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Tuesday 19 February, 2008
Gameplay 2. The second time playing Ocarina of Time introduced me to the more unforgiving side of the game. Certain unhelpful blue fairies contributed to my frustration at times. Other than that, though, my emotional state for most of the game was excitement or intrigue. The game really requires the player to be involved in the game at a deeper level than a lot of other games. This includes not only solving the puzzles, but also mastering the controls.
About the story of the game—I’m sure I’m not the first to point out that it’s not very original. But I do want to say that I think it’s simplicity serves this game very well. In Ocarina of Time, instead of having to make sure the players could follow an intricate, twisty plot, it seems that they focused on gameplay, and went with a story that had some originality, but was still somewhat familiar to longtime players. That being said, I’m not crazy about it. ‘Rescue the Princess, Save the World’… As a girl, I’d at least like to rescue the prince once in a while.
Design. Challenges, as mentioned before, are puzzles built into gameworld. Another part of this is how to use the objects you have to make things happen. For example, Link may use his Fairy Slingshot in order to press certain buttons and open doors. One complaint is the limitations made by the gameworld rules. Even though it seems like the player should be able to do something in the game- something that would be possible in real life- that action may not be available in the game. While this is frustrating at times, I don’t think it can be changed without altering the puzzle element of the game.
I really like the game’s reward structure. Every time I do something significant, such as push a boulder into place, a short, rather spooky tune is played, and I feel a sense of accomplishment, even if I haven’t finished the area yet. Additionally, when I defeat a monster, it poofs away in a cloud of colored smoke. It’s kind of silly, but it definitely gives the player the feeling of finality. Also, it is still satisfying to chop at grass and make money appear.
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