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[AlleeCat]

So apparently, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is widely regarded as one of the best games of all time. However, most people I've asked say that they prefer Majora's Mask, so how is OoT regarded as the better game? I've never really had an interest in OoT; I played it when I was little and never really got into it. Playing it again as an adult, I've never been able to get more than halfway through before losing interest. However, I've played MM to death, and still enjoy replaying it to this day.
I've always said that everything OoT did, MM did better, right down to the opening sequence. I mean think about it: In OoT you wake up from a bad dream and everyone in your village tells you you need to go talk to some tree. That's boring. Why do I want to talk to this tree? "Well I dunno he's just a big tree that's important for some reason just go talk to him." Meanwhile in Majora's Mask, some guy comes along and steals your horse, so you chase him down through this multidimensional hole in a tree and get turned into a plant and this guy is sitting there taunting you and you get pissed off and start hunting him down. The plot hook in MM is solid. It's not some dream about a girl getting kidnapped or going to talk to a tree you don't know anything about.
I dunno, maybe I'm just biased against OoT because it never really caught my interest. I'd kind of like to hear other opinions on the subject.

[Frumple]

... all I can really say is I have a near violent hatred of time limits, especially larger, more overarching ones. I never managed to play Majora's Mask long enough to see how it handled... anything. My brain saw the two days or whatever it was and said, "Screw this, I'm out." And I stopped playing. This has happened all three or four times I tried MM

Played through OoT, though. It was alright, especially for its time and console. Just... decently done, particularly in comparison to similar offerings during its release. Solid, as that sort of game goes.

[Facekillz058]

I have to say I like MM the most. OOT was a solid game, yes, but MM just had a bunch of cooler stuff, primarily the masks. Also, Fierce Deity.
The time limit wasn't that bad, actually. If I remember right, once you slowed down time, each day took an hour, (two?) and that's still plenty of time to accomplish whatever stage of the storyline you're on. Then reset, and move onto the next one. The time limit thing also allowed them to throw more content into the same space. Each day would have different events in different places take place, and as far as I'm concerned, that's pretty awesome for an old game like that.

[timferius]

I'd say they're both stronger in different sets. OoT is hailed as genius largely because of it's time. It really pushed the envelop for what we should expect from a 3D adventure game. The combat was satisfying, the lore deep, the story involved and the gameplay long, with a good mix of sidequest. I'd say the part it excels in is it's narrative. While MM doesn't slack in the area either, I still remeber the feeling of playing through the first game, the mix of action and exploration, the downtime, the puzzles that made you feel clever to figureo out.

MM excelled in that it improved the sidequests, particularly with the mask system, and that it was daring, the timelimit and the transformations both involved mechanics that really excelled and made gameplay exciting. Plus, the masks almost all have involved sidequests, which is oh so satisfying for the completionisits, especially since, unlike games like Assassin's creed and such these days, the collectibles had an ingame impact, and infact the ending changes if you manage to collect every single mask and beat the game.

Personally, I love them both so much. I don't think I could pick a favourite. They both fill different niches to me.

On the note of time limits, I hate them too, but I found that MM did it great. I thought I'd hate it, but it's often more than enough time before you need to reset that I found myself fastforwarding time a lot to get to where I needed to be.

[Darkmere]

Yeah, basically what Frumple said. Time limit in an open world? Fuck off. Do everything over and over again every day? Fuck. Off. Ocarina was an adventure, MM was a Sisyphean trial of my patience.

MM also looked to me... well, like what it was: a game made on the cheap that just re-used assets from an earlier, better one. Offhand I couldn't name more than 3 characters from Majora's Mask, but I crack a smile immediately at Darunia's derp-dance, or clench my fist at Jabu-Jabu's shock hentai tentacles, or get goosebumps over the death-ride boat. Cuckoo collection. Graveyard race. Song of muthafuckin' Storms. Versus uh... help an old lady get her purse back... wow so excite.

I just couldn't get over the feeling that MM felt like a gimmicky ROMhack, even though I didn't know what those were at the time.

[Sirus]

I have played OoT to completion at least twice. I have not yet beaten MM, not even once. Can you guess which I prefer?

Not that MM is bad or anything, it just didn't grab my attention the way the previous title did.

[Aklyon]

I like both. But considering MM hasn't been out on anything for awhile I haven't been able to finish it, because I had it as a rental.

[Ozyton]

I'm not much of an avid LoZ player. I don't think I've ever beaten either of these games on my own, at least not without some kind of walkthrough (back then I had to print the whole thing out XD) because I never wanted to miss anything and I was kinda too stupid to figure anything out myself (much moreso than I am now, that is.) I have however seen Lp's of both of these games which were pretty in-depth, so while I'm not an expert I actually have a feel for the games.

Anyways, OOT was their first forray into a 3d LoZ world, and that itself makes it a classic. Majora's Mask is a much different type of game; while OOT focuses on the main questline with a couple interesting side quests, Majora's Mask is basically entirely about the game world and its people, enforced by the 'time limit' that gives every individual their own schedule. It even has a 'sidequest book' per-say to keep track of sidequests. There's only 4 main dungeons in the game if I remember correctly, the handheld games had more than that =p

So if you like sidequests and characters MM is the better game, if you don't care much for sidequests then OOT is a 'better' game even though the main quest is pretty 'cookie cutter' as far as fantasy stories go: Evil guy captures the princess and hero has to go save her. The 'future times' in OOT did have a nice little post-apocalyptic feel to it, which contrasts strongly with the nice cheerful 'young' world.

The whole mask bit of Majora's Mask was pretty awesome though, who didn't enjoy rolling around as a Goron with giant spikes all over him? =p

[Owlbread]

They are such different games it would be very difficult to compare them. They're pretty much apples and oranges. I think MM has incredible symbolism and depth for its time and genre (it actually remains unrivalled I think) but OoT is a more solid, accessible game and was more technically innovative.

[Nighthawk]

Ocarina of Time is very grand quest-y, and very rewarding in that you eventually get a huge collection of items that make you feel epic while working toward a goal, which is of course beating Ganondorf. Ocarina of Time's MUSIC is one of its best features; every song fits the environment so perfectly that you'd be hard pressed to find a single instance where you don't feel pulled into the game's world. Combat and puzzles are really good IMO, though you'll hear many people say that the water temple is absolute hell (and it is).
For the most part, though, it's a game that you can easily play through and simply enjoy playing.

Majora's Mask is, well... the trippiest LoZ game ever made. It's bright an cheery on the surface, but the undertones are creepy, almost scary.
That's not to say it isn't a good game, though. You'll be collecting stuff (especially masks, lots of masks), and running around slaying huge monsters and all that. There are sidequests aplenty in Majora's Mask, but they are not very attractive because the entire game is set on a stupid 3-day timer which delivers an automatic gameover should time run out. To avoid having the moon crash into the earth, you have to keep resetting the stupid thing, losing all your ammunition (and rupees if you don't store them).

In my personal opinion, Majora's mask was less enjoyable than Ocarina of Time just because of that danged 3-day death-sentence. In OoT, you get a feeling of freedom as you ride through Hyrule Field on your trusty steed... in MM, you just feel repressed as all the good deeds you accomplish mean nothing to the characters around you because you keep having to reset the world....

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Having never played either of them, I can't really weigh in. Although how many games impose a 3-day death sentence? Seems like it would make for a very different experience.

[Vattic]

Played them in order of release OoT then MM. On the whole I prefer MM with it's living world, interesting time mechanics and expansive side quests, did think the main quest was less interesting, though. I'm not sure why everyone rags on the time limit as it allowed them to pack a lot of detail into those three days and added a sense of urgency.

[timferius]

For those who never played MM, I'd like to add an aside on the time limit:
First off, one of the big things about the game is that, any time through the three days (except the first day due to half hour intro thing with no save that is evil) you can reset back to the start of the three days by playing the song of time. This allowed the game creators to give evey NPC a schedule, have events occur at specific times etc. and allow you to alter the course of the day and these actions. So the 3 day thing becomes a puzzle in itself.

Secondly, early in the game you learn altered versions of the song of time. You can slow down time to half, giving you ages to do anything, or you can skip ahead half a day (to the next dawn or dusk if I remeber correctly).

So in the end it's a hugely long game, and I think I ran out of time for what I was doing once through my entire playthrough (dungeons largely reset if you rewind time for example).

[Aklyon]

However, there is also boss masks you obtain that do something. I don't remember what though, and they persist more than the dungeons.

[Frumple]

... honestly, Tim, it being a long game despite it just makes things worse. I don't like the pressure a time limit imposes, even if it can be lifted or manipulated easily. It's a major negative for me, and I have and will in the future put games down because of it. Occasionally I can play despite it or through it (I've beat dungeon crawl a couple times, ferex, and that goddamn food clock is basically the same issue), but I have to be in the right sort of mood and I've never lucked onto being able to play MM when I was in that sort of mood.

Really, if it auto-reset at the end of the third day instead of game overing that would be considerably more bearable, but even then just the time limit being there is... annoying. Annoying enough it's kept me from playing the game. I honestly hate being on the clock, especially in my leisure activities. Certain genres are more forgivable for that sort of thing, but something like a mainline LoZ game... not so much.