Legend+of+Zelda+-+Ocarina+of+Time

Entertainment Video Game //(4 points) A brief description of the game. You may include images or even video clips to help give readers a better idea of the game. // For this assignment I played Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Legend of Zelda is a series of games that follow Link in his epic adventures to save the land of Hyrule, which Princess Zelda rules over. Ocarina of Time begins when Link and Zelda are both children. Zelda sees that her father, the king, is making dealings with an evil person whose name is Ganondorf. She recruits Link, through the spiritual realm and fairies, to help her defend the kingdom. Link ends up falling into a deep slumber for many years when he tries to access the magic. The Ocarina of Time allows him to travel back and forth between child and adulthood, as well as teleport to various regions around the world.

//(5 points) The kinds of learning involved (i.e. What specifically did you learn from playing the game?). Think about the game tasks, objectives, terminology, etc. What skills did you need to learn to be successful at the game? // The game is one large complicated puzzle after another. You learn quickly that almost all comments from all the “background” characters are important to completing the puzzle. It quickly becomes apparent that you can’t solve puzzles or dungeons the same way twice, and the way to solve them is almost never obvious. Creativity and perseverance are necessary qualities whilst playing this game. While the world was somewhat open, and you could go where you wanted, most areas held a “dungeon” that had to be completed in a specific order.

//(5 points) The kinds of teaching involved (i.e. How did the game teach you?). Think about the kinds of feedback, rewards, guidance, and information the game gave you, and how it paced and structured your learning. Which Principles of Learning did the game utilize? // How the game taught me was one of my biggest frustrations. There were many times where I felt like I had simply no clue on what to do next. In the very beginning of the game I felt that I had to teach myself everything. In this way it was trying to utilize the Active, Critical Learning Principle. There were very few times in the game where I was simply told what to do, I was expected to piece together the information presented to me, and to build on what I already had learned and experienced. Often if a new item was introduced, the game would give me a very short tutorial (example: press B to swing the hammer), and then it would set me free to explore. The dungeon would often quickly provide a simple opportunity to use the new item, before building to far more complex puzzles.

//(3 points) A brief description of the kinds (and quantity) of online sites, forums, wikis, etc. devoted to the game. What game activities (e.g. walk-thoughs/guides, databases, cheats, theory-crafting, modding, etc.) are most-commonly discussed? // There are many multitudes of sites related to Legend of Zelda. I made significant use of a walk-through/guide when I played the game, as I didn’t want to bang my head on the wall while I was supposed to be having fun. The fandom for Legend of Zelda is quite large and the games are so complex that there are a fair number of theory discussion websites, as well as wiki websites to help organize the lore and creatures.

//(3 points) Your overall reflections on playing the game. // Overall I enjoyed playing the game, but it was frustrating how confused and lost I would consistently get. There were so many times where I wanted to give up, so I would just open the walk-through and get help. As I was so frequently looking up the walk-through whenever I solved a puzzle without help I was proud of myself. The game was fun, but challenging, and I am definitely still excited to finish the game, and play Legend of Zelda games in the future.