Beginner's Guide to Zelda Games...?

*[bold= my immediate questions if you want to skip the text and explanation, I'm not offended.]

So I'm playing Majora's Mask for the first time (I know.. just one of those series I never picked up when I was young). I couldn't find a copy of Ocarina of Time at any GameStops and I didn't want to pay a lot online for it (they're mostly $10-20 more than Majora's) since I just wanted to give one a whirl.

So anyway, I realize this is the sequel so it may have been helpful to play Ocarina first to get the feel of things, but I plan to do that at some point. I'm very "into" the game, story, and style so far just find myself confused by the time limit and overall plot of what exactly I'm doing. I know Skull Kid stole the mask and all that, I just mean in terms of how the game operates and how to "know" what to do. I find myself often confused if something is a side quest (things townies say and such) or something important and get lost in all the messages from different characters. I frequently forget what specific characters say- like "Go see TOM at the FOUNTAIN". Either I somehow forget in searching for it or it goes in one ear and out the other. So basically I'm asking if anyone has tips about the overall flow of the game, how to know what to do and what's important, and the function of time in the game? I've put in about 3 hours so I'm not totally lost, just having a hard time getting what I'm supposed to be doing in the Clock towns and surrounding area which is where I currently am (I just reversed time after finishing the first 3 day cycle) with- seemingly- no objective I can remember now? And I've read walkthroughs but they aren't as noob friendly as I had hoped. But this is more general help for beginners not necessarily pertaining to the part I'm currently stumped at. Thanks!

This isn't going to be the best answer since I only played the game a little bit before on Wii VC and never completed it, and haven't played the game in a while, but here goes:

• Time passes at a steady rate. Those three days will pass kind of quickly, and then the doomsday event will begin, and since there is nothing you can do about that right now, you need to obtain the Ocarina and use it to rewind time back to the first day.
• Some songs will let you speed up time or slow time down, which can be useful depending on what you want to accomplish. You can also sleep at this one place to fast-forward to the next night or day. I can't remember if the scarecrow is involved in that or not.
• Some things you do on each 'rewind' result in items obtained or happenings that are 'saved'. Everything else is pretty much reset - meaning you will have to do a lot of arbitrary things again on your final play through.
• On each 'rewind', you will want to focus on doing one or two things for the NPCs, but not everything. It is kind of fun to figure out the quest chains on your own, but if you feel inclined you could look up walkthroughs online. I think whenever an NPC is talking about something important it will be a different color or something.
• Some songs and other things appeared in OoT, but you largely don't need to play that game in order to enjoy this one. And you can still go back and play that game and enjoy it after playing this one. It will explain some things though, like why Link went to Termina, and how he met Epona. I guess I'd say Majora's Mask is a bit more difficult in general, though, so maybe OoT would be a good starting point in some ways.

I know this isn't very helpful information, but I hope that helps some!

@amyh7292:

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the game. It's one of my favourite games of all time.

Zelda is all about adventuring in the overworld and making it to the next dungeon.

In this game, you have a fairy named Tatl. She will *clearly* tell you to go through one of the gates in Clock Town. There are four. North, south, east and west gate. When she says this, you should go through that gate and head in that direction to your next destination. This destination is the area you should be in, and the dungeon will be located somewhere in this area. Your main quest will almost always be in the direction of those main gates. Almost everything in Clock Town is a side quest, and feel free to return here and move through side quests between dungeons.

Now the exception to this is the opening sequence of the game. Yes, it is confusing. But just go along with playing around in Clock Town until you get your Ocarina. Soon after retrieving this, the gate rule will be in place. Don't worry, Tatl will clearly tell you when and where.

Finally, here are two tips which may be considered *very* minor spoilers:

http://www.zeldadungeon.net/majoras-mask-walkthrough/ really walkthroughs are the best answer

As @lord_magikarp said, use a walkthrough.

It's good to hear you get into the Zelda series. Majora's Mask has a very steep learning curve for new Zelda players, and is noticeably different in a lot of aspects compared to the standard Zelda game. But keep plugging away at it, Majora's Mask is a fantastic game.

@sonic_spark: @trugs26:

So I ended up direct downloading Ocarina just because I wanted to play it first and even master basics like equipping and using items and getting the feel for combat and the plot.

So far it's helped me a ton and I'm already excited to play it through and then restart majora. Anyway I'm confused by the save system. I gather you have to complete a "chapter" in order to get a new save checkpoint. So what is the purpose of pressing START-SAVE and saving progress, say, mid dungeon? Because if you die they're going to restart you at the entrance anyway. My only big annoyance with the series since I don't always have an hour or so to dedicate to playing and if I don't finish have to start it over again. I know it saves some unlocked doors and blocked paths but still a big pain in the ass. Again my only drawback thus far though. Oh and thanks for all the tips! Am I missing something with the safe function?

@amyh7292: Nope, you're not missing anything. That's exactly how the save function works. You'll probably hate Majora's Mask's save functionality then XD (it uses save stations. i.e you can't press start and save).

But I highly urge you to take advantage of your 3DS clam shell. Just close it up, put it down, pick it back up later, open it up, start where you left off!


To the thread in general: Does anyone remember that ugly human looking cucco thing? I think it was in OoT 3D and was possibly a thing to use to warp to mid-dungeon. I can't remember what it's called so I can't google it. This item might be useful for @amyh7292.