Ocarina of Time is more to me than a game. It's a memory. A memory of a time where I didn’t have to worry about bills, whether i’m a good Dad or Husband, have I screwed up at work etc. It was a time where i’d wake up slowly out of bed, wood pigeons echoing in the distance, rays of the sun gently creeping behind the curtain. The first thing on my mind was, where the hell is that final key in the Water Temple! Ocarina of Time hit me, and a lot of us, with an experience of an open world we’d never seen before. Sure you had Mario 64 but when I walked out onto Hyrule Field for the first time, the orchestral score kicking in and seeing the vast Death Mountain in the distance. There was nothing that could have prepared me for that feeling of wonder and excitement.
Since those days i’ve replayed the game countless times and aside from nostalgia, it truly is a mastercraft in game design. From the small puzzles to the complex dungeons. At the core of it all, the age old battle of good vs evil. I’ll never forget the feeling of absolute horror when I returned the first three stones, only for Ganondorf to be waiting with that evil grin. Thanking me for giving me exactly what he wanted, absolute power over the Triforce.
So it's fair to say the remake has a LOT to live up to. Personally, I’m intrigued to see where they go with it because those moments cannot be recreated. Also, I don't want them to be. What I hope is that we get a game that captures the same essence of Ocarina of Time. The sense of wonder, the complexity of the puzzles, the open plains of Hyrule. What I don’t want is Tears of the Kingdom reskinned with a different map. Above everything I don’t want the challenge dumbed down, please for the love of everything that's holy, keep the Temples! I don’t care if they're reworked but for me they are at the heart of the game. Losing those to 100 odd shrines would be a massive misstep.
I also hope they keep the heart of the story and the characters journeys. That's something the newer games, in my opinion, lacked.
So, with the upcoming direct I hope we get an idea of how much personality of the original game they’ve retained, and what they’ve introduced for the newer generations. Just, make it challenging! Please!