With all the Spirit Gems, Link returns to Spirit Island to complete upgrades on his spirits. Leaf gets even more damage, Ciela allows better sword beams, and Neri… I guess absorbs even more damage? Given that taking damage hasn’t been a problem and I prefer to run Link into melee for jump attacks so sword beams aren’t much use, I stuck with Leaf the whole time. On Zauz’s Island, Zauz takes the three pure metals and begins forging a sword, but it’s going to take a while so Link has to scuttle off to find something to entertain him in the meantime.
A perfect opportunity comes in the mail: Jolene challenges Link to one final confrontation. Link seeks her out, and she’s honed her skills. She doesn’t leave herself open as long after missing a big attack, and picks up her sword after being disarmed the first time, but she’s still no match for Link. She’s apparently concerned that Link’s quest to stop Bellum is doomed and trying to dissuade him, but Link’s determined to see it through. And she knows Linebeck’s been hiding in a box. Once she’s gone, Linebeck explains their history: He accidentally saved her from a sea monster, and she mistook him for a hero, so they traveled together for a while. Then he realized he couldn’t keep up with her, so he stole something from her and ran off. All the while apparently oblivious to the fact that she was in love with him.
The diversion with Jolene accomplished its goal: Zauz had time to forge the Phantom Sword’s blade. But Oshus needs to make the hilt, so Link takes it to him. (Oshus swings it around, causing Link to scream and duck.) He takes the Phantom Hourglass – with no patience for Link’s Item Get! presentation – and turns it into the hilt of the Phantom Sword. Link takes the completed sword, and the theme usually associated with drawing the Master Sword from its pedestal plays. (The Phantom Sword itself is modeled after the Master Sword, so it’s not too out of place.) In addition to being able to fight Bellum, there are other powers of the Phantom Sword that Ciela has yet to unlock. Linebeck stops Link and Ciela on the way to the temple with a few encouraging words of his own.
Having the Phantom Sword completely changes the Temple of the Ocean King, because Link can now kill the Phantoms. The hammer is also very useful because its impact catches the notice of the Phantoms who come to investigate, and Link can hide out in a safe zone, wait for them to come over and turn their back to him, and whack them. The hammer can also kill Phantom Eyes around corners. A treasure chest appears on each floor when all the Phantoms are defeated, containing treasure, ship parts, and rupees. That said, the first nine levels really aren’t that different aside from maybe trying to kill all the Phantoms. (Annoyingly, killing the Phantoms on the seventh level puts the treasure over on the west side, which can only be gone back to by going down to the eighth floor and back.)
On the lowest floors, the Gold Phantoms teleporting to Link’s location means all he has to do to kill them is get spotted just outside a safe zone, run into the safe zone, and jump out to stab them as they teleport in. These last floors also have some of the hammer tricks from Mutoh’s Temple; rusted floor switches appear, and Link can basically skip the eleventh level by running to the nearby open staircase down and catapulting himself out of the enclosed area of the twelfth floor. The final level, empty before, now has three sets of three Phantoms – one set of each type – for Link to kill as a final test.
The next room of the Temple is safe, with a bridge. As Link runs across, the torches on either side of the bridge light up. Once he makes it to the other side, an earthquake causes the bridge to collapse behind him, seemingly indicating there’s no way back – but a portal appears leading back to the temple’s entrance. This gives Link a chance to collect the treasures marked by the maps he got on this final run, and he can repeatedly run the Temple to earn more treasure (there’s a reward of two random ship parts for re-completing it). Also, by careful use of time refunds – including grabbing the last one immediately before running through the final door – it’s possible to get both the halfway checkpoint time and the final time down to zero seconds.
When Link’s ready, he doesn’t have to go through the whole Temple again; the portal he took from the end left a return portal. Link goes through the portal and heads up the long staircase to fight Bellum.
Next: Linebeck’s moment of glory and Link’s awakening.
Friday, August 30, 2019
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Cobble Kingdom
There are two main islands in the northeastern sea, both surrounded by rocks. The only way though one circle is blocked by a cyclone, so Link starts on the other island, the Isle of the Dead. In a cave near the dock, Link and Ciela find journals written by an explorer who came to the island looking for the Cobble Kingdom. The important hint here is the shape of the island: a man wearing a crown, seen in profile. He also notes there’s supposed to be a treasure in the cave, which Link finds by bombing a wall and passing through a Rupoor maze: two ship parts, a treasure chart, and a Courage Gem.
Enemies in this part of the world include Rupee Likes (which had me throwing the boomerang at all stray rupees – actual rupees get picked up, Rupee Likes don’t), Stalfos, and rolling boulders that seem to know which way I’m going to dodge. The temple in the northeast has a repeating series of rooms that can only be solved by learning the path from the sages in the graveyard. Getting to the graveyard involves digging in a particular spot, passing through a tunnel (getting a Power Gem along the way), and shooting an arrow at a switch to open the gate. The sages’ gravestones indicate the path through the temple, allowing Link to meet a knight of the Cobble Kingdom, Brant. Along the way, he finds the remains of the explorer whose journals he read in the cave. Brant, sympathetic to Link’s quest, allows Link to take a Regal Necklace, which will get him through the cyclone to the Isle of Ruins.
The Isle of Ruins is a series of mazes, puzzles, traps, and monsters Link has to pass through, meeting the other three Cobble Kingdom knights along the way. Bremeur guards a seal that keeps the island partially flooded, so he sends Link to get the key from Doylan. With the key, Link returns to Bremeur and opens the seal, opening the way to Max, who opens the way to the temple, with a final test: Link needs to learn a sacred crest to draw on the door to enter. This involves going back to the maze at the start, which is different now that it’s no longer flooded, and reading the tablets in the area which Link couldn’t get to before. Having learned the crest (a square with the bottom triangle cut out), Link returns to the final door and opens it. While solving the island’s puzzles, Link finds a Courage Gem, a Power Gem, and the last two Wisdom Gems.
Mutoh’s Temple is more of the same, with puzzles, trap doors, Stalfos, and Rupee Likes. Terrorpins show up here, along with floor switches that have rusted so Link can’t budge them with his weight. These foreshadow the treasure item: the hammer, which is technically wielded by Ciela (so it can hammer anywhere within Link’s line of sight, or around corners if you drag the stylus), and can be charged up for a mega-smash (although I don’t think I found any use for this ability). After finding the hammer, Link finds catapults he can stand on and hit the trigger with the hammer to go flying up to higher levels and/or over obstacles. The hammer can also destroy Stalfos in a single shot. Finally for hammer tricks, there are several puzzles with red/blue floor tiles that flip when an adjacent tile is struck and Link needs to make them all a certain color or match a pattern. The main level of the dungeon has several puzzles involving flooding and draining the floor. The last Courage Gem is in the dungeon.
The boss is Eox, Ancient Stone Soldier, a giant golem. The boss is covered in red spots, which are its weak points. There are four catapults in the room Link can use to fling himself into the air, and while airborne, have Ciela smash the weak points with the hammer. As he does so, the exterior falls away, revealing the wooden skeleton, which has four weak points. Link needs to hit these in rapid succession (basically during one flight) to break down the frame, leaving just the head. In the final phase, Link uses the catapults to fling himself onto Eox’s head, where its final weak point is. Finally, Eox explodes into golden sand, which Link collects in the Phantom Hourglass.
In the lowest level of the temple, Link meets the ghost of King Mutoh. Now that Eox has been destroyed, peace will return to the ruins of the Cobble Kingdom, and Mutoh and his knights can sleep again. He gives Link the Aquanine so that he can help the Ocean King, and Link finally has the materials needed to make a Phantom Sword to destroy Bellum. Before Mutoh returns to sleep, he also sends Link the last Power Gem.
Most of the dungeons in the game have felt kind of uninspired, like they saved all the good stuff for the Temple of the Ocean King. (Also, they’ve all been really easy, like they never took the training wheels off.) But I really liked this one, along with exploring the islands that led to it, and the boss was incredibly fun. (That’s right: They made a dungeon with water level puzzles my favorite in the game.)
Next: Revenge!
Enemies in this part of the world include Rupee Likes (which had me throwing the boomerang at all stray rupees – actual rupees get picked up, Rupee Likes don’t), Stalfos, and rolling boulders that seem to know which way I’m going to dodge. The temple in the northeast has a repeating series of rooms that can only be solved by learning the path from the sages in the graveyard. Getting to the graveyard involves digging in a particular spot, passing through a tunnel (getting a Power Gem along the way), and shooting an arrow at a switch to open the gate. The sages’ gravestones indicate the path through the temple, allowing Link to meet a knight of the Cobble Kingdom, Brant. Along the way, he finds the remains of the explorer whose journals he read in the cave. Brant, sympathetic to Link’s quest, allows Link to take a Regal Necklace, which will get him through the cyclone to the Isle of Ruins.
The Isle of Ruins is a series of mazes, puzzles, traps, and monsters Link has to pass through, meeting the other three Cobble Kingdom knights along the way. Bremeur guards a seal that keeps the island partially flooded, so he sends Link to get the key from Doylan. With the key, Link returns to Bremeur and opens the seal, opening the way to Max, who opens the way to the temple, with a final test: Link needs to learn a sacred crest to draw on the door to enter. This involves going back to the maze at the start, which is different now that it’s no longer flooded, and reading the tablets in the area which Link couldn’t get to before. Having learned the crest (a square with the bottom triangle cut out), Link returns to the final door and opens it. While solving the island’s puzzles, Link finds a Courage Gem, a Power Gem, and the last two Wisdom Gems.
Mutoh’s Temple is more of the same, with puzzles, trap doors, Stalfos, and Rupee Likes. Terrorpins show up here, along with floor switches that have rusted so Link can’t budge them with his weight. These foreshadow the treasure item: the hammer, which is technically wielded by Ciela (so it can hammer anywhere within Link’s line of sight, or around corners if you drag the stylus), and can be charged up for a mega-smash (although I don’t think I found any use for this ability). After finding the hammer, Link finds catapults he can stand on and hit the trigger with the hammer to go flying up to higher levels and/or over obstacles. The hammer can also destroy Stalfos in a single shot. Finally for hammer tricks, there are several puzzles with red/blue floor tiles that flip when an adjacent tile is struck and Link needs to make them all a certain color or match a pattern. The main level of the dungeon has several puzzles involving flooding and draining the floor. The last Courage Gem is in the dungeon.
The boss is Eox, Ancient Stone Soldier, a giant golem. The boss is covered in red spots, which are its weak points. There are four catapults in the room Link can use to fling himself into the air, and while airborne, have Ciela smash the weak points with the hammer. As he does so, the exterior falls away, revealing the wooden skeleton, which has four weak points. Link needs to hit these in rapid succession (basically during one flight) to break down the frame, leaving just the head. In the final phase, Link uses the catapults to fling himself onto Eox’s head, where its final weak point is. Finally, Eox explodes into golden sand, which Link collects in the Phantom Hourglass.
In the lowest level of the temple, Link meets the ghost of King Mutoh. Now that Eox has been destroyed, peace will return to the ruins of the Cobble Kingdom, and Mutoh and his knights can sleep again. He gives Link the Aquanine so that he can help the Ocean King, and Link finally has the materials needed to make a Phantom Sword to destroy Bellum. Before Mutoh returns to sleep, he also sends Link the last Power Gem.
Most of the dungeons in the game have felt kind of uninspired, like they saved all the good stuff for the Temple of the Ocean King. (Also, they’ve all been really easy, like they never took the training wheels off.) But I really liked this one, along with exploring the islands that led to it, and the boss was incredibly fun. (That’s right: They made a dungeon with water level puzzles my favorite in the game.)
Next: Revenge!
Monday, August 26, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Northeastern Sea
Link now has 21 minutes to navigate the Temple of the Ocean King all the way to the bottom. With two new items at his disposal, pretty much every floor he’d previously visited is somehow different. There’s a Courage Gem he can get on the first floor by shooting an eye switch from a grappling hook tightrope and a chest with a Wisdom Gem appears on the second floor when a switch is hit by a bombchu. Floor three is totally different – Link can completely skip rounding up Force Gems and just slingshot his way to a different exit. Bombchus can open up an alternate exit on floor four that lets Link skip most of floor five. (Floor six is the same as before, but it’s “run to the door, draw the symbol, leave”; not much to do to make that simpler.) I did the same thing as before – one run to explore, one for reaching the checkpoint as fast as possible, and got my checkpoint time down to 45 seconds.
With the extra items, Link is able to do the next set of floors without backtracking. The grappling hook lets him cross from the west to the east side of the seventh floor, getting the crystal there on his first visit. On the eighth floor, a bombchu can hit a switch without Link needing to bring a crystal up from the ninth floor. So, Link can grab the crystal from the seventh floor, carry it down two levels, and have all the crystals without needing to backtrack once. There’s also a Power Gem Link can get on the seventh floor. (One more shortcut that I didn’t use: Link can get a key on the third floor that he no longer has to use to get a Force Gem, and use it on a door here to get a faster exit from the seventh floor and some extra time from a yellow pot where he comes in on the eighth floor. However, using the checkpoint exit takes away the key.)
When Link puts the crystals in the pedestals in the right order, the safe room becomes an elevator, leading him down to the tenth floor. (Ever helpful, Ciela notes the rumbling of the safe room moving, and that we’re in a different place than we were before.) The Phantoms on these last floors are gold, and move like the normal blue Phantoms – but if Link is spotted, they teleport to his location. The tenth floor lets Link kill the Phantoms by smashing them with rolling boulders, then navigate a central maze filled with Phantom Eyes to reach the exit at the center. The eleventh floor has an exit right near the entrance – but the area it leads to on the twelfth floor has no way out with the items Link has. So, he has to solve a puzzle involving stepping on four floor switches to open the other way forward. (One of the skeletons on this floor gripes about not being able to use the D-Pad. Surprised he made it this far.)
The twelfth floor has another Force Gem puzzle, with one Phantom patrolling a central area carrying one of the Gems. The other two are in chests, and as soon as Link opens each chest, another Phantom spawns nearby. Plus placing the first two Force Gems causes Wizzrobes to spawn (although if Link simply tosses the Force Gems into the safe area and waits to place them until they’re all there, the Wizzrobes aren’t a concern). The final floor is weird – the timer still counts down, but there are no Phantoms or other enemies or even hazards, and there’s a red pot Link can use to make a safe zone. More importantly for now, the northeast quadrant map is here, so Link can finally explore the full sea.
The northeast quadrant has the final Golden Frog to give Link a warp symbol. There’s also another Traveler’s Ship, this one overrun by monsters. Once they’re gone, the ship’s owner, the Man of Smiles, comes down, and as a reward, gives Link a treasure chart and the Hero’s New Clothes, starting a trading sequence. The Hero’s New Clothes go to the hero on the Prince of Red Lions, in exchange for a kaleidoscope he jokes was a gift from his sister. The kaleidoscope goes to the Ho Ho Tribe in exchange for a guard notebook, which goes to Nyave for a Wood Heart. Searching the seas, Link finds another Traveler’s Ship in the southeast, this one run by the Old Wayfarer, who’s looking for more food because he didn’t realize mermaids ate so much. He takes the Wood Heart and invites Link to visit him on Bannan Island, where he gives Link the Swordsman’s Scroll, teaching him the Great Spin Attack.
Link can revisit the Man of Smiles; the reward for saving his ship again is a Prize Postcard Link can send off in the mail to enter a drawing. It’s better to lose this drawing – the consolation prize is a ship part, while there’s no prize for winning. I “won” three of the four days I tried. It’s not worth it.
The uncharted island in the northeast quadrant is Maze Island, where Link is challenged to solve a maze, hitting gossip stones en route to the prize chests in the center. There are three levels of difficulty, and prizes are a Wisdom Gem, a treasure chart, and a heart container, along with another Wisdom Gem Link can get along the way. Finally, Link can salvage a bunch of treasures, including two new maps from the game on Harrow Island, and two that are technically in the northwest quadrant but only accessible by coming over from the northeast.
Next: Raiders of the lost kingdom.
With the extra items, Link is able to do the next set of floors without backtracking. The grappling hook lets him cross from the west to the east side of the seventh floor, getting the crystal there on his first visit. On the eighth floor, a bombchu can hit a switch without Link needing to bring a crystal up from the ninth floor. So, Link can grab the crystal from the seventh floor, carry it down two levels, and have all the crystals without needing to backtrack once. There’s also a Power Gem Link can get on the seventh floor. (One more shortcut that I didn’t use: Link can get a key on the third floor that he no longer has to use to get a Force Gem, and use it on a door here to get a faster exit from the seventh floor and some extra time from a yellow pot where he comes in on the eighth floor. However, using the checkpoint exit takes away the key.)
When Link puts the crystals in the pedestals in the right order, the safe room becomes an elevator, leading him down to the tenth floor. (Ever helpful, Ciela notes the rumbling of the safe room moving, and that we’re in a different place than we were before.) The Phantoms on these last floors are gold, and move like the normal blue Phantoms – but if Link is spotted, they teleport to his location. The tenth floor lets Link kill the Phantoms by smashing them with rolling boulders, then navigate a central maze filled with Phantom Eyes to reach the exit at the center. The eleventh floor has an exit right near the entrance – but the area it leads to on the twelfth floor has no way out with the items Link has. So, he has to solve a puzzle involving stepping on four floor switches to open the other way forward. (One of the skeletons on this floor gripes about not being able to use the D-Pad. Surprised he made it this far.)
The twelfth floor has another Force Gem puzzle, with one Phantom patrolling a central area carrying one of the Gems. The other two are in chests, and as soon as Link opens each chest, another Phantom spawns nearby. Plus placing the first two Force Gems causes Wizzrobes to spawn (although if Link simply tosses the Force Gems into the safe area and waits to place them until they’re all there, the Wizzrobes aren’t a concern). The final floor is weird – the timer still counts down, but there are no Phantoms or other enemies or even hazards, and there’s a red pot Link can use to make a safe zone. More importantly for now, the northeast quadrant map is here, so Link can finally explore the full sea.
The northeast quadrant has the final Golden Frog to give Link a warp symbol. There’s also another Traveler’s Ship, this one overrun by monsters. Once they’re gone, the ship’s owner, the Man of Smiles, comes down, and as a reward, gives Link a treasure chart and the Hero’s New Clothes, starting a trading sequence. The Hero’s New Clothes go to the hero on the Prince of Red Lions, in exchange for a kaleidoscope he jokes was a gift from his sister. The kaleidoscope goes to the Ho Ho Tribe in exchange for a guard notebook, which goes to Nyave for a Wood Heart. Searching the seas, Link finds another Traveler’s Ship in the southeast, this one run by the Old Wayfarer, who’s looking for more food because he didn’t realize mermaids ate so much. He takes the Wood Heart and invites Link to visit him on Bannan Island, where he gives Link the Swordsman’s Scroll, teaching him the Great Spin Attack.
Link can revisit the Man of Smiles; the reward for saving his ship again is a Prize Postcard Link can send off in the mail to enter a drawing. It’s better to lose this drawing – the consolation prize is a ship part, while there’s no prize for winning. I “won” three of the four days I tried. It’s not worth it.
The uncharted island in the northeast quadrant is Maze Island, where Link is challenged to solve a maze, hitting gossip stones en route to the prize chests in the center. There are three levels of difficulty, and prizes are a Wisdom Gem, a treasure chart, and a heart container, along with another Wisdom Gem Link can get along the way. Finally, Link can salvage a bunch of treasures, including two new maps from the game on Harrow Island, and two that are technically in the northwest quadrant but only accessible by coming over from the northeast.
Next: Raiders of the lost kingdom.
Friday, August 23, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Isle of Frost
The other major island in the southeast quadrant is surrounded by a ring of ice. It even appears on the map, and as long as it’s there, the SS Linebeck can’t dock on the island. As the ship approaches, Linebeck suggests circling around the island and blasting the ice with the cannon. Each section of ice takes a few hits to destroy, and once it’s all gone, a docking port appears on the Isle of Frost.
The island is home to two tribes of people. The ones near the docking port are the Anouki, who have antlers and wear fur-lined hooded coats. They don’t get along with the Yook, and split the island between them. However, the chief says a Yook has snuck over to the Anouki side, taken one of the villagers, and has been pretending to be that villager and living among the Anouki. And so, in order for Link to get to the temple and get the island’s pure metal, the chief wants Link to find the Yook imposter and kick him out. The hint he gives is that Yook are liars, while apparently Anouki are honest.
Ciela apparently doesn’t trust the chief, and her warning combined with the fact that the Anouki seem to really dislike the Yook put my senses on edge for a revelation that the Yook are the good guys and we just happened to meet the Anouki first. But there’s no other way forward at the moment, so Link heads up to the village and starts talking to people. Some of the villagers say that others in the village are honest, while the rest suggest that others are liars. Examining the hints Link’s gotten, it becomes apparent that if only one of them is lying, it’s Aroo. When Link confronts him, Ciela tries to convince him to leave peacefully, but her squeaky voice “drives [him] wild,” causing him to revert to his natural yetiesque Yook form. The Yook wants to eat Ciela, saying she looks tasty, and Ciela says she’s not (“I’m yellow [1], but I don’t taste anything like a delicious fruit!”). The Yook ends up blowing Link and Ciela out of Aroo’s home and escaping.
The chief opens up the way to the Great Ice Field, where the Yook live (Link’s ambivalent about revenge, but Ciela’s up for it). As Link heads over, a stone has a message explaining the Yook’s weakness. It’s mostly been wiped clean, but there’s enough to get the gist: chuck a bomb in their mouths as they’re breathing in to build up to blow everything in their path away. That stuns them and lets Link finish them off with sword attacks. Six Yook need to be defeated to open the way to the temple (as it turns out, they’re not friendly, so it’s okay), then one last Yook – the one who was impersonating Aroo – confronts him. Throughout it all, heavy winds also hinder Link’s progress.
An early puzzle in the Temple of Ice requires a bombchu, so this dungeon has to come after the Goron Temple. As an ice dungeon, the floors are slippery and there are icy variants of Bubbles and Keese to welcome Link. After fighting a couple Yook, Link get’s the treasure item, the grappling hook, which is more like a hookshot in this game, but it’s got a new twist: Link can sling it between two posts and either use it as a tightrope or a giant slingshot, which can be used to bounce things off of or to throw Link across gaps. There are two Wisdom Gems in the dungeon.
The dungeon boss is Gleeok, Two-Headed Dragon. One of the heads is fiery, one is icy, so the standard Twinrova tactics [2] work here, using the grappling hook to reflect attacks and crack their masks. Sometimes they flood the room, so Link needs to jump on the posts to be above the wave. Once both masks are broken, the two heads come forward and destroy two of the posts, but that’s okay, they change tactics. Now they build up big attacks, leaving their tongues hanging out, and Link grabs the tongue to pull the heads down to swat them. Once both heads are defeated, Link gets more sand for the hourglass, a heart container, and the Azurine.
As Link leaves the temple, he meets the real Aroo. With the grappling hook, there are a bunch of Spirit Gems Link can get across the world, bringing his total up to 16 Power Gems, 14 Wisdom Gems, and 15 Courage Gems. Gongoron and Aroo send Link letters, also containing a Courage Gem (Gongoron) and Wisdom Gem (Aroo). Gongoron invites Link to check out Dee Ess Island again, where the minigame has been set up. The game involves rolling Gongoron over the island, hitting targets. If it can be done in less than 35 seconds, Link gets the second bombchu bag upgrade, letting him have 30 bombchus.
Next: Filling out the map.
[1] The Spirit of Courage is yellow. Heh.
[2] Hrm. I’ve been playing the NES games so I’ve been thinking about the evolution of the Zelda formula, and A Link to the Past has a boss very much like this Gleeok in the dungeon where Link gets the Mirror Shield, but there’s no way to reflect the fire/ice attacks at the opposite heads. Checking it out, it looks like Oracle of Ages was the first game where every dungeon item is used to defeat its boss.
The island is home to two tribes of people. The ones near the docking port are the Anouki, who have antlers and wear fur-lined hooded coats. They don’t get along with the Yook, and split the island between them. However, the chief says a Yook has snuck over to the Anouki side, taken one of the villagers, and has been pretending to be that villager and living among the Anouki. And so, in order for Link to get to the temple and get the island’s pure metal, the chief wants Link to find the Yook imposter and kick him out. The hint he gives is that Yook are liars, while apparently Anouki are honest.
Ciela apparently doesn’t trust the chief, and her warning combined with the fact that the Anouki seem to really dislike the Yook put my senses on edge for a revelation that the Yook are the good guys and we just happened to meet the Anouki first. But there’s no other way forward at the moment, so Link heads up to the village and starts talking to people. Some of the villagers say that others in the village are honest, while the rest suggest that others are liars. Examining the hints Link’s gotten, it becomes apparent that if only one of them is lying, it’s Aroo. When Link confronts him, Ciela tries to convince him to leave peacefully, but her squeaky voice “drives [him] wild,” causing him to revert to his natural yetiesque Yook form. The Yook wants to eat Ciela, saying she looks tasty, and Ciela says she’s not (“I’m yellow [1], but I don’t taste anything like a delicious fruit!”). The Yook ends up blowing Link and Ciela out of Aroo’s home and escaping.
The chief opens up the way to the Great Ice Field, where the Yook live (Link’s ambivalent about revenge, but Ciela’s up for it). As Link heads over, a stone has a message explaining the Yook’s weakness. It’s mostly been wiped clean, but there’s enough to get the gist: chuck a bomb in their mouths as they’re breathing in to build up to blow everything in their path away. That stuns them and lets Link finish them off with sword attacks. Six Yook need to be defeated to open the way to the temple (as it turns out, they’re not friendly, so it’s okay), then one last Yook – the one who was impersonating Aroo – confronts him. Throughout it all, heavy winds also hinder Link’s progress.
An early puzzle in the Temple of Ice requires a bombchu, so this dungeon has to come after the Goron Temple. As an ice dungeon, the floors are slippery and there are icy variants of Bubbles and Keese to welcome Link. After fighting a couple Yook, Link get’s the treasure item, the grappling hook, which is more like a hookshot in this game, but it’s got a new twist: Link can sling it between two posts and either use it as a tightrope or a giant slingshot, which can be used to bounce things off of or to throw Link across gaps. There are two Wisdom Gems in the dungeon.
The dungeon boss is Gleeok, Two-Headed Dragon. One of the heads is fiery, one is icy, so the standard Twinrova tactics [2] work here, using the grappling hook to reflect attacks and crack their masks. Sometimes they flood the room, so Link needs to jump on the posts to be above the wave. Once both masks are broken, the two heads come forward and destroy two of the posts, but that’s okay, they change tactics. Now they build up big attacks, leaving their tongues hanging out, and Link grabs the tongue to pull the heads down to swat them. Once both heads are defeated, Link gets more sand for the hourglass, a heart container, and the Azurine.
As Link leaves the temple, he meets the real Aroo. With the grappling hook, there are a bunch of Spirit Gems Link can get across the world, bringing his total up to 16 Power Gems, 14 Wisdom Gems, and 15 Courage Gems. Gongoron and Aroo send Link letters, also containing a Courage Gem (Gongoron) and Wisdom Gem (Aroo). Gongoron invites Link to check out Dee Ess Island again, where the minigame has been set up. The game involves rolling Gongoron over the island, hitting targets. If it can be done in less than 35 seconds, Link gets the second bombchu bag upgrade, letting him have 30 bombchus.
Next: Filling out the map.
[1] The Spirit of Courage is yellow. Heh.
[2] Hrm. I’ve been playing the NES games so I’ve been thinking about the evolution of the Zelda formula, and A Link to the Past has a boss very much like this Gleeok in the dungeon where Link gets the Mirror Shield, but there’s no way to reflect the fire/ice attacks at the opposite heads. Checking it out, it looks like Oracle of Ages was the first game where every dungeon item is used to defeat its boss.
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Gorons
There are two main islands in the southeast quadrant. The first is in the southwest corner of the area, and as the SS Linebeck approaches, a cyclone lifts the ship and carries it off, soaking the engine so it’s stuck. A Massive Eye, a giant flying slug with six eyes on its sides, comes flying at the ship. Linebeck shows why he’s not an adventurer – he doesn’t realize the conspicuous eyes are the monster’s weak point. It shoots a bunch of projectiles at the ship, and those aren’t so bad, but it also makes ramming runs that are, as far as I can tell, unavoidable. Once the eyes have all been shot out, the Massive Eye flops back into the sea, leaving Link and Linebeck free to explore the island.
As Link sets foot on Goron Island, the first Goron he sees greets him by advising him to talk to everyone else. Talking to everyone involves clearing some Yellow ChuChus off a cliff with the bow, and getting a treasure chart as a reward. There’s also an ominous warning about Link possibly losing his shield and needing to replace it from the new store on the island. Once Link’s talked to everyone, Ciela pipes up that he’s done so and it’s time to visit the elder. The elder is Biggoron, and he’s bigger than the rest of the Gorons but not so towering that only part of him fits in the frame. Once he’s established that Link has introduced himself to everyone, he begins asking questions about the tribe and the island (for a fee of 20 rupees). The quiz calls to mind Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, including a lifeline (“Gorohint,” which removes an incorrect answer) and “Is that your ultimate answer?” Correct answers award rupees, but once everything’s done, there’s the matter of membership dues – the exact amount of rupees Link got for answering the questions. (He gets a Wisdom Gem, which he gets too keep.)
Biggoron says the pure metal’s in the nearby temple, and his son, Gongoron will show Link the way. Gongoron’s not thrilled about the newest member of the tribe, and runs off, defying Link to keep up. After heading the wrong way, Gongoron then goes past the Goron checkpoint and to the temple. The upper half of the island is a giant maze Link needs to navigate, finding a Power Gem along the way. The last obstacle before the temple is a Like Like, which tries to suck Link in. This gives an opening for Link to chuck bombs into their mouths.
The Goron Temple reintroduces Armos, who go inert after being hit by bombs and can be pushed around to hold floor switches down. On the second level of the temple, Link catches up to Gongoron, who got grabbed by monsters and thrown in the temple and is suddenly a lot nicer to Link. Link and Gongoron need to work together to advance, with the player alternately controlling both. After getting both Link and Gongoron to stand on switches, the treasure chest with the dungeon item appears, giving Link bombchus. I’ve never cared much for bombchus, but these are an exception: Link/the player gets to draw the path for them to travel, with them exploding at the end (or when they hit something). Once Link opens the way further down, Gongoron finds his own path, leaving Link alone to solve a series of bombchu and Armos puzzles. There’s a Power and Wisdom Gem to be found in the dungeon.
Gongoron returns in time to help Link fight the dungeon boss, Dongorongo [1], Armored Lizard. In the first phase, Gongoron has to knock Dongorongo over and then Link sends a bombchu over into its mouth from across a sand pit. Complicating matters, enemies constantly spawn and cross the sand to attack Link, so the player has to switch over to have Link deal with them if they get away from Gongoron. After a few hits, Dongorongo sits up and flops over, leading Gongoron to go ahead. But it didn’t explode into sand, so there’s one phase left. A bridge appeared across the sand for Link to cross, and now he can wait for Dongorongo to suck in air in preparation for a fire stream attack and add a bomb to its diet, then whack the newly exposed weak point on its back. After enough of this, Dongorongo goes down again, and this time he does explode.
Gongoron’s waiting for Link in the chamber with the Crimsonine, and apologizes to Link for thinking Dongorongo was defeated before it actually was. When Link takes the Crimsonine, Gongoron tells him to stop by his home to talk to Biggoron before leaving. Biggoron officially says Link can take the Crimsonine to make the Phantom Sword, and as a parting gift, gives him back the membership fee he paid earlier plus a bonus (a total of 200 rupees). Before leaving, Link stops off at the island store and buys a bombchu bag upgrade. After that, various stores around the islands start selling a heart container for 2000 rupees, but at this point Link’s swimming in rupees from selling off treasures and duplicate ship parts, so that’s not a big deal.
Next: Knights and knaves.
[1] I go back and forth between reading this as “Dongo Rongo” and “[Do]dongo” with “Goron” stuck in the middle.
As Link sets foot on Goron Island, the first Goron he sees greets him by advising him to talk to everyone else. Talking to everyone involves clearing some Yellow ChuChus off a cliff with the bow, and getting a treasure chart as a reward. There’s also an ominous warning about Link possibly losing his shield and needing to replace it from the new store on the island. Once Link’s talked to everyone, Ciela pipes up that he’s done so and it’s time to visit the elder. The elder is Biggoron, and he’s bigger than the rest of the Gorons but not so towering that only part of him fits in the frame. Once he’s established that Link has introduced himself to everyone, he begins asking questions about the tribe and the island (for a fee of 20 rupees). The quiz calls to mind Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, including a lifeline (“Gorohint,” which removes an incorrect answer) and “Is that your ultimate answer?” Correct answers award rupees, but once everything’s done, there’s the matter of membership dues – the exact amount of rupees Link got for answering the questions. (He gets a Wisdom Gem, which he gets too keep.)
Biggoron says the pure metal’s in the nearby temple, and his son, Gongoron will show Link the way. Gongoron’s not thrilled about the newest member of the tribe, and runs off, defying Link to keep up. After heading the wrong way, Gongoron then goes past the Goron checkpoint and to the temple. The upper half of the island is a giant maze Link needs to navigate, finding a Power Gem along the way. The last obstacle before the temple is a Like Like, which tries to suck Link in. This gives an opening for Link to chuck bombs into their mouths.
The Goron Temple reintroduces Armos, who go inert after being hit by bombs and can be pushed around to hold floor switches down. On the second level of the temple, Link catches up to Gongoron, who got grabbed by monsters and thrown in the temple and is suddenly a lot nicer to Link. Link and Gongoron need to work together to advance, with the player alternately controlling both. After getting both Link and Gongoron to stand on switches, the treasure chest with the dungeon item appears, giving Link bombchus. I’ve never cared much for bombchus, but these are an exception: Link/the player gets to draw the path for them to travel, with them exploding at the end (or when they hit something). Once Link opens the way further down, Gongoron finds his own path, leaving Link alone to solve a series of bombchu and Armos puzzles. There’s a Power and Wisdom Gem to be found in the dungeon.
Gongoron returns in time to help Link fight the dungeon boss, Dongorongo [1], Armored Lizard. In the first phase, Gongoron has to knock Dongorongo over and then Link sends a bombchu over into its mouth from across a sand pit. Complicating matters, enemies constantly spawn and cross the sand to attack Link, so the player has to switch over to have Link deal with them if they get away from Gongoron. After a few hits, Dongorongo sits up and flops over, leading Gongoron to go ahead. But it didn’t explode into sand, so there’s one phase left. A bridge appeared across the sand for Link to cross, and now he can wait for Dongorongo to suck in air in preparation for a fire stream attack and add a bomb to its diet, then whack the newly exposed weak point on its back. After enough of this, Dongorongo goes down again, and this time he does explode.
Gongoron’s waiting for Link in the chamber with the Crimsonine, and apologizes to Link for thinking Dongorongo was defeated before it actually was. When Link takes the Crimsonine, Gongoron tells him to stop by his home to talk to Biggoron before leaving. Biggoron officially says Link can take the Crimsonine to make the Phantom Sword, and as a parting gift, gives him back the membership fee he paid earlier plus a bonus (a total of 200 rupees). Before leaving, Link stops off at the island store and buys a bombchu bag upgrade. After that, various stores around the islands start selling a heart container for 2000 rupees, but at this point Link’s swimming in rupees from selling off treasures and duplicate ship parts, so that’s not a big deal.
Next: Knights and knaves.
[1] I go back and forth between reading this as “Dongo Rongo” and “[Do]dongo” with “Goron” stuck in the middle.
Monday, August 19, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Southeastern Sea
With the Wisdom Gem I got on the last run through the Temple of the Ocean King, I’m up to ten, so that’s another visit to Spirit Island, this time to awaken more of Neri’s power. This upgrade makes Link take less damage and gives him some ability with his shield, but I stuck with Leaf. There are a couple letters Link can receive before heading off to the new area: one from Linebeck trying to express respect for Link (he’s mostly successful), and one from Joanne thanking Link for delivering Jolene’s letter. Both contain ship parts.
As Link heads into the southeast quadrant, there are three pirate ships that almost immediately spot him and come over. Sinking two of them is pretty easy, but the third charges at the SS Linebeck and if it gets close enough triggers a boarding attack. It’s just a few Miniblins that board, and it took longer for them to actually show up on the ship than for Link to finish them off. Once they’re gone, Linebeck emerges from hiding to give Link a Courage Gem. There are two golden frogs in the region for Link to shoot and learn the warp symbols. One looks like a capital omega, and it seems no matter how badly I draw it Link warps just fine. The other, a W with a line over it, is really twitchy and took a bunch of tries to get right.
A third traveler’s ship appears in this area, this one containing members of the Ho Ho Tribe (inspired by Old Man Ho Ho from Wind Waker), looking for treasures they can sell at home. They pay better than the Treasure Teller on Mercay, but only buy one type of treasure each day, and it wasn’t long after I started having things to sell them that they got stuck on the same type of treasure for three days in a row. (And paying less for it each day.) Plus, it’s not like it’s hard to make rupees, so trying to wait for them to be interested in the other seven types of treasure seems a losing proposition.
There are two uncharted islands in this area. Harrow Island to the north seems to consist solely of a treasure field digging minigame. Link gets to dig up ten treasures. Some of the “treasures” can be rupoors, which count against the total. There’s also a spirit named Lucky Lee who, when dug up, offers Link a chance to play a straight up gambling minigame, choosing between two hypothetical treasure chests. The whole Harrow Island game is basically a wash; in two games, I got a couple treasure charts and about broke even in rupees.
The second hidden island is Dee Ess Island, which is shaped like a DS. (Preparing to sail off, Linebeck notes the island’s “different shape.” I would have gone with “distinctive,” but, oh, well.) There are Gorons here setting up a minigame, but it’s not ready yet. There’s a few things to do on the island now. First, there are a bunch of soft soil patches Link can dig up. A lot of these reveal Rope nests or beehives, but there are rupees to be had as well. A gossip stone hints for Link to dig where the Menu button is, which means at the bottom left corner of the “touchscreen”; he finds a Courage Gem there. At the north end of the island, there’s a pit corresponding to the other screen with a couple Hinox. Once they’re defeated, Link can claim another Courage Gem. That brings Link’s Courage Gem collection to 10, so he can go back to Spirit Island to power up Ciela. Her power lets Link shoot sword beams. (At full health, I think. Still sticking with Leaf.)
As in Wind Waker, Beedle has a rewards program for buying stuff from him. Points are earned for every 100 rupees Link spends, so they grow faster than in Wind Waker where it was one point per purchase. The reward tiers are Silver Membership (50 points, permanent 10% discount and a freebie item card), Gold Membership (100 points, permanent 20% discount and a compliment card which earns a compliment from Beedle), Platinum Membership (100 points, permanent 30% discount and a complimentary card which lets the player compliment Beedle), and VIP Membership (200 points, permanent 40% discount). It’s not hard to climb the ranks, even as the discounts make things cheaper; he sells two ship parts a day, and some of them can get pretty pricey.
There are eight ship parts and nine total sets. One of these is the base set that Linebeck had when you met him (plus Eddo’s cannon). The others are two fancy sets, an iron set, a stone set, a crappy set (the anchor is a swim ring!), a demonic set, tropical/shell set, and a golden set. Using multiple pieces from a set (other than the base set) adds hearts to the ship, so it’s worth upgrading. Pieces can be found in stores, in some treasure chests, by salvaging from treasure charts (generally either a ship part or Sand of Hours), or as minigame rewards. Getting all the pieces is really only worth it if you really need the full eight hearts from equipping a full golden set or your completionist side won’t let you not.
Next: Who wants to be a Goron?
As Link heads into the southeast quadrant, there are three pirate ships that almost immediately spot him and come over. Sinking two of them is pretty easy, but the third charges at the SS Linebeck and if it gets close enough triggers a boarding attack. It’s just a few Miniblins that board, and it took longer for them to actually show up on the ship than for Link to finish them off. Once they’re gone, Linebeck emerges from hiding to give Link a Courage Gem. There are two golden frogs in the region for Link to shoot and learn the warp symbols. One looks like a capital omega, and it seems no matter how badly I draw it Link warps just fine. The other, a W with a line over it, is really twitchy and took a bunch of tries to get right.
A third traveler’s ship appears in this area, this one containing members of the Ho Ho Tribe (inspired by Old Man Ho Ho from Wind Waker), looking for treasures they can sell at home. They pay better than the Treasure Teller on Mercay, but only buy one type of treasure each day, and it wasn’t long after I started having things to sell them that they got stuck on the same type of treasure for three days in a row. (And paying less for it each day.) Plus, it’s not like it’s hard to make rupees, so trying to wait for them to be interested in the other seven types of treasure seems a losing proposition.
There are two uncharted islands in this area. Harrow Island to the north seems to consist solely of a treasure field digging minigame. Link gets to dig up ten treasures. Some of the “treasures” can be rupoors, which count against the total. There’s also a spirit named Lucky Lee who, when dug up, offers Link a chance to play a straight up gambling minigame, choosing between two hypothetical treasure chests. The whole Harrow Island game is basically a wash; in two games, I got a couple treasure charts and about broke even in rupees.
The second hidden island is Dee Ess Island, which is shaped like a DS. (Preparing to sail off, Linebeck notes the island’s “different shape.” I would have gone with “distinctive,” but, oh, well.) There are Gorons here setting up a minigame, but it’s not ready yet. There’s a few things to do on the island now. First, there are a bunch of soft soil patches Link can dig up. A lot of these reveal Rope nests or beehives, but there are rupees to be had as well. A gossip stone hints for Link to dig where the Menu button is, which means at the bottom left corner of the “touchscreen”; he finds a Courage Gem there. At the north end of the island, there’s a pit corresponding to the other screen with a couple Hinox. Once they’re defeated, Link can claim another Courage Gem. That brings Link’s Courage Gem collection to 10, so he can go back to Spirit Island to power up Ciela. Her power lets Link shoot sword beams. (At full health, I think. Still sticking with Leaf.)
As in Wind Waker, Beedle has a rewards program for buying stuff from him. Points are earned for every 100 rupees Link spends, so they grow faster than in Wind Waker where it was one point per purchase. The reward tiers are Silver Membership (50 points, permanent 10% discount and a freebie item card), Gold Membership (100 points, permanent 20% discount and a compliment card which earns a compliment from Beedle), Platinum Membership (100 points, permanent 30% discount and a complimentary card which lets the player compliment Beedle), and VIP Membership (200 points, permanent 40% discount). It’s not hard to climb the ranks, even as the discounts make things cheaper; he sells two ship parts a day, and some of them can get pretty pricey.
There are eight ship parts and nine total sets. One of these is the base set that Linebeck had when you met him (plus Eddo’s cannon). The others are two fancy sets, an iron set, a stone set, a crappy set (the anchor is a swim ring!), a demonic set, tropical/shell set, and a golden set. Using multiple pieces from a set (other than the base set) adds hearts to the ship, so it’s worth upgrading. Pieces can be found in stores, in some treasure chests, by salvaging from treasure charts (generally either a ship part or Sand of Hours), or as minigame rewards. Getting all the pieces is really only worth it if you really need the full eight hearts from equipping a full golden set or your completionist side won’t let you not.
Next: Who wants to be a Goron?
Friday, August 16, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Checkpoint
Jolene is now constantly patrolling the waters, looking for Linebeck. If she finds the ship, she’ll try to board, and escaping is pretty much impossible unless you’re close to an island or quadrant boundary, or use the Cyclone Slate to warp away. It’s amusing the first few times she does it, but eventually it just becomes tedious. (Right around the time the dialogue starts repeating each time and Linebeck stops giving rewards for fighting her off again.) If Link has trouble fighting off Jolene, Linebeck shouts out a hint, leading Jolene to wonder where the voice came from.
Zauz is expecting Link’s return visit. When Ciela asks how, he explains that his people have served the Ocean King for generations. They developed weapons to fight the Ocean King’s enemies, and most pertinent to Link’s cause is one called the Phantom Sword. Unfortunately, there are none left in the world; Zauz can make one, but lacks the materials. (Ciela isn’t amused by Zauz’ suggesting an idea but waiting to bring up the complications.) For Zauz to make a Phantom Sword, Link needs to find three pure metals: Aquanine, Azurine, and Crimsonine. The three metals were given to three tribes of the world, and to find them, Link needs to visit the Temple of the Ocean King again. It turns out there’s a second symbol Link can write on the door on the sixth floor, the Triforce. This will open the lowest levels of the temple to him.
As Link approaches the Temple of the Ocean King, another earthquake hits, which Ciela says is coming from below the temple, and so it’s probably Bellum causing them. Inside the temple, some of the phantoms have been upgraded to Swift Phantoms. They move faster than their counterparts. Ciela’s worried, but Leaf points out if they don’t see Link, it doesn’t matter how fast they are. All nice to know, but I’ve got to wonder why they’ve got to have Link wander out of the initial safe area to start yapping about it. The first few floors don’t have very much new; a few eye switches Link can hit to make things a little easier for him, and one Power Gem. On the fifth floor, the enemies have been upgraded, but with Leaf buffing sword attacks, they still go quickly.
When Link comes to the sixth floor, Ciela reminds Link that this is where the door he needs to draw on is, and to remember the shape they saw in Zauz’ home. However, Link can draw the hourglass symbol to go back to the original room, which he might want to do because there’s a 30 second time up there. When he draws the Triforce symbol [1], an alternate room opens up. This room has the courage seal for Ciela to open, and the latest victim of the temple opens a checkpoint portal. Link can step into it to return to the start, saving his progress. The only catch is that returning to this room uses the same amount of time Link used the last time he used the checkpoint portal to get out. So, I did the first six floors of the Temple twice: once to remind myself how it goes and see the new stuff the bow opened up, and once to speed through for the most time left going forward. I got it down to about a minute and a half used, which I feel pretty good about [2].
The ultimate goal of the next three floors is to place three crystals into their slots. This can’t be done in a single straight shot through the floors; Link’s path has him going up and down between the floors multiple times. There are two new complications: first, some of the tiles make noise when Link runs on them, which alerts nearby Phantoms, so Link has to be careful when they’re nearby. (Carrying a crystal slows Link’s speed enough that he can go as fast as he can without worry.) Second, the lowest floor has this game’s variation of Wizzrobes, who stalk Link when his back is turned and steal time by whacking him with a scythe. Link can kill them with a spin attack if he lures them close enough. There are a Courage Gem and Wisdom Gem on these levels. Once the crystals are in place, Link finds the Southeastern Sea chart. A skeleton in this room says if Link places the crystals in a specific order, it will open up the way to more levels of the temple. For now, I’ve got enough to go on – I don’t even have to use some other arcane feature of the DS to make the map useful – so I’ll leave the next levels for next time.
I know the Temple of the Ocean King is not the most beloved aspect of this game, but I like it. I think the developers did a good job putting new stuff to discover on earlier-visited floors, plus the shortcuts to make them fast to go through when I’ve already gotten the treasures. Having to stealth it isn’t too bad – it’s not instant-fail, and not that hard to make it to a safe zone. And the time limit is more than generous (although admittedly getting the treasure maps and hauling up the sands from the ocean floor help here). Plus I’ve always been the type to enjoy repeating things until I get them perfect, so replaying the Temple doesn’t bother me too much.
Next: That can’t be a natural island shape.
[1] It’s pretty twitchy about what’s Triforcy enough; if the symbol is close but not close enough for the game’s purposes, it shows up briefly and tells you to try again.
[2] Plus Link can go back to the symbol door, draw the hourglass, and get another 30 second time refund before venturing deeper into the temple.
Zauz is expecting Link’s return visit. When Ciela asks how, he explains that his people have served the Ocean King for generations. They developed weapons to fight the Ocean King’s enemies, and most pertinent to Link’s cause is one called the Phantom Sword. Unfortunately, there are none left in the world; Zauz can make one, but lacks the materials. (Ciela isn’t amused by Zauz’ suggesting an idea but waiting to bring up the complications.) For Zauz to make a Phantom Sword, Link needs to find three pure metals: Aquanine, Azurine, and Crimsonine. The three metals were given to three tribes of the world, and to find them, Link needs to visit the Temple of the Ocean King again. It turns out there’s a second symbol Link can write on the door on the sixth floor, the Triforce. This will open the lowest levels of the temple to him.
As Link approaches the Temple of the Ocean King, another earthquake hits, which Ciela says is coming from below the temple, and so it’s probably Bellum causing them. Inside the temple, some of the phantoms have been upgraded to Swift Phantoms. They move faster than their counterparts. Ciela’s worried, but Leaf points out if they don’t see Link, it doesn’t matter how fast they are. All nice to know, but I’ve got to wonder why they’ve got to have Link wander out of the initial safe area to start yapping about it. The first few floors don’t have very much new; a few eye switches Link can hit to make things a little easier for him, and one Power Gem. On the fifth floor, the enemies have been upgraded, but with Leaf buffing sword attacks, they still go quickly.
When Link comes to the sixth floor, Ciela reminds Link that this is where the door he needs to draw on is, and to remember the shape they saw in Zauz’ home. However, Link can draw the hourglass symbol to go back to the original room, which he might want to do because there’s a 30 second time up there. When he draws the Triforce symbol [1], an alternate room opens up. This room has the courage seal for Ciela to open, and the latest victim of the temple opens a checkpoint portal. Link can step into it to return to the start, saving his progress. The only catch is that returning to this room uses the same amount of time Link used the last time he used the checkpoint portal to get out. So, I did the first six floors of the Temple twice: once to remind myself how it goes and see the new stuff the bow opened up, and once to speed through for the most time left going forward. I got it down to about a minute and a half used, which I feel pretty good about [2].
The ultimate goal of the next three floors is to place three crystals into their slots. This can’t be done in a single straight shot through the floors; Link’s path has him going up and down between the floors multiple times. There are two new complications: first, some of the tiles make noise when Link runs on them, which alerts nearby Phantoms, so Link has to be careful when they’re nearby. (Carrying a crystal slows Link’s speed enough that he can go as fast as he can without worry.) Second, the lowest floor has this game’s variation of Wizzrobes, who stalk Link when his back is turned and steal time by whacking him with a scythe. Link can kill them with a spin attack if he lures them close enough. There are a Courage Gem and Wisdom Gem on these levels. Once the crystals are in place, Link finds the Southeastern Sea chart. A skeleton in this room says if Link places the crystals in a specific order, it will open up the way to more levels of the temple. For now, I’ve got enough to go on – I don’t even have to use some other arcane feature of the DS to make the map useful – so I’ll leave the next levels for next time.
I know the Temple of the Ocean King is not the most beloved aspect of this game, but I like it. I think the developers did a good job putting new stuff to discover on earlier-visited floors, plus the shortcuts to make them fast to go through when I’ve already gotten the treasures. Having to stealth it isn’t too bad – it’s not instant-fail, and not that hard to make it to a safe zone. And the time limit is more than generous (although admittedly getting the treasure maps and hauling up the sands from the ocean floor help here). Plus I’ve always been the type to enjoy repeating things until I get them perfect, so replaying the Temple doesn’t bother me too much.
Next: That can’t be a natural island shape.
[1] It’s pretty twitchy about what’s Triforcy enough; if the symbol is close but not close enough for the game’s purposes, it shows up briefly and tells you to try again.
[2] Plus Link can go back to the symbol door, draw the hourglass, and get another 30 second time refund before venturing deeper into the temple.
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