Topic: Hidden Message in Majora's Mask?

[gpw11]

Check this out.

It was on digg, and to be honest I didn't read more than the first 10% of it because I've never played the game (by the way, should I?). People there seemed pretty pumped though.

[Cobra951]

If you have the opportunity, you definitely should play it.

I need to read that again.  I was having some trouble following.  Art often conceals some references, and they can be obscene.  I don't know if that happened in MM.  It's the one to do it in, being so far off the beaten path.

[gpw11]

I'll put it on the list. I remember I never tried it on the n64 even though I was a big OoT fan (I think I've mentioned that was the game that really got me into playing video games...well this and FFVI).  I did, however, try a bit on PJ64...which was fine, but the second I figured out there was some sort of artificial time limit I pretty much stopped.  I figured you'd probably be able to reverse it with the ocarina, but fuck the very idea of hurrying in a Zelda game.

[Quemaqua]

Sounds like a bit of BS to me just from the sound of it, but I didn't read too far in.  I smell very, very heavy conjecture in a game where that probably isn't even warranted, making the entire thing seem implausible.  Some games beg for that kind of stuff (Elder Scrolls games, Silent Hill), others do not, so what you're reading into it is probably just coincidental.

Still, you have to give the guy credit for going the whole nine yards.  I haven't played the game and hence can't *really* say anything about it other than a few of the assumptions he makes sound weak, but he certainly seems to have documented it all with care.  Maybe the rest of you will find that what look to me like weak spots might be justifiable with whatever background knowledge you have.

[scottws]

I'll put it on the list. I remember I never tried it on the n64 even though I was a big OoT fan (I think I've mentioned that was the game that really got me into playing video games...well this and FFVI).  I did, however, try a bit on PJ64...which was fine, but the second I figured out there was some sort of artificial time limit I pretty much stopped.  I figured you'd probably be able to reverse it with the ocarina, but fuck the very idea of hurrying in a Zelda game.

It's actually pretty awesome and works really well.

[Ghandi]

Sounds like a bit of BS to me just from the sound of it, but I didn't read too far in.  I smell very, very heavy conjecture in a game where that probably isn't even warranted, making the entire thing seem implausible.  Some games beg for that kind of stuff (Elder Scrolls games, Silent Hill), others do not, so what you're reading into it is probably just coincidental.

Still, you have to give the guy credit for going the whole nine yards.  I haven't played the game and hence can't *really* say anything about it other than a few of the assumptions he makes sound weak, but he certainly seems to have documented it all with care.  Maybe the rest of you will find that what look to me like weak spots might be justifiable with whatever background knowledge you have.

I don't think that it's BS necessarily, but a lot of his argument is speculation. I find it a pretty interesting theory, and maybe even plausible. But while some of arguments about why the devs put certain artwork in the game may be true (i.e. the Majoras-Mask shaped statue, the phallic statues), I don't think that he was correct about the overall meaning behind them. He may have been reaching a bit.

And gpw, definitely play this game if you get a chance. I loved it. The time restriction was never a problem, and you quickly learn a song in the game that slows the time down significantly. Very rarely did I have problems with the time. It feels less like a restriction and more like a tool, in that you can start from scratch if you mess up a character interaction for a storyline.

[scottws]

I was thinking about Majora's Mask some more.  I remember honestly liking it more than Ocarina of Time.  That said, it's definitely not a traditional Zelda game.  Not quite a Zelda II: Link's Adventure-style departure, but it doesn't really have the same type of game structure that all the Zelda games after A Link to the Past do.

It's similar in some ways, but the focus isn't on the dungeons, though they exist.  The focus is on solving the various issues in the schedule.

[Cobra951]

I'll put it on the list. I remember I never tried it on the n64 even though I was a big OoT fan (I think I've mentioned that was the game that really got me into playing video games...well this and FFVI).  I did, however, try a bit on PJ64...which was fine, but the second I figured out there was some sort of artificial time limit I pretty much stopped.  I figured you'd probably be able to reverse it with the ocarina, but fuck the very idea of hurrying in a Zelda game.

No, don't let that worry stop you.  Think Groundhog Day.  Repeating a time period is part of the game, not failure.