Played Oracle of Ages in a WalMart in the middle of nowhere in Maine in 2003. Worst summer of my life, by the way. But that was my first Zelda game. I loved it. I didn't even get through the first dungeon, of course, but I later bought both Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons.
I liked Ages far more then Seasons, but then I got A Link to the Past / FourSwords GBA and could never go back to them again. I haven't been able to play FourSwords on it with anyone yet, though I've jealously watched people in my homeroom play nearly every morning several years ago in highschool, but I know how much it rocks anyway, just by watching the intro... :|
Thus, I got FourSwords Adventures for the GCN and played through it all at once. I loved it. I obsessed over it. I found it unbearable how it completely lacked new things to find or do after I beat it. :| I tried playing through it with my neighbors' kids, but they're bratty 12 and 11 year olds who repeatedly toss you into a pit until you die just because you're doing better then them and angerly turn off the game and run away to cry when you kill them back. Not exactly fun to play with, especially since there's 3 of us total, so we have Purple to fight over...
Recently, I played through Ocarina of Time and began playing through Majora's Mask. While Ocarina of Time is indeed vast, I feel it is very much lacking something and the prerendered scenes drive me nuts... I always hated that about N64 games, pretty much walking on a JPG... :| Some of the later dungeons like the Fire Temple are much too easy, I think Jabu Jabu's belly was harder then them.
Speaking of which, I still have to close my eyes whenever near Lord Jabu Jabu. It was creepy enough dealing with him in 2D in the Oracles, but seeing (and HEARING) this giant fish with large, sharp teeth (literally razor sharp, as they are infinitively thin) and a giant tongue, suspended in a vast pool, ever swishing it's tail... It's too much for me. I have an inexplicable fear of infinity and giant swimming/flying things.
In my fun OoT object replacing play, going through every possible value in the object list to see what's out there aside from the Arwing, I accedentally placed a Jabu Jabu and discovered that, while it opens it's mouth for you, the door (and platform to place a fish) are seperate objects and you can walk right through the back of his throat without it...
And once I replaced the object with one of Bongo Bongo's hands, which was creepy, as it didn't do anything without the head and froze the game when I shot it.
And once I replaced the object with the giant miniboss octorok, which immediately began to circle around where I placed it much like the Egg Slimer, even passing through walls on it's way.
And once I replaced the object with that dragon boss, or part of it, anyway... So whenever I went outside, the dragon's head and front arms popped out of the ground and it crashed before it went back into the ground, very scarey.
Thus, I find OoT is far
too vast for me. The game itself is okay, but the discoveries I've made beyond it sicken and frighten me to no end. 3D is too real for JTE, even with triangle noses.
And Majora's Mask annoys me to no end... No matter how many people you help, no matter how far you go, no matter what you do or collect, it nearly all resets every half hour or so. :? I played all the way through the first dungeon though, it was great. And that boss was gigantic and musical... Bongo Bongo from OoT is still my absolute favorite at the moment, though.
In any case, A Link to the Past is still my favorite game of the bunch. If only for the absolute feeling of endlessness to it while lacking the feeling of emptyness from it.