Nintendo’sThe Legend of Zeldafranchise is largely considered to be one of the very best video game franchises of all time. In fact,The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Timehas the distinction of being the highest-rated video game ever, with an astounding 99 rating on Metacritic. But even thoughThe Legend of Zeldagames are genuinely considered to be top-tier gaming experiences across the board, they sometimes have some frustrating moments.
The 3DZeldagames especially are guilty of things like adding features that seem like they’re simply there to pad out the game’s length, or forcing players to do some mundane task to advance the story. While none of these drawbacks are really enough to bring the games down in any significant way, they are notable for being blemishes on what many consider to be near-perfect gaming experiences.
Here are the most frustrating quests inThe Legend of Zeldagames.
Biggoron’s Sword (Ocarina of Time)
Ocarina of Timehas a trading quest that players can do to get their hands on Biggoron’s Sword, which is the most powerful sword in the game. The process to acquiring the Biggoron’s Sword is a rather long and grueling one, with players subjected to a time limit for part of the journey. And ultimately, the reward isn’t even worth the headache, as players should be able to defeat most of the enemies in the game with just the Master Sword at their disposal.
Korok Seeds (Breath of the Wild)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildon the Wii U and Switch features a large open world for Link to explore, with plenty of secrets to discover. Like most open world games,Breath of the Wild’s open world is dotted with collectibles that players can find - in this case,Korok Seeds. Players have to collect a staggering 900 Korok Seeds inBreath of the Wildif they hope to find them all, and they don’t even get a worthwhile reward for doing so. For taking the time to hunt down every last Korok Seed,Breath of the Wildplayers get what is literally golden poop.
Side Quests (Majora’s Mask)
The gimmick inThe Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Maskis that the world is going to end in three days, and so Link has a very limited amount of time to do everything he needs to do to save the world. Luckily, Link can use the Ocarina of Time to travel back in time, in turn giving him another chance. While this gimmick has its merits, especially in regards to givingMajora’s Maskits signature creepy atmosphere, it does have some drawbacks. Notably, it makes many of the game’s side quests needlessly frustrating. And while players get to keep whatever rewards they get for completing the side quests, rewinding time still undoes whatever Link managed to change, which can leave players with a hollow feeling.
Silent Realms (Skyward Sword)
SomeZeldagames have a bad habit of including repetitive tasks that seem to just be there to extend the playtime. One such example is the Silent Realms inThe Legend of Zelda: Skyward Swordon the Wii. During these sections of the game, players have to stealthily make their way through an area and collect Sacred Tears. The Silent Realms have players retread ground that they have already covered, and that combined with the especially tough stealth mechanics can definitely jam up the game’s pacing. It will be interesting to see if Nintendo makes any changes to the Silent Realms if theSkyward SwordSwitch portturns out to be real, similarly to the changes it made toWind Waker’s Triforce quest.
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Triforce Quest (Wind Waker)
Perhaps the most notoriously frustrating quest in all ofThe Legend of Zeldais the hunt for the Triforce shards inThe Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. This rather tedious quest has players zipping all over the rather large game world, collecting charts, having them deciphered by Tingle, and then heading to the next location to repeat the process over and over again. In response to fan feedback about this quest, Nintendo shortened the Triforce Quest in theHD remake ofWind Wakerthat launched on Wii U, and the game is much better off as a result.
Water Temple (Ocarina of Time)
The Water Temple inOcarina of Timewas made infinitely more tolerable in the3DS remake, which lets players swap items without having to sit in an inventory screen. However, it’s still a frustrating experience in the Nintendo 64 original, forcing players to open and close their inventory screen numerous times to equip and unequip the iron boots. If that weren’t enough, the Water Temple’s layout is generally confusing, and players also have to deal with a lot of backtracking.
Zora Eggs (Majora’s Mask)
When attempting to reach the Water Temple-equivalent inMajora’s Mask, players are tasked with collecting sevenZoraeggs and returning them to a lab located off Great Bay Coast. However, there are a few factors that make this quest frustrating. For one, the eggs are located in the Pirate Fortress, which requires stealth or else players end up getting kicked out (unless they have the Stone Mask, anyway). For two, the eggs can only be carried in empty bottles, and collecting empty bottles inMajora’s Maskrequires players to complete side quests. And three, players are under a time limit, and going back in time forces them to have to collect all seven eggs over again.
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