Ocarina of Time is my favorite game of all time. It has been #1 on my list for as long as I can remember. It is one of the first games I ever played. It is the game that taught me English. I have limitless nostalgia and memories with it. It's a game that has been with me my entire life, more or less (I am born in 1996, so technically there were 2 years of my life where OoT did not exist). It is probably thanks to OoT I am the way I am today. It made me interested in speedrunning, which made me look at games in a different way and got me deeper into computers than I probably would've otherwise.

Anyway, all this is to say that OoT is a very important game to me, so when I heard they were remaking it I was very skeptic and cautious about it. I was not a fan of how Link looked, his face looked like one of the princesses in Frozen. The graphics also looked weird, it looked super over-sharpened. Navi also seemed to be more annoying than usual, and she had voice acting now. I was worried.

But anyway I pre-ordered, I got it on launch day, I have just completed it 100%, and I am happy to say I think it is at least as good as the original, or better.

(This post could be a lot longer than it is, but I'm giving myself a deadline to post it today (the same day I beat it) because I could go on and on...)

Map changes

The thing that is so incredible about this remake is that everything is new and redone, yet, everything is familiar. All the things are basically where you expect them to be, even though they're not (for reference I got 98/100 gold skulltulas and all but 3 heart pieces without looking up any guide).

For example, Kakariko Village has a very different layout, yet, everything is still in the same general direction, so you will very quickly find everything again.

For the most part I could do my typical strategies and routes that I always do. For instance, the route in Lost Woods was the same and the invisible walls in Shadow Temple were in the same places.

There are some changes though. I believe the Lens of Truth part in Haunted Wasteland was different, and the second Dampe race was different. The prisoners in Gerudo Fortress was also in different places (for the better!).

One overall theme seems to be streamlining. In the original game there are a lot of long tunnels all over the place (not something I really thought of until I played this version). This is most noticeable in Water Temple, where every room was connected to the main room through a long tunnel. The path to the Great Fairy outside Ganons Castle was also quite long in the original. Here it's practically right next to the rainbow bridge.

They also seemed to have reduced amount of backtracking needed. Most notably, in Fire Temple, you can reach the scarecrow using the regular hookshot.

I welcome these changes though, I felt they were all for the better, and just saves you time.

Things have swapped places though. This was most noticeable in Water Temple. The infamous key that everyone misses, has a Gold Skulltula there instead. In Fire Temple some of the imprisoned Gorons have swapped places with the map and compass.

If I were to rank how much each dungeon changed (from most to least amount of changes) it would probably be something like (keeping in mind I have done no actual research on this and am purely going off memory while I have a headache):

1. Water Temple. This level is infamous for people to get stuck in so it's not surprising they felt the need to make it dumber, but I think they went a bit overboard. In combination with the streamlining (less tunnels), the level feels very different from the original and is now one of the shortest levels. Scales have also changed, there is no way in hell you will ever be able to do this in this version, everything is larger and more spaced apart now.
2. Bottom of the Well. Same general idea (corridors around a large empty room in the middle + the basement you fall down to), but almost nothing is where its supposed to be. Most notably the Lens of truth (which are Glasses of truth here btw) are in a new room in the northern edge of the level, and changing the water level changes the whole perimeter of the level (the shallow water in the original is actual deep water here).
3. Fire Temple. The map and compasses have switched places with some Gorons. The whole area around the boulder maze and the imprisoned Goron (that unlocks a shortcut) is very different. Again, it's in the same general area and direction, but everything has moved around slightly (and the block puzzle has been shortened). The room where you get the hammer is also very different (you now run up to it in a counter-clockwise circle, where as the original was clockwise). Also, in the room where you meet Darunia, you cannot
4. Jabu-Jabus Belly. The whole section where you cut down the tails with the Boomerang is completely re-done. The map and compasses are also not rewards from defeating the tails anymore. The main room with the platform going up and down is no longer there, and no platform slides down to let you access the boss room.
5. Shadow Temple. Notably the entrance is different, or, well, basically, they moved the part that was outside in the graveyard (where you cast Din's Fire) into the temple itself, which makes more sense I would argue. Other than that, the only notable changes are that there is now an elevator for the shortcut between the ferry room and the spinner room, and the left side of the room with the guillotines is a lot more streamlined. The invisible platforms before the boss door have also changed into smaller ones (they are in the general same position though). Also, instead of firing an arrow to make the eagle bridge fall down on the other side, the pillar is on the ferry side, so you can just blow it up right there.
6. Forest Temple. Only difference I can remember is that there is an elevator (shortcut) that goes from the bottom of the block puzzle to the top of it. The room where you fight a blue flame skull (and get the Map) is also gone.
7. Dodongos Cavern. Most notable thing here is that the rising/sinking platforms are more or less mandatory as there is no edge around the lava floor you can walk on. Inside the mouth things are quite different also (you now have to actually push blocks in both rooms).
8. Spirit Temple. The outside is quite different (the teleport pedestal is now straight in front of the entrance (instead of to the right)), and the whole area on the body around the hands holding the Silver Gauntlets and Mirror Shield chests is very different, but inside the temple itself everything is pretty much identical, apart from the very first room and the shortcut to it. The room with the boss key has also changed a bit, replacing the randomly placed floating ice block with a metal bridge that falls out.
9. Deku Tree. Makes sense they wanted to keep this as familiar as possible. A lot more height has been added (I guess to make it more obvious you should jump down and break the web with force). The pool of water you fall into is also not the same as the main pool of the basement.
10. Ganons Castle/Trials. More trials have gotten a golden gauntlets block added outside of them (in the original I think only the Light trial had it, here Fire has it also). The Shadow trial is quite different and requires use of the hover boots more. In the Spirit trial there is also a slight layout change in the room where you are supposed to use a Bombchu). Other than that, I couldn't really notice any major difference. Forest, Fire and Water seemed identical atleast.
11. Gerudo Training Grounds. Admittedly I've only gone through this a handful of times in the original, but it seemed to me pretty much identical, except there is now a shortcut you can open up once you get the Ice Arrows to quickly get out.

Overall, none of these changes are bad, except Water Temple maybe. I feel like Water Temple is too streamlined and fast now. Most of the other changes seems to make more sense than how it was in the original, so I welcome them.

Outside of dungeons, the world has changed quite a bit. Most notably Hyrule Field is almost entirely unrecognizable. None of the grottos are where you expect them to be, and new ones have been added. Notably there are some heart pieces and skulltulas that require you to go through time and do things as child to be able to get the thing as adult, or vice versa. The entrance to Lake Hylia also does not have the weird square fence area.

I don't feel like typing out all the differences here (I'm sure plenty of others have done that already), so I'll leave this section for now.

TLDR: Everything is in the same general area that you expect them to be. If it takes you 14 hours to 100% the original, allocate 18 hours for your first time here (...at least that's my numbers)

Gameplay changes

In general, I'd say a lot of crap has been streamlined for the better.

• The ocarina minigame in the Lost Woods is a lot faster and gives you an outline of the buttons
• If you get a high enough score in Gerudo Archery you get both rewards at once
• Bombchu Bowling has been made a lot easier and less dependent on RNG
• Most minigames cost just 10 rupees
• Dampes gravedigging tour has a fixed amount of piles of dirt, and Dampe will run up to them. You don't need to wait 5 business days for him to walk over to the next spot like in the original
• Playing songs such as Suns Song and Song of Storms is a lot faster because you can skip the little cutscene
• Farore's Wind lets you place the point anywhere (in a dungeon) not just at the entrance of a room. Magic is also not drawn until you warp to it.
• Dedicated jump button! Took a lot of getting used to the first hour, but once I got used to it I love it. Once you get used to it the movement is so smooth in this game and it feels awesome. The movement in the original is very robotic compared to the fluidity here.
• Only one equippable item. While it is pretty damn fast to hold down R (or L) to swap items, I would've still preferred to slots. I would've made R and L the use item buttons, and have ZR open the swap menu, instead of having two buttons to open the swap menu.
• Enemies stay dead! In the original I barely ever bothered killing anyone because I knew they would just come right back once i re-entered the room. Here, they stay dead, which is really nice, especially with Beamos.
• Item drops stay! In the original you felt a hurry to pick up item drops before they despawned. Here you don't need to worry about that, which is really nice. You can for example wait to pick up the hearts until the end of the iron knuckles fights.
• You only need to catch 5 Big Poes for the extra bottle. I rarely bother getting the 4th bottle in the original because catching the poes is so tedious, so I was very glad to see this change.
• Big Poes are clearly marked out in Hyrule Field, and are triggered by jumping over a fence. In the original you need to lookup a map to see the exact angles you need to run to spawn the Big Poes. Here you just have big purple fences that light up. So much better.
• Lens of truth is now a pair of glasses you equip the same way as a mask. That makes a lot more sense!

Obviously there are a lot of other changes too, but these are the tones I thought of immediately.

The bad things

• No save slots. If I want to start a new game I have to worry I overwrite my old one. (BOTW and TOTK has the same issue... I hate it.)
• AMD FSR 1.0. I'm not a stickler for graphics, but boy, I cannot understand why Nintendo is not using DLSS. There are so many instances of this game where things look oversharpened, aliased and it shimmers. It's especially bad when it happens on shadows (quite prevalent in the fishing pond)
  • Having said that, the game overall still looks gorgeous and it runs at a super solid 60 FPS. I think it is one of the prettiest games I have ever played. The detail, foliage, environments, lighting, fog, color, textures, yada yada... everything is gorgeous
• How Link looks. I just think it's weird. His face looks like an AI generated Disney princess. Fortunately you spend most time looking at the back of his hat.
• Voice acting. Not a fan of anyones voice really.
• Combat. I rarely have genuine fights in the original game as I just abuse the PCS glitch to cheese enemies. But here, I have to actually fight enemies, and I just find it quite bad. You spend most time just shielding and waiting for them to do their attacks and then get some attacks in on them and wait again.

Summary

In summary, I loved this remake, and I think it is as good or better than the original. I might default to this version if I feel like playing OoT going forward honestly, I feel like it might be a bit rough to go back to the original now.

They basically took my favorite game of all time, and improved on it, so it's an even better favorite game of all time somehow. I didn't think it was possible.

But hey, I've liked the original for almost 30 years. I've liked this game for almost 3 days, so we'll see if it holds up as well as the original, but I am optimistic!