Majoras Mask

First let me tell you a dark secret. Before the 3DS release I hadn't played Majoras Mask. And now after I completed my 100% run I can say that this was truly a shame. It's not only one of the best Zelda games I've played, but one of the best games overall.

This post will be a short talk about why. So if any of you haven't played this game then be warned, because Spoilers are ahead. And seriously, play it!

Now I don't think I have to recap the story, but just in case, I'll do it anyway. After the events of Ocarina of Time Link has been sent back into his childhood and he and Navi parted ways. He then grabbed Epona and rode into the forgotten woods to find his lost companion. There he is ambushed by a Horror Kid wearing a strange mask. The horror kid is accompanied by two fairies, and after surviving a long fall and being turned into a Deku Scrub Link teams up with one of them to find the Horror Kid. Link then arrives in Clocktown at the center of Termina. How he got there remains a mystery, but he is directly greeted by a familiar face. The Happy Mask Salesman from Hyrule has also traveled to this strange country. He tells Link that he has to return Majoras Mask, the Mask the Horror Kid was wearing, to him, or something horrible will happen. After some small adventures Link manages to meet the Horror Kid at the top of the Clocktower. It has used the power of the Mask to make the Moon fall. Unable to stop it, Link uses the Song of Time and travels back to the beginning of the three days cycle. The Happy Mask Salesman teaches you the procedure to turn back into a human, and sends you out on your quest. You then have to bring peace to the four regions of Termina, before you can face the Horror Kid. And because you can't avert the end of the world yet, you have to travel back in time when the Moon dares to fall.

This mechanic is, to this day, unique in the video game world. And it creates a unique atmosphere which is unlike any other game I have played so far.

People often call this game the darkest Zelda and I would certainly agree. While Twilight Princess deals with dark tones and has some pretty dark imaginary, it does this in a ''In your face'' kind of way, which devalues it a little bit for me. Majoras Mask on the other way does this more naturally. The sense of dread slowly creeping into the people, while the moon descends and they slowly start to realize their fate, and then their reactions at the end, are some of the most memorable moments in gaming I had in the last few years. Especially the day. Seeing Cremia talking to Romani in the ranch at the last evening, or the pure dread of the swordsmaster and the helplessness of the postman. This is some pretty strong stuff for a Zelda game, or any game in the matter. The atmosphere created shows this deep hopelessness, but that only makes the light shine so much brighter. I'll get to what I mean later on.

Also Majoras Mask has probably the Zelda World which felt most alive to me. During the three days every NPC has his own daily routines. Anju, for example, doesn't always wait behind the counter at the inn. You can find her bringing food to her grandmother, or taking a walk to the little pond in southern clocktown. There are countless small and big scenes during these three days that help filling the game with life. This is one of the reasons why the NPCs in the game, over the course of your playthrough, grow into more than just that. You actually get a short glimpse into their lives.

And what impressed me the most, was that this game truly shows the consequences of your acts or non-acts. What I mean with this, is that in a normal videogame you maybe get a short cutscene showing you fail, before the retry screen pops up. But because this game is built on the foundation of redoing, it doesn't have to do this. For example if you don't help Romani defending the cows in the first night, you'll find the once cheerful girl completely unresponsive afterward. Something you can't fix till the next time you reset the 3 days cycle. Seeing the direct result of the player failing at something creates an incredible feeling during play. After seeing Romani in that state, saving her felt even more rewarding. Seeing the consequences of me not helping this people, increased my desire to do so. In fact on the final three days cycle before I went to the Moon for the final showdown, I did all I could to help as many people as possible. I defeated all four bosses once more, saved the Romani ranch, helped the Deku Princess, found all Zora eggs, united Kafei and Anju, released the postman, ended the endless discussion and many more.

In games like Skyrim sidequests, and even the main quest, often seem irrelevant to me, because they wait for you. No matter how much the people tell me that Alduins return is at hand, it won't happen as long as I don't progress in the quest. Some farmer may tell me that his child is dying and needs medicine quickly, but after doing a couple of other missions and wasting hours upon hours, it still hangs in there. When I don't give Kafeis pendant to Anju in time, she won't wait for him and the sidequest is impossible.

The three days cycle is ingenious because it allows the player to fail, without failing. Majoras Mask allowed us to glimpse into the world of a video game for three days, while other games often seem frozen in time. Even in some of the biggest RPGs nothing happens without the Heros incentive, which always reminds me that this is just a videogame, no matter how alive the word is otherwise. I would love to see the Majoras Mask worlddesign return someday, because as it stands Majoras Mask 3D was one of the most memorable experiences I had in a long time.

And as always

thanks for reading

source of all images: Nintendo