Talk:The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages

Introduction Video

I noticed that the The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons page has a video of the introduction and title screen of the game. Should we do this for The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages too? I would do it, but I'm not quite sure how to add the video and format it correctly to the page. I did find a good video to use, however.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MY_wHe8xRM --Bigrageous 19:58, 3 February 2011 (EST)

Anyone remember this?

A long time ago Zelda.com had some sort of trivia quiz where getting 100% on all the questions would make you a "Sage of Wisdom." I mention this because in the "study guide" included with it they said Oracle of Ages was listed as the 7th game, and Seasons 8th. Since they were released at the SAME TIME (literally the same day), does anyone think this suggests an "official" order? I ASK because I know Zelda.com's info can be dubious. --KingStarscream 23:57, 28 September 2011 (EDT)

Zelda.com's resources are unreliable outside of the game pages, but can you still link to it? Anyway, I doubt there is an official order. Ages comes before Seasons alphabetically, so that might have been their reasoning. User:Abdullah/sig 08:55, 1 October 2011 (EDT)

Stable Time Loop

Just to clarify why I removed that section -- it's nonsense that gets basic facts wrong about thermodynamics, relativity, and time travel.

1. They're not giving him the "same" Bomb Flower (at least from their point of view), they're giving him one cultivated from the original, which by a freak but very possible chance (especially when Time MAGIC is involved), has the same atomic make-up. The whole "staleness" analogy is nonsensical.
2. Closed time-like curves are exactly how real scientists plan to use computers that can operate faster than light. To claim that such a thing is a necessary paradox, or is impossible, is very, very ignorant of the actual state of the field.
3. "Entropy always increases even if the object is going back in time" is wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. That's not what the law says at all, and here's an article where they very clearly explain why the direction of time is important to entropy. If any object always underwent entropy even if it was traveling "backward", then tachyons would screw the system all to hell.

The other examples there are definitely not scientifically accurate, so I won't remove them as blatantly false, but I do think they should be removed as being a misunderstanding of what's going on in the scene. While the game overall is inconsistent in how it uses time travel (as is the series), those specific instances are clearly using the Back to the Future model -- someone goes back and changes the events, the consequences propagate at light speed throughout their light cone, then someone else with a time machine, unhappy with their current status, also goes back. The main confusion seems to be that certain characters are able to "remember" the previous timelines -- while this is obviously not physically realistic, you could easily argue that those characters are "Blessed by Nayru" or have special souls or something. After all, you'd be a poor wielder of the Harp of Ages if you couldn't tell if you had actually made a difference.KrytenKoro (talk) 14:54, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Cool! I like your explanations, I accept your corrections without any complaints. I thought I knew my stuff about physics, but I'm happy to learn that there is still something new for me to learn (and I'm happy to see I'm different from Sheldon). --Abacos (talk) 12:39, 31 October 2015 (UTC)

Let's forget about physics: applying science to magic is a bad idea. Let me stick to logic alone, without science.

(1) On the same single year, month, day and hour, three things happened:

1. The Maku Tree was not killed, because Veran and Link did not come from the future.
2. The Maku Tree was killed, because Veran only came from the future.
3. The Maku Tree was not killed, because both Veran and Link came from the future.

The game wants us to believe that all these three facts happened exactly at the same time (I repeat: same year, month, day and hour), and this is nonsense: only one fact can happen at a given time. In particular, the player sees clearly that the third fact is the only one that happened, and thus the first two did not. Subsequently, the temporary disappearance of the Maku Tree centuries later is a plot flaw, that contradicts what actually happened (i.e. fact n.3). And even if fact n.2 was true, the Maku Tree would have disappeared straight away, not 400 years later.

(2) Second example, same logic: Symmetry City. On another single specific year, month, day and hour, two things happened:

1. Simmetry City was destroyed, because Link did not come from the future;
2. Simmetry City was not destroyed, because Link came from the future.

Once again, the game wants us to believe that one fact did and did not happen at the same identical time, and this is illogic. The game later shows that fact n.2 is the only one that happens. Subsequently, the fall in ruins of Symmetry City is a plot flaw, because it contradicts what actually happened.

(3) Third example, different logic: the Bomb Flower. The game shows that the bomb flower is part of an infinite loop. The problem, in my opinion, is that this loop never started. If it never started, then it can never be. But, thinking again, I admit that perpetual motion is acceptable in fiction (e.g. see Ultima VI-VII museum). --Abacos (talk) 03:42, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

PS: Sorry for the edit, I have a pet-hate: hyphenations. Sometimes I cannot resist :P --Abacos (talk) 03:42, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

PPS: Actually, it's OK to correct other people's typos on other wikis I contribute to. I even got thanked for that. And hyphenations are a typo in 4 out of 5 languages that I know. My apologies for the slight. --Abacos (talk) 04:06, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

No, let's not forget about physics. If you're trying to claim something is impossible (even before magic is added) that emphatically is possible, then you're making a poorly supported claim. In any case, that's not what the game wants us to believe. In those instances, the timeline was changed because someone with a time machine in the present wasn't happy with the status of the modern era, and went back to change it. The only inconsistency that could be present is in situations where the modern character is aware that the timeline has "just" been altered, and as that only happens with deified characters like Nayru, the Maku Tree, and Link, there's a very strong indication that they have some magical immunity to their memories being rewritten. That part is purely fictional, yes, but a reasonably acceptable fictional "out" is strongly implied by the presentation.

You are completely misinformed about (3). Closed time-like curves, resulting in stuff like the bootstrap paradox, are completely possible with the current laws of physics. They are fundamentally unpredictable, as they're causality is due to an event that only happens due to their own ripples in time, but they're consistent. You really, really should do more research into what the scientific consensus on relativistic physics actually is before making definite pronouncements about something being "impossible".KrytenKoro (talk) 21:39, 1 November 2015 (UTC)