The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

by Jason R. Rich

With a beautiful full-color interior and a distinctively different approach, this official guide will help Nintendo 64 users master this complex role-playing game.

Genres: Video Games

106 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1998

Reviews

[Hank · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a prime example of trying to mix game guides and books, there for it is a terrible book and a worse guide. The dialouge is awful,and the area discriptions are hard to understand. I reccomend not buying this book, unless you have to own everything with the zelda logo on it.

[Taralen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a "novelization" of the famous N64 game by the same name. Published during the initial hype, it's easy to see that this was written to appeal to those fans eager to lay their hands on anything with the game's logo on it.

But does it hold up to the source material? NO. It is a disgrace.

So what's so bad about Jason R. Rich's adaption to one of the best titles of the Zelda franchise? An innumerable number of problems. I'm going to go into detail about what's so bad about it.

One of the most glaring problems with this book is that Rich doesn't seem to know which parts he should keep in and which parts he should summarize or omit entirely. A great example of this is the heart-wrenching scene of when Link makes his departure from the Great Deku tree and ultimately the Kokiri Forest. In the game we see the Great Deku tree struggle to bid farewell as his colors fade away. Link hesitates for a moment and then we see Navi, his trusty fairy companion, stay there a little longer before following Link. Then we have Mido get mad at Link for killing the Great Deku Tree. How does Rich handle it? Behold:

Then, as it struggled to say farewell, the Great Deku Tree died.
Link now knew he must travel to Hyrule Castle.

Wow. No mention of Navi and Link's hesitation nor Mido's rant as they leave. The emotional impact of the scene is completely removed. Rich's problem is that he doesn't use enough descriptive text to makes us feel anything for the characters. An example of this that made me raise a brow is when Princess Zelda comes in near the end of the story. We see in the game that she grew into a beautiful young woman, but Rich describes her as such:

As Sheik finished speaking, an odd-looking Princess Zelda appeared.

WHAT?! ODD-LOOKING? That's the best way he could describe her? Not even beautiful or enchanting but ODD-LOOKING? What was he thinking?!

In addition to lacking descriptions, he omits dialogue or replaces it with less interesting lines. Here's an example of that. When Link goes to Kakoriko Village to go to Death Mountain, he hands the gate guard a letter from Zelda. The guard mocks Link and questions Zelda's decision then lets Link through while laughing. This is how Rich altered the dialogue:

"OK, you can go," he said. "Just be careful."

No questioning of Link or Zelda's letter. It's small stuff like this that really takes away some of those rather more memorable moments from the game. Rich does this with some setting details too, making it confusing to follow the scene. If you haven't played the game, it's even harder to visualize anything. Rich seems to assume anyone who wants to read this book has played or is playing the game. This frankly defeats the purpose of a novelization. Why read a book that's pretty much a half-assed and butchered summary of the game? He can't even get the basic details correct!

But here is the absolute WORST problem with this book. It's the fact he bothered to include anything related to the game's interface. For example:

After he defeated Gohma, Link received a Heart Container, which increased his health.

Are you kidding me? What does that even mean outside the game's context?! Are we going into metafictional territory?! Why include such a detail?! This completely suspends our belief of the story. How did he expect anyone to take this seriously?! This makes me question what Rich was trying to accomplish with this book. It feels like a guide meshed with novel. Though, really, this would make a poor guide since it's vague as hell.

To get to the bare truth, this book is nothing but a pile of trash. I am actually shocked that Nintendo let such a poor writer handle this book and then slap their seal of approval on its cover. It's got typos and punctuation errors in addition to all the problems I stated above. The only reason to read this book is just to see first-hand how horrible it is or if you just got to own it for your collection. If neither is your goal then avoid this book like the plague.

[Mikel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrable book! When i first saw it, i was desprite to get it! It looked so cool, (me being a major Zelda fan) it appeared to be a "Legend of Zelda Book". But once i finished the book, i thought i was going to puke! It's a game guide horribly fuised with a book. The guides are terrible and are clear as mud. The book is confusing and everything is higgldy-piggldy! It rushes through the game story-line with little or no meaning. DO NOT buy this, it's like throwing your money into the fire! If you really want to see how bad it is, just rent it from the library!

[Jesse Booth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some people flame this book for being a hybrid guide and novelization of the game which released back back in 1997. The writing is amateurish, but what can you expect when the author is limited to the the game details.

If you're looking for a Zelda story to immerse yourself in, you probably shouldn't be looking at a book. Play the games! Ocarina of Time will always be the 2nd to the top of my list, as I enjoyed Majora's Mask more.

This being said, I'm glad I read this book. It took me back to the awesome land of Hyrule for a little while.

[Bandita]

I had this at one point in time, and I don't know what happened to it....