Ocarina of Time Remake: Zelda Notes Support

Other than Miyamoto and Aonuma, our hero Hidemaro Fujibayashi came also on the 40th Anniversary Direct stage, for the first time in the role of a producer. He has been a director ever since the Oracle games, so this is a huge promotion for the guy, where he may even replace Aonuma once he retires.

However, he had the questionable honor of introducing the newest additions to the Zelda Notes app, where Ocarina of Time will support it for various features. This is what's on the app:

• Map
• Gossip Quests
• Hall of Fallen Foes
• Today's Record
• My Play Data
• Global Play Data
• Photo Studio
• Threads of Time
• amiibo
• Play Ocarina
• Ocarina of Time Quiz 

Some of it looks like fun. I'm looking forward to the quiz and also the Gossip Quests, even though the latter seems a bit trivial due to the size of the world. Learning to play an actual ocarina via the app is also an oddly charming addition.

But there is also some questionable stuff in here. The "Today's Record" would have been nice-to-have for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. It would have even been super useful for me personally when I first had blogged about playing these titles. But it doesn't necessarily make much sense for a 20 hour game, which some people will have 100% completed right on November 5th.

I'm also not a fan of how this is effectively spying on me with the automatic screenshots, so I'm not sure if I will even turn this feature on, given that you can turn individual features on and off, and not just the Zelda Notes connectivity in general.

It's also interesting how you can pay for retries in the quiz with your Rupees from the game. I was hoping that they would find some more usages for Rupees in the remake, but this was certainly not on my list...

 

PS: I really hope that one day they will update Link's Awakening again to also support Zelda Notes. The QR code sharing would be perfect for the Chamber Dungeon.

Ocarina of Time Remake: amiibo Announced

Well, it was certainly expected that we're going to see some new amiibo during the Direct. And it's going to be two amiibo for the new Ocarina of Time, one for Young Link and one for Young Zelda, both sitting down. The funny part is what they will actually do in the game:

They will unlock new masks for Link to wear, where he can pose in the classic Nintendo 64 polygonal style. It will be interesting to see if they will create new reactions, where people will talk about how clunky you look. And you may even truly be able to carry around multiple masks at once, instead of just renting one at a time, but that's only speculation.

Anyway, I was certain that such an amiibo feature was somewhere in my list of ideas for the remake, but this doesn't seem to be the case. But I had given it some thought what amiibo could do in Ocarina of Time and "unlocking new masks" was the best I could come up with. Well, it looks like Nintendo agrees.

Now is the question whether other Zelda amiibo might also unlock additional masks, but they probably would have shown this. I would love to run around with a goofy Ganondorf mask or with some Zonai goggles. But maybe they will reveal something when the Mineru amiibo hits the stores next week.

Ocarina of Time Remake: Playing the Ocarina

In the gameplay footage Aonuma demonstrated how the ocarina is played in the Ocarina of Time remake. And... they have changed the buttons yet again from the Nintendo 3DS version. L and R seem to be the same notes, but A, X and Y have all been swapped. So, Zelda's Lullaby is now Y X A Y X A, instead of X A Y X A Y. As if the change in Ocarina of Time 3D wasn't already confusing enough, you now have to relearn all of the songs a third time.

But worry not... You can just hum the melodies into your Nintendo Switch 2 microphone now! No need to remember any buttons. Ain't that nice? Or... you can even play an instrument, like the official ocarina they are going to sell in the Nintendo Store.

Well, that could be fun, but it certainly won't be more convenient. At least you can also check your songbook via the ZL button, so this should make things easy enough. And to be honest, by now I have completely forgotten how the songs go in Ocarina of Time 3D, because it's been ten years since I have last played that version.

I was considering to replay the 3DS version before the remake comes out, but maybe I will refrain from that to not build some song muscle memories that won't be compatible.

Update: after sleeping a night on this, I came to realize that the new order is actually more intuitive, because it follows the alignment of the C-buttons from the Nintendo 64. So, the fault is really with Ocarina of Time 3D here, because they already should have done it like this back then.

Ocarina of Time Remake: Item Swapping

The Ocarina of Time remake will receive a number of bigger changes in its gameplay. You will now jump with the press of a button, which was a common request. After a roll you can now hold down the A-button to keep sprinting, similar to TUNIC, but without limited stamina.

You probably jump with the B button, while Y is used for the sword. It's not entirely clear yet what X is used for, but you will dash with it in water. And your main items are only used via ZR. That's right, from three different face buttons in the original game, this went down to a single shoulder button. You will be able to quickly swap what's on it via a Breath of the Wild-style quick menu:

But you can still use a traditional item menu from what it seems. And to make things at least somewhat convenient, some items are toggled via the D-pad, first and foremost the ocarina on its left. The Japanese website also shows the Iron Boots set to down on the D-pad and the Lens of Truth (which now look more like Purah's goggles) to up. And they demonstrate how you can quickly toggle both the lens and the Hover Boots in a clip, which takes place inside the Shadow Temple. It's still unclear how you will swap between Iron and Hover Boots, however, because you will need to do this in the Shadow Temple as well...

Maybe you can hold down on the D-Pad to swap them, but this would still be awkward. But it's possibly also how Link will equip his mask as a child. If you look at the new item menu, you can see dedicated sections for both adult and young Link:

There don't seem to be slots for the boots or masks in here. But it looks like there is going to be a fifth Empty Bottle for you to obtain, hopefully with an interesting new side quest or challenge for it, like how it was done in Majora's Mask 3D.

Update: the equipment menu has special item slots for the D-pad up and down, two per direction. Those will likely be the two boots, the Lens of Truth, and your mask. Up is for the things you wear on your head, and down is for your footwear. It makes sense. But it's unclear whether there is going to be a quick way to switch between the two in the same category, without going into the inventory screen.

Ocarina of Time Remake: Altered World

While the Ocarina of Time remake largely follows the same map as the original, they have taken quite a number of liberties, which will make exploring this Hyrule exciting for new players and veterans alike. If you look around in Hyrule Field, then you will be able to see all of Hyrule around you. Hyrule Castle, the smoking Death Mountain, the spinning windmill of Kakariko Village, the sandstone rock formations of Gerudo Valley. It's all there, visible right from the entrance to the field from the forest.

You can also spot enemies in new places. There are little Peahats flying around everywhere. There is a larger section now leading from Hyrule Field into the Zora River, with some Blue Tektites waiting there. And this might only be the beginning. There is stylized map of Hyrule for you to find in the background of the official European website:

Not only looks this very charming, but it does reveal that certain locations may have received an overhaul, most notably the Ice Cavern. There is now a staircase leading to it, which might be an indication that they want you to still reach it even when there is no ice at Zora's Domain any longer, where unfreezing the place after the Water Temple should be on top of every fan's wishlist. It also looks like it is in its own location, separate from Zora's Fountain, though this might be misleading.

The well in Kakariko is also pictured as its own location, while in the trailer it can be seen right where it always has been. Though, they have changed the layout of Kakariko quite a bit:

The Skulltula House and the construction site have swapped locations, while overall the village isn't set on an orthogonal grid any longer... It looks a lot more organic, which is great.

It's the same with the back alleys in Hyrule Castle Town, where a lot of it was made seamless, which includes going into buildings. However, they have kept loading transitions between the major areas, like going from the forest into the field. Aonuma said that they have done this to "preserve the essence of the original game", but I call that an excuse.

I understand that this was necessary for the dungeons, because their insides are much larger than what the outsides would allow, but I don't see how the overworld couldn't have been entirely seamless, especially with how they have re-arranged everything on the map to fit together perfectly. Unless they have faced some technical limitations.

At least the time will keep running everywhere, which means that the folks in Hyrule will have much more sophisticated routines, where they will go to their homes at night and such things. You can also spot Sakon running around the back alleys, while previously he was only present in the main area. I'm excited to find out whether you can already go to night time during the game's tutorial phase in Kokiri Village or time will simply be frozen for that part.

The area from where you exit the forest has also changed drastically. It's no longer on a bridge, but a path surrounded by roots. You can still go under it, from what it seems, but I personally hope for the the Lost Woods to feel a lot more like proper woods and less than a 3D chamber dungeon.

The Water Temple also looks like it got changed quite a bit, where you can spot a new bombable wall around the middle section, but sadly it still requires the Fairy Bow for you to complete it, so they are probably not allowing for more dungeon freedom. However, the altered Hyrule Field makes me hopeful that you at least can now go to the Zoras before the Gorons as young Link.

Ocarina of Time Remake: Visual Style

Let's talk about the horse in the room, which is the new visual style for the Ocarina of Time remake. Like various art styles in the Zelda series before, e.g. The Wind Waker or the Link's Awakening remake, it is quite divisive. Some love it, some hate it, some don't know what to think about yet it.

My personal reaction really ranged over the full spectrum. The environments look phenomenal. I love how much attention to detail went into everything and how much they've added, going way beyond of what was already done in Ocarina of Time 3D. Like, in the shops they have pinned those paper notes under the items, which tell you the bundle sizes. Okay, maybe this is a very random detail to obsess about, but there is so much new to look at. Take the Zora River, for example:

There have been structures here before, but it now really looks like ruins of Zora architecture. And they have done a lot like this all over the world, where this feels like a whole new game to explore, even if it follows largely the same map. And this has me amazed...

Enemies look great. The tongues of the Deku Babas are now like roots and they also have these root collars on their heads, it's impressive. Can't wait to see what they have done with the Redeads.

The character designs on the other hand look so uncanny that I just downright hate them. Ocarina of Time 3D managed to capture the style of the original artworks perfectly, but this new Ocarina of Time has gotten so realistic that the unrealistic proportions simply stand out.

And what's with young Zelda's face? It looks so bad that it probably scares me more than any Redead ever could... What is this? Why is her nose bigger than Ganondorf's? She doesn't look cute anymore, she looks like a little freak! It totally ruins the moment. And the characters also look too "plastic", especially when they are wet, which is a general problem with the lighting.

It all makes this feel like one of those super ambitious Unreal Engine 4/5 fan projects somehow got adopted by Nintendo and turned into a full game. The realism clashes so much with the character designs that it just looks weird.

And as impressive these graphics are for Nintendo standards, where this is going to be the graphically most advanced game released by Nintendo so far, it won't age very well. Naturally, this is a common problem for games that aim at such realistic graphics, instead of a more timeless approach (which is normally the way to go for Nintendo). But I guess they can just remake it again in 15 years...

Still, a part of me can't wait to see Termina in the same style in 2030. This level of realism offers a good chance to make Majora's Mask creepier than ever. And Clock Town in the same level of detail as this new Hyrule Castle Town would be amazing. 

Ocarina of Time Remake: Cover Art and Texture Foil Release

The cover of the upcoming Ocarina of Time remake not only looks gorgeous, its initial print will come with a special texture foil, where you can also feel the details. That's very neat and certainly a statement in the times of digital only. It also looks like the game will be fully on the card.

There won't be a Collector's Edition of the game, but that's actually considerate, given that a lot of Zelda fans will be buying a Nintendo Switch 2 and Pro Controller soon. Something like a cloth map for the new Hyrule would be nice, but they can always drop that as a bonus item in the Nintendo Store.

 

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