What defines the Zelda experience?

[tolu619]

The Zelda experience for me is what OoT & Majora's Mask put me through. (Stopped after d 1st dungeon in windwaker). It's the 'WOAH! You can put THAT in a game?!? It's the 'How did they think of that?' It's the 'Damn, the music is gooooood!' and it's the hard ass puzzles. The combat wasn't the main thing for me but the boss & miniboss battles were. That's where TP failed. The fights. It's also the fantastic sidequests that totally beat fetch quests. Anyone who got all the masks in Majora's mask knows what I'm talking about. Finally, it's the engaging.....gimmick for lack of a better term. OoT:The 7 years time travel. Majora's Mask:The 3 day time limit and mask transformations. Twilight Princess:The Wolf.

It's also the constant change of pace. Stealth to Horse Combat to under-water mission to brawl to platforming to whew! Much nore variety than most games.
Highlights like these:
1. Shooting the sun in OoT to get ur fire arrows
2. Jumping on invisible platforms (over a chasm) to get ur lens of truth
3. Finding hidden items in waterfalls or rooftops thanks 2 ur hookshot or other platforming tools

4. Catching a spider in a bottle and releasing it in an empty room (filled with the sound of Golden Skultullas) to reveal the location of the bigger spiders. I figured 'in real life, animals of the same specie like the same environment' and it really worked. THAT blew my mind!

 

  In any case, Zelda was the 1st time I experienced sooo many gameplay mechanics (even if they may be very present in other games) games that i'm going to have to experience sooooo many new things (new to me) from the same game before it can beat Zelda as my favorite game series. I said this for SoundofRain. He may be wondering why some of us hold it in such high regard.