games should be critiqued on what they set out to do and how well they did it within the confines of technology at the time, not by the standards set by our current generation that obviously has had more time to fine-tune the mechanics. you can't really compare pong to ocarina of time and say pong is objectively better because OCARINA OF TIME WAS TRYING TO BE SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM PONG. for all intents and purposes it's the closest thing to the first 3D "open world" game, being the first 3D game i can really point at and say "they really were focused on making a world."
it's not perfect, no, but it's definitely one of the most important games of all time. almost every 3D action game since owes something to it from a gameplay perspective (z-targeting is probably the second most important 3D gameplay concept ever conceived, just behind controllable cameras). it was limited by the N64 hardware, and it did have a few missteps, but it deserves a little slack as almost every game control concept brought about by it was never seen before (or if it was, was vastly improved), and the fact that they did it well enough that even today people can play it and have minimal problems is something that should be commended.
pong's good as a game that wants to be the bare minimum of what can be considered a game, but ocarina of time was trying to be something more. it was trying to be an EXPERIENCE. whether it was successful or not, that's up to you to decide, but the fact that it TRIED is what makes it important.
it's not perfect, no, but it's definitely one of the most important games of all time. almost every 3D action game since owes something to it from a gameplay perspective (z-targeting is probably the second most important 3D gameplay concept ever conceived, just behind controllable cameras). it was limited by the N64 hardware, and it did have a few missteps, but it deserves a little slack as almost every game control concept brought about by it was never seen before (or if it was, was vastly improved), and the fact that they did it well enough that even today people can play it and have minimal problems is something that should be commended.
pong's good as a game that wants to be the bare minimum of what can be considered a game, but ocarina of time was trying to be something more. it was trying to be an EXPERIENCE. whether it was successful or not, that's up to you to decide, but the fact that it TRIED is what makes it important.