ves

I heard endless complaints about both navi and the water temple growing up online. YouTubers would have you believe they were game design abominations.

Finally playing through OOT for the first time last year, they were both fine.

The water temple ended up my favourite part of the game lol.

For real!! Treating this game like an 80s/90s rpg and going through all the towns after every major event is such a fulfilling way to play... and is partially responsible for me taking over 60 hours to wrap the game up, lol

But I don't feel very masochistic playing this, nor like my time has been wasted at all. If anything I feel respected, similar to your point in the last section.

I'm 57 hours in and I have yet to feel an ounce of frustration. Its just been plain fun to engage with this game, run-backs included!

The whole "I don't have the TIME to fight a boss for 12 hours" gives me that sort of vibe. That there has to be something wrong with you if you're enjoying yourself. Maybe I'm overthinking it but that's how it feels on my side of the difficulty discourse.

Felt really validating to read this, I resonate with pretty much all of it!

I've felt a sort of "condescension" from people who are ultra critical of the game's difficulty. There feels like an underlying assumption that the only people enjoying their time would be no lifers or "masochists."