Would Lock on targeting have become the norm in third person action games without Ocarina of time?

[Mago]

Z targeting is often brought up as the main innovation from Ocarina of time and the main reason its so often regarded as the greatest game of all time. The lock on mechanic is now expected in most third person action games (main examples being Dark Souls and DMC) that arent straight up shooters. I've seen people say that Ocarina of time essentially solved third person combat in a 3D environment.

My main question is did this become the norm soley because of Ocarina of time or was this inevitable based on already existing gaming trends? Even before Ocarina of time 3D games were already experimenting with forms of lock on. Some like Tomb Raider had automatic lock on while Megaman Legends had a primitive form of lock on that forced you to be still. There were also other examples from the era experimenting with lock on in different ways like the Battle Angel Alita ps1 game being one of my favorite examples though it used a lock on system combined with a battle mode system. It makes me think if Oot didnt exist some other game wouldve come out and essentially done the same thing, it just wouldve just taken longer to catch on though.

Also curious to know if any one thinks without Oot we might've found a better system in place of it. Some of my favorite third person action games with my favorite combat like Ninja Gaiden Black and Godhand don't use Z targetting style lock on.

 

[bluerberryhat]

Lock on is a poor way to deal with it being harder to maneuver and see things in 3d than in 2d. It's an okay thing in some games, but it certainly should not be a norm.

I do think something vaguely like it would be the norm in big-budget watered-down games regardless of Ocarina.