With the Flippers, there are six new heart pieces Link can get. One is back in the cave where the Power Bracelets are, so Link needs to go through the whole trip again. Also, even deep water for a human is traversable at Minish size, so Link is able to explore a series of Minish caves near the Minish Village and find a heart piece there. There’s another in a Minish cave in South Hyrule Field. Castor Wilds has two heart pieces in caves, one Minish-sized, and one human-sized. If Link fuses Kinstones with Grayblade, there’s a dojo near the human-sized cave in Castor Wilds where Scarblade will teach Link to charge his spin attack faster. Finally, Link can swim to a heart piece in Veil Falls.
The Flippers also let Link swim across the river to retrieve the Cucco there in a reasonable time, so he can finally finish rounding up Cuccos for Anju. It’s still not an easy task – Link can’t carry a Cucco while swimming, so he’s got to toss the one across the river. Also, the other two Cuccos are golden ones that can only be carried for a short while before running off in the opposite direction, so Link has to throw them and pick them up again, which offers so many opportunities for the little feathery bastards to get lost where the camera can’t see them or NPCs to get in the way or the game to decide Link isn’t in the exact right spot to pick up the Cucco and roll away, losing precious seconds. The reward for all this is a heart piece, so that’s something.
In the Inn in town, there are three women who are based on (and named after) Din, Nayru, and Farore from the Oracle games. They’ve come to Hyrule, but aren’t having any luck finding a home. By fusing Kinstones with Farore, Gorman arrives in town looking to rent out a house near Anju’s Cucco pen. He’s only wanting to rent to a single woman, and Link gets to help one of the three move into the house. Gorman wants to build another house (over a Minish house, although once it’s done the Minish resident is content with his new arrangement), and with a Kinstone fusion with one of the carpenters, it gets built and ready to house another of the women. As far as I can tell, there’s no third house – a reference to the fact that there were only two Oracle games? Anyway, I chose Din and Farore; once they’re moved into their houses, they give Link charms that give him buffs and change the color of his tunic to one of the other colors from Four Swords, according to the corresponding Oracle’s associated color [1].
There are several other Mole Mitts-diggable caves. Three of them (in the Eastern Hills, Trilby Highlands, and Mt. Crenel) have Kinstone fusion walls that spawn additional Gorons to help the ones digging out the cave. However, it looks like the next wall they’re trying to break down will take six, and so far only five are there. One of the caves also has a heart piece. One of the caves leads to Knuckle, the last of Tingle’s family, and sure enough, it opens the fourth tree in the set in North Hyrule Field. Once all four buttons have been pushed, a ladder appears in the middle of the trees leading to a treasure chest containing the Magical Boomerang, which works like the one in Oracle of Seasons.
A few last things before starting the next dungeon. In town, in the house in town immediately south of the shoemaker’s, a man named Simon has started running a hero simulation game, allowing players to fight monsters for prizes. Completing the game earns Link a heart piece. (Also, the whole thing happens in a dream, and when Link wakes up, he shakes Ezlo to wake him up before putting him back on his head. A similar scene happens if Link visits his house and takes a nap.) A few Kinstone fusions lead to more beanstalks growing, and Link can find a quiver upgrade and piece of heart by climbing. There’s another quiver upgrade at the shop in town. One more fusion causes Syrup to start brewing a red potion that fully restores health – useful, because fairies in this game have been nerfed to only restore four hearts.
Next: The water element.
[1] The buffs correspond to the Red, Blue, and Green Rings from the Oracle games: increased sword damage (red/Din), reduced damage taken (blue/Nayru, unavailable to me since she didn’t get a house), and both effects but to a lesser extent (green/Farore). Since base Link is Green Link, Farore’s charm turns him into Purple Link instead, which is also appropriate for a blend between the red and blue charms.
