Nintendo & Storytelling: Ideas for Elaborating on Ocarina of Time’s Lore
Back in 2019, I revisited and completed a playthrough of the original PS1 Final Fantasy VII (FFVII). It was fun to experience the game again (this time at 3x speed!) Playing through the game almost four years ago, I remember wondering what made the storyline so deep and rewarding. I thought about one of my favorite games of all time, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (OoT) on N64 during my playthrough of FFVII. The two games seem to be associated for me in that they came out about a year apart and made massive impacts on their respective consoles upon release. My friends and I were obsessed with FFVII and, a year later, with Ocarina of Time. Those were some wild times back in those days! But as I played through the game, I thought about how OoT would’ve been if it’s story was handled the same way FFVII’s was - where so many things could have happened off camera but story sequences were developed that actually showed these events taking place. In Ocarina of Time, there is also a ton of backstory and lore - but very rarely do we get cinema sequences playing these scenes out like they would have been in FFVII. So let’s look at these lore and backstory bits to see some scenes that were undercooked.
The first question I asked myself was: Did The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time have a deep story?
My answer is that it does.
However, unlike Final Fantasy VII, so many of OoT story is spoken about briefly but offers no real cutscene to really flesh the story bit out. Where there would be a pretty lengthy cinema sequence or cut scene in FFVII to explain a particular story bit, OoT would only mention some things in passing as opposed to playing the scene out for bigger impact.
There are several examples of this happening in OoT - scenes with either a short story sequence with nothing actually happening but a synopsis of what occurred for the player to read over an animated background. The cutscene doesn’t actually show what the synopsis is describing. Others do not even get that treatment and are just mentioned by NPCs.
There are several story sequences like this that leave opportunities to really show these scenes re-enacted and give real depth to OoT’s lore. Here are some examples:
The Great War
It would’ve been nice to see what this looked like in cutscene. Perhaps a flashback sequence to witness this war taking place so long ago. The war isn’t really touched on much in the rest of OoT’s story but it would’ve been nice to have at least some visual of what those times looked like in-game.
Ganondorf’s confrontation with the Great Deku Tree
The cutscene that accompanies this scene shows Ganondorf riding on horseback in front of pires of flames.
What the cutscene SHOULD have showed was Ganondorf interacting with the Great Deku Tree, trying to coerce the Deku Tree to hand over the spiritual stone, and Ganondorf subsequently cursing the Deku Tree and summoning Gohma to slowly kill its Deku Tree host.
Link’s Mom
The Deku Tree Sprout tells Link the story story of his mother, who entered Ganondorf confronting the Deku Tree.
This could have been a particularly powerful scene showing Link’s mother, injured, desperately pleading for the Deku Tree to take in her son - and passing away shortly after the Deku Tree agreed to do so.
The devs already created a cutscene for this story sequence - but it’s just text and the same flame pire background used earlier in the game when the Deku Tree told Link about Ganondorf in the example above. This sequence should be played out from beginning to end - showing Link’s mother, Link as a baby, and her being mortally wounded. This could’ve been a very powerful sequence for the player in terms of backstory as well.
Composer Brothers’ research
"Though we never could figure out the power of the Triforce, we had almost completed our study of controlling time with the tones of ocarinas. Uh, I mean... Actually, we did complete that study! We would have been famous, if that hateful Ganondorf had not tried to steal our results. We could never let him reap the fruits of our research! That's why we gave our lives to protect the secret."- The Composer Brothers
This bit of story has nothing to do with the overall narrative in the game but it is a nice peace of lore that would add more character development to those serving the royal family and for Ganondorf himself - looking to steal their work. Granted, this is an optional sidequest - the Sun’s Song isn’t required to beat the game and less inquisitive gamers may not discover it entirely. But little scenes like this really add depth the game’s lore and a cutscene perhaps showing a flashback of the Composer Bros. while they are alive and Ganondorf plotting to steal their research would’ve been pretty cool to see!
Ganondorf enables a Goron famine
"And that big rock blocking the cave... All this trouble must have been caused by that Gerudo thief, Ganondorf! He said, "Give me the Spiritual Stone! Only then will I open the cave for you!"- Darunia
Just like I would’ve like to see Ganondorf visiting the Kokiri Forest, threatening and sicced a parasite on the Deku Tree, it would’ve been really nice to see Ganondorf go to Death Mountain and threaten Darunia and block the entrance to Dodongo’s Cavern with a huge bolder.
Ganondorf poison’s Lord Jabu-Jabu
"But since that stranger, Ganondorf, came here, Lord Jabu-Jabu has been a little green around the gills... The evidence seems clear. Of course, you'll go find Ruto. You can pass through here to the altar of Lord Jabu-Jabu."- King Zora"I'm OK. I've been going inside Lord Jabu-Jabu's belly since I was little, but... Lord Jabu-Jabu is very strange today... There are electrified jellyfish and strange holes around... On top of that, my precious stone was...but... That's none of your business!"- Princess Ruto
Again, in the child timeline, we hear all about how Ganondorf went to each nation in Hyrule holding Spiritual Stones and threatening their ‘heads of state’; causing all kinds of problems 0 killing the Great Deku Tree, trying to starve out and famish the Goron’s, and poisoning Lord Jabu Jabu. Ganondorf is going around bullying everyone and the gamer only gets to hear (i.e. read!) about it and never gets to see it.
Ganondorf raids Hyrule Castle
After the sequence where Ganondorf is chasing Impa and Zelda, you can come into Hyrule Castle Town and know that Ganondorf’s men had been in there based on the dialogue from the fallen soldier who dies on camera in the back alley. He mentions trying to stop Ganondorf’s men. Toward the endgame, before the final dungeon, Zelda mentions Ganondorf’s attack on Hyrule Castle that day seven years ago:
We should have seen this storming of the castle. What happened? How were Zelda and Impa able to escape? Why is Hyrule Castle Town still somewhat normal after such an invasion?
There should be a scene of Ganondorf making his move, entering castle town on his Gerudo stallion and heading to the castle to kidnap Zelda and fight Impa. We should see the Hyrule Castle Town soldiers defending the castle and town. There should be something here to show the player what went down at the castle!
(SIDEBAR: At least Nintendo did a good job showing this sort of castle raid scene happen in Twilight Princess!)
What Zelda was doing during those seven long years?
"I've been waiting for you, Hero of Time..."- Sheik
"I passed myself off as a Sheikah and hoped that you would return. I waited for seven years..."- Princess Zelda
This is something I wish we knew - what was Zelda doing for those seven years while she waited for Link? We know she was in hiding, passing herself off as a Shiekah (which in restrospect, is a bit sus as Impa was the ‘survivor of the Shiekah’ - the only Shiekah left in OoT; so it may have been a dead giveaway that this new Shiekah hiding in Hyrule would be Zelda but clearly, Ganondorf wasn’t thinking that way). But it would’ve been nice to get some real insight into what Zelda/Sheik was doing all that time before Link appeared in the Temple of Time as a adult.
It would also be nice to see what Sheik is up to between each time he teaches Link a new piece of music.
Volvagia revived and Goron’s detained
“A long time ago there was an evil dragon named Volvagia living in this mountain. That dragon was very scary! He ate Gorons! Using a huge hammer, the hero of the Gorons... BOOOM! Destroyed it just like that. This is a myth from long ago, but it's true! I know, because my dad is a descendant of the hero! B-b-b-boooo hooooo! - Link (Darunia’s son)
“ I want to have a man-to-man talk with you, but now's not the time. Ganondorf is causing trouble on Death Mountain again! He has revived the evil, ancient dragon Volvagia! On top of that, he is going to feed my people to that evil dragon as a warning to other races that might resist him... If that fire-breathing dragon escapes from the mountain, all of Hyrule will become a burning wasteland! I will go on ahead to try to seal up the evil dragon... I'm concerned, though, because I don't have the legendary hammer... But I have no choice.
-Darunia
There is a lot of potential for Goron lore here. In addition to actually developing cutscenes to actually show Ganondorf reviving Volvagia, it would’ve been amazing to see a flashback scene of the Goron hero defeating Volvagia with the hammer back in the day! That would have been so cool! Also, a scene showing the Goron’s actually being marched to the Fire Temple and being detained for sacrifice to Volvagia.
Battle between Darunia and Volvagia
We know Darunia lost this fight. But we should have been able to witness him give it all he had! This could have been another powerful scene - Darunia in combat with Volvagia, without the Megaton Hammer, surely doomed but giving it his all! This would’ve been a nice cinema sequence to have here to give Darunia a bit more screentime and development.
Zora’s Domain frozen over
A scene showing this occurring; showing Zora being trapped under the ice and frozen would be a good scene to show.
Sheik saves Princess Ruto
I never forgot the vows we made to each other seven years ago! You're a terrible man to have kept me waiting for these seven long years... But now is not the time to talk about love... I'm sure you've already seen it! Zora's Domain--totally frozen! A young man named Sheik saved me from under the ice... But my father and the other Zoras have not... yet... I want to save them all! I want to save Zora's Domain!-Princess Ruto
A cut scene to actually see this happen and perhaps a short conversation between Ruto and Sheik where perhaps Ruto tells Sheik what happened and how she’s impacted by her home being frozen. There are so many opportunities in the game for character development and back story for smaller moments like these that are just mentioned in passing by the game’s NPCs.
Ganondorf observing Link the entire time
Imagine if we got to see not only what Zelda (as Shiek) was doing during her seven years of waiting, it would be great to see what Ganondorf was up to as well. Was he in the Castle Keep playing his theme song on his organ that entire time? We know Ganondorf has some way of observing Link during his adventure. This is made clear twice in game - after Link defeats Phantom Ganon in the Forest Temple and again in the Temple of Time when Zelda reveals herself during the endgame. Maybe there can be cinema scenes added each time the player visits the Chamber of Sages and collects a Spiritual Stone showing exactly what Ganondorf and Zelda/Sheik were up to. Because we know Sheik was keeping an eye on Link too.
It may have been a lot to animate all of these cutscenes on a 32MB cart back in the day - but I do think in an Ocarina of Time remake for modern Nintendo hardware, this could be a great opportunity to add these story scenes to further expand this lovely story and add a ton of character development content.