A few years later, in 2001 or 2002, I tried picking it up and seriously playing it. I put about three hours into it, but I got caught up in other things and never went back to it. I meant to play it again, but over the next few years I just said "to hell with it" and declared it a lost cause.

Anyways, last weekend my brother was over and he brought his cart with him. He urged me to start a new game and we ended up playing it for the next few hours. He let me borrow the cart, and I've been playing it on and off each day this past week.

I have to say, it's pretty cool. I'm still very early in the game though (Just got the bombs and the first relic/stone/crystal/whatever from the cave, worked my way to the water-people's hideout, got transported to some river in the middle of nowhere, and found a bottle with a note in it). Just out of curiosity though, does this game get more open-ended than it is? My only real complaint so far (aside from the unsteady framerate) is that it's not as "free roaming" as any of the prior Zelda's (I, II, Link to the Past or Link's Awakening). I mean, you can go a few places off the get-go, but that's about it.. There's no accidental "wandering into a strange land and getting your ass handed to you" like there was in the old games, at least, not that I've experienced yet.

Yes. Just wait when you become adult Link.

You have only seen about 1/3 of the game.

yeah, there is a LOT more to come and other than a few places where you need a certain item to get to a certain area, it is pretty free roaming.

Enjoy! What a great great game!

you will love the game until you get to the Shadow Temple.......1st time I got there I was like FML. At least I think it was Shadow...maybe it was the Water one. Hmmm......great, now I gotta go play thru Ocarina of Time again. THanks.....

Believe me, it was the water...I am playing through this game right now again and I am on the last dungeon before the castle. I almost cried in the water dungeon. People say the shadow dungeon is hard and it has some challenging parts(well I guess it is hard), but after playing the water dungeon it was much less stressful. Over the years I have put this game on a pedestal that maybe it doesn't deserve now that I am playing it again. Then again it is 12 years old and I have to keep reminding myself that. Also, I have the collector's edition which is version 1.0 and if I am not mistaken there were changes done to the other n64 releases.

The game is filled with glitches, has slow down/frame rate issues, and has some insanely hard parts in the game(atleast for me). Still an amazing game and one hell of an adventure, but to call it a flawless isn't exactly the right description, but amazing does it justice.

The water temple is my least favorite temple in the game. I find it very annoying that you have to constantly raise and lower the water level to get through the whole temple.

Yeah, the Water Temple is by far the toughest temple in OoT. Luckily the boss is insanely easy so you don't have to worry about that.

I don't remember my copy being too glitchy, though. But, the last time I played this was around 2001, so you never know what my mind chooses not to remember.

I have a strategy for sale if you would like it, just let me know.

This is where I have been stuck for about 4 years. Mind you, I haven't played the game in about 4 years either. It's probably one of my favorite games I've played for the N64 (even though I've only played the gamecube version).

Honestly I never have liked Ocarina of Time all that much. My favorite parts were the shadow and water temples. There were at least challenging and interesting. The rest of the game is pretty easy.

It's been probably 5 or more years since I've last played it but it's pretty open world. The later temples as have been said get challenging as hell. I used to think it was one of the best games I've ever played but I haven't played it recently to really decide if it holds up or not. As of now I rank it behind A Link to the Past and the Legend of Zelda, but I still think it's better than the console games that have come after it (haven't played any of the handhelds.)

It's been a long time since I played this game in the late 90s brand new, but I remember it exceeding my expectation and then some.

I remember being the envy of the neighborhood for figuring out the Water Temple without a strategy guide. It is nothing impossible by any means, but there were some damn tricky puzzles if I remember correctly.

You'll have fun, enjoy the ride.

I'm jealous that you get to play this game for the first time. What a great experience.

I'll have to go find the Master Quest version. I've played it a bit, but never had time to finish it.

Master Quest is actually easier than the original version. At least I think so. For example, I'm pretty sure you only need 1-2 small keys to be able to finish the Water Temple. In MQ, the dungeons in general seem a lot shorter.

That being said, I love this game. I think it's easily the best Zelda game ever created. Every time I play it, regardless of the version, I get all 20 hearts. I've only ever gotten all of the Skultullas once though, if I remember correctly, and I forget which version it was.

I can't remember if I got all the heart pieces, but I distinctly remember getting all of those damn Skulltulas though (100).  Ah the days when I used to 100% every game I owned, can't remember the last time I've done that.

Games have too much crap to even try nowadays. Grand Theft Auto, Fallout, etc. are just overloaded.

For some reason i've never been able to get into the 3d Zelda's, maybe it's because I always played the 8 bit ones on the NES and Gameboy. I've played Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess but I haven't beaten either of them.

Sprite superiority syndrome. If it doesn't have a humongous head and/or 8 colors it isn't good. Sadly quite a few people suffer from this syndrome. 

Haha...you could say the same thing about people who have a blanket preference for 3D polygons
Though, I think it's unfortunate that you're so dismissive of some people's preference for sprite-based graphics.

I see where Penguin is coming from on this, and to me, it's more of an issue that it was so much easier for the developers to make the play control rock-solid in sprite-based games.  No need to control camera views, the control frame of reference is always the same, level mapping is straightforward and practical, etc.

Heh, I will always be in the middle on this issue. I am 19 and my gaming generation was the ps1/n64/gameboy color era. I dislike both sides. I respect sprites and I respect modern era stuff. I think people who completely bash on the new era are dumb and vice versa. 

The Water Temple is actually my favorite dungeon in the whole game. It was very challenging and felt like an accomplishment upon finishing it. The nod to Zelda II was brilliant.

Well, I was 7 when I got my NES in 1989, and Legend of Zelda was the first non-pack-in-game I had for the system (followed by Mega Man 2).

It was a great experience to play through that game and swap puzzle-solving tips and maps with my dad.  So definitely, nostalgia-wise, that game will never be unhorsed, for me at least.

I don't shun newer games, at all.  But I have absolutely no nostalgia for OoT, and having played it much later than it's original release, I have a hard time seeing what sets it apart from Twilight Princess (which I did enjoy).