Screenshot Jave is Playing Majora's Mask 3D and SerenesForest is Going to Like it!

[Jave]

OK, as a preamble, let me tell you a little about my history with this game.

Back in the N64 days, I rented this game for one weekend. I remember being extremely frustrated playing it since I spent almost the whole weekend playing as a Deku Scrub. By the time I finally managed to finish the first quest line in Clock Town and turn back to Human Link, it was time to return the game to Blockbuster, so I never really managed to do much with it.

Cue 14 years later, I purchase the 3DS remake of the game on launch day, however, due to real life and other video games getting in the way, I never managed to start playing it...until today.

So in this thread, I will be playing The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D in an experience that is going to be 88% new to me. I'll be sharing my thoughts and impressions along with some screenshots (all taken through Miiverse, so due to the process it takes to make them I won't be posting too many).

Some ground rules:

- NO STORY SPOILERS. Seriously, guys. Don't do this. I'm cool with you guys posting stuff like "Oh, wait until you finish this sidequest, it's so cool!", but major plot spoilers are NOT appreciated and will be reported.

- No telling me where to go unless I ask. If I get stuck (very likely since this is a Zelda game), I will ask you guys for help. I want to figure this out as much as I can on my own, but I have no intention of wandering aimlessly for hours.

- I can't say how often I will update this thread. I have a rather busy life and making a schedule for my hobbies is difficult. I'll definitely try to keep it from dying, though, as I intend to finish the game.

- This isn't a 100% run. I'll just beat the game, getting anything I can along the way.

Oh, and I'm naming the file "Link". I always do that first time on a Zelda game.

[Jedi]

Hope you enjoy it, I originally didn't like Majora's Mask that much, but when I got it again on the Wii VC I fell in love with everything about it.

So I hope you have a similar experience

Edited September 20, 2016 by Jedi

[Draco]

this one is pretty guide dang-it imo, I don't think many people find a lot of this stuff on their own

get the bunny hood though, it'll make your life so much easier

[B.Leu]

Not played Majora's Mask yet ? Huh, how old are you ? *Look at profile* Holy motherland of gamelon !

You ruined your life.

On a more serious note, you are so, so totally going to love this game, dude !

[Aircalipoor]

Should we tell thim about the two optional Songs that manipulate time? Or ist the 3DS Remake actually fair enough to tell the player about it? I know that one NPC tells you about it, but it is easy to miss and improves the game heavily.

[Magical Glace]

this one is pretty guide dang-it imo, I don't think many people find a lot of this stuff on their own

get the bunny hood though, it'll make your life so much easier

Yeah, it's worth it to devote the first cycle after Link regains his normal 10-year-old form entirely to getting the Breman Mask and Bunny Hood. The former is needed to get the latter, and the latter is something that 3D Zelda should implement more.

Should we tell thim about the two optional Songs that manipulate time? Or ist the 3DS Remake actually fair enough to tell the player about it? I know that one NPC tells you about it, but it is easy to miss and improves the game heavily.

The only place the game tells you is that one NPC, still. Well, they have song slots now, but that doesn't say much.

[Locke087]

So for some general advice for playing this game

1. Collect all the Masks! Remember this game only has four dungeons, the other half of this game is the Masks so I highly recommend you do their side quests are some of the best parts of this game.

2. If you want to play this game guideless it is entirely possible (no matter what people say to the contrary), but you will have to stick with it because this is the hardest game to play without a guide in the series (beside Zelda 1 & 2 and mabye Link's Awakening). Though If you really need a guide don't feel too ashamed as this game can be very vague sometimes.

Okay and since you're playing the inferior 3ds remake I would give you some special advice when it comes time. Anyways I hope you enjoy the inferior version of my favorite game of all time!

Edited September 20, 2016 by Locke087

[EricaofRenais]

Have fun MM is my second favorite Zelda.

[Magical Glace]

So for some general advice for playing this game

1. Collect all the Masks! Remember this game only has four dungeons, the other half of this game is the Masks so I highly recommend you do their side quests some of the best parts of this game.

2. If you want to play this game guideless it is entirely possible (no matter what people say to the contrary), but you will have to stick with it because this is the hardest game to play without a guide in the series (beside Zelda 1 & 2 and mabye Link's Awakening). Though If you really need a guide don't feel too ashamed as this game can be very vague sometimes.

Okay and since you're playing the inferior 3ds remake I would give you some special advice when it comes time. Anyways I hope you enjoy the inferior version of my favorite game of all time!

Just out of curiosity, what makes you like the 3DS version less? I've played/beaten both, and found that the 3DS version's revamps to the Save system and Double Time made it overall more enjoyable/convenient to play.

[Locke087]

Just out of curiosity, what makes you like the 3DS version less? I've played/beaten both, and found that the 3DS version's revamps to the Save system and Double Time made it overall more enjoyable/convenient to play.

Because I can't avoid spoilers inorder to talk about what I want to talk about I'm just gonna spoiler all this.

where to begin all right with star of the things I do like/don't mind.

1. The new song of double time this is one of the two changes in the remake that I find okay it's better than setting the game literally down for like forever just to wait for time to pass, that being said I don't mind the way the old game was as there I would just plan out my days so I wouldn't have to wait and I'm torn between which ones more fun...

2. I don't mind the new save system it makes sense for a portable, that being said if you're going to neuter majora's mask save system just do ocarina of time's, go whole hog or not at all, don't dot ugly save points all over the map.

3. the new location of the stone mask is fine with me if a little nonsensical, because let's face it you will never ever ever find the N64 version's stone mask about a Guide (but once you know where it is you never forget it).

And let's go to the thing is I absolutely hate that they did,

1. The bosses, they completely ruined the bosses, Twinmold requires a contextual button pressed defeat (which I had to look up because that's bad game design), and they somehow made Gyorg even worse with the new second phase of the battle being annoying to say the least, then they made the other two bosses easier for no particular reason, and then they stapled massive eyes to three them as if their weak spots were not obvious enough.

2. By making swimming require a magic they have made the great bay area a massive drag, because when you run out of magic during the period when you're trying to grab all the the music note babies. Then you're gonna have to swim back-and-forth really really slow. Basically making it so that you are required to have Romani's milk if you don't want to murder yourself while playing the great bay area especially if you don't have a lot of bottles.

3. These are more nickpicks, but Ice Arrow only freeze in specific spots for no particular reason... The new bank location breaks my immersion because it makes no sense for it to be where it is... And while the new save system and the improve double time and stuff do make the game more convenient, it does take away some of the feeling of dread Majora is suppost to have... And there's less incentive to plan out your day, it was kind of fun having to plan things to do while you waited for certain events to happen.

Edited September 20, 2016 by Locke087

[Magical Glace]

Because I can't avoid spoilers inorder to talk about what I want to talk about I'm just gonna spoiler all this.

where to begin all right with star of the things I do like/don't mind.

The new song of double time this is one of the two changes in the remake that I find okay it's better than setting the game literally down for like forever just to wait for time to pass, that being said I don't mind the way the old game was as there I would just plan out my days so I wouldn't have to wait and I'm torn between which ones more fun...

Second I don't mind the new save system it makes sense for a portable, that being said if you're going to neuter majora's mask save system just do ocarina of time's, go whole hog or not at all, don't dot ugly save points all over the map.

Third the new location of the stone mask is fine with me if a little nonsensical, because let's face it you will never ever ever find the N64 version's stone mask about a Guide (but once you know where it is you never forget it).

And let's go to the thing is I absolutely hate that they did,

1. The bosses, they completely ruined the bosses, Twinmold requires a contextual button pressed defeat (which I had to look up because that's bad game design), and they somehow made Gyorg even worse with the new second phase the battle being annoying to say the least, then they made the other two bosses easier for no particular reason, and then they stapled massive eyes to three them as if they're weak spots were not obvious enough.

Understandable, though I actually thing the major boss changes just made them more difficult and engaging (Twinmold especially, the N64 fight with him was waaaaay too easy imo), and Goht and Oldowa really aren't that different, all things considered.

2. By making swimming require a magic they have made the great bay area a massive drag it because when you run out of magic during the period when you're trying to grab all the the music note babies then you're gonna have to swim back-and-forth really really slow. Basically making it so that you are required to have Romani's milk if you don't want to murder yourself are playing the great Bay Area especially if you don't have a lot of bottles.

This didn't bother me too much, Money is pretty easy to come by and the 3DS version actually adds a bottle to fill the inventory slot vacated by the Ocarina

3. These are more nickpicks, but Ice Arrow only freeze in specific spots for no particular reason... The new bank location breaks my immersion because it makes no sense for it to be where it is, and why there's was no reason to do that... And while the new save system and the improve double time and stuff do make the game more convenient, it does take away some of the feeling of dread Majora is suppost to have... And there's less incentive to plan out your day, it was kind of fun having to plan things to do while you waited for certain events to happen.

I thought the new bank spot, being more central and closer to the warp point, was a good change, actually. Not absolutely necessary, but a nice convenience. I don't think the save system/Double Time buff really harmed the atmosphere either, Link has "infinite" time either way.

Replies in bold

[Locke087]

Replies in bold

If I was perfectly honest it was the contextual button press on Twinmold that was the straw that broke the camels back for me, I was fighting the boss for like 30 minutes straight wondering why it wouldn't die, and as I was determined since I already have most of Majora memorized to not to ever use a guide, it broke me and I had to look it up, and It annoyed me so much when I found out when I had to do! Overall I don't mind the changes the Twimmold other than that contextual button press and removal of the sword because that's was really cool... The problem with Gyorg is that I don't know if I was just unlucky, but it was really hard to get him to start sucking up mines (he just kept spamming fish) so it wasn't so much that it was hard as much as it took forever to kill (also I was excited to see the changes to Gyorg and imagine my surprise when he turned into yet another boss that sucks up bombs). Also the first phase was stupid easy. Really the remake wasn't that bad as much as it flawed in a way that no other Zelda remake is, because instead of just making small changes to make the game more convenient, there are several large changes that are half baked and poorly though out like the changes to swimming, or just bizarre out of place things such as the eyes stapled to the bosses, and the changes to the ice arrows.

Edited September 20, 2016 by Locke087

[Magical Glace]

If I was perfectly honest it was the contextual button press on Twinmold that was the straw that broke the camels back for me, I was fighting the boss for like 30 minutes straight wondering why it wouldn't die, and as I was determined since I already have most of Majora memorized to not to ever use a guide, it broke me and I had to look it up, and It annoyed me so much when I found out when I had to do! Overall I don't mind the changes the Twimmold other than that contextual button press and removal of the sword because that's was really cool... The problem with Gyorg is that I don't know if I was just unlucky, but it was really hard to get him to start sucking up mines (he just kept spamming fish) so it wasn't so much that it was hard as much as it took forever to kill (also I was excited to see the changes to Gyorg and imagine my surprise when he turned into yet another boss that sucks up bombs). Also the first phase was stupid easy. Really the remake wasn't that bad as much as it flawed in a way that no other Zelda remake is, because instead of just making small changes to make the game more convenient, there are several large changes that are half baked and poorly though out like the changes to swimming, or just bizarre out of place things such as the eyes stapled to the bosses, and the changes to the ice arrows.

I forgot to ask before, but what do you mean by contextual button press?

I will say the #1 reason I prefer the 3DS version is the fact switch L/Z-target isn't forced. I hate switch L target.

[Anacybele]

Prepare for a very short game if you don't intend to do much side stuff as you say. I hated MM because its main story was too short (I prefer more of a balance of main story and side content), I wasn't fond of the three-day system (it just added pressure I didn't want, even though I did usually have enough time to do what I wanted to do), a lot of masks felt like they didn't have enough uses or were just plain useless, and I did not like the dungeons at all except for the fourth one. I really hated the final boss. It was stupidly easy compared to the rest of the game which I actually thought was somewhat challenging.

I also couldn't find myself liking many of the characters, even though it WAS neat how they had their own lives and schedules and such (I especially hated Anju. What an annoying idiot).

Look forward to dungeon #4 and its location though. That part of the game was amazing (aside from one annoyance, but I won't get into it).

Edited September 20, 2016 by Anacybele

[Locke087]

I forgot to ask before, but what do you mean by contextual button press?

I will say the #1 reason I prefer the 3DS version is the fact switch L/Z-target isn't forced. I hate switch L target.

Oh sorry I should have been more clear, during the second phase (when you get the giant's mask) of the Twinmold fight when you damage him enough that he stops moving you have to walk over to his tail and press A to throw him to do any actual damage, a mechanic that is not well prompted or used on enemies in game before or after the fight. When other Zelda games do stuff like this they usually at least prompt you well.

Edited September 20, 2016 by Locke087

[Magical Glace]

Oh sorry I should have been more clear, during the second phase (when you get the giant's mask) of the Twinmold fight when you damage him enough that he stops moving you have to walk over to his tail and press A to throw him to do any actual damage, a mechanic that is not well prompted or used on enemies in game before or after the fight. When other Zelda games do stuff like this they usually at least prompt you well.

Oh, the throwing thing. It's been a while, but I got the idea quickly enough if I remember correctly.

To each their own I guess

[Jave]

Okay, so I started the game last night and pretty much played up to the point I originally played it on the N64.

We begin with Link riding Epona in the woods, along with an intro telling us the game takes place after Link returned back in time in Ocarina of Time and he is now looking for his lost friend, which is heavily implied to be Navi.

Suddenly, Skull Kid shows up with his two fairies and steals Epona from Link, along with his ocarina. So instead of a boring, long cutscene, the game puts you right into the action and you can control Link right away. Link follows Skull Kid and finds him, but gets transformed into a Deku Scrub, since apparently Skull Kid has super powers or something. Among all that happens Skull Kid's two fairies get separated, and one of them, Tatl, sticks with Link until she can reunite with her brother Tael.

BTW, I'm playing the game in Spanish. It's my mother language, after all. (Trivia: Tatl is called Taya in the Spanish version)

Link moves forward until he reaches a room where he meets the Happy Mask Salesman. He promises to change Link back if he can recover what Skull Kid stole from him, as well as recovering the mask Skull Kid is wearing.

So Link arrives in Clock Town, a place were strangely, every NPC is like a counterpart of an NPC from OoT. I guess this is explained later on, we'll see.

Searching around town we meet Tingle, here in his debut appearance. He sells me a map of Clock Town, which makes things a lot easier. First thing to do is look for the Great Fairy, which we found but notice Skull Kid has broken into several small fairies (Ouch!). We find the fairy in a corner of town and bring her back to the Fountain, so now the Great Fairy takes full form, and she looks just as disturbingly curvy as she did in OoT.

After gaining the ability to shoot water from the Great Fairy, we can pop the balloon one of the Bomber Kids is trying to pop and then play a game of hide-and-seek with these kids.

After finding them all, we get a secret code to enter the kids' secret hideout, which leads to the Observatory. We take a peek through the telescope and notice Skull Kid in the distance, and something falls into the courtyard nearby from the sky.

We go outside and pick up a Moon's Tear, but there's also something weird about the moon tonight.

That can't be good. Anyway, we take the Moon's Tear to a Deku Scrub in the center of Clock Town and exchange it for a land title deed.

Now we can use the Deku Flower in South Clock Town and reach the upper part of the Clock Tower. When Midnight in the 3rd Day hits, the door up there opens and we reach the top were Skull Kid is planning to drop the moon and kill everyone. Yeah, I guess Kid's crazy.

Link uses his Deku skills to get his Ocarina back and suddenly has a Flashback where Zelda taught him the Song of Time, so he plays it and turns back time 3 days, going back to were they first arrived at Clock Town.

Tatl is obviously impressed, but no time for that now. It's time to go back to the Happy Mask Salesman so he can change Link back to normal, since we haven the ocarina.

Using his unique Deku musical skills, Link learns the Song of Healing from the Happy Mask Salesman, and after playing it he separates from his Deku persona by turning it into a mask. Link gets the first mask in the game, a Deku Mask, which he can use to turn into a Deku Scrub and turn back into human at will.

Masks Obtained: 1

Happy Mask Salesman now asks for Majora's Mask, which we were supposed to get back from Skull Kid. Of course we don't have it, and Happy Mask Salesman doesn't take it well.

Apparently Majora's Mask grants obscene amounts of power to whoever wears it. So it's important we get it back before the world ends in three days. Fortunately we can turn back time now, so we don't have to worry too much about that, but of course we need to end this vicious cycle since we don't want to spend eternity reliving the same weekend over and over again.

Time to save, and end our play time for now.

Can't really post much impressions yet since I essentially just played the part I played 14 years ago. I'll be posting more in-depth thoughts as I progress and do more side quests (since apparently this game is pretty heavy on those).

Thanks to everyone who commented!

[Anacybele]

Oh, if you're going to do some sidequests then, Jave, there are some that require access to certain places that you can't get to until late in the game. Be careful about which ones you choose to do.

Edited September 21, 2016 by Anacybele

[Jave]

Okay, update time:

I spent a couple of cycles wandering around Clock Town to fill up the Bomber's Book with profiles. I also got the Stray Fairy back to the fountain and did the challenge at the Dojo for a Piece of Heart.

Masks obtained: 2

Then I farmed for Rupees and bought the Woodfall map, which seems to hint at where I have to go next.

Decided to check Romani Ranch in the last day and I met Cremia and Romani, aka Big and Little Malon. Couldn't do much now, but I found where Epona is!

So I went to Woodfall, and on the way we triggered a cutscene where we see how Tatl and Tael met Skull Kid.

On the way to Woodfall I met Tingle again (Same Tingle? Or are there multiple ones?) and bought him a map of Snowhead, which seems to be the place to hit after Woodfall.

So I arrive at Woodfall, and I met probably the one character I didn't want to see in this game... the chatty Owl from OoT. Oh well, at least his info dump here gave me something useful, a song that lets me warp to the various Owl Statues among Termina, which I suppose is this game's warp system.

Oh, so this is where Hyrule Warriors Legends got it from.

I did a lot more stuff along the way that are probably too superficial to mention like getting a couple of Pieces of Heart and visiting the various houses in Clock Town. I'll keep track of everything important in this thread.

I've been enjoying the game so far even though I haven't hit a dungeon just yet. Let's see where the game takes me next post.

Edited October 5, 2016 by Jave