I don't hate Ocarina of Time, in fact I'm quite sure I love it. That said, having played both it and A Link to the Past back-to-back made me realize that 3D Zelda has always been weaker than 2D.
The simplistic, linear puzzle-solving in 3D Zelda games is novel at first, but puke-worthy on multiple playthroughs. Conversely, most of the gameplay in the first three Zelda games is pure combat, which makes it easy to enjoy on subsequent runs because of how much the enemy AI, and your choice of weaponry, can vary. Admittedly, Ocarina of Time is pretty light on the puzzles that eventually became the series' norm, but I'd still much rather do A Link to the Past annually. Hell, I think I'd prefer Twilight Princess to OoT at this point simply because I've played the latter way too much.