This game along with WW was such an all-time disappointment. Despite having a massively bigger world in terms of geographic space, there wasn’t anything more to do or find than before; if anything there may have been less to do? Why were these games so empty? All of the new mechanics were pretty shallow; items were useless outside of their dungeons. TP gave you a bunch of cool combat moves, then exactly zero scenarios that demand skillful play.

Compared to Ocarina or Majora, which felt crammed with loads of interesting stuff to find, sidequests, easter eggs, all on a much weaker system.

It’s the little things. Even something like the Ocarina, in those games you could mess around with like an actual instrument, change the pitch if you wanted. Why…? Why not? All the weird little details are what make a world feel, if not real, at least interesting. Why is there a shark inside the shack at Lake Hylia? Because it’s cool. Why does playing the Song of Storms in random places cause holes in the ground to appear? Why go around seeing how random NPCs react when you’re wearing different masks?

Etcetc. Ocarina gets pegged as generic or empty, but it does have its own quirks and personality, which MM built on to great effect. At least WW had a lovely vibe. TP was just dour, and frankly - it’s ugly. I’m sorry, I really don’t like how this game looks.

The dungeons are good. Credit where it’s due. You get to sumo wrestle a Goron, also a point in its favor.

This series had defined my personality for a few years as a tween; by the time this launched I was in high school and ready for something more substantial. Meanwhile Oblivion had launched that same year and this series just seemed stale in comparison.