Legend of Zelda Lore & Appreciation Thread

[Louis_Cypher]

I just re-played The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which is often ranked low on clickbait internet lists despite being popular with gamers for it's tone, music, controls and dungeons. I think it is probably my favorite of the 3D-era / middle-era Zelda games (i.e. after the 2D-era, starting with Ocarina of Time, ending with Skyward Sword, but before the newest BOTW-era). In general I'm not as much a fan of the middle 3D Zeldas as some. My favorites are from the SNES era; Link's Awakening on the Gameboy and A Link to the Past on SNES. However the HD remaster of Twilight Princess is beautiful, liberating the original art design from the Gamecube/Wii's hardware limitations. Playing it has inspired this thread.

Below is a brief introduction to the lore, for anyone wanting to get into the series:

Protagonist: Link - Many mortal boys are born, but once in every age, in a generation facing darkness, one chooses to take up the needs of his community; to defeat the evil forces of entropy. His name is often 'Link', a popular boy's name name in Hyrule, named after the first ancient hero.

Arch Enemy: Ganon - Once the mortal tribal warlord 'Ganondorf Dragmire'. In eons past, Ganondorf ascended into an embodiment of demonic evil; the Dark Lord 'Ganon'. Resurrected once in an eon, he possesses the power of a sorcerer, a disciplined mind, and an unquenchable spirit of malice.

Object of Desire: The Triforce - When the universe was created out of the primal chaos, three goddesses placed power in an artifact, to be used to bring balance to the world in times of need. Ganon attained the portion signifying power, and wishes to attain the entire Triforce to achieve godhood.

Spiritual Oracle: Zelda - A goddess was placed in the world, to guard the power of the Triforce, and incarnates into the royal line of the Kingdom of Hyrule once in every age. Princess Zelda is the name given to the chosen of the gods, and wields the portion of the Triforce denoting wisdom.

Some of the famous Heroes across the ages of The Legend of Zelda series:

In my opinion, the official Nintendo timeline is messy. I rather just think of the entire series as a loose progression of Buddhist-like cycles, down the ages. Thousands of years may pass between games, reshaping entire lands, races and rendering the events of the past almost forgotten. Ganon remains the same throughout all, cursed by his indomitable will to be reborn, as he is attached (mōnen) to his goal with immortal, infernal, levels of willpower. Here is a low effort attempt at a unified timeline:

----

The Hero of the Skies

Games:

• - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Skyward Sword:

In the beginning, the world is created out of chaos, and the gods leave for a distant nebula. A demon from the primordial chaos finds it's way into the mortal world. Demise. The first Hero defeats this evil. Before being sealed away, Demise predicts a man will one day arise to take revenge for his defeat, being a rebirth of hatred. While Ganon and Demise represent distinct people, the metaphysical force of hatred will always exist, and find embodiment; lending this curse poetic inevitability.

----

The Hero of Men

Games:

• - The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

The Minish Cap:

Early in the history of the world, one of the tiny Minish race, a sorcerer called Vaati, attempts to take the power of light, which was granted to the Minish by the Hylian race, who inhabit Hyrule. The Hero of Men defeats Vaati and restores peace.

----

The Hero of Time

Games:

• - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Ocarina of Time:

A mortal warlord of the Gerudo race of tribesmen, Ganondorf Dragmire, an evil sorcerer, attempts to attain the holy Triforce. Ganondorf eventually transforms into the boar-like demon lord Ganon, using the Triforce of Power. He is defeated by the Hero of Time, and eventually executed for his crimes, being sent to the twilight dimension.

Majora's Mask:

The Hero of Time journeys to the parallel dimension containing the land of Termina, where he must prevent the destruction of the world by it's moon, which is descending toward the surface. Who or what is responsible for this calamity?

----

The Hero of Twilight

Games:

• - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Twilight Princess:

Ganondorf is executed after the events of the Hero of Time's age, by being impaled, and sent to the twilight realm, an alternate dimension. Surviving his wound, he convinces a native denizen named Zant to worship him, and become the avatar of his evil. Zant invades Hyrule. Ganondorf is eventually released and defeated by the Hero of Twilight.

----

The Hero of Winds

Games:

• - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
• - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

The Wind Waker:

Ages pass, and the land is flooded, creating a vast ocean with many island archipelagos. When Ganondorf is resurrected, but a new hero is not, the world is plunged into tyranny. Eventually a boy from one of the islands proves himself the Hero of Winds by killing Ganondorf. This hero sails the ocean on a boat, The King of Red Lions.

Phantom Hourglass:

After defeating Ganondorf, Link sets sail on the high seas, arriving in the distant realm of the Ocean King. There he encounters an evil phantom known as Bellum. Once again taking up arms, he ends this threat. Meanwhile Ganondorf's body, which turned to stone, lies under the lowest depths of Hyrule.

----

The Hero of Legend

Games:

• - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
• - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
• - The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
• - The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages

A Link to the Past:

An unknown epoch passes after the events of The Wind Waker, and dry land re-emerges. Ganon is sealed in the Sacred Realm by a past hero, a parallel world, which he has corrupted into the Dark World. He is now trapped in his Dark Beast form, resembling a boar-man. He uses a puppet, Aghanim, to exert his will across the dimensions into the Light World, where Hyrule is located. Another attempt is made to gain the Triforce, imprisoning Princess Zelda. The Hero of Legend confronts and defeats Ganon.

Link's Awakening:

After the events of A Link to the Past, the Hero of Legend, Link, is shipwrecked while voyaging to other lands in search of adventure. Washing ashore on Koholint Island, he must discover the secrets of the Wind Fish. Can he trust all that he sees?

Oracle of Seasons & Oracle of Ages:

After Ganon is defeated, Link searches for new adventure, and is called by the Triforce to undertake a quest. Journeying to the neighboring lands of Holodrum and Labrynna, Link defeats General Orox and Veran, Sorceress of Shadows. A larger threat was concealed behind their machinations; the Hero of Legend foils a plan to resurrect Ganon.

----

The Hero of Hyrule

Games:

• The Legend of Zelda
• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

The Legend of Zelda:

Ganon, the Prince of Darkness, invades Hyrule to acquire the Triforce. Princess Zelda splits the remaining power into eight fragments and hides them to prevent his success. The Hero of Hyrule unites the pieces to defeat Ganon at Death Mountain.

----

The Hero of the Wild

Games:

• - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Sequel

Breath of the Wild:

Advanced technology is developed by the Sheikah race, but is lost over ten millennia of decay. After eons and the reshaping of the lands and races of the world, Ganon has become an almost elemental force of disembodied malice; Calamity Ganon. Taking control of the technology of the Sheikah, he destroys civilization, returning Hyrule to medieval levels. The Hero of the Wild arises to confront him.

 

[Melcar]

Once Nintendo did the alternate timelines thing it all went to shit. Still, it's fun to read the lore from time to time.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Twilight Princess is trash outside of a couple dungeons, although Skyward Sword is admittedly much, much worse in every way. I’ve played every Zelda game except Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks and TP and SS are easily the worst.

It’s not a particularly consistent franchise though. It has high highs (MM and LttP) and rarely puts out massive turds, but it’s place in gaming cultural history is definitely outsized. Even the franchise’s most popular title (well, pre-BotW at least) OoT hasn’t aged particularly well.

 

[Louis_Cypher]

Twilight Princess is trash outside of a couple dungeons, although Skyward Sword is admittedly much, much worse in every way. I’ve played every Zelda game except Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks and TP and SS are easily the worst.

It’s not a particularly consistent franchise though. It has high highs (MM and LttP) and rarely puts out massive turds, but it’s place in gaming cultural history is definitely outsized. Even the franchise’s most popular title (well, pre-BotW at least) OoT hasn’t aged particularly well.

Skyward Sword is undoubtedly terrible. I hear the new HD version is better, claiming that the motion controls don't make your eyes bleed anymore. However, for me, that was only part of why it was so bad. I seem to remember there was no freedom; what little I remember being virtually on rails. No exploration, just next item then next dungeon. I think that utter sense of constriction, is what prompted Breath of the Wild to utterly dispose of the old formula.

 

[Derringer]

It's all "recycled lore" since the game themselves are recycled, the devs themselves never had too much interest in franchises beyond marketing unless they did something unique with them to differentiate their products past the shelf life (besides Pokemon), that was the general mindset for the oldfags at Nintendo for a while and partly why people still buy their games beyond marketing arms since they're not being financed openly to destabilize the populace with their products.

 

[El Presidente]

Twilight Princess is trash outside of a couple dungeons, although Skyward Sword is admittedly much, much worse in every way. I’ve played every Zelda game except Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks and TP and SS are easily the worst.

It’s not a particularly consistent franchise though. It has high highs (MM and LttP) and rarely puts out massive turds, but it’s place in gaming cultural history is definitely outsized. Even the franchise’s most popular title (well, pre-BotW at least) OoT hasn’t aged particularly well.

Man I really don't agree on the consistency bit, I think it's comparatively an extremely consistent franchise. I can't think of a single long western franchise that's as consistent as Zelda. However, I have a very positive opinion on it because I never touched Skyward Sword and the DS games, not sure how much those ones stain the series.

All in all I think it's great stuff. Zelda 1 is an amazing game, Zelda 2 is weird but alright, I'd replay it in a Zelda marathon and likely have fun. The next 4 games are all absolutely excellent and must-play, Z3 LttP, Ocarina, Majora's and Link's Awakening. Then all three handheld Capcom games were great, the Oracle ones and Minish Cap. Supposedly Four Swords is a great game, I never had anyone to play with so I don't know (not sure if you could play that game in single player).

Up to this point I really have no complaints. It's very consistently excellent stuff and easily 100+ hours of entertainment if you play them all. But it's at this point that I think the series start developing an "unsatisfactory conclusion" syndrome of sorts. Also from this point onwards the series nosedives in the sound department, I'm a soundfag and I think everything past here sounds pretty bad. I don't remember one single good music from the following games and the sound effects themselves feel like they didn't give them enough attention.

I loved Wind Waker but that game is REALLY an ups and downs kind of thing, it didn't have enough dungeons, the whole Triforce hunting segment near the end was insanely trash, and the ending is really meh and forgettable. I do kinda agree with you on Twilight Princess, I don't dislike it but yeah that's an underwhelming game with lots of forgettable parts. Very underwhelming Ganon final fight despite trying so hard. Can't put my finger on why, maybe with better set up and sound design those final fights could've worked.

I hear lots of good things on BotW though I've seen many people saying the ending is subpar and underwhelming, so there it is again, the unsatisfactory conclusion syndrome that seems to grab Zelda by the pussy for a few entries now.

 

[Falksi]

Link To The Past is amazing, but most other Zelda games I can take or leave. Ocarina of Time is one of the most disappointing games I ever bought, a clumsy, awkward game with piss-easy puzzles that offer no challenge, and it was wank in the late 90's never mind now that it's aged.

It's quite stunning how Nintendo and it's fans have brainwashed the masses into thinking it's all that tbh. Suggest the Shinobi series has more good games then the Zelda one and folk will piss themselves at you as if you're crazy. But I play way more Shinobi games than I do Zelda ones by far (Arcade, Master System, Revenge, Shinobi 3, GG Shinobi, Alex Kidd in Shinobi World). I know they're different types of games, but I also know which ones snag me more.

Also Ninjas are better than gay elves.

 

[Derringer]

I like Shinobi more than Zelda, yeah, Zelda has always been a mixed bag since the N64 games, anything past that is hard to re-play but people will praise Flagship's games.

 

[Viata]

Once Nintendo did the alternate timelines thing it all went to shit. Still, it's fun to read the lore from time to time.

It was great some 1 or 2 decades ago people discussing what were the timelines, using hints and passages in the games to create their theory. Then Nintendo released that "official timeline" that was worse than any other theory I have seen and everything after that also went to shit.

 

[Poseidon00]

I have never played a Zelda game through to completion but i'm gonna post here anyway so I can get notifications for this thread.

 

[GewuerzKahn]

I have never played a Zelda game through to completion but i'm gonna post here anyway so I can get notifications for this thread.

I finished almost every game and never gave a shit about the lore.

It took me many years to notice the resemblance between Peter Pan and Link. I don't know why.

 

[Louis_Cypher]

Like a lot of Japanese games, Zelda seems inspired, in part, at different times, to different degrees between games, by Buddhist elements. Particularly perhaps the way that Ganon has increasingly become a demon of infernal desire or attachment, reborn constantly in ever more abstract ways. Shintoism, Christianity, Paganism, etc, are also common in Japanese games, but perhaps the cyclic apocalypses and heroes resemble Indo-Aryan traditions most. There was an academic article discussing Ganon, Buddhism, and Hyrule's Apocalyptic Cycle. For interest, I'll post a couple of excerpts:

The connection between Calamity Ganon and recurring cycles is not accidental. In Breath of the Wild Master Works, a companion book published by the Nintendo Dream magazine editorial staff in collaboration with Nintendo (2017a), Ganon is described as having “refused to give up on resurrection because of his obsession” (fukkatsu o akiramenu mōnen; p. 75).6 This description uses the Buddhist term mōnen to describe the nature of Ganon’s attachment to Hyrule. The concept of mōnen is generally associated with a Buddhist scripture called The Awakening of Faith (Daijō kishin ron), which was written during the 6th century. This is one of the key texts that the Japanese monk Saichō brought back with him from China at the beginning of the 9th century, and it was instrumental in the establishment of Tendai, one of the two main schools of Japanese esoteric Mahāyāna Buddhism (Stone, 2003). The concept of mōnen is deeply rooted in Japanese Buddhist religious traditions, which emphasize the ultimate ephemerality of all things.

According to the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism, mōnen is “mistaken, attached thought,” and it refers to the attachments people have to the world that prevent them from attaining enlightenment or freedom from the cycle of transmigration. “Mistaken” in this context does not carry the same moralistic connotations as it might in a Judeo-Christian value system; instead, it indicates a failure to understand that everything in the world is impermanent and will eventually fade or change. Our attachments to the world cause suffering, and it is from this suffering that various evils arise. Unless we can sever our “mistaken attachments” (mōnen) to the world, we are doomed to suffer endlessly throughout each of our successive incarnations. The use of the term mōnen in Master Works therefore suggests that the man who became Ganon was so strongly attached to his conviction that Hyrule should belong to him that the sheer force of his will trapped him within a cycle of suffering and reincarnation. Ganon’s mōnen, which I have translated as “obsession,” suggests that it is not necessarily his desire for power that resulted in his transformation into the Calamity Ganon but rather his absolute refusal to give up on attaining his desire. Eventually, the frustration of being repeatedly thwarted led to an urge to enact revenge, which became the sole motivation of the otherwise mindless Calamity Ganon.
​

I'm not saying Zelda is necessarily profound or anything, because at the end of the day, it's just made by some lay people in Nintendo with varying degrees of insight into life, conditioned by their circumstances, etc. However, I think that like other pieces of fantasy fiction that deal with fantasy's original spiritual themes, rather than declining into mere cynical material history, there is an element of traditionalism present that escapes the censorious modern degeneracy. Maybe the journey of a hero speaks more to metaphysical ideas than the soap opera like entertainment outside fantasy.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Man I really don't agree on the consistency bit, I think it's comparatively an extremely consistent franchise. I can't think of a single long western franchise that's as consistent as Zelda. However, I have a very positive opinion on it because I never touched Skyward Sword and the DS games, not sure how much those ones stain the series.

Yeah I did a bad job making my point. The series is indeed quite consistent, especially for a flagship franchise; I just think that the franchise is consistently decent, but that the narrative around the franchise is that it's consistently amazing, which I strongly disagree with. Don't get me wrong though, this still puts it above most videogames. I can boot up a Zelda game and be pretty certain that I'm going to be playing a game that will fall somewhere in the 7-9 range on a 10 point scale, and that's nothing to sneeze at.

I'm still waiting for some to make a Zelda clone (either 2D or 3D) that puts Zelda to shame, but for whatever reason AAA studios seem to have no desire or ability to clone what is, on paper, an extremely simple formula. There's like... Darksiders and Legacy of Kain and that's about it. Sooner or later some indie dev is bound to make a killer 2D Zelda clone, but the 3D variant probably requires a decent budget.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

I know this is a lore thread but I really miss the pants-less Link from Zelda1 and Zelda2, and the powerful sword beam you'd start with. It sucked ass whenever you'd lose the sword beam in earlier Zeldas, it really felt like a shot in the nuts to lose it and even when the sword beam makes an appearance in newer games it's usually some weird airborne crescent slash instead of a fucking BEAM.

I was super disappointed in the Link's awakening remake-- if you look at the original artwork for that game it looks badass and dream-like as opposed to the shitty chibi art style that they decided to go with.

Anyways some of the fan theories are interesting to read and I've always liked the implications of the swordsman in Twilight Princess being the Hero of Time, kind of a somber fate for 'ol OoT Link. I think the larger 'timeline' of Zelda games is largely an asspull, none of the games truly tie in with each other except for maybe the direct sequels, there was just enough demand for it from the community that Nintendo kinda-sorta acquiesed. Like when they were developing OoT I don't think Miyamoto was in a planning room saying 'this game takes place 1000 years before Zelda 1' or whatever, all that shit is just a big asspull.

 

[Gastrick]

Link To The Past is amazing, but most other Zelda games I can take or leave. Ocarina of Time is one of the most disappointing games I ever bought, a clumsy, awkward game with piss-easy puzzles that offer no challenge, and it was wank in the late 90's never mind now that it's aged.

It's quite stunning how Nintendo and it's fans have brainwashed the masses into thinking it's all that tbh. Suggest the Shinobi series has more good games then the Zelda one and folk will piss themselves at you as if you're crazy. But I play way more Shinobi games than I do Zelda ones by far (Arcade, Master System, Revenge, Shinobi 3, GG Shinobi, Alex Kidd in Shinobi World). I know they're different types of games, but I also know which ones snag me more.

Also Ninjas are better than gay elves.

I found the same thing, very clunky and far too few enemies. OOT really was a horrible game. It's too bad as well that all its sequels until Breath of the Wild were dragged down by having to copy it. Apparently this is "trolling" if you think the 2D games were a lot better. Nintendrones will be nintendrones.

I remember Shinobi being a really fun game when replaying it recently. Visuals, music, and gameplay all work great together.

 

[Viata]

I was super disappointed in the Link's awakening remake-- if you look at the original artwork for that game it looks badass and dream-like as opposed to the shitty chibi art style that they decided to go with.

I don't hate the art they went in that game, I just think they went with the wrong game for that.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

Zelda series story and "setting" is very influenced by japanese traditional folklore and some movies like Princess mononoke. This video is stupid for moments, but in others it exemplifies very well what I'm saying. This is a series I like a lot since I started playing videogames in the nineties as a child. And while it's not vaguely written or has a lot of depth in terms of story, the themes included are always very interesting.

 

[Ezekiel]

I know this is a lore thread but I really miss the pants-less Link from Zelda1 and Zelda2

I also want Link to have brown hair again. The blonde hair makes him too similar to Zelda.

 

[Louis_Cypher]

I found the same thing, very clunky and far too few enemies. OOT really was a horrible game. It's too bad as well that all its sequels until Breath of the Wild were dragged down by having to copy it. Apparently this is "trolling" if you think the 2D games were a lot better. Nintendrones will be nintendrones.

I remember Shinobi being a really fun game when replaying it recently. Visuals, music, and gameplay all work great together.

Yeah, I finished Ocarina of Time well after it's original release, and what I remember was clunky controls that hadn't aged well. It's blasphemy among some fans for anything other than OoT to be "number one", as it was probably their first experience of an epic adventure game with Hero's Journey themes. I understand it's historical importance for Nintendo, introducing things like lock-on, but I don't think it has aged well. Out of the Ocarina-likes, Twilight Princess is my favourite, but I would rather play 2D Zelda or Breath of the Wild.

Also out of the Ocarina-likes, Skyward Sword is the worst I've played.

 

[Melcar]

The fanboyism of OoT is mostly a product of its time. It was "HOLY SHIT, ZELDA IN 3D!!! The jump to the N64 was a very big deal for Nintendo fans. The game was not as good as Mario 64, but it managed to win the hearts of many Zelda fans despite what the actual gameplay was like. And said gameplay was not that bad. Coming from SNES and Gameboy I had my fun with it and did not consider it to be "clunky". It was mostly the first of what was possible for the franchise and many fans were more than happy to be hopeful. LttP is still my favorite Zelda regardless.

 

[AndyS]

I tried replaying Ocarina of Time a little while back and I got most of the way through it before quitting because it was just not very engaging. It has the common problem of series that transition from 2D to 3D in that everything in 3D takes longer to do but doesn't come with enough of a reward to compensate. You're just running around a big empty world so much of the time.

I beat Breath of the Wild just last night. I had a good time with it overall but it definitely has its blemishes. I don't think about Nintendo lore very much but I found it slightly interesting that it insinuated that the previous games were like distant, poorly remembered legends. My favorite thing about the game is how flexible it is in how you can go about it. I didn't like the horse riding mechanics, so I ignored the horse most of the time and didn't have a problem. I disliked the combat so I just stealthed my way through most of the finale until I made it to Ganon's lair. And then Ganon wasn't all that hard to defeat once I figured out the method.

 

[Viata]

it insinuated that the previous games were like distant, poorly remembered legends

Are not those games hundreds of years apart, lore-wise?

 

[Falksi]

I tried replaying Ocarina of Time a little while back and I got most of the way through it before quitting because it was just not very engaging. It has the common problem of series that transition from 2D to 3D in that everything in 3D takes longer to do but doesn't come with enough of a reward to compensate. You're just running around a big empty world so much of the time.

I beat Breath of the Wild just last night. I had a good time with it overall but it definitely has its blemishes. I don't think about Nintendo lore very much but I found it slightly interesting that it insinuated that the previous games were like distant, poorly remembered legends. My favorite thing about the game is how flexible it is in how you can go about it. I didn't like the horse riding mechanics, so I ignored the horse most of the time and didn't have a problem. I disliked the combat so I just stealthed my way through most of the finale until I made it to Ganon's lair. And then Ganon wasn't all that hard to defeat once I figured out the method.

I only played BotW for a few days whilst staying at a friends, and I was surprised at how much it didn't actually feel like a Zelda game.

It was OK, but really doesn't stand out in any way to me.

 

[Parsifarka]

Taking advantage of this thread to dump my impressions on the Zelda games I know:

Legend of Zelda is one of the best games I've ever played (shamelessly using a map for secret heart containers), it instantly draws you in with its colorful visuals, the unbelievably good soundtrack and the freedom to roam wherever you desire; the mechanic of being able to shoot the sword only at full health is very astute as it encourages avoiding all damage so that the game does not become less tense as Link grows in power for a single blow is always enough to deactivate his most powerful (lethal) weapon, which always requires precise control to be effective.
The overworld is like a captivating top-down interpretation of a Might & Magic scenario, with all its secrets, jokes, references to folk tales and charming creatures to annihilate as well as the possibility to traverse it in other ways than walking to the tune of a track that just screams "ADVENTURE". And then of course the dungeons with their surreal, dream-like color palettes, mysterious music and secret rooms. It's just perfect.

Zelda II is whatever, it's so strange I've never put enough time into it as to qualify to say whether it truly is shit (as I suspect it is).
Link to the Past is a game I've given several chances being one of the most (if not the most) praised in the series but from what I've seen it's pure decline and I always have to quit before completing the first dungeon. Everything I like about the original seems to be gone and replaced with tedious text boxes, unappealing color palettes, dull music and trivial melee-only sword combat with an absurdly wide range. Maybe that's just the tutorial, but the very fact of having one (and obligatory!) is already such a painful decline that I have never been able to overcome the disgust I feel for it. I still don't get what people see in it, it's like the first one only worse.

As for the 3D Legend of Zelda games, I was very impressed with Ocarina of Time, even though it abuses dull cinematics and terrible, unnecessary text exposition for the first few hours of game. It executes plenty of remarkable concepts that remain exotic today even if it isn't always that fun: some dungeons have design flaws and it's just too long for its own good, but I understand why it is a landmark for the genre. The frequent suspension of player input specially in early game for the purposes of torturing him with dumb writing and awkward cinematics is horrible, but overall the game is very bold, constantly introducing new mechanics and pulling out some really impressive gameplay moments.
Then I started Majora's Mask, but as I still had a serious burnout from OoT and the game throws a bunch of obligatory gimmicky minigames at you right at the start I quit and decided to return to it in an undetermined future date.

In nuce, the original Legend of Zelda is marvelous and as far as I'm concerned nothing that came out afterwards reached its excellence even if there's stuff very much worth checking out.

 

[Gastrick]

That seems pretty absurd to me that Wind Waker came from Hyrule flooding. From what I know of geology, besides islands, land has done nothing expand the past billions of years (unless Atlantis is real). If a place was cold earlier, then tropical weather wouldn't arise. Not only that, but it somehow became unflooded later.

Just read the official timeline, it's pretty retarded that they made endings canon that weren't even in the original game.