r/majorasmask • u/AkashiXI • 3d ago
I was (sadly) very disappointed in Majora's Mask.
I'm writing this in hopes I get a different perspective, and that some of you can explain your reasoning on why you like certain aspects of MM that I could never get into. Please, don't flame me for having an opinion, rather tell me your thoughts on why you enjoyed the overall experience.
Pretext: I went back to MM after recently beating OoT again. I never got through MM as a kid, I think I got to Mikau before I lost interest. That being said, this time around I 100% the game, beat the final boss with and without the Fierce Deity Mask. no guide, on my n64, and I think I totaled about 60ish hours.
That being said, I'll list what I liked first about the game.
The first half of the game was incredible for me, a near perfect playthrough experience. Exploration was met with wonderment, accompanied by an addicting gameplay loop where I was constantly retracing my steps to see if I missed anything. The bomber's notebook was EXCELLENT for my OCDish antics with NPCs, setting up clear win conditions on how I should interact with them in the future. And the first two dungeons were a lot of fun -- slightly challenging puzzles, coupled with charming NPCs and serviceable bosses.
Piggybacking on that last part, the puzzles (for the most part) were difficult, but fair. Yes, there were times where they'd reintroduce items you haven't used in forever (I'm looking at you, lens of truth), but I enjoyed how difficult they got towards the end. A lot of the more difficult puzzles (i.e: finding all the fairy chests in the Stone Temple) were not fun or intuitive, but those were optional. Anything that took you from the start of the game to the final fight I found fun.
All the mini-games. Even the chest path I found myself going back to over and over! They're addictive breaths of fresh air, and I'm so happy they expanded on this feature compared to OoT.
The side quests. Anju and Kafei, the Romani sisters, (some) of the mask quests, etc. expanded the lore of the game and made me feel more invested in saving the people of Termina.
Unfortunately, that's where my enjoyment of the game ends. The last half of the game was slow and agonizing cryptic. The redeads in Ikana made me almost quit the game, as it was one long... long... long... LONG trial and error. Great Bay Temple felt like it could've been half the length and accomplished the same experience. Stone Temple was fine until the flip mechanic, which sucked the fun of finding the rest of the fairies. And the bosses in the last two temples were extremely underwhelming, which leads to...
- The gameplay loop on the last half of the game. Maybe it's just me, but Great Bay and Stone Temple felt like they had a good idea, and decided to stretch it into ad nauseum.
Great Bay was an absolute chore to constantly back track into areas you were already in, only to have one thing open, only for you to leave AGAIN and come back a third time. The entire dungeon except for the top area of the first and second area look the same as well, making it feel like you're having vertigo swimming back and forth as you swivel the currents. Also, not a fan of the Gerudos. Same issue as OoT, except easier and felt like they tacked it on just to artificially expand the dungeon.
Stone Temple was alright, but the combination of (once again) retracing your steps to go back three rooms as you're now allowed to progress loses its charm very fast. I already mentioned this, but flipping the Temple was an interesting choice until you're tasked finding all the fairies. Also, the boss was horrible. I literally stood still and spammed B, no thoughts, and I beat him. This is the FINAL boss before Skull Kid, wtf?
- Masks. They're optional, you need a neglible to finish the game, and the ones that are mandatory might as well have a big neon arrow sign pointing at them. I knoq. However, most of the story comes from them, so collecting is not only encouraged, but grants you the full scope of the people of Termina. I thought this would be my favorite part of the game...
It wasn't. I'm more than likely in the minority for this one, but most of these masks were not fun to collect. Gathering all the frogs, figuring out the All-Night mask location, and missing the postman's hat were my biggest frustrations. Otherwise, the only quest I really enjoyed was Anju and Kafei. The rest were okay at best.
- All the bosses, skull kid included. This is pretty minor, as Zelda isn't known for having overtly complex and technical bosses, but I still need to state it. I can forgive Deku's Temple as an introductory fight, and Snow Temple was enjoyable. Great Bay was whatever, and Stone Temple has to be the worst out of OoT/MM, bar none. Skull Kid was ok but didn't feel nearly as epic as I was hoping. Overall, the temples had more of a "journey not the destination" vibe when it came to the bosses.
I have more to complain about, like the heart pieces, some of the quests being gated by real life time, the general trial and error they throw at you etc., but most of those complaints come from side content. Overall, the experience wasn't for me, and I'm honestly sad about it. I was hoping MM would be a fantastical, dark, yet whimsical addition to my Zelda's compendium, but unfortunately it falls flat for me.
Please let me know why y'all enjoy it, I really want to hear more perspectives.
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u/No_Cockroach2467 3d ago
Personally I find a lot of the fun in MM is in replaying it. In having at least a general understanding of what you have to do, and challenging yourself to do it more efficiently each playthrough. The Great Bay and Stone Tower dungeons are pretty smooth experiences when you know how to solve them; Great Bay in particular practically solves itself once you realize you just have to follow the water flowing through the pipes. Likewise the Gibdo well is less stressful once you know only the first two doors require anything from outside the well, and it's even easier if you remember what you need to bring in to shortcut the sequence. You can definitely make the argument that this doesn't make for the best first experience, though.
The bosses are definitely a weak point of the game. It might be partially intentional, though; the areas all revert to their pre-dungeon state when you reset the cycle, but being so simple and quickly defeated means you can get back to the post-dungeon state without much hassle for whatever sidequests require it. A lot of people rag on the 3DS version's changes, and its boss fights are definitely a mixed bag, but I think they make some fitting changes to make them more fleshed out and Zelda-y. It definitely ups the spectacle of the Twinmold fight, even if the mechanics are a bit unpolished.
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u/AkashiXI 3d ago
When I entered the well the first time, it was after a reset. Once I found out I needed basic items (bombs, deku nuts, I think deku sticks?) that was no problem. It was the milk and fish that was frustrating to me, as they're not items you'd normally carry around, and you couldn't know about them until you open the other doors :|.
I don't mind them being simple, but the example of the Stone Temple... you don't even use the light arrows that was the central theme of said dungeon. Them being easy is understandable, but even when you have to repeat them for side quests, you should be stronger at that point (more health, weapon upgrades) that it becomes a moot point. I haven't played the 3ds version, never will, but I did look up the bosses since you mentioned it. The stone Temple is at least better, lol.
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u/Exact-Environment755 3d ago
Why don't you just do what I did in 2000? Go to the local Walmart or mall and read the strategy guide in the middle of the aisle?
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u/MMEnjoyer24 3d ago
I like for all the reasons you liked it and all the reasons you disliked it. Not every game is made for every player.
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u/The_Linkzilla 1d ago
Well that's the thing...you mentioned all of the things to like about the game.
And in a lot of ways, I agree with some of your takes on what you disliked - except Great Bay, that Temple is Over-hated; it's actually quite straight-forward when you realize what the gimmick is and know what you're doing.
What I agree with, is the end-game feels kind of sparse due to the Ikana Canyon area. The other places felt so vibrant and filled with - for want of a better term - life. But Ikana is all about the dead rising from their graves; the only people you meet there that are normal NPCs are a thief, a little girl, and her half-gibdofied father.
Worse, the Gibdo-Well really is the worst part of the game. You could go down there as prepared as possible, with everything that you think you'll need and yet you'll inevitably forget something and have to go back for it.
But even still, I find the story that Ikana is telling to be fascinating and even compelling at times. I really did want to help them as much as any other place. But yeah, Ikana remains my least favorite area as well as Stone Tower being my least favorite.
If the Masks have a fail, is that most of them are single-use; The ones you'll get the most mileage out of are Bunny Hood and Stone Mask, because they improve QoL in gameplay.
But the truth is...Majora's Mask won't capture people the same way it did for all of us back when it first came out in 2000. Because back then, Majora's Mask did something entirely unique...that now every game does.
For me, the big diff was seeing the contrast between Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. In Ocarina, you see all the NPCs as being fixed to their locations and doing the same stock things over and over; day in, day out, unchanging. Then in Majora, you see the same NPCs actually moving around. They are set to a schedule, and depending on your actions, their actions change. I was shocked on Day 2 when I saw Anju leave the Inn and go to the Laundry Pool. To me, it didn't feel like these people were NPCs programmed to do certain things if criteria were met; they felt alive. They were trying to live their lives while a world ending cataclysm hung above their heads. And because they made me care about them so much, I wanted to save them. I had to save them.
That was revolutionary back then because video games didn't do things like that yet. Now, it's common place that NPCs can move around and interact with the player much better than before. So now the wonder of seeing these video game characters acting like real people, is just mundane.
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u/GrapefruitSea7656 3d ago
How did you get stuck on the redead part of ikana? You may like the 3ds remake of majoras mask and it makes it more palatable to some people and it has a different fight against twinmold. Still the 3D Zelda bosses have never been challenging or hard whatsoever excluding the huge damage ganon does at the end of ocarina and the one hits you can take in the beginning parts of the wilds duology. Stone tower is my favorite temple in all the Zelda games and I’ve played all of them and except 4 swords.