Ocarina of Time: Water Temple

The Water Temple is more or less exactly what I expected: a giant drum filled with water that can be raised or lowered to explore the various rooms with and without water filling them. Unfortunately, the designer made some questionable, at best, design decisions that make the whole dungeon a frustrating experience:

• Let’s start with the mechanism for changing the water level. Something sensible, like the Swamp Palace in A Link to the Past where it’s regulated with gates and drains? No, of course not. It’s magic, and can only be changed in specific locations that are not always easy to find and/or get to, which makes changing the water level – the dungeon’s signature mechanic – a chore.
• The iron boots get used a lot here to walk around on underwater floors, and it quickly becomes tedious having to go to the menu, put on the iron boots, wait to sink to the floor, take the ten steps to get to the area where the boots come off and Link returns to the surface, go back to the menu, take the boots off, and wait for Link to rise again.
• The large main chamber’s central column has a couple tektites on the uppermost walkway, only they don’t stay there. Even when Link’s on the bottom of the chamber, it’s just a matter of time before they come raining down on his head. The enemies respawning in dungeons every time Link leaves a room is an odd decision, and here it becomes really unfortunate.

Now, while I didn’t like this dungeon overall very much and I think it shows, I have to praise one specific room: the miniboss fight. In the middle of the dungeon is a room with water seeming to stretch off endlessly in every direction, with a small island in the middle. And on the island, the miniboss: Dark Link [1]. He can match Link move for move, and I didn’t have much hope of the fight not lasting an hour while I was Z-targeting him. Once I turned that off, it was a much easier fight; Dark Link didn’t run all over Hyrule delivering MacGuffins in order to get Biggoron to make him a greatsword, which gives Link a range and damage per hit advantage.

Once Dark Link’s down, Link can claim the dungeon’s treasure: the longshot, an extra-long hookshot. And this feels like a letdown. Don’t get me wrong, the extra range is tremendously useful; even if it weren’t certain to be required going forward, there have been lots of times I could just barely reach something with the regular hookshot already. But it seems like a strange item to throw out there now.

The end boss is Morpha, giant aquatic amoeba, and it’s definitely less memorable than Dark Link. Morpha attacks by forming tentacles that grab at Link and try to crush him to death if they catch him, and Link fights back by pulling Morpha’s nucleus out of its water shell and hacking the hell out of it while it’s vulnerable. The death animation is pretty cool, as the evil water in the boss room dries up.

Ruto has grown up in the seven years since Link saw her last, and tries to be much more helpful during her short appearance in the dungeon before she disappears. She still remembers the marriage promise, and brings it up when Link runs across her, but after it comes time for her to step up as a sage, she does her duty, while assuring Link that Zelda is alive. I have more to say on sages, but my next post is going to be on the short side, so I’ll bring it up then.

Link returns to Lake Hylia, where he meets with Sheik on an island. Sheik talks about how Link’s efforts have brought Lake Hylia back to its natural state before slipping off while Link’s distracted, no Deku nut needed this time. A plaque on the island reads, “When water fills the lake, shoot for the morning light.” Reading the plaque gives Link a lovely view of the sunrise, so it’s plain he needs to fire an arrow in that direction as dawn breaks. The arrow catches fire, and on a nearby island, Link… I’m not sure of the in-universe mechanics here, because firing special arrows needs magic, but Link gains the ability to shoot fire arrows. Back on the first island, there’s a skulltula atop the tree at night, which in addition to the five in the Water Temple have the quest over 75% complete.

Sorry to be so negative this time, but at least that’s behind me.

Next: There’s a fire, so we go back in time and make sure the well’s empty. Makes sense.

[1] I named my character Link, so I didn’t get to find out if Navi calls him Dark Hero or Dark Zelda or Dark Gumball or Dark THIEF or whatever.