- It’s set in the timeline created at the end of Ocarina of Time, the same one as Majora’s Mask.
- I’m not quite sure what it means here, but I understand this game follows Ocarina’s template more than, say, Wind Waker?
- This game’s version of Zelda has become her “standard” design, although the latest Smash went with a different look.
- Three characters from this game are playable in Hyrule Warriors.
- Agitha (“Insect… Princess?” Yes, the ellipsis and question mark are part of her epithet), a (human) girl, roughly ten years old, who is rather fond of insects.
- Midna (“Twilight Princess” and “Ruler of Twilight”). She’s normally humanoid, but she’s been cursed to look like… well, Agitha called her an angry kitty. She has an affinity with wolves. She’s the rightful ruler of the Twili people, but…
- Zant (“Usurper King”). Zant is… I think he’s Twili, but I’m not sure. I’m more sure he’s a bad guy; he may even be the bad guy (or, more likely, appear to be the bad guy until the shocking twist that it was Dr. Wily pulling the strings all along). Midna hates him, which along with the epithet strongly suggests he’s responsible for her status (both not being the active leader of the Twili and the angry kitty thing). He’s a truly bizarre fellow. Looking them up, I’m not sure why, but I’ve thought of him as looking like a cross between the mayor from The Nightmare Before Christmas and Morpheus (wearing his helmet) from The Sandman.
- There's also the giant boss Argorok (“Twilit Dragon”), who I assume is going to be a dungeon boss here.
Well, one way that Twilight Princess takes after Ocarina of Time is that while waiting for the title to pop up the game plays scenes of Link riding Epona. It ends with a wolf howling at the title. Then, the game goes into a teaser reel, starting with Zant and a couple demons approaching a robed and hooded figure, a peaceful village disturbed by a weird wall, Link investigating the wall, turning into a wolf (!), and meeting Midna. Then there’s a gameplay reel, showing off some of the items (the hookshot stands out, and some kind of boots). It ends with shots of the main characters: Zant, Zelda, Midna, and Link (wolf and human, the latter with the Master Sword). So, um. This version of Link’s a werewolf? And I’m guessing what I interpreted as Midna having an affinity for wolves is just Hyrule Warriors’ take on her bond with Link.
Anyway, after creating the save file, there’s the standard “enter your name” bit, only now Link is entered by default [3], and afterward, the player gets to name Link’s horse (Epona by default, of course). There’s no story roll, boo. The manual quickly gets into what I assume is going to be stuff I’ll be playing through soon enough, but it talks about how Ordon Village is a peaceful farming community. Link is highly regarded among the villagers – the unofficial leader of the village’s children, and expected to become the village leader when he’s older.
In the game, we start with Link and an older man sitting by a river. “Tell me… Do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls? They say it’s the only time when our world intersects with theirs… the only time we can feel the lingering regrets of spirits who have left our world. That is why loneliness always pervades the hour of twilight… but enough talk of sadness.” The man is supposed to make a delivery to the royal family of Hyrule in a couple days, but he wants Link to do it, for a chance to see the larger world outside Ordon Village. They return to the village, with the man saying he’ll talk to the mayor about sending Link instead. After a while, Link’s gone inside his home, but left Epona standing out front, and a barefooted person leads her away. Epona’s barely out of sight when someone comes to Link’s house calling for his help herding goats; as Link comes out, the man notices that Epona’s not there.
Next: Herding goats is easy. Herding cats, not so much.
[1] Okay, I haven’t actually read Twilight (although I’ve spent enough time reading Reasoning With Vampires that I feel I have) or seen the movie. At this point I don’t think I could give either a fair shake.
[2] I’m kind of dreading Skyward Sword.
[3] I suppose it’s the most common name players give Link. I wonder what the breakdown is on players who name him Link vs. players who name him after themselves vs. players who name him Zelda vs. etc.
