There are a lot of stupid people out there. 83IQ is the lowest that the US army will hire, because any lower and the problems they cause more manpower than they can provide. 15% of the population is that stupid, which is a real problem for society.
The funniest thing is that you can actually complete the dungeon without that key at all. You can use another entrance to that center room by saving and starting on the top floor. I thought this was the way to do it as a kid when I restarted the whole game thinking I was permanently stuck. You can beat this dungeon with an EXTRA key!
The only dungeon I know of, if you do things right, you'll have a spare key. Shows how complex the water temple truly is. Farore's wind is MVP in the water temple.
I personally considered this temple not difficult, what most of the players forget is that there is an item that helps you A LOT with the backtracking to the water level rooms: Farore's Wind Using Farore's Wind helps a lot and many players did not even consider using it here
I actually think that the water temple is an acquired taste. The more I play ocarina of time, the more I come to like it. With multiple playthroughs you start to rout this thing more efficiently using farores wind for instance. Also playing this temple in OOT3D is a lot better than in the N64 Version because you don't constantly have to pause to equip/unequip the iron boots. But in the end a temple has to be fun for everyone l, not just the ever recurring players that already know how to beat it. I have to admit It sure was frustrating as a kid.
Idk about that chief. I played trough it multiple times and I still get lost in it. It's always that point of the game where you bang your head against the wall multiple times until you break trough somehow and can't even explain how you did it.
@Ikey Ilex It's less of an "Eureka" moment and more like of "wait, why did that work? I've been doing the exactly same thing this entire time! Or was I?", so I never understand exactly what I did wrong in the first place and how I fixed it later. It's really a matter of keep trying for long enough and I'll magically beat it, be it in 1 hour or 8 hours later.
@Ikey Ilex Like I said, I dunno. Sometimes I'm just missing keys that I have no idea how to get (and it's not the one in the video, that I figured out quite fast). I remember struggling with the cracked wall you need to blast near the first water level changing spot a lot, that block puzzle in 1F(?) that you need to get to the other side to finish and I never know how to do, and I remember an entrance near the top of the whirlpool room that drives me insane and I don't even know if I'm really supposed to get there from that room or not. The map of that place is such a mess that it doesn't help me at all, so just go around doing things over and over again until at some point, somehow, I end up finding a key somewhere I had skipped before and I can finally progress.
Even I got stuck on the water temple myself :( and got stuck until I found you need to blow up a certain wall EDIT: 4:14 is the wall of which I speak of
“Did you miss it?” Nope, and I love hidden items like this. RIP to those who missed it back in the day. I didn’t know anything about this issue when my cousin got stuck here in the ‘90s. I borrowed the game and beat the game in a blind playthrough within one weekend. I remember thinking the Water Temple was tedious, but not necessarily hard. I don’t think my cousin ever forgave me for beating his game before him, but he still loves Zelda so it’s all good. Overall, I think this kind of hidden chest should be used for non-essential items. This hiding spot would be legendary if it were hiding a piece of heart instead of a key.
Didn't miss it either 😆 Haven't played the game for like 20 years and i have no memories of this specifically but my immediate reaction to something moving like that is, besides being able to climb it, check if it was hiding anything.
The strange thing is, for me, I kept looking at the gap under the block wondering how I was going to move it (since further up this room is the _second_ time you change the water level). After a while I gave up, and decided I'd come back to it later; and looked up to find something to latch onto. Needless to say, I very quickly stumbled upon the solution.
Yeah me neither, I always thought people just complained about how tedious the dungeon was or frustrating to navigate, I never heard anyone say they were missing that key, which is kinda stupid honestly.
See, I didn't get stuck in this dungeon when I played it for the first time, so I've always liked it lol. It's my 2nd favorite Adult Dungeon, behind the Spirit Temple.
you and I are reversed on this front. water temple my favorite, ith spirit a very close second. shadow temple would be my third (especially trying without lens of truth)
I mean; if you managed to find everything else upto that point, you'd have the map and compass. And despite how the map works, the map is working correctly. And if you have everything except that 1 key it'd be the only chest on the map that is close to the center tower. If you were to check the block rising up when you raise the water level to go down further to get closer to the chest, you'd find the opening which leads to it. And yes; the original cutscene very briefly shows the opening, but if you were to keep going around I would assume since you're focused on finding anything to help; you'd eventually see the opening under the block when it rises up. The 3DS cutscene may seem like an overcorrection, especially when the other major problem of the Water Temple (pausing constantly to change the Iron Boots) was also changed as you can equip them like an item. If this wasn't to correct this pausing annoyance, it's to bring the boot usage in line with Zelda games that came after the N64 (Wind Waker and Twilight Princess Iron Boots)
Agreed. The boots pausing is obnoxious and bad design, but I think everything else about the dungeon is all right. The key is well hidden but you can find it with the map. The game has already taught you, try going to areas you were already at but with a different water level, and this is another example of that.
@@Sauraen I didn't think it was all that bad, particularly at the time. It was only in hindsight when WW gave them as an item when I thought "oh, this is way better."
@@fenixchief7 Yeah, in hindsight as like a 10 year old, I don't remember being bothered one bit by anything. I think the standard raised with newer games, and that made us realize relatively weaker mechanics of the older ones.
When I was little this temple was an absolute nightmare, but in my recent play through I actually found it to be the most intuitive dungeon. Everything made a lot of sense and seemed to just flow for me whereas I got stuck and had to run around trying to find what to do at least once in every other dungeon. I know that definitely goes contrary to the normal opinion, but I think the layout is really well made and has become my favorite in the game!
Honestly the key I kept forgetting about is the second floor key above Ruto which requires the water level to be at level 2 and for you to backtrack to that area before you fully raise the water level. Though now, I honestly really like the Water Temple.
Yes. That one. THAT FREAKING ONE. It's worse because every time you backtrack, you see the damn cracked wall rubbed on your face but have no idea how to get there.
I remember the third time I ever did the Water Temple, I'd finally memorized that there was that one room in the basement with a key, so I was all gung-ho, but then on the way to Dark Link I was still short a key and I was like 'what now?' That key on 2F turned out to be the one I forgot. Now I can do all the dungeons in OoT without getting the Map or the Compass. Well I mean, I can also get all the Stray Fairies in all of Majora's Masks dungeons without getting the Map or Compass, so by comparison OoT's dungeons don't really compare, but....
2:10 It was like that for us, we were stuck for so long (my cousin and my sisters). Turns out what we missed was that song of time block after the long shot. It’s in the ground so easy to miss
The Water Temple, has a path you take through it, and if you follow it and make sure not to skip a side room or key, you basically just do a few laps around the whole thing and it easy enough.
The part that had me convinced I broke the game was the fact that there are two different directions on the water temple which require two small keys back to back. If I used the keys in different spots and was convinced I was stuck. One had a small hallway with two locked doors and the other hand the place with the sinking platforms. This detail needs to be discussed in this temple.
Definitely the trickiest key in the game, though somehow it didn't ruin the dungeon for me when I was a kid. The cutscene was lost on me, so the map was actually how I figured it out. I obsessed over the mysterious unexplored basement room. So I combed over every space above it until I finally stumbled into the entrance. I was definitely stuck there for a bit, but I can't remember how long due to the time compression of my memory lol I would have been 10 at the time. I want to say I beat the game within the span of a couple months, but it could have easily been more.
This has always been my favorite dungeon. It was actually engaging for once. It feels like, from my perspective, that the complaints against this dungeon amount to "I didn't sign up to use my brain when playing an rpg. How dare they force me to." Maybe that's an oversimplification, but other than constantly having to pause and equip different boots, I don't see anything frustrating or tedious about this dungeon. It just challenges your mind, that's all. Many of us would think of that as a good thing. 🙂
@@abstractdaddy1384 just because you like it because it made you think, thats not what other wanted while playing. The world dont work like you want. And that quote you did in the end is nothing more than stupid
5:11 The original cutscene in the N64 version is even worse for one underrated reason: most of the little cutscenes and other interruptions thus far are very easy to tune out of as, up to this point, they have generally communicated obvious information that the player would have been able to see if the gameplay weren't interrupted anyway.
I got stuck at this temple for years as a kid as well, but it was the time block behind the long shot chest that got me. I actually beat master quest first and that’s how I discovered that block was there, so I was finally able to go back and beat the regular oot lol. Never missed the key below the center structure though. Didn’t realize people struggled on that one.
That was the one that got me, too. I had read online back then about the Hover Boots, and thought they let you fly. Because it's easy to see the end of that path in the whirlpool room with the dragon statue. So teen me thought the boots would help me get up there. Early 2000s was an odd time for finding info on what to do in a game. No wonder there were so many rumors about finding the Triforce in game, etc.
@@BingFox for real. I wasn’t allowed to use the family computer when I was a kid so I didn’t figure out that block was there for literally years haha. In master quest you go through the whirlpool river in reverse via the room with the statue you mentioned and when I ended up in the long shot room and put 2 and 2 together my mind was absolutely blown.
The struggle I went through as a 10 year old trying to beat the water temple was crazy. This was before walkthrough videos. I asked my older brothers for help and they gave me the good old "I forgot..." but when I finally did beat it I felt the best relief I've ever felt in my life. The cutscene where the water in Lake Hylia rises to its normal state is iconic to me because of what I went through back in 07.
I had the exact same experience when I was 7.. took me two years to beat it, I played minigames and enjoyed the ambiance instead- I also casually beat every other dungeon out of order before the water temple (minus shadow because scary)
Nice video, but to be honest, I'm a bit tired of people claiming this dungeon is trash. I mean, I too get stuck when I was younger and it wasn't easy back in the days, but it was far from impossible. There are clues, the cutscene shows the answer, it's not that obvious like in the 3DS remake, but at least it felt challenging and rewarding, unlike on 3DS. If the player don't see it, or don't think of checking beneath the platform, he is the one to blame. When I go back to OOT, I can't wait to do both Forest Temple and Water Temple because of how good they are designed (and eerie). I respect your opinion and I get your frustration. I'm just here to share some love for this underated dungeon. The true bullshit is the Dark Link fight though. That mf is impossible without cheating... I still don't get it to this day.
Idk about that honestly, it would be one thing if it was only a handful of players who didn't get it, but if most of your fanbase agrees the temple was hard... it probably was lol
@@yasmineh.1333 I agree this dungeon is hard. But I wonder... did some of you here had ever played any Tomb Raider from the 90s? These games are still well regarded nowadays, but I never got stuck so often in a videogame because how impossible the puzzles are (and I always get lost because how awfull the level design is). In comparison, I think the water temple is a piece of cake. This is a serious question btw, I really would like to know how many people here had beat both OOT and Tomb Raider...
@@FabienCampaner II actually never beat either of those, although it's mainly because I'm a '04 kid and didn't have consoles for old Tomb Raider games, and for OoT it's a technical problem of my 3DS. I wouldn't consider myself a standard to follow for difficulty in games because I suck lol, I just feel like a dungeon's reputation doesn't come out of nowhere
I'm so sorry but... Skill issue. There's absolutely a hint leading you to believe that there could be something under that block. It's the fact that the wooden platform rose up with the water level. I was expecting some weird hallway that's tricky to miss being the reason people couldn't find the Small Key, but it's just people being unaware of their environment in what is effectively a Puzzle Game.
Maybe it’s only my favorite dungeon because I happened to catch that hidden hole on my first play through and it wouldn’t be otherwise. Funnily enough I missed that hole on subsequent play throughs. What really appealed to me about the Water Temple is all the different points where you could get sucked down to seemingly infinite depths, which with the underwater statuary and creepy cool music made it the most disturbing dungeon.
i loved getting lost in the water temple, it was so unique compared to the other temples in the game and figuring out all of it's secrets was so rewarding. one of my favorite temples in the game.
I think the real problem with the water temple is that its too tedious to be constantly going to the items menu over and over again to equip and unequip the iron boots,this of course was solved in the 3ds remake,but that dosnt adress the amount of time you spend floating to the surface and/or sinking to the bottom,combinethat with 3 different water levels and you get an overall easy but tedious water dungeon in comparison to the ones in other zelda games like skyward sword's or oracle of seaons. I dislike it so much that last time i played i felt the need to learn ISG,bomb hovering and the boss door skip to get the hell outta that temple.
That's not the key I always forget, that one is the key behind the bombable wall you pass as you float up to the first water level spot. I always inevitably end up at the last door without a key, realize what I did, and find myself going back through the dungeon a second time for just one key.
Same here. I remember as a kid being stuck and going around the water temple, where I found the key in the central pillar. I eventually looked at the map and figured out where the one missing key was.
I was stuck on the water temple for 3 years because that damned room haha. I replayed the game all the way to that point 3 times in that span and looked once on my last play through on a whim out of boredom. I never had trouble after discovering it and always get through it on first tries every playthrough after that.
Unpopular opinion: the Water Temple is imo the BEST dungeon in OoT. Is the constant Iron Boots swap annoying? Hell yea. But ignoring that: I have a tendency to explore and overanalyze every corner of each dungeon, so that hidden key inside the underwater tunnel in the ground at 3:32 wasn't anything I missed (at least not for more than 30 minutes). I also think Dark Link is the most interesting mini-boss in OoT. I totally understand the frustration other players felt with this dungeon, though; because I really believe the Water Temple is underrated.
I don't know, I've spent many hours inside of the water temple, enjoyed it a lost and got angry at it a lot as well.. but that piece of puzzle was so satisfying to get over with once you realize you could access down below of that vertical tunnel, that everything else wasn't so bad in the end. If only the newest Zelda games had a dungeon like this, each one would have a super addition!
The song of time block behind the chest with the longshot was also made more conspicuous in the 3ds remake. In the n64 game, it was level with the ground.
Honestly, This is the 6th dungeon of the game, and 3 of the previous 5 have asked you to think about the dungeon vertically. You should be checking up and down and not purely laterally. Boots and Lullaby kill the pacing of the dungeon but they arent actually strikes against its design and a level
In the new 3Ds remake when you bring the water to the medium level it zooms the camera on the little secret room making it easier in the N64 however isn’t the case
the Water Temple is actually quite easy once you get an idea of how the water levels work...basically, i run through one "Cycle" (dropping the water all the way down, and then raising it back up to normal) without the Longshot, to GET the Longshot, then i do Another "Cycle" WITH the Longshot, and suddenly im ready for Morpha...you just gotta explore every single room that you can at each water level...if anything, its only "hard" if you forget about the little niches, like the bomb-able wall in Ruto's Room (waterlevel-Mid), or the pathway under the block in the central tower (waterlevel-NotLow), or around the corner from the GoldSkulltula, with the rolling boulders...
The key beyond the longshot room was another hangup back in the day. Many players would save, quit, take a break, and come back later and be back at the start of the dungeon. I was a key short more than once as a kid because I did this.
I didn't know it existed myself until I checked the map and went "Hey, there is no tunnel under that middle room" My biggest problem with the dungeon was that you had to hookshot up in the middle room. That is where I got so stuck for an hour straight.
This is why the Dark Souls series' message feature is so good. You sometimes see messages on the ground from other random players, but they can only be made of pre-written phrases. This means for confusing or unfair situations, you can get just enough of a hint to figure it out yourself. And you have to guess what a player meant by a certain phrase combo. This system makes it so that you don't need to look up OP answers online.
ohhhh THAT'S why everyone has troubles with the water temple!! i was always so confused as to why people thought it was so hard, especially since the forest temple was way harder in every playthrough i've done, but yeah i guess if you didn't stumble into that room it's damn hard to find. thanks for your insight!
So interesting how ppl have different experiences cuz the forest was the easiest for me. And Jabu Jabu was the hardest lol. My hardest temple was fire.
I got stuck on water temple for about 3 years as a kid. I eventually realized I had to explore every nook and cranny at every water flow level. Exact same situation.
That exact room is why I was stuck on oot for years as a kid lol. It was a miracle that one time while trying to get through the temple i noticed the hole.
Underrated dungeon. I enjoyed it and never got the hate for it. A dungeon is supposed to make the player think and plan things out. And it's design is most interesting with how the water levels change the layout and there are different pathways encouraging you to explore them all and keep checking new paths as they open when the water levels change or you find a key. Also the mini-boss and boss fights were unique. Not the hardest once you figure them out but fun. Overall I think a good dungeon is one that branches out and has you solve clever intuitive puzzles. This is an example of what makes a good Zelda dungeon to me. Maybe I'm an idiot for liking what's everyone's most hated dungeon in possibly not just Ocarina but the series as a whole. But it just is. I enjoyed it. I didn't think it was that bad.
the water temple is so overhated. I guess it's way harder and annoying in the N64 version but at least in the 3DS it's really fun and pretty. The whole zora part of the game is underrated The water temple isn't truly that hard imo, I beat it very quickly first try
The real problem was back in the 90s, when this game came out, blockbuster and other rental services were big. And developers were often told that they didnt want the games being beaten easy. So every game had SKILL CHECK LEVEL. Remember The Lion King on Snes?
Great video! I was stuck in the water temple for about 4 weeks. I eventually got so tilted that I decided to try walking on the spiked floor and eventually found it.
OoT3D is a real one for making sure the player won't ever be confused and the only thing challenging the player is the actual complex design of the dungeon.
As a kid I would not unlock the middle door, save and quit the game, and jump down to the middle floor from the top. This allowed me to skip the door and keep an extra key to beat the dungeon. I was so convinced that it was the only way that on subsequent playthroughs, I would set farore's wind to warp back so I wouldn't have to save and quit.
Having heard of the Water Temple's reputation for getting stuck, I followed a guide the first time I played through it to ensure I didn't use a key in the wrong door!
I just played mm, finished it today and I loved the great bay temple. Probably my favorite dungeon between the 2 64 games. The way it made you work with the Zora swimming mechanic, the idea of it, the mini boss that was covered in bubbles (my one death in the playthrough, im not hating though cause it was an epic fight), I just really liked it.
As a kid in the 90s, I remember giving up on the game for getting stuck because I never bothered to look behind the chest where I obtained the longshot, I just walked back the other way to where I fought shadow link. I gave up knowing where to go after stumbling on so many dead ends. I had to lend the game to a friend so they could finish it for me.
The key i had trouble with in the water temple is the one behind the bombable wall when you go up to lower the water level for the first time. Always missed that one key, then started to remember it and the temple became a cakewalk.
As a child, I really enjoyed the Water Temple, and i was extremely surprised as an adult to find out that so many people found it so absurdly difficult. I was five years old and found it simple enough. Replaying it as an adult, it was a little more confusing than it seemed twenty years earlier, but I still quite enjoyed it. I have nothing but positive memories of it, but I can certainly understand how so many people have come to loathe it.
I had problems with keys in this temple, but the one in the basement was not one of them. I expected this would be about the key where you have to return to Ruto's location with the water at mid-level; that one gave me trouble because I never thought I had to return there in the first place.
I will never forget about that key because i discovered it my first time by complete mistake. I lept off the platfom into the water by mistake and got stuck under the block so when i slowly swam out from under it i saw there wasn't spikes at that one spot. i put on the boots and found that path. i looked like the coolest kid ever when talking to my friends and going over to their houses and helping them get that key. i had more issues in the shadow temple then i did water tbh.
The only problem with the Water Temple are the Iron Boots which are tedious to equip and unnequip. Other than that, it's secrets actually feel like secrets. I wish more temples would do that.
Recently replayed OOT and found the Water Temple to be not as bad as it seems. The water level mechanic changed the dynamic of the game, doing something that wasn't really thought of in the previous dungeons. Similar to how the Shadow Temple recommends the lens of truth to efficiently navigate the dungeon, finding hidden secrets and enemies. Plus it makes since that you would be changing water levels constantly, it's a temple situated at the bottom of a massive lake. It also has arguably one of the best mini boss fights in the series with Dark Link and you trying to outwit your own shadow (biggoron sword ftw). It's boss fight was kinda weak though, especially for a mid-late game dungeon.
As an adult, ive been replaying this. As a kid i had no issues. But its been nearly 10 years since my last playthrough. I remember 90% of the water temple. Ive been replaying on an emulator during my 30 minute lunch break at work so the time crunch always caused me unnecessary stress. I skipped the cutscene or just missed the hint on accident and went through changing the water levels 4 or 5 different times before resorting to youtube. This is the only video that went straight to the key that i missed. After that, i played 30 minutes off work beat the water temple and am halfway through the shadow temple. If it werent for that 1 room, the water temple would be a breeze and it feels cheap that the key i was missing was behind an unassuming cutscene as youre more focused on the platform moving up that what might be underneath.
First Zelda game I ever played and the water temple kicked my ass as a kid playing on my dad's N64. So glad you made this video because this was the exact problem I had with the level. I was so stumped I literally thought I had broken the game so I reset the entire save file and did everything over again. I can't remember if I figured it out on my own or if I had to look up the answer, probably the former rather than the latter because this was way before it was a common thing to use Google. All the family computer did back then was pinball and minesweeper. So frustrating, but so satisfying to complete!
I've always loved the water temple because I'm the kind of weirdo who doesn't mind being stuck and having to backtrack. Now it's pretty trivial, but in the past it was always the one temple where I would get stuck because each time I had forgotten THAT passage in the center pillar room.
So I actually just now noticed something that almost makes it possible to get stuck, specifically the key behind the Longshot and the door you open with it to get to the boss key area in the vanilla progression (on the bottom floor, north end, raise the water level and go north, you'll see a door behind some spikes). If you were able to open that door before getting Longshot, you'd end up with a locked door, Longshot behind that locked door, and the last small key in the dungeon also behind that locked door, even if you knew about the extra key in the basement.
One of my favorite things in games is exploring hidden areas and seeing if something unassuming that I did triggered something that may have opened another path. So for me, even as a kid, when I saw that platform raise, my first thought was to explore underneath it. Maybe they hid a rupee, or heart, or maybe even a piece of heart underneath it. So I naturally explored to find out. Glad I did, because I can totally understand people getting lost due to it.
I love the water dungeon, in fact is one of my favorites. And actualy is one dungeon you can actualy finish not picking one key. See, when you make the water down you use one of your keys to enter in the center room, where you find that secret passage and also the place to change the water level again but you can enter this room by the top as well. Since there is no water you can think you can't but just put a farore wind in the begning area of the game or even more simply turn off and on the game to re-start at the entrace of the dungeon and then jump to the midle area, fire the torch with your arrow and done you are inside center area witouth opening the door below. You can use this to endup the dungeon with a extra key or to avoid picking one you don't want to. That kley you talk is in the only place where link can't actualy survive without the blue tunic as well, so with this trick actualy is possible to finish the game without using the blue tunic as well. No glitches
When I saw this video, I knew before watching it that it was going to be about that specific key. When I first played OOT back when it released, this dungeon was one of the longest to complete because I did initially miss this. But after taking a gander around for a while, I decided to retrace my steps and make sure every room was checked high and low and then I was able to find the hole. Now here is something that I don't understand. This particular dungeon gets a ton of hate from many Zelda fans. But it is hardly the worst offender of having an obscure location that the map doesn't list or has a certain way of using a mechanic that isn't documented in game or the manual. It seems many of the dungeons in Legend of Zelda: Second Quest and Zelda II get a pass.
I agree with your sentiment 100%. I specifically remember being stuck, and the exact moment I noticed that little opening in the cut scene, and it was like an epiphany. I remember telling my friends too, that they probably never checked under the platform in the central pillar. Other than that, I actually kinda like this temple! It's clever and complex, and the water level changing is actually a cool concept. If they just made the key more obvious it would likely be considered a classic IMO
What makes this key even harder to find is the time spent between the key being available & the door you need to use it with. By the time you reach the locked door, you'd have to adjust the water levels all over again to backtrack for it, which feels like undoing progress. It sucks.
I do remember getting stuck here at some point, but not for long. If I get stuck I try to systematically brute force a puzzle and in this case that would mean trying to explore all the rooms at all water levels to see what changed. Honestly it doesn't take that long since a lot of sections are completely blocked off and other sections are not affected by the water in the central room. I agree this is not an ideal way of solving a puzzle, but if you are stuck in any kind of puzzle it should be something to at least consider, how much time would it take to try every possibility. Sometimes that time is shorter than thinking about it
Unironically Water Temple was something I enjoyed, Even though I wound up playing the Zelda Collection which ported N64 Oot to GC, it's pacing did make you think for a reason, Biggest dungeon to exist was more time to traverse so being thorough was necessary, because hardware limitations were a thing with that beautiful nostalgic N64 Console, even though it's not as old as the NES/SNES but early 3d games were never polished enough to have wide camera pans for hints all the time. Because it was intended for cinematic pans, using either pre-rendered cutscenes and Maps, or a separate Map outside of places like Kokiri Forest, to give a sense of vastness to the world. Only gripe with the temple is because of how Long it is going to take to tackle the whole thing.
Yeah its very confusing at first but as soon as you get the map and compass its not that hard to beat as long as you don't miss the hidden room of course.
Im happy I didn’t have a hard time finding that key, but when I did, I instantly knew that this key is one of the main reasons why people hate the water temple, and that feeling of instantly understanding this phenomenon has permanently etched in my brain the memory of how to get inside the key’s room. It’s like a safeguard mechanism for an eventual situation when I have to play the game again, or help someone stuck. Hahaha
I remember being stuck in the Fire Temple for years. I needed one more small key to progress but for the life of me couldn't find it. Until my brother was messing around and decided to use the megaton hammer on one of the pillars in the main entrance... After 10 years finally being able to continue the game feels amazing
I remember my friends telling me this was their easier level while I was stuck on it to the point I had quit playing for months. Same problem, I needed 1 key. It turned out to be somewhere I swear I looked 1000 times. Glad to know I wasn’t the only one.
I've even had a friend on youtube (from 2006) who was also a zelda expert at that time that I'm permanently stuck at the water temple,and since I played the water temple before even youtube existed and only had a player's guide (that should've been helping me out with such thing) I've been stuck at the water temple since the 90's,so yes I'm pretty convinced I'm permanently stuck there 2:10 that's what happened to me 3:34 oh there's that garbage room,was it there for 25+ fucking years? XD( or *HAS THIS ROOM EXISTED THIS WHOLE TIME??!!* reference to the owl house o3o) I don't remember when I got ocarina of time,I don't remember how old it is,but it's 9 years younger than me,that's all I remember
When I played it, the only thing I knew was that it was a VERY, very difficult dungeon to beat. That was it. All and all, at the end of the day, it wasn't that difficult. I suffered WAAAY, way more with the forest temple. It did prepare me to the absurdities on Shadow temple and this one. As for the Fire temple and Spirit temple, I didn't get the "difficult part". They were straightforward. Amazing game, and amazing concepts. To this day, Ocarina of Time is the only Zelda game that feels like you are actually playing in a Legend. Every detail is sooo, so epic.
Funny, I was just a kid when I played OoT and got stuck in Water Temple for months (not because of this key, I didn't quite understand the water level mechanic) but that made me explore A LOT in Hyrule, loved and memorized every area with their respective secrets, Kakariko Village, Lost Woods, Goron City, the Fishing Pond... Once I figures out the Water Temple, a new world opened to me! The bottom of the well, Shadow Temple, Gerudo Valley/Desert, the glorious Spirit Temple, it felt like a huge achievement, a big true adventure with more secrets to discover... Now, after several years, I replayed OoT in my Switch, being 25 years old... It was like being Link returning to his roots after being trapped in the Sacred Realm, I wss kinda scared when I revisited the Water Temple... But I'm an adult now, my ind can now understand more complex stuff, it was a great challenge to re-do this temple (instead of being stuck for months, just took me some minutes to figure it out) and demonstrate to myself that deep inside of me, my inner child still lives, this is life, and this game which is art, makes us appreciate it more!
So, the thing is, it actually _is_ possible to "permanently" softlock the Water Temple. (Remove the quotes if you're on the 3DS version.) It can't happen while playing normally, but with a bit of sequence breaking, it's fully possible to get the dungeon in a state where you are one key short from being able to reach Dark Link, get the Longshot, and fight the boss. Step 1: Enter the Shadow Temple early using one of several methods and obtain the Hover Boots. Step 2: Go to the Water Temple and play through it up until the point where you'd unlock the west door on the third floor in the main room. Step 3: Instead of heading to fight Dark Link, drop down to the first floor and backwalk into a backflip with the Hover Boots to access the northern section of the dungeon with the Boss Key. Step 4: Use the two keys you'd normally use to reach Dark Link to get the Boss Key instead. You can get one of the two keys you'd normally get after fighting Dark Link (the one on the second floor behind the eye switch gate that you normally need the Longshot for) by using the Hover Boots, but the other key is at the end of the river... behind the very door that you need it to unlock. The only way to get there is by bomb hovering in the dragon statue room; if you do this on the 3DS version, where bomb hovering isn't an option, you're pretty much screwed. You might still be able to reach the boss, but beating the _game_ will then require you to learn the Bottle Adventure glitch to put the Longshot on B. (You kind of need it for one of the trials in Ganon's Castle.) Of course, this is also quite simple to avoid, even if you decide to flirt with disaster and unlock those two doors early. You never need to use a key to unlock the Central Pillar, since you can savewarp, drop down to the second floor from the entrance, and open the back entrance to the pillar using either a Bow or Din's Fire. Similarly, if you have the Hover Boots, you can use them to reach the ledge with the Level 3 panel without unlocking the west door on the second floor (or even having to raise the water to Level 2). By not using a key in one of those locations, you have enough to fight Dark Link and beat the temple.
I went though this quite a number of playthroughs but other times it felt so natural to use the iron boots and go down into the water that just raised.
I absolutely hated Ocarina of Time and played it just to reaffirm that fact. When I got to the water temple I was expecting to get so mad that I would never come back, given it's reputation. However, I found that it really wasn't bad other than having to swap boots every 10 seconds
I've never really understood the hate for the Water Temple, sure it's tedious but it's not that confusing or hard, the Dark Link battle is the highlight for sure and Morpha kinda sucks but it's also pretty manageable with the Longshot. Not my favourite temple, but it's not the worst one either imo
I can definitely see the hate for it. You gotta first go to the Zoras domain to get the blue tunic and then so that ice mini dungeon to get the boots and and song. I never got stuck in the temple but did have to back track a few times but the constant need to open the menu and equip and de-equip the iron boots on top of playing Zelda’s song infront of those markings to raise and lower the water multiple times is just really tedious and annoying. The clam enemies are also annoying. It’s still a crafty temple and I really can’t imagine anyone getting stuck on it for months let alone 10 freakin years but I can see the hate for it.
Yup , I missed this room when I was 7 years old , I was frustrated , I even thought the same thing that I had unfortunately opened the wrong doors with my keys . Luckily my friend in elementary school told me about the room and he was right , I was able to finish the game smooth sailing after finding that key . I’ll never forget how many hours I’ve spent circling that dungeon trying to find the one key I needed.
I have to say, as a kid I watched that raising water cutscene and went "aha" and spotted that hidden passage under the platform immediately. I remember it distinctly because it made me feel very smart. I recognize it was poorly designed and the 3DS change was probably a good idea, but I have to admit I can't relate. I actually liked the Water Temple because it made me think and consider my options. I must've been around 8 or 9 years old at the time.
Funny thing, as a young teenager I actually got stuck in the Water Temple (it's the reason I always tell people I have finshed OoT x.5 times). However, I don't think it was because of this key - it was the door to the central tower and in front of the quadratic hole you sink down also shown in the video. I followed a guide (even the official Nintendo-guide I borrowed from a friend) and I think I had messed up raising the water-levels - I couldn't enter the door leading to the central tower, since the square in front of the door - which you usually have to climb in order to enter the door - was missing (it was floating above Link at the surface of the water, since I hadn't lowered the water-level down to sink the square back to the bottom of the temple). Since I only went by room-numbers labeled in the guide, I didn't know the Water Temple at all at this time and was confused why I couldn't enter the door in front of me - the Iron Boots lowered Link too much for him to be able to enter the door. (I might've been stuck without a key in front of a locked door too another time during this run however, the memory is hazy.) And thus, I was confused and didn't try the Water Temple again for some years, then in a different savegame and actually beating it.
Yep, I knew exactly what key you were going to be talking about! My god, that was so frustrating when I had to look for a game walkthrough just for that one damn key.
No it's not possible to get Permanently stuck. You just gotta pay attention in the tower room. Of course if you used glitches to get through the temple then that's a different story. It may be possible to lock yourself out if you do something incorrectly, but you may not be stuck if you know how to get out of bounds to fix it.
I think if you use a megaflip to get over the spikes you're expected to Longshot over at the start of the path to get the Boss Key, before you get the Longshot, you get stuck. Well I mean, if a player is using glitches, they could always leave, glitch themselves into the Shadow Temple, get the Hover Boots, and get the final key early, but getting to the Shadow Temple without the Nocturne of Shadow is a fair bit trickier than a megaflip.
There's another way, before getting the longshot you can use a key to open the upper door to that middle room while the water level is set to lowest, you have to do an unintended long jump to reach it. When entering from there if you don't raise the water level back up before jumping down you can't get the key to unlock the lower door and the regular hookshot cant reach the platform to get back up
@@JetWolfEX How long has it been since you did the Water Temple? First off, the upper door to the middle room isn't a door you spend a key to open, it's open from the inside and barred on the outside, and you can open the bars by shooting an arrow through the fire on a lit torch to light an unlit torch. Second, yes the regular hookshot can reach the platform to get to the second floor of the middle room, that's how you reach the plaque where you play Zelda's Lullaby to raise the water to level 2 in the first place. Literally the _only_ way to break progression in the Water Temple is to use glitches to enter the Shadow Temple before you do anything in the Water Temple, get the Hover Boots, and use those to get the Water Temple Boss Key before you get the Longshot. Getting to the Boss Key from the dungeon entrance spends two keys. And yes, you have to spend both of those keys to truly break progression, because the Hover Boots let you get Small Key #6 out of order. For reference, that's the one on 2F in the main room where you shoot the eye switch to open a grate for a few seconds and you're expected to Longshot the target on the wall behind the grate. Even then, that only prevents you from getting the Longshot, and if you've bothered to go through the trouble to glitch into the Shadow Temple, you can just leave the Longshot, use a bomb explosion to propel Link wearing the Hover Boots to reach the north ledge of the central room, and do the Morpha fight and the rest of the game with the standard Hookshot.
@@devonm042690 You got me, it's been probably 5+ years since I've played it, and my memory has been more unreliable over time, sorry for spreading a false rumor thanks for correcting my mistake. I think I will go back to the water temple sometime to see for myself what I misremembered.
Reminder a completely blind person beat the water temple. While i probably like the dungeon design better in majoras mask, the OoT dungeons are a treat And about how the hidden path was easy to miss, i hard disagree. Not only do u get the cutscene with the path in sight, the spikes very cleanly cut off next to the block, which also has a distinct part sticking out on the bottom of the block which would indicate it was plugging something. Theres also the fact to consider why did the block float up? The easy answer is to give the player somewhere to stand so they can hook shot but why not just move the ledge u play the lullaby up there in the first place? It wouldve been less work coding it. Why block off that bottom door on both ends when u raise the water level? There was so many clues to it i genuinely think its at fault of the people who just didnt pay attention, and nintendo wasnt the one who did the remaster; Grezzo did and they “fixed” and changed a lot stuff that didnt need to be touched in BOTH their remasters (looking at you power stab, IFS, and more importantly deku/zora link)
I remember that room.
Never expected so many people got lost because they missed it...
Neither did I.. I kept getting stuck until I realize you need to blow up that wall around 4:13
@@adventureoflinkmk2 When I was a kid I was so stuck, there. The only way I saw it was because I accidentally clipped the camera through that wall
@@adventureoflinkmk2 that one was rough too. Those 2 rooms absolutely destroyed me as a kid
Same I thought it was pretty obvious
There are a lot of stupid people out there. 83IQ is the lowest that the US army will hire, because any lower and the problems they cause more manpower than they can provide. 15% of the population is that stupid, which is a real problem for society.
The funniest thing is that you can actually complete the dungeon without that key at all. You can use another entrance to that center room by saving and starting on the top floor. I thought this was the way to do it as a kid when I restarted the whole game thinking I was permanently stuck. You can beat this dungeon with an EXTRA key!
The only dungeon I know of, if you do things right, you'll have a spare key. Shows how complex the water temple truly is. Farore's wind is MVP in the water temple.
i want to see this
Which version are you talking about, N64 or 3DS? They are different.
@@weibingchen4183 N64. I haven't tried it in 3DS
I love you so much. Thanks.
I personally considered this temple not difficult, what most of the players forget is that there is an item that helps you A LOT with the backtracking to the water level rooms: Farore's Wind
Using Farore's Wind helps a lot and many players did not even consider using it here
That's fact!
Farore's Wind is so useful, it can open an avenue to dungeon completion, with a spare key you don't need to use.
For me, the most useful item was the Map
I actually think that the water temple is an acquired taste. The more I play ocarina of time, the more I come to like it. With multiple playthroughs you start to rout this thing more efficiently using farores wind for instance. Also playing this temple in OOT3D is a lot better than in the N64 Version because you don't constantly have to pause to equip/unequip the iron boots. But in the end a temple has to be fun for everyone l, not just the ever recurring players that already know how to beat it. I have to admit It sure was frustrating as a kid.
Agreed. I find my self linking water more, and disliking fire.
Idk about that chief. I played trough it multiple times and I still get lost in it. It's always that point of the game where you bang your head against the wall multiple times until you break trough somehow and can't even explain how you did it.
@Ikey Ilex It's less of an "Eureka" moment and more like of "wait, why did that work? I've been doing the exactly same thing this entire time! Or was I?", so I never understand exactly what I did wrong in the first place and how I fixed it later. It's really a matter of keep trying for long enough and I'll magically beat it, be it in 1 hour or 8 hours later.
@Ikey Ilex Like I said, I dunno. Sometimes I'm just missing keys that I have no idea how to get (and it's not the one in the video, that I figured out quite fast). I remember struggling with the cracked wall you need to blast near the first water level changing spot a lot, that block puzzle in 1F(?) that you need to get to the other side to finish and I never know how to do, and I remember an entrance near the top of the whirlpool room that drives me insane and I don't even know if I'm really supposed to get there from that room or not. The map of that place is such a mess that it doesn't help me at all, so just go around doing things over and over again until at some point, somehow, I end up finding a key somewhere I had skipped before and I can finally progress.
Even I got stuck on the water temple myself :( and got stuck until I found you need to blow up a certain wall
EDIT: 4:14 is the wall of which I speak of
“Did you miss it?” Nope, and I love hidden items like this. RIP to those who missed it back in the day.
I didn’t know anything about this issue when my cousin got stuck here in the ‘90s. I borrowed the game and beat the game in a blind playthrough within one weekend. I remember thinking the Water Temple was tedious, but not necessarily hard.
I don’t think my cousin ever forgave me for beating his game before him, but he still loves Zelda so it’s all good. Overall, I think this kind of hidden chest should be used for non-essential items. This hiding spot would be legendary if it were hiding a piece of heart instead of a key.
Didn't miss it either 😆
Haven't played the game for like 20 years and i have no memories of this specifically but my immediate reaction to something moving like that is, besides being able to climb it, check if it was hiding anything.
The strange thing is, for me, I kept looking at the gap under the block wondering how I was going to move it (since further up this room is the _second_ time you change the water level). After a while I gave up, and decided I'd come back to it later; and looked up to find something to latch onto. Needless to say, I very quickly stumbled upon the solution.
Yeah me neither, I always thought people just complained about how tedious the dungeon was or frustrating to navigate, I never heard anyone say they were missing that key, which is kinda stupid honestly.
See, I didn't get stuck in this dungeon when I played it for the first time, so I've always liked it lol. It's my 2nd favorite Adult Dungeon, behind the Spirit Temple.
Same. I've always considered people who had a problem with this temple as either stupid, unobservant, or both.
I didn't get stuck either. I've always carefully explored everything, and I found the "hidden" room right away.
Twinrova is probably my favorite boss in Zelda games
Same, Shadow temple has always been the least favorite of mine, Never understood Water temple hate
you and I are reversed on this front. water temple my favorite, ith spirit a very close second. shadow temple would be my third (especially trying without lens of truth)
I honestly wish more dungeons were this complex. Really made me think.
Aaaaugh
@Ikey Ilex stone tower in majora's mask is one of my favorites.
Yeah, good dungeon
calm down, satan
Twilight Princess says “hi”.
I mean; if you managed to find everything else upto that point, you'd have the map and compass. And despite how the map works, the map is working correctly. And if you have everything except that 1 key it'd be the only chest on the map that is close to the center tower. If you were to check the block rising up when you raise the water level to go down further to get closer to the chest, you'd find the opening which leads to it. And yes; the original cutscene very briefly shows the opening, but if you were to keep going around I would assume since you're focused on finding anything to help; you'd eventually see the opening under the block when it rises up.
The 3DS cutscene may seem like an overcorrection, especially when the other major problem of the Water Temple (pausing constantly to change the Iron Boots) was also changed as you can equip them like an item. If this wasn't to correct this pausing annoyance, it's to bring the boot usage in line with Zelda games that came after the N64 (Wind Waker and Twilight Princess Iron Boots)
Agreed. The boots pausing is obnoxious and bad design, but I think everything else about the dungeon is all right. The key is well hidden but you can find it with the map. The game has already taught you, try going to areas you were already at but with a different water level, and this is another example of that.
@@Sauraen I didn't think it was all that bad, particularly at the time. It was only in hindsight when WW gave them as an item when I thought "oh, this is way better."
@@fenixchief7 Yeah, in hindsight as like a 10 year old, I don't remember being bothered one bit by anything. I think the standard raised with newer games, and that made us realize relatively weaker mechanics of the older ones.
When I was little this temple was an absolute nightmare, but in my recent play through I actually found it to be the most intuitive dungeon. Everything made a lot of sense and seemed to just flow for me whereas I got stuck and had to run around trying to find what to do at least once in every other dungeon. I know that definitely goes contrary to the normal opinion, but I think the layout is really well made and has become my favorite in the game!
The water temple is awesome because of how challenging it is. I wish newer zelda games had dungeons as challenging as the water temple
then people would hate any inspiration water temple new dungeon 🤷♀
It primarily challenges the endurance of the start button.
No god please no one water temple was enough
You helped the rest of chat beat this after school
I want so much to think he is trolling.
Honestly the key I kept forgetting about is the second floor key above Ruto which requires the water level to be at level 2 and for you to backtrack to that area before you fully raise the water level. Though now, I honestly really like the Water Temple.
Yeah, i did miss this one too
Yes. That one. THAT FREAKING ONE.
It's worse because every time you backtrack, you see the damn cracked wall rubbed on your face but have no idea how to get there.
I remember the third time I ever did the Water Temple, I'd finally memorized that there was that one room in the basement with a key, so I was all gung-ho, but then on the way to Dark Link I was still short a key and I was like 'what now?' That key on 2F turned out to be the one I forgot. Now I can do all the dungeons in OoT without getting the Map or the Compass. Well I mean, I can also get all the Stray Fairies in all of Majora's Masks dungeons without getting the Map or Compass, so by comparison OoT's dungeons don't really compare, but....
2:10 It was like that for us, we were stuck for so long (my cousin and my sisters). Turns out what we missed was that song of time block after the long shot. It’s in the ground so easy to miss
Thank you. I believe I've just found my solution
I honestly never understood why this temple gets so much hate. I always liked it.
THIS ISNT EVEN THE KEY IM MISSING
Same
Real.
The Water Temple, has a path you take through it, and if you follow it and make sure not to skip a side room or key, you basically just do a few laps around the whole thing and it easy enough.
The part that had me convinced I broke the game was the fact that there are two different directions on the water temple which require two small keys back to back. If I used the keys in different spots and was convinced I was stuck. One had a small hallway with two locked doors and the other hand the place with the sinking platforms.
This detail needs to be discussed in this temple.
Definitely the trickiest key in the game, though somehow it didn't ruin the dungeon for me when I was a kid. The cutscene was lost on me, so the map was actually how I figured it out. I obsessed over the mysterious unexplored basement room. So I combed over every space above it until I finally stumbled into the entrance. I was definitely stuck there for a bit, but I can't remember how long due to the time compression of my memory lol
I would have been 10 at the time. I want to say I beat the game within the span of a couple months, but it could have easily been more.
This has always been my favorite dungeon. It was actually engaging for once.
It feels like, from my perspective, that the complaints against this dungeon amount to "I didn't sign up to use my brain when playing an rpg. How dare they force me to." Maybe that's an oversimplification, but other than constantly having to pause and equip different boots, I don't see anything frustrating or tedious about this dungeon. It just challenges your mind, that's all. Many of us would think of that as a good thing. 🙂
Zelda's not an RPG, it's action/adventure. :V
@@MrPoeGhost Yeah, it's kind of a hybrid. It struggled to find a midpoint between the two in its first several titles.
I agree. I have no compassion for people who complain about this dungeon. They might as well be saying, "hey I'm stupid and I'm proud of it!"
@@abstractdaddy1384 just because you like it because it made you think, thats not what other wanted while playing. The world dont work like you want. And that quote you did in the end is nothing more than stupid
I feel like the only one who could not find a key for a long time because I did not notice the whole behind the chest where you get the longshot
5:11 The original cutscene in the N64 version is even worse for one underrated reason: most of the little cutscenes and other interruptions thus far are very easy to tune out of as, up to this point, they have generally communicated obvious information that the player would have been able to see if the gameplay weren't interrupted anyway.
I got stuck at this temple for years as a kid as well, but it was the time block behind the long shot chest that got me. I actually beat master quest first and that’s how I discovered that block was there, so I was finally able to go back and beat the regular oot lol. Never missed the key below the center structure though. Didn’t realize people struggled on that one.
That is what got me too!
That was the one that got me, too. I had read online back then about the Hover Boots, and thought they let you fly. Because it's easy to see the end of that path in the whirlpool room with the dragon statue. So teen me thought the boots would help me get up there.
Early 2000s was an odd time for finding info on what to do in a game. No wonder there were so many rumors about finding the Triforce in game, etc.
@@BingFox for real. I wasn’t allowed to use the family computer when I was a kid so I didn’t figure out that block was there for literally years haha. In master quest you go through the whirlpool river in reverse via the room with the statue you mentioned and when I ended up in the long shot room and put 2 and 2 together my mind was absolutely blown.
The struggle I went through as a 10 year old trying to beat the water temple was crazy. This was before walkthrough videos. I asked my older brothers for help and they gave me the good old "I forgot..." but when I finally did beat it I felt the best relief I've ever felt in my life. The cutscene where the water in Lake Hylia rises to its normal state is iconic to me because of what I went through back in 07.
I had the exact same experience when I was 7.. took me two years to beat it, I played minigames and enjoyed the ambiance instead- I also casually beat every other dungeon out of order before the water temple (minus shadow because scary)
Nice video, but to be honest, I'm a bit tired of people claiming this dungeon is trash.
I mean, I too get stuck when I was younger and it wasn't easy back in the days, but it was far from impossible. There are clues, the cutscene shows the answer, it's not that obvious like in the 3DS remake, but at least it felt challenging and rewarding, unlike on 3DS. If the player don't see it, or don't think of checking beneath the platform, he is the one to blame. When I go back to OOT, I can't wait to do both Forest Temple and Water Temple because of how good they are designed (and eerie). I respect your opinion and I get your frustration. I'm just here to share some love for this underated dungeon.
The true bullshit is the Dark Link fight though. That mf is impossible without cheating... I still don't get it to this day.
Idk about that honestly, it would be one thing if it was only a handful of players who didn't get it, but if most of your fanbase agrees the temple was hard... it probably was lol
@@yasmineh.1333 I agree this dungeon is hard. But I wonder... did some of you here had ever played any Tomb Raider from the 90s? These games are still well regarded nowadays, but I never got stuck so often in a videogame because how impossible the puzzles are (and I always get lost because how awfull the level design is). In comparison, I think the water temple is a piece of cake. This is a serious question btw, I really would like to know how many people here had beat both OOT and Tomb Raider...
Alot of millenials back in the late 90s would disagree with you
@@FabienCampaner II actually never beat either of those, although it's mainly because I'm a '04 kid and didn't have consoles for old Tomb Raider games, and for OoT it's a technical problem of my 3DS.
I wouldn't consider myself a standard to follow for difficulty in games because I suck lol, I just feel like a dungeon's reputation doesn't come out of nowhere
Wow man, taking 10 years to beat the water temple. You truly are The Hero of Time!
I'm so sorry but...
Skill issue.
There's absolutely a hint leading you to believe that there could be something under that block. It's the fact that the wooden platform rose up with the water level. I was expecting some weird hallway that's tricky to miss being the reason people couldn't find the Small Key, but it's just people being unaware of their environment in what is effectively a Puzzle Game.
Maybe it’s only my favorite dungeon because I happened to catch that hidden hole on my first play through and it wouldn’t be otherwise. Funnily enough I missed that hole on subsequent play throughs. What really appealed to me about the Water Temple is all the different points where you could get sucked down to seemingly infinite depths, which with the underwater statuary and creepy cool music made it the most disturbing dungeon.
i loved getting lost in the water temple, it was so unique compared to the other temples in the game and figuring out all of it's secrets was so rewarding. one of my favorite temples in the game.
Same, I hated playing it but I loved it at the same time
I think the real problem with the water temple is that its too tedious to be constantly going to the items menu over and over again to equip and unequip the iron boots,this of course was solved in the 3ds remake,but that dosnt adress the amount of time you spend floating to the surface and/or sinking to the bottom,combinethat with 3 different water levels and you get an overall easy but tedious water dungeon in comparison to the ones in other zelda games like skyward sword's or oracle of seaons.
I dislike it so much that last time i played i felt the need to learn ISG,bomb hovering and the boss door skip to get the hell outta that temple.
That's not the key I always forget, that one is the key behind the bombable wall you pass as you float up to the first water level spot. I always inevitably end up at the last door without a key, realize what I did, and find myself going back through the dungeon a second time for just one key.
Same here. I remember as a kid being stuck and going around the water temple, where I found the key in the central pillar. I eventually looked at the map and figured out where the one missing key was.
The water temple really isn't difficult. It's just tedious as hell. I never had an issue with it but just had the constant menu-ing.
Ocarina of Time is still my favourite game to this day 😎
I was stuck on the water temple for 3 years because that damned room haha. I replayed the game all the way to that point 3 times in that span and looked once on my last play through on a whim out of boredom. I never had trouble after discovering it and always get through it on first tries every playthrough after that.
Unpopular opinion: the Water Temple is imo the BEST dungeon in OoT.
Is the constant Iron Boots swap annoying? Hell yea.
But ignoring that: I have a tendency to explore and overanalyze every corner of each dungeon, so that hidden key inside the underwater tunnel in the ground at 3:32 wasn't anything I missed (at least not for more than 30 minutes).
I also think Dark Link is the most interesting mini-boss in OoT.
I totally understand the frustration other players felt with this dungeon, though; because I really believe the Water Temple is underrated.
I don't know, I've spent many hours inside of the water temple, enjoyed it a lost and got angry at it a lot as well.. but that piece of puzzle was so satisfying to get over with once you realize you could access down below of that vertical tunnel, that everything else wasn't so bad in the end. If only the newest Zelda games had a dungeon like this, each one would have a super addition!
The song of time block behind the chest with the longshot was also made more conspicuous in the 3ds remake. In the n64 game, it was level with the ground.
Honestly, This is the 6th dungeon of the game, and 3 of the previous 5 have asked you to think about the dungeon vertically. You should be checking up and down and not purely laterally.
Boots and Lullaby kill the pacing of the dungeon but they arent actually strikes against its design and a level
In the new 3Ds remake when you bring the water to the medium level it zooms the camera on the little secret room making it easier in the N64 however isn’t the case
the Water Temple is actually quite easy once you get an idea of how the water levels work...basically, i run through one "Cycle" (dropping the water all the way down, and then raising it back up to normal) without the Longshot, to GET the Longshot, then i do Another "Cycle" WITH the Longshot, and suddenly im ready for Morpha...you just gotta explore every single room that you can at each water level...if anything, its only "hard" if you forget about the little niches, like the bomb-able wall in Ruto's Room (waterlevel-Mid), or the pathway under the block in the central tower (waterlevel-NotLow), or around the corner from the GoldSkulltula, with the rolling boulders...
The key beyond the longshot room was another hangup back in the day. Many players would save, quit, take a break, and come back later and be back at the start of the dungeon. I was a key short more than once as a kid because I did this.
I didn't know it existed myself until I checked the map and went "Hey, there is no tunnel under that middle room"
My biggest problem with the dungeon was that you had to hookshot up in the middle room. That is where I got so stuck for an hour straight.
This is why the Dark Souls series' message feature is so good. You sometimes see messages on the ground from other random players, but they can only be made of pre-written phrases. This means for confusing or unfair situations, you can get just enough of a hint to figure it out yourself. And you have to guess what a player meant by a certain phrase combo. This system makes it so that you don't need to look up OP answers online.
ohhhh THAT'S why everyone has troubles with the water temple!! i was always so confused as to why people thought it was so hard, especially since the forest temple was way harder in every playthrough i've done, but yeah i guess if you didn't stumble into that room it's damn hard to find. thanks for your insight!
So interesting how ppl have different experiences cuz the forest was the easiest for me. And Jabu Jabu was the hardest lol. My hardest temple was fire.
I got stuck on water temple for about 3 years as a kid. I eventually realized I had to explore every nook and cranny at every water flow level. Exact same situation.
That exact room is why I was stuck on oot for years as a kid lol. It was a miracle that one time while trying to get through the temple i noticed the hole.
Love the accurately cited quote at the beginning 😂😂😂
Underrated dungeon. I enjoyed it and never got the hate for it. A dungeon is supposed to make the player think and plan things out. And it's design is most interesting with how the water levels change the layout and there are different pathways encouraging you to explore them all and keep checking new paths as they open when the water levels change or you find a key. Also the mini-boss and boss fights were unique. Not the hardest once you figure them out but fun. Overall I think a good dungeon is one that branches out and has you solve clever intuitive puzzles. This is an example of what makes a good Zelda dungeon to me. Maybe I'm an idiot for liking what's everyone's most hated dungeon in possibly not just Ocarina but the series as a whole. But it just is. I enjoyed it. I didn't think it was that bad.
The platform that floats up has a cork plunger look to it to me. That's what immediately got my attention.
the water temple is so overhated. I guess it's way harder and annoying in the N64 version but at least in the 3DS it's really fun and pretty. The whole zora part of the game is underrated
The water temple isn't truly that hard imo, I beat it very quickly first try
The real problem was back in the 90s, when this game came out, blockbuster and other rental services were big. And developers were often told that they didnt want the games being beaten easy. So every game had SKILL CHECK LEVEL. Remember The Lion King on Snes?
Great video! I was stuck in the water temple for about 4 weeks. I eventually got so tilted that I decided to try walking on the spiked floor and eventually found it.
Meanwhile I just got stuck on the boat in the Shadow Temple.
OoT3D is a real one for making sure the player won't ever be confused and the only thing challenging the player is the actual complex design of the dungeon.
As a kid I would not unlock the middle door, save and quit the game, and jump down to the middle floor from the top. This allowed me to skip the door and keep an extra key to beat the dungeon. I was so convinced that it was the only way that on subsequent playthroughs, I would set farore's wind to warp back so I wouldn't have to save and quit.
Having heard of the Water Temple's reputation for getting stuck, I followed a guide the first time I played through it to ensure I didn't use a key in the wrong door!
That's why you want to catch this room early on in the temple so you don't end up forgetting about that key.
I would always make it to the shadow Link locked door and forget a missing key.
The Water Temple in Majora’s Mask is MUCH worse.
I just played mm, finished it today and I loved the great bay temple. Probably my favorite dungeon between the 2 64 games. The way it made you work with the Zora swimming mechanic, the idea of it, the mini boss that was covered in bubbles (my one death in the playthrough, im not hating though cause it was an epic fight), I just really liked it.
As a kid in the 90s, I remember giving up on the game for getting stuck because I never bothered to look behind the chest where I obtained the longshot, I just walked back the other way to where I fought shadow link. I gave up knowing where to go after stumbling on so many dead ends. I had to lend the game to a friend so they could finish it for me.
The key i had trouble with in the water temple is the one behind the bombable wall when you go up to lower the water level for the first time. Always missed that one key, then started to remember it and the temple became a cakewalk.
As a child, I really enjoyed the Water Temple, and i was extremely surprised as an adult to find out that so many people found it so absurdly difficult. I was five years old and found it simple enough. Replaying it as an adult, it was a little more confusing than it seemed twenty years earlier, but I still quite enjoyed it. I have nothing but positive memories of it, but I can certainly understand how so many people have come to loathe it.
I had problems with keys in this temple, but the one in the basement was not one of them. I expected this would be about the key where you have to return to Ruto's location with the water at mid-level; that one gave me trouble because I never thought I had to return there in the first place.
I will never forget about that key because i discovered it my first time by complete mistake. I lept off the platfom into the water by mistake and got stuck under the block so when i slowly swam out from under it i saw there wasn't spikes at that one spot. i put on the boots and found that path. i looked like the coolest kid ever when talking to my friends and going over to their houses and helping them get that key. i had more issues in the shadow temple then i did water tbh.
The only problem with the Water Temple are the Iron Boots which are tedious to equip and unnequip. Other than that, it's secrets actually feel like secrets. I wish more temples would do that.
Recently replayed OOT and found the Water Temple to be not as bad as it seems. The water level mechanic changed the dynamic of the game, doing something that wasn't really thought of in the previous dungeons. Similar to how the Shadow Temple recommends the lens of truth to efficiently navigate the dungeon, finding hidden secrets and enemies. Plus it makes since that you would be changing water levels constantly, it's a temple situated at the bottom of a massive lake. It also has arguably one of the best mini boss fights in the series with Dark Link and you trying to outwit your own shadow (biggoron sword ftw). It's boss fight was kinda weak though, especially for a mid-late game dungeon.
As an adult, ive been replaying this. As a kid i had no issues. But its been nearly 10 years since my last playthrough. I remember 90% of the water temple. Ive been replaying on an emulator during my 30 minute lunch break at work so the time crunch always caused me unnecessary stress. I skipped the cutscene or just missed the hint on accident and went through changing the water levels 4 or 5 different times before resorting to youtube. This is the only video that went straight to the key that i missed. After that, i played 30 minutes off work beat the water temple and am halfway through the shadow temple. If it werent for that 1 room, the water temple would be a breeze and it feels cheap that the key i was missing was behind an unassuming cutscene as youre more focused on the platform moving up that what might be underneath.
The other clue would be when you get the compass, it would tell you something is in that area. Some people just aren’t very smart.
I honestly never got stuck on this part I saw the hole the very first time. But I can definitely see what you mean
I always thought that room was really obvious, the camera pans to show you the hole, lol
First Zelda game I ever played and the water temple kicked my ass as a kid playing on my dad's N64. So glad you made this video because this was the exact problem I had with the level. I was so stumped I literally thought I had broken the game so I reset the entire save file and did everything over again. I can't remember if I figured it out on my own or if I had to look up the answer, probably the former rather than the latter because this was way before it was a common thing to use Google. All the family computer did back then was pinball and minesweeper.
So frustrating, but so satisfying to complete!
When a platform moves, it's generally a good idea to look underneath it, it's a reflex for me.
Shoutout to everyone who absolutely loved the water temple
I've always loved the water temple because I'm the kind of weirdo who doesn't mind being stuck and having to backtrack. Now it's pretty trivial, but in the past it was always the one temple where I would get stuck because each time I had forgotten THAT passage in the center pillar room.
So I actually just now noticed something that almost makes it possible to get stuck, specifically the key behind the Longshot and the door you open with it to get to the boss key area in the vanilla progression (on the bottom floor, north end, raise the water level and go north, you'll see a door behind some spikes). If you were able to open that door before getting Longshot, you'd end up with a locked door, Longshot behind that locked door, and the last small key in the dungeon also behind that locked door, even if you knew about the extra key in the basement.
One of my favorite things in games is exploring hidden areas and seeing if something unassuming that I did triggered something that may have opened another path. So for me, even as a kid, when I saw that platform raise, my first thought was to explore underneath it. Maybe they hid a rupee, or heart, or maybe even a piece of heart underneath it. So I naturally explored to find out. Glad I did, because I can totally understand people getting lost due to it.
I love the water dungeon, in fact is one of my favorites. And actualy is one dungeon you can actualy finish not picking one key. See, when you make the water down you use one of your keys to enter in the center room, where you find that secret passage and also the place to change the water level again but you can enter this room by the top as well. Since there is no water you can think you can't but just put a farore wind in the begning area of the game or even more simply turn off and on the game to re-start at the entrace of the dungeon and then jump to the midle area, fire the torch with your arrow and done you are inside center area witouth opening the door below. You can use this to endup the dungeon with a extra key or to avoid picking one you don't want to. That kley you talk is in the only place where link can't actualy survive without the blue tunic as well, so with this trick actualy is possible to finish the game without using the blue tunic as well. No glitches
No joke: when my brother and I were kids, we thought we missed a missable key and permanently blocked progress so we started the game over
When I saw this video, I knew before watching it that it was going to be about that specific key. When I first played OOT back when it released, this dungeon was one of the longest to complete because I did initially miss this. But after taking a gander around for a while, I decided to retrace my steps and make sure every room was checked high and low and then I was able to find the hole.
Now here is something that I don't understand. This particular dungeon gets a ton of hate from many Zelda fans. But it is hardly the worst offender of having an obscure location that the map doesn't list or has a certain way of using a mechanic that isn't documented in game or the manual. It seems many of the dungeons in Legend of Zelda: Second Quest and Zelda II get a pass.
I agree with your sentiment 100%. I specifically remember being stuck, and the exact moment I noticed that little opening in the cut scene, and it was like an epiphany. I remember telling my friends too, that they probably never checked under the platform in the central pillar.
Other than that, I actually kinda like this temple! It's clever and complex, and the water level changing is actually a cool concept. If they just made the key more obvious it would likely be considered a classic IMO
What makes this key even harder to find is the time spent between the key being available & the door you need to use it with. By the time you reach the locked door, you'd have to adjust the water levels all over again to backtrack for it, which feels like undoing progress. It sucks.
The only clue? The map literally tells you. This is an incredibly obvious key.
I do remember getting stuck here at some point, but not for long.
If I get stuck I try to systematically brute force a puzzle and in this case that would mean trying to explore all the rooms at all water levels to see what changed. Honestly it doesn't take that long since a lot of sections are completely blocked off and other sections are not affected by the water in the central room.
I agree this is not an ideal way of solving a puzzle, but if you are stuck in any kind of puzzle it should be something to at least consider, how much time would it take to try every possibility. Sometimes that time is shorter than thinking about it
Unironically Water Temple was something I enjoyed, Even though I wound up playing the Zelda Collection which ported N64 Oot to GC, it's pacing did make you think for a reason, Biggest dungeon to exist was more time to traverse so being thorough was necessary, because hardware limitations were a thing with that beautiful nostalgic N64 Console, even though it's not as old as the NES/SNES but early 3d games were never polished enough to have wide camera pans for hints all the time.
Because it was intended for cinematic pans, using either pre-rendered cutscenes and Maps, or a separate Map outside of places like Kokiri Forest, to give a sense of vastness to the world.
Only gripe with the temple is because of how Long it is going to take to tackle the whole thing.
Yeah its very confusing at first but as soon as you get the map and compass its not that hard to beat as long as you don't miss the hidden room of course.
Im happy I didn’t have a hard time finding that key, but when I did, I instantly knew that this key is one of the main reasons why people hate the water temple, and that feeling of instantly understanding this phenomenon has permanently etched in my brain the memory of how to get inside the key’s room. It’s like a safeguard mechanism for an eventual situation when I have to play the game again, or help someone stuck. Hahaha
I remember being stuck in the Fire Temple for years. I needed one more small key to progress but for the life of me couldn't find it. Until my brother was messing around and decided to use the megaton hammer on one of the pillars in the main entrance... After 10 years finally being able to continue the game feels amazing
I remember my friends telling me this was their easier level while I was stuck on it to the point I had quit playing for months. Same problem, I needed 1 key. It turned out to be somewhere I swear I looked 1000 times. Glad to know I wasn’t the only one.
I've even had a friend on youtube (from 2006) who was also a zelda expert at that time that I'm permanently stuck at the water temple,and since I played the water temple before even youtube existed and only had a player's guide (that should've been helping me out with such thing) I've been stuck at the water temple since the 90's,so yes I'm pretty convinced I'm permanently stuck there
2:10 that's what happened to me
3:34 oh there's that garbage room,was it there for 25+ fucking years? XD( or *HAS THIS ROOM EXISTED THIS WHOLE TIME??!!* reference to the owl house o3o) I don't remember when I got ocarina of time,I don't remember how old it is,but it's 9 years younger than me,that's all I remember
When I played it, the only thing I knew was that it was a VERY, very difficult dungeon to beat.
That was it.
All and all, at the end of the day, it wasn't that difficult.
I suffered WAAAY, way more with the forest temple. It did prepare me to the absurdities on Shadow temple and this one.
As for the Fire temple and Spirit temple, I didn't get the "difficult part". They were straightforward.
Amazing game, and amazing concepts. To this day, Ocarina of Time is the only Zelda game that feels like you are actually playing in a Legend. Every detail is sooo, so epic.
Funny, I was just a kid when I played OoT and got stuck in Water Temple for months (not because of this key, I didn't quite understand the water level mechanic) but that made me explore A LOT in Hyrule, loved and memorized every area with their respective secrets, Kakariko Village, Lost Woods, Goron City, the Fishing Pond... Once I figures out the Water Temple, a new world opened to me! The bottom of the well, Shadow Temple, Gerudo Valley/Desert, the glorious Spirit Temple, it felt like a huge achievement, a big true adventure with more secrets to discover... Now, after several years, I replayed OoT in my Switch, being 25 years old... It was like being Link returning to his roots after being trapped in the Sacred Realm, I wss kinda scared when I revisited the Water Temple... But I'm an adult now, my ind can now understand more complex stuff, it was a great challenge to re-do this temple (instead of being stuck for months, just took me some minutes to figure it out) and demonstrate to myself that deep inside of me, my inner child still lives, this is life, and this game which is art, makes us appreciate it more!
So, the thing is, it actually _is_ possible to "permanently" softlock the Water Temple. (Remove the quotes if you're on the 3DS version.) It can't happen while playing normally, but with a bit of sequence breaking, it's fully possible to get the dungeon in a state where you are one key short from being able to reach Dark Link, get the Longshot, and fight the boss.
Step 1: Enter the Shadow Temple early using one of several methods and obtain the Hover Boots.
Step 2: Go to the Water Temple and play through it up until the point where you'd unlock the west door on the third floor in the main room.
Step 3: Instead of heading to fight Dark Link, drop down to the first floor and backwalk into a backflip with the Hover Boots to access the northern section of the dungeon with the Boss Key.
Step 4: Use the two keys you'd normally use to reach Dark Link to get the Boss Key instead.
You can get one of the two keys you'd normally get after fighting Dark Link (the one on the second floor behind the eye switch gate that you normally need the Longshot for) by using the Hover Boots, but the other key is at the end of the river... behind the very door that you need it to unlock. The only way to get there is by bomb hovering in the dragon statue room; if you do this on the 3DS version, where bomb hovering isn't an option, you're pretty much screwed. You might still be able to reach the boss, but beating the _game_ will then require you to learn the Bottle Adventure glitch to put the Longshot on B. (You kind of need it for one of the trials in Ganon's Castle.)
Of course, this is also quite simple to avoid, even if you decide to flirt with disaster and unlock those two doors early. You never need to use a key to unlock the Central Pillar, since you can savewarp, drop down to the second floor from the entrance, and open the back entrance to the pillar using either a Bow or Din's Fire. Similarly, if you have the Hover Boots, you can use them to reach the ledge with the Level 3 panel without unlocking the west door on the second floor (or even having to raise the water to Level 2). By not using a key in one of those locations, you have enough to fight Dark Link and beat the temple.
I went though this quite a number of playthroughs but other times it felt so natural to use the iron boots and go down into the water that just raised.
Your fault for not paying attention. Nintendo didn’t have to over correct in the remake
I absolutely hated Ocarina of Time and played it just to reaffirm that fact. When I got to the water temple I was expecting to get so mad that I would never come back, given it's reputation. However, I found that it really wasn't bad other than having to swap boots every 10 seconds
I've never really understood the hate for the Water Temple, sure it's tedious but it's not that confusing or hard, the Dark Link battle is the highlight for sure and Morpha kinda sucks but it's also pretty manageable with the Longshot. Not my favourite temple, but it's not the worst one either imo
I can definitely see the hate for it. You gotta first go to the Zoras domain to get the blue tunic and then so that ice mini dungeon to get the boots and and song. I never got stuck in the temple but did have to back track a few times but the constant need to open the menu and equip and de-equip the iron boots on top of playing Zelda’s song infront of those markings to raise and lower the water multiple times is just really tedious and annoying. The clam enemies are also annoying. It’s still a crafty temple and I really can’t imagine anyone getting stuck on it for months let alone 10 freakin years but I can see the hate for it.
It's not true that that is the only clue. If you use the map you can see thats the only room that could possibly give access to the basement key
Yeah, it's clever use of your spacial awareness. And they butchered this puzzle on the 3d version
@@ernestosouza3471 I agree it made it way too simple especially in an age where anyone can google the solution
Yup , I missed this room when I was 7 years old , I was frustrated , I even thought the same thing that I had unfortunately opened the wrong doors with my keys . Luckily my friend in elementary school told me about the room and he was right , I was able to finish the game smooth sailing after finding that key . I’ll never forget how many hours I’ve spent circling that dungeon trying to find the one key I needed.
I have to say, as a kid I watched that raising water cutscene and went "aha" and spotted that hidden passage under the platform immediately. I remember it distinctly because it made me feel very smart. I recognize it was poorly designed and the 3DS change was probably a good idea, but I have to admit I can't relate. I actually liked the Water Temple because it made me think and consider my options. I must've been around 8 or 9 years old at the time.
Funny thing, as a young teenager I actually got stuck in the Water Temple (it's the reason I always tell people I have finshed OoT x.5 times). However, I don't think it was because of this key - it was the door to the central tower and in front of the quadratic hole you sink down also shown in the video.
I followed a guide (even the official Nintendo-guide I borrowed from a friend) and I think I had messed up raising the water-levels - I couldn't enter the door leading to the central tower, since the square in front of the door - which you usually have to climb in order to enter the door - was missing (it was floating above Link at the surface of the water, since I hadn't lowered the water-level down to sink the square back to the bottom of the temple). Since I only went by room-numbers labeled in the guide, I didn't know the Water Temple at all at this time and was confused why I couldn't enter the door in front of me - the Iron Boots lowered Link too much for him to be able to enter the door. (I might've been stuck without a key in front of a locked door too another time during this run however, the memory is hazy.)
And thus, I was confused and didn't try the Water Temple again for some years, then in a different savegame and actually beating it.
Yep, I knew exactly what key you were going to be talking about! My god, that was so frustrating when I had to look for a game walkthrough just for that one damn key.
No it's not possible to get Permanently stuck. You just gotta pay attention in the tower room. Of course if you used glitches to get through the temple then that's a different story. It may be possible to lock yourself out if you do something incorrectly, but you may not be stuck if you know how to get out of bounds to fix it.
I think if you use a megaflip to get over the spikes you're expected to Longshot over at the start of the path to get the Boss Key, before you get the Longshot, you get stuck. Well I mean, if a player is using glitches, they could always leave, glitch themselves into the Shadow Temple, get the Hover Boots, and get the final key early, but getting to the Shadow Temple without the Nocturne of Shadow is a fair bit trickier than a megaflip.
Oh yes there is boss key skip.
There's another way, before getting the longshot you can use a key to open the upper door to that middle room while the water level is set to lowest, you have to do an unintended long jump to reach it.
When entering from there if you don't raise the water level back up before jumping down you can't get the key to unlock the lower door and the regular hookshot cant reach the platform to get back up
@@JetWolfEX How long has it been since you did the Water Temple? First off, the upper door to the middle room isn't a door you spend a key to open, it's open from the inside and barred on the outside, and you can open the bars by shooting an arrow through the fire on a lit torch to light an unlit torch. Second, yes the regular hookshot can reach the platform to get to the second floor of the middle room, that's how you reach the plaque where you play Zelda's Lullaby to raise the water to level 2 in the first place.
Literally the _only_ way to break progression in the Water Temple is to use glitches to enter the Shadow Temple before you do anything in the Water Temple, get the Hover Boots, and use those to get the Water Temple Boss Key before you get the Longshot. Getting to the Boss Key from the dungeon entrance spends two keys. And yes, you have to spend both of those keys to truly break progression, because the Hover Boots let you get Small Key #6 out of order. For reference, that's the one on 2F in the main room where you shoot the eye switch to open a grate for a few seconds and you're expected to Longshot the target on the wall behind the grate.
Even then, that only prevents you from getting the Longshot, and if you've bothered to go through the trouble to glitch into the Shadow Temple, you can just leave the Longshot, use a bomb explosion to propel Link wearing the Hover Boots to reach the north ledge of the central room, and do the Morpha fight and the rest of the game with the standard Hookshot.
@@devonm042690 You got me, it's been probably 5+ years since I've played it, and my memory has been more unreliable over time, sorry for spreading a false rumor thanks for correcting my mistake. I think I will go back to the water temple sometime to see for myself what I misremembered.
Reminder a completely blind person beat the water temple.
While i probably like the dungeon design better in majoras mask, the OoT dungeons are a treat
And about how the hidden path was easy to miss, i hard disagree. Not only do u get the cutscene with the path in sight, the spikes very cleanly cut off next to the block, which also has a distinct part sticking out on the bottom of the block which would indicate it was plugging something. Theres also the fact to consider why did the block float up? The easy answer is to give the player somewhere to stand so they can hook shot but why not just move the ledge u play the lullaby up there in the first place? It wouldve been less work coding it. Why block off that bottom door on both ends when u raise the water level? There was so many clues to it i genuinely think its at fault of the people who just didnt pay attention, and nintendo wasnt the one who did the remaster; Grezzo did and they “fixed” and changed a lot stuff that didnt need to be touched in BOTH their remasters (looking at you power stab, IFS, and more importantly deku/zora link)