When I first entered the Forest Temple many years ago, I was met with an incredible piece of music, and I was pulled in even closer to Link’s adventure to save Hyrule. This pulsating, atmospheric, and encapsulating song highlights the power and value that a solid soundtrack can add to a game. While I adore the original version, the orchestrated variety created through the Zelda Reorchestrated (ZREO) project is a joy to behold.
The original sound simply screams ‘forest’ in a way words can’t quite describe. The ZREO version pays faithful homage to this, without straying far from masterpiece that it is based upon. The song fits the environment of the Forest Temple perfectly, and if we are ever fortunate enough to see a glorious HD remaster of the game, the ZREO version would undoubtedly be a great contender for the game’s melodies.
The co-existence of the track and the dungeon has a distinct barren feel. It’s as if at some point, probably quite some time ago, another person or small group of people were in the Forest Temple. It is as if you were walking in a place that had been visited ages ago — apart from the person that hung the doors that is!
Ocarina of Time has always been prevalent in portraying connotations such as ‘sacred’ and ‘ancient’ in a potent and inviting manner. That in of itself creates meaningfulness to the track, intertwining the environment, the music, and the entire game together. They work simultaneously to suck you into the game and out of the real world. Imagine, the Forest Temple and you’ll hear the music. Hear the music, and you’ll imagine the Forest Temple. It is a calming but beautifully haunting sound, helping you feel powerfully isolated. Is there any wonder this is still arguably the best game of all time with creative relationships like this?
The track makes you feel empowered and ready to tackle the challenges and battles that lie ahead within the temple. Even just listening to the track without playing the game, it seems to fulfill an awareness of both empowerment and calmness. Having just recently turned into an adult thanks to the luxury of time travel prior to this temple, it highlights further your new-found power; enough that you can overcome what lies ahead in this temple.
The Forest Temple theme is a sound synonymous with Ocarina of Time. It makes me incredibly grateful that the Nintendo 64 preceded the more powerful consoles of today which provide more freedom in terms of memory and orchestra. To have produced an engaging and complimentary track of this quality, capturing the entire forest element that envelopes most of the adventure with such limitation, is quite astounding. It’s a track you never can tire of, and that can loop for hours on end and you don’t feel tedium, you may almost lose track of time.
Work on ZREO stopped back in 2013, but the all their Zelda music can be found here.
