Okay, I really liked this dungeon, but I’m going to start off with a list of little frustrations. First, one that’s not so little: the place is huge and confusing to navigate. With lots of multi-floor rooms, the map really isn’t that much help, and I managed to miss a treasure chest and now I’m wondering if it’s going to be worth it to go back and get it. (Yes, it is, because otherwise there’s a chest left in the dungeon. Why is this even a question?) The Oocca are everywhere in the dungeon, and they make sounds very reminiscent of the fscking Wind Waker Miniblin chittering. Maybe not as harsh as that, but still: Miniblin chittering. Finally, there’s a lot of waiting for things to Clawshot onto, which isn’t too bad, but makes an already long dungeon feel even longer.
Being a flying people, the Oocca didn’t exactly design their dungeon with the non-flighted in mind. There are gaps everywhere that Link needs to jump or Clawshot or Ooccaglide across, and floor tiles that aren’t capable of supporting Link’s weight so they fall if he steps on them. The only new enemy is an upgraded Helmasaur, the Helmasaurus, whose helmet can’t be taken off with the Clawshot so Link needs to stab it from behind and I’m glad I practiced with the regular Helmasaurs.
The Clawshot is Link’s constant companion in this dungeon, with lots of targets and vines and gratings and Peahats to latch onto. There are also several switches he needs to pull down using the iron boots to increase his weight. The miniboss is an Aeralfos, a flying Lizalfos. Its shield looks like a Clawshot target, so when it holds its shield forward as it prepares to divebomb Link, Link can catch the shield with his Clawshot and pull the Aeralfos to it, stunning it. After a while, the Aeralfos shakes up its tactics and flies out of the room, only reappearing at a random window, already preparing to charge. As usual, defeating the boss lets Link claim the treasure. With how important the Clawshot is, and what I know about the dragon from Hyrule Warriors, I was expecting a Clawshot upgrade, which… well, sort of.
It’s a second Clawshot, and while it’s not more powerful than the first or anything, both can be equipped at the same time. The main advantage of the Double Clawshots is Link can use one while he’s dangling by the other. This adds a very Spider-Man feel to the rest of the dungeon, particularly with sequences where the Clawshot targets Link’s hitting are on pillars that begin to fall under his weight so he has to keep zipping to the next target, or other sequences where he zips from Peahat to Peahat to cross a gap. As Link makes the final climb to the boss, he has to fight a pair of Aeralfos, which don’t get as creative as the single miniboss did but are harder to keep track of – sometimes one will divebomb Link while he focuses on the other.
After passing through the boss door, Link has to climb to the roof of the tower, where he’s joined by Argorok, the twilit dragon that’s been seen flying around and destroyed the bridge. In the first phase, Argorok has two attacks: it flies low to the tower in an attempt to push or blow Link off, and it hovers and flaps its wings to blow up a storm and knock Link off. The iron boots anchor Link, and if during the storm attack Link latches on to target tantalizingly dangling from Argorok’s tail while wearing them, Argorok will crash to the ground and his armor will break. The second phase is like the first, except Argorok will sometimes perch on the pillars around the rooftop, and Link will have to Clawshot his way up to be able to latch onto the tail. The fall this time breaks more armor, revealing a giant glowing gem on Argorok’s back. When Argorok gets up again, it shakes off what’s left of its armor and flies higher than before. A ring of Peahats rise above the pillars, so it’s obvious what Link needs to do: Clawshot up to the Peahats, get Argorok to breath fire at him, go around the ring until he can latch onto Argorok’s back [1], and stabbity stabbity stabbity. Eventually, Argorok catches wise to this strategy and tries turning around, which forces Link to switch directions around the circle to get its back.
Argorok dies with an impressive display of fire, and apparently Link got off its back at some point because when it explodes in midair, Link’s watching from the rooftop as the heart container and last mirror shard come down. With all the pieces of the Mirror, Midna’s delighted. As the sages said, only the true ruler of the Twilight Realm can completely destroy the Mirror, and Zant has reason to want the mirror gone, so the fact that he couldn’t proves his rule is illegitimate. And once they reassemble the Mirror, they can finally go to the Twilight Realm and fight him there and bring an end to his reign.
Next: The true ruler of the Twilight Realm.
[1] I had to switch over to hold target locking for this, because I couldn’t make it target Argorok instead of the Peahats otherwise.
