- Link starts with the Deluxe Picto Box (I’m assuming this is only if he had it before finishing). I don’t know if any pictures carry over, because I kept mine empty because of giving them all to the Nintendo Gallery. This lets him take pictures of Tetra and Gohma early, and the Koroks before they scatter to plant their seeds. However, that doesn’t matter if he got them in the first run, because it seems all pictography-related quests carry over their progress. There’s no need to track down the three pictures Lenzo wants on Windfall Island, the Nintendo Gallery is already unlocked, with all the old figurines still in place – and if it was complete, Carlov is gone. Some things can still be done, if they have a reward unrelated to pictography (e.g., giving the woman on Windfall a picto of herself for a treasure chart). And even though he doesn’t need the Picto Box, he still has to let Tingle out because of Triumph Forks.
- (Also, Link can double back to Windfall after getting the firefly, but there’s no reason to since he already has the Deluxe Picto Box.)
- Instead of the green tunic, Link’s grandmother gives him the Hero’s New Clothes, which are extraordinarily light and she says are invisible except to honest people. Link apparently doesn’t count, or decides he doesn’t want to deal with questions of why he’s running around in his underwear, because he keeps his blue crawfish outfit on under them.
- The mail sorting – oof. This was one of the big things I wasn’t looking forward to doing again, and it still sucks.
- I don’t know if they made the boss fights harder or if I’m just out of practice, but I had real trouble getting enough time to grapple Valoo’s tail during the Gohma fight.
- On the other hand: Kalle Demos can be killed by hitting the core with the Boomerang, rather than rushing in and getting gobbled when you don’t get out in time. (I remembered the Forest Water trick a moment too late to use it.) I realized I wasn’t entirely sure it was working, but I killed it with my first sword hit afterward, so apparently it was.
- The Hylian text is translated! This lets the player understand what Valoo, the Deku Tree, and Jabun say. Jabun’s is particularly interesting: he’s got doubts about Link being able to save Hyrule, but trusts the King. He also asks the King if he’s located Zelda, which is what the King says “I believe I have” about. (Presumably he guessed it’s Tetra because of the Pirate’s Charm.)
- They call them Seahats, but they’re more like A-hats.
- As of sparring with Orca, I still had trouble parrying – which was troubling because Darknuts weren’t too far in the future – but I got 566 hits on my first try, and all three hits I took were me being careless and/or trying to parry.
- Okay, this game seriously messes with my understanding of left/right and east/west. Pressing the right thumbstick left moves the camera right, and right moves it left. This does not happen when targeting with the bow or boomerang via the left thumbstick. [1] Also, the compass points north, which is of course how real compasses work, but if you expect it to point the direction you’re traveling, it seems east and west are backward. All of this results in me doing things like recognizing my next destination is to the east, Wind’s Requieming to point the wind in the right direction, and pointing my ship west and wondering why it’s not moving.
- During the “gather all the treasures” part of the game, I started trying to hit the treasure locations at full sail. The first time I managed it, I was being chased by seahats and, because of my success, able to grab the treasure, raise sail, and outrun them.
- Hollo at the Forest Haven makes Blue Potions for 4 Boko Baba Seeds. Considering that Link can get 5 just on the trip up from the landing point, this is so much easier than having to hunt 15 of the Blue ChuChus down to get them stocked in the Potion Shop and a real bargain over buying them afterward. The Elixir Soup’s still better, of course, but Link can only have one of those.
- Playing with the auctions again, I think the way to go is for Link to keep raising the bar and keep everyone else stunlocked. Link has to raise the price by 10% each time he bids, but the crowd will raise it more than that in 15 seconds if allowed to go. I was able to get the three important items (two treasure charts and a heart piece) for under 500 rupees.
- Oh, and if Link smashes the pots in Mila’s father’s house but doesn’t have enough rupees to pay for them, the reaction is well worth the 8 rupees I lost.
- There are no Cuccos in this game. Guess they all drowned with Hyrule. Surprised they didn’t flock to peck the gods to death (or Ganon, to stop the gods from having to drown Hyrule) for doing that. I’ve heard the pigs have the same role, though.
[1] Thinking about it, this one makes sense if you think about the right thumbstick moving the camera (moving it right moves it and its view counterclockwise, but from Link’s perspective, the camera’s moving right, and the view’s moving left) but the left thumbstick moving Link’s head. I don’t like it, and I wish there were an option to make the right thumbstick not inverted, but I at least understand the design – and why some games offer an invert X option. (Invert Y is natural for me, having been raised on flight sims.)
