As Link approaches Lorule Castle’s gate, Hilda contacts him to warn him that Yuga has escaped her control and his monsters have taken over the Castle. She releases the barrier to let Link in. After a introductory miniboss fight against a fiery flail trooper, the real work begins. As in Wind Waker (or, perhaps, the Palace of the Four Sword from the GBA version of A Link to the Past), the central door of the castle has four seals protected by four more minibosses at the end of subdungeons. Before starting any of them, however, Link can grab the final dungeon item: Red Mail, further reducing his damage taken.
The first subdungeon involves navigating a maze of tiles that only pop out of the lava below when Link is near enough, and guiding rolling balls over the tiles without getting squashed. At the end, Link fights a giant purple Bari. The second subdungeon requires navigating a networks of color switches and their corresponding walls, and escorting a giant bomb flower to blow up a rock. The miniboss here is another purple Moldorm; this one doesn’t have a platform to knock Link off of, but the walls sometimes close in leaving Link little room to stand. Of course, Link can merge with said walls, wait for the Moldorm to skitter past, and pop out and whack the tail.
The third subdungeon has the inverted light property (things are hidden when there’s light, but visible in the dark) from the Dark Palace, plus narrow mazelike walkways over a pit that disappear in the light – but to remove the walls blocking the way, Link needs to light the torches, then memorize the way forward. Another fiery flail trooper awaits as the end boss. The final subdungeon has hookshot puzzles, two eyeball stones to return to sockets, and the Wallmaster stalker/escort mechanic from Skull Woods. The miniboss in an Arrghus that’s not noticeably different from the fight in the Swamp Palace.
With the door open, Link walks back into Hilda’s study. The fissure that originally brought Link to Lorule is still there, and Link can pass through back to Zelda’s study in Hyrule Castle to see what’s going on. Link finds Hilda still admiring Zelda’s painting; after she greets Link, she touches the painting, drawing the Triforce of Wisdom from it. She tells Link the story of how Lorule reached its ruinous state. Once, it had its own Triforce, and as in Hyrule, an artifact of the gods that grants wishes was a tempting target, so everyone fought over it. Unlike Hyrule, which sealed the Triforce away to prevent its (mis)use, Lorule destroyed theirs. Without the Triforce to hold Lorule together, it started falling apart. So when Hilda learned about Hyrule and its Triforce…
Well, the game’s dropped a few too many hints that Hilda’s behind it all for it to really be surprising when she says she’s guided Link’s entire journey – with her (and Yuga) securing the Triforces of Power and Wisdom along the way – but it’s still an effectively creepy moment when her eyes turn red and she summons Yuga to take the Triforce of Courage from Link. Yuga – still merged with Ganon, fights Link in a straight-up duel. When Link wins, Hilda pops back in to ask for the Triforce of Power so she can continue the fight. However, Yuga’s been after the Triforce for himself all along, turns Hilda into a painting, and absorbs her and the Triforce of Wisdom.
Yuga turns his attention to Link; the main part of this battle is the obligatory Dead Man’s Volley sequence. After Yuga is hit, he merges into the wall, so Zelda manages to reach out from her painting to give Link the final weapon he needs: the Bow of Light, which he can use while merged to attack wall-merged Yuga. The first time, Yuga holds off the arrow, but Link sneaks around behind to attack from the back. The second time, Yuga deflects the arrow and charges, again leaving his back open before he can stop and turn around. The final time (after Yuga tries two balls at once), Yuga’s defense is perfect – unless Link turns around and fires an arrow the long way. Each time leaves Yuga stunned and vulnerable, and after the last, he explodes, restoring Hilda but leaving her stunned on the floor.
Link rescues Zelda from her painting, but Hilda refuses to give up. She and Zelda argue about the Triforce, until Ravio stumbles in, saying this needs to stop. He removes his mask to reveal he’s the Lorulean Link, then turns to Hilda to explain himself. Like her, he needed the help of Hyrule’s hero… but to stop her. He understands why she wants the Triforce, but taking it would leave Hyrule as doomed as Lorule is now, and there has to be a better way to save Lorule than that. He finally gets through to her when he points out that this is exactly the sort of thing that led Lorule to destroy its Triforce in the first place.
Finally seeing reason, Hilda takes Link and Zelda to Lorule’s Sacred Realm, which was where Yuga discovered the link to Hyrule in the first place. The dominating feature is a huge black monolith – the Triforce’s gravestone – with a big glowing crack. Hilda takes Ravio’s bracelet and uses it to send Link and Zelda through the fissure (after Ravio says a fond farewell to Link). Link and Zelda arrive in Hyrule’s sacred realm, with the full Triforce restored to its proper place. They go to take a closer look at it, and since they restored it, they get to make a wish, so they reach out. Back in Lorule, the monolith explodes, and as Ravio and Hilda look on, the Triforce is restored.
The credits show scenes from Hyrule, starting with the seven Sages returned home. Then there’s a celebration at the Milk Bar, a shot of the Cucco-dodging game (there’s a reward here for surviving the “endless” mode for 999 seconds that I never got close to unlocking, and some things even I can say “screw that” to), Gramps (with the main series theme playing – is the implication that he’s a Link, perhaps even the one from A Link to the Past?), and the Maiamais. Link and Zelda admire a new painting of Hyrule’s history, which includes Ravio (as a blurry figure in the background, but his bunny costume is unmistakable even before it zooms in). Finally, mirroring the final scene of A Link to the Past’s ending, Link returns the Master Sword to its pedestal and walks away.
A Link Between Worlds did a wonderful job of tweaking the Zelda formula and reimagining A Link to the Past. In particular, Lorule is a great new version of the Dark World, and Hilda and Ravio stand among my favorite characters.
Friday, May 1, 2020
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
A Link Between Worlds: Fire and Ice
Turtle Rock is the game’s fire dungeon, and so the obvious key item is the Ice Rod. The Ice Rod’s icicles can be used to freeze some enemies, kill enemies on unreachable ledges, and freeze lava to either create walkways or pillars Link can merge with and walk around. There are also some walkways which are balanced on a volcanic rock that see-saw as Link walks across them; if Link freezes the rock fulcrum, the walkway will stay as it is so he can walk across to reach higher places. The dungeon has two minibosses: Wizzrobes that require dropping ice on to kill, and Ice Gimos that can only be attacked when frozen. The treasure item is the Hylian Shield, making its first appearance in a Downfall Timeline game. (Complete with the normal Hyrulean Triforce, rather than the inverted Lorulean one.) It can block lots of attacks, including Beamos’ lasers and Lynels’ flame jets. Link can also get the final heart piece by leaving the dungeon to an island.
The dungeon boss is Grinexx, a giant lava turtle. In the first phase, it moves around in the lava below the platform where Link stands, sometimes shooting fire out of a jet on its back. Link needs to drop ice onto the jet through the holes in the platform; after a few shots, Grinexx comes to the platform to fight Link directly. It has two modes of attack: shooting out its head to bite at Link, and pulling its head into its shell and spinning around the platform. When the head is out, Link is able to attack it directly while avoiding its attacks. When Grinexx is defeated, a pillar with the painting of Impa appears, and Link rescues Impa, who acknowledges that she shouldn’t have doubted Zelda and Link is the incarnation of the Legendary Hero. Meanwhile, Hilda is still talking to the painting of Zelda, knowing that Link has nearly gathered the Sages to earn the Triforce of Courage, and Lorule will be saved – “One princess to another…? I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”
With the Hylian Shield, Link can finally complete the last of the StreetPass challenges. When he goes to Gramps to discuss his accomplishment, Gramps reveals that only one other achieved them all – him. He offers Link a chance to battle the ultimate Shadow Link, who has all the upgrades and uses two random items (upgraded versions for all items that have one). This was a tough fight, with me leaning on the shield the whole time through, and I didn’t know the fight could time out, with the winner being the one who dealt more damage. The reward for this is 5 rupees – Gramps pays the bounties himself, and doesn’t want people coming after him. Heh [1].
Right away in the Ice Ruins, Link can start a rotating elevator of blocks, and ride it all the way down to claim the Big Key, so the challenge is making it to the boss door. The puzzles mostly involve finding and opening new secret pathways; there are surprisingly few icy floors (although there certainly are some). The key item is of course the Fire Rod; there are no particularly exciting new uses for it, but Link’s got a flamethrower and finally gets to put it to use. In addition to the expected assortment of icy enemies, both unique (Freezors) and variants of Bubbles and Wizzrobes (but not the Ice Gimos), Pengators make their return appearance, including a Big Pengator that’s the miniboss. The treasure item is the Stamina Scroll, which gives Link more Energy.
The dungeon boss is Dharkstare [2], a mass of tentacles with a central eye. At the start of the fight, it encases itself in ice with three circling orbs it sends out to freeze anything that gets caught in the triangle they form. Link melts the ice, leaving Dharkstare to helplessly hop around the icy platform while Link whacks it. After a while, Dharkstare gets three more orbs letting it make two triangles at once, but even when they hit Link’s got enough health it’s a minor nuisance at worst. I suppose this is the downside of being able to do the dungeons in whatever order you want; whatever boss was saved for last was bound to be anticlimactic.
Rosso, the final sage, knew he was a sage all along but never felt the need to mention it. Now that all seven are gathered, the sages summon the Triforce of Courage for Link, and their chamber is transformed to a series of stairways leading up to it. Each sage has a few words for Link, generally encouraging him for the final tasks ahead. (Gulley: “My papa can’t call you lazy anymore. But I bet he will anyway.”) After Link reaches the top and claims the Triforce, Impa directs him to Lorule Castle.
Next: Saving two worlds.
[1] I’m glad leaving the DS running while plugged in was an option to generate Shadow Links, because my backup plan was tossing it in my bag at Comic-Con to see if I got StreetPass hits there, and… yeah.
[2] I guess Kholdstare had the bonus silent H, so its counterpart must as well. Ugh.
The dungeon boss is Grinexx, a giant lava turtle. In the first phase, it moves around in the lava below the platform where Link stands, sometimes shooting fire out of a jet on its back. Link needs to drop ice onto the jet through the holes in the platform; after a few shots, Grinexx comes to the platform to fight Link directly. It has two modes of attack: shooting out its head to bite at Link, and pulling its head into its shell and spinning around the platform. When the head is out, Link is able to attack it directly while avoiding its attacks. When Grinexx is defeated, a pillar with the painting of Impa appears, and Link rescues Impa, who acknowledges that she shouldn’t have doubted Zelda and Link is the incarnation of the Legendary Hero. Meanwhile, Hilda is still talking to the painting of Zelda, knowing that Link has nearly gathered the Sages to earn the Triforce of Courage, and Lorule will be saved – “One princess to another…? I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”
With the Hylian Shield, Link can finally complete the last of the StreetPass challenges. When he goes to Gramps to discuss his accomplishment, Gramps reveals that only one other achieved them all – him. He offers Link a chance to battle the ultimate Shadow Link, who has all the upgrades and uses two random items (upgraded versions for all items that have one). This was a tough fight, with me leaning on the shield the whole time through, and I didn’t know the fight could time out, with the winner being the one who dealt more damage. The reward for this is 5 rupees – Gramps pays the bounties himself, and doesn’t want people coming after him. Heh [1].
Right away in the Ice Ruins, Link can start a rotating elevator of blocks, and ride it all the way down to claim the Big Key, so the challenge is making it to the boss door. The puzzles mostly involve finding and opening new secret pathways; there are surprisingly few icy floors (although there certainly are some). The key item is of course the Fire Rod; there are no particularly exciting new uses for it, but Link’s got a flamethrower and finally gets to put it to use. In addition to the expected assortment of icy enemies, both unique (Freezors) and variants of Bubbles and Wizzrobes (but not the Ice Gimos), Pengators make their return appearance, including a Big Pengator that’s the miniboss. The treasure item is the Stamina Scroll, which gives Link more Energy.
The dungeon boss is Dharkstare [2], a mass of tentacles with a central eye. At the start of the fight, it encases itself in ice with three circling orbs it sends out to freeze anything that gets caught in the triangle they form. Link melts the ice, leaving Dharkstare to helplessly hop around the icy platform while Link whacks it. After a while, Dharkstare gets three more orbs letting it make two triangles at once, but even when they hit Link’s got enough health it’s a minor nuisance at worst. I suppose this is the downside of being able to do the dungeons in whatever order you want; whatever boss was saved for last was bound to be anticlimactic.
Rosso, the final sage, knew he was a sage all along but never felt the need to mention it. Now that all seven are gathered, the sages summon the Triforce of Courage for Link, and their chamber is transformed to a series of stairways leading up to it. Each sage has a few words for Link, generally encouraging him for the final tasks ahead. (Gulley: “My papa can’t call you lazy anymore. But I bet he will anyway.”) After Link reaches the top and claims the Triforce, Impa directs him to Lorule Castle.
Next: Saving two worlds.
[1] I’m glad leaving the DS running while plugged in was an option to generate Shadow Links, because my backup plan was tossing it in my bag at Comic-Con to see if I got StreetPass hits there, and… yeah.
[2] I guess Kholdstare had the bonus silent H, so its counterpart must as well. Ugh.
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
A Link Between Worlds: Sand Rod and Titan's Mitt
The Sand Rod raises a wall of sand in the direction Link fires it; depending on its height, Link can walk across or merge with this wall. In addition to being the key to cross the desert, this can also reveal things buried in the sands, like a couple Maiamais en route to the dungeon. (The Maiamai in Kakariko Village I had no idea about is also buried in a sandbox. Also, if a Geldman gets caught in the line of fire, it’s lifted out of the sand, revealing its lower body to resemble a muscular man wearing a red Speedo who scurries away in embarrassment.) There’s also a heart piece along the way before Link enters the Desert Palace.
Of course, the Sand Rod is the key item for the dungeon, used to create walls and bridges, raise objects up to higher levels, uncover buried treasure chests, and pull enemies out of the sand so Link can attack them. There are several puzzles of activating sand flows to fill rooms with sand. Like the other Lorule dungeons, there’s also a treasure item in this dungeon: the Titan’s Mitt; as it’s required to progress through the dungeon, it’s less hidden than the chests with Master Ore. Like the Desert Palace in A Link to the Past, there are two discrete sections to this dungeon, and getting the Titan’s Mitt allows Link to exit one and advance to the other. I took this as a cue to suspend the dungeon crawl and go exploring with the Titan’s Mitt, although if I’d waited one room into the second half of the dungeon, there would have been a miniboss fight that opens a portal and I could have saved myself some trouble getting back. Ah, well.
The rest of the missing Maiamais are all buried under large rocks [1]. Link returns the Maiamais to Mother, who upgrades the Sand Rod so that its walls last indefinitely (until Link uses the rod again or leaves the screen), then since Link’s out of items to upgrade, the final reward for collecting all the Maiamais is an upgrade Spin Attack. (Upgrading the Spin Attack is done more or less the same as upgrading items: Mother Maiamai snorts Link up her nose and spits him out.) The Titan’s Mitt can open Lorule’s mirror of the passage from the graveyard to Sanctuary; at the end of the passage, Link finds the last bit of Master Ore he needs to have his sword upgraded to the Golden Sword/Lvl 3 Master Sword. There’s also a heart piece in a cave near the Hyrulean blacksmith Link can get now.
As hinted above, the second half of the dungeon starts with a miniboss fight in two phases. First, there’s a spinning tile trap; once it’s clear, two Develants pop up. This dungeon stands out for being the first to put Beamos to positive use: there are two puzzles where Link has to raise a Beamos up to shoot switches with its beam. After making it through the dungeon, Link exits to the overworld where there’s another fissure to Lorule. Through this fissure, Link fights the dungeon boss, Zaganaga, a giant cactus monster. The area is filled with sand and there are several pillars throughout, so Link has to use the Sand Rod to create walkways to get close enough to Zaganaga to attack. The Nice Sand Rod is definitely a bonus here; no need to worry about the walkways disappearing. Once Zaganaga’s gone, a wall slides away, and the sand behind the wall flows out filling the arena, allowing Link to rescue Irene.
At this point, I figured I was ready enough to tackle the Advanced course of the Treacherous Tower. This is very much like the Savage Labyrinth and Cave of Ordeals; fifty floors, with breaks every ten. Many of the upper levels have icy floors, and some are dark unless Link has his Lamp equipped. For the most part, it wasn’t so bad; the Tornado Rod neutralizes most enemies, and the Great Spin Attack is tremendously effective. Even the floors with multiple Lynels were easy to manage because there were gaps Link could knock the Lynels off into. Honestly, the worst floor had a crapton of Hardhat Beetles and Buzz Blobs. The final boss is a Moldorm (which the burger comparison is less fun with because it’s turned purple). The reward for completion is… this is where the lamp can become the Super Lamp. If Link does it again (on the Devilish Girl’s hint), he’ll get the Super Net. These items aren’t anything spectacular, but they’re required for StreetPass challenges, so, yay that.
Next: Say what you like, when they all turn to ice, it’s the fire that you’re gonna want [2].
[1] In a definite improvement in sense from A Link to the Past, the visual difference between rocks Link can lift with the Power Glove and rocks that require the Titan’s Mitt to lift is purely one of size, rather than the latter being darker to indicate they’re super-dense or something.
[2] I did not expect to have to dig this deep to come up with enough fire/ice quotes.
Of course, the Sand Rod is the key item for the dungeon, used to create walls and bridges, raise objects up to higher levels, uncover buried treasure chests, and pull enemies out of the sand so Link can attack them. There are several puzzles of activating sand flows to fill rooms with sand. Like the other Lorule dungeons, there’s also a treasure item in this dungeon: the Titan’s Mitt; as it’s required to progress through the dungeon, it’s less hidden than the chests with Master Ore. Like the Desert Palace in A Link to the Past, there are two discrete sections to this dungeon, and getting the Titan’s Mitt allows Link to exit one and advance to the other. I took this as a cue to suspend the dungeon crawl and go exploring with the Titan’s Mitt, although if I’d waited one room into the second half of the dungeon, there would have been a miniboss fight that opens a portal and I could have saved myself some trouble getting back. Ah, well.
The rest of the missing Maiamais are all buried under large rocks [1]. Link returns the Maiamais to Mother, who upgrades the Sand Rod so that its walls last indefinitely (until Link uses the rod again or leaves the screen), then since Link’s out of items to upgrade, the final reward for collecting all the Maiamais is an upgrade Spin Attack. (Upgrading the Spin Attack is done more or less the same as upgrading items: Mother Maiamai snorts Link up her nose and spits him out.) The Titan’s Mitt can open Lorule’s mirror of the passage from the graveyard to Sanctuary; at the end of the passage, Link finds the last bit of Master Ore he needs to have his sword upgraded to the Golden Sword/Lvl 3 Master Sword. There’s also a heart piece in a cave near the Hyrulean blacksmith Link can get now.
As hinted above, the second half of the dungeon starts with a miniboss fight in two phases. First, there’s a spinning tile trap; once it’s clear, two Develants pop up. This dungeon stands out for being the first to put Beamos to positive use: there are two puzzles where Link has to raise a Beamos up to shoot switches with its beam. After making it through the dungeon, Link exits to the overworld where there’s another fissure to Lorule. Through this fissure, Link fights the dungeon boss, Zaganaga, a giant cactus monster. The area is filled with sand and there are several pillars throughout, so Link has to use the Sand Rod to create walkways to get close enough to Zaganaga to attack. The Nice Sand Rod is definitely a bonus here; no need to worry about the walkways disappearing. Once Zaganaga’s gone, a wall slides away, and the sand behind the wall flows out filling the arena, allowing Link to rescue Irene.
At this point, I figured I was ready enough to tackle the Advanced course of the Treacherous Tower. This is very much like the Savage Labyrinth and Cave of Ordeals; fifty floors, with breaks every ten. Many of the upper levels have icy floors, and some are dark unless Link has his Lamp equipped. For the most part, it wasn’t so bad; the Tornado Rod neutralizes most enemies, and the Great Spin Attack is tremendously effective. Even the floors with multiple Lynels were easy to manage because there were gaps Link could knock the Lynels off into. Honestly, the worst floor had a crapton of Hardhat Beetles and Buzz Blobs. The final boss is a Moldorm (which the burger comparison is less fun with because it’s turned purple). The reward for completion is… this is where the lamp can become the Super Lamp. If Link does it again (on the Devilish Girl’s hint), he’ll get the Super Net. These items aren’t anything spectacular, but they’re required for StreetPass challenges, so, yay that.
Next: Say what you like, when they all turn to ice, it’s the fire that you’re gonna want [2].
[1] In a definite improvement in sense from A Link to the Past, the visual difference between rocks Link can lift with the Power Glove and rocks that require the Titan’s Mitt to lift is purely one of size, rather than the latter being darker to indicate they’re super-dense or something.
[2] I did not expect to have to dig this deep to come up with enough fire/ice quotes.
Monday, March 9, 2020
A Link Between Worlds: Skull Woods and Thieves' Hideout
Skull Woods doesn’t have a key item. Instead, it doubles down on its signature gimmick: Wall Masters stalk Link throughout the dungeon. If Link merges with a wall while the Wall Master is hovering overhead, the Wall Master immediately comes down, giving Link a chance to get the drop on it. Link can kill one to buy a little bit of time before the next one respawns. On the other hand, the Wall Masters can be useful for puzzles – Link can manipulate them into landing on switches to activate them, or enemies to do damage. Instead of a miniboss fight, there are five enemies in a room – two on platforms Link can’t reach, so the idea is for Link to use the Wall Master to kill them, although if he’s got bombs he can toss them up there to do damage. Other elements are also borrowed from A Link to the Past’s version of the dungeon – fully exploring the dungeon requires going out and coming back through different entrances, and Gibdos appear throughout the dungeon (like the ones in The Minish Cap, they turn into Stalfos if they take fire damage).
The dungeon boss is Knuckle Master, an armored Wall Master with an eye on its palm. It has two attacks – a slam attack like so many other Wall Masters that destroys damaged floor tiles, making further attacks harder to dodge, and it curls into a fist and charges. The latter attack is the key to beating it; Link can lure it into punching the wall, which stuns it so it lies palm-up and Link can attack the eye. Ceres is the Sage Link rescues – her painting is outside the dungeon and can be seen before Link enters the dungeon if one looks for it. She remembers Link from Sanctuary, and notes that he’s gotten stronger since then.
In the dungeon, Link found a second piece of Master Ore, and it takes two for the (Hyrulean) Blacksmith to be able to upgrade the Master Sword to the – well, it’s red, like the Tempered Sword, but just called the Lv. 2 Master Sword. Unlike in A Link to the Past, the sword beams it shoots are more powerful than the base sword’s. If Link swings this sword where the Lorulean Blacksmith can see, he’s impressed with the craftsmanship and offers to improve it further if Link comes across more Ore. (There's a third piece in the next dungeon, but he needs two.)
In the village, there’s gossip about the gang of thieves headquartered in the dungeon. The boss got a valuable new painting, and one of the members of the gang knows where it is, so the boss locked her up. If Link tries to go to the hideout, he’s challenged to complete three verses about the thieves. If he can’t, he’s told to get lost; fortunately, there are people all around town indiscriminately singing the songs, so Link can pick up the verses from them. (There’s also a small cult that worships monsters rather than become thieves.) With the song, Link gains access to the dungeon (no key item here, either). The lookout leaves Link free to explore. The boss room is immediately to the right, and a floor or two below, the Thief Girl can be seen locked in her cell.
The dungeon is mostly a straight dungeon crawl, and Link gets the key to Thief Girl’s cell after a miniboss fight against Eyegores. Thief Girl says the same thing Blind did in A Link to the Past when Link rescued him, “Ohh, thank you very much. You saved my life. Please take me outside.” From here, Link has to lead her out of the dungeon, and if an enemy touches her, she’s dragged back to her cell. On the upside, many of the puzzles leading out require two people to solve, so Thief Girl has to help; it’s kind of like escorting Zelda around in Spirit Tracks.
As they reach the entrance room, however, the exit is closed, so they have to try the boss room. As soon as Link enters, he’s cut off from both the other exit and Thief Girl, leading to a boss fight with Stalblind. Stalblind is a giant skeletal warrior with a sword and shield; the shield’s so big Link can merge with it, confusing Stalblind, and allowing a free shot or two. After a while, Stalblind realizes the shield is more trouble than good and tosses it away; after that, the strategy is to attack when he misses with his sword. Stalblind later detaches his head to fly around shooting darkness at Link, but the strategy remains the same. Once Stalblind’s gone, Link and Thief Girl are free to leave. She leads him to the painting of Osfala (and the heart container). With everything that’s happened, Osfala realizes he’s not the Hero but a Sage and gives Link the Sand Rod.
With four Sages rescued, there’s another cutscene with Hilda and Zelda. “Can you begin to comprehend how lucky you are? Such legends! Such heroes! We had legends. We had heroes. Lorule had hope. But all that is gone. Lorule has only me now. And YOUR hero, of course. And if the Hero of Hyrule fails me…? Oh, but I must have courage! He will succeed, or all is lost.” Hrm. If Ravio hadn’t given Link the bracelet, Link would still be a painting on the wall of the Eastern Palace. Is he part of Hilda’s plan? I suppose, if he’s who I think he is, it shouldn’t surprise me he’s mixed up with Hilda…
Oh, and speaking of Ravio, his bird comes to collect the Sand Rod, so Link needs to go visit him to acquire it for his own. He can buy it outright – no need to rent it first.
Next: Heavy lifting.
The dungeon boss is Knuckle Master, an armored Wall Master with an eye on its palm. It has two attacks – a slam attack like so many other Wall Masters that destroys damaged floor tiles, making further attacks harder to dodge, and it curls into a fist and charges. The latter attack is the key to beating it; Link can lure it into punching the wall, which stuns it so it lies palm-up and Link can attack the eye. Ceres is the Sage Link rescues – her painting is outside the dungeon and can be seen before Link enters the dungeon if one looks for it. She remembers Link from Sanctuary, and notes that he’s gotten stronger since then.
In the dungeon, Link found a second piece of Master Ore, and it takes two for the (Hyrulean) Blacksmith to be able to upgrade the Master Sword to the – well, it’s red, like the Tempered Sword, but just called the Lv. 2 Master Sword. Unlike in A Link to the Past, the sword beams it shoots are more powerful than the base sword’s. If Link swings this sword where the Lorulean Blacksmith can see, he’s impressed with the craftsmanship and offers to improve it further if Link comes across more Ore. (There's a third piece in the next dungeon, but he needs two.)
In the village, there’s gossip about the gang of thieves headquartered in the dungeon. The boss got a valuable new painting, and one of the members of the gang knows where it is, so the boss locked her up. If Link tries to go to the hideout, he’s challenged to complete three verses about the thieves. If he can’t, he’s told to get lost; fortunately, there are people all around town indiscriminately singing the songs, so Link can pick up the verses from them. (There’s also a small cult that worships monsters rather than become thieves.) With the song, Link gains access to the dungeon (no key item here, either). The lookout leaves Link free to explore. The boss room is immediately to the right, and a floor or two below, the Thief Girl can be seen locked in her cell.
The dungeon is mostly a straight dungeon crawl, and Link gets the key to Thief Girl’s cell after a miniboss fight against Eyegores. Thief Girl says the same thing Blind did in A Link to the Past when Link rescued him, “Ohh, thank you very much. You saved my life. Please take me outside.” From here, Link has to lead her out of the dungeon, and if an enemy touches her, she’s dragged back to her cell. On the upside, many of the puzzles leading out require two people to solve, so Thief Girl has to help; it’s kind of like escorting Zelda around in Spirit Tracks.
As they reach the entrance room, however, the exit is closed, so they have to try the boss room. As soon as Link enters, he’s cut off from both the other exit and Thief Girl, leading to a boss fight with Stalblind. Stalblind is a giant skeletal warrior with a sword and shield; the shield’s so big Link can merge with it, confusing Stalblind, and allowing a free shot or two. After a while, Stalblind realizes the shield is more trouble than good and tosses it away; after that, the strategy is to attack when he misses with his sword. Stalblind later detaches his head to fly around shooting darkness at Link, but the strategy remains the same. Once Stalblind’s gone, Link and Thief Girl are free to leave. She leads him to the painting of Osfala (and the heart container). With everything that’s happened, Osfala realizes he’s not the Hero but a Sage and gives Link the Sand Rod.
With four Sages rescued, there’s another cutscene with Hilda and Zelda. “Can you begin to comprehend how lucky you are? Such legends! Such heroes! We had legends. We had heroes. Lorule had hope. But all that is gone. Lorule has only me now. And YOUR hero, of course. And if the Hero of Hyrule fails me…? Oh, but I must have courage! He will succeed, or all is lost.” Hrm. If Ravio hadn’t given Link the bracelet, Link would still be a painting on the wall of the Eastern Palace. Is he part of Hilda’s plan? I suppose, if he’s who I think he is, it shouldn’t surprise me he’s mixed up with Hilda…
Oh, and speaking of Ravio, his bird comes to collect the Sand Rod, so Link needs to go visit him to acquire it for his own. He can buy it outright – no need to rent it first.
Next: Heavy lifting.
Friday, March 6, 2020
A Link Between Worlds: Dark Palace and Swamp Palace
Of the seven Lorule dungeons, Link can do six right away. (Reaching the one in the desert requires getting the Sand Rod.) There’s… well, I didn’t find any guidance on what order to do the dungeons in, but I’ll confess I didn’t go to the Fortune Teller to ask his opinion, so I obviously wasn’t looking very hard. I just leaned into the order of corresponding dungeons from A Link to the Past. (Also, there’s seven dungeons and six unused items, meaning one item repeats or one dungeon doesn’t have a key item.)
The weather vane for the Dark Palace is conveniently located after the stealth maze, so once Link makes it all the way through, he can just warp back. The dungeon entrance is blocked shut, so the key item is the bombs. The key uses for bombs are familiar from the many, many games they’ve been in – they can destroy cracked walls and floors, open boarded-up windows, be tossed to reach places Link can’t get to on his own, and be set to activate timed switches while Link gets a head start on where he’s going. Helmasaurs and Goriyas, which appeared in A Link to the Past’s Palace of Darkness return here, the latter as the dungeon’s miniboss encounter. Unlike the Hyrule dungeons, this dungeon has a big treasure chest – but it’s not obvious how to find, and the dungeon and game can be completed without it. The treasure is Master Ore, which the blacksmith can use to upgrade the Master Sword.
The other gimmick to the dungeon is puzzles involving light and darkness. Unlike A Link to the Past, where the lamp always gave light, the one in this game only gives light when equipped, taking advantage of being able to equip two items at once. So, there are rooms where Link needs to have the lamp equipped and light torches to see, but also rooms where Link needs to put the lamp away and put out torches (can be done with the sword, Tornado Rod, or Ice Rod) to see things that the light hides. To reach the boss room, Link needs to open windows and destroy floors to shine the light on four eyes.
Both the bombs and lamp are needed to defeat the boss, the Gemesaur King. As the name implies, it’s a big Helmasaur with rupees studded in its body and mask. It doesn’t appear until the torches in the room are lit, and can put them out by roaring, so Link will need to relight them. Destroying the mask requires bombs and knocks rupees loose (a few with each hit, and a whole bunch when the mask is destroyed). It has a weak point in the center of its forehead, only visible when the room is lit up. Once it’s destroyed, the painting of Gulley falls off the wall, and Link has freed the first Sage – or Sevensage, as Gulley puts it. Clearing the dungeon removes the soldiers from the maze outside, letting Link explore freely.
Although it takes a giant bomb to open the way to the Swamp Palace, the Hookshot is the key item and required to enter. Its uses are also familiar: pulling Link to a distant object (if he’s standing on a raft, the raft gets pulled along with him), retrieving objects, activating switches, and damaging Bari/Biri while they’re electrified. It can also separate certain enemies from their defenses, like Helmasaurs, Shield Moblins, and the Gyorms that appear in this dungeon. The Swamp Palace is also a water dungeon, with the puzzles of directing water flows and manipulating water levels one would expect from that. There’s another semi-secret chest (marked on the map, but getting there is a puzzle) here, this one with Blue Mail which reduces damage taken by half.
The miniboss of the dungeon is Gigabari, a giant gold Bari that splits into fifteen Biri when it takes enough damage. The boss is, as in A Link to the Past, Arrghus; rather than spreading the Arrgi out as that one did, it shoots them at Link one at a time (and they’re easy to dodge or grab with the Hookshot). The second phase is considerably different: rather than skittering across the floor and bouncing off walls, Arrghus’ ground-based attack is to shoot laser beams at Link. The Sage Link frees here is Oren, which I might have guessed – water dungeon, Zora Sage.
As Link teleports out of the Chamber of Sages, a cutscene plays of Hilda admiring Zelda’s portrait. “What is it like to be a princess from a kingdom blessed with so many happy endings? Once upon a time, Lorule was such a place. Once, but no longer. Lorule was just like Hyrule. So very beautiful. So very… promising. We have need of a hero – and your Link is superb. We all deserve a happy ending, don’t we? I can only hope that Link is victorious.” It’s at this point that I remembered Yuga mentioning “her grace” a couple times while rounding up the Sages, and I can only come to the conclusion that Hilda put him up to it to set Link on his quest. To what end… well, if Zelda’s not a Sage, why bring her into it if not for the Triforce?
Next: Two unusual escort missions. (One because it’s fun. (Mostly.))
The weather vane for the Dark Palace is conveniently located after the stealth maze, so once Link makes it all the way through, he can just warp back. The dungeon entrance is blocked shut, so the key item is the bombs. The key uses for bombs are familiar from the many, many games they’ve been in – they can destroy cracked walls and floors, open boarded-up windows, be tossed to reach places Link can’t get to on his own, and be set to activate timed switches while Link gets a head start on where he’s going. Helmasaurs and Goriyas, which appeared in A Link to the Past’s Palace of Darkness return here, the latter as the dungeon’s miniboss encounter. Unlike the Hyrule dungeons, this dungeon has a big treasure chest – but it’s not obvious how to find, and the dungeon and game can be completed without it. The treasure is Master Ore, which the blacksmith can use to upgrade the Master Sword.
The other gimmick to the dungeon is puzzles involving light and darkness. Unlike A Link to the Past, where the lamp always gave light, the one in this game only gives light when equipped, taking advantage of being able to equip two items at once. So, there are rooms where Link needs to have the lamp equipped and light torches to see, but also rooms where Link needs to put the lamp away and put out torches (can be done with the sword, Tornado Rod, or Ice Rod) to see things that the light hides. To reach the boss room, Link needs to open windows and destroy floors to shine the light on four eyes.
Both the bombs and lamp are needed to defeat the boss, the Gemesaur King. As the name implies, it’s a big Helmasaur with rupees studded in its body and mask. It doesn’t appear until the torches in the room are lit, and can put them out by roaring, so Link will need to relight them. Destroying the mask requires bombs and knocks rupees loose (a few with each hit, and a whole bunch when the mask is destroyed). It has a weak point in the center of its forehead, only visible when the room is lit up. Once it’s destroyed, the painting of Gulley falls off the wall, and Link has freed the first Sage – or Sevensage, as Gulley puts it. Clearing the dungeon removes the soldiers from the maze outside, letting Link explore freely.
Although it takes a giant bomb to open the way to the Swamp Palace, the Hookshot is the key item and required to enter. Its uses are also familiar: pulling Link to a distant object (if he’s standing on a raft, the raft gets pulled along with him), retrieving objects, activating switches, and damaging Bari/Biri while they’re electrified. It can also separate certain enemies from their defenses, like Helmasaurs, Shield Moblins, and the Gyorms that appear in this dungeon. The Swamp Palace is also a water dungeon, with the puzzles of directing water flows and manipulating water levels one would expect from that. There’s another semi-secret chest (marked on the map, but getting there is a puzzle) here, this one with Blue Mail which reduces damage taken by half.
The miniboss of the dungeon is Gigabari, a giant gold Bari that splits into fifteen Biri when it takes enough damage. The boss is, as in A Link to the Past, Arrghus; rather than spreading the Arrgi out as that one did, it shoots them at Link one at a time (and they’re easy to dodge or grab with the Hookshot). The second phase is considerably different: rather than skittering across the floor and bouncing off walls, Arrghus’ ground-based attack is to shoot laser beams at Link. The Sage Link frees here is Oren, which I might have guessed – water dungeon, Zora Sage.
As Link teleports out of the Chamber of Sages, a cutscene plays of Hilda admiring Zelda’s portrait. “What is it like to be a princess from a kingdom blessed with so many happy endings? Once upon a time, Lorule was such a place. Once, but no longer. Lorule was just like Hyrule. So very beautiful. So very… promising. We have need of a hero – and your Link is superb. We all deserve a happy ending, don’t we? I can only hope that Link is victorious.” It’s at this point that I remembered Yuga mentioning “her grace” a couple times while rounding up the Sages, and I can only come to the conclusion that Hilda put him up to it to set Link on his quest. To what end… well, if Zelda’s not a Sage, why bring her into it if not for the Triforce?
Next: Two unusual escort missions. (One because it’s fun. (Mostly.))
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
A Link Between Worlds: Final Exploration
The fissure Link can take to Lorule’s Death Mountain is on the southeastern side of the mountain. Hilda describes the Sage imprisoned in the area as having “a soul as formidable as a boulder,” which probably means Rosso; he’s already connected to Death Mountain, so that makes sense. The enemies in the area are ice and snow themed; Hinox and Zirros have snowballs instead of their normal ammunition, and Gimos (Lorulean Armos) are made of ice. The path to the dungeon, the Ice Ruins, is the inverse of the path to Rosso’s Ore Mine, with Link platforming up rather than down. Signs along the way warn that the Ice Ruins aren’t for the faint of heart, so this is probably intended to be one of the last dungeons. There’s a heart piece Link can get along the way by fissuring back to Hyrule.
The other highlight of Death Mountain is the Treacherous Tower minigame. This is reminiscent of Spirit Tracks’ Take ‘Em All On! game, with a gauntlet of enemies Link needs to clear. There are three levels of difficulty, and completing one unlocks the next. From what the Devilish Girl [1] who hosts the game says, it seems dying in the game counts against dying for real. But Link can bring fairies or potions in, and there’s nothing too challenging on either Beginner or Intermediate difficulty. When Link completes a run, the spectators throw rupees to him, and for completing Intermediate for the first time, Link gets a heart piece. There are six Maiamais in the area, and Link can get four (two on walls, one en route to the Ice Ruins, and another under a skull).
The final area for Link to explore is Eastern Hyrule. Hilda describes it as a “truly evil place,” and says there’s a Sage in the Dark Palace in need of rescuing. As Link enters the area near the Dark Palace, Hilda contacts him again to warn him about the inhabitants of the area: corrupted Lorulean soldiers who worship the beast in the dungeon. Link can’t fight the soldiers (who are reminiscent of the Poe Collector from the N64 games), so that means stealth mission. Hey, merging into the wall is the perfect stealth mechanic (as long as no one notices the painting is moving), so they weren’t going to let that go to waste. There are two Maiamais along the walls and a heart piece along the way to the dungeon, and Link can get the other eight Maiamais in the region (one on a wall, two in trees, one on a rock, three underwater, and one in grass). Link now has enough Maiamais to upgrade the remaining three items: the Nice Hookshot has longer range and deals damage, the Nice Ice Rod drops four icicles instead of one, and the Nice Fire Rod’s flame is larger and lasts longer.
By this point, I’d created several Shade Shadow Links to fight, and there are fifty challenges for defeating them. Multiple challenges can be completed in a single run so it doesn’t actually take fifty wins to complete them all. There are a few I can’t get just yet, but most of them can be done now. The challenges are:
1-4: Win once/five times/ten times/twenty times
5-26: Win using items. The eleven items are Ravio’s nine (including the Sand Rod that Osfala has), the Lamp, and the Bug Net, and there’s separate challenges for the normal and upgraded versions of each (using the upgraded version completes both challenges, however). For damage-dealing items, Link has to use them to deliver the final blow. Mother Maiamai can’t upgrade the Lamp and Bug Net, so Link will need to find a different way to do that.
27: Wear the Hint Glasses.
28-31: Use various potions. Blue Monster Tails and yellow Monster Horns have begun dropping, and 10 of each can be used to create a potion of the correct color. Blue potion restores all of Link’s hearts, and yellow makes him invincible for a short time. Blue and red potions just need to be used during the match to count; yellow must be active when Link wins, and purple must be used to deliver the final blow.
32: Use milk. Same as potions. Thankfully, all consumables used during the Shadow Link fights are not actually consumed.
33: Use a fairy. Same again.
34-35: Use a bee and Golden Bee to deliver the final blow. Golden Bee does both. Some Shadow Links have the Bee Medallion, so it’s pointless to try against them.
36-37: Use an apple/green apple during the fight. Green apple completes both.
38: Use a Foul Fruit (purchased from merchants) to stun the opponent during the match.
39-40: Use a shield/Hylian Shield during the match. Block an attack, easy enough. Hylian Shield’s something to keep an eye out for.
41-43: Use a dash attack/spin attack/sword beam to deliver the final blow.
44: Level 3 Master Sword to deliver the final blow. Don’t have this yet.
45: Merge with a wall during a fight. Walls can be created by freezing lava.
46-48: Win without taking damage/without moving/within 10 seconds. Against a weak enough opponent, these three combine nicely with the purple potion challenge.
49: Win without using items.
50: Win without using items or sword attacks. Only dash attacks can be used. Tricky. I managed to get this one without also getting “win with a dash attack,” because the Shadow Link fell off the platform and took the last bit of damage that way.
Next: Starting Lorule dungeons.
[1] They put names on dialogue boxes now. This is the best addition ever.
The other highlight of Death Mountain is the Treacherous Tower minigame. This is reminiscent of Spirit Tracks’ Take ‘Em All On! game, with a gauntlet of enemies Link needs to clear. There are three levels of difficulty, and completing one unlocks the next. From what the Devilish Girl [1] who hosts the game says, it seems dying in the game counts against dying for real. But Link can bring fairies or potions in, and there’s nothing too challenging on either Beginner or Intermediate difficulty. When Link completes a run, the spectators throw rupees to him, and for completing Intermediate for the first time, Link gets a heart piece. There are six Maiamais in the area, and Link can get four (two on walls, one en route to the Ice Ruins, and another under a skull).
The final area for Link to explore is Eastern Hyrule. Hilda describes it as a “truly evil place,” and says there’s a Sage in the Dark Palace in need of rescuing. As Link enters the area near the Dark Palace, Hilda contacts him again to warn him about the inhabitants of the area: corrupted Lorulean soldiers who worship the beast in the dungeon. Link can’t fight the soldiers (who are reminiscent of the Poe Collector from the N64 games), so that means stealth mission. Hey, merging into the wall is the perfect stealth mechanic (as long as no one notices the painting is moving), so they weren’t going to let that go to waste. There are two Maiamais along the walls and a heart piece along the way to the dungeon, and Link can get the other eight Maiamais in the region (one on a wall, two in trees, one on a rock, three underwater, and one in grass). Link now has enough Maiamais to upgrade the remaining three items: the Nice Hookshot has longer range and deals damage, the Nice Ice Rod drops four icicles instead of one, and the Nice Fire Rod’s flame is larger and lasts longer.
By this point, I’d created several Shade Shadow Links to fight, and there are fifty challenges for defeating them. Multiple challenges can be completed in a single run so it doesn’t actually take fifty wins to complete them all. There are a few I can’t get just yet, but most of them can be done now. The challenges are:
1-4: Win once/five times/ten times/twenty times
5-26: Win using items. The eleven items are Ravio’s nine (including the Sand Rod that Osfala has), the Lamp, and the Bug Net, and there’s separate challenges for the normal and upgraded versions of each (using the upgraded version completes both challenges, however). For damage-dealing items, Link has to use them to deliver the final blow. Mother Maiamai can’t upgrade the Lamp and Bug Net, so Link will need to find a different way to do that.
27: Wear the Hint Glasses.
28-31: Use various potions. Blue Monster Tails and yellow Monster Horns have begun dropping, and 10 of each can be used to create a potion of the correct color. Blue potion restores all of Link’s hearts, and yellow makes him invincible for a short time. Blue and red potions just need to be used during the match to count; yellow must be active when Link wins, and purple must be used to deliver the final blow.
32: Use milk. Same as potions. Thankfully, all consumables used during the Shadow Link fights are not actually consumed.
33: Use a fairy. Same again.
34-35: Use a bee and Golden Bee to deliver the final blow. Golden Bee does both. Some Shadow Links have the Bee Medallion, so it’s pointless to try against them.
36-37: Use an apple/green apple during the fight. Green apple completes both.
38: Use a Foul Fruit (purchased from merchants) to stun the opponent during the match.
39-40: Use a shield/Hylian Shield during the match. Block an attack, easy enough. Hylian Shield’s something to keep an eye out for.
41-43: Use a dash attack/spin attack/sword beam to deliver the final blow.
44: Level 3 Master Sword to deliver the final blow. Don’t have this yet.
45: Merge with a wall during a fight. Walls can be created by freezing lava.
46-48: Win without taking damage/without moving/within 10 seconds. Against a weak enough opponent, these three combine nicely with the purple potion challenge.
49: Win without using items.
50: Win without using items or sword attacks. Only dash attacks can be used. Tricky. I managed to get this one without also getting “win with a dash attack,” because the Shadow Link fell off the platform and took the last bit of damage that way.
Next: Starting Lorule dungeons.
[1] They put names on dialogue boxes now. This is the best addition ever.
Monday, March 2, 2020
A Link Between Worlds: Exploring Lorule
The only accessible entrance to Lorule’s Sanctuary area is in Hyrule’s Sanctuary itself. Lorule’s “sanctuary” is simply a cave attended by the Priest’s counterpart, the Philosopher. As Link leaves the cave, Hilda telepathically contacts him to say that something important to his quest is in the area. Unfortunately, unless it’s one of the two Maiamais in the area Link can get now (one on a wall near the graveyard, one in a tree southeast of the graveyard), Link can’t get it just yet. (There’s a third Maiamai under a big rock that’s inaccessible for now. I’m guessing that’s not it either.) There’s a fissure north of the graveyard on a ledge Link can climb to; in Hyrule, there’s a cave on that ledge with a heart piece.
With the massive number of rupees Link needs right now to buy Ravio’s available stock and fill the rupee pond in Lorule, I was slashing every single bush or grass tile looking for them. Bees are worth 50 rupees to the Bee Guy, so even needing to go there to deliver, it’s still worth gathering them. (Although some gatherings of Hinox made me nervous about not carrying fairies. Those things are rough.) Then it finally happened! I found a Golden Bee under a bush! But my bottles were full, so I hit the sword button to kill it before realizing it was a Golden Bee.
Link can enter the northwest corner of Lorule by a fissure on the back of Sahasrahla’s house. Once again, Hilda contacts him to say the Skull Woods are in the area, full of “beings no longer of this world.” The sage there is “pure of heart,” which probably means Gulley or Seres. (Sorry, Irene.) There’s a heart piece around the front of the house, and another atop a ruined house corresponding to Rosso’s that Link can Cuccoglide to [1]. Link can find seven of eight Maiamais: three on walls in the area, three hidden (grass, skull, bush), and one in a tree. There’s also a guy in a cave who’ll sell Link something for 888 rupees that turns out to be another Golden Bee! I even had a bottle for it, and took it to Kakariko Village and gave it to the Bee Guy, and got a Bee Badge that marks Link as a bee-friend so he won’t get stung. But… at this point I’d racked up a bunch of Shadow Links to duel, and one of the challenges is to defeat a Shadow Link using a Golden Bee. And I’d just given mine up. Sigh.
The southwest corner is inverted from A Link to the Past – Link can only reach the desert in Hyrule by going to Misery Mire in Lorule and coming back through a fissure. Hilda’s message says there’s a Sage in the area near desert sands, but there’s no desert in Lorule. She’s not sure what’s going on, but looking at the map there’s an isolated sandy area that I guess Lorule’s finest explorers couldn’t reach. There’s still nothing Link can do in the desert until he finds Osfala and gets the Sand Rod; I wasn’t even able to make the way to the dungeon entrance and unlock the weather vane there. There’s not much more to be done in Misery Mire, either. Link can get a couple Maiamais (one underwater, one on a wall).
Lorule seems to invert the locations of two dungeon locations from A Link to the Past: Turtle Rock has moved to the southeast, and Dark Death Mountain looks like the icy area. As Link enters the southeast area, Hilda says there’s a Sage in a fire dungeon in the area. There’s a Mama Turtle swimming around the area looking for her children. One has gotten itself on land and Link needs to flip it back into the water. Another is being harassed by Ku that Link needs to drive off. The third is stuck to a wall, and the Maiamai trick works here as well. (Speaking of, there are five in the area, and Link can get four: two on walls, one underwater, and one under a skull.) Once Link has rescued all the turtles, they create a platform Link can use to reach Turtle Rock. I’m not going in just yet, but it’s nice to have the weather vane active.
Oh, and I did eventually find another Golden Bee. I was cutting a lot of bushes.
Next: The last two areas.
[1] I’m trying to remember what this house is in A Link to the Past. I’m pretty sure it’s not important.
With the massive number of rupees Link needs right now to buy Ravio’s available stock and fill the rupee pond in Lorule, I was slashing every single bush or grass tile looking for them. Bees are worth 50 rupees to the Bee Guy, so even needing to go there to deliver, it’s still worth gathering them. (Although some gatherings of Hinox made me nervous about not carrying fairies. Those things are rough.) Then it finally happened! I found a Golden Bee under a bush! But my bottles were full, so I hit the sword button to kill it before realizing it was a Golden Bee.
Link can enter the northwest corner of Lorule by a fissure on the back of Sahasrahla’s house. Once again, Hilda contacts him to say the Skull Woods are in the area, full of “beings no longer of this world.” The sage there is “pure of heart,” which probably means Gulley or Seres. (Sorry, Irene.) There’s a heart piece around the front of the house, and another atop a ruined house corresponding to Rosso’s that Link can Cuccoglide to [1]. Link can find seven of eight Maiamais: three on walls in the area, three hidden (grass, skull, bush), and one in a tree. There’s also a guy in a cave who’ll sell Link something for 888 rupees that turns out to be another Golden Bee! I even had a bottle for it, and took it to Kakariko Village and gave it to the Bee Guy, and got a Bee Badge that marks Link as a bee-friend so he won’t get stung. But… at this point I’d racked up a bunch of Shadow Links to duel, and one of the challenges is to defeat a Shadow Link using a Golden Bee. And I’d just given mine up. Sigh.
The southwest corner is inverted from A Link to the Past – Link can only reach the desert in Hyrule by going to Misery Mire in Lorule and coming back through a fissure. Hilda’s message says there’s a Sage in the area near desert sands, but there’s no desert in Lorule. She’s not sure what’s going on, but looking at the map there’s an isolated sandy area that I guess Lorule’s finest explorers couldn’t reach. There’s still nothing Link can do in the desert until he finds Osfala and gets the Sand Rod; I wasn’t even able to make the way to the dungeon entrance and unlock the weather vane there. There’s not much more to be done in Misery Mire, either. Link can get a couple Maiamais (one underwater, one on a wall).
Lorule seems to invert the locations of two dungeon locations from A Link to the Past: Turtle Rock has moved to the southeast, and Dark Death Mountain looks like the icy area. As Link enters the southeast area, Hilda says there’s a Sage in a fire dungeon in the area. There’s a Mama Turtle swimming around the area looking for her children. One has gotten itself on land and Link needs to flip it back into the water. Another is being harassed by Ku that Link needs to drive off. The third is stuck to a wall, and the Maiamai trick works here as well. (Speaking of, there are five in the area, and Link can get four: two on walls, one underwater, and one under a skull.) Once Link has rescued all the turtles, they create a platform Link can use to reach Turtle Rock. I’m not going in just yet, but it’s nice to have the weather vane active.
Oh, and I did eventually find another Golden Bee. I was cutting a lot of bushes.
Next: The last two areas.
[1] I’m trying to remember what this house is in A Link to the Past. I’m pretty sure it’s not important.
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