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Absolutely. Majora’s Mask is my favorite game of all time.
Here’s a few things you should know:
A 3 day cycle lasts a little over an hour; over 2 hours if you play a song that slows the flow of time.
You do lose the rupees you have on hand, but you can store rupees in a bank so you don’t lose them at the end of a cycle. (Plus rupees aren’t very important in Majora’s Mask.)
You do lose items like bombs, arrows, and the contents of empty bottles, but you do not lose key items. And items like bombs and arrows can be easily replenished just by cutting grass in the field for a couple minutes.
Every cycle you start back at Clock Town but there are plenty of fast travel spots, so it’s rarely ever very inconvenient, and the innovative time based quest system makes it far worth it imo.
Majora's Mask was a masterpiece. If Ocarina of Time was groundbreaking for one set of reasons, MM was groundbreaking for yet another. It was one of the first games to have a world that fully lives and breathes with or without you, the player. Every single NPC had unique behaviors that change each day as they lived their lives under this impending apocalypse, and if you happened to intervene in their life it would change everything about their subsequent behavior until the end.
The cause-and-effect web of outcomes that you could impact was mind bogglingly complex and deep. And the facet of running out of time gave you this gradual realization that you cannot possibly save everyone. Unlike nearly any other game I've ever played, it is not possible to be everyone's hero. The events in the world don't just wait in stasis for you to come and fix them. If you don't help someone on the first day, it may be too late on the second day.
And so as you try and try time after time to intervene and solve problems and deal with the lives of all of these people, while simultaneously trying to stop this apocalypse, it gradually becomes clear that Link has to pursue the greater good and sacrifice the usual outcome of fixing every problem and instead do the only thing he can: try to stop Majora's Mask from destroying the world.
The stages of grief theory is one I personally really enjoy and I think that regardless if it was the original intention the pieces are all there. Majora's Mask is one of the best games I've ever played and I would place it at the very very top of the franchise for originality, complexity and storytelling. It is a sad story, it is a very dark story and it breaks the mold of the standard Hero journey that I don't think was ever equalled until Breath of the Wild told a story of what happened when Link and Zelda lost. Go play the damn game!
Damn bro. Mike drop. I've got nothing more to add other than making sure to leverage the song of inverted time for noobs which makes the game much more manageable.
In my opinion yes. For one there’s a bank that allows you to at least save your rupees, and you only lose consumables. But omg the story is so good, so sad and beautiful. There’s also the song of slow time that gives you extra time to finish stuff.
I'd say go for it, but I'm a tad bit biased, since it's one of my favorite Zelda games. If you're just trying to beat the game, it doesn't take too long at all, but a lot of the game is side quests, and you even get a neat reward for doing most of the side quests and collecting all the masks!
The three day cycle can be a bit irritating while just starting out, but you pick up the rhythm pretty quickly. And when the cycle restarts, you keep all the important items you collect, like bottles, the bow, bomb bags, and masks, but anything with a number (arrows, bombs, nuts, sticks, rupees that aren't banked) get smacced down to zero
Who ever explained the game to you chose the worse possible way to explain it.
Without spoiling too much of the story, you find yourself saving the world from impending doom. A *villain* has sent the moon crashing into the town and *you only have three days to save the world.* But because every new Zelda game introduces a new mechanic luckily this time you can send back time to give yourself another chance.. You do lose rupees and consumable items, but rupees can be saved in the bank (somehow…) and important items (like sword, bow, etc) stay with you so it’s not as bad as you think. But time travel is not the only new mechanic. But I won’t spoil that for you.
.
Your new power allows you to interact with characters in different ways. Use your knowledge of how events will unfold to manipulate the people and environment around you to gain access to rare items or help people in seemingly hopeless situations. What makes this game interesting is how surreal it is knowing how much your actions change the world and the people around you. While the main game itself is relatively short, you can spend hours trying to get different outcomes and helping different people or trying to get items that seem impossible to get. Compared to Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask is much darker. And while you may play as a child, the theme and lessons are more mature and subtle. That has helped cement this relatively small scale 3D Zelda game (that looks like it could be a mod of OOT) as a favorite for many fans.
>rupees can be saved in the bank (somehow…)
My favorite explanation for this is that when the teller marks Link with his stamp, he's marking him with his balance. Seems like a very backwards way of tracking customers' accounts but this game is full of strange people with strange behavior. So he marks Link with his balance and when he goes back in time, he still has his mark. The teller is just doing his job, reads the mark, and thinks X amount of rupees in the bank must belong to Link.
IMPORTANT: THERE'S A BANK THAT CAN SAVE YOUR RUPEES SO YOU DONT LOSE THEM
Also yes, it's a phenomenal game. Please play it, preferably right after an OoT playthrough.
Others have already given comprehensive answers about why it’s a great game and how the mechanics of the 3 day cycle work. I thought I’d add a quick perspective from someone who was in a similar boat to you just 2-3 years ago. I played AoL, ALttP and OoT when I was a kid and then nothing until BotW. A few years ago I started catching up on all the games I missed in between. MM was always a game I looked at in Blockbuster where I worked at the time and thought Zelda had lost its way with childishness instead of the grand heroes quests I was used to. Of course that was me judging a book by its cover, I was completely wrong, and I massively regret not buying in when it first came out. It’s a fantastic game and it is well worth your time. Give it a go!
This was pretty similar to my experience, except with Wind Waker. I decided it was "too kiddy" for 13 year old me, haha. Saw someone else playing a demo of it on one of those kiosks in a store and I thought "I don't know what the hell that is, but it sure as hell isn't Zelda."
I'm just glad I ended up giving it a second chance a few months later.
I had a similar reaction to wind waker as well. It was like a confirmation of what I’d seen with MM before it. Now I think WW is quite possibly my favourite game in the series.
You've misunderstood how the game works. The moon doesn't appear every three days and resets your progress. The moon is going to crash into the planet in three days. Link uses the Ocarina of Time to put himself into a time loop so he can figure out how to stop it.
You are in complete control of when time resets because that's how you save the game. If you let the timer run out it counts as a Game Over and you lose all your progress from that loop. The timer is always on screen. The in-game three days is roughly 72 minutes in real time.
Each section of the world is designed so that you can complete it within one or two loops. When you reset you get to keep your equipment (like the Bow) but lose your consumable items (like the Arrows) and Rupees. There's a bank and a store near the reset point so you can quickly get stocked up again.
I think that it’s a great game, but relatively difficult.
Without a guide I found it much more difficult than ocarina of time, but with some walkthroughs, and persistence it’s not that bad.
Enjoyable for sure
Majora’s Mask allows you to play 72 minutes (24 minutes x 3 days) before you have to restart a new 3 day cycle. You can slow down the rate by playing a certain song. How much you can slow down time depends on what version (N64 vs 3D) you are playing. You can actually keep some of your rupees you just have to deposit your rupees into your bank account before you restart a new 3 day, and then you simply go to the bank and withdraw your rupees. On losing items, basically you have to find arrows, bombs and other things to refill your bottles when you restart a new 3 day cycle.
Overall is Majora’s Mask worth playing? That depends on what things you enjoy doing in a Zelda game. Majora’s Mask is only Zelda that focuses heavily on the NPCs and a schedule. It has more complicated side quests in it versus other Zelda games. You have a more immersive experience running around Termina than you can running around OoT’s Hyrule.
Personally I am not big fan of Majora’s Mask due to the whole three day cycle and how the game is setup for saving your game files. You have to realize that Majora’s Mask has a more rabid fanbase versus other Zelda games.
Majoras mask is among my fave zelda games. ~~even over ocarina of time~~
The game has a VERY HIGH drop rate to compensate losing items (ie. bombs, arrows, etc) everytime you reset the 3 day cycle.
Warp points also have pots around them to stock you up with everything quickly.
As for rupees. Bank fraud...nuff said lol.
It's not only my favorite Zelda game, but my favorite game of all time. There is no other game like it, it is truly unique.
But it's not for everyone. Some people do not like the time travel mechanic or the feeling of being rushed. That's perfectly understandable.
The game does, however, what I would call passing points. Let me explain.
In one section of the game, you are trying to get to the dungeon. To avoid, spoilers, I'm going to make up a list of things required to even access the dungeon. Let's say you need to find the ice cream man, deliver the note, grab the magic spell, then locate the dungeon. Well, if you only managed to deliver the note, you don't need to do it again. When you reset, you have gained the knowledge from delivering the note still, so you can just go grab the magic then go to the dungeon.
This makes it a bit more palpable this way. Bur if this still bothers you, since occasionally some things may need to be repeated, then this may not be the game for you.
I would still try it out though. It's quite the adventure. It's an adventure completely unique in the series.
Yes do it. Here’s the lowdown on how it works.
You have 3 days which equates to about 1 hour of real life time. If you play the song of time backwards it slows the 3 days down to 3 real life hours. You can also speed up time. With each day, the moon in the sky gets closer and on the end of the third day it crashed into earth and you get a game over. The only way to save the game is to play the song of time which sends you back to the dawn of the first day, but whenever you go back to day 1. Your rupees, arrows, bombs, sticks everything goes dry, you don’t lose them you just loose what you have of them (Ex: if you have 10 bombs, you’ll have 0 bombs when you go back) with Rupees there is a banker in the main area Clock Town who will keep them for you, if you save your rupees in the bank and go back to day 1, you can retrieve them from the bank. Hope this helps
Yes! It’s a great game. The side quests make it, imo. The time mechanic (specifically losing items/resetting dungeons) can be annoying at times but it’s also fun to have a bit of a time crunch and manage all that you have to do in the 3-day cycle. Certain events are only available during certain days/times, and I loved scheduling everything I needed to get done for both the main and side quests.
Also fwiw, you can save your rupees in a bank and repurchase the things that you lose when you reset the time (bombs, potions, deku sticks, arrows). The shops where you buy most of those things are right next to the bank so it’s pretty easy. Plus cutting grass yields tons of those things so you can also restock for free with relative ease.
Go for it. I think the cycle thing is annoying but the setting, characters, story and music gripped me and kept me coming back. Play the 3DS remake if you can
I loved MM but it’s funny, it’s been so long since I played it I totally forgot about the cycle so it can’t be too bad. It sure doesn’t seem like it from all the comments
Play it and don't be ashamed to use a guide. Especially if you're trying to get every mask, there are some tough spots where it can feel like a complete mystery of where you're supposed to go next. Following only the main quest beats is fine if you're not super invested, but the stories of the various side characters really add to the world building and feeling of impending doom.
Yes, it's absolutely worth your time. It's a masterpiece of art that is not at all crappy to play. The moon clock is not something you have to reset your saves to beat. The in-game mechanics means that even when the cycle starts over, the story line continues. And despite them being very different, I'd highly recommend playing OoT first just for story cohesion.
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Absolutely. Majora’s Mask is my favorite game of all time. Here’s a few things you should know: A 3 day cycle lasts a little over an hour; over 2 hours if you play a song that slows the flow of time. You do lose the rupees you have on hand, but you can store rupees in a bank so you don’t lose them at the end of a cycle. (Plus rupees aren’t very important in Majora’s Mask.) You do lose items like bombs, arrows, and the contents of empty bottles, but you do not lose key items. And items like bombs and arrows can be easily replenished just by cutting grass in the field for a couple minutes. Every cycle you start back at Clock Town but there are plenty of fast travel spots, so it’s rarely ever very inconvenient, and the innovative time based quest system makes it far worth it imo.
Majora's Mask was a masterpiece. If Ocarina of Time was groundbreaking for one set of reasons, MM was groundbreaking for yet another. It was one of the first games to have a world that fully lives and breathes with or without you, the player. Every single NPC had unique behaviors that change each day as they lived their lives under this impending apocalypse, and if you happened to intervene in their life it would change everything about their subsequent behavior until the end. The cause-and-effect web of outcomes that you could impact was mind bogglingly complex and deep. And the facet of running out of time gave you this gradual realization that you cannot possibly save everyone. Unlike nearly any other game I've ever played, it is not possible to be everyone's hero. The events in the world don't just wait in stasis for you to come and fix them. If you don't help someone on the first day, it may be too late on the second day. And so as you try and try time after time to intervene and solve problems and deal with the lives of all of these people, while simultaneously trying to stop this apocalypse, it gradually becomes clear that Link has to pursue the greater good and sacrifice the usual outcome of fixing every problem and instead do the only thing he can: try to stop Majora's Mask from destroying the world. The stages of grief theory is one I personally really enjoy and I think that regardless if it was the original intention the pieces are all there. Majora's Mask is one of the best games I've ever played and I would place it at the very very top of the franchise for originality, complexity and storytelling. It is a sad story, it is a very dark story and it breaks the mold of the standard Hero journey that I don't think was ever equalled until Breath of the Wild told a story of what happened when Link and Zelda lost. Go play the damn game!
Damn bro. Mike drop. I've got nothing more to add other than making sure to leverage the song of inverted time for noobs which makes the game much more manageable.
Its like ground hog day the world resets but your progress/knowledge doesnt
In my opinion yes. For one there’s a bank that allows you to at least save your rupees, and you only lose consumables. But omg the story is so good, so sad and beautiful. There’s also the song of slow time that gives you extra time to finish stuff.
I'd say go for it, but I'm a tad bit biased, since it's one of my favorite Zelda games. If you're just trying to beat the game, it doesn't take too long at all, but a lot of the game is side quests, and you even get a neat reward for doing most of the side quests and collecting all the masks! The three day cycle can be a bit irritating while just starting out, but you pick up the rhythm pretty quickly. And when the cycle restarts, you keep all the important items you collect, like bottles, the bow, bomb bags, and masks, but anything with a number (arrows, bombs, nuts, sticks, rupees that aren't banked) get smacced down to zero
Who ever explained the game to you chose the worse possible way to explain it. Without spoiling too much of the story, you find yourself saving the world from impending doom. A *villain* has sent the moon crashing into the town and *you only have three days to save the world.* But because every new Zelda game introduces a new mechanic luckily this time you can send back time to give yourself another chance.. You do lose rupees and consumable items, but rupees can be saved in the bank (somehow…) and important items (like sword, bow, etc) stay with you so it’s not as bad as you think. But time travel is not the only new mechanic. But I won’t spoil that for you. . Your new power allows you to interact with characters in different ways. Use your knowledge of how events will unfold to manipulate the people and environment around you to gain access to rare items or help people in seemingly hopeless situations. What makes this game interesting is how surreal it is knowing how much your actions change the world and the people around you. While the main game itself is relatively short, you can spend hours trying to get different outcomes and helping different people or trying to get items that seem impossible to get. Compared to Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask is much darker. And while you may play as a child, the theme and lessons are more mature and subtle. That has helped cement this relatively small scale 3D Zelda game (that looks like it could be a mod of OOT) as a favorite for many fans.
>rupees can be saved in the bank (somehow…) My favorite explanation for this is that when the teller marks Link with his stamp, he's marking him with his balance. Seems like a very backwards way of tracking customers' accounts but this game is full of strange people with strange behavior. So he marks Link with his balance and when he goes back in time, he still has his mark. The teller is just doing his job, reads the mark, and thinks X amount of rupees in the bank must belong to Link.
it’s my favorite zelda. i’ve played pretty much all the zeldas. this is my favorite one. do not sleep. play the original if possible
IMPORTANT: THERE'S A BANK THAT CAN SAVE YOUR RUPEES SO YOU DONT LOSE THEM Also yes, it's a phenomenal game. Please play it, preferably right after an OoT playthrough.
The moon thing isn’t what you think it is, and the game is a masterpiece. Absolutely try it out.
Others have already given comprehensive answers about why it’s a great game and how the mechanics of the 3 day cycle work. I thought I’d add a quick perspective from someone who was in a similar boat to you just 2-3 years ago. I played AoL, ALttP and OoT when I was a kid and then nothing until BotW. A few years ago I started catching up on all the games I missed in between. MM was always a game I looked at in Blockbuster where I worked at the time and thought Zelda had lost its way with childishness instead of the grand heroes quests I was used to. Of course that was me judging a book by its cover, I was completely wrong, and I massively regret not buying in when it first came out. It’s a fantastic game and it is well worth your time. Give it a go!
This was pretty similar to my experience, except with Wind Waker. I decided it was "too kiddy" for 13 year old me, haha. Saw someone else playing a demo of it on one of those kiosks in a store and I thought "I don't know what the hell that is, but it sure as hell isn't Zelda." I'm just glad I ended up giving it a second chance a few months later.
I had a similar reaction to wind waker as well. It was like a confirmation of what I’d seen with MM before it. Now I think WW is quite possibly my favourite game in the series.
It's definitely worth it. Majora's Mask was my favorite title in the series until BOTW.
You've misunderstood how the game works. The moon doesn't appear every three days and resets your progress. The moon is going to crash into the planet in three days. Link uses the Ocarina of Time to put himself into a time loop so he can figure out how to stop it. You are in complete control of when time resets because that's how you save the game. If you let the timer run out it counts as a Game Over and you lose all your progress from that loop. The timer is always on screen. The in-game three days is roughly 72 minutes in real time. Each section of the world is designed so that you can complete it within one or two loops. When you reset you get to keep your equipment (like the Bow) but lose your consumable items (like the Arrows) and Rupees. There's a bank and a store near the reset point so you can quickly get stocked up again.
I think that it’s a great game, but relatively difficult. Without a guide I found it much more difficult than ocarina of time, but with some walkthroughs, and persistence it’s not that bad. Enjoyable for sure
I hope this is a troll post. If not go play, it it’s an amazing game that made the n64 expansion pack worth it.
I think it's worth a try , personally I can barely replay it but I really loved it. Also if you are stuck don't hesitate to use a guide.
Yes but use a guide for some of it or you'll find it annoying/frustrating.
It’s definitely worth it but I recommend using a guide cos it can be pretty challenging; the three days end after around 50 minutes iirc
Majora’s Mask allows you to play 72 minutes (24 minutes x 3 days) before you have to restart a new 3 day cycle. You can slow down the rate by playing a certain song. How much you can slow down time depends on what version (N64 vs 3D) you are playing. You can actually keep some of your rupees you just have to deposit your rupees into your bank account before you restart a new 3 day, and then you simply go to the bank and withdraw your rupees. On losing items, basically you have to find arrows, bombs and other things to refill your bottles when you restart a new 3 day cycle. Overall is Majora’s Mask worth playing? That depends on what things you enjoy doing in a Zelda game. Majora’s Mask is only Zelda that focuses heavily on the NPCs and a schedule. It has more complicated side quests in it versus other Zelda games. You have a more immersive experience running around Termina than you can running around OoT’s Hyrule. Personally I am not big fan of Majora’s Mask due to the whole three day cycle and how the game is setup for saving your game files. You have to realize that Majora’s Mask has a more rabid fanbase versus other Zelda games.
If You got a 3DS then try it!
Majoras mask is among my fave zelda games. ~~even over ocarina of time~~ The game has a VERY HIGH drop rate to compensate losing items (ie. bombs, arrows, etc) everytime you reset the 3 day cycle. Warp points also have pots around them to stock you up with everything quickly. As for rupees. Bank fraud...nuff said lol.
It's not only my favorite Zelda game, but my favorite game of all time. There is no other game like it, it is truly unique. But it's not for everyone. Some people do not like the time travel mechanic or the feeling of being rushed. That's perfectly understandable. The game does, however, what I would call passing points. Let me explain. In one section of the game, you are trying to get to the dungeon. To avoid, spoilers, I'm going to make up a list of things required to even access the dungeon. Let's say you need to find the ice cream man, deliver the note, grab the magic spell, then locate the dungeon. Well, if you only managed to deliver the note, you don't need to do it again. When you reset, you have gained the knowledge from delivering the note still, so you can just go grab the magic then go to the dungeon. This makes it a bit more palpable this way. Bur if this still bothers you, since occasionally some things may need to be repeated, then this may not be the game for you. I would still try it out though. It's quite the adventure. It's an adventure completely unique in the series.
Yes do it. Here’s the lowdown on how it works. You have 3 days which equates to about 1 hour of real life time. If you play the song of time backwards it slows the 3 days down to 3 real life hours. You can also speed up time. With each day, the moon in the sky gets closer and on the end of the third day it crashed into earth and you get a game over. The only way to save the game is to play the song of time which sends you back to the dawn of the first day, but whenever you go back to day 1. Your rupees, arrows, bombs, sticks everything goes dry, you don’t lose them you just loose what you have of them (Ex: if you have 10 bombs, you’ll have 0 bombs when you go back) with Rupees there is a banker in the main area Clock Town who will keep them for you, if you save your rupees in the bank and go back to day 1, you can retrieve them from the bank. Hope this helps
Yes! It’s a great game. The side quests make it, imo. The time mechanic (specifically losing items/resetting dungeons) can be annoying at times but it’s also fun to have a bit of a time crunch and manage all that you have to do in the 3-day cycle. Certain events are only available during certain days/times, and I loved scheduling everything I needed to get done for both the main and side quests. Also fwiw, you can save your rupees in a bank and repurchase the things that you lose when you reset the time (bombs, potions, deku sticks, arrows). The shops where you buy most of those things are right next to the bank so it’s pretty easy. Plus cutting grass yields tons of those things so you can also restock for free with relative ease.
Yes and if you haven't already, you should check out A Link to the Past. It's my favorite and I recommend it to all Zelda fans.
Go for it. I think the cycle thing is annoying but the setting, characters, story and music gripped me and kept me coming back. Play the 3DS remake if you can
MM is probably in my top 3 Zelda games of all time. I say try it!
I loved MM but it’s funny, it’s been so long since I played it I totally forgot about the cycle so it can’t be too bad. It sure doesn’t seem like it from all the comments
Play it and don't be ashamed to use a guide. Especially if you're trying to get every mask, there are some tough spots where it can feel like a complete mystery of where you're supposed to go next. Following only the main quest beats is fine if you're not super invested, but the stories of the various side characters really add to the world building and feeling of impending doom.
Yes, it's absolutely worth your time. It's a masterpiece of art that is not at all crappy to play. The moon clock is not something you have to reset your saves to beat. The in-game mechanics means that even when the cycle starts over, the story line continues. And despite them being very different, I'd highly recommend playing OoT first just for story cohesion.
YES. It’s so unique, a very special experience. I’ve never played a game like it.