Trying to head directly north to the northwestern part of the sea doesn’t work; a giant cyclone scoops up the ship and drops it back south. There’s a line of rocks in the southwestern part, but what appears to be a gap is actually blocked by some really big rocks. There’s no way through there, either, although Linebeck suggests that if they had a cannon, they could blast their way through. Back on Mercay Island, there was a guy on the docks who asked Link if the ship had a cannon, but they didn’t. He said there was a place to get one to the south, and since it’s not the Isle of Ember, it’s got to be the other island in the area… called Cannon Island. Well, that’s promising.
On Cannon Island, Link meets the postman for the first time, and this version’s a cherub. After he flies off, Link proceeds to the one building he can access, Eddo’s Garage. They don’t have any cannons for sale at the moment, so Eddo’s locked himself in his workshop so he can finish one. Eddo’s apprentice, Fuzo, suggests that if Link really wants to talk to Eddo, he can go around the long way, but warns him it’s not a safe path. Still, he opens the gate and lets Link go. The monsters aren’t particularly tough – most annoying are bees which are tiny and easiest to kill with a spin attack. The true challenge of the path is, starting with the cave Link needs to pass through, there are a bunch of bomb flowers; Link needs to pick up bombs and run them to where he can throw them to explode what needs exploding. The timing can get tough.
Eventually, Link makes his way through to Eddo, who’s impressed Link’s come this far. He hypes up the cost of the cannon, making it sound terribly expensive, but then names the exorbitant price of 50 rupees. Once again, I wonder how the economy of this world works, but whatever, Link found more than that getting through Cannon Island, and surely he’s not going to come all this way to get something he needs to progress and decide, eh, too expensive. Now that that’s done, Eddo is going to get to work on a salvage arm so Link can get treasures. Before leaving the island, Link meets the postman again, delivering a letter from his boss asking Link to be nice to the postman. (Afterward, he says it was a little weird to read.) And, once again, the DS features show up with Link signing that he got the delivery really meaning that the player signs for it.
Now that Link has a cannon, sailing becomes dangerous. I know that the sailing in Wind Waker was not the most beloved feature of that game, and it kind of feels like Nintendo took those fan complaints, printed them out, and rolled them up and smoked them while laughing at them. Some things are better: Linebeck’s boat is steam-powered, so Link doesn’t have to mess with the winds. Also, firing the cannon – my big dislike from Wind Waker – is a lot more user-friendly than with the King of Red Lions – ammo is unlimited, and aiming and firing is all one motion controlled, of course, by poking the screen where you want the ship to fire – and items dropped by aquatic enemies are automatically picked up. I might even find Seahats tolerable under these conditions, but they’re not around. On the other hand, combat’s more dangerous; rather than working off Link’s health, the ship has its own meter, and every hit drains one heart. As for navigation, drawing the path you want the ship to take is fine if you’re not going to change your mind about where you want to go, but rerouting means opening the chart again and drawing a new path.
The cannon blasts through the rocks Link and Linebeck saw earlier, and almost immediately afterward, the sky turns cloudy and the ghost ship appears. Linebeck’s desire for treasure overwhelms his cowardice, so he’s cheering for Link to chase after it, and here’s where the repathing starts to become annoying. As the ship crosses into the northwestern quadrant, the fog picks up, and eventually becomes impenetrably thick. It lifts a little bit, but the ship’s back near the quadrant boundary, and the ghost ship is nowhere to be seen. Linebeck (or maybe Ciela) says the fog that leads sailors astray is a feature of the ghost ship, and we’ve only had catching it as our end goal since the end of the intro; why did no one think that might be important to mention before now? Anyway, going forward is no longer an option, so Link heads back to look for clues that will lead the ship through the fog.
Next: X marks the spot.
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Monday, July 29, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Sands Through the Glass
Back on Mercay Island, the shipyard has opened by the docks. Here, Link can swap out parts of the ship to upgrade Linebeck’s ship. There’s a treasure chest here with a part so he can try it out. Using multiple parts from a set upgrades the ship’s stamina, so maybe for now Link may as well stay with Linebeck’s default parts. There’s not much else to do, so it’s time to check out the Temple of the Ocean King again. As Link enters, Linebeck comes in behind him, warning him that if he goes in unprotected, he’ll end up like the skeletons lying around the entrance. He tries to scoot off to leave Link to explore the temple, prompting yet another argument between him and Ciela [1], and it’s like okay, game, I get it already, he’s a coward and she doesn’t like that very much.
Oshus shows up to spare the player too much arguing, and says Link’s impressed him by freeing the spirit of power and might have a chance against the ghost ship after all. He points to an altar near the entrance deeper into the temple, where an hourglass sits. As Link approaches, the altar explodes with sand. At Oshus’ direction, Link takes the hourglass and the sand pours into it. It’s the Phantom Hourglass, which can protect Link from the Temple’s energy drain as long as it has sand in the top. (Linebeck brings up the idea of flipping it back over, but it’s magic sand and being drained depletes the magic until it’s restored. Going outside restores the magic, but also resets progress.) Defeating certain monsters, like Blaaz, gives Link more sand, and thus more time. Linebeck asks Oshus how he knows so much, but Oshus says he’s not ready to reveal all his secrets, because of course he’s not.
The first floor, that Link explored before, is mostly bypassed this time: the way forward isn’t blocked, and Leaf can open the door leading deeper into the dungeon. The next floor is patrolled by armored enemies called Phantoms, which Link can’t fight. So, stealth mission it is, although unlike many other stealth missions in the series, being spotted isn’t an instant fail. If Link can get to a safe zone before he’s caught, the Phantoms won’t be able to get to him, and they’re not smart enough to camp the zone waiting for him to come out so they can grab him. Small mercies; combining a stealth mission and timed mission is approximately like combining a vision test with a blindfold. (The Phantoms can also hear noises Link makes like breaking pots, but still can’t get into safe areas.)
This trip through the temple requires passing through three floors. The first two are basically Link sneaking around doing dungeony things to get a key to open the door forward. The third floor is a lot more complex: Link has to gather three gems to place into sockets to open the way forward. One of the gems is behind a locked door, and the key held by a Phantom (a helpful skeleton/ghost/hint dispenser tells Link this in case the player doesn’t notice the doubled-up icon on the minimap), so Link needs to dispose of the the Phantom by waiting till it walks over a trap door and then sending it falling to its doom. In addition to normal pots, there are two special kinds of pots to help Link advance: red pots create small safe zones where they break, and yellow pots restore some time to the Phantom Hourglass.
After the three puzzles are past, Link comes to a safe floor. His life doesn’t drain, and there are no Phantoms, so he can just head over to the treasure chest with the next part of the sea map and claim it. Once he does, a portal leading to the surface opens, and armed with what he came for, Link heads through. Back at the seaport, he finds Linebeck minding the ship. The map’s covered in dust, making it hard to read, so Link gets to blow the dust off the map, which of course is the player blowing into the microphone again. The cleared map has an island marked with Nayru’s symbol, so that’s where the Spirit of Wisdom probably is, and Link’s next major destination.
Next: Getting armed for the journey.
[1] I just realized that even though I don’t think I’ve misspelled her name, I’ve been reading it wrong (as “Celia”) and probably saying it wrong in my head.
Oshus shows up to spare the player too much arguing, and says Link’s impressed him by freeing the spirit of power and might have a chance against the ghost ship after all. He points to an altar near the entrance deeper into the temple, where an hourglass sits. As Link approaches, the altar explodes with sand. At Oshus’ direction, Link takes the hourglass and the sand pours into it. It’s the Phantom Hourglass, which can protect Link from the Temple’s energy drain as long as it has sand in the top. (Linebeck brings up the idea of flipping it back over, but it’s magic sand and being drained depletes the magic until it’s restored. Going outside restores the magic, but also resets progress.) Defeating certain monsters, like Blaaz, gives Link more sand, and thus more time. Linebeck asks Oshus how he knows so much, but Oshus says he’s not ready to reveal all his secrets, because of course he’s not.
The first floor, that Link explored before, is mostly bypassed this time: the way forward isn’t blocked, and Leaf can open the door leading deeper into the dungeon. The next floor is patrolled by armored enemies called Phantoms, which Link can’t fight. So, stealth mission it is, although unlike many other stealth missions in the series, being spotted isn’t an instant fail. If Link can get to a safe zone before he’s caught, the Phantoms won’t be able to get to him, and they’re not smart enough to camp the zone waiting for him to come out so they can grab him. Small mercies; combining a stealth mission and timed mission is approximately like combining a vision test with a blindfold. (The Phantoms can also hear noises Link makes like breaking pots, but still can’t get into safe areas.)
This trip through the temple requires passing through three floors. The first two are basically Link sneaking around doing dungeony things to get a key to open the door forward. The third floor is a lot more complex: Link has to gather three gems to place into sockets to open the way forward. One of the gems is behind a locked door, and the key held by a Phantom (a helpful skeleton/ghost/hint dispenser tells Link this in case the player doesn’t notice the doubled-up icon on the minimap), so Link needs to dispose of the the Phantom by waiting till it walks over a trap door and then sending it falling to its doom. In addition to normal pots, there are two special kinds of pots to help Link advance: red pots create small safe zones where they break, and yellow pots restore some time to the Phantom Hourglass.
After the three puzzles are past, Link comes to a safe floor. His life doesn’t drain, and there are no Phantoms, so he can just head over to the treasure chest with the next part of the sea map and claim it. Once he does, a portal leading to the surface opens, and armed with what he came for, Link heads through. Back at the seaport, he finds Linebeck minding the ship. The map’s covered in dust, making it hard to read, so Link gets to blow the dust off the map, which of course is the player blowing into the microphone again. The cleared map has an island marked with Nayru’s symbol, so that’s where the Spirit of Wisdom probably is, and Link’s next major destination.
Next: Getting armed for the journey.
[1] I just realized that even though I don’t think I’ve misspelled her name, I’ve been reading it wrong (as “Celia”) and probably saying it wrong in my head.
Friday, June 21, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Isle of Ember
Choosing a heading while sailing is accomplished by drawing the path for the ship to take on the map. There’s no wind to worry about, and at least for this journey, no seafaring monsters to harass the poor boat. Just set a course and go. On arrival, Ciela and Linebeck get in yet another argument, and obviously the fact that fate has thrown the two of them together for this adventure doesn’t indicate to either that maybe they should try to get along.
Link and Ciela scurry off to find Astrid, and her home seems deserted. However, there’s a staircase leading to the basement, and once Link is inside, the door closes behind him and a bunch of Octoroks pop out. After they’re dealt with, Ciela notes a presence on the other side of the other door in the basement, and thinks Link should call out to whoever it is. Or, more accurately, the player should call out using the DS microphone. Once that’s done, the person in the locked room responds – it’s Astrid, and she locked herself in to hide from monsters, and by an incredibly user-friendly design, the panic room only opens from the outside. She points to the map by the door, and says that her assistant, Kayo, knows what needs to be done with the map to open the door.
Kayo’s gone from his home, but his journal tells whoever finds it to look to the east side of the island. Over that way, Link and Ciela find Kayo’s body, and his ghost pops out to tell Link to look for three torches on the island. (Ciela’s reaction to the ghost is to tell Link to “get” it, heh.) One torch is on a small island near Kayo’s body, and another was back in Kayo’s home, so that leaves on to find. It’s on the north side of the island. With the locations known, Link returns to Astrid and marks the locations on the map, opening the panic room. Astrid agrees to help find the ghost ship, and looks into a crystal ball, seeing that Link must confront darkness. His first step is the nearby Temple of Fire. As Link approaches the temple, the island’s volcano begins spewing rocks. To open the temple, Link needs to blow out the two candles at the entrance – by the player blowing into the microphone.
There are some key changes to dungeons in this game. (Or at least, the first dungeon.) The map is unlocked, floor by floor, as Link enters each floor. Instead of compasses, gossip stones tell Link how many chests he’s missing per floor and offer to mark the chests on the map. The big key needs to be carried to its lock, Four Swords Adventures-style. And there’s no miniboss. Still, the dungeoneering feels familiar. The dungeon item is the boomerang, which is controlled by tracing a flight path on the screen. (It can also be thrown directly at enemies.) There are a bunch of switch puzzles, as well as chances to show off the fine control the boomerang gives. Ciela also takes several opportunities to be Captain Obvious, telling Link not to walk into fire, to write down hints noted on walls, and that there’s an evil presence in the boss room.
That evil presence is Blaaz, Master of Fire, a simple boss. He’ll split into three smaller versions that Link needs to reunite with a boomerang toss, but otherwise he just teleports around the room and sometimes summons falling rocks. And, for some reason, it takes an incredible number of sword hits to kill him. But eventually, die he does. Once he’s gone, a fairy emerges from the center of the room, freed by Blaaz’ death. He’s Leaf, the Spirit of Power, and he joins with Link and Ciela in their quest. Clearing the temple has also settled the volcano.
Astrid says Link will ultimately need three spirits to find the Ghost Ship, one corresponding to each of the virtues of the Triforce. She doesn’t know where the other two spirits are, but knows where Link can find a hint: back in the Temple of the Ocean King on Mercay Island. She also gives him a Power Gem, one type of spirit gem, ten of which can raise the spirit’s power. Linebeck’s excited to be one step closer to fabulous riches and runs off, leaving Ciela disgusted as usual. Astrid says that Linebeck will ultimately turn out to be helpful, but Ciela has her doubts. But that’s not the important thing right now: back to Mercay and on with the quest!
Next: So are the minutes of Link’s life.
Link and Ciela scurry off to find Astrid, and her home seems deserted. However, there’s a staircase leading to the basement, and once Link is inside, the door closes behind him and a bunch of Octoroks pop out. After they’re dealt with, Ciela notes a presence on the other side of the other door in the basement, and thinks Link should call out to whoever it is. Or, more accurately, the player should call out using the DS microphone. Once that’s done, the person in the locked room responds – it’s Astrid, and she locked herself in to hide from monsters, and by an incredibly user-friendly design, the panic room only opens from the outside. She points to the map by the door, and says that her assistant, Kayo, knows what needs to be done with the map to open the door.
Kayo’s gone from his home, but his journal tells whoever finds it to look to the east side of the island. Over that way, Link and Ciela find Kayo’s body, and his ghost pops out to tell Link to look for three torches on the island. (Ciela’s reaction to the ghost is to tell Link to “get” it, heh.) One torch is on a small island near Kayo’s body, and another was back in Kayo’s home, so that leaves on to find. It’s on the north side of the island. With the locations known, Link returns to Astrid and marks the locations on the map, opening the panic room. Astrid agrees to help find the ghost ship, and looks into a crystal ball, seeing that Link must confront darkness. His first step is the nearby Temple of Fire. As Link approaches the temple, the island’s volcano begins spewing rocks. To open the temple, Link needs to blow out the two candles at the entrance – by the player blowing into the microphone.
There are some key changes to dungeons in this game. (Or at least, the first dungeon.) The map is unlocked, floor by floor, as Link enters each floor. Instead of compasses, gossip stones tell Link how many chests he’s missing per floor and offer to mark the chests on the map. The big key needs to be carried to its lock, Four Swords Adventures-style. And there’s no miniboss. Still, the dungeoneering feels familiar. The dungeon item is the boomerang, which is controlled by tracing a flight path on the screen. (It can also be thrown directly at enemies.) There are a bunch of switch puzzles, as well as chances to show off the fine control the boomerang gives. Ciela also takes several opportunities to be Captain Obvious, telling Link not to walk into fire, to write down hints noted on walls, and that there’s an evil presence in the boss room.
That evil presence is Blaaz, Master of Fire, a simple boss. He’ll split into three smaller versions that Link needs to reunite with a boomerang toss, but otherwise he just teleports around the room and sometimes summons falling rocks. And, for some reason, it takes an incredible number of sword hits to kill him. But eventually, die he does. Once he’s gone, a fairy emerges from the center of the room, freed by Blaaz’ death. He’s Leaf, the Spirit of Power, and he joins with Link and Ciela in their quest. Clearing the temple has also settled the volcano.
Astrid says Link will ultimately need three spirits to find the Ghost Ship, one corresponding to each of the virtues of the Triforce. She doesn’t know where the other two spirits are, but knows where Link can find a hint: back in the Temple of the Ocean King on Mercay Island. She also gives him a Power Gem, one type of spirit gem, ten of which can raise the spirit’s power. Linebeck’s excited to be one step closer to fabulous riches and runs off, leaving Ciela disgusted as usual. Astrid says that Linebeck will ultimately turn out to be helpful, but Ciela has her doubts. But that’s not the important thing right now: back to Mercay and on with the quest!
Next: So are the minutes of Link’s life.
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Linebeck
The first floor of cave leading east covers the very basics of dungeoneering: some simple combat, using keys to unlock doors, an easy puzzle, and how things like pushing blocks and pulling levers works with the stylus controls. The second floor brings it all together; Link needs to get a key from a rat who scurries between two holes in the wall too fast for him to catch, so he blocks off one of the holes with a block, waits for the rat to come out of the other hole, stands between the rat and the hole, and catches the rat for the key.
As Link and Ciela emerge from the cave, Ciela says she’s not a big fan of Linebeck, whom she all hat, no cattle. But he’s possibly the only lead they’ve got for the Ghost Ship, so they head down to the docks to find him. Instead, they find another man admiring Linebeck’s ship. When he hears that Link’s looking for Linebeck, he points him to the local milk bar where Linebeck’s known to hang out, but he hasn’t been seen for a few days. The bartender says that Linebeck decided to explore a nearby temple devoted to the Ocean King, and then he and a patron begin trying to talk Link out of going there, saying that the temple has become cursed to drain the life out of any visitors. Still, they point out the temple’s location, because surely Link’s got enough sense to heed their warnings and stay clear.
On the way to the temple, Link takes the time to visit the tree he was pointed to and knocks a big green rupee (100) out. When they arrive, Ciela repeats the same information from the milk bar: built to honor the Ocean King, fallen into disrepair, cursed. Unlike them, however, she has no intentions of encouraging Link from abandoning the quest – heck, she’s been the one pushing for it all along. It’s like Link’s finally found the perfect fairy companion. Inside she’s a bit creeped out by the skeletons of those who failed to explore the temple. The skeletons can still talk, referring to the dangers inside. One refers to monsters Link won’t encounter, and another mentions making notes to help him when he comes back. So, the Temple of the Ocean King is apparently the dungeon Link’s coming back to.
As Link and Ciela enter the temple proper, someone calls to them. It turns out to be Linebeck, asking Link to help him. Ciela is annoyed by how rude Linebeck’s being even as he asks for help. Linebeck says he’s trapped, and can’t free himself because he sprained his ankle. When Link agrees to help, Linebeck explains the mechanics: the temple drains the life out of explorers, but areas shaded in purple are safe. After some quick exploration, Link finds a switch that lowers the spikes that are blocking Linebeck from the exit, and Linebeck runs for it. Link heads back to the entrance.
Ciela accuses Linebeck of faking, but he dismisses her and addresses Link. He asks what brought Link to the temple, and when Link apparently mentions the Ghost Ship, asks if Link is looking for the treasure. Ciela pipes up that they don’t know anything about treasure, but are trying to save Zelda, which causes Linebeck to change his tune: he’s willing to help. Linebeck’s looking for the ship too (for whatever treasure there is, no doubt), but hurt his ankle and… well, now they’re caught up. After making a display of how much his ankle hurts when Ciela doubts him again, he grabs Link and shakes him, telling him to explore the temple and find a clue to the Ghost Ship’s location. When Ciela accuses him of being scared, he says he’s letting Link have the glory instead, and gives him a key… while Link’s still woozy from being shaken (he stumbles around with swirly eyes doing the item get thing, and the jingle is off-key, heh) [1].
Exploring the rest of the room involves hitting two switches to disable spike traps, then grabbing a central treasure chest. The chest contains a sea map that uncovers the southwest portion of Link’s chart. The help text mentions showing it to Linebeck, only by time they get to the entrance, Linebeck’s ankle’s recovered enough that he’s gone outside. Linebeck takes a look at the map, and decides he’s got what he wants so he doesn’t have to play nice and runs off with it.
When Link and Ciela catch up to him at the dock, Oshus is there, having crossed the now-repaired bridge and come to see how things are going. Oshus is impressed by Link’s accomplishments, and with Linebeck unable to figure out anything useful from the map, takes it and gives it to Link to uncover the secret. Near the southeast corner of the map, Link discovers that parts of it can be flaked off to reveal a mark not unlike Din’s pearl on the Isle of Ember. There’s a fortune teller there who might be able to help locate the ship, so Link and Linebeck prepare to set sail together to find out what she knows. Oshus encourages Ciela to tag along, too, and she’s excited about it aside from having to put up with Linebeck. And one last thing: Link takes the money he’s found and goes to the island shop to buy a shield.
Next: I didn’t even know the DS had a microphone.
[1] The item get thing gets another poke if Link finds the chest Linebeck emptied for the key. He goes into the pose, only to reveal he got nothing.
As Link and Ciela emerge from the cave, Ciela says she’s not a big fan of Linebeck, whom she all hat, no cattle. But he’s possibly the only lead they’ve got for the Ghost Ship, so they head down to the docks to find him. Instead, they find another man admiring Linebeck’s ship. When he hears that Link’s looking for Linebeck, he points him to the local milk bar where Linebeck’s known to hang out, but he hasn’t been seen for a few days. The bartender says that Linebeck decided to explore a nearby temple devoted to the Ocean King, and then he and a patron begin trying to talk Link out of going there, saying that the temple has become cursed to drain the life out of any visitors. Still, they point out the temple’s location, because surely Link’s got enough sense to heed their warnings and stay clear.
On the way to the temple, Link takes the time to visit the tree he was pointed to and knocks a big green rupee (100) out. When they arrive, Ciela repeats the same information from the milk bar: built to honor the Ocean King, fallen into disrepair, cursed. Unlike them, however, she has no intentions of encouraging Link from abandoning the quest – heck, she’s been the one pushing for it all along. It’s like Link’s finally found the perfect fairy companion. Inside she’s a bit creeped out by the skeletons of those who failed to explore the temple. The skeletons can still talk, referring to the dangers inside. One refers to monsters Link won’t encounter, and another mentions making notes to help him when he comes back. So, the Temple of the Ocean King is apparently the dungeon Link’s coming back to.
As Link and Ciela enter the temple proper, someone calls to them. It turns out to be Linebeck, asking Link to help him. Ciela is annoyed by how rude Linebeck’s being even as he asks for help. Linebeck says he’s trapped, and can’t free himself because he sprained his ankle. When Link agrees to help, Linebeck explains the mechanics: the temple drains the life out of explorers, but areas shaded in purple are safe. After some quick exploration, Link finds a switch that lowers the spikes that are blocking Linebeck from the exit, and Linebeck runs for it. Link heads back to the entrance.
Ciela accuses Linebeck of faking, but he dismisses her and addresses Link. He asks what brought Link to the temple, and when Link apparently mentions the Ghost Ship, asks if Link is looking for the treasure. Ciela pipes up that they don’t know anything about treasure, but are trying to save Zelda, which causes Linebeck to change his tune: he’s willing to help. Linebeck’s looking for the ship too (for whatever treasure there is, no doubt), but hurt his ankle and… well, now they’re caught up. After making a display of how much his ankle hurts when Ciela doubts him again, he grabs Link and shakes him, telling him to explore the temple and find a clue to the Ghost Ship’s location. When Ciela accuses him of being scared, he says he’s letting Link have the glory instead, and gives him a key… while Link’s still woozy from being shaken (he stumbles around with swirly eyes doing the item get thing, and the jingle is off-key, heh) [1].
Exploring the rest of the room involves hitting two switches to disable spike traps, then grabbing a central treasure chest. The chest contains a sea map that uncovers the southwest portion of Link’s chart. The help text mentions showing it to Linebeck, only by time they get to the entrance, Linebeck’s ankle’s recovered enough that he’s gone outside. Linebeck takes a look at the map, and decides he’s got what he wants so he doesn’t have to play nice and runs off with it.
When Link and Ciela catch up to him at the dock, Oshus is there, having crossed the now-repaired bridge and come to see how things are going. Oshus is impressed by Link’s accomplishments, and with Linebeck unable to figure out anything useful from the map, takes it and gives it to Link to uncover the secret. Near the southeast corner of the map, Link discovers that parts of it can be flaked off to reveal a mark not unlike Din’s pearl on the Isle of Ember. There’s a fortune teller there who might be able to help locate the ship, so Link and Linebeck prepare to set sail together to find out what she knows. Oshus encourages Ciela to tag along, too, and she’s excited about it aside from having to put up with Linebeck. And one last thing: Link takes the money he’s found and goes to the island shop to buy a shield.
Next: I didn’t even know the DS had a microphone.
[1] The item get thing gets another poke if Link finds the chest Linebeck emptied for the key. He goes into the pose, only to reveal he got nothing.
Monday, June 17, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Ciela and Oshus
“Hey!”
“Hey!”
“Hey!”
Link has landed on a beach and a fairy has been trying to get his attention. I’m not entirely sure the fairy’s voice is the same as Navi's (she doesn’t say “Listen!”), but if it’s not, they probably could have saved whatever money they spent recording the new clips. The fairy’s name is Ciela. She’s lost her memory, and has been living with a man she calls Grandpa. When she hears about the Ghost Ship and Zelda, she thinks Link should go talk to him. Control is given over to the player for the first time, giving me a chance to get used to controlling Link by poking the screen. It’s different, and I’m not a huge fan of this style of control, but most of it’s become fairly easy to get a handle on.
By time Link gets to Oshus, Ciela’s “Grandpa,” he’s been filled in on what Link intends to do. He tries to talk Link out of his goal, but Link’s not easily dissuaded, and neither is Ciela. So with a grumble about young people, he points Link to the nearby harbor village, where Link can find a sailor named Linebeck, who might be willing to help Link find the Ghost Ship. Ciela mentions that he’d come to visit them, and wants to go with Link to point Linebeck out. Oshus agrees, to Ciela’s great delight. Oshus has one final warning: there are monsters about the island, and Link needs to be careful.
As Link heads to the village, an earthquake strikes the island, and Ciela notes that they’ve been happening a lot recently. The bridge leading from Oshus’ home to the village is knocked out by the earthquake. A woman standing by the wrecked bridge tells Link and Ciela about another way to the village around to the north, but the path is filled with monsters so the only thing to do is wait for the bridge to be fixed. Oshus agrees with this careful plan, but Link and Ciela have to go see the monsters for themselves. In fact, a flag has to be set by Ciela commenting on the monsters – you can’t go to the path, see the ChuChus, realize Link doesn’t have a sword [1], and go back to Oshus to advance the plot without her nudge.
Despite Oshus’ continued insistence that Link and Ciela wait for the bridge to be repaired, Ciela isn’t giving up on dashing to the rescue. She and Link find a cave that Oshus uses to store stuff, including a sword. She remembers his passnumber hint, which gives Link the opportunity to find it and write it on the sign forbidding entry to the back room. With the room now open, Link goes in and finds the sword Ciela mentioned. She says they shouldn’t tell Oshus they’re taking it, but he’s there to greet them as they come out and notices Link has the sword. He agrees to let Link use the sword – after a swordplay tutorial. In-universe, while it makes sense for Oshus to make sure Link can use the sword, Link should be able to quickly show that he’s advanced beyond “the pointy end goes into the other man.” But out-of-universe, since the control scheme is all-new, it’s very welcome. The targeted attack is easy, the side slash is slightly more complicated but not bad, but the spin attack, which requires drawing a circle around Link, I can only manage about half the time.
There’s one more tutorial before Link sets out to the north – a guy had a bunch of rocks fall into his field and he wants Link to clear them. He rewards Link with a single rupee – which actually gets the full item get sequence – and then to make up for it not being very much, tells Link about a tree he might want to crash into off to the northwest, which introduces the idea of using the DS touchscreen to make notes on the map. As Link takes the trail and fights off a few Red ChuChus, there’s a gossip stone that tells how to roll, and suggests rolling into a nearby tree. I'm about as good at rolling as I am spin attacking, but I got the red rupee out. At the end of the trail, Link heads into the cave that leads to the eastern end of the island.
Next: How to run with a sprained ankle.
[1] The Master Sword got left in Ganon in Hyrule, but did Link not keep the sword he got from Orca? I guess it could have been lost when he went overboard, or he had it stowed somewhere on Tetra’s ship and didn’t have time to get it before his ill-fated attempt to jump over and rescue her.
“Hey!”
“Hey!”
Link has landed on a beach and a fairy has been trying to get his attention. I’m not entirely sure the fairy’s voice is the same as Navi's (she doesn’t say “Listen!”), but if it’s not, they probably could have saved whatever money they spent recording the new clips. The fairy’s name is Ciela. She’s lost her memory, and has been living with a man she calls Grandpa. When she hears about the Ghost Ship and Zelda, she thinks Link should go talk to him. Control is given over to the player for the first time, giving me a chance to get used to controlling Link by poking the screen. It’s different, and I’m not a huge fan of this style of control, but most of it’s become fairly easy to get a handle on.
By time Link gets to Oshus, Ciela’s “Grandpa,” he’s been filled in on what Link intends to do. He tries to talk Link out of his goal, but Link’s not easily dissuaded, and neither is Ciela. So with a grumble about young people, he points Link to the nearby harbor village, where Link can find a sailor named Linebeck, who might be willing to help Link find the Ghost Ship. Ciela mentions that he’d come to visit them, and wants to go with Link to point Linebeck out. Oshus agrees, to Ciela’s great delight. Oshus has one final warning: there are monsters about the island, and Link needs to be careful.
As Link heads to the village, an earthquake strikes the island, and Ciela notes that they’ve been happening a lot recently. The bridge leading from Oshus’ home to the village is knocked out by the earthquake. A woman standing by the wrecked bridge tells Link and Ciela about another way to the village around to the north, but the path is filled with monsters so the only thing to do is wait for the bridge to be fixed. Oshus agrees with this careful plan, but Link and Ciela have to go see the monsters for themselves. In fact, a flag has to be set by Ciela commenting on the monsters – you can’t go to the path, see the ChuChus, realize Link doesn’t have a sword [1], and go back to Oshus to advance the plot without her nudge.
Despite Oshus’ continued insistence that Link and Ciela wait for the bridge to be repaired, Ciela isn’t giving up on dashing to the rescue. She and Link find a cave that Oshus uses to store stuff, including a sword. She remembers his passnumber hint, which gives Link the opportunity to find it and write it on the sign forbidding entry to the back room. With the room now open, Link goes in and finds the sword Ciela mentioned. She says they shouldn’t tell Oshus they’re taking it, but he’s there to greet them as they come out and notices Link has the sword. He agrees to let Link use the sword – after a swordplay tutorial. In-universe, while it makes sense for Oshus to make sure Link can use the sword, Link should be able to quickly show that he’s advanced beyond “the pointy end goes into the other man.” But out-of-universe, since the control scheme is all-new, it’s very welcome. The targeted attack is easy, the side slash is slightly more complicated but not bad, but the spin attack, which requires drawing a circle around Link, I can only manage about half the time.
There’s one more tutorial before Link sets out to the north – a guy had a bunch of rocks fall into his field and he wants Link to clear them. He rewards Link with a single rupee – which actually gets the full item get sequence – and then to make up for it not being very much, tells Link about a tree he might want to crash into off to the northwest, which introduces the idea of using the DS touchscreen to make notes on the map. As Link takes the trail and fights off a few Red ChuChus, there’s a gossip stone that tells how to roll, and suggests rolling into a nearby tree. I'm about as good at rolling as I am spin attacking, but I got the red rupee out. At the end of the trail, Link heads into the cave that leads to the eastern end of the island.
Next: How to run with a sprained ankle.
[1] The Master Sword got left in Ganon in Hyrule, but did Link not keep the sword he got from Orca? I guess it could have been lost when he went overboard, or he had it stowed somewhere on Tetra’s ship and didn’t have time to get it before his ill-fated attempt to jump over and rescue her.
Friday, June 14, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Introduction and Story
The Weird Controls Era begins. Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks are both designed around touchscreen/stylus controls, and then Skyward Sword is the motion control game. (I guess you could say Twilight Princess started the Weird Controls Era with its experiments in motion controls, but it also had a GameCube version with… well, I hesitate to call the GameCube controller “normal” [1][2], but it’s a gamepad.)
What I know about this game:
“Our story begins not long ago…
There was a young girl, savvy to the seas and head of a band of pirates. Her name was Tetra. She was pretty, brash, and brave. Tetra and her handsome pirates set out to explore the vast and unfamiliar seas. One day on a stop at an island, Tetra met a young boy dressed in green. After a series of strange events, the two began traveling together…
They found old ruins, and light enveloped Tetra. At once, she transformed into a beautiful princess. Her lineage traced back to an ancient, ruined kingdom. She was Princess Zelda of the Kingdom of Hyrule. Just then, a huge, ominous king appeared! He carried Princess Zelda away…
The evil king sought the power passed down to Hyrulian [sic] princesses. He schemed to take the power and use it himself. The boy chased after him, determined to save the princess…
The boy crossed seas and climbed mountains. The journey was perilous. He slayed evil monsters and used their power to become a true hero. After long and hard adventuring, he defeated the evil king. And beautiful Princess Zelda was rescued at last. Later, the two set out with the brave pirate crew in search of new lands…
Yes, they set sail together! A happy pirate ending!”
It’s like the movie version of the Wind Waker real events. The story is condensed, omitting several details (the Triforce seems unique to Zelda, not something she, Ganon, and Link each had a piece of; the King of Red Lions doesn’t appear; the final fate of Hyrule isn’t mentioned). The only major twists that gets spoiled are that Hyrule is ruined and Tetra is Zelda, which given that the story starts with that same group of pirates, is going to be important to know, while the rest of it can wait for people to go back and play Wind Waker to find out.
That impression is not at all informed by the fact that it’s a story Niko is narrating, complete with adorable paper cutouts he made that serve as the game’s illustrations. And he’s talking to Link who has fallen asleep on the deck. (Hey, it’s the start of the game.) Tetra comes down to yell at them for playing and sleeping while they’re supposed to be on lookout. Link sits up, but is still groggy, prompting Tetra to mock his legendary hero status. Mako calls down to tell Tetra that they’ve reached their destination, but he calls her “Princess Zelda,” which seems to annoy her – she prefers Tetra.
We get some more exposition: They’re looking for a ghost ship, and several other ships are said to have gone missing in the area. Gonzo adds that the waters in the area are protected by a sea spirit called the Ocean King. Tetra seems dismissive of the idea of a ghost ship – apparently Link didn’t share that particular story with her – and thinks it’s just pirates cultivating a reputation, and feels similarly about the Ocean King. Link spends much of the time with his head lolled back and then finally pulls it upright but is still pretty groggy – until the sky turns stormy.
Zuko calls down “Ship ahoy!” and a ship appears on the horizon. Even if it’s not a ghost ship, it’s still creepy and obviously evil. It pulls up alongside Tetra’s ship, and Tetra jumps over to investigate the mystery and recover any treasure they have. The ghost ship disappears – and a scream is heard – before Link can follow her over, and Link falls overboard. While he’s unconscious, he sees Tetra repeating “Link… save me….”
Next: Another familiar voice.
[1] Or the N64 three-handled monstrosity, for that matter.
[2] Yes, I play Smash Bros. No, I don’t get it.
What I know about this game:
- It’s kind of like Wind Waker. It’s got the same art style, it’s set in the same branch of the timeline (as a sequel), and also at sea.
- There’s a central dungeon that Link has to revisit between each of the main dungeons.
- There’s one more thing that I wasn’t sure applies to this or Spirit Tracks, but having played even just a little bit, is probably Spirit Tracks, so I'll acknowledge it if it comes up but otherwise leave it for the next game.
“Our story begins not long ago…
There was a young girl, savvy to the seas and head of a band of pirates. Her name was Tetra. She was pretty, brash, and brave. Tetra and her handsome pirates set out to explore the vast and unfamiliar seas. One day on a stop at an island, Tetra met a young boy dressed in green. After a series of strange events, the two began traveling together…
They found old ruins, and light enveloped Tetra. At once, she transformed into a beautiful princess. Her lineage traced back to an ancient, ruined kingdom. She was Princess Zelda of the Kingdom of Hyrule. Just then, a huge, ominous king appeared! He carried Princess Zelda away…
The evil king sought the power passed down to Hyrulian [sic] princesses. He schemed to take the power and use it himself. The boy chased after him, determined to save the princess…
The boy crossed seas and climbed mountains. The journey was perilous. He slayed evil monsters and used their power to become a true hero. After long and hard adventuring, he defeated the evil king. And beautiful Princess Zelda was rescued at last. Later, the two set out with the brave pirate crew in search of new lands…
Yes, they set sail together! A happy pirate ending!”
It’s like the movie version of the Wind Waker real events. The story is condensed, omitting several details (the Triforce seems unique to Zelda, not something she, Ganon, and Link each had a piece of; the King of Red Lions doesn’t appear; the final fate of Hyrule isn’t mentioned). The only major twists that gets spoiled are that Hyrule is ruined and Tetra is Zelda, which given that the story starts with that same group of pirates, is going to be important to know, while the rest of it can wait for people to go back and play Wind Waker to find out.
That impression is not at all informed by the fact that it’s a story Niko is narrating, complete with adorable paper cutouts he made that serve as the game’s illustrations. And he’s talking to Link who has fallen asleep on the deck. (Hey, it’s the start of the game.) Tetra comes down to yell at them for playing and sleeping while they’re supposed to be on lookout. Link sits up, but is still groggy, prompting Tetra to mock his legendary hero status. Mako calls down to tell Tetra that they’ve reached their destination, but he calls her “Princess Zelda,” which seems to annoy her – she prefers Tetra.
We get some more exposition: They’re looking for a ghost ship, and several other ships are said to have gone missing in the area. Gonzo adds that the waters in the area are protected by a sea spirit called the Ocean King. Tetra seems dismissive of the idea of a ghost ship – apparently Link didn’t share that particular story with her – and thinks it’s just pirates cultivating a reputation, and feels similarly about the Ocean King. Link spends much of the time with his head lolled back and then finally pulls it upright but is still pretty groggy – until the sky turns stormy.
Zuko calls down “Ship ahoy!” and a ship appears on the horizon. Even if it’s not a ghost ship, it’s still creepy and obviously evil. It pulls up alongside Tetra’s ship, and Tetra jumps over to investigate the mystery and recover any treasure they have. The ghost ship disappears – and a scream is heard – before Link can follow her over, and Link falls overboard. While he’s unconscious, he sees Tetra repeating “Link… save me….”
Next: Another familiar voice.
[1] Or the N64 three-handled monstrosity, for that matter.
[2] Yes, I play Smash Bros. No, I don’t get it.
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Twilight Princess: Ganon
After being forced out of Zelda’s body, Ganon reincorporates and turns into a pig-lion dark beast. He’s got three basic moves: running a ring around the throne room and eventually teleporting, charging at Link, or trying to drop on Link. When he materializes after teleporting, or during his charge, Link has a chance to hit his forehead with an arrow, which causes him to roll onto his side and give Link some free shots at the scar on his chest. Eventually he catches wise to how Link’s fighting and teleports away the second before an arrow would hit him, and Midna suggests matching him beast for beast. Link turns into the wolf and can grapple a charging Ganon and toss him aside – a throwback to doing the same with Gorons, or the sumo wrestling. After enough hits, Ganon falls.
With Ganon down, the gift Zelda gave Midna to heal her returns to Zelda, and she wakes up. They express the understanding they gained while Zelda’s spirit was inside Midna, but are rudely interrupted when Ganon starts preparing for the next phase of the battle. Midna summons the Fused Shadow, teleports Link and Zelda outside before they can stop her, and turns into the gigantic twilight beast to fight Ganon herself. Link and Zelda materialize in Hyrule Field and can only watch as Hyrule Castle fscking explodes, and when the dust settles, Ganon is sitting on his black stallion holding Midna’s helmet. He crushes the helmet and summons phantom riders to come after Link and Zelda. [1] Zelda calls on the light spirits, who teleport Link and Zelda away before they’re run over and give Zelda light arrows to fight Ganon.
Link and Zelda return to the field on Epona, leading to a chase fight where Zelda shoots Ganon with the arrows and then Link takes advantage of the stun to move in for sword attacks. After enough of this, Ganon’s horse falls, but he gets up to challenge Link one last time. He summons a barrier around the two of them for a final sword fight, Chosen Hero vs. Dark Lord. Mortal Drawing doesn’t work very well against him (maybe it does and I just couldn’t get the timing right, but either way, I wasn’t able to use it), but the Back Slice does okay. Eventually, Link will knock Ganon down and have a chance to land an Ending Blow.
Ganon screams as Link plunges the Master Sword into his chest, but is still able to get back up, still defiant. However, his defeat causes the Triforce of Power to abandon him, leaving him just a mortal man. A mortal man run through by a sword. Ganon sees a vision of Zant, who tilts his head to the side breaking his neck, and Ganon dies. The light spirits appear again, with a silhouette that resembles Midna’s, and Link runs to check it out. He finds a cloaked woman kneeling, and the woman – Midna, restored to her true Twili form – turns to look at him and smiles. And just in case there’s any doubt it’s Midna, she speaks with the familiar voice and irreverent tone, “What? Say something! Am I so beautiful that you’ve no more words left?”
The credits roll with the expected scenes of life going on in Hyrule now that the threat has passed. Highlights include a big line of people in Hyrule Castle Town doing the Malo Mart dance, Rutela still watching over her son, hearts floating over the yetis’ home, Telma’s group investigating the area around the Temple of Time, and of course the Ordon Village homecoming and reunions. There’s a mid-credits scene in the Mirror Chamber as Midna returns to her world. Zelda says the Mirror was left so that they could meet. As Midna’s leaving, she crystalizes a tear and sends it into the Mirror, causing it to crack, and once she’s gone, the Mirror shatters. The final scenes of the game echo the beginning: Fado runs up to Link’s house, calling for him; over by the road, Ilia watches as Link rides off on Epona.
Twilight Princess has got a great supporting cast, headlined of course by Midna, the best advisor companion yet, and a wide variety of memorable supporting players. The dungeons and bosses are all among the best in the series. It’s definitely in the top tier of Zelda games for me, along with A Link to the Past, Link’s Awakening, and Majora’s Mask.
[1] When it became apparent I was going to need to split this post from the Hyrule Castle post, this was where I thought I should leave off.
With Ganon down, the gift Zelda gave Midna to heal her returns to Zelda, and she wakes up. They express the understanding they gained while Zelda’s spirit was inside Midna, but are rudely interrupted when Ganon starts preparing for the next phase of the battle. Midna summons the Fused Shadow, teleports Link and Zelda outside before they can stop her, and turns into the gigantic twilight beast to fight Ganon herself. Link and Zelda materialize in Hyrule Field and can only watch as Hyrule Castle fscking explodes, and when the dust settles, Ganon is sitting on his black stallion holding Midna’s helmet. He crushes the helmet and summons phantom riders to come after Link and Zelda. [1] Zelda calls on the light spirits, who teleport Link and Zelda away before they’re run over and give Zelda light arrows to fight Ganon.
Link and Zelda return to the field on Epona, leading to a chase fight where Zelda shoots Ganon with the arrows and then Link takes advantage of the stun to move in for sword attacks. After enough of this, Ganon’s horse falls, but he gets up to challenge Link one last time. He summons a barrier around the two of them for a final sword fight, Chosen Hero vs. Dark Lord. Mortal Drawing doesn’t work very well against him (maybe it does and I just couldn’t get the timing right, but either way, I wasn’t able to use it), but the Back Slice does okay. Eventually, Link will knock Ganon down and have a chance to land an Ending Blow.
Ganon screams as Link plunges the Master Sword into his chest, but is still able to get back up, still defiant. However, his defeat causes the Triforce of Power to abandon him, leaving him just a mortal man. A mortal man run through by a sword. Ganon sees a vision of Zant, who tilts his head to the side breaking his neck, and Ganon dies. The light spirits appear again, with a silhouette that resembles Midna’s, and Link runs to check it out. He finds a cloaked woman kneeling, and the woman – Midna, restored to her true Twili form – turns to look at him and smiles. And just in case there’s any doubt it’s Midna, she speaks with the familiar voice and irreverent tone, “What? Say something! Am I so beautiful that you’ve no more words left?”
The credits roll with the expected scenes of life going on in Hyrule now that the threat has passed. Highlights include a big line of people in Hyrule Castle Town doing the Malo Mart dance, Rutela still watching over her son, hearts floating over the yetis’ home, Telma’s group investigating the area around the Temple of Time, and of course the Ordon Village homecoming and reunions. There’s a mid-credits scene in the Mirror Chamber as Midna returns to her world. Zelda says the Mirror was left so that they could meet. As Midna’s leaving, she crystalizes a tear and sends it into the Mirror, causing it to crack, and once she’s gone, the Mirror shatters. The final scenes of the game echo the beginning: Fado runs up to Link’s house, calling for him; over by the road, Ilia watches as Link rides off on Epona.
Twilight Princess has got a great supporting cast, headlined of course by Midna, the best advisor companion yet, and a wide variety of memorable supporting players. The dungeons and bosses are all among the best in the series. It’s definitely in the top tier of Zelda games for me, along with A Link to the Past, Link’s Awakening, and Majora’s Mask.
[1] When it became apparent I was going to need to split this post from the Hyrule Castle post, this was where I thought I should leave off.
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