In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time we find two very distinct elements, the gameplay and the story. It seems that in pratice, these two things are completely separate, as the player has no direct affect on the story it is simply given to them in chunks as the progress through the game. However, the story still makes the game a much more convincing experience, though it appears to have no direct relation to the gameplay. It supplies justification and direction for the players actions as well as increasing the sense of immersion.

Even though Ocarina's gameplay is directed and justified by the story, the narrative remains disconnected from it. There is no two way relationship existing, the story directs and the player does. The player rushes across the land on their trusty steed and arrives just in time to see the princess being kidnapped, regardless of whether he stopped to get the upgraded sword from the little village at the top of the mountain. At the same time the narrative is performing an important function, indeed it could be said that the narrative defines the entire experience of the game.

It would seem at first glance that the way the narrative ignores the actual actions of the character would make the experience less immersive. This isn't the case, the game stays immersive because the story acts like a story. The suspension of disbelief that occurs when the hero arrives in the nick of time in an adventure novel, occurs in exactly the same way in Ocarina. As such, the player is perfectly willing to go along with the story and believe it, making the game all the more immersive as the player feels like they really did arrive in the nick or time. When a countdown might have had them arrive ten minutes early. Thus, it can be seen that the disconnected story is a great complement to the overall playing of the game.