Gaepora is the obvious person to ask for help about the Triforce, and while he’s heard of it, its location isn’t recorded in any of his texts. He has an idea for who might know: Levias, the sky spirit who’s watched over Skyloft for ages. Unfortunately, Levias is rumored to be somewhere in the Thunderhead; Instructor Owlan was sent to determine how true those rumors are. Owlan says when he saw Levias, Levias attacked him, like he was possessed. Sensing that Link isn’t going to give up on talking to Levias, Owlan teaches him a special Spiral Charge attack he can do with his Loftwing, but first there’s a trial: Link has to use the attack to destroy ten targets in two minutes. Hitting the targets isn’t too hard, but combined with finding the things and the flying controls, it took a few tries to pass.
To lure Levias out, Link and Scrapper bring an offering of pumpkin soup from the Lumpy Pumpkin to an island marked with a rainbow in the Thunderhead. Scrapper sets the soup down and heads off as Levias, Great Spirit of the Skies comes out of the clouds for a boss fight. Levias has four parasitic eye stalks growing from him, so Link needs to destroy them with Spiral Charges. Once they’re gone, a different eye appears from Levias’ back, and Link lands on his back to fight the ocular parasite causing Levias’ foul mood, Bilocyte. This boss fight is entirely the traditional game of whacking attacks back to hit the boss, with the added twist that left/right sword swings send the attack back in the same direction – needed to hit Bilocyte’s wings and, late in the fight when it starts trying to get out of the way of the return volleys, eye. After enough hits, Bilocyte is defeated.
Between the offering of soup and Bilocyte’s destruction, Levias is returned to his senses and the Thunderhead becomes less thundry. Levias recognizes Link as the chosen hero, and tells him what he knows. He doesn’t know where the Triforce is, but knows what the key is: another song, the Song of the Hero. This song was split into four parts, three for the dragons of the land, and one for Levias. Levias will teach Link the final part once he’s learned the other three.
Back on Skyloft, Sparrot, the fortune teller, has broken his crystal ball and no longer appears in the Bazaar. Link goes to check on him, and he’s despondent until he remembers Link got the windmill piece from beneath the clouds. He asks Link to search for a replacement, and Link agrees. Sparrot says the broken crystal ball came from a building atop a mountain, which suggests the Earth Temple. And sure enough, that’s where the replacement ball can be found; Fi calls down Scrapper, who hauls the ball up to Sparrot (and drops it on the table; luckily, it doesn’t break). Sparrot offers a discount on a future reading, and gives Link five Gratitude Crystals.
I don't know if or how I would have discovered this next part without the Skeikah Stone and checking to see if the minigame had a unique reward. It requires visiting an island Link has one reason to visit once (a Goddess Chest), then visiting Beedle, which if you’ve bought out his merchandise, is typically not very pleasant (he drops Link out a trap door if he tries to leave without buying anything). Strich has moved from the Lumpy Pumpkin to an island in the Thunderhead [1] with lots of bugs, and is running a minigame to catch 5 or 10 specific bugs (easy and hard modes) as fast as you can. Visiting him activates a quest where Beedle has lost his pet Colossus Horned Beetle, which Strich has. Strich wants to keep the beetle, but agrees that if Link can complete his hard minigame fast enough, he’ll return it. Once that’s done, Link takes the Beetle back to Beedle. Beedle will only talk about the quest on his home island at night, so Link sleeps in the bed aboard his ship to get there. In addition to the five Gratitude Crystals for returning the beetle, there’s a loose crystal on the island. (Beedle also offers Link 50% his next purchase, but since his inventory’s cleaned out…) That brings Link’s total to 70; not quite enough to fully satisfy Batreaux, but getting closer and earning 600 rupees for this much effort.
Next: I just sealed this boss! Can we keep it sealed for ten minutes?
[1] Although the storms have subsided, it’s still a separate area and really, very little has changed within aside from the background.
Monday, December 30, 2019
Friday, December 27, 2019
Skyward Sword: The Goddess' Plans
Near the entrance to the Fire Sanctuary, there’s a Gossip Stone that promises a heart piece to one who can dig like a Mogma. Well, Link can do so now, and tunnels to find a small cave with a couple fairies and the heart piece. Then, in Faron Woods behind the Sealed Temple, Link and Gorko work together to uncover a Goddess Wall, and Gorko has an ancient text that suggests things that can be drawn on the wall: “Life’s Crimson Vessel” for “the source of life” (heart/hearts), “Closed Circle” for “destructive force” (circle/bombs), “Arrow in Repose” to “strike targets from afar” (arrow/arrows), and “Glimmering Hexagon” for “great riches” (hexagon/rupees). After those four, there’s a garbled fifth text hinting to draw the Triforce for a special reward – three fairies. For demonstrating the Goddess Wall’s powers once, Link gets a heart piece from Gorko. For showing all the drawings, he gets a gold rupee.
As Link charges a Skyward Strike to activate the Gate of Time, the temple begins shaking, indicating it’s time for another fight with The Imprisoned. Groose has gotten over his feeling of uselessness and has been preparing something: he’s set up rails around the top level of the Sealed Grounds and installed the Groosenator, a catapult that lets him throw bombs to stun the Imprisoned. A very useful weapon, since the Imprisoned has a couple new tricks of its own. First, every step has the shockwave from the start. Second, it’s grown (goofily long) arms it can use to climb the walls. To knock it down, Link can cut off its fingers or have Groose shoot it. Also, the arms make it harder for Link to reach the Sealing Spike when it’s knocked down. However, three knockdowns with the Spike driven into its head returns it to the seal.
The old woman thanks Link and Groose for sealing the Imprisoned again, and promises Link answers await him through the Gate. The Skyward Strike shatters the slab into a bunch of 3D Tetris pieces, which reassemble into the open Gate of Time. Link stops before going through to invite Groose to come with him, but Groose declines, saying he’ll stay to keep an eye on the seal. Impa’s waiting for Link in the past, explaining he’s in the Temple of Hylia, shortly after the goddess send Skyloft to the sky. She sends Link to finally meet with Zelda.
Zelda lays out the full story: A demon king named Demise raised monsters for a war on the Goddess Hylia in an effort to claim the power of the old gods, which is indeed the Triforce, for his own. Hylia sent her people to the sky, creating Skyloft. She was ultimately victorious over Demise, sealing him away, but the seal wouldn’t last, and she couldn’t defeat him a second time. So, she came up with two plans: she created Fi to guide the chosen hero on his quest and sacrificed herself so that she could be reincarnated as a mortal. Link is obviously the chosen hero, Zelda is Hylia’s reincarnation, and The Imprisoned is Demise.
Zelda intends to remain in the past, maintaining the seal. Link has another task – his trials have made him worthy to claim the Triforce. To help him, Zelda/Hylia blesses the Master Sword with her power, and the Master Sword assumes its familiar form (and yes, the music plays this time). This is my favorite Master Sword moment yet. Zelda creates a crystal cocoon to sleep in while she maintains the seal, but asks Link one favor: after all the times she’s woken him up, she wants him to be there when Demise is destroyed and it’s time for her to wake up. Link promises to do so, and Zelda enters her long sleep. Impa promises to watch over Zelda while Link fulfills his quest.
Back in Link’s own time, the old woman tells Link that the Triforce is said to have been hidden in Skyloft, but that’s all anyone knows of it. Groose has made his own decision: he’s going to stay in the Temple. He’s finally accepted Link’s the chosen hero and he’s not, but also realized that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his own part to play in the story. He draws Link’s attention to a spot in the temple that he things would grow an awesome tree. He asks Link to tell the people in Skyloft he’s doing fine, especially Cawlin and Strich. I’m impressed with the writing for Groose: they made him so unlikable at the start, but it’s just as hard not to like him now.
This game has defied the traditional structures of the series. The first two dungeons existed to get Link the tablets to open portals to the volcano and desert regions, then the third dungeon led to a key plot twist. Then the game went back to a well-traveled path: Link needs to clear forest, fire, and water dungeons to get items tied to the golden goddesses and/or the virtues of the Triforce to get the Master Sword [1]. And only now, near the end of the story [3], does the real quest begin.
Next: A whale of a problem.
[1] I don’t know that any game has followed this formula exactly as described [2]; it’s a composite of all the Master Sword stories (and Phantom Hourglass, which has a lot of the same elements).
[2] Even for Skyward Sword, it requires reading the Ancient Cistern as a forest dungeon and the Sandship as a water dungeon. It’s not a particularly good fit, but if you hammer it enough, it works.
[3] Link’s got 19¾ hearts out of a presumed 20. I suppose they could do like the Oracle games and suddenly expand the life bar.
As Link charges a Skyward Strike to activate the Gate of Time, the temple begins shaking, indicating it’s time for another fight with The Imprisoned. Groose has gotten over his feeling of uselessness and has been preparing something: he’s set up rails around the top level of the Sealed Grounds and installed the Groosenator, a catapult that lets him throw bombs to stun the Imprisoned. A very useful weapon, since the Imprisoned has a couple new tricks of its own. First, every step has the shockwave from the start. Second, it’s grown (goofily long) arms it can use to climb the walls. To knock it down, Link can cut off its fingers or have Groose shoot it. Also, the arms make it harder for Link to reach the Sealing Spike when it’s knocked down. However, three knockdowns with the Spike driven into its head returns it to the seal.
The old woman thanks Link and Groose for sealing the Imprisoned again, and promises Link answers await him through the Gate. The Skyward Strike shatters the slab into a bunch of 3D Tetris pieces, which reassemble into the open Gate of Time. Link stops before going through to invite Groose to come with him, but Groose declines, saying he’ll stay to keep an eye on the seal. Impa’s waiting for Link in the past, explaining he’s in the Temple of Hylia, shortly after the goddess send Skyloft to the sky. She sends Link to finally meet with Zelda.
Zelda lays out the full story: A demon king named Demise raised monsters for a war on the Goddess Hylia in an effort to claim the power of the old gods, which is indeed the Triforce, for his own. Hylia sent her people to the sky, creating Skyloft. She was ultimately victorious over Demise, sealing him away, but the seal wouldn’t last, and she couldn’t defeat him a second time. So, she came up with two plans: she created Fi to guide the chosen hero on his quest and sacrificed herself so that she could be reincarnated as a mortal. Link is obviously the chosen hero, Zelda is Hylia’s reincarnation, and The Imprisoned is Demise.
Zelda intends to remain in the past, maintaining the seal. Link has another task – his trials have made him worthy to claim the Triforce. To help him, Zelda/Hylia blesses the Master Sword with her power, and the Master Sword assumes its familiar form (and yes, the music plays this time). This is my favorite Master Sword moment yet. Zelda creates a crystal cocoon to sleep in while she maintains the seal, but asks Link one favor: after all the times she’s woken him up, she wants him to be there when Demise is destroyed and it’s time for her to wake up. Link promises to do so, and Zelda enters her long sleep. Impa promises to watch over Zelda while Link fulfills his quest.
Back in Link’s own time, the old woman tells Link that the Triforce is said to have been hidden in Skyloft, but that’s all anyone knows of it. Groose has made his own decision: he’s going to stay in the Temple. He’s finally accepted Link’s the chosen hero and he’s not, but also realized that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his own part to play in the story. He draws Link’s attention to a spot in the temple that he things would grow an awesome tree. He asks Link to tell the people in Skyloft he’s doing fine, especially Cawlin and Strich. I’m impressed with the writing for Groose: they made him so unlikable at the start, but it’s just as hard not to like him now.
This game has defied the traditional structures of the series. The first two dungeons existed to get Link the tablets to open portals to the volcano and desert regions, then the third dungeon led to a key plot twist. Then the game went back to a well-traveled path: Link needs to clear forest, fire, and water dungeons to get items tied to the golden goddesses and/or the virtues of the Triforce to get the Master Sword [1]. And only now, near the end of the story [3], does the real quest begin.
Next: A whale of a problem.
[1] I don’t know that any game has followed this formula exactly as described [2]; it’s a composite of all the Master Sword stories (and Phantom Hourglass, which has a lot of the same elements).
[2] Even for Skyward Sword, it requires reading the Ancient Cistern as a forest dungeon and the Sandship as a water dungeon. It’s not a particularly good fit, but if you hammer it enough, it works.
[3] Link’s got 19¾ hearts out of a presumed 20. I suppose they could do like the Oracle games and suddenly expand the life bar.
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Skyward Sword: Fire Sanctuary
The first thing Link encounters in the Fire Sanctuary is one of the central puzzle types: a river of lava with a big bulbous plant hanging over it. Hitting the plant with any of Link’s weapons causes it to drop a giant water bubble into the lava, creating a platform Link can cross. If it stays in one place, it quickly breaks apart, but when it floats on a river of lava, it holds together while moving. Later, Link can grab the plants with his sword to throw them at things, creating lava platforms where there’s no convenient plant, feeding frog statues to open doors, or petrifying Magmanos (lava hands) so they can be whacked apart with the sword.
Early in the dungeon, Link meets the Mogma leader, Guld. He gives Link a hint to a later puzzle (jump into the mouth of the sleeping statue) and tells him to look out for other Mogmas in the dungeon. The first one Link comes across is chained up over a lava pit, so Link needs to defeat a pair of Magmanos, the dungeon miniboss, to drain the lava, then lower the chain so he’s free. As a reward, the Mogma gives Link an pair of Mogma Mitts, an upgrade to his Digging Mitts that will let him burrow into tunnels. That’s the treasure item, although there’s also a bottle (that would have been nice to have before the dungeon…) if Link doubles back, and another Mogma gives Link a heart piece later in the dungeon.
Tunneling is the dungeon’s other gimmick [1]; tunnels serve as passageways between rooms and have hidden switches Link needs to use to change things aboveground. Tunnel combat is needlessly done by swinging the Wiimote rather than pressing buttons, but I’m used to that by now and there isn’t that much. There are some rocks that need pulverizing, and some tunnels have Moldorms crawling around where Link needs to sneak up on them and whack their tails three times. (The hardest part of this is Link often ends up facing the wrong way and can only turn around at intersections.)
Near the end of the dungeon, Link comes to the Bridge of Decision, which is the puzzle Guld hinted at earlier. There are statues to either side of the end of the bridge; one has its eyes open, one has its eyes closed. If Link jumps toward the one with its eyes closed, a hidden platform appears to lead Link to the final gauntlet. First he has to fight a pair of Dark Lizalfos; in addition to being tougher than the normal kind, their breath weapon is a curse that prevents Link from using his sword or items for a little bit. (The Keese and Spumes in the dungeon and surround areas have similar attacks.) Then comes a climb up a broken staircase with a bunch of the Dark Keese fluttering about, and finally a “light the statues in order” puzzle and Moldorm fight to claim the boss key.
It should be no surprise by now that Ghirahim’s hanging around in the boss room, looking at the wall carvings. He’s in a more chatty mood this time, talking about the thread of fate that connects him and Link. It doesn’t take him long to explain why he’s so cheerful: the carvings suggest there’s a second Gate of Time somewhere out there. (“This news has just filled my heart with rainbows!”) That doesn’t mean he’s forgiven Link for his interference, although he offers to do so if Link will just tell him where the second Gate is. Yeah, that’s not happening, so it’s boss fight time. Since the dungeon item has limited combat utility, Ghirahim steps up to fight Link himself for a second time. In addition to getting rid of his cape, he takes off his gloves (with no metaphorical meaning, I’m sure), revealing the metallic black skin underneath. He poses for the camera: “Behold! Such beauty! Such a pure form! Such an exquisite physique! Such stunning features! Yes, I’ve pretty much got it all. Though there is one teensy, tiny thing I lack… Namely, mercy.”
The first phase is basically identical to the first fight, except Ghirahim adds the extra complication of summoning a pair of knives that will block Link’s sword if he tries to slash through them. Then he adds a second pair. When he’s done messing around, he pulls out two swords that let him block in two directions like a Stalfos. That’s old hat by now, so he also summons rings of knives to throw at Link and rings of knives surrounding Link that need to be deflected with a spin attack. And sometimes he jumps at Link and gets his swords stuck in the ground for some free hits if Link doesn’t get hit or run too far out of position. Overall, this fight is easier than the first, although that’s partially that I’m more comfortable with the controls by now. Ghirahim isn’t so gracious in defeat this time, vowing to “drag [Link] into an eternity of torment” before teleporting out.
Link collects a heart container and heads to the room with Din’s Flame. Altar, Skyward Strike, flame, Fi goes bouncing around and lands at Link’s feet, flames into sword, and the sword transforms into the Master Sword. Well, so Fi says, but the crossguard wings aren’t there and there’s no Master Sword music. The top piece of the Triforce fills in on Link’s hand, so with that and the Flames all collected, it’s time to go back to the Sealed Temple. (How has Ghirahim not guessed that’s where the Gate is?)
Next: The goddess revealed.
[1] And to me, gives this dungeon the better claim to be the “earth” dungeon of the two fire dungeons. I guess they needed the Sky[view]/Earth theme naming for the two springs Zelda had to visit, though.
Early in the dungeon, Link meets the Mogma leader, Guld. He gives Link a hint to a later puzzle (jump into the mouth of the sleeping statue) and tells him to look out for other Mogmas in the dungeon. The first one Link comes across is chained up over a lava pit, so Link needs to defeat a pair of Magmanos, the dungeon miniboss, to drain the lava, then lower the chain so he’s free. As a reward, the Mogma gives Link an pair of Mogma Mitts, an upgrade to his Digging Mitts that will let him burrow into tunnels. That’s the treasure item, although there’s also a bottle (that would have been nice to have before the dungeon…) if Link doubles back, and another Mogma gives Link a heart piece later in the dungeon.
Tunneling is the dungeon’s other gimmick [1]; tunnels serve as passageways between rooms and have hidden switches Link needs to use to change things aboveground. Tunnel combat is needlessly done by swinging the Wiimote rather than pressing buttons, but I’m used to that by now and there isn’t that much. There are some rocks that need pulverizing, and some tunnels have Moldorms crawling around where Link needs to sneak up on them and whack their tails three times. (The hardest part of this is Link often ends up facing the wrong way and can only turn around at intersections.)
Near the end of the dungeon, Link comes to the Bridge of Decision, which is the puzzle Guld hinted at earlier. There are statues to either side of the end of the bridge; one has its eyes open, one has its eyes closed. If Link jumps toward the one with its eyes closed, a hidden platform appears to lead Link to the final gauntlet. First he has to fight a pair of Dark Lizalfos; in addition to being tougher than the normal kind, their breath weapon is a curse that prevents Link from using his sword or items for a little bit. (The Keese and Spumes in the dungeon and surround areas have similar attacks.) Then comes a climb up a broken staircase with a bunch of the Dark Keese fluttering about, and finally a “light the statues in order” puzzle and Moldorm fight to claim the boss key.
It should be no surprise by now that Ghirahim’s hanging around in the boss room, looking at the wall carvings. He’s in a more chatty mood this time, talking about the thread of fate that connects him and Link. It doesn’t take him long to explain why he’s so cheerful: the carvings suggest there’s a second Gate of Time somewhere out there. (“This news has just filled my heart with rainbows!”) That doesn’t mean he’s forgiven Link for his interference, although he offers to do so if Link will just tell him where the second Gate is. Yeah, that’s not happening, so it’s boss fight time. Since the dungeon item has limited combat utility, Ghirahim steps up to fight Link himself for a second time. In addition to getting rid of his cape, he takes off his gloves (with no metaphorical meaning, I’m sure), revealing the metallic black skin underneath. He poses for the camera: “Behold! Such beauty! Such a pure form! Such an exquisite physique! Such stunning features! Yes, I’ve pretty much got it all. Though there is one teensy, tiny thing I lack… Namely, mercy.”
The first phase is basically identical to the first fight, except Ghirahim adds the extra complication of summoning a pair of knives that will block Link’s sword if he tries to slash through them. Then he adds a second pair. When he’s done messing around, he pulls out two swords that let him block in two directions like a Stalfos. That’s old hat by now, so he also summons rings of knives to throw at Link and rings of knives surrounding Link that need to be deflected with a spin attack. And sometimes he jumps at Link and gets his swords stuck in the ground for some free hits if Link doesn’t get hit or run too far out of position. Overall, this fight is easier than the first, although that’s partially that I’m more comfortable with the controls by now. Ghirahim isn’t so gracious in defeat this time, vowing to “drag [Link] into an eternity of torment” before teleporting out.
Link collects a heart container and heads to the room with Din’s Flame. Altar, Skyward Strike, flame, Fi goes bouncing around and lands at Link’s feet, flames into sword, and the sword transforms into the Master Sword. Well, so Fi says, but the crossguard wings aren’t there and there’s no Master Sword music. The top piece of the Triforce fills in on Link’s hand, so with that and the Flames all collected, it’s time to go back to the Sealed Temple. (How has Ghirahim not guessed that’s where the Gate is?)
Next: The goddess revealed.
[1] And to me, gives this dungeon the better claim to be the “earth” dungeon of the two fire dungeons. I guess they needed the Sky[view]/Earth theme naming for the two springs Zelda had to visit, though.
Monday, December 23, 2019
Skyward Sword: Taking the Heat
Before heading back to the sky, Link revisits the Shipyard where, sure enough, the Goron has converted the minecart rollercoaster tracks to a minigame. The first, easier track isn’t too bad, but the second one is brutal. The top reward time limit is unforgiving, and leaning the cart too soon/too late/the wrong way will slow you down, and mess up on some of the harder curves and you’ll be thrown off. And it’s all controlled by tilting the Wiimote, and far too easy to go too fast so it doesn’t register and you end up with the Wiimote tilted left but Link still leaning right. Finally getting in under the buzzer gets a piece of heart, so that’s nice.
And it’s not the worst newly-available minigame. Back on Skyloft, Fledge is all roided up and doing thousands of pushups at a time and gives Link five Gratitude Crystals for his help. He sees Link’s bow and has a great idea for a minigame: he’ll toss pumpkins, Link shoots them out of the air. Even cheesing this so Link hits the pumpkin the second it comes out of Fledge’s hands is tough; there’s no rhythm to Fledge’s tosses, and it requires holding the bow very, very steady pointing at the critical spot, which my poor wrists don’t like. Again, there’s a heart piece for scoring high enough. While on Skyloft, Link upgrades his bow to the Iron Bow, then Sacred Bow, increasing its range and damage.
As expected, the third song is Din’s Power and points to Eldin Volcano. The Silent Realm for this one is huge, with the Tears spread all over the map. I managed to get it done in a single go, although I struggled climbing the first slope with the Watchers and I was sure I was going to get caught there. Also, I had the bright idea to bring a Stamina Potion+ so if I did get spotted I could run indefinitely, but Link doesn’t have the Adventure Pouch in the Silent Realms. (Maybe if I’d used it before entering, I’d at least have had a few minutes…) The reward this time is the Flameshield Earrings, which will allow Link to explore the caves that were too hot to explore before.
At the Volcano Summit, Link finds Gorko looking for Goddess Cubes, but stymied by flames blocking his path. Nearby there’s a frog head statue and a tablet telling Link to quench its thirst. Outside the caves, there’s a spring Link can visit to fill bottles with water (and a Goddess Cube he can reach with a leap of faith) that lets him appease the frogs get past the first two flames. The third flame, however, is much bigger, and needs more than just a single bottle of water. There’s also a Goddess Cube in the area.
The best source for water is Lake Floria in Faron Woods. There are two Goddess Cubes in Faron Woods Link can get with the Clawshots, one on top of the Skyview Temple, one at the Floria Waterfall. Faron is gracious enough to let Link have the basin she used for healing earlier, which ought to be enough water for even the thirstiest frog. Unfortunately, Link’s not going to be able to carry it himself, so that means calling Scrapper for help.
Link heads back to Eldin Volcano, only Scrapper flied ahead decided to land at the base of the mountain and we need the water at the top of the mountain. Scrapper refuses to go back to the sky with the basin, so it’s protect the robot as he climbs the mountain. The enemies weren’t any harder the last time Link visited the area, but now they are. And Scrapper has trouble keeping up with Link, complains if he gets too far ahead, but also whines if any enemies get close to him. It’s a long, tedious, stressful, annoying hike up the mountain. Eventually, they do make it up the mountain, and Scrapper pours the water on the frog statue, opening the way to the next dungeon.
Now it’s back to the sky for final preparations. Three of the Goddess Chests are easy enough to get: one beneath Fun Fun Island with a Gold Rupee, one on a large island in the Thunderhead region with a heart piece, and one atop the tower on the Isle of Songs with a Bomb Bag. The fourth is on the island where Beedle docks at night, and is in an area that’s tricky to enter from the Loftwing. (It’s not impossible – I got there by ramming the Loftwing into the door and basically getting thrown through.) It has a second Rupee Medal. Back at the Bazaar, Link upgrades his new Bomb Bag a couple times to max out its capacity, then chucks it back into the Item Check while getting his standard loadout (shield, three Heart Potions, two Life Medals, Treasure Medal, Heart Medal) for the next dungeon.
Next: “Great! Dig it! Dig it! Dig to the center of the earth!”
And it’s not the worst newly-available minigame. Back on Skyloft, Fledge is all roided up and doing thousands of pushups at a time and gives Link five Gratitude Crystals for his help. He sees Link’s bow and has a great idea for a minigame: he’ll toss pumpkins, Link shoots them out of the air. Even cheesing this so Link hits the pumpkin the second it comes out of Fledge’s hands is tough; there’s no rhythm to Fledge’s tosses, and it requires holding the bow very, very steady pointing at the critical spot, which my poor wrists don’t like. Again, there’s a heart piece for scoring high enough. While on Skyloft, Link upgrades his bow to the Iron Bow, then Sacred Bow, increasing its range and damage.
As expected, the third song is Din’s Power and points to Eldin Volcano. The Silent Realm for this one is huge, with the Tears spread all over the map. I managed to get it done in a single go, although I struggled climbing the first slope with the Watchers and I was sure I was going to get caught there. Also, I had the bright idea to bring a Stamina Potion+ so if I did get spotted I could run indefinitely, but Link doesn’t have the Adventure Pouch in the Silent Realms. (Maybe if I’d used it before entering, I’d at least have had a few minutes…) The reward this time is the Flameshield Earrings, which will allow Link to explore the caves that were too hot to explore before.
At the Volcano Summit, Link finds Gorko looking for Goddess Cubes, but stymied by flames blocking his path. Nearby there’s a frog head statue and a tablet telling Link to quench its thirst. Outside the caves, there’s a spring Link can visit to fill bottles with water (and a Goddess Cube he can reach with a leap of faith) that lets him appease the frogs get past the first two flames. The third flame, however, is much bigger, and needs more than just a single bottle of water. There’s also a Goddess Cube in the area.
The best source for water is Lake Floria in Faron Woods. There are two Goddess Cubes in Faron Woods Link can get with the Clawshots, one on top of the Skyview Temple, one at the Floria Waterfall. Faron is gracious enough to let Link have the basin she used for healing earlier, which ought to be enough water for even the thirstiest frog. Unfortunately, Link’s not going to be able to carry it himself, so that means calling Scrapper for help.
Link heads back to Eldin Volcano, only Scrapper flied ahead decided to land at the base of the mountain and we need the water at the top of the mountain. Scrapper refuses to go back to the sky with the basin, so it’s protect the robot as he climbs the mountain. The enemies weren’t any harder the last time Link visited the area, but now they are. And Scrapper has trouble keeping up with Link, complains if he gets too far ahead, but also whines if any enemies get close to him. It’s a long, tedious, stressful, annoying hike up the mountain. Eventually, they do make it up the mountain, and Scrapper pours the water on the frog statue, opening the way to the next dungeon.
Now it’s back to the sky for final preparations. Three of the Goddess Chests are easy enough to get: one beneath Fun Fun Island with a Gold Rupee, one on a large island in the Thunderhead region with a heart piece, and one atop the tower on the Isle of Songs with a Bomb Bag. The fourth is on the island where Beedle docks at night, and is in an area that’s tricky to enter from the Loftwing. (It’s not impossible – I got there by ramming the Loftwing into the door and basically getting thrown through.) It has a second Rupee Medal. Back at the Bazaar, Link upgrades his new Bomb Bag a couple times to max out its capacity, then chucks it back into the Item Check while getting his standard loadout (shield, three Heart Potions, two Life Medals, Treasure Medal, Heart Medal) for the next dungeon.
Next: “Great! Dig it! Dig it! Dig to the center of the earth!”
Friday, December 20, 2019
Skyward Sword: Sandship
When Link enters the Sandship, there’s little indication of how exactly the thing managed to sail around while he was chasing it. There are a few Bokoblin skeletons on the deck, so it seems the pirate crew died long before. Belowdecks, Link finds the usual assortment of Spumes, Keese, and Aracha that have populated the desert’s non-Timeshifted areas. There’s another door with gems that need to be hit in a certain order to be opened, and this time the guide appears under the sand in the room; the door reveals a chest with a key.
Through the locked door near the start of the dungeon, Link comes across the miniboss, the pirate captain Scervo. Scervo’s got two swords, but one hand is a hook, so he can only use one at a time. The fight is on a long, narrow walkway, and Link and Scervo try to knock each other back – Scervo trying to Link drive into a spiked wall behind him, Link trying to make Scervo walk the plank. The first two times he’s knocked back, Scervo recovers but loses his sword (and the second time, his sword arm) and brings the spiked wall closer to Link. The third time, he loses the hook hand and falls to his doom, leaving behind a treasure chest. Fi pops up to express admiration for the fact that he’s managed to survive all this time. The treasure chest has the final item, the bow; Fi… oh, Lord. “Your bow’s elasticity can propel arrows through the air with great force, allowing you to strike your targets from afar.” If I could believe this was meant to be parody, it would be hilarious. Fi also describes the bow controls [1], and for those unfamiliar with the mechanic from earlier Zelda games, notes the bow can activate eye switches, like the one on the deck.
Shooting the eye switch causes a Timeshift Stone to rise in a cage atop the mast, which brings the ship back to life. Unfortunately, that also means all the Bokoblins come back, so there’s a sequence of clearing the deck of Bokoblins. After it’s done, Skipper comes aboard to thank Link for his hard work and ask him to rescue his crew from the brig. Before starting that, there’s a heart piece to be claimed by Clawshotting down behind the ship.
As Link explores the ship, Fi calls attention to the ventilation shaft in the ceiling, allowing Link to shoot the Timeshift Stone on the mast. It might have been nice to have a chance to figure that out myself, but I can see it being a helpful hint if someone gets stuck. (On the other hand, that’s what the Sheikah Stone is supposed to be for….) It’s kind of disappointing only having one Timeshift Stone for the whole dungeon after the mobile timeshift fun on the Sand Sea and in the Pirate Hideout. The brig is blocked off by an electrical gate, so Link needs to sneak in through the engine room to get the crew out. To do that, he first needs to activate two power generators to make the engine room work. Once it’s done, Link goes through the smashers in the engine room and lets the crew out the back door; they give him a key to the captain’s cabin, where he finds the Boss Key.
With the Boss Key, Link can finally enter the control room; as soon as he does, a bunch of tentacles start popping up through the ship. As Link heads to the deck to see what’s going on, Fi pipes in: “The current situation is difficult to determine with complete accuracy, but signs indicate that this ship is under attack.” Fi has been at her worst throughout the dungeon, but… wow. She does give the useful hint that Skyward Strikes are necessary to sever the tentacles and escape, but again, maybe give the player a chance to figure it out on their own? (“Master, your weapons appear to be ineffective. However, sacred power may be able to cut through.”) Then, Link gets to the deck, where he finally sees the abyssal leviathan face-to-face, and…
I’d say this would be more at home in Wind Waker’s art style, but that game had Big Octos that actually looked like terrifying sea monsters.
In the first phase of the Tentalus fight, tentacles pop up through the deck and Link cuts them down. After four tentacles are gone, Tentalus shows up and tries to smash at Link, while Link tries to shoot its eye. This causes it to fall onto the deck where Link can hit the eye with his sword. This repeats three times, then Tentalus smashes the deck and Link has to scramble to higher ground. Tentalus reappears at the other side of the deck and attacks Link with its hair tentacles. These can be cut with normal sword strikes, and after a while Tentalus stops, leaving its eye open to attack once again. After a couple rounds here, Tentalus is defeated.
With the monsters gone, an altar pops up, Link Skyward Strikes the crest, and Nayru’s Flame ignites. Fi absorbs the flames into herself, and with no walls to bounce off, goes flying off into the sky. Unfortunately, she comes back, although this does allow her to shoot the flames into the sword. The ability gained here is incredibly useless: four extra dowsing slots, which by talking to the right people, can be calibrated to search for Goddess Cubes, Gratitude Crystals, treasure, and rupees, in addition to the three base slots for a primary quest item, a sidequest item, and hearts. Woooo. The lower left piece of the Triforce shines on Link’s hand. Back at the port, Skipper says he and his crew got the ship back together after Tentalus’ attacks, and wishes Link well in his quest.
Next: From an awesome robot buddy to… him. Oh, joy.
[1] Thankfully, pulling back the Nunchuk to fire arrows is optional. On the other hand, motion control to aim isn’t.
Through the locked door near the start of the dungeon, Link comes across the miniboss, the pirate captain Scervo. Scervo’s got two swords, but one hand is a hook, so he can only use one at a time. The fight is on a long, narrow walkway, and Link and Scervo try to knock each other back – Scervo trying to Link drive into a spiked wall behind him, Link trying to make Scervo walk the plank. The first two times he’s knocked back, Scervo recovers but loses his sword (and the second time, his sword arm) and brings the spiked wall closer to Link. The third time, he loses the hook hand and falls to his doom, leaving behind a treasure chest. Fi pops up to express admiration for the fact that he’s managed to survive all this time. The treasure chest has the final item, the bow; Fi… oh, Lord. “Your bow’s elasticity can propel arrows through the air with great force, allowing you to strike your targets from afar.” If I could believe this was meant to be parody, it would be hilarious. Fi also describes the bow controls [1], and for those unfamiliar with the mechanic from earlier Zelda games, notes the bow can activate eye switches, like the one on the deck.
Shooting the eye switch causes a Timeshift Stone to rise in a cage atop the mast, which brings the ship back to life. Unfortunately, that also means all the Bokoblins come back, so there’s a sequence of clearing the deck of Bokoblins. After it’s done, Skipper comes aboard to thank Link for his hard work and ask him to rescue his crew from the brig. Before starting that, there’s a heart piece to be claimed by Clawshotting down behind the ship.
As Link explores the ship, Fi calls attention to the ventilation shaft in the ceiling, allowing Link to shoot the Timeshift Stone on the mast. It might have been nice to have a chance to figure that out myself, but I can see it being a helpful hint if someone gets stuck. (On the other hand, that’s what the Sheikah Stone is supposed to be for….) It’s kind of disappointing only having one Timeshift Stone for the whole dungeon after the mobile timeshift fun on the Sand Sea and in the Pirate Hideout. The brig is blocked off by an electrical gate, so Link needs to sneak in through the engine room to get the crew out. To do that, he first needs to activate two power generators to make the engine room work. Once it’s done, Link goes through the smashers in the engine room and lets the crew out the back door; they give him a key to the captain’s cabin, where he finds the Boss Key.
With the Boss Key, Link can finally enter the control room; as soon as he does, a bunch of tentacles start popping up through the ship. As Link heads to the deck to see what’s going on, Fi pipes in: “The current situation is difficult to determine with complete accuracy, but signs indicate that this ship is under attack.” Fi has been at her worst throughout the dungeon, but… wow. She does give the useful hint that Skyward Strikes are necessary to sever the tentacles and escape, but again, maybe give the player a chance to figure it out on their own? (“Master, your weapons appear to be ineffective. However, sacred power may be able to cut through.”) Then, Link gets to the deck, where he finally sees the abyssal leviathan face-to-face, and…
I’d say this would be more at home in Wind Waker’s art style, but that game had Big Octos that actually looked like terrifying sea monsters.
In the first phase of the Tentalus fight, tentacles pop up through the deck and Link cuts them down. After four tentacles are gone, Tentalus shows up and tries to smash at Link, while Link tries to shoot its eye. This causes it to fall onto the deck where Link can hit the eye with his sword. This repeats three times, then Tentalus smashes the deck and Link has to scramble to higher ground. Tentalus reappears at the other side of the deck and attacks Link with its hair tentacles. These can be cut with normal sword strikes, and after a while Tentalus stops, leaving its eye open to attack once again. After a couple rounds here, Tentalus is defeated.
With the monsters gone, an altar pops up, Link Skyward Strikes the crest, and Nayru’s Flame ignites. Fi absorbs the flames into herself, and with no walls to bounce off, goes flying off into the sky. Unfortunately, she comes back, although this does allow her to shoot the flames into the sword. The ability gained here is incredibly useless: four extra dowsing slots, which by talking to the right people, can be calibrated to search for Goddess Cubes, Gratitude Crystals, treasure, and rupees, in addition to the three base slots for a primary quest item, a sidequest item, and hearts. Woooo. The lower left piece of the Triforce shines on Link’s hand. Back at the port, Skipper says he and his crew got the ship back together after Tentalus’ attacks, and wishes Link well in his quest.
Next: From an awesome robot buddy to… him. Oh, joy.
[1] Thankfully, pulling back the Nunchuk to fire arrows is optional. On the other hand, motion control to aim isn’t.
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Skyward Sword: Lanayru Sand Sea
At the south end of the sinksand river leading to the Temple of Time, there are some clawshot targets leading to a small system of caves. There are exits to various parts of the desert, labeled by the Goron who’s digging through the rocks at the end, looking for one of the three dragons who’s said to live in the area. The Goron says he’d heard of the sacred flame together with the Lanayru Sand Sea, and gives Link a key to the door. Once out the door, Fi pops up to explain that the area used to be aquatic, but the water’s gone, leaving just the sand dunes behind. In the caves nearby, Link finds a bunch of Aracha and a Goddess Cube.
At the end of a pier, there’s a boat with a timeshift stone and a rusted robot wearing a bicorne hat. When the timeshift stone is struck, it sinks into a niche on the boat, the robot comes to life, and a small area around the boat becomes watery again. The robot says he was the skipper of the ship that protects Nayru’s Flame. Unfortunately, the ship was taken by pirates, and Skipper believes they activated the cloaking device after throwing him overboard. Link and Skipper’s goals align, so they team up and set sail. This is a pretty cool effect: the Timeshift Stone aboard the boat creates an area of water around it so it can sail, a small moving lake around the desert.
The first stop is Skipper’s Retreat, where Skipper used to live and kept a good map of the region. Unlike most of the other robots, Skipper’s aware that he’s confined to the timeshifted area around the boat, so Link has to go up to get it. The road up is platforming and Clawshot navigation (borrowing Twilight Princess’ friendly Peahats), with a few Furnixes and Babas around and a Moblin with an indestructible shield, so Link has to use the up and over technique to score hits. There’s also a Goddess Cube Link can get to on his way up. Link eventually makes it up to Skipper’s home, and amidst the paintings of the ship hanging on the wall and a couple inactive robots, Link finds a chest with the map he needs.
With the map in hand, Skipper marks the Shipyard where the ship was built and suggests stopping there to look for clues about the ship. The construction bay’s front entrance is closed off, but Skipper suggests Link could take minecarts and ride around back. The minecart rides are set up to resemble roller coasters (complete with the large, slow hill climb at the beginning), with Link needing to lean into curves to stay on the track, and remembering the snowboarding sequence in Twilight Princess, I'll guess this is going to be a minigame in the near future. There are a couple Lizalfos outside, and a Goron in the first minecart station, but the rest of the facility is abandoned, with only Aracha (including a Moldarach rematch!) for company. Fi concludes there’s nothing useful here.
Skipper had hoped to avoid it, but there’s only one place left to look for clues about where the ship might be: the Pirate Stronghold. The Pirate Stronghold is a minidungeon; Link goes in a side entrance and finds a holder for a Timeshift Stone, but no stone in sight. A little way into the dungeon, Link finds a Timeshift Orb, a special stone that’s always active and designed to be carried. The rest of the dungeon involves carrying the Timeshift Orb, dealing with the things it brings to life, and getting it past obstacles it raises (electric barriers activate, rock formations that have fallen into the sand rise again). Once it’s brought back to the beginning, placing it in the holder opens the main entrance of the Stronghold. Outside, Link can Clawshot up to find a Goddess Cube, and the area has masts and sails taken from the ship, which allows Fi to calibrate the sword to dowse for the ship.
This may be the last chance Link has to go check out the new Goddess Chests before the dungeon, so he goes back up. One is on an island near Fun Fun Island, and the other two are on Skyloft: one on the waterfall island, one in the Bazaar. The rewards are a gold rupee, heart piece, and Potion Medal that doubles the duration of potions. While at the Bazaar, Link sets his Adventure Pouch loadout: Goddess Shield, three bottles of Heart Potion++, two Life Medals, Treasure Medal, and Heart Medal.
Dowsing for the ship is frustrating, because in addition to tracking it down, Link has to shoot it with the boat’s cannon to make it visible, and you can’t dowse and aim the cannon at the same time, so it’s find a location, then shoot and hope it hasn’t moved off before you were ready. Once the ship’s been hit three times, the cloaking device is disabled and Link’s able to board.
I’ve been kind of down on this game, so I’ll take the opportunity here to praise a great section (aside from dowsing, bleh). The timeshifted sailing was a clever idea nicely executed, and the whole region has a very melancholy feel to it, especially Skipper’s Retreat. Skipper’s one of my favorite characters in the game, with his understanding that he and everything he knew are long dead, but he’s been brought back by a Timeshift Stone and friendly stranger, at least for a little while.
Next: …and Mike Wazowski said, “That’s no kraken! That’s my wife!”
At the end of a pier, there’s a boat with a timeshift stone and a rusted robot wearing a bicorne hat. When the timeshift stone is struck, it sinks into a niche on the boat, the robot comes to life, and a small area around the boat becomes watery again. The robot says he was the skipper of the ship that protects Nayru’s Flame. Unfortunately, the ship was taken by pirates, and Skipper believes they activated the cloaking device after throwing him overboard. Link and Skipper’s goals align, so they team up and set sail. This is a pretty cool effect: the Timeshift Stone aboard the boat creates an area of water around it so it can sail, a small moving lake around the desert.
The first stop is Skipper’s Retreat, where Skipper used to live and kept a good map of the region. Unlike most of the other robots, Skipper’s aware that he’s confined to the timeshifted area around the boat, so Link has to go up to get it. The road up is platforming and Clawshot navigation (borrowing Twilight Princess’ friendly Peahats), with a few Furnixes and Babas around and a Moblin with an indestructible shield, so Link has to use the up and over technique to score hits. There’s also a Goddess Cube Link can get to on his way up. Link eventually makes it up to Skipper’s home, and amidst the paintings of the ship hanging on the wall and a couple inactive robots, Link finds a chest with the map he needs.
With the map in hand, Skipper marks the Shipyard where the ship was built and suggests stopping there to look for clues about the ship. The construction bay’s front entrance is closed off, but Skipper suggests Link could take minecarts and ride around back. The minecart rides are set up to resemble roller coasters (complete with the large, slow hill climb at the beginning), with Link needing to lean into curves to stay on the track, and remembering the snowboarding sequence in Twilight Princess, I'll guess this is going to be a minigame in the near future. There are a couple Lizalfos outside, and a Goron in the first minecart station, but the rest of the facility is abandoned, with only Aracha (including a Moldarach rematch!) for company. Fi concludes there’s nothing useful here.
Skipper had hoped to avoid it, but there’s only one place left to look for clues about where the ship might be: the Pirate Stronghold. The Pirate Stronghold is a minidungeon; Link goes in a side entrance and finds a holder for a Timeshift Stone, but no stone in sight. A little way into the dungeon, Link finds a Timeshift Orb, a special stone that’s always active and designed to be carried. The rest of the dungeon involves carrying the Timeshift Orb, dealing with the things it brings to life, and getting it past obstacles it raises (electric barriers activate, rock formations that have fallen into the sand rise again). Once it’s brought back to the beginning, placing it in the holder opens the main entrance of the Stronghold. Outside, Link can Clawshot up to find a Goddess Cube, and the area has masts and sails taken from the ship, which allows Fi to calibrate the sword to dowse for the ship.
This may be the last chance Link has to go check out the new Goddess Chests before the dungeon, so he goes back up. One is on an island near Fun Fun Island, and the other two are on Skyloft: one on the waterfall island, one in the Bazaar. The rewards are a gold rupee, heart piece, and Potion Medal that doubles the duration of potions. While at the Bazaar, Link sets his Adventure Pouch loadout: Goddess Shield, three bottles of Heart Potion++, two Life Medals, Treasure Medal, and Heart Medal.
Dowsing for the ship is frustrating, because in addition to tracking it down, Link has to shoot it with the boat’s cannon to make it visible, and you can’t dowse and aim the cannon at the same time, so it’s find a location, then shoot and hope it hasn’t moved off before you were ready. Once the ship’s been hit three times, the cloaking device is disabled and Link’s able to board.
I’ve been kind of down on this game, so I’ll take the opportunity here to praise a great section (aside from dowsing, bleh). The timeshifted sailing was a clever idea nicely executed, and the whole region has a very melancholy feel to it, especially Skipper’s Retreat. Skipper’s one of my favorite characters in the game, with his understanding that he and everything he knew are long dead, but he’s been brought back by a Timeshift Stone and friendly stranger, at least for a little while.
Next: …and Mike Wazowski said, “That’s no kraken! That’s my wife!”
Monday, December 16, 2019
Skyward Sword: Clawshots
Faron is waiting outside the Ancient Cistern when Link exits. She notes that the sword has leveled up, but she still doesn’t think much of Link. Link heads back to the sky to learn the next song, which turns out to be Nayru’s Wisdom, meaning that it’s back to the desert before the volcano. The trial gate is in the same area as the entrance to the Lanayru Mining Facility; once open, it leads to the second Silent Realm. This one’s a little harder than the first, because Link still has to contend with the sinksand in the Silent Realm. Also, there’s one Tear that’s particularly tricky to get: Link needs to pull a minecart platform out of a pool of Waking Water to reach it. There’s another one surrounded by a Watcher minefield, and another Link needs to roll into a tree to shake loose.
Once Link has all the Tears and made it back to the entrance, he can claim his reward: a pair of Clawshots. Fi calls attention to the Clawshot targets around the desert in case the player’s forgotten they’re there. There are a couple chances to use the Clawshots in this area to reach Goddess Cubes. The first is after the end of a hidden path that led to a heart piece Link got on his last trip to the desert. The other is on a walkway that has no way to walk up there but does have a Clawshot target so he can get up there. Before heading deeper into the desert, there’s a few things Link can take care of in the sky, so back up he goes.
The two new Goddess Chests are fairly easy to get to: one to the southwest of Skyloft, one to the northeast. The rewards are a second heart medal and a second life medal. Stopping by the market, Link finds that Bertie, the man who infuses potions, is having trouble sleeping. That night, Link heads over to Bertie’s home and finds the reason he hasn’t been sleeping: a bird stole his baby’s rattle, which means the baby isn’t sleeping, which means he isn’t sleeping. The bird can’t have gone too far, though, so Link decides to look for it. Back at the Knight Academy, Fledge is doing better with his workouts, but still needs more strength. Link gives him a second Stamina Potion and some encouragement.
There’s an island floating above Skyloft with a waterfall pouring down; I’ve seen it from the Loftwing and tried to jump off onto that island, but when Link dives onto Skyloft, it cuts from where he jumped to the nearest Approved Landing Point™. Because Link’s not supposed to be able to get on the waterfall island until he has the Clawshots, it’s not an Approved Landing Point™ and he lands near the entrance to the Waterfall Cave. But now that he has the Clawshots, Link can climb up to the waterfall island by zipping to vines and climbing, and there are two things to get by jumping off. First, going away from Skyloft, Link can get a Goddess Chest he’d activated but not claimed and find a gold rupee. Back toward Skyloft, there’s a bird’s nest, and scouting with the Beetle reveals something colorful half-buried in dirt. The jump is tricky – counterintuitively, the reason I couldn’t make it all the way out to the nest was I wasn’t angling Link down enough. Blowing away the dust, Link find’s the baby’s rattle, which he returns to Bertie for 5 Gratitude Crystals. Link now has 52 of the things, so it’s back to Batreaux for another reward: the Giant Wallet, which holds up to 5000 rupees (plus 900 in Extra Wallets).
There are two more Gratitude Crystals Link can get at night with the Clawshots. The first is on the waterfall island. For the second, Link needs to climb to the roof of the Academy and Clawshot to where he can drop down into the chimney. This leads to hidden passage with a grate where Link can spy on the bath, currently occupied by Gaepora. There’s also a crawlspace with a few rupees that ends by dropping Link into Zelda’s bedroom, where he finds the Gratitude Crystal. I have to question why the hidden passage is there and who’s been using it. While in Zelda’s bedroom, Link can read her diary and check out her dresser for a heart piece. Tingle makes a cameo as a doll on a bookshelf.
That’s it for the sky for now, so it’s back to the desert to begin searching for Nayru’s Flame and the next dungeon.
Next: An island of water.
Once Link has all the Tears and made it back to the entrance, he can claim his reward: a pair of Clawshots. Fi calls attention to the Clawshot targets around the desert in case the player’s forgotten they’re there. There are a couple chances to use the Clawshots in this area to reach Goddess Cubes. The first is after the end of a hidden path that led to a heart piece Link got on his last trip to the desert. The other is on a walkway that has no way to walk up there but does have a Clawshot target so he can get up there. Before heading deeper into the desert, there’s a few things Link can take care of in the sky, so back up he goes.
The two new Goddess Chests are fairly easy to get to: one to the southwest of Skyloft, one to the northeast. The rewards are a second heart medal and a second life medal. Stopping by the market, Link finds that Bertie, the man who infuses potions, is having trouble sleeping. That night, Link heads over to Bertie’s home and finds the reason he hasn’t been sleeping: a bird stole his baby’s rattle, which means the baby isn’t sleeping, which means he isn’t sleeping. The bird can’t have gone too far, though, so Link decides to look for it. Back at the Knight Academy, Fledge is doing better with his workouts, but still needs more strength. Link gives him a second Stamina Potion and some encouragement.
There’s an island floating above Skyloft with a waterfall pouring down; I’ve seen it from the Loftwing and tried to jump off onto that island, but when Link dives onto Skyloft, it cuts from where he jumped to the nearest Approved Landing Point™. Because Link’s not supposed to be able to get on the waterfall island until he has the Clawshots, it’s not an Approved Landing Point™ and he lands near the entrance to the Waterfall Cave. But now that he has the Clawshots, Link can climb up to the waterfall island by zipping to vines and climbing, and there are two things to get by jumping off. First, going away from Skyloft, Link can get a Goddess Chest he’d activated but not claimed and find a gold rupee. Back toward Skyloft, there’s a bird’s nest, and scouting with the Beetle reveals something colorful half-buried in dirt. The jump is tricky – counterintuitively, the reason I couldn’t make it all the way out to the nest was I wasn’t angling Link down enough. Blowing away the dust, Link find’s the baby’s rattle, which he returns to Bertie for 5 Gratitude Crystals. Link now has 52 of the things, so it’s back to Batreaux for another reward: the Giant Wallet, which holds up to 5000 rupees (plus 900 in Extra Wallets).
There are two more Gratitude Crystals Link can get at night with the Clawshots. The first is on the waterfall island. For the second, Link needs to climb to the roof of the Academy and Clawshot to where he can drop down into the chimney. This leads to hidden passage with a grate where Link can spy on the bath, currently occupied by Gaepora. There’s also a crawlspace with a few rupees that ends by dropping Link into Zelda’s bedroom, where he finds the Gratitude Crystal. I have to question why the hidden passage is there and who’s been using it. While in Zelda’s bedroom, Link can read her diary and check out her dresser for a heart piece. Tingle makes a cameo as a doll on a bookshelf.
That’s it for the sky for now, so it’s back to the desert to begin searching for Nayru’s Flame and the next dungeon.
Next: An island of water.
Friday, December 13, 2019
Skyward Sword: Ancient Cistern
This dungeon feels like it was a place of worship and/or meditation. The main room is dominated by a giant statue; painted on the statue in four locations are clues to a later puzzle. Two of these are on the backs of the (underwater) hands, which are holding a silver rupee and try to catch Link if he doesn’t spin attack through the rupee properly; the markings can be read by swimming under them, but it’s easier (and more profitable, of course) to snatch the pebble rupee from the hands, let them close, and read the marking that way. The markings, along with a tablet indicating the order to read them, tell Link the correct order to strike gems on a door to open it.
Inside the statue, Link fights the dungeon miniboss, a Stalmaster – a Stalfos with four arms. At first it only uses two swords, but halfway through the fight, it goes full Grievous, usually leaving Link only one safe direction to attack from, and sometimes blocking all four directions but leaving itself open to being poked. After it’s defeated, Link can claim the dungeon item, the Whip. It’s used throughout the dungeon to pull switches, swing from hooks, and in one case, steal a key from a Bokoblin. The watery areas of the dungeon have lilypads; some have plants growing on one side. These can be flipped by jumping (from high enough up) on the flat side or using the whip on the plant side. A new enemy in the area are fiery birds called Furnixes [1]; they have a ringed tail Link can grab with the whip to bring them down, then Lethal Attack them.
Eventually, one of the switches Link pulls lowers the statue into the ground. Link heads back in and comes out the bottom exit into a new area that’s the highlight of the game thus far. The underground caves are dark and have pits of purple cursed water – and zombie Bokoblins. The serene temple suddenly turned into that one part of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. After passing through a series of puzzles, Link comes to a pit piled with bones with a light shining from overhead and a rope descending from above. He climbs the rope, and as he does a bunch of zombie Bokoblins come out of the bones and start climbing after him, trying to drag him back down.
After the climb, Link emerges back in the room with the statue on a platform where he can raise it back up, with a tablet telling him to return to the caves for a key. The key – the boss key – is in another bone pit directly under the statue, and once Link has it, a bunch of zombie Bokoblins pop out and the statue descends to crush everyone. Link gets out of the way and enters the base of the statue. There are fountains inside to take him to the top, where the boss lock is; when the key is inserted, Link is able to reach the top of the statue and raise it to the ceiling of the temple, where he enters the door to find the sacred flame.
Ghirahim’s waiting for him, although he’s too busy to talk much. He’d almost be understated in this scene, if not for the fact that he’s posing dramatically on top of a statue. After just a few lines, he teleports out and animates the statue into an ancient automaton, Koloktos. Koloktos has two circular knives. If Link gets too close it’ll slash at him, and if he’s too far away it’ll throw the knives at him. The trick is to stay in the Goldilocks zone and make Koloktos try to smash him with one or two of its other four arms, then use the whip to tear the arm off. Once all four arms are gone, Link can attack the gem heart until Koloktos reforms. After a couple cycles of this, Koloktos stops messing around, grows legs, cages in its heart, and pulls out six swords. It sometimes summons zombie Bokoblins. The other attack is the big one: it tries to hit Link with three of them at once, and when it misses, Link can rip off an arm, take the sword, fully dismember Koloktos, bust the cage, and pound the heart. It’s an awesome boss fight, an evolved version of the first Iron Knuckle fight from Ocarina of Time (there are even pillars that can be smashed to reveal hearts).
There’s a little altar with a crest Link can Skyward Strike to light Farore’s Flame, bright and green. Fi pops out and absorbs some of the flame into her, then goes bouncing around the room, landing at Link’s feet in a big fireball. Little fireballs fly out of the big one to Link, and he absorbs them into the sword. Farore’s Flame changes the blade, making it longer and sharper so it does twice as much damage. (If I ever have to cut bamboo again and do badly, I won’t have to listen to the guy prattle on about what a dinky little sword I have.) After Link puts away his sword, he’s surprised to see the Triforce symbol appear on the back of his hand. Two of the triangles are dark, but the bottom-right one glows golden.
The game’s cover art depicts Link holding the Master Sword, which would ordinarily not have been weird because Link getting the Master Sword has been a big part of every single-player console game since A Link to the Past except Majora’s Mask. But here, Fi is tied to the Goddess Sword, so Link getting a different sword might have been awkward. Now I would guess that once it’s absorbed all three Sacred Flames, the Goddess Sword will become the Master Sword.
Next: Two-for-one deal!
[1] I cannot take that name seriously. It sounds like “phoenix” in an exaggerated rural accent; the enemy is supposed to bring phoenixes to mind, but still…
Inside the statue, Link fights the dungeon miniboss, a Stalmaster – a Stalfos with four arms. At first it only uses two swords, but halfway through the fight, it goes full Grievous, usually leaving Link only one safe direction to attack from, and sometimes blocking all four directions but leaving itself open to being poked. After it’s defeated, Link can claim the dungeon item, the Whip. It’s used throughout the dungeon to pull switches, swing from hooks, and in one case, steal a key from a Bokoblin. The watery areas of the dungeon have lilypads; some have plants growing on one side. These can be flipped by jumping (from high enough up) on the flat side or using the whip on the plant side. A new enemy in the area are fiery birds called Furnixes [1]; they have a ringed tail Link can grab with the whip to bring them down, then Lethal Attack them.
Eventually, one of the switches Link pulls lowers the statue into the ground. Link heads back in and comes out the bottom exit into a new area that’s the highlight of the game thus far. The underground caves are dark and have pits of purple cursed water – and zombie Bokoblins. The serene temple suddenly turned into that one part of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. After passing through a series of puzzles, Link comes to a pit piled with bones with a light shining from overhead and a rope descending from above. He climbs the rope, and as he does a bunch of zombie Bokoblins come out of the bones and start climbing after him, trying to drag him back down.
After the climb, Link emerges back in the room with the statue on a platform where he can raise it back up, with a tablet telling him to return to the caves for a key. The key – the boss key – is in another bone pit directly under the statue, and once Link has it, a bunch of zombie Bokoblins pop out and the statue descends to crush everyone. Link gets out of the way and enters the base of the statue. There are fountains inside to take him to the top, where the boss lock is; when the key is inserted, Link is able to reach the top of the statue and raise it to the ceiling of the temple, where he enters the door to find the sacred flame.
Ghirahim’s waiting for him, although he’s too busy to talk much. He’d almost be understated in this scene, if not for the fact that he’s posing dramatically on top of a statue. After just a few lines, he teleports out and animates the statue into an ancient automaton, Koloktos. Koloktos has two circular knives. If Link gets too close it’ll slash at him, and if he’s too far away it’ll throw the knives at him. The trick is to stay in the Goldilocks zone and make Koloktos try to smash him with one or two of its other four arms, then use the whip to tear the arm off. Once all four arms are gone, Link can attack the gem heart until Koloktos reforms. After a couple cycles of this, Koloktos stops messing around, grows legs, cages in its heart, and pulls out six swords. It sometimes summons zombie Bokoblins. The other attack is the big one: it tries to hit Link with three of them at once, and when it misses, Link can rip off an arm, take the sword, fully dismember Koloktos, bust the cage, and pound the heart. It’s an awesome boss fight, an evolved version of the first Iron Knuckle fight from Ocarina of Time (there are even pillars that can be smashed to reveal hearts).
There’s a little altar with a crest Link can Skyward Strike to light Farore’s Flame, bright and green. Fi pops out and absorbs some of the flame into her, then goes bouncing around the room, landing at Link’s feet in a big fireball. Little fireballs fly out of the big one to Link, and he absorbs them into the sword. Farore’s Flame changes the blade, making it longer and sharper so it does twice as much damage. (If I ever have to cut bamboo again and do badly, I won’t have to listen to the guy prattle on about what a dinky little sword I have.) After Link puts away his sword, he’s surprised to see the Triforce symbol appear on the back of his hand. Two of the triangles are dark, but the bottom-right one glows golden.
The game’s cover art depicts Link holding the Master Sword, which would ordinarily not have been weird because Link getting the Master Sword has been a big part of every single-player console game since A Link to the Past except Majora’s Mask. But here, Fi is tied to the Goddess Sword, so Link getting a different sword might have been awkward. Now I would guess that once it’s absorbed all three Sacred Flames, the Goddess Sword will become the Master Sword.
Next: Two-for-one deal!
[1] I cannot take that name seriously. It sounds like “phoenix” in an exaggerated rural accent; the enemy is supposed to bring phoenixes to mind, but still…
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Skyward Sword: Water Dragon
Now that Link can swim, the game makes absolutely sure the player knows that maybe swimming is going to be the key to finding the sacred flame. When Link swims, the Stamina Lime becomes an Oxygen Blue Citrus Thing. It depletes much slower than the Stamina Lime; not quite to Guybrush Threepwood levels, but it was never a concern, even without the air bubbles that refill it being everywhere. (The potion shop in Skyloft has a potion that makes the Oxygen Blue Citrus Thing deplete slower, and I can’t imagine what possible use it might have.)
Anyway, there’s an underwater tunnel into the heart of a large tree. Inside, there are two swinging platforms across the gap to the exit. Outside, Link climbs the tree, and as he gets higher, begins hearing a noise. Halfway up, Link passes through a tunnel that’s blocked by a Moblin; it’s still easier to go up and over and just run to the exit before it turns around. There’s a bird statue in the upper branches, which is useful because there are three Goddess Cubes in the lower branches that Link can jump to from this area, then take the Loftwing Express back up. As Link approaches the top, Fi notes the sound, which turns out to be an old Kikwi named Yerbal’s snoring.
Link can wake Yerbal up with his Slingshot or Beetle (or maybe a bomb, I didn’t try), and he’ll tell Link something if he agrees to keep it a secret to everybody. The sacred flame Link’s looking for is Farore’s Flame, which was entrusted to the Water Dragon of the woods. The gate to the Water Dragon’s lair is sealed shut, and to open it, Link needs to complete Farore’s symbol with a Skyward Strike drawing. Before Link goes to continue the quest, Yerbal warns him to be careful not to offend the Water Dragon.
The gate is near the platform where Link originally met Bucha, and it has the circle missing from the symbol. Once Link’s drawn that in and gone through the gate, he comes to a cliff with several waterfalls, leading to Lake Floria. Through another tunnel and over another waterfall, Link finds a seahorse person who tries to run away from him. Link follows, and after he demonstrates a spin attack to destroy a barrier, the seahorse person realizes Link is the Emissary to the Water Dragon, and decides to lead him there so he can help her. Someone came in and hurt her, so she needs help. Link follows the seahorse person through a tutorial on how to swim and use the spin attack. There’s a Goddess Cube along the way.
The Water Dragon, Faron, recognizes the scale, but doesn’t think much of Link as an emissary. So, she devises a test: She’s recuperating from the wounds Ghirahim gave her in a basin of sacred water, only she doesn’t have enough, so she wants Link to find more. Fi analyzes the water so Link can dowse for it, and that leads him all the way back to the Skyview Temple. So it’s the sacred spring at the end. The dungeon has repopulated with tougher enemies, but Link opened a bunch of shortcuts on his way through the first time (and is better-armed than before), so it’s still easier than the first trip.
In the room where Link met Ghirahim, he fights three Stalfos at once; a little tricky, but he can use bombs to disarm them for some free shots. Once they’re gone, he goes to the spring and claims the water Faron needs. Faron emerges from her bath fully healed; in return, she stops the waterfall blocking the way to the next dungeon.
With the dungeon unlocked, it’s time to return to the sky to prepare. There are five Goddess Chests Link can open now: four that he activated during his search, and one on Skyloft that requires swimming through a tunnel to get to. The rewards are two heart pieces, 400 rupees, and a Rupee Medal to make rupees drop more often. With the rupees he’s got now, he can go to Beedle and buy the heart piece he has for sale, closing out his inventory. Now that Link has Dusk Relics, he can upgrade the Slingshot to the Scattershot, and the Sacred Shield to the Divine Shield to the Goddess Shield, each step increasing its durability. Finally, it’s time to select an Adventure Pouch loadout, and I’m sticking with what works: Goddess Shield, 3 bottles of Heart Potion++, Life Medal, Treasure Medal, Rupee Medal, Heart Medal.
Next: Serenity turns creepy.
Anyway, there’s an underwater tunnel into the heart of a large tree. Inside, there are two swinging platforms across the gap to the exit. Outside, Link climbs the tree, and as he gets higher, begins hearing a noise. Halfway up, Link passes through a tunnel that’s blocked by a Moblin; it’s still easier to go up and over and just run to the exit before it turns around. There’s a bird statue in the upper branches, which is useful because there are three Goddess Cubes in the lower branches that Link can jump to from this area, then take the Loftwing Express back up. As Link approaches the top, Fi notes the sound, which turns out to be an old Kikwi named Yerbal’s snoring.
Link can wake Yerbal up with his Slingshot or Beetle (or maybe a bomb, I didn’t try), and he’ll tell Link something if he agrees to keep it a secret to everybody. The sacred flame Link’s looking for is Farore’s Flame, which was entrusted to the Water Dragon of the woods. The gate to the Water Dragon’s lair is sealed shut, and to open it, Link needs to complete Farore’s symbol with a Skyward Strike drawing. Before Link goes to continue the quest, Yerbal warns him to be careful not to offend the Water Dragon.
The gate is near the platform where Link originally met Bucha, and it has the circle missing from the symbol. Once Link’s drawn that in and gone through the gate, he comes to a cliff with several waterfalls, leading to Lake Floria. Through another tunnel and over another waterfall, Link finds a seahorse person who tries to run away from him. Link follows, and after he demonstrates a spin attack to destroy a barrier, the seahorse person realizes Link is the Emissary to the Water Dragon, and decides to lead him there so he can help her. Someone came in and hurt her, so she needs help. Link follows the seahorse person through a tutorial on how to swim and use the spin attack. There’s a Goddess Cube along the way.
The Water Dragon, Faron, recognizes the scale, but doesn’t think much of Link as an emissary. So, she devises a test: She’s recuperating from the wounds Ghirahim gave her in a basin of sacred water, only she doesn’t have enough, so she wants Link to find more. Fi analyzes the water so Link can dowse for it, and that leads him all the way back to the Skyview Temple. So it’s the sacred spring at the end. The dungeon has repopulated with tougher enemies, but Link opened a bunch of shortcuts on his way through the first time (and is better-armed than before), so it’s still easier than the first trip.
In the room where Link met Ghirahim, he fights three Stalfos at once; a little tricky, but he can use bombs to disarm them for some free shots. Once they’re gone, he goes to the spring and claims the water Faron needs. Faron emerges from her bath fully healed; in return, she stops the waterfall blocking the way to the next dungeon.
With the dungeon unlocked, it’s time to return to the sky to prepare. There are five Goddess Chests Link can open now: four that he activated during his search, and one on Skyloft that requires swimming through a tunnel to get to. The rewards are two heart pieces, 400 rupees, and a Rupee Medal to make rupees drop more often. With the rupees he’s got now, he can go to Beedle and buy the heart piece he has for sale, closing out his inventory. Now that Link has Dusk Relics, he can upgrade the Slingshot to the Scattershot, and the Sacred Shield to the Divine Shield to the Goddess Shield, each step increasing its durability. Finally, it’s time to select an Adventure Pouch loadout, and I’m sticking with what works: Goddess Shield, 3 bottles of Heart Potion++, Life Medal, Treasure Medal, Rupee Medal, Heart Medal.
Next: Serenity turns creepy.
Monday, December 9, 2019
Skyward Sword: Silent Realm
Now that Link has a harp, the owner of the Lumpy Pumpkin has an idea for how Link can continue to pay for breaking the chandelier, but it has to be done at night. Except for the rescue knights, no one’s allowed to ride Loftwings at night, which only raises questions about the people at the Lumpy Pumpkin at night. Anyway, Link borrows a bed and waits till nightfall, then he gets to play the harp while Kina sings for the people who stay at the bar overnight. This minigame is not well-designed; the only guides you have are the customers swaying their hands to indicate when Link should strum, and the backing music adds more instruments (from somewhere) when he’s doing well… but no matter how it goes, they drop out mid-song so Link and Kina can be the focus. It took me too many tries to get a passing score, then I tried reading guides to how it’s supposed to go and went back and this actually made me worse because the audience started booing Link off stage before the song finished. So screw it, I did it once, and that’s enough. With this finished, Link’s clear of the debt and gets another heart piece for owning up to it, and the next day there’s a new chandelier without anything to tempt someone into breaking it (not that it can be done). There are two loose Gratitude Crystals on Pumpkin Landing, so Link takes this opportunity to grab them.
The next stop is Fun Fun Island, which Link investigated earlier when Orielle was crash-landed nearby. The clown there lost the party wheel he needed to get his minigame up and running – it fell beneath the clouds. Fi guesses Lanayru Desert is the most likely landing spot and calibrates Link’s sword to dowse for the wheel. Link goes down and tracks the wheel down, then Fi calls Scrapper to take it. They bring it back to the clown, who’s delighted he can get up and running; Link gets five Gratitude Crystals and one free play of the game. The game is very Pilotwingsy: First, Link is shot out of a cannon way up in the sky. Then, as he falls, he has to pass through rings to increase his score multiplier; avoid the bouncy balls which, in addition to making the rings harder to hit, reset his multiplier; and finally land on a colored space on the board. There’s one space worth 50 rupees, and with a full multiplier it’s worth 500 rupees and, the first time, a heart piece. The falling controls took some getting used to, but once I did this game wasn’t too bad.
Now, it’s time to go to Faron Woods to continue the quest. The enemies in the area are tougher: blue Bokoblins have replaced the red ones, and there’s even a couple Moblins wandering about. There are two ways to defeat a Moblin: hack its shield to pieces until it’s useless, then attack, or run up and over the shield and the Moblin’s head to attack it from behind (and generally, eventually catch the shield, hack it to pieces, and attack from the front). They take a ridiculous number of hits to defeat, so for now it’s best to leave them alone. (They're slow.) There’s a heart piece Link can find behind a bombable wall. The Trial Gate is located in front of the Viewing Platform, and Link and Fi perform their song to open it. (The pulsing rainbow under Fi’s feet is a much easier guide to follow than waving hands.) Link puts his sword in the ground to open the gate.
Link arrives in the Silent Realm, where the trial will take place. Fi explains how it works: He has a Spirit Vessel that he has to fill with 15 Tears of Farore. The Realm is protected by Guardians who will chase Link, and if they hit him, force him to restart the trial. That’s not everything, though. Getting a Tear makes the Guardians go dormant for 90 seconds. Even when the Guardians are dormant, there are Poe-like Watchers that patrol the area, and if they see Link, the Guardians wake up. There are areas of Waking Water that wake dormant Guardians up (Fi does call attention to this). And there’s Light Fruit scattered about that causes the remaining Tears to shine like beacons. (Oh, and least importantly: There’s a special version of the Amber Relic treasure, Dusk Relics, that can only be found in the Silent Realm.) Or, more succinctly: It’s gathering Tears of Light in the Temple of the Ocean King. Now, I liked the Temple of the Ocean King, although mostly for its dungeoneering aspect, which is absent here. The Tears of Light were the parts of Twilight Princess I pushed through to get to the good stuff, but I didn’t hate them. This? This is terrible.
Although… honestly, when you know what you’re doing, 90 seconds is usually more than enough time to get from one Tear to the next, so the only problems are when you get caught by a Watcher, step in Waking Water, or can’t find the next Tear (there’s one that Link needs to climb on vines to get that was the only one I had trouble with). If the Guardians wake up, outrunning them is tough because of the limits of the Stamina Lime, but short distances are fine. Once Link has all 15 Tears, the Guardians go permanently dormant (unless Link messes up on the way out, maybe), and when he works his way back to the Trial Gate, he’s awarded the first sacred gift, the Water Dragon’s Scale, which will let him swim freely underwater.
Next: Someone annoys Link by snoring, so Link shoots him.
The next stop is Fun Fun Island, which Link investigated earlier when Orielle was crash-landed nearby. The clown there lost the party wheel he needed to get his minigame up and running – it fell beneath the clouds. Fi guesses Lanayru Desert is the most likely landing spot and calibrates Link’s sword to dowse for the wheel. Link goes down and tracks the wheel down, then Fi calls Scrapper to take it. They bring it back to the clown, who’s delighted he can get up and running; Link gets five Gratitude Crystals and one free play of the game. The game is very Pilotwingsy: First, Link is shot out of a cannon way up in the sky. Then, as he falls, he has to pass through rings to increase his score multiplier; avoid the bouncy balls which, in addition to making the rings harder to hit, reset his multiplier; and finally land on a colored space on the board. There’s one space worth 50 rupees, and with a full multiplier it’s worth 500 rupees and, the first time, a heart piece. The falling controls took some getting used to, but once I did this game wasn’t too bad.
Now, it’s time to go to Faron Woods to continue the quest. The enemies in the area are tougher: blue Bokoblins have replaced the red ones, and there’s even a couple Moblins wandering about. There are two ways to defeat a Moblin: hack its shield to pieces until it’s useless, then attack, or run up and over the shield and the Moblin’s head to attack it from behind (and generally, eventually catch the shield, hack it to pieces, and attack from the front). They take a ridiculous number of hits to defeat, so for now it’s best to leave them alone. (They're slow.) There’s a heart piece Link can find behind a bombable wall. The Trial Gate is located in front of the Viewing Platform, and Link and Fi perform their song to open it. (The pulsing rainbow under Fi’s feet is a much easier guide to follow than waving hands.) Link puts his sword in the ground to open the gate.
Link arrives in the Silent Realm, where the trial will take place. Fi explains how it works: He has a Spirit Vessel that he has to fill with 15 Tears of Farore. The Realm is protected by Guardians who will chase Link, and if they hit him, force him to restart the trial. That’s not everything, though. Getting a Tear makes the Guardians go dormant for 90 seconds. Even when the Guardians are dormant, there are Poe-like Watchers that patrol the area, and if they see Link, the Guardians wake up. There are areas of Waking Water that wake dormant Guardians up (Fi does call attention to this). And there’s Light Fruit scattered about that causes the remaining Tears to shine like beacons. (Oh, and least importantly: There’s a special version of the Amber Relic treasure, Dusk Relics, that can only be found in the Silent Realm.) Or, more succinctly: It’s gathering Tears of Light in the Temple of the Ocean King. Now, I liked the Temple of the Ocean King, although mostly for its dungeoneering aspect, which is absent here. The Tears of Light were the parts of Twilight Princess I pushed through to get to the good stuff, but I didn’t hate them. This? This is terrible.
Although… honestly, when you know what you’re doing, 90 seconds is usually more than enough time to get from one Tear to the next, so the only problems are when you get caught by a Watcher, step in Waking Water, or can’t find the next Tear (there’s one that Link needs to climb on vines to get that was the only one I had trouble with). If the Guardians wake up, outrunning them is tough because of the limits of the Stamina Lime, but short distances are fine. Once Link has all 15 Tears, the Guardians go permanently dormant (unless Link messes up on the way out, maybe), and when he works his way back to the Trial Gate, he’s awarded the first sacred gift, the Water Dragon’s Scale, which will let him swim freely underwater.
Next: Someone annoys Link by snoring, so Link shoots him.
Friday, December 6, 2019
Skyward Sword: Love Is in the Air
In the Skyloft Bazaar, the Gear Shop has a new shield for sale, the Sacred Shield. It protects against both fire and electric attacks and regenerates durability over time; the drawback is its durability is lower than the non-regenerating shields. Around the bazaar, there are rumors of hearing a mysterious woman crying in the dormitory at night. The kitchen woman who gets frustrated with Link busting everything up confirms she’s heard it too. That night, Link hears the voice coming from the bathroom. The door is locked, and the ghostly voice asks for paper. Meanwhile, Fledge is making a lot of noise in his bedroom, and when Link investigates, he finds him trying to do pushups but unable to do more than a few at a time.
In the morning, Cawlin, Groose’s egg-throwing lackey, has the chat bubble over his head, and is debating whether to give something to someone. It turns out he’s written a love letter to Karane, and talking to Link, he gets the bright idea of having Link deliver the letter for him. The game makes sure to highlight that the letter is made of paper, and Link’s attention is drawn to the bathroom, at which point Cawlin makes him swear not to give it to the ghost. While Link ponders if he’s actually going to give Cawlin’s letter to Karane, he wanders the island and discovers Pipit’s mother’s house, which is covered in dust. Like abandoned, probably haunted house levels of dust. Pipit’s mother asks Link to clean up for her, and all he has to blow the dust away is the Gust Bellows, which is not exactly delicate with her belongings. Still, she’s happy with the job and gives Link 20 rupees and five gratitude crystals for his trouble. On the way back to the Academy, Link gets a Stamina Potion for Fledge.
That night, Link gives Fledge the potion, and encourages him to keep at it. Then he goes to the bathroom, where the ghost can sense he’s got paper and lets him in. Unsurprisingly, a ghost hand pops out of the toilet to wave to Link and takes the letter. There are two things Link can find wandering the island at night: First, Peatrice is definitely crushing on Link, and her father (the guy who runs the bamboo-cutting game) has noticed, although he doesn’t know it’s Link. He asks Link to chase whoever it is off, and then he’ll let Link talk with Peatrice. So, that’s awkward. Over on the east side, Link hears Pipit yelling at his mom for hiring someone to clean for her, saying he’s barely making enough to stay enrolled at the Academy and give her money for essentials. He storms out to find Link there, and Link lets him think he didn’t overhear it while making a mental note this is not the way to make rupees in the future.
The next morning, Cawlin’s furious and runs off to Groose’s room, crying. Link goes to see Peatrice, who asks him to come over that night to talk. How they’re going to manage that with her father there, I don’t know, but Link agrees to come. It turns out he doesn’t try to stop Link, or apparently even overhear anything despite being three feet away. She asks Link how he feels about her, and keeps asking just to make sure when he says he likes her. She’s happy, but understands Link’s on a quest and that’s the real reason he comes by the Item Check so much, so she’ll wait till that’s over before pursuing things further. Link gets five gratitude crystals from her; her dad’s not so thrilled with the outcome, but, eh. Meanwhile, Cawlin’s having trouble sleeping because the ghost apparently read the letter and fell in love with him and caresses his face in the middle of the night; she gives Link five gratitude crystals for his help. I actually feel sorry for Cawlin here, though [1].
Link’s gratitude crystal total is 40 now, so he goes back to see Batreaux. Batreaux gives him a wallet upgrade to a base capacity of 1000 rupees, and 300 rupees to jumpstart filling it. A treasure chest appears in the room, and Batreaux tries to convince Link not to open it, but he does anyway, finding the Cursed Medal. This increases treasure and rupee drops, but prevents Link from opening his Adventure Pouch while it’s in there; medals, seed satchels, and bomb bags still work, but he can’t use shields or bottles/potions. (I don’t know about bottled fairies.) I tried it for a while; the boost is hardly noticeable over what the Treasure Medal gives, and there are times like the Fledge quest where you need bottles, so it’s not worth it.
Next: The final task and the first trial.
[1] Checking on YouTube for what happens if Link delivers the letter to Karane: Before and after getting the letter, she’s more interested in Pipit, and when Link tells Pipit about everything he runs down to ask Karane out while she’s talking things over with Cawlin, and… yeah, it doesn’t end well for Cawlin this way, either, although at least he can sleep. On this path, Pipit gives Link the gratitude crystals.
In the morning, Cawlin, Groose’s egg-throwing lackey, has the chat bubble over his head, and is debating whether to give something to someone. It turns out he’s written a love letter to Karane, and talking to Link, he gets the bright idea of having Link deliver the letter for him. The game makes sure to highlight that the letter is made of paper, and Link’s attention is drawn to the bathroom, at which point Cawlin makes him swear not to give it to the ghost. While Link ponders if he’s actually going to give Cawlin’s letter to Karane, he wanders the island and discovers Pipit’s mother’s house, which is covered in dust. Like abandoned, probably haunted house levels of dust. Pipit’s mother asks Link to clean up for her, and all he has to blow the dust away is the Gust Bellows, which is not exactly delicate with her belongings. Still, she’s happy with the job and gives Link 20 rupees and five gratitude crystals for his trouble. On the way back to the Academy, Link gets a Stamina Potion for Fledge.
That night, Link gives Fledge the potion, and encourages him to keep at it. Then he goes to the bathroom, where the ghost can sense he’s got paper and lets him in. Unsurprisingly, a ghost hand pops out of the toilet to wave to Link and takes the letter. There are two things Link can find wandering the island at night: First, Peatrice is definitely crushing on Link, and her father (the guy who runs the bamboo-cutting game) has noticed, although he doesn’t know it’s Link. He asks Link to chase whoever it is off, and then he’ll let Link talk with Peatrice. So, that’s awkward. Over on the east side, Link hears Pipit yelling at his mom for hiring someone to clean for her, saying he’s barely making enough to stay enrolled at the Academy and give her money for essentials. He storms out to find Link there, and Link lets him think he didn’t overhear it while making a mental note this is not the way to make rupees in the future.
The next morning, Cawlin’s furious and runs off to Groose’s room, crying. Link goes to see Peatrice, who asks him to come over that night to talk. How they’re going to manage that with her father there, I don’t know, but Link agrees to come. It turns out he doesn’t try to stop Link, or apparently even overhear anything despite being three feet away. She asks Link how he feels about her, and keeps asking just to make sure when he says he likes her. She’s happy, but understands Link’s on a quest and that’s the real reason he comes by the Item Check so much, so she’ll wait till that’s over before pursuing things further. Link gets five gratitude crystals from her; her dad’s not so thrilled with the outcome, but, eh. Meanwhile, Cawlin’s having trouble sleeping because the ghost apparently read the letter and fell in love with him and caresses his face in the middle of the night; she gives Link five gratitude crystals for his help. I actually feel sorry for Cawlin here, though [1].
Link’s gratitude crystal total is 40 now, so he goes back to see Batreaux. Batreaux gives him a wallet upgrade to a base capacity of 1000 rupees, and 300 rupees to jumpstart filling it. A treasure chest appears in the room, and Batreaux tries to convince Link not to open it, but he does anyway, finding the Cursed Medal. This increases treasure and rupee drops, but prevents Link from opening his Adventure Pouch while it’s in there; medals, seed satchels, and bomb bags still work, but he can’t use shields or bottles/potions. (I don’t know about bottled fairies.) I tried it for a while; the boost is hardly noticeable over what the Treasure Medal gives, and there are times like the Fledge quest where you need bottles, so it’s not worth it.
Next: The final task and the first trial.
[1] Checking on YouTube for what happens if Link delivers the letter to Karane: Before and after getting the letter, she’s more interested in Pipit, and when Link tells Pipit about everything he runs down to ask Karane out while she’s talking things over with Cawlin, and… yeah, it doesn’t end well for Cawlin this way, either, although at least he can sleep. On this path, Pipit gives Link the gratitude crystals.
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Skyward Sword: Isle of Songs
The obvious person to ask about the Ballad of the Goddess is Headmaster Gaepora. He’s of course first interested in learning how Link’s quest to find Zelda’s going, and even though this Link is apparently prone to catching people up on what he knows and they don’t, the player hears none of it, so it’s hard to say how much he actually says. Link then asks about the lyrics, and Gaepora knows them, but is hesitant to sing and is relieved when Link says he doesn’t need them sung.
“Oh youth, guided by the servant of the goddess… unite earth and sky, and bring light to the land.
Oh youth, show the two whirling sails the way to the Light Tower… and before you a path shall open, and a heavenly song you shall hear.”
He notes that the Light Tower is the tower in the plaza. He’s not sure about the “whirling sails” are, but it’s pretty obvious exploring the island that it’s probably the two windmills along the south edge. The one closest to the academy has a pinwheel propeller that, when blown at by the Gust Bellows, turns the whole windmill counterclockwise; when it turns to the Light Tower, it lights up (but doesn’t lock into place, and if you go too far you’ve got to go another whole rotation). However, the one out by the graveyard lost its propeller, which flew off the islands and dropped below the clouds. (Fi: “I highly suggest you retrieve the windmill propeller from the land below to reorient the windmill.” I… yes, Fi, that’s a good idea. Thank you. Have a cookie.)
The man who told Link about the propeller says if Link was able to bring it back, he could fix it, but believes whatever’s gone through the clouds is gone for good. However, Gondo at the Scrap Shop has a heirloom flying robot that allegedly brought stuff back from beneath, so that’s the next stop. The robot’s fallen into disrepair, but with a treasure from Link and some tinkering by Gondo, it’s brought back good as new. Scrapper doesn’t think much of Link, barely managing a perfunctory thank you on Gondo’s prodding. He’s not inclined to haul stuff for Link, but when Fi pops out to tell Link he can dowse for the propeller, Scrapper’s smitten and will do anything she asks. Fi is weirded out, but recovers to say they can get the propeller now. Scrapper tells “Master Shortpants” (Link) he can detect Fi’s thoughts, so she just has to call and he’ll come.
Finding the pinwheel in the world is going to be a huge task, so Gondo suggests Link ask Sparrot, the fortune teller, for help. It can’t be more useless than last time, so Link gives him another try. Sparrot sees the propeller near the Earth Temple, and dammit, I saw the bloody thing while gathering keys, wondered what it was for, and promptly forgot all about it. It’s at the bottom of the hill where there used to be a Bokoblin watchtower. Link goes to it, has Fi call Scrapper, and leads Scrapper back to the windmill, which gets fixed. Link turns the windmill to the Light Tower, and the center platform of the tower rises to reveal a hidden pavilion. Link goes to the pavilion and plays the Ballad of the Goddess with Fi singing (with a really unnatural animation – which I guess is appropriate for what she is); the pavilion spins, and the sun shines through the ceiling onto a lens that focuses into a laser that opens a hole in the giant thundercloud in the sky.
Inside the Thunderhead, it’s gray and stormy and there are enemies that can damage Link if they get too close. There’s nothing to be done about them except try to outrun them and hope for the best. Link eventually arrives at a pair of islands; one, the Isle of Songs, is nearly entirely occupied by a tower, and the other has a puzzle involving statues on circular tracks. The statues correspond with the segments of the bridge and can be moved around their track with a central wheel, while a fourth statue with three gems raises barriers in configurations that allow Link to get the bridge segments to line up before being rotated into place. Inside the tower, there’s one of those crests for Link to Skyward Strike, and it brings up a statue of the goddess, awakening a message within Fi’s memory: “He who seeks the sacred flames, listen well, for I guide you from my place at the edge of time. The sacred flames are three in number. To obtain them, you must also earn relics known as the three sacred gifts. For each trial you overcome, you shall be blessed with one of the gifts… Make use of the power of these gifts, and you will find your way to the purifying sacred flames. Now, I bestow unto you a melody. It will serve you as a key, opening the first trial that awaits you deep in the wilds of Faron Woods.” The song is called Farore’s Courage, and Fi teaches him to dowse for the gate. (When Link gets a new dowsing target, the game starts chiming at him to use it right away. Game, I’m not going to find the gate here. Hold your fscking horses.)
Now that Link can access the Thunderhead, Goddess Chests there are available to him. There’s one he’s already activated, on the Isle of Songs, and it contains a gold rupee.
Next: Link tries to help, but in some cases, he probably shouldn’t have.
“Oh youth, guided by the servant of the goddess… unite earth and sky, and bring light to the land.
Oh youth, show the two whirling sails the way to the Light Tower… and before you a path shall open, and a heavenly song you shall hear.”
He notes that the Light Tower is the tower in the plaza. He’s not sure about the “whirling sails” are, but it’s pretty obvious exploring the island that it’s probably the two windmills along the south edge. The one closest to the academy has a pinwheel propeller that, when blown at by the Gust Bellows, turns the whole windmill counterclockwise; when it turns to the Light Tower, it lights up (but doesn’t lock into place, and if you go too far you’ve got to go another whole rotation). However, the one out by the graveyard lost its propeller, which flew off the islands and dropped below the clouds. (Fi: “I highly suggest you retrieve the windmill propeller from the land below to reorient the windmill.” I… yes, Fi, that’s a good idea. Thank you. Have a cookie.)
The man who told Link about the propeller says if Link was able to bring it back, he could fix it, but believes whatever’s gone through the clouds is gone for good. However, Gondo at the Scrap Shop has a heirloom flying robot that allegedly brought stuff back from beneath, so that’s the next stop. The robot’s fallen into disrepair, but with a treasure from Link and some tinkering by Gondo, it’s brought back good as new. Scrapper doesn’t think much of Link, barely managing a perfunctory thank you on Gondo’s prodding. He’s not inclined to haul stuff for Link, but when Fi pops out to tell Link he can dowse for the propeller, Scrapper’s smitten and will do anything she asks. Fi is weirded out, but recovers to say they can get the propeller now. Scrapper tells “Master Shortpants” (Link) he can detect Fi’s thoughts, so she just has to call and he’ll come.
Finding the pinwheel in the world is going to be a huge task, so Gondo suggests Link ask Sparrot, the fortune teller, for help. It can’t be more useless than last time, so Link gives him another try. Sparrot sees the propeller near the Earth Temple, and dammit, I saw the bloody thing while gathering keys, wondered what it was for, and promptly forgot all about it. It’s at the bottom of the hill where there used to be a Bokoblin watchtower. Link goes to it, has Fi call Scrapper, and leads Scrapper back to the windmill, which gets fixed. Link turns the windmill to the Light Tower, and the center platform of the tower rises to reveal a hidden pavilion. Link goes to the pavilion and plays the Ballad of the Goddess with Fi singing (with a really unnatural animation – which I guess is appropriate for what she is); the pavilion spins, and the sun shines through the ceiling onto a lens that focuses into a laser that opens a hole in the giant thundercloud in the sky.
Inside the Thunderhead, it’s gray and stormy and there are enemies that can damage Link if they get too close. There’s nothing to be done about them except try to outrun them and hope for the best. Link eventually arrives at a pair of islands; one, the Isle of Songs, is nearly entirely occupied by a tower, and the other has a puzzle involving statues on circular tracks. The statues correspond with the segments of the bridge and can be moved around their track with a central wheel, while a fourth statue with three gems raises barriers in configurations that allow Link to get the bridge segments to line up before being rotated into place. Inside the tower, there’s one of those crests for Link to Skyward Strike, and it brings up a statue of the goddess, awakening a message within Fi’s memory: “He who seeks the sacred flames, listen well, for I guide you from my place at the edge of time. The sacred flames are three in number. To obtain them, you must also earn relics known as the three sacred gifts. For each trial you overcome, you shall be blessed with one of the gifts… Make use of the power of these gifts, and you will find your way to the purifying sacred flames. Now, I bestow unto you a melody. It will serve you as a key, opening the first trial that awaits you deep in the wilds of Faron Woods.” The song is called Farore’s Courage, and Fi teaches him to dowse for the gate. (When Link gets a new dowsing target, the game starts chiming at him to use it right away. Game, I’m not going to find the gate here. Hold your fscking horses.)
Now that Link can access the Thunderhead, Goddess Chests there are available to him. There’s one he’s already activated, on the Isle of Songs, and it contains a gold rupee.
Next: Link tries to help, but in some cases, he probably shouldn’t have.
Monday, December 2, 2019
Skyward Sword: Grooseland
When Link dives into the Faron Woods area, he’s not given the usual choice of where he wants to go. Instead, a cutscene plays – as Link falls, he hears, then sees, Groose making his dramatic entrance back into the story. Groose doesn’t have a sailcloth, so he clings onto Link’s leg, trusting that Link’s will be able to slow both of them down. It does, but Groose doesn’t adjust his position, and that means Link can’t get into a good landing stance either, so they land with a thud (behind trees, with the shot of birds flying away from the disturbance). Why didn’t the rescue knights catch him? Why don’t they catch Link (when he doesn’t fly near the cloud barrier before disembarking so they’d have no chance)? Why do I ask these things when the answer is “that’s the way the game/story works”? I suppose I should be grateful he came by himself, no Cawlin or Stritch.
Groose recovers from his landing and goes straight to what he does best: blaming Link for his misery. Everything about the surface freaks him out, starting with the small birds and Gorko. He turns to Link for answers. He’s noticed Link has been skipping in and out of Skyloft, so this last time he thought he’d follow Link, who’d lead him to Zelda. (Only, the last time Link was in Skyloft, he was getting his shield repaired mid-Lanayru Mining Facility [1], then went back to the dungeon. I guess the game doesn’t expect you to go straight from a dungeon to the next story bit.) Once Groose calms down a bit and stops shaking Link, Link explains everything. It’s still a lot to take in, but Groose is relieved to hear Zelda’s okay, and starts to like the surface, so much he decides it needs a name: Grooseland.
Definitely recovered now, Groose decides that he can take over the quest, and Link’s part is done. He heads off to the temple to talk with the old woman, while Link stays behind to talk to Gorko. Gorko’s learned that there are walls and statues that respond to music. They appear where a group of Blessed Butterflies gather. The statues pop out of the ground with a “boing-oing!” and speak a strange language – Gossip Stones, although Gorko doesn’t know that name. As for the walls, apparently items the Hero needs will appear to him, but that’s all Gorko knows for now.
In the Sealed Temple, the old woman is explaining to Groose that he’s not the hero. Groose figures she means it’s Link and sputters his doubts about that and runs off screaming. The old woman explains that there’s only one way to reach Zelda now, and it requires the harp. She teaches Link to play, first a simple tutorial, then teaching him the first song he’ll need to learn, the Ballad of the Goddess. The song summons a Gate of Time in the Sealed Temple, but it’s still dormant.
Her explanation is cut short when the temple starts shaking. The Gate of Time weakened the seal in the Sealed Grounds, and Link and the old woman go outside to check on it. As Link approaches, black tendrils emerge from the seal, and finally the black worm fully emerges from the ground (with the Sealing Spike still in its forehead), finally identified as the Imprisoned, and starts walking up the slope toward the temple. (This seems to be a time limit for the fight; I assume bad things happen if it actually makes it.) It has huge white growths on its feet, and Link can attack them. When they’re all destroyed, the Imprisoned falls over backward, and Link can use his sword to drive the Sealing Spike into its head. After this is done, the Imprisoned gets back up and slithers on its belly up the slope for a while, before getting up and walking again. Link needs to repeat the full process twice; the third time is more complicated because every step the Imprisoned takes sends out shockwaves.
After the spike is driven in three times, the Imprisoned is returned to the seal, and the Sealing Spike hovers over until Link returns to restore the seal, finishing with a cool flourish. The old woman joins Link down by the seal, congratulating him on his victory, but she knows it’s only temporary. They return to the temple, where she tells Link that he needs to power up his sword by gathering sacred flames from the three surface regions before he can awaken the Gate of Time. The clues Link needs are in the lyrics to the Ballad of the Goddess, which someone in Skyloft will know. Throughout all this, Groose was afraid when the earthquakes signaled the Imprisoned’s impending escape, then looked on in stunned silence after the seal was restored. Having seen Link in action, he figures he’s been wrong about him, and he might be up to the task… leaving him feeling useless. As Groose walks away to think about everything, the old woman says that she knows Groose can help, he just doesn’t know how yet.
Out behind the temple, Gorko has found a convergence of the butterflies, and Link plays his harp to summon a gossip stone. This one’s pretty useless, simply reiterating the whole butterfly thing, but it’s a freebie, and Link got a treasure when the gossip stone popped up, so, hey, neat. I’ve given the game a hard time for handholding and Fi’s… everything, but I like how they use Gorko. Difference between good and bad tutorial writing, I suppose. (Despite it all, I still like Fi, although that’s mostly the fact that Hyrule Warriors was able to write to her strengths while downplaying the Captain Obvious bits and moving the tutorials entirely to pop-up text.)
Next: Pinwheel, pinwheel, where have you been?
[1] I’ve got no idea how it got so damaged. I only used it against the Sentrobes, and the timing there is pretty easy.
Groose recovers from his landing and goes straight to what he does best: blaming Link for his misery. Everything about the surface freaks him out, starting with the small birds and Gorko. He turns to Link for answers. He’s noticed Link has been skipping in and out of Skyloft, so this last time he thought he’d follow Link, who’d lead him to Zelda. (Only, the last time Link was in Skyloft, he was getting his shield repaired mid-Lanayru Mining Facility [1], then went back to the dungeon. I guess the game doesn’t expect you to go straight from a dungeon to the next story bit.) Once Groose calms down a bit and stops shaking Link, Link explains everything. It’s still a lot to take in, but Groose is relieved to hear Zelda’s okay, and starts to like the surface, so much he decides it needs a name: Grooseland.
Definitely recovered now, Groose decides that he can take over the quest, and Link’s part is done. He heads off to the temple to talk with the old woman, while Link stays behind to talk to Gorko. Gorko’s learned that there are walls and statues that respond to music. They appear where a group of Blessed Butterflies gather. The statues pop out of the ground with a “boing-oing!” and speak a strange language – Gossip Stones, although Gorko doesn’t know that name. As for the walls, apparently items the Hero needs will appear to him, but that’s all Gorko knows for now.
In the Sealed Temple, the old woman is explaining to Groose that he’s not the hero. Groose figures she means it’s Link and sputters his doubts about that and runs off screaming. The old woman explains that there’s only one way to reach Zelda now, and it requires the harp. She teaches Link to play, first a simple tutorial, then teaching him the first song he’ll need to learn, the Ballad of the Goddess. The song summons a Gate of Time in the Sealed Temple, but it’s still dormant.
Her explanation is cut short when the temple starts shaking. The Gate of Time weakened the seal in the Sealed Grounds, and Link and the old woman go outside to check on it. As Link approaches, black tendrils emerge from the seal, and finally the black worm fully emerges from the ground (with the Sealing Spike still in its forehead), finally identified as the Imprisoned, and starts walking up the slope toward the temple. (This seems to be a time limit for the fight; I assume bad things happen if it actually makes it.) It has huge white growths on its feet, and Link can attack them. When they’re all destroyed, the Imprisoned falls over backward, and Link can use his sword to drive the Sealing Spike into its head. After this is done, the Imprisoned gets back up and slithers on its belly up the slope for a while, before getting up and walking again. Link needs to repeat the full process twice; the third time is more complicated because every step the Imprisoned takes sends out shockwaves.
After the spike is driven in three times, the Imprisoned is returned to the seal, and the Sealing Spike hovers over until Link returns to restore the seal, finishing with a cool flourish. The old woman joins Link down by the seal, congratulating him on his victory, but she knows it’s only temporary. They return to the temple, where she tells Link that he needs to power up his sword by gathering sacred flames from the three surface regions before he can awaken the Gate of Time. The clues Link needs are in the lyrics to the Ballad of the Goddess, which someone in Skyloft will know. Throughout all this, Groose was afraid when the earthquakes signaled the Imprisoned’s impending escape, then looked on in stunned silence after the seal was restored. Having seen Link in action, he figures he’s been wrong about him, and he might be up to the task… leaving him feeling useless. As Groose walks away to think about everything, the old woman says that she knows Groose can help, he just doesn’t know how yet.
Out behind the temple, Gorko has found a convergence of the butterflies, and Link plays his harp to summon a gossip stone. This one’s pretty useless, simply reiterating the whole butterfly thing, but it’s a freebie, and Link got a treasure when the gossip stone popped up, so, hey, neat. I’ve given the game a hard time for handholding and Fi’s… everything, but I like how they use Gorko. Difference between good and bad tutorial writing, I suppose. (Despite it all, I still like Fi, although that’s mostly the fact that Hyrule Warriors was able to write to her strengths while downplaying the Captain Obvious bits and moving the tutorials entirely to pop-up text.)
Next: Pinwheel, pinwheel, where have you been?
[1] I’ve got no idea how it got so damaged. I only used it against the Sentrobes, and the timing there is pretty easy.
Friday, November 29, 2019
Skyward Sword: Lanayru Mining Facility
Like the desert around it, the Lanayru Mining Facility has fallen into disrepair. Piles of dust are everywhere, and of course more sinksand (including hidden, slightly buried walkways). The place is overrun by the same enemies as the present-day version of the outside world. There are other, new enemies: tiny scorpions called Arachas that are more a nuisance than a threat and Froaks, floating pufferfish that explode when they hit something without their spikes. Also, Staldra return from the preview appearance in the Skyview Temple, and it still feels arbitrary if I hit one, two, or three heads even when attacking along the correct line. The dungeon item is the Gust Bellows, the latest take on the Gust Jar (Minish Cap), Whirlwind (Spirit Tracks), and some functions of the Deku Leaf (Wind Waker). It blows away dust, can spin propellors, and flips the Arachas on their back so they’re even more helpless.
Of course, Link’s not entirely stuck in the present; there are Timeshift Stones throughout the dungeon that bring the facility to life. There are three types of automaton enemies that come to life with it. Two are familiar from previous games: Beamos, who are now destroyed by slicing through their statues until Link can jab them in the eye/beam emitter, and Armos (the miniboss, who guards the dungeon map rather than the item which is needed to defeat it; a pair guards the boss key), who need to be opened by using the Gust Bellows on a propeller on their head to reveal the two crystals that are their true weak points. The third enemy is the Sentrobe, a missile-launching drone. Link can deflect the missiles with his shield to defeat it; it has another attack with bombs that need to be cut a certain way to disarm.
Other puzzles involve running against conveyor belts (aided by Stamina Fruit that appear at just the right intervals to keep Link from tiring out), platforms that move when the propeller atop them is spun that Link needs to ride/move into position/some combination of the two, and mazes of hidden spikes popping out of sand that can be dispersed to make the maze “walls” visible. Late in the dungeon, Link finds minecarts with Timeshift Stones on them that he has to follow, dealing with the enemies that pop up along the way. The final puzzle involves riding a platform and keeping it moving alongside a Timeshift Stone cart so it keeps going.
The boss room is filled with sand, and as Link enters a trail beneath the sand starts behind Link and passes under his feet. Finally, the final form of the aracha, a thousand-year arachnid, Moldarach, pops out and brandishes its pincers and roars at Link. The pincers have eyes, so they’re the obvious target for Link to attack, while the pincers themselves restrict the direction the attack has to come from. Moldarach has two attacks – grabbing at Link with the pincers and a tail sweep. As the pincers take damage, they eventually fall off; once both are gone, Moldarach burrows under the sand, popping up to try the tail sweep. Link can use the Gust Bellows to disturb the sand in the room and uncover Moldarach, forcing it to surface so he can stab its eye. When Moldarach dies, it leaves behind a heart container before the room completely empties of sand, revealing the exit Link’s looking for.
Beneath the mining facility is a long tunnel with a Timeshift Stone and a minecart. The walls of the tunnel have two lines of statues of the robots saluting – a rather absurd touch. At the end of the tunnel, Link exits to the Temple of Time, where Zelda is playing her harp and singing in front of a wheel. She notices Link and tries to go to him, only to be interrupted when the rubble barricade explodes and Ghirahim jumps through. So that barricade didn’t do anyone any good – Ghirahim was able to get through easily enough, while Link had to go the long way. Ghirahim creates a barrier to stop Link from interfering and charges at Zelda, only to be stopped by her Sheikah protector – and yes, Zelda calls her Impa. Impa tells Zelda to go through the gate; Zelda first tosses her harp [1] to Link (the Item Get thing happens, only for the game to acknowledge now’s not the time), then stops again when Ghirahim gets his sword through Impa’s defenses. However, Ghirahim’s own barrier has quickly dispelled, and Link jumps to the rescue. (He gets dialogue options here, either telling Impa to go or protect Zelda, or asking her if he’s too late this time. I can’t imagine why I needed the first two options.) Impa grabs Zelda and heads to the wheel, which is now a gate. She tells Link to go to the old woman at the Sealed Temple for further advice, then takes Zelda through the gate, blowing it up behind them. Ghirahim is furious, blaming himself for being soft on Link up to this point. (No mention of what he was doing while Link and Impa were talking. I’ve mostly admired him for being proactive, but that perception took a blow here.) He doesn’t have the time to deal with Link now, but promises not to hold back next time and teleports out.
Fi pops up to say she can’t sense Zelda anymore, meaning Link won’t be able to dowse for her. Oh, what a huge loss that is. Outside the temple, Gorko asks why Link didn’t tell him about the way around into the Temple; now that the entry is open, he intends to have a look around before heading to the Sealed Grounds.
Next: Don’t bring me down, Grrrrroose.
[1] It’s more like a lyre.
Of course, Link’s not entirely stuck in the present; there are Timeshift Stones throughout the dungeon that bring the facility to life. There are three types of automaton enemies that come to life with it. Two are familiar from previous games: Beamos, who are now destroyed by slicing through their statues until Link can jab them in the eye/beam emitter, and Armos (the miniboss, who guards the dungeon map rather than the item which is needed to defeat it; a pair guards the boss key), who need to be opened by using the Gust Bellows on a propeller on their head to reveal the two crystals that are their true weak points. The third enemy is the Sentrobe, a missile-launching drone. Link can deflect the missiles with his shield to defeat it; it has another attack with bombs that need to be cut a certain way to disarm.
Other puzzles involve running against conveyor belts (aided by Stamina Fruit that appear at just the right intervals to keep Link from tiring out), platforms that move when the propeller atop them is spun that Link needs to ride/move into position/some combination of the two, and mazes of hidden spikes popping out of sand that can be dispersed to make the maze “walls” visible. Late in the dungeon, Link finds minecarts with Timeshift Stones on them that he has to follow, dealing with the enemies that pop up along the way. The final puzzle involves riding a platform and keeping it moving alongside a Timeshift Stone cart so it keeps going.
The boss room is filled with sand, and as Link enters a trail beneath the sand starts behind Link and passes under his feet. Finally, the final form of the aracha, a thousand-year arachnid, Moldarach, pops out and brandishes its pincers and roars at Link. The pincers have eyes, so they’re the obvious target for Link to attack, while the pincers themselves restrict the direction the attack has to come from. Moldarach has two attacks – grabbing at Link with the pincers and a tail sweep. As the pincers take damage, they eventually fall off; once both are gone, Moldarach burrows under the sand, popping up to try the tail sweep. Link can use the Gust Bellows to disturb the sand in the room and uncover Moldarach, forcing it to surface so he can stab its eye. When Moldarach dies, it leaves behind a heart container before the room completely empties of sand, revealing the exit Link’s looking for.
Beneath the mining facility is a long tunnel with a Timeshift Stone and a minecart. The walls of the tunnel have two lines of statues of the robots saluting – a rather absurd touch. At the end of the tunnel, Link exits to the Temple of Time, where Zelda is playing her harp and singing in front of a wheel. She notices Link and tries to go to him, only to be interrupted when the rubble barricade explodes and Ghirahim jumps through. So that barricade didn’t do anyone any good – Ghirahim was able to get through easily enough, while Link had to go the long way. Ghirahim creates a barrier to stop Link from interfering and charges at Zelda, only to be stopped by her Sheikah protector – and yes, Zelda calls her Impa. Impa tells Zelda to go through the gate; Zelda first tosses her harp [1] to Link (the Item Get thing happens, only for the game to acknowledge now’s not the time), then stops again when Ghirahim gets his sword through Impa’s defenses. However, Ghirahim’s own barrier has quickly dispelled, and Link jumps to the rescue. (He gets dialogue options here, either telling Impa to go or protect Zelda, or asking her if he’s too late this time. I can’t imagine why I needed the first two options.) Impa grabs Zelda and heads to the wheel, which is now a gate. She tells Link to go to the old woman at the Sealed Temple for further advice, then takes Zelda through the gate, blowing it up behind them. Ghirahim is furious, blaming himself for being soft on Link up to this point. (No mention of what he was doing while Link and Impa were talking. I’ve mostly admired him for being proactive, but that perception took a blow here.) He doesn’t have the time to deal with Link now, but promises not to hold back next time and teleports out.
Fi pops up to say she can’t sense Zelda anymore, meaning Link won’t be able to dowse for her. Oh, what a huge loss that is. Outside the temple, Gorko asks why Link didn’t tell him about the way around into the Temple; now that the entry is open, he intends to have a look around before heading to the Sealed Grounds.
Next: Don’t bring me down, Grrrrroose.
[1] It’s more like a lyre.
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Skyward Sword: Desert Ruins
Near the barricaded entrance to the Temple of Time, there’s a timeshift stone that reveals a pair of Technoblins bothering a robot. Once it’s cleared, the robot says if Link needs another way into the Temple, there’s an underground connection in the Lanayru Mining Facility. Marking that on the map, he notes that the map is inaccurate and fixes it for him. The desert becomes green, and the large ruins area gets filled in a lot more. Link takes a cart over to the exit back to the Mining Facility entrance, activating a Goddess Cube along the way.
The robot’s alterations to the map show the ruins as they were. There are three concentric circles with twelve spoke lines connecting them. Only a few parts of the ruins are above the sand, but the rest are buried shallowly enough that Link can walk on them safely. The number of beacons Link can place on the map is increased to five to aid in navigation. In a timeshifted area, Link finds the power generator that will open the way into the Mining Facility. But for the generator to work, Link needs to activate the three remote power nodes hidden in the area. Fi sets them as a dowsing option and he’s off.
One of the power nodes is simply hidden behind a statue that falls over when Link chucks a bomb into its basket. To activate the power node, Link needs to hit a Timeshift Stone in the next cave over, then stick his sword in and turn. The other two are in bigger areas. Both require a timeshift to drain the area of sand. The Ampilus in the area revert to their egg forms, which are still electrified and can be used to power the mechanism to open the gate to the power node. One is not much more involved than that; the other has a large gap between the main area and where the gate mechanism is, so Link needs to use the Beetle to bring the Ampilus egg across.
With all three nodes activated, Link can use the power generator to open the way into the dungeon. It has three wheels, which have to be turned to the positions of the corresponding power nodes (each one is marked with a symbol so you don’t have to guess the order) and pushed in. Once this is done, the facility entrance rises out of the sand in the center of the area, with a large staircase leading up to it. There’s a hidden cave path in the area that leads to a heart piece; there’s more here, but the targets in the area don’t respond to being hit by the Slingshot.
With the dungeon unlocked, it’s time to head back to the sky to take care of business there. There are three Goddess Cubes Link can grab. One has a silver rupee, one has a Heart Medal that makes hearts drop more often, and the last has a heart piece, giving Link another full heart. Most of the treasures Link needs are available now, so after a fair bit of farming to get everything, he can upgrade:
And there’s one last thing – at the Lumpy Pumpkin, the owner/bartender has a new job for Link: help his daughter (Kina, the waitress) carry pumpkins to the storage shed. And of course it can’t just be a matter of pick up pumpkin, bring it down, repeat until done. No, it’s a full-fledged minigame. Kina challenges Link to carry a stack of five pumpkins that tilts and wobbles. And the shed is way off to the left, but Link can’t turn, just move forward, sidestep, and by combining the two, move diagonally. It eventually gets done, and Link’s one step closer to being clear from smashing the chandelier.
Next: So, about that barricade…
The robot’s alterations to the map show the ruins as they were. There are three concentric circles with twelve spoke lines connecting them. Only a few parts of the ruins are above the sand, but the rest are buried shallowly enough that Link can walk on them safely. The number of beacons Link can place on the map is increased to five to aid in navigation. In a timeshifted area, Link finds the power generator that will open the way into the Mining Facility. But for the generator to work, Link needs to activate the three remote power nodes hidden in the area. Fi sets them as a dowsing option and he’s off.
One of the power nodes is simply hidden behind a statue that falls over when Link chucks a bomb into its basket. To activate the power node, Link needs to hit a Timeshift Stone in the next cave over, then stick his sword in and turn. The other two are in bigger areas. Both require a timeshift to drain the area of sand. The Ampilus in the area revert to their egg forms, which are still electrified and can be used to power the mechanism to open the gate to the power node. One is not much more involved than that; the other has a large gap between the main area and where the gate mechanism is, so Link needs to use the Beetle to bring the Ampilus egg across.
With all three nodes activated, Link can use the power generator to open the way into the dungeon. It has three wheels, which have to be turned to the positions of the corresponding power nodes (each one is marked with a symbol so you don’t have to guess the order) and pushed in. Once this is done, the facility entrance rises out of the sand in the center of the area, with a large staircase leading up to it. There’s a hidden cave path in the area that leads to a heart piece; there’s more here, but the targets in the area don’t respond to being hit by the Slingshot.
With the dungeon unlocked, it’s time to head back to the sky to take care of business there. There are three Goddess Cubes Link can grab. One has a silver rupee, one has a Heart Medal that makes hearts drop more often, and the last has a heart piece, giving Link another full heart. Most of the treasures Link needs are available now, so after a fair bit of farming to get everything, he can upgrade:
- The [wooden] Banded Shield to a Braced Shield for extra toughness,
- The [iron] Reinforced Shield to a Fortified Shield for the same,
- The Hook Beetle to a Speed Beetle that has a faster travel mode, and again to a Tough Beetle that can fly longer, and
- The Bug Net to the Big Bug Net that makes catching bugs (and birds and Tumbleweeds) easier.
And there’s one last thing – at the Lumpy Pumpkin, the owner/bartender has a new job for Link: help his daughter (Kina, the waitress) carry pumpkins to the storage shed. And of course it can’t just be a matter of pick up pumpkin, bring it down, repeat until done. No, it’s a full-fledged minigame. Kina challenges Link to carry a stack of five pumpkins that tilts and wobbles. And the shed is way off to the left, but Link can’t turn, just move forward, sidestep, and by combining the two, move diagonally. It eventually gets done, and Link’s one step closer to being clear from smashing the chandelier.
Next: So, about that barricade…
Monday, November 25, 2019
Skyward Sword: Lanayru Desert
There’s not much new to do in the sky. The Gear Shop at the Bazaar is selling a Bomb Bag, but after getting a Seed Satchel from a Goddess Cube, I’m kind of once bitten/twice shy about buying it. It’s not really worrying about rupees that’s stopping me (a few rounds of Thrill Digger would make back what I spent), but bomb flowers are common when bombs are needed and can refill the bag, and there are enough things competing for Adventure Pouch space as it is. With the wood-burning volcano done and the Iron Shield weak against electric attacks that haven’t been seen in either of the other areas, I swapped it back out for the Wooden Shield before heading to the yellow light. (Speaking of, I’m increasingly sure Peatrice, the item check woman, has a crush on Link.)
Fi introduces the new area as Lanayru Mine. There’s a Goddess Cube right at the base of the tower Link lands on when he arrives in the area. The mine is abandoned and devoid of intelligent life – only Keese, (yellow, electrified) ChuChus, and Electro Spumes remain. A few inactive robots dot the landscape. The minecarts can still be pushed along the tracks, which is needed to reach deeper into the mine. Link eventually comes to an open area with a large blue crystal. He whacks it with his sword, lighting it up, which causes the surrounding area to become a functioning mine – the robots work, the minecarts roll on their own, and the vegetation in the area comes to life (including Ancient Flowers which are a treasure item). Fi explains that the crystal has shifted the surrounding area back in time. There are unrefined Timeshift Stones throughout the mine, but only one stone can be active in a given area at a time. The other notable feature of the area is sinksand, which Link can safely run across but will sink into if he tries to walk; alternately, Timeshift Stones turn it more solid so he can easily cross.
After one last cart ride, Link arrives at the open Lanayru Desert. The desert is wandered by Ampilus, some sort of crustacean or mollusk critter that tries to roll into Link with their electrified shells. A little way into the desert, Link finds a group of cages. By getting to a high place, he can throw a bomb into one, revealing and activating the Timeshift Stone inside. When the area comes to life, a Technoblin – a Bokoblin with an electrified sword that shocks Link if he hits it – shows up with it. After it’s defeated, the cages open and Link can talk to a captive robot, who upgrades his Beetle to a Hook Beetle that can grab things to drop on specific targets.
With the Hook Beetle, Link can cross the large sinksand areas leading deeper into the desert. Ampilus and their shells are immune to sinksand, so when Link uses the Beetle to drop bombs on them, their shells remain as a platform Link can rest on to catch his breath before trying to run further. (However, if he waits too long, the shell disappears and another Ampilus spawns, which doesn’t end well for Link.) Crossing the first sinksand area this way, Link can branch off to hit another Goddess Cube. The next sinksand area has a sandfall to the west, causing the sand to flow east. Ampilus shells go with this flow, allowing Link to ride across while he recovers stamina, which lets him cross a giant area with no other safe places to stand and reach the area exit.
The next area is the Temple of Time, which sounds like where Zelda and her Sheikah guardian were headed next. This area has a bunch of Timeshift Stones and minecarts, with bridges for the carts that have been lost to time and so they only appear when the area has been shifted back in time. One Timeshift Stone is atop a stone structure enclosed in a cage with the only access point being a hole in the top, so Link needs to Beetle drop a bomb inside to activate it. After clearing the path, Link finds his way to the main area of the Temple, which is blocked by a pile of rocks. Gorko tells him he saw an actual sky person (Zelda) go into the Temple with another person (the Sheikah woman), but when he tried to follow, an explosion blocked off the entry into the temple, so he and Link are locked out from whatever’s happening on the other side.
Next: The hidden path.
Fi introduces the new area as Lanayru Mine. There’s a Goddess Cube right at the base of the tower Link lands on when he arrives in the area. The mine is abandoned and devoid of intelligent life – only Keese, (yellow, electrified) ChuChus, and Electro Spumes remain. A few inactive robots dot the landscape. The minecarts can still be pushed along the tracks, which is needed to reach deeper into the mine. Link eventually comes to an open area with a large blue crystal. He whacks it with his sword, lighting it up, which causes the surrounding area to become a functioning mine – the robots work, the minecarts roll on their own, and the vegetation in the area comes to life (including Ancient Flowers which are a treasure item). Fi explains that the crystal has shifted the surrounding area back in time. There are unrefined Timeshift Stones throughout the mine, but only one stone can be active in a given area at a time. The other notable feature of the area is sinksand, which Link can safely run across but will sink into if he tries to walk; alternately, Timeshift Stones turn it more solid so he can easily cross.
After one last cart ride, Link arrives at the open Lanayru Desert. The desert is wandered by Ampilus, some sort of crustacean or mollusk critter that tries to roll into Link with their electrified shells. A little way into the desert, Link finds a group of cages. By getting to a high place, he can throw a bomb into one, revealing and activating the Timeshift Stone inside. When the area comes to life, a Technoblin – a Bokoblin with an electrified sword that shocks Link if he hits it – shows up with it. After it’s defeated, the cages open and Link can talk to a captive robot, who upgrades his Beetle to a Hook Beetle that can grab things to drop on specific targets.
With the Hook Beetle, Link can cross the large sinksand areas leading deeper into the desert. Ampilus and their shells are immune to sinksand, so when Link uses the Beetle to drop bombs on them, their shells remain as a platform Link can rest on to catch his breath before trying to run further. (However, if he waits too long, the shell disappears and another Ampilus spawns, which doesn’t end well for Link.) Crossing the first sinksand area this way, Link can branch off to hit another Goddess Cube. The next sinksand area has a sandfall to the west, causing the sand to flow east. Ampilus shells go with this flow, allowing Link to ride across while he recovers stamina, which lets him cross a giant area with no other safe places to stand and reach the area exit.
The next area is the Temple of Time, which sounds like where Zelda and her Sheikah guardian were headed next. This area has a bunch of Timeshift Stones and minecarts, with bridges for the carts that have been lost to time and so they only appear when the area has been shifted back in time. One Timeshift Stone is atop a stone structure enclosed in a cage with the only access point being a hole in the top, so Link needs to Beetle drop a bomb inside to activate it. After clearing the path, Link finds his way to the main area of the Temple, which is blocked by a pile of rocks. Gorko tells him he saw an actual sky person (Zelda) go into the Temple with another person (the Sheikah woman), but when he tried to follow, an explosion blocked off the entry into the temple, so he and Link are locked out from whatever’s happening on the other side.
Next: The hidden path.
Friday, November 22, 2019
Skyward Sword: Earth Temple
To get the obvious observation out of the way first: although it’s called the Earth Temple, this is definitely a fire dungeon. To be fair, it’s set in a volcano, which is right on the intersection of earth and fire. But Link his hit by a wave of hot air from the start, if he uses a wooden shield there’s a good chance of it burning up, and there are fiery enemies and rivers of lava everywhere. On a side note, if Link falls in the lava, the reaction is pretty much the same as in Wind Waker – jumping a mile in the air while his butt’s on fire – only the art style has changed to realistically-proportioned people so the cartoony reaction is even funnier because it’s so out of place.
A little way in, Link catches up to one of the Mogmas from outside, who’s been separated from his partner. He says he saw Zelda getting dragged in, so it almost certainly wasn’t the person in black. He tries to discourage Link from going further because there are too many Bokoblins around, but of course Link is going to persist. A little ways in, Link finds Ledd, the other Mogma, who’s lost his Bomb Bag. After a miniboss fight (a pair of Lizalfos, who have directional blocking and I found easiest to hit with an uppercut when they tried to cower under their armored gauntlet), a treasure chest appears with the Bomb Bag in it. Link wants to use it, so he asks Ledd if he can borrow it; Ledd remembers his partner and asks about him, then generously lets Link keep the Bomb Bag as a gift and gives a few bombs. Link can actually replenish the bag by storing bombs picked from bomb flowers, and if he pulls out a bomb but decides he doesn’t want to use it, can put it back.
The large central room of the dungeon involves Link rolling a giant statue’s eyeball across the giant pool of lava and over the fireball-spitting Fire Spumes to squash them. Off this room, Link finds both the Bomb Bag and the dungeon map (in that order, oddly). There’s one corner the ball can’t reach, so Link has to open a corridor and guide the ball through it, clearing obstacles and avoid lava jets some statues in the area spit out. The core goal of the room is to press two buttons to raise stairs to further in the dungeon. The rest of the dungeon involves running up slopes and dodging boulders rolling down – or after getting the boss key, running down the slope ahead of the giant boulder from the top because he didn’t have a bag of sand to replace the key with. That boulder plugs the lava jet leading to the boss room, so it’s not a total disaster.
Fi detects Zelda’s aura in the boss room – from a broken chain. So she was captured, but got free. Ghirahim explains that Zelda was rescued by a servant of the goddess – our black-clad friend? – and the reason he’s after her is to resurrect his master. He decides to vent his anger by turning the giant boulder into a pyroclastic fiend, Scaldera, and setting it to kill Link (“It won’t take more than a few moments before you’re charred to a satisfying crisp. And let me tell you, that will put a spring in my step!”) before teleporting out to continue his search. Scaldera is a giant walking fireball encased in rock, and the trick is, much like a Dodongo, to toss a bomb in its open mouth, which chips away at the rock coverings, and then whack the eye while its down. Once the rocks are gone, a few more pokes in the eye finishes it off.
In the sacred spring, Zelda is indeed with the person in black, and we get a better look at her and her clothes have the Sheikah emblem. (So, she’s probably Impa.) Zelda’s apparently finishing the purification ritual, and then a portal opens. Before she can go through it, she notices Link, but the Sheikah woman stops her. Zelda’s clearly saddened by this, but apologizes to Link and goes through the portal. The Sheikah woman refuses to let Link go with them, blaming Link being late for Zelda being captured. This might have landed if I wasn’t certain what happened to Zelda is exactly as the game scripted it – it matters not at all how many sidequests or how much farming the player does, Link would have arrived here at exactly this moment. And in the main questing, there haven’t been just a whole lot of delays – the worst probably being having to get the key to this dungeon, which happened after Zelda was captured. And, even if Link is to blame for Zelda nearly falling into Ghirahim’s hands, what good does separating them now do? It just means next time Ghirahim or his minions catch up to her, he might not be there. Bah. But I suppose this is about on par for the game’s writing.
Once they’re gone, Link whacks the crest with a Skyward Strike to receive another message: “From the edge of time I guide you, the one destined to carry out the goddess’s mission. The spirit maiden who descended from the clouds has passed through the Earth Spring and makes her way to a fated place. The parched desert of Lanayru… That is where the chosen will pass through the Gate of Time into a distant world.” Link receives the final tablet, with an amber stone (yellow for desert), and has a vision of Zelda before Fi takes him outside. Link returns to Skyloft and the Goddess Statue, setting the Amber Tablet alongside the others, opening a third hole in cloud layer.
Next: Shifting sands, shifting time.
A little way in, Link catches up to one of the Mogmas from outside, who’s been separated from his partner. He says he saw Zelda getting dragged in, so it almost certainly wasn’t the person in black. He tries to discourage Link from going further because there are too many Bokoblins around, but of course Link is going to persist. A little ways in, Link finds Ledd, the other Mogma, who’s lost his Bomb Bag. After a miniboss fight (a pair of Lizalfos, who have directional blocking and I found easiest to hit with an uppercut when they tried to cower under their armored gauntlet), a treasure chest appears with the Bomb Bag in it. Link wants to use it, so he asks Ledd if he can borrow it; Ledd remembers his partner and asks about him, then generously lets Link keep the Bomb Bag as a gift and gives a few bombs. Link can actually replenish the bag by storing bombs picked from bomb flowers, and if he pulls out a bomb but decides he doesn’t want to use it, can put it back.
The large central room of the dungeon involves Link rolling a giant statue’s eyeball across the giant pool of lava and over the fireball-spitting Fire Spumes to squash them. Off this room, Link finds both the Bomb Bag and the dungeon map (in that order, oddly). There’s one corner the ball can’t reach, so Link has to open a corridor and guide the ball through it, clearing obstacles and avoid lava jets some statues in the area spit out. The core goal of the room is to press two buttons to raise stairs to further in the dungeon. The rest of the dungeon involves running up slopes and dodging boulders rolling down – or after getting the boss key, running down the slope ahead of the giant boulder from the top because he didn’t have a bag of sand to replace the key with. That boulder plugs the lava jet leading to the boss room, so it’s not a total disaster.
Fi detects Zelda’s aura in the boss room – from a broken chain. So she was captured, but got free. Ghirahim explains that Zelda was rescued by a servant of the goddess – our black-clad friend? – and the reason he’s after her is to resurrect his master. He decides to vent his anger by turning the giant boulder into a pyroclastic fiend, Scaldera, and setting it to kill Link (“It won’t take more than a few moments before you’re charred to a satisfying crisp. And let me tell you, that will put a spring in my step!”) before teleporting out to continue his search. Scaldera is a giant walking fireball encased in rock, and the trick is, much like a Dodongo, to toss a bomb in its open mouth, which chips away at the rock coverings, and then whack the eye while its down. Once the rocks are gone, a few more pokes in the eye finishes it off.
In the sacred spring, Zelda is indeed with the person in black, and we get a better look at her and her clothes have the Sheikah emblem. (So, she’s probably Impa.) Zelda’s apparently finishing the purification ritual, and then a portal opens. Before she can go through it, she notices Link, but the Sheikah woman stops her. Zelda’s clearly saddened by this, but apologizes to Link and goes through the portal. The Sheikah woman refuses to let Link go with them, blaming Link being late for Zelda being captured. This might have landed if I wasn’t certain what happened to Zelda is exactly as the game scripted it – it matters not at all how many sidequests or how much farming the player does, Link would have arrived here at exactly this moment. And in the main questing, there haven’t been just a whole lot of delays – the worst probably being having to get the key to this dungeon, which happened after Zelda was captured. And, even if Link is to blame for Zelda nearly falling into Ghirahim’s hands, what good does separating them now do? It just means next time Ghirahim or his minions catch up to her, he might not be there. Bah. But I suppose this is about on par for the game’s writing.
Once they’re gone, Link whacks the crest with a Skyward Strike to receive another message: “From the edge of time I guide you, the one destined to carry out the goddess’s mission. The spirit maiden who descended from the clouds has passed through the Earth Spring and makes her way to a fated place. The parched desert of Lanayru… That is where the chosen will pass through the Gate of Time into a distant world.” Link receives the final tablet, with an amber stone (yellow for desert), and has a vision of Zelda before Fi takes him outside. Link returns to Skyloft and the Goddess Statue, setting the Amber Tablet alongside the others, opening a third hole in cloud layer.
Next: Shifting sands, shifting time.
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Skyward Sword: Digging Up Keys
From the Thrill Digger minigame, the way to the temple is fairly short: cross the fallen tower/bridge, climb a vine wall, defeat a Red ChuChu, hop across a gap, and run up a large hill with several platforms and Bokoblins to deal with along the way. At the top of the hill are three Bokoblins tossing boulders down at Link, so Link needs to pop them with the Slingshot to make them drop the rock on their head. Then it’s all the way to the top of the hill and up a short wall and Link’s in front of the dungeon entrance. The first to Mogmas Link met are out front discussing the key to the temple – it’s been broken into five pieces and scattered across the mountaintop. Also, Zelda was apparently taken into the temple. Their goal is to get the key, get into the temple, and liberate any treasure they can find – but then they realize they don’t need the key, they can just tunnel in.
Fi pops up to ask Link who he thinks the person taken into the temple is, and agrees with the guess of Zelda. She also points to the lock and says the key is probably made of the same material, so dowsing for the key is an option. The first piece of the key is buried nearby. The second piece is buried under a Bokoblin watchtower at the bottom of a hill Link can roll bombs down. Accuracy is hard because the hill is uneven, but eventually he hits it, it falls over, and he slides down to dig up the key piece. Near the top of that hill is a steam geyser Link can toss a bomb into to reveal a Goddess Cube. The third key piece is buried in a cave partway down the giant hill Link climbed to reach the top.
East of the dungeon entrance is another Bokoblin camp, complete with a watchtower that needs to be blown up to create a bridge. There’s also a Goddess Cube at the bottom of a slope. The next obstacle is another retracted bridge, and our ninja friend isn’t around to help, so Link has to work his way across by shimmying across a narrow ledge, jumping across a gap, and climbing on a vine wall. He then comes to a cave that’s too hot for him to stay in long, but it’s okay, he only needs to pass through en route to a large hill he slides down. The fourth piece of the key is found about halfway down the slope, across a jump that requires timing two steam geysers to cross. The fifth is in a cave at the bottom, and requires blowing up a lava plug and rolling a bomb across a hill without it falling into the lava at the bottom of the hill to get. There’s a large steam geyser at the bottom that sends him back to before the hot cave, which is nice because there was a Goddess Cube on the slope.
Once again, there’s a bird statue outside the dungeon, so this is a good opportunity to return to the sky and take care of stuff. Of the six Goddess Cubes Link found in the Eldin region, four corresponding chests can be claimed right now. The fifth is in an area of Skyloft Link can’t get to yet, and the sixth is nowhere to be found. The rewards are 400 rupees, a medal to be stored in the Adventure Pouch that makes treasure appear more often, and another small Seed Satchel. And… maybe it’s still early in the game and it’ll get better, but I have to say, the sky is boring. There’s Skyloft, the Lumpy Pumpkin, a couple minigames (one of which isn’t open for business yet), and bunch of floating rocks that only get interesting when Link finds something on the surface. And flying is tedious – the only obstacles are occasional tornados, but you need to watch the controls to keep the Loftwing from stalling. This comes from someone whose favorite element is air and would choose flight as his one and only superpower (I mean, I wouldn’t say no to Storm’s full suite of powers, but if I had to choose one thing – flight). And they’ve just about lost me on this. Like, take all the complaints about Wind Waker’s sailing, only they’re accurate [1].
Between the treasure medal and the Thrill Digger minigame, now’s also a good time to farm treasure and rupees and build up gear. Link can upgrade Seed Satchels to max size (adding 30 to a base 20); I only did one because I wish I hadn’t even bought the others, which will languish in item check forevermore. He can also improve his Iron Shield to a Reinforced Shield. From Beedle, he can buy the third and final extra wallet (total current capacity: 1400 = 500 + 300 × 3), two more Adventure Pouch upgrades (total capacity: 8, which seems to be the maximum), the Bug Medal that shows the locations of bugs on the map, and the Life Medal that adds an extra heart to Link's lifeline. The last thing Beedle has for sale is a heart piece for 1600 rupees, more than Link can currently afford. With that, it’s time to configure an Adventure Pouch loadout (3 bottles with Heart Potion, Treasure Medal, Life Medal, Bug Medal, Big Seed Satchel, and the Reinforced Shield – so I’m not making tradeoffs yet, but I know they’re coming) and head back to Eldin to tackle the Earth Temple.
Next: If this is an earth dungeon, I’d hate to see a fire one.
[1] Ironically, the one complaint I personally have about Wind Waker’s sailing [2] – naval combat isn’t fun – doesn’t apply here, although the total lack of aerial combat is somehow not an improvement.
[2] This does not include having to pay thousands of rupees to Tingle to be able to complete the game.
Fi pops up to ask Link who he thinks the person taken into the temple is, and agrees with the guess of Zelda. She also points to the lock and says the key is probably made of the same material, so dowsing for the key is an option. The first piece of the key is buried nearby. The second piece is buried under a Bokoblin watchtower at the bottom of a hill Link can roll bombs down. Accuracy is hard because the hill is uneven, but eventually he hits it, it falls over, and he slides down to dig up the key piece. Near the top of that hill is a steam geyser Link can toss a bomb into to reveal a Goddess Cube. The third key piece is buried in a cave partway down the giant hill Link climbed to reach the top.
East of the dungeon entrance is another Bokoblin camp, complete with a watchtower that needs to be blown up to create a bridge. There’s also a Goddess Cube at the bottom of a slope. The next obstacle is another retracted bridge, and our ninja friend isn’t around to help, so Link has to work his way across by shimmying across a narrow ledge, jumping across a gap, and climbing on a vine wall. He then comes to a cave that’s too hot for him to stay in long, but it’s okay, he only needs to pass through en route to a large hill he slides down. The fourth piece of the key is found about halfway down the slope, across a jump that requires timing two steam geysers to cross. The fifth is in a cave at the bottom, and requires blowing up a lava plug and rolling a bomb across a hill without it falling into the lava at the bottom of the hill to get. There’s a large steam geyser at the bottom that sends him back to before the hot cave, which is nice because there was a Goddess Cube on the slope.
Once again, there’s a bird statue outside the dungeon, so this is a good opportunity to return to the sky and take care of stuff. Of the six Goddess Cubes Link found in the Eldin region, four corresponding chests can be claimed right now. The fifth is in an area of Skyloft Link can’t get to yet, and the sixth is nowhere to be found. The rewards are 400 rupees, a medal to be stored in the Adventure Pouch that makes treasure appear more often, and another small Seed Satchel. And… maybe it’s still early in the game and it’ll get better, but I have to say, the sky is boring. There’s Skyloft, the Lumpy Pumpkin, a couple minigames (one of which isn’t open for business yet), and bunch of floating rocks that only get interesting when Link finds something on the surface. And flying is tedious – the only obstacles are occasional tornados, but you need to watch the controls to keep the Loftwing from stalling. This comes from someone whose favorite element is air and would choose flight as his one and only superpower (I mean, I wouldn’t say no to Storm’s full suite of powers, but if I had to choose one thing – flight). And they’ve just about lost me on this. Like, take all the complaints about Wind Waker’s sailing, only they’re accurate [1].
Between the treasure medal and the Thrill Digger minigame, now’s also a good time to farm treasure and rupees and build up gear. Link can upgrade Seed Satchels to max size (adding 30 to a base 20); I only did one because I wish I hadn’t even bought the others, which will languish in item check forevermore. He can also improve his Iron Shield to a Reinforced Shield. From Beedle, he can buy the third and final extra wallet (total current capacity: 1400 = 500 + 300 × 3), two more Adventure Pouch upgrades (total capacity: 8, which seems to be the maximum), the Bug Medal that shows the locations of bugs on the map, and the Life Medal that adds an extra heart to Link's lifeline. The last thing Beedle has for sale is a heart piece for 1600 rupees, more than Link can currently afford. With that, it’s time to configure an Adventure Pouch loadout (3 bottles with Heart Potion, Treasure Medal, Life Medal, Bug Medal, Big Seed Satchel, and the Reinforced Shield – so I’m not making tradeoffs yet, but I know they’re coming) and head back to Eldin to tackle the Earth Temple.
Next: If this is an earth dungeon, I’d hate to see a fire one.
[1] Ironically, the one complaint I personally have about Wind Waker’s sailing [2] – naval combat isn’t fun – doesn’t apply here, although the total lack of aerial combat is somehow not an improvement.
[2] This does not include having to pay thousands of rupees to Tingle to be able to complete the game.
Monday, November 18, 2019
Skyward Sword: Eldin Volcano
It turns out when there’s a cut between Link jumping and landing, like on Skyloft or the surface areas, he’ll automatically use the sailcloth rather than splatting. (On the other skislands, where there is no break, he’ll take damage if he doesn’t land safely.) Fi pops out wearing her tour guide hat to introduce the Eldin Volcano region. Link can catch on fire in this game, and rather than running around uselessly as in Four Swords/Minish Cap, he can put the flames out with a spin attack or rolling. The enemies in the area include fiery variants of ChuChus and Keese. There’s a Goddess Cube near the entrance to the area. Before getting too far in, Fi pops up to make sure the player remembers they can use dowsing to find Zelda and offer another tutorial if they’re particularly masochistic. As well-mapped and linear as the woods were, dowsing for Zelda was pretty useless, and I imagine it’ll be the same here.
After a couple hops across a lava stream, a couple mole people pop out of the ground in front of Link and… mistake him for a Bokoblin. They eventually figure out he’s not, and when Link mentions Zelda, they saw someone go past, but they were so fast they didn’t get a good look. A little way further, Link finds another Goddess Cube and meets another mole person near some bomb flowers. As always, bombs can be tossed, but now they can also be rolled to go farther or to pass through narrow passageways. There are a bunch of blocked caves nearby for Link to practice bombing, including a crawlspace for rolling and one high cave for tossing. Yet another mole person says they saw someone go by in a “blackish” outfit. That’s almost certainly not Zelda (unless she’s changed since falling), and Ghirahim was wearing white… but it wouldn’t surprise me if he changed outfits.
A new enemy/hazard in the area is the Pyrup, little seallike critters that take shelter in crawlspaces or shells and breathe fire at Link when he gets too close. Bombs explode immediately in the fire, so Link needs to stand back and roll or throw a bomb to get close enough. Passing through a bunch of these guys, with a little bit of platforming, Link gets a heart piece. Across a narrow, rickety bridge, Link finds a mole person who’s plugged up the lava to thwart the Bokoblins… but that leaves Link no choice but to roll a bomb and blow up the plug so he can advance. In the area, there’s a cave with a hole for Link to jump in. On the way down, there are landings, including one with a Goddess Cube.
At the bottom of the cave, Link finds a mole person lamenting the Bokoblins’ presence and wishing someone could do something about them. There’s a whole bunch of them, but Bokoblins aren’t much more than speed bumps, so Link jumps in and kills them all, with the only challenge being getting to the one on top of the platform with a horn. The Mogma (mole person) who set Link on them is grateful for Link’s help and gives him a pair of Digging Mitts to dig loose soil. By digging, Link can find treasure, rupees, hearts, or, most importantly, hidden steam geysers to send him up to a higher platform. (Or, in one case, a Mogma who’s unhappy about being dug up, but still encourages Link to dig whenever he can.) After passing through a maze of Pyrups, Link comes to a large steam geyser that blows him out of the cave.
A Mogma near the exit tells Link that the black-wearing person just passed by and jumped over a large lava river. As Link approaches the river, a bridge extends from the other side, and the person in black calls to him, encouraging him to hurry and find Zelda. So they’re not Ghirahim, and they’re not Zelda unless they’re Sheik. (White hair, black clothes, ninja? They could definitely be a Sheikah, in which case it may be an incarnation of Impa that takes inspiration from Ocarina of Time.) With the way clear, Link can begin ascending the mountain. On the first slope, there’s a Bokoblin on a platform, then another one a little higher up who tries to roll boulders at Link but can’t hold them if he gets hit by the slingshot. At the top of the slope, there’s a Bokoblin camp, including a watchtower with a Bokoblin with a horn; Link brings down the tower with a bomb, creating a bridge.
In the camp, there’s a cave with a blocked wall. Inside the cave is Tubert, a Mogma who comes completely out of the ground and sits on his tail. He runs the Thrill Digger minigame, inspired by Minesweeper. Link can dig up rupees, which tell him how many adjacent holes have bad things (bombs and/or Rupoors). Green rupees mean there’s no adjacent bad items, blue means one or two, red means three or four, silver five or six, and gold – Nayru help us all – means seven or eight. Link gets to keep whatever rupees he digs up before hitting a bomb, and if he safely clears the board, gets a rare treasure. There are three levels of difficulty – easy has four bombs in a 5×4 grid; intermediate has four bombs and four Rupoors in a 5×6 grid, and expert has eight bombs and eight Rupoors in a 5×8 grid. Despite using this game to farm rupees, I haven’t yet been able to beat expert, which relies way too much on luck. (Unlike Minesweeper, where the first cell is guaranteed safe, Link can hit a bomb on his first dig. Fortunately, I’ve checked, and there’s no unique rewards here.)
Next: Five easy pieces.
After a couple hops across a lava stream, a couple mole people pop out of the ground in front of Link and… mistake him for a Bokoblin. They eventually figure out he’s not, and when Link mentions Zelda, they saw someone go past, but they were so fast they didn’t get a good look. A little way further, Link finds another Goddess Cube and meets another mole person near some bomb flowers. As always, bombs can be tossed, but now they can also be rolled to go farther or to pass through narrow passageways. There are a bunch of blocked caves nearby for Link to practice bombing, including a crawlspace for rolling and one high cave for tossing. Yet another mole person says they saw someone go by in a “blackish” outfit. That’s almost certainly not Zelda (unless she’s changed since falling), and Ghirahim was wearing white… but it wouldn’t surprise me if he changed outfits.
A new enemy/hazard in the area is the Pyrup, little seallike critters that take shelter in crawlspaces or shells and breathe fire at Link when he gets too close. Bombs explode immediately in the fire, so Link needs to stand back and roll or throw a bomb to get close enough. Passing through a bunch of these guys, with a little bit of platforming, Link gets a heart piece. Across a narrow, rickety bridge, Link finds a mole person who’s plugged up the lava to thwart the Bokoblins… but that leaves Link no choice but to roll a bomb and blow up the plug so he can advance. In the area, there’s a cave with a hole for Link to jump in. On the way down, there are landings, including one with a Goddess Cube.
At the bottom of the cave, Link finds a mole person lamenting the Bokoblins’ presence and wishing someone could do something about them. There’s a whole bunch of them, but Bokoblins aren’t much more than speed bumps, so Link jumps in and kills them all, with the only challenge being getting to the one on top of the platform with a horn. The Mogma (mole person) who set Link on them is grateful for Link’s help and gives him a pair of Digging Mitts to dig loose soil. By digging, Link can find treasure, rupees, hearts, or, most importantly, hidden steam geysers to send him up to a higher platform. (Or, in one case, a Mogma who’s unhappy about being dug up, but still encourages Link to dig whenever he can.) After passing through a maze of Pyrups, Link comes to a large steam geyser that blows him out of the cave.
A Mogma near the exit tells Link that the black-wearing person just passed by and jumped over a large lava river. As Link approaches the river, a bridge extends from the other side, and the person in black calls to him, encouraging him to hurry and find Zelda. So they’re not Ghirahim, and they’re not Zelda unless they’re Sheik. (White hair, black clothes, ninja? They could definitely be a Sheikah, in which case it may be an incarnation of Impa that takes inspiration from Ocarina of Time.) With the way clear, Link can begin ascending the mountain. On the first slope, there’s a Bokoblin on a platform, then another one a little higher up who tries to roll boulders at Link but can’t hold them if he gets hit by the slingshot. At the top of the slope, there’s a Bokoblin camp, including a watchtower with a Bokoblin with a horn; Link brings down the tower with a bomb, creating a bridge.
In the camp, there’s a cave with a blocked wall. Inside the cave is Tubert, a Mogma who comes completely out of the ground and sits on his tail. He runs the Thrill Digger minigame, inspired by Minesweeper. Link can dig up rupees, which tell him how many adjacent holes have bad things (bombs and/or Rupoors). Green rupees mean there’s no adjacent bad items, blue means one or two, red means three or four, silver five or six, and gold – Nayru help us all – means seven or eight. Link gets to keep whatever rupees he digs up before hitting a bomb, and if he safely clears the board, gets a rare treasure. There are three levels of difficulty – easy has four bombs in a 5×4 grid; intermediate has four bombs and four Rupoors in a 5×6 grid, and expert has eight bombs and eight Rupoors in a 5×8 grid. Despite using this game to farm rupees, I haven’t yet been able to beat expert, which relies way too much on luck. (Unlike Minesweeper, where the first cell is guaranteed safe, Link can hit a bomb on his first dig. Fortunately, I’ve checked, and there’s no unique rewards here.)
Next: Five easy pieces.
Friday, November 15, 2019
Skyward Sword: Gratitude Crystals
There are ten loose Gratitude Crystals on Skyloft. They’re generally out in the open, and it’s just a matter of checking everywhere for them – in houses, in Link’s room at the Academy, in the tower to the south, in the little place where Groose boarded up Link’s Loftwing. There are two that are tricky: One is in the rafters of the Sparring Hall and needs to be grabbed with the Beetle. The second is on a strip of land off a ledge in the west. And… normal treasures that pop up their description once per treasure per game session; after that, they simply appears over Link’s head to show he picked them up. Every Gratitude Crystal reminds the player what it is, how they’re made, and who Link’s collecting them for. I swear the developers had an audience of braindead goldfish in mind, which is silly because their little flippers couldn’t hold a Wiimote. With ten Crystals, Link has enough to fulfill Batreaux’s first request. For five Crystals, Link gets a wallet upgrade [1], and for ten, a heart piece. The next reward will come at thirty.
Now the time’s come to make it day again. After Link sleeps, Kukiel has returned home to her parents, and her mother gives Link five Gratitude Crystals as a reward. The popup text is at least different this time. Completing this quest seems to have launched another one; the man whose house Link found a Crystal in overnight is down by the statue in the south, worried about his sister. She went out flying to the colorful island to the southwest and hasn’t returned. Link heads out to the colorful island, which is called Fun Fun Island, and is settled by a clown who will apparently host a minigame once Link has the required item. The sister’s not there, so Link checks the nearby islands and finds her and her Loftwing nearby. The Loftwing’s injured and can’t fly, so she asks Link to go find her brother to bring medicine for it. The quest seems like it’s written to work no matter which sibling Link finds first, which is a nice touch. Brother’s happy to help Link help his sister, and gives him a bottle of Mushroom Spores and tells him to keep the bottle when he’s finished. She heals her Loftwing and takes off for home, but not without giving Link five Gratitude Crystals for helping her. Back in Skyloft, her brother also gives Link five Crystals, so this was a very profitable quest.
There’s not much else to do at this point, so it’s time to start getting ready to go explore the surface area opened up by the ruby tablet. The Gear Shop has an iron shield for sale; the iron shield is fireproof but, in a new variant, weak against electric attacks. Since Link’s heading into a – well, I don’t know for sure the next area is fiery, but the goddess’ message described it as “scorched earth,” and Eldin’s where Death Mountain was in Twilight Princess, and the Ocarina of Time progression goes Forest – Fire – Water, and it was a ruby on the tablet, and the beacon is red [3]… I’ll let Fi run the exact odds, but I’ll say it’s pretty damned likely a fiery area – he buys the iron shield and stores his wooden shield in the Item Check (the woman there accuses Link of just coming by to check her out). I’ve got enough rupees left over for a trip to Beedle’s shop [5] and buy another extra wallet and Adventure Pouch upgrade.
Next: To reach the mountaintop, Link must learn to dig.
[1] Okay, so there are wallet upgrades, which increase the capacity of the base wallet, plus extra wallets, which let Link carry an extra 300 rupees each. Extra wallets don’t take up space in Link’s Adventure Pouch, but the Seed Satchel expansion(s) [2] do, and they’re what gets upgraded (via the Scrap Shop). This system used to be so simple and make sense. At least in Twilight Princess, which had separate bomb bags, it made some degree of sense – Link needed separate bags for normal bombs, water bombs, and bomblings – and the capacity upgrade applied to all the bags at once.
[2] Yeah, Link can buy at least two of them from the Gear Shop. (I stopped after two because it seems like a waste of rupees; honestly, when am I going to have a need for more than one – let alone the Adventure Pouch space?) I wonder if there’s a limit (beyond spaces in the Adventure Pouch + Item Check).
[3] But Link’s placeable beacons are blue [4]… so the third may not be water.
[4] Yeah, blue beacons against a blue sky. Great design. I’m reminded why Luke’s lightsaber in Return of the Jedi was green.
[5] It seems appropriate to whack the bell with the Beetle.
Now the time’s come to make it day again. After Link sleeps, Kukiel has returned home to her parents, and her mother gives Link five Gratitude Crystals as a reward. The popup text is at least different this time. Completing this quest seems to have launched another one; the man whose house Link found a Crystal in overnight is down by the statue in the south, worried about his sister. She went out flying to the colorful island to the southwest and hasn’t returned. Link heads out to the colorful island, which is called Fun Fun Island, and is settled by a clown who will apparently host a minigame once Link has the required item. The sister’s not there, so Link checks the nearby islands and finds her and her Loftwing nearby. The Loftwing’s injured and can’t fly, so she asks Link to go find her brother to bring medicine for it. The quest seems like it’s written to work no matter which sibling Link finds first, which is a nice touch. Brother’s happy to help Link help his sister, and gives him a bottle of Mushroom Spores and tells him to keep the bottle when he’s finished. She heals her Loftwing and takes off for home, but not without giving Link five Gratitude Crystals for helping her. Back in Skyloft, her brother also gives Link five Crystals, so this was a very profitable quest.
There’s not much else to do at this point, so it’s time to start getting ready to go explore the surface area opened up by the ruby tablet. The Gear Shop has an iron shield for sale; the iron shield is fireproof but, in a new variant, weak against electric attacks. Since Link’s heading into a – well, I don’t know for sure the next area is fiery, but the goddess’ message described it as “scorched earth,” and Eldin’s where Death Mountain was in Twilight Princess, and the Ocarina of Time progression goes Forest – Fire – Water, and it was a ruby on the tablet, and the beacon is red [3]… I’ll let Fi run the exact odds, but I’ll say it’s pretty damned likely a fiery area – he buys the iron shield and stores his wooden shield in the Item Check (the woman there accuses Link of just coming by to check her out). I’ve got enough rupees left over for a trip to Beedle’s shop [5] and buy another extra wallet and Adventure Pouch upgrade.
Next: To reach the mountaintop, Link must learn to dig.
[1] Okay, so there are wallet upgrades, which increase the capacity of the base wallet, plus extra wallets, which let Link carry an extra 300 rupees each. Extra wallets don’t take up space in Link’s Adventure Pouch, but the Seed Satchel expansion(s) [2] do, and they’re what gets upgraded (via the Scrap Shop). This system used to be so simple and make sense. At least in Twilight Princess, which had separate bomb bags, it made some degree of sense – Link needed separate bags for normal bombs, water bombs, and bomblings – and the capacity upgrade applied to all the bags at once.
[2] Yeah, Link can buy at least two of them from the Gear Shop. (I stopped after two because it seems like a waste of rupees; honestly, when am I going to have a need for more than one – let alone the Adventure Pouch space?) I wonder if there’s a limit (beyond spaces in the Adventure Pouch + Item Check).
[3] But Link’s placeable beacons are blue [4]… so the third may not be water.
[4] Yeah, blue beacons against a blue sky. Great design. I’m reminded why Luke’s lightsaber in Return of the Jedi was green.
[5] It seems appropriate to whack the bell with the Beetle.
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