over time i was focusing more on the things about that game that have aged weirdly. like, the structural things. the way it looks on paper. but i was watching the randomizer speedrun from GDQ last week and I was really powerfully struck by just how much care went into so many small things in that game, and how incredibly moody and atmospheric the art direction can be.
like, when i used to think about OoT i thought about things like hyrule field, kokiri forest, the fishing minigame, the more tedious parts of the water temple, etc.
but the absolute overwhelming VIBES in the forest temple alone are IMMACULATE. let alone the shadow temple, gerudo fortress, the bottom of the well (!!!), the spirit temple, ganon's castle, etc.
especially now that i'm older and have played the earlier 2D zelda games a lot more, it's so much easier to see how directly they translated all those little touches and quirks and details into 3D in their very first pass and it's so so impressive.