The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker From ... - Douglas Wilson

Figure 11 – Players use the special first-person view \when aiming weapons like the bow. (The
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Nintendo, 1998)
In fact, Ocarina of Time actually incorporated a special first-person view mode
for exactly this reason. Though the majority of the game was played in the externalized
third-person, players could press a button to enter a stationary first-person mode, in
which they used the joystick to look around at any angle. This allowed players to better
inspect the whole environment, since the third-person view makes it difficult to look
directly above or below. In the 3D Zelda games, this mode is used – in familiar first-
person shooter fashion – to let Link aim his ranged weapons, such as his slingshot and
bow. Thus, the 3D Zelda games combine the best qualities of both approaches: the
moment-by-moment comprehensiveness of the third-person perspective and the first-
person view’s specificity of control.
Nevertheless, the shift towards a dominant third-person perspective raises some
difficult questions. In such an externalized view, does the player act more as disembodied
puppeteer rather than direct inhabitant? How can we immerse ourselves in virtual space if
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