Quote Originally Posted by Drageuth View Post
Kind of, yes. However, if it had been a stand-alone game not in the Zelda franchise, I probably would never have picked it up. I was severely disappointed because it wasn't the same style of game that I usually enjoy and come to expect from Zelda. When I pick up a Mario game, I buy it because I'm expecting a good, light-hearted platformer. When I pick up a Zelda game, I'm usually expecting some action/adventure centered around solving dungeons and saving the princess from peril. The collecting of masks adds replay value, for sure, but it's not something that I really look for in a game. Especially with timed events. I really do loathe timed events.

I can understand why it's being toted as such a great game, but for me it just doesn't do it. It all comes down to a matter of opinion, really. Millions of people have toted Fallout 3 as being a fantastic game, but I had a hard time getting into it and an even harder time finishing it.

The being said, I don't expect the Zelda franchise to just freeze and constantly repeat the same thing over and over, though. That leads to a certain level of stagnation that a lot of series fall prey to (case in point: Mega Man). I like that they tried to switch things up a bit, I just didn't like the end result.
Majora's Mask was a one-time thing. It was the follow-up game to the most successful and highly acclaimed Zelda of Nintendo's history, and they had fucking no idea what to do from there. So they let the developers and writers have a one-time chance to be creative as they sorted their shit out. Of course there's games like Minish Cap, Four Swords, Wind Waker that attempt that kind of originality, but they had to stick to the roots by a major portion.

To say Majora's Mask is considered a great game is kind of stretching the truth. Of course, in the opinionated way. 10+ years Zelda fans found it almost too different, even I thought that when I played it on launch day. I only developed a kinship for it like 5-6 years later when I was more mature and had a binge of playing all the Zelda's again. I wouldn't say it's my favorite game of all-time, Chrono Cross has that one, but it's in my top 10, and it's my favorite Zelda for the time being.

But god, I hardly ever want to replay that game. I have one or twice, but the game is stressful to all fuck as it's heavily and quickly timed and has a constant theme of hopeless apocalypse. The setting and themes are great, but it's not something I want to casually play. Especially near the forth area, more-so when I was young but still a little today, I'm kind of scared of that game. The terrible fates of every NPC and even Link himself make me feel awful. I mean jesus, there's a half-mummified guy that was suffering in the basement of a house for some time before Link came around, and even healing him didn't really do that much.

But that's another point, people expect too much conservatism when it comes to great series of game, like LoZ. I am much a part of 'don't fix what isn't broken', but when it's done like 5 times, I want something new. And especially when the creativity is implemented in one game, and then they go back to the roots is a little disappointing. It's like they all unanimously thought the game was awful and they need to go back to the formula.

But in the end, this doesn't even matter and opinions are pointless. Some enjoy the game, some don't (such as you), end of story.