The thing that grabbed Link and pulled him through the weird wall turns out to be one of Zant’s minions, as seen in the opening teaser reel. It tries to choke the life out of Link, but this version of Link is the most obvious incarnation of the Hero since the one the Triforce talked to at the beginning of the Oracle games, and that Link may be the one who already defeated Ganon and claimed the Triforce in A Link to the Past [1][2]. The Triforce mark on his hand drives the minion away, but Link’s troubles aren’t over. He rather painfully changes into a wolf, which knocks him out again. One of the minions [3] drags Link off while Midna mysteriously watches.
Link comes to in a prison cell, still a wolf, with his left front paw chained to the center of the cell. Control returns to the player for a few moments to establish that yes, he’s pretty helpless. He tries biting through the chain, but notices Midna watching. She smiles and jumps over the cell bars, and Link starts snarling at her until she says she was planning to help him. She teases him about his situation – maybe a little too much, because Link gets annoyed and bites at her. She takes it in stride and breaks the chain, then teleports outside the cell and offers to explain where he is if he can get out. Link finds a spot in the corner of the cell where he can dig under the bars, and Midna jumps on his back.
The next section has Link and Midna passing through the sewers under the cells, and largely functions as a tutorial for how to play as Wolf Link. As a wolf, Link can jump to pull chains to open grates and dig to find hidden treasures. There are spirits around, and by focusing on his wolf senses, Link can listen to them, although they seem oblivious to his presence. The spirits in this area are soldiers who are terrified of the “black things,” which may either be Zant’s minions or the shadowy things Link fights in this area – I’ve got no idea what they are [4]. After a while, Midna passes through some bars and gives Link a chance to explore on his own for a bit.
Once they’re reunited, Midna again teases Link about where they could possibly be, with so many ghostly soldiers. They come to a large spiral staircase leading out of the sewers. The staircase has several large gaps, and Link’s first attempt at jumping across doesn’t work out so well, so Midna takes the lead, moving to the spots Link needs to jump to, which he can do by targeting her. There’s also a section here where Link needs to run across a rope, and while I’m used to expecting to have to carefully line up Link’s path across the rope, there’s no need for that here: I didn’t try to fall off because maybe it would let me succeed and that would suck, but it wasn’t hard staying on, either. At the top of the staircase, Link fights a few Shadow Keese before one last series of jumps leading to a door at the top of the tower.
Link can’t see it, but the little ledge he steps out of the tower onto has the familiar Triforce-and-winged figure crest, so along with Midna’s teasing that Link should be familiar with his location, means we’re in Hyrule, possibly even Hyrule Castle. Something horrible has clearly happened here, with black skull flags flying [5] from the walls, black birds flying around, and everywhere the little squares of darkness floating up to the sky. Midna teases Link for not knowing – apparently she doesn’t know he’s never left Ordon Village – and says she wants him to meet someone in a nearby tower. Along the way, Link finds another soldier spirit who laments the current condition of Hyrule Castle. So now Link knows.
The good news is, they probably don’t care that the delivery from Ordon Village got delayed.
Next: We learn Midna's name. (It's Midna.)
[1] I mean, obviously Link is going to be the Hero, because if he weren’t, we’d be playing as the person who is, and probably calling them Link instead.
[2] So much of this game feels like it’s going in the opposite direction from Wind Waker: the art style, an older Link, predestined hero…
[3] I need a better name for these guys so I’m not always picturing those minions.
[4] My first instinct was rats, but they’re clearly not. They’re… amorphous tentacley shadow blobs.
[5] And no, I don’t think this is Tetra’s doing.
Friday, March 29, 2019
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Twilight Princess: Faron Woods
Beth pulls up shortly after the first screen transition, and Malo not long after, but Talo kept going. Link continues to give chase, jumping over a fence. He eventually stumbles across a guy who gives him a Lantern to help him navigate the caves ahead – he sells lantern oil and figures giving away lanterns is a good way to grow his customer base. As this implies, the Lantern doesn’t run indefinitely; it needs oil to stay lit. I’ll hold off judgment on this mechanic until I have a better idea how easy or hard it is to keep the lantern full enough to use, but bottle space is already a premium, especially in the early game, so I’m not charitably inclined.
At the entrance to a nearby cave, Link finds Talo’s play sword after defeating a Deku Baba. The cave has more Deku Babas and a few Keese to give the player a chance to fight some easy enemies, and then Link emerges in Faron Woods. There, Bokoblins join the ranks of the enemies he fights. To the northeast, there’s a cave with a chest with a key, and two torches that when both are lit reveal a treasure chest containing the first heart piece. Unlike every other game so far, it takes five heart pieces instead of four to fill a heart container. Then to the northwest, two Bokoblins guard a gate that leads on to the next area.
The next area has more Bokoblins and a talking bird named Trill that sells Lantern Oil and Red Potion. The shop seems to run on the honor system, with Link tossing rupees in a box after filling his Lantern and/or Bottle. (If he doesn’t pay the full amount, Trill calls him a cheapskate.) As Link approaches the far end of the area, he sees Talo and the monkey locked up in a small cage guarded by two Bokoblins. After defeating the Bokoblins, he breaks the cage, freeing both prisoners. As Link and Talo return to the village, Talo says that the monkey tried to protect him from the Bokoblins, and asks Link not to tell his dad what happened. As Talo wanders off home, Rusl comes to Link, saying that Colin told him about Talo and apologizing that Link was put in the position of having to rescue him. Rusl says that the woods have become strange lately. Then he tells Link everything’s clear for him to make the trip to Hyrule, and maybe if he’s lucky, he’ll get to meet Zelda.
The next day, Link’s sitting in the grass at Ordon Ranch when Fado says they should close up early so Link can get going on his trip to Hyrule. This starts another round of the goat herding minigame; this time there’s twenty goats and it’s timed, but the only effect the timer has is Fado comments that Link beats his usual time if he can do it in under three minutes (which isn’t hard). Link returns to the village, and Ilia tends to Epona while Link talks to her father, the mayor, about the trip to Hyrule. The gift Link’s supposed to present was specifically requested by the royal family, and of course it’s best to not be late with it. Before Link can set off, Ilia notices an injury on Epona’s leg and blows up at Link. Her father tries to calm her down, but she turns on him too. She leads Epona off to the spring while Link and the mayor share an exasperated look.
The mayor tells Link he’ll need Epona to reach Hyrule on time, so Link follows Ilia to talk her into giving it back. As he approaches his house, Colin’s there saying Talo and Malo are blocking the path to the spring. They’re particularly annoyed at Colin for telling Rusl who told their father who yelled at them for going into the woods. When they ask to borrow Link’s sword, Link agrees and they run off to play with it, clearing the way for Colin and Link to go to the spring. Colin thanks Link and asks him to teach him to ride sometime, then runs off to the spring, and Link follows.
When Link gets to the spring, Ilia’s closed a gate in front of it, and she’s not in a forgiving mood. Colin points out the tunnel he used to get in and offers to try to calm Ilia down while Link sneaks in. By time Link makes it in, Ilia’s starting to calm down, and when Epona reacts to Link’s presence, Ilia agrees to let them go together. She asks Link to make sure to come home safe, and Link nods his acknowledgement.
Heavy hoofbeats outside the spring attract everyone’s attention, and a giant boar ridden by a couple Bulblins crashes the gate. Ilia’s shot by an arrow, Link gets clubbed over the head and knocked out [1], Colin gets scooped up, and Epona spooked and presumably darted off. The Bulblins carry off Ilia and Colin while their leader – or King, I should say; I recognize this guy from Hyrule Warriors – arrives, surveys the scene, and blows a horn, causing a spot of darkness to appear in the sky. After they’re gone, Link recovers to find everyone else gone, and runs off looking for them. He stops short in front of the giant wall from the demo reel, but something reaches through from the other side, grabs him, and pulls him through.
Next: Mouth is alive with juices like wine…
[1] He had the earlier scene where Beth, Talo, and Malo woke him up, and then gets knocked out at the start of the true adventure. I’m counting it.
At the entrance to a nearby cave, Link finds Talo’s play sword after defeating a Deku Baba. The cave has more Deku Babas and a few Keese to give the player a chance to fight some easy enemies, and then Link emerges in Faron Woods. There, Bokoblins join the ranks of the enemies he fights. To the northeast, there’s a cave with a chest with a key, and two torches that when both are lit reveal a treasure chest containing the first heart piece. Unlike every other game so far, it takes five heart pieces instead of four to fill a heart container. Then to the northwest, two Bokoblins guard a gate that leads on to the next area.
The next area has more Bokoblins and a talking bird named Trill that sells Lantern Oil and Red Potion. The shop seems to run on the honor system, with Link tossing rupees in a box after filling his Lantern and/or Bottle. (If he doesn’t pay the full amount, Trill calls him a cheapskate.) As Link approaches the far end of the area, he sees Talo and the monkey locked up in a small cage guarded by two Bokoblins. After defeating the Bokoblins, he breaks the cage, freeing both prisoners. As Link and Talo return to the village, Talo says that the monkey tried to protect him from the Bokoblins, and asks Link not to tell his dad what happened. As Talo wanders off home, Rusl comes to Link, saying that Colin told him about Talo and apologizing that Link was put in the position of having to rescue him. Rusl says that the woods have become strange lately. Then he tells Link everything’s clear for him to make the trip to Hyrule, and maybe if he’s lucky, he’ll get to meet Zelda.
The next day, Link’s sitting in the grass at Ordon Ranch when Fado says they should close up early so Link can get going on his trip to Hyrule. This starts another round of the goat herding minigame; this time there’s twenty goats and it’s timed, but the only effect the timer has is Fado comments that Link beats his usual time if he can do it in under three minutes (which isn’t hard). Link returns to the village, and Ilia tends to Epona while Link talks to her father, the mayor, about the trip to Hyrule. The gift Link’s supposed to present was specifically requested by the royal family, and of course it’s best to not be late with it. Before Link can set off, Ilia notices an injury on Epona’s leg and blows up at Link. Her father tries to calm her down, but she turns on him too. She leads Epona off to the spring while Link and the mayor share an exasperated look.
The mayor tells Link he’ll need Epona to reach Hyrule on time, so Link follows Ilia to talk her into giving it back. As he approaches his house, Colin’s there saying Talo and Malo are blocking the path to the spring. They’re particularly annoyed at Colin for telling Rusl who told their father who yelled at them for going into the woods. When they ask to borrow Link’s sword, Link agrees and they run off to play with it, clearing the way for Colin and Link to go to the spring. Colin thanks Link and asks him to teach him to ride sometime, then runs off to the spring, and Link follows.
When Link gets to the spring, Ilia’s closed a gate in front of it, and she’s not in a forgiving mood. Colin points out the tunnel he used to get in and offers to try to calm Ilia down while Link sneaks in. By time Link makes it in, Ilia’s starting to calm down, and when Epona reacts to Link’s presence, Ilia agrees to let them go together. She asks Link to make sure to come home safe, and Link nods his acknowledgement.
Heavy hoofbeats outside the spring attract everyone’s attention, and a giant boar ridden by a couple Bulblins crashes the gate. Ilia’s shot by an arrow, Link gets clubbed over the head and knocked out [1], Colin gets scooped up, and Epona spooked and presumably darted off. The Bulblins carry off Ilia and Colin while their leader – or King, I should say; I recognize this guy from Hyrule Warriors – arrives, surveys the scene, and blows a horn, causing a spot of darkness to appear in the sky. After they’re gone, Link recovers to find everyone else gone, and runs off looking for them. He stops short in front of the giant wall from the demo reel, but something reaches through from the other side, grabs him, and pulls him through.
Next: Mouth is alive with juices like wine…
[1] He had the earlier scene where Beth, Talo, and Malo woke him up, and then gets knocked out at the start of the true adventure. I’m counting it.
Monday, March 25, 2019
Twilight Princess: Ordon Village
Link follows the path the person who took Epona went down and finds the barefoot girl, Ilia, with her at a small spring. She says she washed Epona – but left the saddle and tack on? She asks Link to use a piece of grass to play Epona’s song for her, and Link obliges. This has Epona leave Ilia’s side and run to Link’s, and he mounts up and rides back to the village. The man he was talking to, Rusl, stands out in the village, practicing with his sword. He tells Link that his son, Colin, is making a fishing rod for him, and he should be done in time for him to get it the next day.
Link continues on to Ordon Ranch, where Fado apologizes for bringing him out like this, but the goats aren’t listening to him. Link agrees to help, kicking off a minigame where Link rides around on Epona, yelling to drive the goats away from him into the barn. It’s a bit silly, especially with the “Goat in!” popup every time the goat runs in. After Link’s done, Fado sets up fences for Link to practice jumping Epona over, lets him run around as he likes, and tells him that he can have tomorrow off. Once Link’s done, he jumps Epona over the gate leading back to the village and rides back, and a save prompt pops up.
The next morning, three children from the village – Beth, Talo, and Malo – come to wake Link up. Link gets a chance to explore his house for a bit, then goes out to meet them. Talo and Malo are excited about a slingshot Beth’s parents are selling, but don’t have the rupees to buy it. Link heads into the village, where Rusl’s wife lost her baby’s cradle, and Beth’s parents have lost their cat. The cradle quest ends up combining a few tutorials: L-targeting, climbing, and jumping are all familiar, but new to this game is using grass to call a hawk, then sending the hawk flying at a target – in this case, the monkey who pulled the cradle out of the water. With the cradle returned to her, Rusl’s wife leads Link back to her home, where she gives him the fishing rod Colin made. The item get pose in this game is a lot more subdued than pretty much any other game: Link holds his hands palms-up in front of him while the new item floats over them.
Link goes over to where the cat’s been watching the fish in the water to use the rod, and herding the cat back to the shop doesn’t work very well. However, Link can catch fish, and the first one he catches puts a fishing log in his quest items stack, and the second one flops behind him, where’s it’s grabbed by the cat, who runs back to the town shop. Link follows the cat, and Sera, the shopkeeper, gives him a half-bottle of milk. (She thinks the cat caught the fish itself, because you know the cat’s not going to let on that it needed Link’s help.) Of course, the bottle’s the real prize – the milk only restores three hearts, so while it’s useful now, it’s going to be outpaced quickly. The slingshot costs 30 rupees, and she’s surprised Link’s interested, thinking he’s too old for toys. But he needs a ranged weapon, and this is what’s available.
Link goes back to his house to show off the slingshot for the kids, and on the way, he passes Rusl, who dropped something off at Link’s house. The kids set up targets for Link to shoot at – Talo and Malo are excited, but Beth feigns indifference, but even she’s impressed when Link hits all the targets. In the short time between Rusl leaving Link’s house and Link’s arrival, a Skullwalltula has set up on the ladder. (Maybe Rusl just jumped down.) Link hits the Skullwalltula with a slingshot shot, then climbs the ladder, enters his house, opens the treasure chest Rusl left, and claims the Wooden Sword. Bringing the sword down, Talo and Malo ask Link to demonstrate sword moves for them. In contrast to before, Beth’s really into this, but Malo is dismissive (while giving the input commands to the player).
The kids wanted to learn swordplay to fight off the monkeys who have been causing mischief in town, and as soon as the lesson’s over, Talo spots one of them, and all three chase after it, and Link hops on Epona to follow.
Next: Just whose horse is Epona, anyway?
Link continues on to Ordon Ranch, where Fado apologizes for bringing him out like this, but the goats aren’t listening to him. Link agrees to help, kicking off a minigame where Link rides around on Epona, yelling to drive the goats away from him into the barn. It’s a bit silly, especially with the “Goat in!” popup every time the goat runs in. After Link’s done, Fado sets up fences for Link to practice jumping Epona over, lets him run around as he likes, and tells him that he can have tomorrow off. Once Link’s done, he jumps Epona over the gate leading back to the village and rides back, and a save prompt pops up.
The next morning, three children from the village – Beth, Talo, and Malo – come to wake Link up. Link gets a chance to explore his house for a bit, then goes out to meet them. Talo and Malo are excited about a slingshot Beth’s parents are selling, but don’t have the rupees to buy it. Link heads into the village, where Rusl’s wife lost her baby’s cradle, and Beth’s parents have lost their cat. The cradle quest ends up combining a few tutorials: L-targeting, climbing, and jumping are all familiar, but new to this game is using grass to call a hawk, then sending the hawk flying at a target – in this case, the monkey who pulled the cradle out of the water. With the cradle returned to her, Rusl’s wife leads Link back to her home, where she gives him the fishing rod Colin made. The item get pose in this game is a lot more subdued than pretty much any other game: Link holds his hands palms-up in front of him while the new item floats over them.
Link goes over to where the cat’s been watching the fish in the water to use the rod, and herding the cat back to the shop doesn’t work very well. However, Link can catch fish, and the first one he catches puts a fishing log in his quest items stack, and the second one flops behind him, where’s it’s grabbed by the cat, who runs back to the town shop. Link follows the cat, and Sera, the shopkeeper, gives him a half-bottle of milk. (She thinks the cat caught the fish itself, because you know the cat’s not going to let on that it needed Link’s help.) Of course, the bottle’s the real prize – the milk only restores three hearts, so while it’s useful now, it’s going to be outpaced quickly. The slingshot costs 30 rupees, and she’s surprised Link’s interested, thinking he’s too old for toys. But he needs a ranged weapon, and this is what’s available.
Link goes back to his house to show off the slingshot for the kids, and on the way, he passes Rusl, who dropped something off at Link’s house. The kids set up targets for Link to shoot at – Talo and Malo are excited, but Beth feigns indifference, but even she’s impressed when Link hits all the targets. In the short time between Rusl leaving Link’s house and Link’s arrival, a Skullwalltula has set up on the ladder. (Maybe Rusl just jumped down.) Link hits the Skullwalltula with a slingshot shot, then climbs the ladder, enters his house, opens the treasure chest Rusl left, and claims the Wooden Sword. Bringing the sword down, Talo and Malo ask Link to demonstrate sword moves for them. In contrast to before, Beth’s really into this, but Malo is dismissive (while giving the input commands to the player).
The kids wanted to learn swordplay to fight off the monkeys who have been causing mischief in town, and as soon as the lesson’s over, Talo spots one of them, and all three chase after it, and Link hops on Epona to follow.
Next: Just whose horse is Epona, anyway?
Friday, March 22, 2019
Twilight Princess: Introduction and Story
The Dark Age is over, so now there’s twilight. (No, not crappy vampire romance novels [1].) I heard about Twilight Princess since it was a launch title for the Wii and everyone was excited about the motion controls. My one experience with the Wii’s motion controls was flailing about trying to play Wii Sports that nearly ended with me chucking the Wiimote at the TV in frustration [2], so I’m playing the GameCube version. I know a fair bit about this one:
Well, one way that Twilight Princess takes after Ocarina of Time is that while waiting for the title to pop up the game plays scenes of Link riding Epona. It ends with a wolf howling at the title. Then, the game goes into a teaser reel, starting with Zant and a couple demons approaching a robed and hooded figure, a peaceful village disturbed by a weird wall, Link investigating the wall, turning into a wolf (!), and meeting Midna. Then there’s a gameplay reel, showing off some of the items (the hookshot stands out, and some kind of boots). It ends with shots of the main characters: Zant, Zelda, Midna, and Link (wolf and human, the latter with the Master Sword). So, um. This version of Link’s a werewolf? And I’m guessing what I interpreted as Midna having an affinity for wolves is just Hyrule Warriors’ take on her bond with Link.
Anyway, after creating the save file, there’s the standard “enter your name” bit, only now Link is entered by default [3], and afterward, the player gets to name Link’s horse (Epona by default, of course). There’s no story roll, boo. The manual quickly gets into what I assume is going to be stuff I’ll be playing through soon enough, but it talks about how Ordon Village is a peaceful farming community. Link is highly regarded among the villagers – the unofficial leader of the village’s children, and expected to become the village leader when he’s older.
In the game, we start with Link and an older man sitting by a river. “Tell me… Do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls? They say it’s the only time when our world intersects with theirs… the only time we can feel the lingering regrets of spirits who have left our world. That is why loneliness always pervades the hour of twilight… but enough talk of sadness.” The man is supposed to make a delivery to the royal family of Hyrule in a couple days, but he wants Link to do it, for a chance to see the larger world outside Ordon Village. They return to the village, with the man saying he’ll talk to the mayor about sending Link instead. After a while, Link’s gone inside his home, but left Epona standing out front, and a barefooted person leads her away. Epona’s barely out of sight when someone comes to Link’s house calling for his help herding goats; as Link comes out, the man notices that Epona’s not there.
Next: Herding goats is easy. Herding cats, not so much.
[1] Okay, I haven’t actually read Twilight (although I’ve spent enough time reading Reasoning With Vampires that I feel I have) or seen the movie. At this point I don’t think I could give either a fair shake.
[2] I’m kind of dreading Skyward Sword.
[3] I suppose it’s the most common name players give Link. I wonder what the breakdown is on players who name him Link vs. players who name him after themselves vs. players who name him Zelda vs. etc.
- It’s set in the timeline created at the end of Ocarina of Time, the same one as Majora’s Mask.
- I’m not quite sure what it means here, but I understand this game follows Ocarina’s template more than, say, Wind Waker?
- This game’s version of Zelda has become her “standard” design, although the latest Smash went with a different look.
- Three characters from this game are playable in Hyrule Warriors.
- Agitha (“Insect… Princess?” Yes, the ellipsis and question mark are part of her epithet), a (human) girl, roughly ten years old, who is rather fond of insects.
- Midna (“Twilight Princess” and “Ruler of Twilight”). She’s normally humanoid, but she’s been cursed to look like… well, Agitha called her an angry kitty. She has an affinity with wolves. She’s the rightful ruler of the Twili people, but…
- Zant (“Usurper King”). Zant is… I think he’s Twili, but I’m not sure. I’m more sure he’s a bad guy; he may even be the bad guy (or, more likely, appear to be the bad guy until the shocking twist that it was Dr. Wily pulling the strings all along). Midna hates him, which along with the epithet strongly suggests he’s responsible for her status (both not being the active leader of the Twili and the angry kitty thing). He’s a truly bizarre fellow. Looking them up, I’m not sure why, but I’ve thought of him as looking like a cross between the mayor from The Nightmare Before Christmas and Morpheus (wearing his helmet) from The Sandman.
- There's also the giant boss Argorok (“Twilit Dragon”), who I assume is going to be a dungeon boss here.
Well, one way that Twilight Princess takes after Ocarina of Time is that while waiting for the title to pop up the game plays scenes of Link riding Epona. It ends with a wolf howling at the title. Then, the game goes into a teaser reel, starting with Zant and a couple demons approaching a robed and hooded figure, a peaceful village disturbed by a weird wall, Link investigating the wall, turning into a wolf (!), and meeting Midna. Then there’s a gameplay reel, showing off some of the items (the hookshot stands out, and some kind of boots). It ends with shots of the main characters: Zant, Zelda, Midna, and Link (wolf and human, the latter with the Master Sword). So, um. This version of Link’s a werewolf? And I’m guessing what I interpreted as Midna having an affinity for wolves is just Hyrule Warriors’ take on her bond with Link.
Anyway, after creating the save file, there’s the standard “enter your name” bit, only now Link is entered by default [3], and afterward, the player gets to name Link’s horse (Epona by default, of course). There’s no story roll, boo. The manual quickly gets into what I assume is going to be stuff I’ll be playing through soon enough, but it talks about how Ordon Village is a peaceful farming community. Link is highly regarded among the villagers – the unofficial leader of the village’s children, and expected to become the village leader when he’s older.
In the game, we start with Link and an older man sitting by a river. “Tell me… Do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls? They say it’s the only time when our world intersects with theirs… the only time we can feel the lingering regrets of spirits who have left our world. That is why loneliness always pervades the hour of twilight… but enough talk of sadness.” The man is supposed to make a delivery to the royal family of Hyrule in a couple days, but he wants Link to do it, for a chance to see the larger world outside Ordon Village. They return to the village, with the man saying he’ll talk to the mayor about sending Link instead. After a while, Link’s gone inside his home, but left Epona standing out front, and a barefooted person leads her away. Epona’s barely out of sight when someone comes to Link’s house calling for his help herding goats; as Link comes out, the man notices that Epona’s not there.
Next: Herding goats is easy. Herding cats, not so much.
[1] Okay, I haven’t actually read Twilight (although I’ve spent enough time reading Reasoning With Vampires that I feel I have) or seen the movie. At this point I don’t think I could give either a fair shake.
[2] I’m kind of dreading Skyward Sword.
[3] I suppose it’s the most common name players give Link. I wonder what the breakdown is on players who name him Link vs. players who name him after themselves vs. players who name him Zelda vs. etc.
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
The Minish Cap: Dark Hyrule Castle
The first set of puzzles Link finds upon returning to Hyrule Castle all involve using his ability to split into four. Sometimes, it requires making it through a room with staggered walls that a trap zips around. Others require reflecting cannons’ shots back at them simultaneously; the first one isn’t too hard, but the second has the cannons on either side of the Links, who all have to face the same way. This means Link has to turn around quickly to deflect the shots from both directions. I’m not convinced this puzzle didn’t take pity on me after I failed it a bunch of times. When Link comes to the throne room, there’s a Red Darknut miniboss (same as from the Palace of Winds); afterward, Link can claim the Compass and pass through a passage hidden under the throne that leads to way to the second floor.
On the second floor, Link first makes his way outside, then goes around the edge of the castle to the front. From here, he needs to make his way first to a central room and defeat a Black Knight (super Darknut), causing four other Darknuts – either single Red ones or pairs of the normal ones – to spawn. These Darknuts block off the way to the four corner turrets, where Link can find four keys. These keys unlock blocks that are blocking a giant block Link needs to push out of the way to claim the Big Key, which he needs to access the final area.
As Link heads to the roof, Vaati taunts that his work is almost done: when the castle’s bell chimes three more times, he will have absorbed the Light Force from Zelda, killing her and leaving him unstoppable. The first two chimes happen as Link enters the next two rooms: first a bridge with a bunch of purple Keatons, then a room with a Black Knight and two Red Darknuts. The last one is timed: If Link takes too long, Vaati wins. Assuming Link makes it to the roof in time, Vaati drops Link back down into the room where he fought the Darknuts and comes in and transforms himself for the final battle.
Vaati’s first battle form has his body transformed into a giant eye, orbited by four smaller eyes. Link destroys the eyes and attacks the central eye. Vaati eventually makes the orbiting eyes stronger and protected by darkness that Link needs to drain with the Gust Jar. After enough damage, Vaati changes the arena and transforms again, this time to a large eye surrounded by eight orbs. Four of these are decoys, and the other four are eyes. Once Link reveals the four eyes, he needs to split into four to attack them, leaving the central eye vulnerable. Once the central eye is damaged enough, Vaati disappears, allowing Link to go to the roof and restore Zelda.
Once she’s safe, the castle starts collapsing. Link leads Zelda to the Elemental Sanctuary. Just before they make it, Vaati blocks the path with a lightning bolt and draws Link into the final battle. Vaati’s final form is familiar from the Four Swords games: a large eye with two long arms. There are also four small eyes in front of the big one. The arms try to attack through the floor, when they do, they can be severed by the Cane of Pacci. Then Link can use the nearby portal to shrink, enter the arms, and destroy a bunch of eyeballs, destroying the arm. Then, Link needs to split into four and face the small eyes, and reflect their attacks, then attack the core. Once Vaati is defeated this time, it’s over.
Link returns to the Elemental Sanctuary entrance with the mage’s hat. Zelda is relieved to see him, but Vaati was still able to cause a lot of destruction. We can’t have that, so first Vaati’s defeat means Ezlo is returned to his natural form (but human-sized). He gives Zelda the mage’s hat, and by combining his power with hers, all of Vaati’s destruction is undone. The castle is restored to its natural state, the people unpetrified, and the monsters disappear from Hyrule. It’s very much like the ending of A Link to the Past. But the door to the Minish world is closing, so the time for Ezlo to leave has come. He gives Link a final gift to remember him by – a hat, like the one he was turned into – then shrinks to his normal size and passes through the door before it closes.
After the credits, there’s a final display: a stained glass window with Link, Ezlo, the Four Sword, the elemental stones with a sword colored to match them. “Thus did Link’s quest come to an end. But surely, this is not the end of Zelda and Link’s adventures in Hyrule. The legend will continue… as long as the power of the light force echoes throughout the ages.”
There are two last things to do. Carlov has six extra figurines inspired by the events of Hyrule Castle, and when they’re collected, he gives Link a Carlov Medallion. The guy with the house with the heart piece mentioned that, even though Link didn’t have it at the time. Also, defeating Vaati impressed Biggoron enough that he wants to eat Link’s shield, and he spits out a Mirror Shield when done. Would have been nice to have before, but now it’s… well, there’s no real reason to fight anything anymore.
This game feels like a love letter to the series, with references to just about every other game. And on the flipside, if you take what I love about the series and distill it to a single game, you’d pretty much get this. You’ve got a well-designed central mechanic, some cool dungeons with inventive new items and memorable bosses, and the Minish are entirely too lovable. When I think of my favorites in the series, The Minish Cap is definitely among them.
On the second floor, Link first makes his way outside, then goes around the edge of the castle to the front. From here, he needs to make his way first to a central room and defeat a Black Knight (super Darknut), causing four other Darknuts – either single Red ones or pairs of the normal ones – to spawn. These Darknuts block off the way to the four corner turrets, where Link can find four keys. These keys unlock blocks that are blocking a giant block Link needs to push out of the way to claim the Big Key, which he needs to access the final area.
As Link heads to the roof, Vaati taunts that his work is almost done: when the castle’s bell chimes three more times, he will have absorbed the Light Force from Zelda, killing her and leaving him unstoppable. The first two chimes happen as Link enters the next two rooms: first a bridge with a bunch of purple Keatons, then a room with a Black Knight and two Red Darknuts. The last one is timed: If Link takes too long, Vaati wins. Assuming Link makes it to the roof in time, Vaati drops Link back down into the room where he fought the Darknuts and comes in and transforms himself for the final battle.
Vaati’s first battle form has his body transformed into a giant eye, orbited by four smaller eyes. Link destroys the eyes and attacks the central eye. Vaati eventually makes the orbiting eyes stronger and protected by darkness that Link needs to drain with the Gust Jar. After enough damage, Vaati changes the arena and transforms again, this time to a large eye surrounded by eight orbs. Four of these are decoys, and the other four are eyes. Once Link reveals the four eyes, he needs to split into four to attack them, leaving the central eye vulnerable. Once the central eye is damaged enough, Vaati disappears, allowing Link to go to the roof and restore Zelda.
Once she’s safe, the castle starts collapsing. Link leads Zelda to the Elemental Sanctuary. Just before they make it, Vaati blocks the path with a lightning bolt and draws Link into the final battle. Vaati’s final form is familiar from the Four Swords games: a large eye with two long arms. There are also four small eyes in front of the big one. The arms try to attack through the floor, when they do, they can be severed by the Cane of Pacci. Then Link can use the nearby portal to shrink, enter the arms, and destroy a bunch of eyeballs, destroying the arm. Then, Link needs to split into four and face the small eyes, and reflect their attacks, then attack the core. Once Vaati is defeated this time, it’s over.
Link returns to the Elemental Sanctuary entrance with the mage’s hat. Zelda is relieved to see him, but Vaati was still able to cause a lot of destruction. We can’t have that, so first Vaati’s defeat means Ezlo is returned to his natural form (but human-sized). He gives Zelda the mage’s hat, and by combining his power with hers, all of Vaati’s destruction is undone. The castle is restored to its natural state, the people unpetrified, and the monsters disappear from Hyrule. It’s very much like the ending of A Link to the Past. But the door to the Minish world is closing, so the time for Ezlo to leave has come. He gives Link a final gift to remember him by – a hat, like the one he was turned into – then shrinks to his normal size and passes through the door before it closes.
After the credits, there’s a final display: a stained glass window with Link, Ezlo, the Four Sword, the elemental stones with a sword colored to match them. “Thus did Link’s quest come to an end. But surely, this is not the end of Zelda and Link’s adventures in Hyrule. The legend will continue… as long as the power of the light force echoes throughout the ages.”
There are two last things to do. Carlov has six extra figurines inspired by the events of Hyrule Castle, and when they’re collected, he gives Link a Carlov Medallion. The guy with the house with the heart piece mentioned that, even though Link didn’t have it at the time. Also, defeating Vaati impressed Biggoron enough that he wants to eat Link’s shield, and he spits out a Mirror Shield when done. Would have been nice to have before, but now it’s… well, there’s no real reason to fight anything anymore.
This game feels like a love letter to the series, with references to just about every other game. And on the flipside, if you take what I love about the series and distill it to a single game, you’d pretty much get this. You’ve got a well-designed central mechanic, some cool dungeons with inventive new items and memorable bosses, and the Minish are entirely too lovable. When I think of my favorites in the series, The Minish Cap is definitely among them.
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
The Wind Waker: Second Opinion
Thoughts, continued:
- When the Moblins and Darknuts woke up in Hyrule Castle, I had trouble at first getting them isolated enough that I was comfortable fighting. Once the numbers started to thin out a bit it got easier, but those first few were more exciting than I wanted.
- For the trading sequence, this time I sat down with a chart of who gives what to work out a path to get all 12 items unlocked. Most of those deals were with the merchant at Greatfish Isle, who’s always critical of the item Link gives him, even if it’s the same exact item he handed Link seconds beforehand. On the other hand, he’s the one who gives the heart piece reward, so keep him happy. And I don’t think there’s any real call for money afterward aside from paying the extortionist.
- I took the time to explore the Forsaken Fortress the second time around. It’s a lot of fun getting to fight the Moblins who Link had to hide from his first run through. There’s a Floormaster in there, which was a shock.
- The fight with the Helmaroc King may be my favorite boss fight in the series to date. As Tetra, Aryll, and Gonzo were leaving, I was excited about getting to smash a giant bird in the face with a hammer again. Some things are just satisfying.
- The most tedious part of the game is getting the treasure charts from the Eye Reefs. It occupies that annoying position of being less useful the more you know about the game, but still required to get all the treasure charts. (Even the completionist in me says “screw that” looking at the sliding tile puzzle in the cabana.) It’s all naval combat where the boomerang is useless, perhaps the only part of the game I truly dislike.
- Yep, that giant pig will attack Link. And it hurts.
- I liked the Earth Temple so much better on second run. I sometimes hit the release button with Medli because that’s the shield button that Link uses to bounce light in a particular direction, but all my other frustrations that I remembered from before were gone. I could appreciate the puzzles and enemies (Floormasters: supremely annoying, but I don’t think there’s any enemy in the game that makes my heart race as much to fight). As for Jalhalla, now that I have a better understanding of how to fight him, he’s a lot more fun. (The Great Spin Attack makes wiping up the component Poes maybe a little too easy.) And his death scene is second only to Twinrova’s for humor value.
- One annoyance I found in the Wind Temple that didn’t hit me on my first trip: For some reason I left Makar behind when I went in the room in the deep basement with a Wizzrobe, some Stalfos, and a few Bokoblins hiding behind wall fixtures, and per convention, he returned to where I entered the giant central room: way back up at the top.
- The Triforce charts are a nice mix of aspects from the game – minidungeons, tough fights, naval combat, even using Hyoi Pears to fly seagulls where you want them to go. I had to track down the ghost ship this time – not so lucky to have it be near the same island where the map is.
- The Savage Labyrinth: The enemies don’t drop anything, but Link can still steal stuff using the Grappling Hook. ReDeads are particularly nice for this: They sit there and let Link steal all their stuff without waking up to come eat him. I got through the whole thing without needing potions/fairies, getting by entirely on stolen hearts. (I turned on the Magic Armor for the very end – down to the last Darknut with enough hearts left not to worry – just to see what it does.)
- The first time through, I hunted just enough Blue Chu Jellies to unlock Blue Potions on Windfall. This time, even though I got blue potions from Hollo, I decided I was going to hunt down every Blue ChuChu and harvest their jelly. Most of them are easy, but some are pretty well hidden, and some are completely nonintuitive like having to backflip onto a rock on Pawprint Isle to get one to spawn.
- Rematch!Molgera’s music has a different percussion line, meaning no chickachickachicka. This makes me sad.
- Oddly, the Puppet Ganon phase I had the least trouble with the second time around was the one I cursed repeatedly the first time. Now, that’s because I found a strategy that, while unorthodox, works: run into Puppet Moldorm Ganon’s face with a bomb, and it’ll be stunned long enough for Link to run to the tail and shoot it. Link takes some damage this way, but it works, it’s fast, and there are hearts and a fairy available before going against Ganon.
- When Link and Tetra resurface after Ganon’s defeat, not only is Tetra back to herself, but Link’s wearing the green tunic. Hrm.
Monday, March 18, 2019
The Minish Cap: The Four Sword
Link has to sneak into the castle again, and it’s the same as last time. Once the Wind Element is restored to its pedestal and the sword infused with all four elements to become the Four Sword (explicitly named as such), the sword can be charged to fire a beam that breaks curses. Link demonstrates this by shattering the tablet that told him how to use the Two Sword to split himself. A hidden doorway opens behind the tablet, leading to a room with the stained glass windows from the story introduction. In the center is a new window that wasn’t part of the original story. The story plays again, with the new window illustrating the ending of the story:
“And the force of the golden light, embodied in Hyrule’s princess, shone forth upon the lands.”
Vaati, still appearing as King Daltus, appears in front of Link and Ezlo, thanking them for helping him understand where the Light Force is. He zaps Link, knocking him out, and leaves to extract it from Zelda. Ezlo wakes Link up and explains the situation to him, and the two head out to stop Vaati. As they leave the Elemental Sanctuary, they find that Hyrule Castle has been transformed by Vaati’s magic, and its inhabitants turned to stone. Link uses the Four Sword’s beam on the first pair of guards and Minister Potho, restoring them to life. They’ve finally cottoned on to Daltus being Vaati in disguise, and one of the guards suggests that the real king must be somewhere in the castle.
Link finds the real king in the dungeon, petrified and stashed in a cell. Once restored to life, he’s shocked by everything that’s happened and wants to help Link fix it, but knows he’d only slow Link down. He gives Link a key that will help him escape from the castle. As he heads out, Link finds the dungeon map. Leaving the castle is strictly optional, but there are a few things that can only be wrapped up now that Link has the Four Sword. The guard at the doorway is gone, but the ones patrolling the west part of the garden are still there and throw Link out if they catch him. With the front entrance open, the only reason to go that way is to get to a fairy fountain, and there are others that are easier to find.
There are three Kinstone fusions Link can do in the outside world. First, fusing with the last Goron in Goron Cave causes Biggoron to wake up. He’s not willing to do anything to help Link just yet – he needs to be impressed, first. Second, in the area of the Minish Village where Link found a heart piece on his first visit, there’s a Minish who will fuse twice with Link. The first time causes a platform to appear in the water of Veil Falls, giving Link access to a Mole Mitts cave where he finds a piece of heart. The second time opens a crack near the Wind Crest in Lake Hylia, giving Link a path to where Librari has taken refuge while the town’s under alert. Librari gives Link a full heart container. There’s one last heart piece in town, in a Minish path in the playground of the school. Also, now that Link’s fused all the Kinstones he can, Tingle will reward him with a trophy.
There’s one more quest I didn’t realize existed until late in the game: Beedle only has the three varieties of Picolyte he started with: White (increases Kinstone drops), Red (increases Heart drops), and Green (increases Mysterious Shell drops). He’s got three empty bottles, waiting for new forms of Picolyte to be discovered. Picolyte is made from Pico Blooms, which are harvested in the barrel in the Minish Village where Link got his Jabber Nut. The Minish researching the Pico Blooms asks Link to bring him the ingredients to grow new types of blooms: Lon Lon Milk (Yellow, increases rupee drops), Mt. Crenel Mineral Water (blue, increases item drops), and a Red Potion (Orange, increases fairy drops). I pretty much entirely did this to have it done; White Picolyte was useful earlier when I was trying to get the initial set of Kinstone Fusions done and often found I didn’t have the right one, but otherwise they’re far too expensive to bother with. The Yellow one in particular seems like a worse gamble than the chest game: 100 rupee buy in, then 200 rupees per potion?
Next: Defeating Vaati again, for the first time.
“And the force of the golden light, embodied in Hyrule’s princess, shone forth upon the lands.”
Vaati, still appearing as King Daltus, appears in front of Link and Ezlo, thanking them for helping him understand where the Light Force is. He zaps Link, knocking him out, and leaves to extract it from Zelda. Ezlo wakes Link up and explains the situation to him, and the two head out to stop Vaati. As they leave the Elemental Sanctuary, they find that Hyrule Castle has been transformed by Vaati’s magic, and its inhabitants turned to stone. Link uses the Four Sword’s beam on the first pair of guards and Minister Potho, restoring them to life. They’ve finally cottoned on to Daltus being Vaati in disguise, and one of the guards suggests that the real king must be somewhere in the castle.
Link finds the real king in the dungeon, petrified and stashed in a cell. Once restored to life, he’s shocked by everything that’s happened and wants to help Link fix it, but knows he’d only slow Link down. He gives Link a key that will help him escape from the castle. As he heads out, Link finds the dungeon map. Leaving the castle is strictly optional, but there are a few things that can only be wrapped up now that Link has the Four Sword. The guard at the doorway is gone, but the ones patrolling the west part of the garden are still there and throw Link out if they catch him. With the front entrance open, the only reason to go that way is to get to a fairy fountain, and there are others that are easier to find.
There are three Kinstone fusions Link can do in the outside world. First, fusing with the last Goron in Goron Cave causes Biggoron to wake up. He’s not willing to do anything to help Link just yet – he needs to be impressed, first. Second, in the area of the Minish Village where Link found a heart piece on his first visit, there’s a Minish who will fuse twice with Link. The first time causes a platform to appear in the water of Veil Falls, giving Link access to a Mole Mitts cave where he finds a piece of heart. The second time opens a crack near the Wind Crest in Lake Hylia, giving Link a path to where Librari has taken refuge while the town’s under alert. Librari gives Link a full heart container. There’s one last heart piece in town, in a Minish path in the playground of the school. Also, now that Link’s fused all the Kinstones he can, Tingle will reward him with a trophy.
There’s one more quest I didn’t realize existed until late in the game: Beedle only has the three varieties of Picolyte he started with: White (increases Kinstone drops), Red (increases Heart drops), and Green (increases Mysterious Shell drops). He’s got three empty bottles, waiting for new forms of Picolyte to be discovered. Picolyte is made from Pico Blooms, which are harvested in the barrel in the Minish Village where Link got his Jabber Nut. The Minish researching the Pico Blooms asks Link to bring him the ingredients to grow new types of blooms: Lon Lon Milk (Yellow, increases rupee drops), Mt. Crenel Mineral Water (blue, increases item drops), and a Red Potion (Orange, increases fairy drops). I pretty much entirely did this to have it done; White Picolyte was useful earlier when I was trying to get the initial set of Kinstone Fusions done and often found I didn’t have the right one, but otherwise they’re far too expensive to bother with. The Yellow one in particular seems like a worse gamble than the chest game: 100 rupee buy in, then 200 rupees per potion?
Next: Defeating Vaati again, for the first time.
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