Welcome to the second installment of my new article series: “Areas That Annoy Me in the Oracle Games”.
Look, I love these games. I think that the secret system is so great and so well-thought-out that it hurts me that more games don’t do it. (Come on, Pokémon; you insist on selling me two versions of the same game, so this would have been perfect.) I also love the characters, the unique setting, and, of course, MOOSH! All of these are incredible parts of two great games.
Rolling Ridge in Oracle of Ages, however? Yeah, not so much.
Let me start off with the things I like about this area. It really is a cool concept. The whole conceit of Oracle of Ages is the time travel system, which allows for some really cool things (and some not-so-cool, cannibalistic things as well). Same goes for Rolling Ridge: you get to watch the ebb and flow of time and see how it affects the inhabitants. Gorons are also cool, I like those. The Moblin Keep is really cool, too. Uhh, the designs on the walls of the ridge are pretty cool. Hmm, well…
I guess that’s it.
So, let’s break it down. There are essentially two versions of the ridge: the Past and the Present. In the Past, it is a bustling Goron city with tons of minigames and all sorts of fun adventures that leave you completely confused. In the Present, Moblins have overrun the ridge. The Keep is a pretty fun place that I plan on covering in an article in the near future (I swear, there are things I like in this game). Link’s goal is to take down the Great Moblin and help the Gorons grow their Bomb Flowers. After destroying the Keep, Link travels to the Past to, once again, help the Gorons. This time, the Elder is trapped under some rocks, and Link has to blast him out of there.
So, in a horrific plot development reminiscent of Crescent Island, we see that Link is the one who first introduced the Bomb Flower to the Gorons, leading them to their terrifying fate in the Present. They’re yoked by the Moblins and forced to cower in their homes — all because of Link.
Anyway, after saving the Elder, Link gets the Crown Key and continues his quest. What’s so bad about that part? Nothing, really (you know, outside of the whole subjugation-of-the-Goron-race thing). The part that annoys me comes later.
Link returns to Rolling Ridge later in his quest in order to find the Mermaid’s Cave. He finds out that he not only needs the Mermaid Key from the Past, but also the Old Mermaid Key from the Present. Come on, man. Dealing with those shenanigans is bad enough, but he also has to endure another trading sequence in order to get them. How does he go about that trading sequence?
Minigames. Both in the Past and Present.
This includes doing the Goron Dance. Twice. Why? What is the point of that?
In writing this article, I’ve realized something: the gimmicks in this area and in Crescent Island are minigames and trading quests, and I hate both of these areas. I think I’m sensing a pattern with this. If there is one drawback to be found with Oracle of Ages, it’s the overreliance on these kinds of gimmicks. They’re blots on an otherwise delightful game.
Now, it’s still a fun area with a lot of different things to do. The setting is unique, it’s the only area with two dungeons, and come on — Gorons rock (pun totally intended). However, the trading quest is a confusing mess that involves way too much time-hopping and very little guidance, and the minigames are mostly just boring reskins of others found throughout the Oracle games. They should have just left it at the first dungeon and then let it rest.
