Did proper 3D platforming with free camera exist before Mario 64?
Did third person adventure games exist before OoT and has anything drastically changed the formula since?
Not to mention all these games shipped fully built with no updates and amazingly few bugs.
It seems as though OP didn't actually experience these things at the time so making a post about nostalgia for them is strange. Firing up an emulator and going "These games don't hold up now." is entirely missing the point.
Woodwork dweller here, you seem to have forgotten:
Majora's Mask
Star Fox 64
Jet Force Gemini
Donkey Kong 64
Diddy Kong Racing
Excite Bike 64
Paper Mario
Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door
Pokémon Stadium
Yoshi's Story
Pokémon Snap
Mario Party
Felt at the time that there was always a high quality "AAA" release on the horizon interspersed with some of the greatest games ever made. Many of the gameplay techniques these games pioneered during the transition from 2D to 3D are still used to this day.
Obviously a lot of them don't stand the test of time a quarter of a century on but we haven't had a system with the same consistent quality of games for a long time, if ever, IMO.
I expected it to be difficult with a possibility of not enjoying it but seemed pretty popular so thought I'd give it a go.
Will give your suggestions a shot but I find everything about it obtuse to be honest. To me good game design lowers you gently into mastering the controls and ramping up difficulty, not just chucking you in at the deep end with confusing menus so it's on the player to look everything up.
Waited all year until it was on sale as I thought it might not be my cup of tea, tried not to let my prejudice get the better of me but felt it was such a drag I had to put it down.
It was recommended to me as I like Zelda but it couldn't be further from the things I like about it: innovation, fluid gameplay, freedom, puzzles, multiple ways to tackle enemies.
I don't think it's the difficulty as I play lots of roguelike and bullet hell games. My main gripe is the clunkiness of the combat to the point it's unfair. Like you don't really stand a chance through reactions alone, you have to learn the patterns and hitboxes of enemies so that you know in advance when to react.
Also I kept hearing how good the graphics are but I think they're kinda average although the actual art style is quite nice.
Any suggestions on how I might enjoy it would be much appreciated as I haven't got very far.
