The Bittersweet Comfort of Majora's Mask

In my final hours I wonder if I will regret anything Things I could have done Places I could have been Places I could have seen Even outside of death This recurring thought seems to show itself from time to time as things beyond my control become looming over me my head and I struggle to stay afloat I tend to wonder if I've done enough here I tend to internalize my existential dread and one of my coping mechanisms has always been video games, particularly the legend of zelda, my video game series favorite and one that always brings me a sense of

comfort

, immersion, engagement and wonder.

It combines all the elements of my favorite video games into one cohesive adventure, each time

comfort

being defined as a state of physical tranquility free from pain or restriction or as a relief from pain or distress. By these definitions, all but one of the Zelda games could potentially fit this description Majora's

mask

by all accounts is not comforting Death is upon you The clock is always ticking Terminal people slowly realize their destiny and they react in their own way and the game has this lingering air of dread hanging over it at all times, it encompasses the same word uncomfortable and yet I find solace in it anyway, Majora's Mask is one of the most attractions I've played, I seem to crave everything it has to do.

It offers its theme its gameplay its atmosphere everything I long for how uncomfortable this game makes me it's rare that a game can be so stressful so defeating and so depressing and still manage to be a game that I have a lot of fun with, one which I could get lost in for hours, but why is Majora's Mask not only a fun game but also shattered my preconceived notions of tension, stress, and game design? How far do you go to make fear a central part of everything you try? How do you address existentialism and fear in ways that remain unique to any artistic medium above all else?

Why is the comfort I find in Majora's

mask

so

bittersweet

? Perhaps the best place to start is where most of us start when I first played this game as Chico, I was completely lost. Skull Boy steals your ocarina and transforms you into a deku scrub. The happy mask seller gives you three days to retrieve Majora's mask, and you're stuck in Clock Town for about an hour while you adjust to your new form here. is what I remember from my first playthrough of this game in 2009, yes, I was a little late to the party. At first I wasn't sure how I was going to get to Skull Kid, but I learned that Deku Link could penetrate Deku. flowers and I threw them into the air as soon as I left the cellar of the clock tower I saw a flower to my right that was a different color than the rest once I spoke to the bushes that lived there I had my goal what followed was a lot of wandering Dar laps and discovering the game for myself in concept, this sounds like the original legend of Zelda, which left the player loose in an open world without any prior knowledge of what they were supposed to do, but what's really going on here is running a lot from one side to the other. aimlessly, talking a lot to people, reading a lot, playing hide and seek and tickling a lot.

This part of the game can take a full three-day cycle to complete if you don't spend time with the scarecrow, meaning the first hour of the game could simply be the player wandering around endlessly and gathering information. It probably didn't help that Link had a completely different skill set than what he was used to for the vast majority of the game's introduction beyond the tutorial I found. Even more overwhelmed as I played, I learned about the song of inverted time and double time, as well as the usefulness of certain masks, but for a long time I was struggling to get started, the bomber notebook was an amazing concept with everyone moving and sticking to it. your own schedules by keeping track of their requests felt like you were playing a completely different game inside Majora's mask that rewarded you with useful items to use in the main quest, but what scared me initially was the sheer amount of side quests 52 pieces of heart 21 optional masks and only 4 dungeons Majora's Mask demands a lot of the player's ingenuity from the beginning, especially as you progress from cycle to cycle by playing the song of time, you may not even know line up with what most people came for Zelda at the time.

Point Linked to the Past and Ocarina of Time struck a balance between the main quest and exploration for upgrades. Majora's Mask strikes a similar balance in its own way through its increase in difficulty over Ocarina of Time and fascinating locations like Ikana Castle and the Pirates' Stronghold, but the game really wants you to focus on the side quests instead. reasons that weren't obvious to me at the time, even if you managed to pick up some of the side quests on your first playthrough, there's a chance you'll find yourself. a dead end or missing a window of opportunity that forces you to start over another day.

There is also the problem that some quests force you to re-enter dungeons and re-fight bosses just to be able to restore peace to a certain part of it ends only for a piece of heart for a beginner, it is simply impossible to plan routes with anticipation because there's no way to know what will be possible after finishing a dungeon nor will you have enough time to do everything possible in one go, although I finished Majora's Mask back then and found myself enthralled anyway. I didn't even come close to appreciating everything it had to offer, to be fair.

I was quite young and didn't have enough experience with games that revolved around time. administration, so it took me a while to get back into the game. Later, as time went by, I seemed to be able to remember a single moment that made me want to give Majora's Mask another try one day, until on the last day there is a huge rock blocking your path. To the Romani ranch, once the rock finally cleared, I walked in, saw a wide open field to run in, and a familiar tune began to play. I was excited to see what this place had to offer as I approached the buildings in the distance I noticed my horse was locked up.

Romani acted as if he had seen the end of the world and the ranch was enveloped in an atmosphere of anguish that I will never forget. It left such a big impact on me that I didn't know how. I was going to help them, but I knew I wanted to do it and I didn't know it would be an integral part of what makes Majora's Mask special about a year after my first playthrough of Majora's Mask, the Drowned Ben creepypasta, took the internet by storm. It's the 10th anniversary of it, I decided to revive it and it holds up surprisingly well despite seeming a bit cliché.

Now you have to understand that Drowned Ben invented these clichés at the time. It was an innovative experience to watch and one that really encouraged people to play Majora. mask, of course, the game is not as disturbing as the creepypasta, but it was certainly harsh, whether because of the strangeness of this statue or how disturbing the healing song is when played backwards. There were many places to draw inspiration from. the source material, anyone who plays Majora's Mask will tell you how creepy the things people say and do, the places you visit and the events that take place are all abnormal for a game that proudly carried an e rating for all and abnormal for Zelda as a whole, the scene where Link transforms into a deku bush accurately mirrored a nightmare co-director Asianuma had the night before while he and his team were working on a hectic development schedule, not only was it This was the first game Aonuma had directed. had to be developed in a year, I can't help but feel like they let the stress that came from developing Majora's Mask spill into its narrative and world, the cult following of the art it inspired, as well as the strict cycle of development on this game guaranteed Aonuma-san his position as producer of the Zelda series.

He allowed Majora's Mask to cast a long shadow over me as a Zelda fan. I was waiting in the back of my mind for him to play it again someday, almost staring at me and a couple of years later, that day. It was like magic, everything started clicking for me. I caught myself planning my days in advance, I was grabbing every stray fairy I could in the dungeons and was always reworking an optimal route in my mind to collect every mask and heart piece in the shortest amount of time, I suddenly fell in love with Majora's Mask, so what happened and what caused this big change in perspective?

Well let's start again here, we're back at the first part of the game where you run around the city as Deku Link, although I'm not. I didn't realize at the time and most of us wouldn't have this segment, it's absolutely necessary, it's an essential part of Majora's Mask and it might be one of the most important tutorials in Zelda history, but it's certainly the part most important of the tutorial. is the part where you wander around desperate for information when I was younger, at first I didn't understand why I needed to talk to all these people, but now that I've played Majora's Mask several times thanks to its stellar design concepts and addictive Story Cycle feedback I have discovered its relevance.

This type of information seeking is exactly what you should do to help the people of Termina. Do this throughout the game, not only to advance your bomber notebook but also to progress the main mission. Every time you enter a new area, you'll need to constantly assess your surroundings in the same way I familiarize myself with the various buildings and locations within Clocktown, such as the Stockpot Inn, the milk bar, and the various mini-game huts from which I learn new ways to potentially expand my arsenal or solve problems. I learned that there is a bank where I can save my rupees for rewards and emergency purchases if needed.

I listened to the dialogue to keep myself informed of what is to come in my quest, as well as the circumstances. For the people of Clocktown, all of this information proves crucial later on, as I explore Termina for heart pieces and upgrades. It showed me that my attention would pay off in the long run, both for the sake of my progression and for my own. Let's take a look at the snow. head as an example of how mindfulness in the act of examining things or simply talking to people can help. When you enter, there is a high wall, a frozen goron, a cabin that casts a stark contrast against the endless snow, and two paths to take, one leads to a Goron village with a baby crying for its father and the other leads to Snowhead Mountain.

If you talk to the people at the cabin, you'll learn that they are willing to upgrade swords when it's not too cold, this gives you something to pay attention to later. in the future after you get the lens of truth back and learn how it works if you go back to the area with the cabin and look at that wall again you will see that it is actually climbable, once you climb it you will get the goron mask back and A From there, many more possibilities are opened to you derived from the exploration and information search that you have already done even after completing the dungeon and spring returns to Snow Head if you remember to pay another visit to the blacksmiths and chase the golden sword winning the goron race your reward will be a weapon that deals double damage now i'm not going to summarize the rest of the game as if this were a walkthrough i just wanted to give you an idea of ​​what attention on clock city teaches the player more Go ahead and these particular missions where you're running around looking for your transformation masks and helping the people of ends demonstrate the three things that make the

majora

mask feedback loop so appealing, first of all, they act as the culmination of Skills that you learn and practice over the course of the main quest.

Part of what makes Majora's Mask Density so adorable is its ability to develop concepts through level design and puzzles. For example, one of the first minigames you can try includes a bunch of moving platforms with deku flowers on the first day they move up and down, on the second day they move in circles of different sizes, and on the last day they do both at their own discretion. Wild Rhythm itself seems like a difficult challenge to place. At the beginning of the game, once you reach Woodfall, you will have to sneak into a holding cell to free your monkey friend.

After beating a stealth game, you'll find yourself flying across platforms with deku flowers and taking out some scrubs. That attempt to impede your progress is followed by a journey through the swamp as enemies fly in and crush you from the sky. If you make it through this treacherous landscape unscathed, you'll earn a piece of heart and entry to the Temple of Woodfall. Although the deku flowers progressed smoothlyon difficulty alone because I had beaten that minigame, I was able to adapt to these challenges much quicker. This demonstrates the duality present in the design of Majora's Mask and how your own drive to pursue side quests can play a role.

In the main quest there are many examples of this type of difficulty progression in Majora's Mask. Before attempting the Goron race, you'll need to have made it through that tricky spiral in Snowhead before entering the Great Bay temple with Zora's mask and attempting to navigate. that central complex of tunnels with currents that suck you in, as well as the various mazes throughout, you can follow these beavers through rings in a race against time to master the swimming controls, which are beautiful, yes, the masks Transformation masks are so fun that they make up for a small selection of items in this game, they add a significant layer of depth to the way you can interact with the world and these examples I've given come simply from the core abilities of the transformation masks.

I haven't mentioned the nuances that can give you an advantage, like how Deku Link can turn just as a lily pad leaves to maintain his speed and momentum while jumping over the water. This has saved me more times than I can count and it's incredibly satisfying to pull off. consistently or how about landing on a higher platform after jumping out of the water like Zora Link if you have your perfect trajectory. I'll discuss them further throughout this video, but it was a breath of fresh air to have three new developed ways to interact with a Zelda world and I think I'm still talking about the limited selection of items. that's part of the reason these examples work so well in the context of game design, yes, bombs, arrows, the hook shot, the lens of truth, and some assorted and random perishable items returning from ocarina of time Thanks to their usefulness, the others belong to a handful of side quests, while most of the other side quests are solved with skins, the skins have very specific uses in the end, which makes their application feel even more rewarding when You realize what can be done and your acclimatization to the usefulness of these skins improves with each game.

I didn't realize that when I first played, but I have since picked up Garo's Mask, which will explain some tricks you can use in the iconic castle, Gibdo's Mask allows you to sneak around or make Gibdo docile, and the Mask of sense allows you to sniff out mushrooms in the forest to create blue potions and here's a really strange example on the outskirts of the romani ranch there is a dog race track before you bet which dog you think will win you can put on the mask of truth and read his thoughts If you bet on the one that says I'm here for my wife and children, there is no way he will lose, he will have a very high probability of winning and he is guaranteed to be in the top three every time with strange masks that have specific uses . via terminal, this brings us to the second part of the

majora

feedback loop.

The Rewards, Every reward you get in Majora's Mask seems to somehow lead you to another quest or contribute to your main quest. Terminal residents have schedules that intersect and lead you to more missions that grant you more rewards and skins that unlock more possibilities as you fall further down the rabbit hole. Let's start with one of the most important rewards of the empty Majora's Mask bottles in this game, there are six of them and although the usual uses for them still exist in this game, such as storing potions, milk and things to sell, they are essential in one of the main missions of the game.

To give Lulu her voice back and reunite the Indiegogos, you'll need to get her stolen eggs back and learn a song from them, which is a very strange phrase anyway. To complete this task on a trip to the pirate fortress, you'll need the minus four empty bottles. This is one of those moments in my initial Majora's Mask playthrough that bothered me, but then I understood its importance. It became clear to me that empty bottles were extremely valuable in this game, while I could take or leave empty bottles in Ocarina of Time depending on how good I was at resource management, they were a necessity.

Here are three key reasons why you should collect empty bottles. in this game 1. this game is much more difficult than ocarina of time. We'll go into more detail on this soon, but let's say you might want to keep any fairies you can bottle to get a green potion when you need it. shoot some more elemental arrows, even some of the mini-games can be difficult, the treasure chest game is quite strict, both shooting galleries take away a lot of your own reflexes and the overall proficiency with the bow and the Honey and Darling mini-games will have you they want. aim bombs, chew, throw bombs and your arrows while the platform constantly rotates, this game is brutal at times, but as you will learn in due time, number two is welcome, they play an active role in the progression, as demonstrated here , which means you will always have to do it. do your best to explore the world, solve puzzles and help people, just like Zelda always wanted you to do number three, they allow you to keep various items that you can find on your quest, such as post souls that cost a penny in the store Of trivia, this allows you to put more money in the bank and as you save, you will improve the size of your wallet and eventually earn a piece of heart.

Not only does this set a standard for the importance of rupees, but it's also yet another example of how certain quests can branch out and affect other quests around the world when you're not clearing dungeons, you're navigating an addictive interconnected puzzle box in search for good things and one of Zelda's best at that, the motivation behind these philosophies applies to basically all rewards. you can find in Termina, sometimes the rewards can be disproportionate to the tasks at hand, but they make sense when you consider how investigative you have to be to find them, for example, on the outskirts of the Vikana canyon there is a circle of stones in ocarina of This time this would mean that you can throw a bomb in the middle to reveal a hole;

In fact, Majora's mask still has those circles, but if you use the truth lens instead, you will see Shiro, a lone soldier who blames himself for being hidden in plain sight, by curing him with a red potion, you will obtain the stone mask, although its purpose is not immediately apparent and it appears to be a humorous representation of this soldier's problems. If you had caught this mask before the pirate's fortress, your time there will end. will be infinitely easier, the pirates guarding the eggs will not notice you at all, as befits this poor guy's fights, the level itself is an exceptionally fun and non-linear puzzle box and, although the stone mask annihilates for I complete the stealth elements of this level, don't think that's a bad thing, it feels like a great reward for how easy it is to miss this mask in the first place, another example, these two characters never interact, but they are connected, If you listen to this guy's problems, he will thank you. you and I will give you the bremen mask allows you to march along with small animals if you do this with the baby cuckoos here this guy will give you the bunny hood my favorite mask in the entire game you run faster and jump further with it equipped even after of rescuing your horse, it's a godsend, it saves a lot of time traversing any area and can even be beneficial in a couple of side quests like the race with the deku butler or that jumping minigame in Great Bay, basically anything that puts you in the mood. testing.

Turning on or requiring movement is made infinitely easier with the bunny hood and if you ever need to take it off to make precise jumps or slow down, all you have to do is press a button. Another skin I love is the blast skin at the expense of some. health can completely replace bombs this is another example of a reward that feels appropriate given how dark the task is in the grand scheme of things this mask is obtained in the north of Clock Town on the first midnight to find out it exists you have to Do it Be there by chance to see this mysterious boy or learn about him through a gossip stone with the mask of truth.

Yes, there is another use for that thing, which makes it a great reward. In the long run, it can clue you into some amazing things. And once again, how much you learn about Majora's Mask depends on your willingness to accept and explore every inch of its dense and diverse world. What do all these rewards have in common? Although they are all examples of how detailed and intertwined each aspect of ends can be in every detail, no matter how miniscule the problem, solving it can lead to something greater. There are still rewards that I have yet to mention, but that is because they relate to much broader concepts that I will eventually discuss.

Even with all of this on the table there is still one element that ultimately ties together the feedback loop of this game: management. Time creates the tension that makes Majora's Mask an incredibly fun game. There is so much to do in the end and yet so little time to do it. Therefore, you must choose what you can do during a given cycle. The clock is always ticking even as your arsenal expands, but at the same time, how much you can fit into a 3-day cycle can determine how long your game lasts. Constantly strike a balance between prioritizing the main quest, shorter side quests, and longer side quests over a repeating three-day cycle, ensuring you never miss a date or the chance to grab a mask or piece of heart.

The game first presents you with the effective time. management where else the tutorial with a game of hide and seek between you and the bomber society if you don't catch them all when the sun rises on a given day you will have to start over you are only informed of these circumstances through failure, which is something Majora's Mask relies on in its design. I mentioned a downside to this earlier in the video, there are times where no one would realize that they would lose their chance at quests like the frog chorus which requires you to have enough time after clearing the dungeon in the first place, if you lose your chance, you will have to fight Goat again and waste your valuable time, so one can only truly understand what makes Majora's Mask a great game if you spend time learning about its world, as we have already discussed, you can obtain many things about this, but what comes next is planning your route.

That Deku Scrub minigame symbolizes the beginning of this process, although it is accessible from the beginning of the game. It may be too difficult to complete on your first cycle. This is something you should prepare for. Ideally, you'll have a schedule drawn up according to your bomber notebook and your mental notes of how long each mission should take, but sometimes things don't work out. As planned, what if a dungeon takes longer than you predicted? Will you still be able to finish those side quests in time or will you have to fight the boss again in a news cycle?

Can you include smaller side quests with a whopping 3 days duration? Assume how much you can do before the moon crashes into the terminal. Efficiency in doing this can lead to intense satisfaction when you meet all your deadlines and, at the end of the day, an addictive feedback loop. This self-imposed challenge is what makes you happy. Majora's Mask is an immensely replayable game. Here's a recap of the moment I realized Majora's Mask was more than just a pretty face. This happened on my second playthrough in 2012, when I had a semi-developed brain right after finishing Stone Tower Temple.

I decided that I was going to spend the remaining time I had left on the long commercial search for the game. In each of the main areas of the game, you will find a deku bush eager to see the world. If you trade title deeds with them, you will be able to gain access to a Heart Piece at the end, you must complete a new Heart Container and earn 200 rupees in the process. Incrementally grabbing heart chunks as you get new transformation skins may be tempting, but it's ultimately a waste of time, the best course of action is to do so. all in one go, although this can be time consuming, it also gives you the opportunity to revisit areas and pick up what you may have missed to maximize my efficiency.

I wanted to make sure I didn't leave any stones unturned after finishing the dungeon. I finished a few minigames as I went along clearing the swamp spider house, the two beaver races, some Clock Town stuff, and even finished the Econo Canyons DLC at the last minute.and even when I finally met all the criteria I set. For my part, I was wondering what I was going to do on the first day of the next cycle, maybe try to go to the ocean spider's house for the final wallet upgrade, set up the most infamous quest in the game, rupee chess respawns after returning to the first day, so maybe I would take a few rupees to make up for lost time.

I was shocked at this point and paused the game realizing I had been playing for almost 6 hours. It won't be everyone's cup of tea if you're playing. In the main game and ignoring heart pieces and masks, almost none of this will be apparent to you, even those who struggle with dungeons the most will be able to cycle through them as long as it's their only focus, but as I get venture further into the terminal. and as I expanded my arsenal, I discovered what the gameplay of Majora's Mask is really about. With experience, my efficiency throughout the three-day cycle sharpened.

It's an endearing cycle of risk versus reward as I race against the clock to expand my arsenal and progress. Throughout the game, I faced some of the toughest challenges Zelda has ever had to offer against the oppressive backdrop of a doomed world. I pushed myself to do as much as I could because of the sheer fun provided by Majora's plethora of side quests. I was conditioned to discomfort and found pure happiness. Still, there are things left to discuss when it comes to this feedback loop, mainly what it's all heading towards, although Majora's Mask has a lot to do in his overworld.

I feel like it's ultimately preparing you for the game's dungeons and bosses, otherwise. It would be hard to justify having 52 pieces of heart and let me tell you, these are some of the most creatively compact and challenging dungeons Zelda has ever seen - not only that, but they also encompass all three components of this game's feedback loop. Let's start discussing. The Woodfall Temple Ideas and Implementation Difficulty takes place over two floors and features a smooth progression and ideas similar to what I've discussed above. Using deku flowers to traverse is followed by puzzles where you must figure out how to reach higher areas with said deku. flowers, you use them for combat, you jump across poisonous water and once you get the bow you have to quickly adapt to your surroundings in creative ways, even if you haven't played a zelda game before you're introduced to the clues here , this torch is lined. precariously with the central torch off and as the platform rotates, you will no doubt connect the dots here, this sets the player up for the Honey and Darling mini-games.

In fact, once again, everything is connected. The final room combines the two concepts. You will have to jump from a platform. to another before you run out of time, although there are some tricky puzzles in Woodfall, the digestible 2-story layout makes it very simple and a great way to ease the player into the rest of the dungeons with the Snowhead temple, things increase and challenge, there is a center. tower that connects to each floor and you can jump to other platforms with a goron spin at full power. Your goal is to solve each room. Raise the towers you climb and climb to the top.

These rooms focus on testing your Goron knowledge. Spatial awareness and more After retrieving the fire arrows, more rooms open up giving you more information on how you are going to get to the top. Eventually you'll have to knock down this central platform with some pegs with some goron hits to connect the The paths, while very disconcerting, are a natural evolution of the ideas developed in previous areas and play with verticality and layout memorization in tense but tense ways. satisfactory. From here, the dungeons become significantly more brutal asking you: Have you been paying attention? Have you been searching? updates Are you really prepared with a constant focus on redirecting the flow of water?

Two challenging mini bosses and a confusing maze of tunnels in a central pool. The Great Bay Temple does not waste time, but through the subtle methods of the previous dungeon to condition me to these. ideas that I was able to find my way. I'm also a big fan of how they incorporated ice arrows to solve puzzles. Here you can use ice pillars to tilt platforms, stop the flow of water in certain areas, even crossed puddles of water creating ice platforms for you due to the aquatic nature of this dungeon, it became clear to me that the challenge doesn't just take place at starting from how well you can think through a situation, but also how well you can navigate, not only through the excellent swimming mechanics it brings. to the table by the zora mask, but also through the use of the ice arrows and the knowledge of how the redirection of the water affects the entire dungeon.

However, the best example of that balance between navigation and puzzle solving and the pinnacle of design in these avenues is the Stone Tower Temple, this dungeon is crazy, although the path forward is relatively clear for the most part. Part of the time, it's filled to the brim with some of the biggest Majora's Mask head-scratchers. Without a doubt, the three transformation masks get their moment in the spotlight even with the music. Reflecting this in each area, an instrument was used to represent the mask you would get. The Stone Tower Temple uses these three instruments in its music plus the ocarina to represent the union.

The underused mirror shield returns from the Ocarina of Time and after being reintroduced in Ikana Castle is significantly developed here, there is one room in particular that always caught my attention. You have to stand at the light and hold the mirror in front of you and then run quickly and point out the path you want to take. in the end you are transferring light from one mirror to another, I don't even understand how that works or how I could figure that out, but damn, it felt good to clean this room, but just like you would think you've done it? you cleared the dungeon and came out of it in one piece you will have to literally turn the dungeon upside down welcome to the inverted stone tower temple if you allow me to go on a bit of a tangent this dungeon is discussed by npcs As is an extremely dangerous area for humans, its exterior looks as if its eyes are hollow and its mouth screams desperately, the music sounds sad, as if any attempt to clear the dungeon is pointless, and although some tough enemies abound, none of them can.

Compared to the danger present as you perpetually avoid falling into the sky, the music sounds even scarier than before using a sample so clear it sounds like it shouldn't be possible on a Nintendo 64. It runs through your ears and challenges your senses. While some rooms and puzzles may still be familiar with inverted gravity, the experience has been drastically altered. A room that once housed a massive pool for Zora Link to swim in and solve has been completely emptied and now asks you to float and shoot around it every time. Such careful navigation is unorthodox and simply getting from point a to point b becomes the main challenge in the end.

I had to kill this igor with my light arrows but I ran out of green potions. I clearly remember panicking at that moment, but I calmed down. and I took a look at my immediate surroundings, I found boxes full of magic flasks and after some fighting I managed to find my way back thanks to a chest left over from the first half of the dungeon flipped over and stuck on the east ceiling Lateral thinking makes me Stone Tower Temple is one of my favorite Zelda dungeons of all time, so a lot of elements were taken into account and it still managed to break any preconceived notions about what the dungeon would have focused on thematically and your reward for completing it as a kaiju. battle now speaking of rewards this is a lost fairy at the beginning of the game you have to retrieve one of them for the big ferry in the north of Clock Town this is followed by a wild game of hide and seek between you and the bomber society so you can enter to her hiding place, although these two concepts do not seem to correlate at first, once you regain your original form, the great fairy will grant you her mask that attracts all nearby street fairies like a magnet, as long as they are.

If you are trapped in a bubble, from here you will discover that 15 lost fairies appear in each dungeon and test you on various skills that you accumulate throughout the game. They are no different from the golden skeleton like an ocarina of time, but there is One thing that sets them apart greatly, I mentioned in my Ocarina of Time video, that the golden Skulltulas proved to be the bridge to efficient exploration due to the structure of the game. Majora's Mask, however, features more densely populated areas with plenty to interact with and discover rather than long ones. stretches of land with occasional segmented challenges hidden here and there, as such Majora's Mask didn't need to create that bridge before even reaching Woodfall.

I had completed two additional heart containers just by looking around and using my acclimatization to the world as an advantage when solving problems, however, I remain adamant that the lost fairies make the player better at solving dungeons, there are enough to keep the player player invested in searching rooms, paying attention to every minute detail, spotting that fairy hiding in a pillar or making an excruciating jump at the Snowhead temple or taking shortcuts with the goron scroll to barely make it to another fairy temple and Stone Tower felt rewarding enough as a perfect challenge built into already engaging dungeons, but the truth is that while the game felt rewarding, the actual tangible rewards for finding them all turned out to be the icing on the cake, as each dungeon is harder than the last, so the fairies are set, meaning the rewards for finding them all progressively upgrade the 15 in Woodfall and upgrade the spin attack pretty well, the 15, and the snow head. a doubled magic meter which is pretty impressive, the 15 in Great Bay, reduces the damage you take in half, that's awesome, but finally if you get all 15 in the stone tower temple you get the greatsword of fairies, a two-handed weapon to rival the great gorons.

The prospect of making my game easier by putting in more effort is what Majora's Mask is all about and the Lost Fairies embody that philosophy through tangible rewards and to come full circle, they made me better at finding all the skulls in those spider houses, very appropriate for our three elements have come together in the dungeons the difficulty progression is silky smooth and their ideas are wonderfully inventive the reward for putting in that extra effort is worth it and the time management comes from Fitting all of this into a single three-day cycle All of this is what makes playing Majora's Mask dangerously fun, what once terrified or stressed me out became essential to striving to improve.

It's hard, it's stressful, and it doesn't stop me, but seeing how the game helps in light of that discomfort is how I finally made peace with it and it's now one of my favorite Zelda games. I found solace in a deliberately oppressive video game and I can't praise the aonuma team enough for their efforts, and yet there's still something I haven't touched on in the main game. With the quest being so challenging, they gave me at least one important reason to do all of these quests around Termina, but there's something else that motivated me with everything Majora's Mask brought to the table in the game;

It also innovates in storytelling. I am the hero in this story. If I felt anxious about getting everything done before the moon fell, imagine how the people of Termina feel. Clock Town has three pieces of music accompanying it on the first day, everything seems to be going smoothly, as if nothing could go wrong and why would it? It's emblematic of how most of us, understandably, live our lives day by day. The second day the tempo is faster and the instrumentation slows down. There's a sense of urgency hovering over your every move. But you still hold on to those days. carefree on the third day the instrumentation is erratic, the tempo is even faster than before and those frightening notes symbolize the inescapable fact that time is almost running out even though these compositions prompt the player as time passes, the Clock Town is the most social environment in the game as everyone seems to reside here and as the days go by, more and more people become aware of their impending doom.

This is the story of how Majora's Mask was able to transform the question of what can you do for me into what can I do for you. In previous Zelda games, the world and its inhabitants were intentionally scattered as little more than a vague motivation or immersion sources, including the ocarina of time thatpresented a deeply personal journey for the player through subtext was restrained in its overt presentation; However, there was an outlier in the Zelda series up to this point Yoshiaki Koizumi wrote the script for Link's Waking, which was very direct in telling him about the ephemerality of escapism.

Koizumi was the co-director and co-writer of Majora's Mask and with his love of storytelling and gaming fueling him, he made sure that the inhabitants of Majora's Mask weren't just a means to an end, he and his team created a world unlike anything else. what Zelda had seen before and one that remains undisputed in its brilliance and uniqueness to this day. They created a world where people came first in the first part. of the game, not many townspeople will be kind to you in your deku form, this gives you time to focus on rudimentary information, searching for attempts to form habits in the player, putting this into practice requires patience, but as we have discussed, It is necessary to expand. your arsenal what follows is a complete change in the player's mentality everything you are doing to gather information inherently familiarizes you with how the circumstances of this game affect people and the more you put in, the more you get out of it the mask of majora va great as much as possible to make you care deeply about what you're doing, there are plenty of optional conversations in Clocktown if you see certain characters cross paths, although Gorman seems outwardly grumpy when you try to talk to him at night, he'll walk into the milk bar and choke If the sorrows fade on the first day, you can investigate a meeting at the mayor's office to find out what's bothering him: the Gorman Troops' performance was canceled due to the impending disaster, and Lulu of the Indigogos lost her voice, regretting leaving. to his brothers on the farm to enter. showbiz if you play him the ballad of the wind fish he will be moved to tears when you remind him of the reason he got into the business in the first place, this allows Gorman to overcome his regrets and enjoy life to the fullest in his latest hours, this is a recurring theme throughout the game, no matter what you do the moon is going to fall and everyone is going to die, even when you spin around again you can't escape this fact until you finally stop Skull Kid , the most you can do is allow the people of Termina to enjoy the little time they have left.

This notion became the main motivating factor in my quest to expand my arsenal and save Termina. Many times the reward would fall by the wayside as he sought to convert the residents of this gloom. place feels a semblance of joy in its final hours, for example, this is the guy who gives you the rabbit hood, this is what he says before you decide what to do, I heard it from my grandfather, he says the moon is going to fall with something so big that it's I'm sure I'll take this ranch with it. My only regret is not being able to see these guys at their best as roosters.

He then slouches, accepting the fate of the ranch after setting off on a joyous march, and proclaims that you have alleviated his only regret and that he is satisfied with, presumably, everything. There are many moments like this throughout Majora's Mask that make even the simplest things seem to have intense emotional weight. The mayor sits passively while the soldiers and carpenters argue about how to do it. He handles the rumors that have spread about the fall of the moon. His indecision could endanger the entire city. This poor little monkey is being shamed for a crime he didn't commit and to prove his innocence you'll have to be the one to clean up the Woodfall temple and bring back the princess.

They don't even have a case. They're only doing this because punishing someone will bring them peace. Even outside of missions, there's always an air of urgency throughout. The clock is always ticking. The moon is always getting closer. Watch your every move. The central axis of the mask. majora becomes emptier as time goes by as I get closer to my Goal I felt like I was making a difference by improving the lives of everyone in Termina, even if everyone was going to die anyway. In fact, improve their lives. That's not entirely accurate. They have little time left.

I'm solving their problems so they can. leave this world behind without regrets so that they can find solace in finality and this notion is immortalized in one of the best compositions by koji kondo the healing song the melody is flooded with sadness as it descends from an f key as you play this part of the song for the main characters throughout the game represents them facing their unfinished business, but as the melody progresses it rises again towards hope tranquility for darmani you assure him that his people will be taken care of for mikao you guarantee that his legacy in The band will continue despite the pain taking over their lives and many of these people.

This song drowns their sorrows and allows them to be at peace both figuratively and literally. Let me introduce you to the great moments that made Majora's Mask one of my favorite games. of all time as you solve these problems, the underlying subtext is painful to the stomach but deeply rewarding because in the end you were able to help them just as they were able to help you. Let's start with the mystery that piqued my interest all those years ago at Rancho Romani after stocking the bomb shop with kegs of gunpowder, I brought one to Milk Road and cleared my way on the first day.

I was now able to capture the events leading up to the disaster before they happened. Romani is practicing with her boyfriend and she talks. about stopping the ghosts from invading the farm now, since it turns out she was right and you two defend the ranch together. It's a sweet moment, but it proves something to her older sister, Cremia. The next night, you can ride with her while she delivers milk. The Chateau Romani She talks about everything on her mind, from things going wrong at the ranch after her father's death to questioning whether the moon is getting bigger after being intercepted by the Gorman brothers and defending the car, she recognizes you as an adult doing this again.

Before the three-day cycle ends, you'll get a gold rupee or a warm hug from Cremia, but as she approaches the night of the third day, you can find her talking to Romani in the barn. Cremia knows that the moon will kill everyone regardless. what they do and she decides to fill Romani's mind with thoughts of happiness and dreams for the future so that she can spend her last night in peace instead of fear when I discovered this interaction I cried, I too have a younger brother and how have I learned to Over the years I need to be strong for his sake, even if I'm scared or upset, it kills me to see him the same way when it comes to family.

Majora's mask does not shy away from representing familial love and the uncertain or terrifying. Sometimes in Ikana Canyon there is a house with loud music, the door is usually locked until a girl comes out and she stares at the water inside her closet. He's a half-mummified monstrosity of a man and, while he's a little creepy, he's completely docile, so playing the Healing Song will restore him to his old self. As soon as this happens, the girl will rush over and give him a big hug, assuring him that she was just having a bad dream. It's such a small moment as if the game didn't want to.

You have to think twice and leave with the gibdo mask, but I usually stop here to recover. Pamela had been living alone and fending for herself since her father was placed in this state. She hid him from the rest of the world protecting him. all at the expense of her own childish innocence, she was the one who had to reassure him, a complete role reversal as far as child characters go, pamela is one of the strongest I have ever seen in the subtext that comes with her circumstances when save her Father, I gave him the opportunity to hug him and be with him one last time before the moon sank, but in terms of representing love, there is one mission that I could never fail to mention.

It completes the brilliance of this game's writing and embodies everything. what majora's mask represents and constantly fulfills this is the story of anju and coffee early in the morning on the first day a boy will drop a letter in the mailbox, then the postman will reveal that this letter is addressed to anju and if You acknowledge the fact that Kefay has disappeared, you will certainly have his mask to show you that you are willing to help. She hints that she is afraid to see how he looks and when you give him the letter and meet him next time.

One day you will understand why Skull Kid turned Café into a boy. Despite this, he still intends to marry Anju and wants to keep that promise. The two were supposed to at one point exchange masks to get engaged, but Sakon left. with Cafe's mask, that guy from the curio shop, so after all the conditions have been met, you can finally wait outside Sakon's hideout in Ikana Canyon. It's time to storm the base and work with Cafe to get the dough back from him. Oh, wait, wait a second. I have to uninvert the flow of time let me leave here play the song it's okay here we go okay here I come why is the door closed why is the door closed it's okay to fail in this quest after coming this far doesn't just mean going through everything this process once again, but it also means that you were responsible for not bringing these two together.

It is one of the most painful missions to fail, both from a gameplay and emotional perspective. Luckily I had a friend in my ear who let me know I could Z target this sign and jump laterally into the room again, thanks wolf, what follows is a race against time as you rush to clear each room with coffee and prevent his mask from being destroyed, if all goes well, Café will recover it and make his way. to Clocktown to be with Anju before this Anju swore that she would stay in the city despite the evacuation orders in the hopes that she could see the cafe one last time before they die as the earth shakes and the bells toll from the tower of the clock. listen to the most tragic song in the city of the clock of the mask of majora is almost deserted people accept his death or panic as reality sets in, but above all there is not even a shred of hope left to finish while a song plays Solemn melody Despite all this Anju waits in the end for Cafe's eventual return, she loves him and trusts him enough to do it minutes before the moon lands. cafe arrives and they finally accept your reward for completing this mission is not just a piece of heart, it is a confrontation of the most terrifying elements of this game with aggressive but beautiful details, this game may excel in game design, but upon further examination stopped, is an exploration of the fear that arises from uncertainty and ultimately death, but fear is a choice of what we decide to do with the time we have.

What you have left is also a choice, so choose and don't waste more time than you have. These are carefully selected examples from a game packed with these things. I never mentioned that the postman constantly sticks to his schedule despite desperately wanting something. free time before the moon falls i never mentioned mr. barten waiting for his favorite customer to come in before he dies that's you by the way majora's mask has always been much more than it seems in fact i don't think i've ever really played after his message, after gathering the four giants and taking the oath of order atop the clock tower, the giants will do everything in their power to hold the moon in place and thwart Skull Kid's plan;

However, when he fails, Majora's mask takes over to put an end to this nightmare. once and for all you must get to the heart of the problem you must enter the interior of the moon this area perfectly encompasses everything that the mask of majora does its balanced difficulty progression is reflected in four challenges using all the link forms you are in collecting gives you access, as you need all the masks to take them down, you are rewarded with the last four heart pieces as well as the amazing fierce deities mask after giving all yours to the moon children, seriously , this thing breaks.

Majora, after all the work I've done, it feels emphatic to have a reward like this to use in the final battle and the final boss is tremendously fun and everything but the most important thing about the interior of the moon leans towards the true heart From Majora's Mask, after overcoming their challenges, the moon children will ask you questions about yourself, although they are vague at first. The final cutscene of the game should give you an idea of ​​what these kids were trying to say right before entering Woodfall. You will see a montage of a skull. The boy's life before taking over Majora's mask was happy and carefree once Majora's mask took over him, however, his friends left him alone and those friends were the giants and despite thinking that his friends resented him for his actions, they were willing to forgive him anyway before. the happy seller ofMasks gets going and leaves us with these words every time there is a meeting, a farewell will surely follow, however, that farewell does not have to last forever, whether the farewell is forever or just for a short time. , that depends on you, on what you really want. our ultimately petty squabbles to crush what were once cherished connections and friendships.

Do we really want to forget that these people ever existed on our deathbeds? Do I really want to live just for myself before I finally pass away? Of course, not everyone has their own battles to face. overcome and it is important to remember that letting ourselves be consumed by isolation when we never know what tomorrow will bring would not be a good way out of this life as the happy mask seller says and as the name indicates the masks I have are full of Happiness, have I done enough here? Well, who can say when I have fulfilled my purpose?

The most I can do with the time I have left is to be selfless and act for the good of others, not for myself, as long as I know I am contributing. happiness to others instead of anger or sadness, then I will feel like I am doing my job. I may not be able to make everyone happy, but I would be sorry to die without being an irreplaceable part of a jovial social ecosystem. This is what Majora's Mask conveys in every aspect of its design and narrative, its feedback loop, its dungeons, its quests, and its world, as you do everything in your power to help others and spread joy, which which in turn makes the world a better place before you leave it forever.

I've been Liam Triforce thanks for watching.