The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
Year: 2001
Rating: E
Time Played: ~30 hours
As the second half of the “Oracle” games in the Zelda franchise, Oracle of Ages takes more of its cues from the wildly popular Ocarina of Time than its sister game, Oracle of Seasons, did. While Oracle of Seasons had a fairly unique mechanic (albeit not fully realized), Oracle of Ages had the benefit of its Nintendo 64 predecessor to help craft some of the puzzle-solving that needed to happen throughout its gameplay. And even if I played through using a linked account, giving me quite a few advantages—Oracle of Ages still suffers from some of the Game Boy Zelda titles’ limitations.
Even if the story in Oracle of Ages isn’t that strong compared to the Nintendo 64 games, it’s at least more fleshed out in terms of characters and their motivations when compared to Oracle of Seasons. The end boss wasn’t nearly as difficult in this game, but at least I had seen her a few times leading up to the final fight. I understood the villain’s motivation in this game, which was more than I could say about the antagonist of Oracle of Seasons. That being said, it wasn’t too difficult to surpass Seasons when it came to its story.
While there were still moments that weren’t quite intuitive on how to proceed, I did appreciate how easy it eventually became to switch between the old and modern ages (something that the limited ability to change seasons in Oracle of Seasons never fully overcame). Additionally, playing through with a linked account added an additional set of bosses that rounded out the experience and almost shoehorned both games into the Zelda canon. In the end, it’s not like these bosses added much other than maybe an extra hour or so of gameplay.
A slightly better story to Seasons but with a few remaining weaknesses, I give The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages 3.5 stars out of 5.
1/2
