Majora's Mask

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – 1/1 – Henry Arrambide

I am the ocean
Lit by the flame
I am the mountain
Peace is my name
I am the river
Touched by the wind
I am the story
I never end.
  

    Majora’s Mask is quite possibly the best game ever because it, above all other games, utilizes the medium of interactive entertainment to the fullest (1) to convey a complex idea (2) that can be interpreted multiple ways (3).

    I am going to assume you have read this far because you like the game. If you thought “THE THREE DAY CYCLE SUCKED NOT ENOUGH DUNGEONS GRAPHICS SUCK NO ADULT LINK SIDEQUESTZ THA GAEM OOT IS BETTER” or something along those lines then I assume you don’t have the mental facilities to patiently digest what I am trying to say before criticizing. Anyways, you obviously like Majora’s Mask if you’ve made it this far, so I must ask: What does it mean to you? What did it mean to you? What was the first thing that came to your mind when I asked that question? The end? A particular side-quest? Did you ask “what does he mean by ‘it’? Or hell, maybe you laughed because it’s just a damn game where you run around with a sword slaying monsters. Point stands – there is a particular moment of the game that really sticks with you. For me it’s learning the Elegy of Emptiness from Igos Du Ikana. For you it might be saving the ranch from aliens, the dog races, playing Ballad of the Windfish, getting the Fierce Deity Mask, or that damned Couples Mask. 

    Of course you have a reason for that chosen moment – I think Ikana Canyon is the capstone of the games plotting – all the other races have been saved, but what of mankind? They seem to have killed each other off and all that remain are remorseful ghosts. In a way it ties into the bigger story of the whole land being damned; why is it that everyone is so pessimistic, why is it that everything is going to hell both figuratively and literally? Perhaps the ghosts of Ikana Canyon, who have already gone through such events, can tell us. You probably have your own theories on how your own favorite moment ties into the bigger narrative of a doomed world. The farm-girls remain optimistic even in the face of the falling moon; the pirates are oblivious to said doom, blinded by greed. Every side-quest is tied to the overall plotting of the game, growing naturally from events that occur throughout the three days (the three day structure is a great game mechanic which allows the world to actually live, rather than repeat the same NPC cycles day after day), and so these multiple events which tie into the main story carry with them some semblance of an idea, just enough to serve a purpose and make you think. The room for player interpretation is limitless. 

Don’t even get me started on what Oni Link means.

    That interpretation on your behalf is not far-fetched or crazy, either. It is not you trying to make everyone into Jesus wandering through Purgatory, you aren’t imposing half-baked philosophies or ideas into a purposely vague narrative (like, uh, the desert tribe represents feminism's inability to thrive in pre-industrial society in OoT, man!); there are ideas present and working in Majora’s Mask without being forced upon you – they’re there, if you wish to explore. At its core, you are playing a game about saving the world. Summon the giants, stop the skull-child. Why is it, though, that he wants to destroy the world? Well he perceived that his friends abandoned him because they had other roles to fulfill – and so he too had to become something bigger. 

 

This very basic theme of identity is the basis from which the whole story comes to life. Throughout the whole game the player must wear various masks, assuming multiple identities of multiple races; those who have fallen on the path you walk, be they a Zoran rock star or Goron hero, must come to terms with their failures and pass on the mantle of hero…the king of a once great nation must admit that he was a monster, and teaches you the only tool he has remaining: an elegy which reminds him of his true identity, of how empty he has become inside. He drops words of wisdom concerning the hearts of men, and how they are capable of great evil and great good – observable in the various side-quests in which you can turn pessimists into optimists, unmask villains and show them for the fragile crying humans that they are, and eventually confront the spirit of Majora’s Mask itself, which, when unmasked, is not some mastermind villain, but a lonely child full of nothing more than anger and confusion, like so many other characters in the game. There is a solid recurrence of themes which goes to show that ideas were intentionally planted and consciously worked on to be present throughout the game. On top of that great consistency, said idea is very human – it’s not a recurring theme of Ganon and the Triforce or Time Travel or vague good vs. evil power of the heart bullshit; it’s identity, bleeding into concepts such as friendship, love, and well, hope in the face of adversity (yeah it sounds cheesy, but at the right levels, it’s pure gold). These are concepts we’ve all encountered and thought about, and so the ideas are very relatable – it goes back to those basic caveman stories which entertained the most basic of ideas, but at the same time the game presents them in a manner allowing multiple personal interpretations. Sufficiently complex without being convoluted. 

 

Can I ask you a question? What makes you happy? I wonder...does it make others happy too?
 

The way in which the medium is utilized to convey said ideas is excellent. The player must don multiple masks, assume multiple identities, and solve various puzzles – the player must do this, understand? Let me ask you this: when do you get the bunny hood? To me it is very high priority; I tend to get it before entering the first dungeon. Some of you may wait until getting the Goron Mask, but I figured out a work-around because it’s important to the way I like to play the game. What about the stone mask? I always forget how awesome that thing is until I stumble back across it. You get it as soon as Epona is available, eh? Through the breathing world, there are multiple routes the player can take to accomplish their goals. Accomplishing said goals requires the player to think about which masks they wish to use, how they are going to go about collecting said masks, what sequence they are going to follow, how many cycles, etc. Get this – that theme of identity I was talking about? The game is reaching out and adapting to your identity here. Meta as fuck, huh?

    Look man, no matter how many times I watch Predator, it’s going to play out the same way – I don’t get a say in it. When I plug Halo in, I’m going to be running through the same levels with slight variations in strategy. When I run through Mega Man, major variations in strategy on par with Majora’s Mask are available – but thematically, what I do in Majora’s Mask is weaved into the plotting (actions change the way people interact with each other) and story (identity, masks, etc), whereas Mega Man is just sort of, well, blowing shit up in a different order as I chase vaguely contextualized plot tokens. This is what you, the player, are doing, and it affects the world, reflects recurring themes, and allows you to come up with your own theories on what your actions mean. This is the interactive aspect, you the player, being sucked into the game and participating in a virtual world on more than just a superficial level. This is what the medium was made for. 

M-O-O-N spells good game, yup, and that’s what we got here.

    All three elements of my little philosophy are present and running, creating a very engrossing experience. The three day cycle, which is set up by the narrative, bleeds into the actual interactive aspects of the game; countless RPG’s among other genre’s love the thematic aspects of doomsday but never do much besides pretty cutscenes and melodramatic dialogue to make things feel important – it feels pretty forced (looking at you, FF7). In Majora’s Mask you are given limits, but within those limits you are given power – yet even then you must face the fact that not everyone can be saved in one go. You aren’t told this, it is a realization the player comes to face on their own – and so the game has grabbed you, sucked you in, taken you for a ride. The world is alive and people have problems, but if you keep trying, just keep on trying, you can save it; you want to save it partially due to those little moments which have given you a personal spin on what the story means. No heavy-handed dialogue needed; this blending of elements creates a game that is truly a piece of art. Go play it or something now.

Seriously, you only have three days, ya know?